The Girl Named Rein

The little girl in front of me just stared at me. After some time, even I was getting uncomfortable because I could see a faintest of contempt in her eyes.

Hey! What's with you? I am trying to be nice here!

Finally, after some time, she opened her mouth, her voice carrying abnormal tranquility and faint irritation, "Rai Kuromiya, I am not a child. I will have you know I am already in the first year of middle school."

"...oh." I pulled my hand back.

They say you learn something every day, I guess I fulfilled my quota for today; I found out I am not fond of calm children.

This child seems a lot mature than other kids her age.

"But, how do you know my name?" My eyes squinted. The blood I had let out earlier for precaution was now moving quickly at the edges of the ceiling, going behind her secretly.

She doesn't appear to know what's going on, and said neutrally, "Rai Kuromiya. You have a clean record of beating three people, two way above your rank. Although it isn't confirmed, you surely are in an alliance with the Undefeated Queen. Apart from the game, you are also quite famous. You are a songwriter and your book 'Villains' was one of the bestsellers couples of years ago."

"Thanks for the compliment, but I would like to know how you get the first piece of information." I gave a small smile. I wasn't as famous as 2-3 years ago, I didn't think many people would recognize me now.

Her brows frowned, she looked troubled. But she still showed a phlegmatic character and responded, "Can you not kill me after I tell you about it."

"Haha...I have never killed anyone and I certainly won't kill a cute child like you." I nodded.

"I am not a child," she glared at me, and added, "I am called Rein, in D-game, I am more popularly known as 'Info Broker.' "

"That still doesn't reply to my question."

"...I hacked into the security camera and saw everything."

"Is that all? Y'know before I came here, a person came to challenge me. He wanted to battle with me, and found me rather easily, don't you find something's fishy?"

"..."

"It was...me who provided him the info." She averted her eyes.

"Fair enough. It's your job after all. But I don't think you can keep your eyes on me 24/7, how did you know my exact position?"

"...I didn't. It was just a probability," I peered at her as she continued, "it's my sigil, 'Laplace'."

A probability-based Sigil, how troublesome. So she can sort of predicting the future.

I recalled my blood.

I see the feel her visibly relaxed, looks like she knew my earlier move.

"So Kuromiya-san, what are you going to do next? You know the stairs are blocked by Florist already."

"Florist? Is that the name of the responsible person?"

"Yes. He is quite secretive in his means. Because of his sigil's ability is to control plants, he is famously knowns as Florist."

"So can you predict what's his next move will be?" I had little hope, after all, if she can even predict that, then she is too overpowered.

As expected, she shook her head.

"I need a lot of information for that."

I nodded.

"Umm..."

"Hmm? What is it?" I said.

"If you are alone, why not form an alliance until we get out of here?"

If it was an ordinary scared kid, I would have rejected because she would just be a dead weight but some things made me seriously consider her proposal.

First, she is just in her 1st year of Middle School but already became a powerful hacker, it shows her intellect and will. Second, her naturally calm disposition which helps her evaluate the pros and cons even in a perilous situation. Third, she has a nickname, 'Info Broker', a nickname in any particular society isn't made up in a single day, like Shuka's nickname 'The Undefeated Queen' came into existence because she won 49 consecutive matches, that means this girl, Rein, has been in this business for some time now and her reputation seems to be quite high. Finally, her sigil, Laplace, the probability-based ability is a wild card of joker in my opinion.

As they say, an intelligent but weak person in some situations is much more useful than a hundred dumb but strong people.

If I have to be honest, I don't just want an alliance but would also like to get her in the clan.

"Hmm. That's an interesting proposal. Sure, let's have an alliance."

She nodded.

I was baffled internally. If she just wants to get out, can't we just use the elevator... why didn't she used it, is she scared?

While we were talking, we were also walking slowly. Coincidentally, just as I thought of it, the door of lift slides, revealing an unconscious body entangled in vines.

I see that's why. Now, things make sense much more. The Florist guy used the elevator as a trap.

I stepped forward in the elevator to check if the guy was salvageable, we might get some info.

"What are you doing?" Rein, behind me, inquired, perplexed.

"Well, since he still hasn't pixelated, that means he is still alive. We might get some information about the Florist guy."

"Yes. I actually overlooked this detail, I definitely thought he was dead." She sounded a little surprised.

After some time, no matter what we did, he didn't wake up. I decided to leave him be and go for the other guy on this floor. But I was surprised to find no traces of him on my floor. Where did he disappear to? Don't tell me...

I looked towards the person in the elevator.

Possibly, he was the one.

I didn't keep track of rings because I was talking to Rein.

"Rein, what do you think of this?"

"...I think Florist used elevators as a trap. It was an easy way to target someone without moving." She spoke after a moment's thought.

Suddenly I had an idea, with a smirk I said enigmatically, "Rein, you wanted to get out of here, right?"

She tilted her head, looked at me, and nodded.

I flashed a smiled.

...

"Kyaaah!! This may not be time to mention it, but I am absolutely against this idea." Rein yelled, tightly hugging me subconsciously.

Well, we were floating 50m above in air using only a platform. If she even peed, I won't blame her.

"Haha... isn't it fun though?"

"It's not!" She yelled once again.

I took my sweet time to get down while enjoying patting the girl. She is quite cute when she is scared.

After a minute, we were on the ground.

She quickly and wobbly walked, and sat on the nearby bench just outside the hotel building.

Seeing she finally calmed down, I said.

"If you are fine, why don't we go and take a look at that Florist guy."

She twisted her mouth in protest, but a thin peevish voice came out.

"Fine."