Popularity is everything; I play a super genius

……

Echo Association.

research room.

Even during a grand event like the Tidal Show, Professor Qin remained engrossed in her research.

The assistant turned his gaze away from the window and couldn't help but speak up to remind him:

"Professor, your two daughters met in the competition... Won't you go and see them?"

"Two daughters?" Professor Qin looked up, her gaze behind her glasses calm to the point of being cold.

"I only have one daughter."

The assistant's heart skipped a beat, and he quickly changed his words:

"...It was your daughter who faced off against that student named Setsuna."

"There's no need to look at it," Professor Qin said, turning her gaze back to the data in her hands.

"Zero will win; she is my most perfect masterpiece."

……

On the arena.

In an instant, all of Wuma Ling's counterattacks were easily neutralized.

Each attempt to break through was met with repeated interceptions.

Change of direction time and time again, blocked time and time again.

Falling down time and time again, getting up time and time again.

Then he was thrown out again and again.

Sometimes they were pinned down halfway before they could even make a move, and sometimes they were so close that they couldn't even touch Wuma Ling's clothes.

In an instant, he rolled and slid across the ring.

Ugly and pathetic.

Each fall was heavier than the last, and each time I got up, I had to exert even more effort than before.

—Falling down once again.

"Shall we continue?"

Wumaling looked down at her and asked calmly.

That expressionless face endlessly overlapped with the face of someone in my memory.

For a fleeting moment, my chest felt as if something was blocking it.

"Give up."

This wasn't a sarcastic remark, but rather Wuma Ling's sincere advice to her sister.

—Are we going to admit defeat?

For a moment, I felt unwilling to accept it.

They stepped into the ring with unwavering determination to win, but the difference in talent is just that cruel.

It's unwinnable, impossible to win.

Clearly, she also put in just as much effort as the other person.

However, it is clear that there are different levels of effort.

Because that guy is a genius, her efforts are all the more valuable.

But she only had mediocre talent, so her efforts were worthless.

"But……"

"I went through the same process, I gave it my all!"

In the live stream, the girl's heartfelt words and resentful voice echoed.

At the same time, fleeting childhood memories are also flashbacks—

Setsuna's mother was a person who was extremely strict with herself.

Therefore, she asked her daughter to make the same effort as her.

She applied her own success principles to her daughter.

He is strict with himself, so he is also strict with others.

From the moment I became aware of things, I was required to follow the intensive study schedule arranged by my mother, which was done in minutes.

Physical techniques, echo theory, mind control, and fissure ecology.

There are targets for the progress of each learning activity, and there is no room for compromise on any of them.

In my childhood, I thought every mother was like that.

Therefore, I never questioned my life, but simply followed it blindly.

She had no choice but to comply.

Because if you disobey, you will be kicked out of the house barefoot or not allowed to eat for a whole day.

However, even though she was cautious and tried her best, she could never meet even half of her mother's expectations.

When Professor Qin witnessed her daughter's mediocrity, her first reaction was not anger, but bewilderment.

She doesn't understand.

Why is it that this child, who is clearly her "avatar," cannot be as perfect as her?

Could it be that there's a problem with the teaching methods?

No, one's own educational methods cannot be wrong.

Therefore, it could only be that her daughter was wrong.

This guy must have never really tried hard from the beginning.

Incredibly, despite her daughter's obvious mediocrity, Professor Qin never doubted her daughter's aptitude.

But this is less a mother's "favoritism" towards her children and more an extremely distorted form of "narcissism".

Professor Qin doubted Shana's attitude, not her own lineage.

Until utter despair.

That day, Professor Qin brought home a girl.

She bears a striking resemblance to Setsuna, except for her vacant eyes and expressionless face.

"This is your sister. She will take your place as my daughter."

Looking at that girl for a moment, I felt a sudden fear of being replaced.

Her mother's words, when spoken to young girl, sounded as if she were being told, "The weak don't deserve to have a mother."

……

Her younger sister is different from her; she is undoubtedly a genius.

He could learn anything in no time and easily met all of his mother's requirements.

In order not to be abandoned, and in order to still have a mother.

In an instant, I began to double my efforts.

However, having no talent is having no talent. No matter how hard she tried, her younger sister kept leaving her further and further behind.

As a result, her mother's gaze towards her grew increasingly cold, as if she were looking at a broken tool.

So, on that day, she knelt before her mother:

"Mom, I will try even harder! I will learn, I can learn anything, please continue to teach me... please don't give up on me!"

However, her mother simply looked at her calmly:

"No need. Your problem isn't a lack of talent, it's a flaw in your personality."

You're just pretending to work hard, but you've never really tried.

Who are you--

"Useless child."

That one sentence was like a death sentence for Setsuna.

In the final lesson, the mother pitted Zero against Setsuna.

In a split second, despite giving it his all, he was easily defeated by Zero.

So, naturally, the mother announced in front of the two of them:

"From today onwards, Aya is no longer a member of the Wuma family."

Zero, from now on, you are my real daughter, my only daughter.

……

On the arena.

Zero easily defeated her, just like that day in my memory.

She lost again.

They lost completely and utterly, without any power to resist.

"You are in a lot of pain."

Seeing her sister struggling to get up despite having already lost, Wuma Ling tilted her head, a rare hint of confusion appearing on her usually expressionless face.

"Why make yourself suffer when you could just admit defeat?"

Yes, it's very painful.

You can't deceive yourself for even a moment.

Striving is painful, but not striving is even more painful.

Because she was in so much pain, she had no choice but to fight desperately!

Because Zero, like that woman, is a genius.

Therefore, they cannot understand the suffering of an ordinary person like her.

Before meeting Saki, Setsuna thought all geniuses were like that.

Being aloof and unable to understand others means being unable to empathize with them.

That's what she always thought.

However, Saki is different.

At that moment, Setsuna suddenly remembered what had happened some time ago when Saki gave her the Echo Fragment.

At the time, she dared not accept it.

Because it was precious, because I was afraid.

"Saki-kun, it would be such a waste to give something so precious to someone like me..."

"Why would you say that?" Saki seemed surprised at the time.

"Because...I..."

"Take it. It's nothing valuable. These things are everywhere in the Sea of ​​Consciousness."

"But even so... wouldn't it be better to give it to someone else? Compared to me, someone else would definitely be able to make better use of it, like Ruri-kun..."

"Setsuna, you always seem to lack self-confidence."

"I...can't believe myself."

Because I failed too many times, because I was rejected too many times.

Because she was abandoned, a useless person.