Rebirth: The Universe's Hidden Heiress-Chapter 71: Sorting Out Clues

After stepping out of the underground arena, Yuka completely calmed down.

She instructed the butler to choose a hotel owned by the Taira family to avoid eavesdropping or hidden cameras, and then entered the room.

Sitting cross-legged on the large bed, she opened her opticomputer and laid out all the clues she had gathered.

Yuka sighed heavily, "Now it’s clear, Nori was framed years ago. He must still be in contact with my father, but his whereabouts are unknown."

She asked the butler to project the information in the air and began carefully organizing it.

According to the timeline, combined with her logical guesses, the Alliance Science Academy had been researching the Insectoid Queen for decades by Stardate 209. They had successfully revived them, from egg to larval form, all documented in detail by Nori. However, for safety reasons, the Academy never allowed them to grow into adult forms.

This was one reason behind Humphrey’s outrageous suggestion.

After discovering Humphrey’s inhumane experiments, Nori saved Kenji and sent him to the Alliance Army. While gathering evidence of Humphrey’s misdeeds, Nori followed the dean to the location of the Gate, waiting for it to open again.

"Then I came into the picture," Yuka pondered. "Since there was little progress in the research, the dean and Nori must have returned to the Academy to continue studying the Queen."

Once Nori had sufficient evidence, he exposed Humphrey to the dean. In desperation, Humphrey released all the revived Queens. The dean, having no choice, took the Queens beyond the Alliance for destruction.

Yuka could imagine the crisis at that time, which led the dean to choose self-destruction, disappearing in the universe with the Queens.

She also knew that Nori’s arrogant nature likely offended many at the Alliance Science Academy. Most people would probably side with the deceitful Humphrey and believe his words.

The researchers were numerous, but the core members were likely just the dean, Nori, and Humphrey, otherwise, Humphrey wouldn’t have been able to frame Nori so easily.

Thus, Nori was expelled, and in Humphrey’s words, he became the traitorous deputy dean who fled with the Queens. After his expulsion, Nori was sheltered by Hideki, possibly with the involvement of the Alliance Army, allowing him to continue his research.

But Humphrey didn’t immediately become the dean after driving away Nori. The butler showed Yuka Humphrey’s resume found on the interstellarnet. "His scientific achievements weren’t sufficient at the time, so the Alliance Science Academy urgently appointed another old professor, named Tanaka Hiroshi."

"Tanaka?" Yuka recalled Kimiko mentioning her grandfather was once the dean. "Then he must be Kimiko’s grandfather."

After Tanaka stepped down, Humphrey finally served long enough to become the current dean.

Yuka mused, ’Stardate 211, the year I was born. There was a year’s gap, so was Nori researching about me all this time? Nori came to the Taira family when I was five and left quietly three years later. So what was Nori doing before I turned five?’

’I was suddenly sent to Capital Octoxis to attend UUA and specialize in mecha, clearly a manipulation involving the Alliance Army. Did they reach some kind of agreement about me?’

Rubbing her face, Yuka remembered Hideki’s words about revealing the agreement’s details only when she made her "final decision." She put this aside for now.

The current question for Yuka was, why those involved in research of the Gate didn’t support Nori, obviously knowing he was innocent.

Yuka blurred her intel sources and messaged Hideki about his whole thing, asking why Nori’s name hadn’t been cleared after so many years.

Hideki quickly replied, "Yuko, why are you still up so late?"

"It’s only seven in the evening, Dad," Yuka replied. "I’ll go to bed right after you tell me."

Hideki asked if the source was from the Alliance Army, ready to confront the General Fleet Admiral if so. Yuka assured him it wasn’t.

After a pause, Hideki explained, "There was insufficient evidence against Humphrey at the time. Secondly, Humphrey, being the current empress’s brother and closely linked to the royal family, made it difficult for the Alliance Army to openly oppose the royalty. Lastly, they suspected Humphrey might still be conducting research on the Queens in secret. The recent appearance of soldier insectoids was likely his doing, and they couldn’t risk alerting him."

"Nori doesn’t care about these things," Hideki added. "He believes there are only a few people in the world worth his attention. To him, Humphrey is just a clown."

After a moment of silence, Yuka said, "I understand, Dad. Goodnight."

Hideki replied, "Sleep well, Yuko. Goodnight."

Yuka switched screens, instructing the butler to encrypt all the data in the opticomputer. She then told Black One to securely preserve Humphrey’s notes without telling anyone.

They might not be able to vindicate Nori yet, but she wouldn’t rush.

When she had enough evidence, she’d strike Humphrey at the right time, pinning him to a pillar of shame and stripping him of everything.

However, simple notes weren’t enough to convict him; she needed more substantial evidence.

Yuka hesitated about contacting Kenji. Kenji might remember some specifics about Humphrey, and with the help of the notes, he could serve as a key witness. However, reaching out to Kenji would reveal her knowledge of his past, potentially leading to awkward future interactions and possibly drawing attention to the stolen notes from the restricted area. Thus, she decided against it for now.

Kimiko’s grandfather could be another knowledgeable source, but her sudden contact could also risk exposing the restricted area incident. Yuka decided to have Kimiko subtly ask her grandpa on her behalf.

Deciding on her course of action, Yuka messaged Kimiko via the opticomputer. She hinted at possible issues with the current dean and asked Kimiko to discreetly ask her grandfather if he ever found Humphrey suspicious or if there were any doubts about him.

After a while, Kimiko replied, "Okay, I’ll ask him over the weekend and let you know when I’m back at school."

Yuka thanked her with an emoji and then shared this development with Ayoi and Alex in their group chat.

Ayoi and Alex were shocked. Alex expressed concern for Toru, who admired Humphrey and dreamt of becoming his assistant at the Alliance Science Academy. Agreeing to keep this from Toru for now, the conversation continued with Ayoi struggling to remain calm at the revelation about the dean.

While Ayoi was still agitated in the chat, Yuka, having finished her bath, chose a melodramatic show to watch before going to bed.

She had a good night’s sleep, but Philip didn’t enjoy such comfort.

Tossing and turning in bed, he replayed the day’s arena battle with "Lady" over and over in his mind, unable to find a way to defeat her—her close combat skills were simply unbeatable! Just like those annoying people from the Atlantis Academy.

’Why do I, the king of long-range shooting, have to compete with someone skilled in close combat?’

Gradually, Philip’s mindset shifted. He angrily punched the mattress, more determined to participate in the team competition tomorrow. He was set on avoiding another encounter with "Lady."

The next day, Mr. Bald, looking numb, asked Yuka, "Couldn’t you pick another place to meet?"

"This place is fine," Yuka replied while munching on a pancake. "Tell me about the top four competitors."

She waved to Ayoi and Alex at the door, signaling them to come over.

Mr. Bald, feeling the trio’s gaze on him, rubbed his bald head and grumbled, "You won’t make it to the top five anyway. Why bother knowing so much?"

Ayoi and Alex glanced at the pink mecha ranked fifth on the ranking board, then back at Mr. Bald, holding back their words.

Mr. Bald sighed, "Alright, consider this an eye-opener. Let’s start with the third and fourth place. Rumor has it they’re twins, not newcomers but veterans."

"They compete in both individual and team events and excel in close combat. The two have an almost telepathic understanding," Mr. Bald said regretfully. "But rumor has it that they’ve been recruited by the Alliance Army and probably won’t compete this year. So, that flashy pink mecha in fifth place only needs to beat the top two."

Yuka noticed Ayoi’s expression turning odd and whispered, "What’s wrong?"

Ayoi moved her lips, then lowered her head and sent a message in their group chat.

Ayoi: "Mr. Bald might be talking about my twin brothers."

Yuka and Alex: "?"

Ayoi: "They’re really good at close combat. My shooting skills were developed to complement their close-combat style... Never mind. They always bragged about having a way into the Alliance Army, but I never believed them since they’re habitual liars. Just yesterday, they actually packed their bags and joined the Alliance Army, saying they got in through underground matches."

Ayoi excitedly said, "But this means Yuka only needs to defeat two people to become the champion! [PartyPopperEmoji]"

Alex joined in, "[PartyPopperEmoji]"

Yuka responded with "[PartyPopperEmoji]"

Turning her attention back to the task at hand, Yuka closed her opticomputer and looked up at Mr. Bald.

"Mr. Bald," she began, "tell us about the top two competitors."

Mr. Bald, busy exchanging money for chips with a customer, replied nonchalantly to Yuka, "I’ll tell you later when I have time."

Yuka shrugged at Ayoi and Alex, suggesting, "Let’s head to the team competition then."

The trio entered a room and lay in the holographic pods, arriving at the starting interface. In the team chat, Yuka asked, "What kind of map should we choose this time? I want to try something different."

Ayoi and Alex were indifferent, replying, "Yeah, whatever."

Yuka scrolled through the map options on the light screen, then paused and pointed out, "Look at this city map, doesn’t it look a lot like the one from our mid-term exam?"

"It really does," Ayoi remarked. "But Yuka, are you okay? Last time you..."

"That fainting was an accident," Yuka interrupted. "And there are no insectoids in this map. Let’s choose this one."

After getting their agreement, Yuka confirmed the selection, and they entered the map.

In the commentary booth, Roukujou rubbed his hands excitedly, "Ladies and gentlemen, Pinky has chosen the team battle today! Let’s see... Huh?"

[Saltyfish, you’re in luck! The famous commentator Olivia Shaw has invited you to co-commentate! She’s very pretty.]

[Accept her invitation! Quick!]

Commentary collaboration was indeed possible. Although Roukujou knew other famous commentators’ channel numbers, he had never used the commentary booth’s collaboration feature. Hesitating for a second, he accepted Olivia’s invite.

He remembered that Olivia was the commentator for Hephaestus. Maybe she wanted to gather information after Pinky defeated Hephaestus last time, making them lose face.

"Hello Saltyfish, and hello to all our viewers!" Olivia greeted sweetly, waving at the camera. "I’m Olivia, the commentator for Hephaestus, and I hope to co-commentate today’s team match between Hephaestus and ’Lady’ with Saltyfish."

"That’s right!" Roukujou suddenly realized that Pinky’s opponent, the blue team, was indeed Hephaestus’ team, "Origio."

"Sure," Roukujou steadied himself and smiled at Olivia, "I’m also looking forward to commentating today’s match with you."

The audience, always eager for excitement, chimed in with comments: [Let the battle begin!]

[Saltyfish, don’t be nervous, Pinky will definitely win!]

[Olivia is so pretty, I’ll go check her out first and be right back.]

[Go Pinky and Saltyfish!]