THE STORY · EPISODE 07
Polite requests were harder to refuse.
Mana had learned that during new-graduate training. Saying “I can’t” was harder when someone smiled and said it would really help than when they gave an order with a frightening expression.
This email had supplied the smile as well.
A photograph of someone claiming to be an executive in the administrative department. A composed signature. Then a short sentence in English.
“I need your help. Please keep this confidential.”
Help me. Keep it secret.
The request that followed was to buy gift cards and send their numbers.
Mana and her companions had gathered at the doctor’s house to discuss it, looking at the screen on his desk. The doctor himself was investigating in another district.
“He looks kind, don.”
Securidon murmured.
“The photograph does.”
That was Logrin.
Mana could not look away from the part that meant “I know I can rely on you.” It was reaching for her desire to be useful, as though it knew exactly what was inside her head.
A black shadow stretched from the photograph’s edge, trying to place a familiar face inside the shield.
OPTIONAL QUESTION · 07-D1Recognizing sender spoofingWhat does spoofing mean when referring to a sender?Open illustration & choices
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“D. Faking identity or displayed information to look legitimate.”
At Mana’s command, the shield stopped at the photograph’s edge and pushed back only the shadow behind it.
“That’s different from looking kind,” Error said.
“It’s less about doubting the person than about not letting someone else use their name.”
Mana was telling herself as well.
The young staff member who had received the request was already close to proceeding with the purchase.
“They’re so busy. Surely it would be rude to take up their time checking.”
Mana understood that feeling.
That was why she could not simply begin with “That’s obviously suspicious.”
“Do they normally make requests this way?”
“No. Usually it goes through the responsible department. But they said this was urgent.”
“Have you checked why the procedure should be skipped with anyone other than the person in this email?”
The staff member looked at the screen again.
An unusual request. Secrecy. A rushed deadline. Skipped approvals. A different reply address.
Each alone might have seemed plausible. Together, every detail pointed in the same direction: away from a trustworthy contact.
“But there’s a phone number here.”
“That number was also written by whoever sent this email, wasn’t it?”
Mana felt nervous as she said it. Would it look as though she was slowing someone else’s work? Until yesterday, she might have smiled and backed down at that point.
Patchron quietly set his first-aid kit on the edge of the desk.
He said nothing. He was simply there.
Mana continued.
“Let’s check with the person or their department through contact details we already had. We can decide whether to buy after that.”
Episode 7, Illustration 1 | A smiling photograph and a secret request
OPTIONAL QUESTION · 07-A1An urgent secret gift-card requestSomeone claiming to be an executive urgently asks you to send gift-card numbers in secret. This differs from normal purchasing procedures. What should you do first?Open illustration & choices
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“A. Through contact details we already had, separate from the email.”
Mana moved beside the staff member rather than taking their device away.
“Securidon, protect us until we’ve checked. Logrin, record the differences from the usual procedure.”
She did not want her instructions to her companions to become a way of silencing the staff member.
The staff member called a number in the contact directory.
The first ring felt terribly long. At the second, the screen behind them flashed brightly.
“Why are you delaying?”
Why were they holding things up?
The smile in the photograph warped slightly.
The staff member’s hand shook. Mana sat beside them without taking the phone.
At the third ring, the official contact answered.
They verified with the person concerned. No such request had been made. There was no practice of bypassing purchasing procedures to collect gift-card numbers either.
The staff member leaned back as though setting a weight down from their shoulders.
“Confirm the request through another channel.”
Mana reread the English sentence she had seen in the doctor’s training material.
“Use a different route to check the request.”
Once they had verified with the person and department through known contact details, the smiling photograph became just an image again. A similar-sounding voice alone was not used as proof of identity.
Before closing the purchase screen they had begun opening, the staff member relayed the verification result to the contact. Mana waited beside them. Even after deciding to stop, telling one’s own supervisor took another measure of courage.
“May I write that I had help too?”
The staff member asked.
“Yes. My companions helped me too.”
At Mana’s answer, Securidon straightened. Phishingon moved his fin a little bashfully, and Patchron quietly cleared the desk.
Not a record of taking credit for stopping someone, but of making time to check together. That felt like something worth leaving here.
They reported the impersonated request. No numbers were sent, the purchase was stopped, and the responsible department was asked to share a warning.
The black shadow spilled out of the photograph. Behind the smiling mask was another mask, and another behind that. None proved who the person was.
Securidon stepped in front of Mana’s group. Logrin protected the records, and Patchron cleared a route for the staff member to leave their chair.
“We’ve verified it. Securidon, toward that false route!”
The light released at Mana’s command severed the fake reply path. The shadow changed masks, but the records Logrin had preserved did not disappear.
It could not draw someone with a reliable verification contact into a room of secrets.
When Securies touched the masks, they did not shatter. They settled quietly together.
The white face beneath looked nothing like the executive’s photograph. Little hands emerged from the edge of a black cape. The new companion held two masks: one smiling, one troubled.
“My name is Spoofon.”
His voice was oddly polite.
Looking at Mana, he raised the smiling mask, hesitated, and lowered it.
“Which face would make you trust me?”
Mana crouched.
“I’ll try not to decide from your face alone. I’ll also look at what you do from now on.”
Spoofon seemed to consider the answer for a while.
COL-003: Spoofon was registered in the WS Encyclopedia. Her seventh companion. Mana thought that what lay ahead was not a number to fill, but others she had yet to meet.
Episode 7, Illustration 2 | A request checked through another channel
Beside her, Securidon abruptly puffed out his chest.
“I’m a strong companion, don.”
Spoofon offered the troubled mask.
“Do you fall forward under your shield after that?”
“Who told you that, don?”
Mana laughed too hard to answer at once.
The doctor returned in the evening.
After reading the report, he sent a brief message of appreciation to the staff member who had made the call. He did not credit only Mana and erase that person’s judgment. Then he sat beside her.
“Did it take courage to check?”
“Yes. I didn’t want them to think I was doubting them.”
“I’d like you to check the same way if a request comes in my name.”
“You wouldn’t be angry?”
“What would trouble me is someone pretending to be me and making you rush.”
Mana remembered how long the ringing had felt.
Verification had not cut a relationship. It had stopped an impostor from using that relationship.
At dinner that night, Spoofon accepted his bread without putting on the smiling mask.
He did not need to borrow another face to show a smile.
While they were clearing up, a bright sign floated outside the window.
Free security check.
This time, it was not someone asking a favor, but something that looked like a helpful gift.
END OF EPISODE 07