Blades of Despair

-Chapter Seventy-Six-

A Life of Lies Part II

Ori was staring at her father with a baffled, fearful and disbelieving expression on her face. His revelation had caught everyone unawares; even Morino seemed to reel backwards in surprise.

"My talent is... fake? Why... are you saying that?" Ori shouted. "That doesn't make any sense!" Her father shrugged.

"Is it really that hard to believe?" He asked, nonplussed at everyone's reactions. "Everything else we've told you thus far has been accurate, so why would I suddenly switch the tone?"

"But what you're saying is preposterous!" Ori argued. "If I didn't have an Ultimate Talent, I couldn't have been invited to Seiko Academy - this killing game was designed to have Ultimate Students compete! So why are you now spouting this... bullshit?" Her father laughed.

"I would never lie to you, princess!"

"Stop calling me that!"

"Your father speaks the truth, girl," The Madame sneered. "As Morino said earlier, you've all been raised to have certain perspectives of yourselves. This includes you."

"My talent isn't fake," Ori asserted defensively. "I've been lucky and unlucky my whole life! My father can confirm this, even if he is a Blade of Despair!" She looked at her father pleadingly for some support, but he shook his head and chuckled.

"Ori, my darling, you have no idea."

"Huh?"

"Have you even been listening to this discussion?" He chided her. "We've already ascertained that you morons were raised to view yourselves in a particular set of ways. Iowa was raised to hate her talent, while you were raised to think that yours was real. The truth is that you are not technically an Ultimate Student."

"What?" She squeaked.

"Think about it logically," Junichi suggested. "How realistic is luck as a talent? Do you have any control over your talent? Is luck something that you can maintain?" The colour drained from Ori's face.

"Even by putting the word 'extreme' in front of it, your talent is unlike that of your classmates," the Madame told her, "in that it's utter codswallop."

"Take Iowa for example," Ori's father chimed in. "Even though she hated her talent, she was no doubt an excellent chef and chocolatier. We've already seen Miyagawa's appraisal skills in the trial when he verified the make of gun that Morihei was holding. Tokunaga was a famous opera singer, Edward was certainly the prince of Leonis. Do you understand what I'm getting at?" Ori didn't respond. I watched helplessly as fresh tears fell down her face as her own father deconstructed her life right in front of her. How can this be?

"You are saying that Ori's talent isn't real because she hasn't exemplified it," Morino stated. "But... we have seen her talent play out firsthand, so isn't that claim false?"

"When did you see it?" Junichi pressed immediately. Morino raised his eyebrow in surprise.

"Her talent has come to our aid in numerous trials!" I cried. "Without Ori, we never would have solved the mysteries behind Hatanaka's crime. Ori was the one who found crucial evidence in Uehara's trial! Her talent stopped her from falling victim to Edward's murder plot! Her talent is real-"

"But surely it must have crossed your mind that something was off with her talent, right, Gawa?" Junichi yawned. "If I remember correctly, you even questioned the validity of Ori's talent on the first day." I clenched my teeth.

"Fuck you."

"But he doesn't think that now!" Ori protested.

"Is that really true, Miyagawa?" The Madame asked. They know, I realised. They know what I read in Ori's file- how her talent affected other people. But why had she never told us that, knowing it could potentially put some of us at risk? Is she really...? No!