My Measurement: The Villain Desires a Satisfying Payback

The week-long Weinstell High Winter Festival proceeded without issue.

Each day, Sophie and I walked around the fairground with not much else to do until it was time to pick Selina and Emir up from school, upon which we would head home.

Unfortunately, because we had to wait for them to finish school, we had no choice but to stay at the Festival even after its novelty dulled.

See, the Festival became pretty boring after the second day or so as we had already experienced everything the school and clubs had to offer, and it wasn't a terribly large event in the first place in terms of scale, so it didn't take long to do everything we wanted.

I ended up buying Sophie some more things that piqued her interest such as Christmas-themed sweatshirts, snowflake earrings and a penguin plushie, but aside from that, nothing notable happened.

Of course, there were a few crêpes that had to be purchased, but it turned out to be a useful tool to stop her from whining.

Now that the Festival had come to an end, the Winter Break had officially begun. Events that will be occurring during this three-week period are as follows:

The commencement of the Order's downfall by the Wardens' hands.

The politician's daughter's tenth birthday party, being attended by many high-class elites.

And...

""Ciphy...""

"What?"

"Look."

"Christmas fun place."

"...You want to go to the holiday fair?"

""Mn. Please...""

―A local Christmas Market, requested of me by the twins, that is taking place on Christmas Eve, the 24th of December.

They also asked me for Christmas gifts, which I have already ordered and had the servants wrap up for them, to be opened on the 25th.

I ended up getting presents for Sophie, Selina, Emir, and Minami, too, because I thought it would be an easy way to increase rapport and trust.

I am somewhat familiar with festive events such as Christmas as the Wardens did hold celebrations on holidays like that, but rarely did I participate or receive any gifts. In fact, none of the subjects received gifts, because well, we already had most of what we could ever need.

From food to shelter, to entertainment and even education; everything was provided for us within the Playground, so there was not much we could want. Even if we did want something, if it was something plausible and that we could actually have, then they would usually just give it to us anyway no matter the time of year.

It was an effort to keep us pacified, you see.

Still, many subjects participated in the events they held for us, mostly because we were kids and they thought of it as a different kind of entertainment from what we were used to, but my opinion was that it was rather dull.

I have mentioned it in the past, have I not?

I prefer to play a different kind of "game" than most people. Unfortunately, I have yet to meet someone who also enjoys those types of games, and most people I play with end up distraught.

Of course, the two things I wanted the most were 'fun' and 'freedom', neither of which I could easily attain whilst I was still in the Playground, so I didn't really enjoy it very much, but I am also aware that I'm an anomaly compared to most of the other subjects.

After all, I'm not stupid.

I knew since I was young that my brain worked differently from most. With the addition of the Measurement of Truth, the result was me growing up to be a person very distinctly detached from others.

Saying it like that is heavily simplifying the story, and there is a bit more to it than just that, but anyway, that's why it was considered incredibly uncommon for there to be subjects like myself who attempted to escape the Playground.

Every escape attempt I had failed except the last one, obviously, but having learnt more about that incident from the Professor, the more I've come to think that the time I ended up escaping for real was also the time that I didn't actually intend to escape.

I didn't plan to escape on that day, but that's just how it turned out after the opportunity presented itself, I think.

Getting back on track, Christmas and the New Year is something I know about because it was celebrated in the Playground, too. I don't understand why people get so hyped about celebrating it, but I've experienced that enthusiasm every year even after fleeing the Playground from classmates and strangers on the street, so I do realise it is a very popular thing.

I wasn't exactly surprised when I heard Sana and Sona talk about it for a couple of hours, saying how they were informed by their friends at school.

Speaking of which, apparently their classmates who saw me when I went to the parent-teacher meeting last time thought I looked scary but cool, or something.

It was a good sign, as I wanted Leander Herington to give off that kind of striking appearance, and it would be even better if they talked to their parents about me.

Since they're privileged kids of the elite, I wouldn't be surprised if I were to encounter them during the party in two weeks' time. If they put a good word in on my behalf, then it shouldn't be too hard to form acquaintances among society's upper crust.

Well, getting on the good side of those sorts of snobby individuals isn't difficult anyway, so I don't suppose it will have too much of an effect either way.

Aside from all of that, the matter of the Order being hunted down finally is something I will be keeping my eye on. Although it is now unrelated to me, I will still be checking out the results.

The Professor claimed that he doesn't care if the Order is destroyed since it isn't something necessary for him. He wasn't lying when he said that, so I don't doubt that it's about time for the Order to collapse.

It is simply a matter of 'when'.

Subsequently, I need to keep a watchful eye out for whatever kind of group will come after me in the future.

Whether it is another one of Marcus Lynton's hijacked organisations or a completely new foe altogether, the sense of risk will never be erased so long as there exists a reason for people to oppose me, so an air of caution must be maintained at all times.

Finally... There is a matter I haven't discussed with anyone or planned anything for, but which I have been thinking about for quite a while now.

That is, of course, the matter of Azaki Kiryuuin's survival-- or rather, his resurrection.

November 14th.

I have, of course, tried my best to ask questions and research what happened on that day for him to come back to life, to no avail.

Naturally, every time I asked about what caused him to come back, I received but one reply.

「You do not have access to this information」

It was the classic, infuriating answer I have received countless times recently, but I already knew nothing could be done about it, so I didn't waste time complaining.

I had some doubts, though, about this response.

So, I did some thinking.

Honestly, I simply find it hard to believe that Kiryuuin's survival is related to the incident of my escape.

Logically speaking, there's no way that can be the case―at least, from what I know right now.

Therefore, I hypothesised that they weren't related and that something else entirely was up.

With that in mind, I wondered why the exact same response was being given when I asked about the escape incident and Kiryuuin's survival.

In order to properly discuss that, however, we first need to uncover the possible ways Kiryuuin could have survived the poison I administered to him, which was one hundred per cent lethal.

The most likely cause is that it is related to his Measurement of Time.

Whether or not the Measurement of Time evolved to be able to rewind time for his body back to a state prior to when he was poisoned, I don't know, and it is impossible for me to find that out at the moment.

Supposing that is the case, then great; I've figured it out.

But, it doesn't explain why I cannot access the information. And that is the important thing.

So, there is clearly something else involved that somehow links my escape incident with the Measurement of Truth's evolution.

More specifically, something that links the two of them to Forbidden Knowledge.

From what I've gathered, it is clear that I have sealed away not only the ability to ask about the incident on the day of my escape but also anything related to Forbidden Knowledge.

Presumably, this is because my younger self realised that Forbidden Knowledge was incredibly dangerous, so I was trying to protect myself by locking access to that information away.

I already know that the topic of Measurement Evolution is not Forbidden Knowledge because it's been a known concept for years, although extraordinarily rare.

Thus, there must be some other kind of Forbidden Knowledge involved in the Measurement of Time's evolution.

It's difficult to speculate what exactly that might be, but there aren't too many possibilities of what it could be, at least not that I can think of.

The specific way in which the Measurement evolved, for example, could be classified as Forbidden Knowledge. Again, it's not possible for me to find out.

The possibility remains that my line of thinking could be completely wrong even still.

It could be the truth that the Measurement of Time did not evolve at all, and in fact, something else entirely happened.

In that case, whatever else happened instead would probably be said Forbidden Knowledge.

The only clues I might get are from comparing the two incidents―my escape and Kiryuuin's survival. As well as the 'Hell' inside me, these three things are all I know that are related to Forbidden Knowledge in some way, to varying degrees.

What is the truth behind my escape?

What is the truth behind Kiryuuin's resurrection?

Why does Liam Chiba-Wallace see such a disturbing sight within me?

「You do not have access to this information」

―In the end, I am simply not in the position to discover the answers just yet.