Chambering a Round

The next day, Sakura Airi and Ichinose Honami changed their approach.

During lunch break, Ichinose Honami appeared at the door of Class D as punctually as ever. But this time, she was not followed by any other students from Class B. The invisible protective net had been completely withdrawn.

"Sakura-san, shall we go eat together?"

Ichinose's smile remained as energetic as ever, as if the threatening phone call from last night had never happened. She walked in naturally, greeted a few familiar girls from Class D sitting in front of Sakura Airi, and then took hold of Sakura's wrist.

"T-thank you..." Sakura Airi still kept her head down, but her body was not as stiff as it had been before.

"Don't mention it!"

The two walked toward the cafeteria side-by-side, without taking any detours or looking around; they simply acted like the most ordinary of friends, discussing whether the cafeteria would have any new desserts today.

After school, the same scene played out again. Ichinose accompanied Sakura back to the dormitory building, and the two said their goodbyes at the elevator entrance.

This was the new strategy Natsukawa Sosuke had proposed over the phone last night—"obeying" the warning.

Since the stalker had issued a threat to "stop investigating," they would cease all overt investigative actions. This superficial retreat could lull the other party into a false sense of security, making him believe his threats had worked, while also allowing Sakura Airi to escape the special, overly-protective gaze of the Class B students.

Ichinose and Sakura Airi had returned to a surface-level calm, while Natsukawa Sosuke's operation began quietly after school.

He did not go to the library or return to his dorm; instead, with his school bag on his back just like any other student, he headed toward Keyaki Mall.

The only difference was that his bag contained a few extra items.

After finishing his call with Sakura Airi last night, Natsukawa Sosuke did not rest immediately. He knew very well that this was no ordinary obsessive fan; he had to strike hard. Since the other party used dual surveillance—online and in reality—to derive pleasure, what Natsukawa needed to do was to completely "skin" this person from the internet.

He went to the school's 24-hour convenience store and bought some inconspicuous small parts: a few 18650 batteries, a new high-speed SD card, and a black square plastic box.

Back in his dorm, he took out the small single-board computer (Raspberry Pi) he had previously used for programming practice and testing.

He flashed the system onto the SD card, installed a wireless network card, connected it to the boost module linked to the 18650 batteries, and secured everything firmly inside the black plastic box.

He had modified this device into a portable network sniffer. It was compact, had a long battery life, and could operate independently of a laptop, controlled remotely via his personal terminal.

Afterward, he applied a privacy screen protector to his laptop as a precaution. This film would make the screen content appear completely black from a side angle, visible only when viewed directly from the front.

Only after completing these preparations did Natsukawa Sosuke close his laptop.

At dusk, at Keyaki Mall.

Natsukawa Sosuke did not enter the electronics store, but instead sat down on a public bench not far outside it.

He had carefully selected this location. The foot traffic here was moderate, with students coming and going, making it perfectly normal to sit here to rest, read, or play on a phone. Most importantly, this spot happened to have a stable connection to the public Wi-Fi signal set up by the electronics store for students to test their devices.

Natsukawa Sosuke sat in a relaxed posture, taking his laptop out of his bag and placing it on his lap. He then unzipped his bag and placed the black plastic project box at the opening to ensure good signal transmission and reception.

To others, he was just an ordinary student resting on a bench, taking the opportunity to handle some business on his computer.

Natsukawa opened his laptop. Thanks to the privacy film, the screen was crystal clear to him, but to anyone on the side, it was pitch black.

He put on a single-ear Bluetooth headset; on the surface, it looked like he was listening to music, but in reality, he was connected to the black box and beginning his deployment.

His fingers tapped lightly on the keyboard.

First, connect to the target network—"Student_Test_Zone".

This was an unencrypted public network. For that electronics store clerk, using the store's own Wi-Fi was the most natural habit in the world.

Immediately after, Natsukawa launched the tools he had prepared.

The ARP spoofing program began to run.

In an instant, all data packets from devices connected to "Student_Test_Zone" in this area would pass through Natsukawa's little black box before reaching the router, only to be silently forwarded afterward.

He had become the man-in-the-middle of this bridge.

Data began to scroll wildly across his screen. The junk traffic generated by students testing phones or leeching Wi-Fi was filtered out one by one. He set a key filter—monitoring only the traffic directed to the address of Sakura Airi's blog server.

Everything was ready; all he needed was the wind.

Natsukawa Sosuke first observed the electronics store to confirm the clerk was currently inside, then took out his personal terminal and sent a message to Sakura Airi.

"Sakura-san. Now, open your blog and post a photo—anything will do. If you don't know what to post, just post a photo of your dorm desk with the caption: 'So tired today.'"

On a high floor of the dormitory building, in the girls' dorm.

Sakura Airi received Natsukawa's message. She was still a bit nervous, but she chose to trust Natsukawa unconditionally. Trembling, she took a photo of her dorm desk, added the caption "So tired today," and clicked send.

She did not know that this post was the bait Natsukawa had cast.

On the bench, Natsukawa Sosuke's gaze remained calm as he watched the screen.

He waited for about a minute.

Inside the convenience store, the clerk was listlessly wiping the counter. His phone vibrated in his pocket—a notification for a special alert from the blog. He habitually pulled out his phone, unlocked it, and tapped on the familiar avatar.

"Shizuku-chan... you're so cute today, too." He muttered to himself, a greasy smile spreading across his face.

Although he couldn't hear what was being said, the expression on the man's face made Natsukawa feel physically repulsed.

The moment he clicked on the blog, the filtered data stream on Natsukawa's laptop screen jumped violently!

The target had appeared.

A distinct stream of data was flowing from a specific IP address toward Sakura Airi's blog server.

Natsukawa's fingers did not pause for even a second. He immediately began intercepting every data packet in the session.

Because the target was accessing a blog, this outdated platform hadn't even enabled full-site HTTPS encryption. All communications, including login credentials, were laid bare on Natsukawa's screen.

He didn't need a password.

He only needed this—a Session Cookie.

It was a long string of text composed of letters and numbers. Natsukawa quickly copied it.

This string of characters was the "electronic key" the stalker used on the blog server. As long as Natsukawa held this key, he could impersonate the stalker from anywhere and log directly into the account.

At the same time, Natsukawa also took the opportunity to copy the MAC address of his phone. This unique hardware address was like a "fingerprint" for that device.

"Got you."

Natsukawa whispered in his heart. He immediately stopped the ARP spoofing and terminated the sniffing program.

The entire network returned to normal in an instant.

Natsukawa Sosuke closed his laptop, placed the small black box deep inside his backpack, and zipped it shut.

He stood up, took off his Bluetooth headset, and put it into his pocket.

From sitting down to leaving, the entire process took less than five minutes.

In the electronics store, the clerk had just finished reading Sakura's update with satisfaction and casually scrolled through other pages. He vaguely felt the network stutter for a moment, but it quickly returned to being smooth. He curled his lip, assuming it was just a normal fluctuation in the Wi-Fi.

He was completely unaware that in those few short seconds, the mask he wore in the shadows had been silently stripped away by someone else.