Chapter Three / 11 : 00 / Pedrolino

The central, eastern, and southern marketplaces made up the three primary markets in Shangri-La Grid.

These markets offered everything from everyday necessities like food and clothes, to real estate, mechanical parts for automata among other things, and of course, stuff like weapons, drugs, and slaves—all sorts of business, both legal and illegal, was conducted in these markets managed by Market.

Similarly, in the western part of the city was an entertainment district managed by Restaurant.

Behind the scintillating businesses there selling alcohol, drugs, and sex were those that dealt in human trafficking, organ harvesting, and even “furniture” made using humans. The district was a cesspool of evil and degeneracy that monopolized a part of the black market whose sellers and buyers would be punished to the full extent of the law and beyond in any other grid.

Currently, the head of Market was a man called Don Carlos.

Meanwhile, the boss of Restaurant was a woman known as Mother Angela.

Each of them was, respectively, the head of one of the three main syndicates in the city—figures who ruled Shangri-La Grid along with Arsenal’s Kiu Tai Yu, but in reality, almost nobody in the city bothered to consider them.

All things considered, it hadn’t even been half a year yet since the two of them rose to their respective positions.

And no one believed that the two would still be in said positions half a year from now, either.

The general consensus among the city’s residents was that the ruler of Shangri-La Grid was Kiu Tai Yu and his organization, Arsenal—which was headquartered at the city’s core tower and had branches at each of the city’s clock towers.

That said, it was nonetheless true that the other two were still leading figures in the city at the moment.

If the two of them were to meet face to face out in the open, word would quickly get out that the state of affairs in Shangri-La Grid was about to be shaken up drastically. As the bosses of two of the city’s three top syndicates, neither of them could avoid having their actions scrutinized by the city’s residents.

As such, the two of them stealthily met up at a lonesome bar on the outskirts of the city, bringing along as few bodyguards as they could get away with.

“Looks like Kiu Tai Yu’s made his move—the crazy bastard,” Don Carlos spat out.

He was a hulk of a man, his giant body teeming with muscles. His light brown skin was covered in tattoos everywhere, from his face to his arms and legs. They were given to him by the Latin American mafia group that backed him, as a symbol of their kinship.

“Oh? You made a move knowing that this was a possibility, didn’t you, my boy?” Mother Angela replied as she puffed her pipe with a smile.

She looked to be about the age of a young girl who had just entered primary school, so the black and white habit she was wearing looked awfully mismatched. Despite how she was dressed, however, the coquettish expression in her eyes, the suggestive makeup she was wearing, and her friendly, flirtatious demeanor could hardly be seen as anything but the traits of an experienced prostitute.

Considering the anti-aging technology available in the city, it wouldn’t be surprising if, in reality, she was a grandma who was over a hundred years old.

“You think you’re not involved? If this continues, you’ll fall into ruin as well.”

“Ah yes, that’s it. That’s what I wanted to hear.” Angela paused to tap her pipe against the ashtray, then continued, “I heard that Kiu personally made his way to the agent’s den... I take it that the ploy to try to forge a relationship with Second Ypsilon by buying off that agent belonged to you, yes?”

“That’s right,” Carlos replied as he rubbed the fingers of both his hands past each other nervously. “But you tacitly agreed, fully knowing about it. Don’t act dumb with me when his mistress was raised by you.”

“Yeah. She was killed though, unfortunately,” Angela muttered as she narrowed her eyes. “Shirley, you poor girl... Kiu is so violent, though. I wonder if he even realizes just how much money was spent on that girl’s plastic surgery. It’s a big loss for me.”

“Who cares about your whores? The problem is, he’s found out that we’ve broken the pact, and without us gaining anything in return, at that... If things continue like this, he’ll be the sole winner of all this.”

“My, but the only one who broke the pact is you, isn’t it? It’s true that I had looked after Shirley, but it’s not like I gave her any specific orders.”

“Ohhh?” Carlos uttered with an openly mocking expression, then snarled, “Are you suggesting that you’ve got nothing to do with it, then? Are you going to insist that the fact that that girl was there was just a mere coincidence to the bitter end?”

“What bitter end? I’m simply telling the truth.”

“Do you think he’d buy that excuse of yours?”

“...Let’s say that she was a spy, for argument’s sake. So what? Sending spies into a rival’s turf is hardly anything special.”

“That’s your justification? Hah, if you seriously plan to use that excuse, you might as well suck him off instead. If you’re going to beg for his mercy, you’d have more hope doing that.”

“Well, if he’d actually let me, I am confident that I could give him a pretty good time, but...” Angela said as she wrapped her tongue around her pipe’s mouthpiece and sucked. Chk. She smiled. “Well, fine I guess. It doesn’t do me any good to play a game of psychological cat and mouse with you anyway. I’ll admit it. It’s true that I was planning to break the pact and forge an alliance with them myself, should the opportunity have risen. I’m a woman who made it to where I am today starting as a mere call girl, you know? Of course I’ve got ambition in me—”

Angela and Carlos’s eyes locked with each other.

At the end of the day, Kiu Tai Yu was an obstacle to these two. So long as he lived, the two of them couldn’t become the true rulers of the city. And that was hardly the end of it. If they just stood by with their arms folded, they’d lose their current positions before half a year was up. It wouldn’t be strange at all if it happened by assassination as well.

—I have to do something.

And that was when Second Ypsilon barged onto the scene.

A group of wandering terrorists mighty enough to have even led the Japanese military by their nose—not taking the opportunity simply wasn’t an option.

To that end, Don Carlos made the first move.

He had bought off Arsenal’s agent, whom Second Ypsilon had made contact with, and had the agent try to lure them into allying themselves with him.

And Mother Angela had sent a prostitute in her care to become the agent’s mistress, so that the girl could keep an eye on the state of affairs while trying to win over Second Ypsilon for her. In the case that that didn’t work out, she had planned to guard herself from any fallout by proactively reporting Market’s actions to Kiu.

However... that plan was crushed by Kiu Tai Yu, who had anticipated everything. Not only that, he successfully took the opportunity of the mess to make Second Ypsilon into his allies.

Carlos’s face turned bright red with anger. He said resentfully, “I won’t let him do as he pleases any longer. I’m not going to let him continue to fatten up while I just look on with my thumb in my mouth. We have to make a move somehow.”

“Well then, we only have one option left. Kiu only captured one of the two heads of Second Ypsilon... If we can drag the remaining one into our side, we’ll be able to put up a fight against him.”

“Exactly. —But is the rumor that the little brat is Marie Bell Breguet really true? Isn’t that girl the one that’s supposed to have died?”

“Yes, it’s basically an open secret at this point. It’s probably safe to say, given their respective resumes, that Second Ypsilon depends on this little missy for their clocksmithing needs far more than the boy. ...Frankly, I’m surprised to hear that you didn’t know this, little Carlos,” Angela razzed with a smirk on her face.

Carlos replied with a sour face, “Our organization is based in Latin America. Things that happen in Asia’s boonies are outside of my expertise.”

“We’re out in one of those boonies right now you know, boy. If the head of the organization that controls the flow of money and information in the city is so poorly informed, then we’re really in trouble. Are you sure there isn’t something going on without your knowledge at Market?”

“How nice of you to say. But even Market’s not a monolith. If I had tried to find out by asking within the organization carelessly, there’s a chance that a spy would have leaked to Kiu what I was up to. That’s exactly why we need more power right now to pull ahead.”

“Stuck between a rock and a hard spot, huh...” Angela said with a bitter smile. However, she wasn’t so immune herself from problems within her own organization.

She might have better rein over Restaurant than Carlos did over Market, but that didn’t change the fact that the primary constituents of her organization were whores and their pimps, junkies, and back-alley doctors—all worthless trash who devoted their lives to the impulsive pursuit of pleasure. They could hardly be counted upon.

That was precisely why she had sought to attain an ability to execute a reliable chain of command that could rival the other two organizations.

“Where’s that little girl right now?”

“At Pandora’s Inn. Seems she’s returned to their rooms. But I wouldn’t try to abduct her by force right this moment if I were you. She’s got Initial-Y automata guarding her.”

“I was told that their master is the boy and not the girl, though?”

“That’s what I heard as well. From what I can tell... Kiu probably has some sort of trump card against them.”

“A trump card...?” Carlos asked with a skeptical face.

Angela sighed. “Use your head a little, would you. As crazy as Kiu is, he wouldn’t be stupid enough to challenge two Initial-Y Series automata to a straight-up fight, right?”

“Hm? ...Well, that’s true, but...”

“In other words, Kiu must have some sort of trump card that he’s using to hold them back from rescuing their master. Now, listen to me: we need to look for the right time to make a move.”

“...I see what you’re trying to say. In short, we need to make Kiu use up his trump card, then strike when the Initial-Y automata stop guarding the girl, right?”

“That’s how it is.” Angela nodded as she threw her chest out.

Internally, however, she was groaning.

...I’d heard that the guy was a meathead, but to think that a guy like this could become the head of Market...

“Whoever takes charge now won’t last long anyway, so just have a bumbling idiot take up the reins for now.” —So said an executive from Market’s parent organization in a closed meeting, according to one of my little birds. And it appears to be true.

If I don’t take charge here, even a promising plan would end up failing. If that led only to his own demise, then whatever, but as things stand, he’d end up dragging me down with him. I’m simply not going to have that.

...Hmm, disposing of him now might be an option as well.

How the labor and risk match up to the potential reward; the point at which she should abandon ship and cut her losses; how she could at ensure her own safety in the worst-case scenario.

Restaurant’s head continued on with the secret meeting as she worked through various considerations in her head.

●

Meanwhile—at Pandora’s Inn.

After Halter had taken Naoto away with him, Marie had returned to their hotel and confined herself to the workshop in their suite, working silently on AnchoR’s repairs post haste.

It’d been two days since then.

During that whole time, Marie hadn’t consumed anything besides jelly drinks. She had continued to work nearly nonstop, with very little sleep or breaks in between.

However, she was still currently struggling with repairing the main frame’s distortion, which wasn’t all that surprising, considering how badly it had been bent.

She was just about finished with all the repairs apart from that, however. She had restored AnchoR’s missing limbs, replaced her damaged shock absorbers, and rethreaded her damaged nerve wires—the repairs she had done should have been nearly perfect.

However, she could already see the main frame still causing problems if she were to hook everything up to it now.

Combat maneuvers were completely out of the question. If AnchoR rashly tried to fight anyway, all the burden would solely be placed on her distorted main frame now that her other parts were all fully restored, which could very well result in her main frame finally breaking.

“...Damn it, I’m at my wits’ end.”

Having used every last bit of brainpower and done all she could—Marie looked up and gazed at the ceiling.

She had flopped backwards onto the floor of the workshop without the strength left to stand back up.

As Marie continued gazing at the ceiling in a daze, RyuZU’s face popped up in her field of view.

RyuZU began, “I seem to recall that two days ago, I heard you say something like, ‘If I just fix AnchoR up, I can turn this situation around! All you who dared to mess with me, just you watch. I’m a woman who refuses to believe that anything’s impossible—’ with an awfully smug face. With that in mind, could I ask you to share how you are feeling now?”

“Don’t bully me...” Marie whimpered. She didn’t even have the energy to fight back anymore.

It goes without saying that she had tried everything there was to try. Continuing to try to tackle the problem with the same approach wouldn’t lead to any results.

To progress beyond the current state required a decisive breakthrough of some sort.

“There’s a chance I might hit upon something if I went with brute force trial and error, but it’d be a gamble at best. And one with worse odds than winning the EuroMillions Lottery, at that.”

“I would imagine so. At present, we are lacking in everything.”

“...We don’t have the luxury of taking our time with it either, yet...”

“Well, there is really no need for you to feel discouraged you know, Mistress Marie,” RyuZU said with a gentle smile. “I never expected anything from you to begin with anyway, so this outcome was within my expectations as well. Should you have somehow surprised me with success, however, I was seriously prepared to prostrate myself before you in disgrace, but well, miracles are called miracles because they do not occur in reality.”

“—That so. Guess I shouldn’t have tried so hard then, huh,” Marie growled with her eyes half-closed, then sighed. She gathered herself and said with a serious expression, “...There’s no choice but to shelve the plan to restore AnchoR into a combat force for us.”

“It appears so, yes.”

“In that case, having you conduct a blitz operation would be the fastest way to rescue Naoto, but...” Marie muttered.

To which RyuZU shrugged and said dispassionately, “With all due respect, Mistress Marie. If I were to leave your side under the present circumstances, some kind of ruffian would probably show up here before even a few minutes have gone by. If you are fine with that, then so am I. But I cannot let AnchoR get caught up with in the mess as well.”

“...I know that.”

Indeed, Marie understood the current situation.

That right now, she was just a hindrance to everyone.

If it were purely a contest of power, the factions in Shangri-La Grid posed no threat whatsoever.

They wouldn’t even need to restore AnchoR into fighting shape. Simply letting RyuZU run amok for, say, a little less than an hour would be enough to neutralize all the soldiers and arms in the city.

And if they had Marie’s technical skills and Naoto’s hearing, they could even seize control over the grid itself.

That was why Marie had thought that they could manage, even if they were to make enemies of the entire world—

That’s what she had thought, anyway.

“...I know,” Marie repeated herself.

—Just like Halter said, I got carried away.

That confidence of mine was easily shattered. All our counterplays were sealed, just like that. Was our seemingly unrivaled strength always this frail in reality?

...That might indeed be true.

If there’s someone out there that truly wants to eliminate us, then things like combat or technical prowess don’t mean a damn thing—there are any number of ways someone could use to eliminate us.

Halter said this: “If there’s someone out there that truly wants to eliminate us, then things like combat or technical prowess don’t mean a damn thing—there are any number of ways someone could use to eliminate us.”

Now that I think back on it, that might have been him giving me a cautionary warning in his own way.

Or perhaps, a preliminary notice of what was to come.

“...”

—Halter betrayed me.

Chewing over that fact once again, Marie let out a deep sigh.

The rut that we’re stuck in is probably something that Halter intentionally manufactured.

If what they were after was Second Ypsilon’s technical strength, they could have taken me with them instead.

The reason they deliberately chose Naoto over me was the result of a thorough, rational, and calm analysis. They understood that, if they just restrained Naoto, they could completely neutralize our ability to fight.

If they had hypothetically taken me instead, RyuZU would surely have acted without hesitation.

And if Naoto were in my place right now instead, he could use his hearing to uncover the enemy’s location and numbers, and use that knowledge to come up with the optimal rescue plan.

Despite our reputation as unstoppable terrorists who took on the world—Halter has managed to drive a wedge into our “gears” with utmost precision.

—And he did it by judging me to be the weak link, at that.

“That. Bastard...”

Thinking about it made Marie boil with fury, feeding her thoroughly exhausted body with energy.

However, there was nothing she could do about the present situation.

Marie had no choice but to wait for the tides to turn, even as she was burning up in fury.

●

Naoto was walking through a dimly lit corridor, along with Giovanni and Nono.

Well—it wasn’t exactly the kind of hallway that one would typically associate with that word, though. They were walking through a compartment away from the central forum.

Enormous gears, cylinders, springs, and wires were clanking along all around them. The latticework that supported all these parts was as complicated as the skeletal structure of an organism.

Even with all the arduous walking they’d done, Naoto, Giovanni, and Nono had only made their way through but a mere fraction of the mechanisms that supported the city called Shangri-La.

After lifting his foot to step over a large pipe that ran along the floor, Giovanni said, “Phew... My age is getting to me, it seems. Mind if we take a short break?” He paused, smiling wryly. “—The others can’t see you here. We don’t have to walk around like this just to buy time, right?”

Naoto stopped dead in his tracks, flinching. “Ha, haha... What are you talking about?”

“No need to hide it from me,” Giovanni continued with a softened expression. “You don’t actually need to walk all over this core tower to grasp its structure. Simply staying in one spot and focusing silently on what you hear for a while should be enough. Am I wrong?”

He wasn’t wrong.

In fact, Naoto had already grasped the entirety of this core tower.

If he was up for it, he could probably seize control over this core tower all by himself.

The reason he was still making rounds throughout the various floors under the guise of sounding things out was, as the old man had pointed out—simply to buy time.

Naoto fell silent, upon which Giovanni sat down on the pipe and said, “I’m not really chastising you. It’s just that walking all over the place is a little tough on these old bones, you see.”

Hearing that, Naoto finally relented and nodded.

Well, I’m guilty as charged.

It’d be difficult for me to escape by my own abilities. I have the feeling that trying would simply worsen the situation. Halter seems to have some sort of plan, but I have no idea what it might be.

AnchoR—and I guess Marie as well, should be fine with RyuZU to protect them, but I obviously have no way to contact them right now, so I don’t know what their current status is either.

For now, I figured I’d scrounge up as much time as I could to give Marie and RyuZU some time to judge the situation before they make a move together, regardless of what Halter’s aim is.

However,

“You seem to be hesitating over something,” Giovanni said with the casualness of small talk.

“...It’s more like I’m stumped.” Naoto nodded. “I can’t imagine it being a good idea to just obediently do as that crazy old man says and give him the keys to the core tower.”

“You’re being threatened at gunpoint. There’s no choice, is there? Or do you not mind dying?”

“I do,” Naoto immediately replied, “but even so, giving something that I know is dangerous over to a madman, then acting like whatever happens has nothing to do with me, doesn’t sit right with me either. Though frankly, I couldn’t care less about this city itself.”

“So in short, your conscience is bothering you?”

“Well... yeah, that’s right.”

“...Looking at it objectively,” Giovanni said, “Kiu Tai Yu is a scoundrel, no mistake about that. He doesn’t think anything about killing people for his own benefit. Should you hand over the keys to the core tower over to him, he’d surely use it, not for the city’s interests, but his own, and end the lives of many in the process.”

“......”

“As bad as he is, though, you can’t really call him a liar. It might be hard for you to accept this, but in terms of keeping his promises, you could even call the man virtuous.”

“Seriously? That guy...?”

“He’s honest in his dealings in the underworld at least. Just think about it. He’s known as the man who doesn’t lie, you know?” The old man paused to let the significance of that sink into Naoto’s head before continuing, “And Kiu’s interests are directly tied to this city’s interests as a whole as well. If he can strengthen his control over the city, the city will become more stable. He may be immoral, extremist, and vicious, but him being the one most suited to supervise Shangri-La Grid is a matter of fact.”

“So... are you saying that you approve of that guy ruling over this city, Master?”

“No?” Giovanni denied readily, but then corrected himself, “Well, that’s not quite right either. I’m the same as you—I don’t really care about what happens to this city itself. But, I just don’t want things getting too noisy around me, so I can concentrate properly on my work.”

“—”

Naoto recalled the children who had been murdered—or rather, reflected on them. After all, one couldn’t say that he was recalling them if he didn’t even know their faces or names.

Still, the shrieks he heard back then were unforgettable.

He recalled the sinking weight he felt in his stomach when Halter had asked him what that had to do with him.

As sound as Halter’s cold call to abandon them to their fate was, it bothered him relentlessly.

—Son of a bitch, Naoto thought as he hung his head down. The hell am I supposed to do about something like this.

To which Giovanni began, “So basically, that man rubs you the wrong way, yes?”

“...Yes.”

“Well then, it’s simple, isn’t it. Just don’t obey his orders,” the old man said like it was nothing.

Naoto opened his mouth dumbfoundedly. Without thinking, he asked, “Master, aren’t you supposed to be keeping tabs on me, if only in name?”

“Of course. That’s the job I’ve taken on. I’ll tell you now that if you’re going to try to escape, then sorry, but I won’t let you. That said,” the old man paused, “frankly, the structure of this core tower in its entirety is way too complex for me to grasp. In other words, if you just stay here and work obediently, there’s no way for me to check whether what you make will actually fulfill Kiu’s demand. —And that goes for the blockheads on the first floor as well.”

Naoto gulped audibly. “So basically... even if I make something completely different—”

“I’m a professional, which is why, on the pride of my reputation, I’d never cut corners on a job I’ve accepted... But, as shabby as my workshop may be, I still have the right to kick out customers I don’t like, so...”

Then, Giovanni suddenly changed the subject.

“—What do you think of ‘Y’?”

“What do you mean...?”

“He, or maybe it was a she, or a they—whatever the case, do you reckon that the entity behind the reconstruction of this planet considered questions like what their creations may ultimately lead to?”

Naoto’s face was blank, to which the old man smiled bitterly and said, “—Unlike you, I can’t fathom the entirety of a core tower. However, from my many years of experience—how should I put it, I can at least pick up on what the maker was thinking when I look at a mechanism, or so I like to think.”

“What the maker was thinking...?”

“Yes—what he had been thinking, what he had wished for, what goal he had in mind in making it. The textbooks say that ‘Y’ reproduced the world with gears to save humanity from the brink of extinction, but... personally, I hardly see how that could be true.”

Giovanni paused, extending his right arm towards Naoto. He was holding a clockwork mechanism that had been turning without pause since a thousand years ago.

“—Look, at this bizarre mechanism! Can you sense any consideration whatsoever towards those who might try to maintain it down the line? And add to that the fact that ‘Y’ disappeared after forcing such technology onto posterity without explaining the set of theories behind how he made it!”

Indeed, “Y” had left zero clues behind.

Not a single theory, discovery, proof, or even a scribbled note of his was known to exist.

He had suddenly appeared out of nowhere, and left behind things that no one could understand—

“To me, it sounds like this is what he’s saying— ‘I thought of something interesting and felt like I could actually materialize it, so I gave it a try and it was fun. You guys can take care of the rest.’ —That’s the kind of childishness I sense emanating from it.”

“—Yeah, good point. I agree.” Naoto nodded.

I agree completely. Stuff like rescuing humanity or prolonging the life of the planet... doesn’t seem like something “Y” would do. If I were “Y,” such secondary concerns probably wouldn’t even cross my mind when making something as grand as the Clockwork Planet—

Giovanni said, “I’m but a humble professional, in the end. I give my customers what they want in exchange for fair pay and do my work with pride. That’s why I can’t just give stuff away for free. If I were to make something that no one’s ordered just to flaunt my skills, that would disqualify me as a professional. However,” he sighed, “—was ‘Y’ a professional clocksmith? Did our ancestors pay ‘Y’ a fair price? If he wasn’t paid, then the Clockwork Planet we live on still belongs to him—it’d mean that we’re mere tenants of this planet, not owners.”

His tone matched his dismissive words.

However, Naoto sensed a complex array of emotions underneath it. Respect, admiration, a target to compare himself against, or perhaps—someone he can’t lose to as a real clocksmith, with the pride of one as well.

Naoto asked, “Then, what was ‘Y’ in your eyes?”

“Someone who simply creates as he wishes, showing off his skills without being asked to or receiving compensation.” Giovanni smiled bitterly. “—That’s what we call an artist. Or, at the very least, someone who acts solely according to his own curiosity and taste. He can’t be called a professional by any means. Now then,” Giovanni said as he stood up. He straightened his posture and gazed at Naoto with his amber eyes as he calmly asked,

“—On the flip side, who are you? A spettatore, pursuing the full understanding of ‘Y’s’ creation? An artigiano, who fulfills his customers’ requests? Or an artista, who gives form to the things he wants to see in the world?”

—The answer was obvious.

There was no way that Naoto would be satisfied with just following after another’s footsteps, nor could he tell the embarrassing lie that the things he’d done up to now were for someone else’s sake.

That was true for both him—

—and Marie.

He had tried to do what he wanted, how he wanted—that was all there was to it.

“—I see.”

Everything suddenly fell into place in Naoto’s mind.

Naoto felt almost as if gears within him that had slipped out of alignment had clicked together again perfectly. What he wanted to do became aligned with what he felt he should do.

He let out a sigh, then a little smile crept onto his face. Looking up, he saw a myriad of enormous parts intricately intertwined with each other, forming a small universe in itself.

While facing the deep darkness above him, he muttered, “I know you’re there, old man Vermouth. Come out for a sec, won’t you.”

“—Oh my, you’re askin’ for me, son?”

A response came immediately.

A silhouette wove through the lattices and dropped down from the darkness. It was a beautiful blond-haired automaton—turned into an artificial body for Vermouth. He had a disdainful grin on his face.

“I’m surprised you realized I was here.”

“I’ve already grasped this core tower’s structure perfectly. If there’s any noise that doesn’t belong and that I’ve heard before, I can tell what it is, even if I’d rather not... Anyway, why are you here?”

“I’d heard some dangerous rumors, y’see. Stuff like Market and Restaurant teaming up to topple Kiu Tai Yu, Arsenal getting its hands on an Initial-Y... and right, something about Second Ypsilon splitting apart due to a traitor making his move?”

“So I guess you know the rough situation.” Naoto nodded.

To which Vermouth’s grin grew wider and he said, “More or less. I’m just a weak little fly, so I can’t risk letting anyone see me at a precarious time like this. That’s why I hid myself here underground, where I’ve been gathering information while making certain preparations. And I figured I might as well come and check if you’re being picked on while I was at it.”

“Wow, I think I’m going to cry tears of gratitude... It’s a good thing you showed up when you did. There’s something I want you to help me with.”

“Sorry, but I can’t help you escape, if that’s what you want,” Vermouth said in anticipation of what Naoto was going ask. He looked apprehensively at the automaton standing silently next to Giovanni as he continued, “Ferrying a small piece of luggage like you out of here... isn’t really undoable, but this missy over here is way too much for me to handle.”

“Wow, so you can tell, huh?” Naoto muttered with widened eyes.

To which Vermouth dropped his shoulders dejectedly.

“—Bullseye, huh. ...My last smoke tasted nasty, so I had a feeling,” he sighed. “There’s just this dangerous aura coming from her. If you underestimate her because of her appearance, you’ll pay heftily for it. That’s what my rock-hard intuition is telling me. A frightening missy, to be sure.”

“Si— I am honored to receive your compliment,” Nono said with a courteous bow.

“That wasn’t a compliment,” Vermouth muttered in annoyance.

Naoto laughed humorlessly, shaking his head. “In any case, I’m not talking about helping me escape. I’d like you to relay a message and a package to Marie for me.”

“Hmmmm? I’m fine with that, but is this grandpa here going to let me?” Vermouth questioned.

To which Giovanni nodded with a regal air and said, “I don’t mind. I was told to keep tabs on the boy so he doesn’t escape, but they didn’t mention that I should stop him from contacting others.”

“You’re splittin’ hairs, Grandpa.”

“Is there even a single thing in human society that isn’t justified through sophistry?” Giovanni replied with a still face.

“You got that right,” Vermouth laughed.

As Naoto also burst into laughter, he turned around, then said, “Master, please let me buy the main frame you made for AnchoR. As for the payment... I don’t have cash on me right now, but I’ll definitely pay you afterwards.”

“—You don’t need to. If you want it, then you can have it. It’s not like that thing can be used for any other purpose.”

“Eh... But Master, I thought you couldn’t just give stuff away for free?” Naoto asked with a puzzled face.

To which Giovanni answered, “I can’t take money for some half-assed work that I made in just one night without even taking measurements. In this case, taking money for it would do far more damage to my reputation than giving it away,” he snorted, then continued with a gentler expression, “If it bothers you, then bring the pipsqueak on over to my workshop again when you guys have her fixed. I’ll grade that Miss on how well she did as I make some fine-tunings.”

“Grade?”

“Yeah—should she have done a poor job, then you guys better prepare yourselves for a hefty bill.”

“No worries about that. That girl’s filthy rich, and besides—” Naoto paused for a breath, then continued with a suggestive smile, “there’s no way that that hysteric walking landmine, who’s the sorest loser I’ve ever known, won’t blow up upon seeing this.”

“Well then, I guess I’ll expect good things,” Giovanni laughed.

Then, after Vermouth was entrusted with Naoto’s message to Marie, he picked up the trunk case in which the main frame for AnchoR had been stuffed and slipped into the darkness beyond the latticework once again.

As Naoto saw Vermouth off, he suddenly recalled something. He yelled out, “Ah— Sorry, I forgot one last thing!”

“What, son?”

“If you happen to see old man Halter, tell him this for me—”

Upon hearing Naoto’s message, Vermouth exploded in laughter before melding into the darkness for good this time.

●

The core tower was surrounded by streets with clear views on all sides, forming something like a plaza.

There, peddlers without their own stores came in the morning and set up open stalls with their goods, together forming a disorderly market.

There was no real rhyme or reason to the items being sold. Beside elite goods and rare items being sold for dirt cheap was stuff that looked like junk, no matter how one looked at it, being bought at exorbitant prices.

The things being sold here were all potentially once-in-a-lifetime finds, but it was unclear whether they were authentic or not. In all honesty, neither the sellers nor the buyers really knew what they were dealing with—that’s the kind of strange, feverish air this market had.

In a way, one could say this place was a microcosm of the city as a whole.

—In a corner of this chaotic market, a manhole like any other in the city, that no one was paying attention to, suddenly began to shift.

“Phew, and an alley-oop...”

Vermouth silently crawled out from underground, carrying a big trunk case—exactly how he found his way here being a mystery.

“Finally made it to the surface, huh. Geez, that was a lot of work...”

“—Thanks, I truly appreciate it.”

Vermouth froze immediately upon hearing the voice behind him and feeling a gun pressed against his back.

“.........Why, hello there, Boss.”

Vermouth sighed without turning around. He then made sure to move slowly as he took out his cigarette case from his pocket. He took out a cigarette, lit it, and puffed, savoring the smoke he inhaled before spitting it out, asking, “Not a very original question I know, but would’ya mind sharing how you knew I’d be here, anyway?”

“There’s not much to it, really. I was tailing you the whole time, so,” the voice from behind—Halter—replied.

Hearing that, Vermouth’s expression turned serious.

“The whole time?”

“Yeah—all the way from the time you snuck inside this core tower, to when you met Naoto, to popping out of this manhole.”

Vermouth was so taken aback that the cigarette in his mouth nearly fell out.

...Give me a break, would ya.

He felt a headache come on, even when the sensation shouldn’t be possible for his artificial body.

Halter’s artificial body was a fifth-gen assault type model—in other words, it was specialized for fistfights on the battlefield and firing off enormous cannons. It was entirely different from stealth type models that specialized in infiltrating enemy bases, in terms of both its operating noise level and functionality.

...You’re telling me he snuck inside this core tower with a body like that?

...Furthermore, he did it with such stealth that even I didn’t notice, despite my years of experience as a spy?

Feeling utterly defeated, Vermouth muttered, “...Seriously? I was completely oblivious.”

“Yeah. It took a fair bit of effort though. After all, ‘we all have our strengths and weaknesses,’ and one of my weaknesses is that I’m not that great at playing hide and seek.”

“...You’re really putting me to shame as a former professional spy by saying that, you know. Man, so what is this all about in the end? Revenge for what I did the other day? Looks like you’ve got more passion in you than I thought, Boss.”

“Not really. But I wasn’t just going to let a greenhorn get away with underestimating me, either.”

“Well, aren’t you the mature one...”

...Fuck. I picked a fight with a monster, Vermouth groaned internally. As he hung his head in regret, he said, trying to change the topic somehow, “By the way—I hear you betrayed the little Missy?”

“Yeah. Well, I think you already know this, but that’s what the job entails, so,” Halter replied, without even the slightest waver in his voice.

To which Vermouth muttered, “Oh... what the job entails, huh.”

“Something wrong with that?”

“So even a man of your caliber—will do anything your job demands?”

“What, are you reproaching me for being a traitor? Honestly, I didn’t think you were the type to care—well, sorry to inform you, but I don’t let my personal feelings interfere with my work. Just how I roll.”

“Nah Boss, I don’t really have any beef with you, as frankly, I think I get what’s really going on. You’re doing it for the sake of those two kids, right?”

Halter neither affirmed nor denied it.

Vermouth sighed, continuing, “Either oppose Kiu Tai Yu and thrust this city into hell, or willingly cooperate with him. Those were the only two options, but the two of them wouldn’t pick either. That’s why you gave them the option to compromise. If they were betrayed by you, they wouldn’t have a choice—am I right?”

“...”

“Oh, right, and you deliberately chose such an underhanded method to warn them, right? As if to say, ‘There are any number of ways to corner you guys, so you better keep your eyes peeled’—it’s well established that children don’t learn without pain after all, ain’t that right, Boss?”

Halter began calmly, “Well—yeah, so what?”

“Nothing, really. It just doesn’t seem worth all the effort in my eyes,” Vermouth continued as he curled his lips. “You and I are weapons, objects of destruction. Should the need arise, we’ll do anything. We’d be willing to do anything. There are times when we’d shoot someone today who we put our lives on the line for yesterday.”

—That was something that Vermouth had personally experienced, in fact.

“We take orders from our masters and orders from their clients... Whether we like it or not, we have to obey. People like us have to be kept under someone else’s, or something else’s, control at all times. Otherwise, we wouldn’t be able to live. We wouldn’t be allowed to live—that’s what defines a soldier, after all.”

Vermouth looked backwards, turning only his neck.

“But well, in your case, Boss... at least you chose this cruel fate yourself knowing full well what you were getting yourself into. Maybe you’re better off than me still, in that regard?” Vermouth wondered aloud melancholically— However.

“Are you an idiot,” Halter said with a sniff. “That’s why you’re third-rate, greenhorn.”

“...”

“First-rate pros—manipulate the circumstances such that they never have to follow orders that go against their will. They’d never be in a situation where they’d have to kill someone today who they put their lives on the line for yesterday, because they would have seen it coming and killed the guy who would give them such an order yesterday.”

Vermouth asked with widened eyes, “...You’re saying to betray the client?”

“No. I’m saying to kill him before he orders a job from your master. Listen up—” Halter said from the other side of the gun.

“It goes without question that we don’t have much choice in the jobs we’re offered, but not choosing at all is what a third-rate does. When you learn to pick the jobs you want, you finally become second-rate—while you only become first-rate once you learn to create your own jobs. Mark that in your head, greenhorn.”

Dumbfounded, Vermouth muttered, “...I see... That was enlightening.”

He nodded, then asked, “By the way—does that mean that the job you’re doing right now is a first-rate one?”

Halter neither affirmed nor denied it.

Vermouth couldn’t tell what the truth was just from his expression, either. As he studied him with keen eyes, Halter lowered the gun, to Vermouth’s surprise.

“Oh...? What’s this, you gonna let me go?”

“—Let you go? Seems you’ve misunderstood something. I simply happened to see a greenhorn who gave his senior attitude, so I figured I ought to take him aside for a short lecture. It’s not like anyone’s going to pay me even pocket change for capturing you.”

“Well, thanks for that... and for the words of wisdom as well,” Vermouth muttered as he lifted up the trunk case by his feet. He then turned around suddenly and said, “Oh, right, so you were there when I was speaking with Naoto?”

“Pretty much.”

“Well then, you probably don’t need me to relay this to you, but I’ll say it just in case,” Vermouth said as he gazed straight into Halter’s eyes through his sunglasses, “‘Tell the old man to do as he sees fit —as I’ll be doing as I see fit.’”

Halter nodded, his expression unchanging. “Is that so.”

“Well, I’ve relayed the message as requested, so no one better blame me for anything. Later, then—”

And so, Vermouth left while waving his hand lightly, blending into the crowd around them—

Having been left by himself, Halter muttered, “...What I want to do, huh?”

●

Meanwhile—

Atop the roof of a small multi-tenant building along the side alley where Halter and Vermouth had just been, a teenage girl with a sweet voice was talking to herself, unbeknownst to them.

“Keke... I was watching, you know~.”

Her voice was full of childish mischief—but her person was nowhere to be seen.

Despite that, the rooftop was completely flat with nowhere to hide. There was nothing here but the sound of her giggling— correction; one could see an ever so slight shimmering in the air if one strained one’s eyes.

The shimmering faintly traced the figure of a person. Like a curtain being blown up by the wind, the girl covered in a veil of invisibility was visible one moment—and gone by the next.

The identity of that fleeting figure was the peach-haired automaton TemP.

She was the Third of the Initial-Y Series, Aerial, also known as The Fluttering Butterfly.

Through some kind of advanced mechanism—she was able to allow light to pass right through her, remaining undetectable by any optical sensor. She looked down at the alley below while giggling.

Ah, there’s that blond-haired automaton with the large suitcase— Wait no, I think the report said she’s a cyborg?

Vermouth had returned to the main street. Upon locating him in the crowd, TemP hopped to another rooftop as she began to follow him.

At the same time, she muttered sullenly, “Goodness gracious, and I’ve spent all this effort to come pay a visit to dear Elder Sister too, yet no one will tell me where she is. Thank goodness, because I was starting to wonder why I even bothered coming here at all—”

It was about a month ago that she heard that the First—RyuZU—had rebooted.

Not only that, supposedly that elder sister of hers whose heart was like an impregnable fortress had even found her first boyfriend and master in the same person.

TemP could barely contain herself upon learning the news, and so she had said to the one who had repaired her, her master:

“—I want to go pay my elder sister a visit.”

“Haah... To be honest, I don’t think there’s really a point in doing so. But well, if that’s what you want, then sure, why not?”

He wouldn’t try to restrict her in any way. He always let her be free.

Indeed, he even prepared transportation and lodgings for her and sent her on her way with his blessing.

And so, while enduring the tedious voyage, TemP had been looking forward with anticipation to the impending reunion with two of her sisters.

—However.

The local host that came to receive her wasn’t to her liking at all.

For one thing, his choice of clothes is just awful. He has the worst taste ever.

And he wouldn’t tell me where my sisters are at. He’d come up with all sorts of excuses whenever I asked.

So I thought fine, I’ll just go find Elder Sister’s first boyfriend and torment him instead then... but he vetoed that too. ...Actually, thinking about her boyfriend makes me feel really frustrated, because it felt like I was the one that got toyed with the first time we met!

He even had something to say when I just wanted to go outside because I was getting sick of him.

“You see, it’s a ve~ry delicate situation right now in the city. Please, could you take the hint already? Hm? Do you understand what I’m saying? Hellooo? Do you hear me?”

...What a rotten, naggy man he is. Just thinking about him makes me angry.

“That person will never find a girlfriend,” TemP muttered while rolling her eyes.

But that ends today. That paltry human can cry all he wants, I’m not going to let him stop me. In the first place, I have no reason to obey him. If he won’t tell me where my sisters are, then I’ll just find out myself.

And then, TemP had coincidentally come across a clue to finding her elder sister.

The ones who had been chatting in the side alley were cyborgs in the same troupe as her sisters. She’d seen their pictures from the files that her master had showed her.

I feel like it also said somewhere in there that one of them betrayed the group or something... but well, whatever, who cares about the small stuff.

In any case, I should be able to find out where Elder Sister is if I tail that human.

Rejoicing over her good fortune and praising her own cleverness, TemP chuckled gloatingly.

“Fufu, what should I do when I meet Elder Sister—”

Her imagination went wild.

Should I make her grovel on the ground as I dig my boots into her head?

Or should I force her to loudly admit defeat and respond with “What was thaaat? I couldn’t hear you~!” to really infuriate her?

O, Or— What if I steal Elder Sister’s first boyfriend away from her? He tries to act like a player despite his dull looks, but he did have the eyes to see that I’m the number one prettiest girl in the world.

And, right, I won’t even let him hold my hand despite taking him.

I won’t make the same shameful display as I did the first time. I’ll be the one to toy with him this time.

After I tantalize and torment him to my fill—I’ll dump him right in the trash like a worn-out wash rag!

“—My my, getting in over your head are we?”

“—Did you really think that a plebeian like you would be allowed to associate with my noble self?”

“—Ohh, you say you’ll do anything? Then get on the ground right where you are and lick my boots.”

Ahh, how vulgar... but wonderful that would be!

“G, Gosh... I’m such a wicked girl!”

TemP blushed as she immersed herself in her decadent, out-of-control delusions.

—Ah.

“gh, Oh gosh, I was so caught up in my thoughts that I almost lost sight of the cyborg,” TemP muttered as she kept track of the blond-haired cyborg who was pushing through the crowd.

...Now that I think about it...

“That person has the looks of a woman, but talked like a dirty old man, didn’t she...?” TemP mused. “I wonder, is that the modern way of giving yourself some character? ...Wait! O, Or is she one of those so-called c-c-cross-dressing perverts! She could be, right?!”

TemP widened her eyes in astonishment.

She had known that such people existed from reading manga and the like up until now, but this was the first time she found one in real life.

“M, Most interesting... T-T, This is, right, an expression of scholarly curiosity, if you will. So I’m obligated to get to the truth of the matter!”

●

“...Hey, what are you trying to pull here?” Marie said with a sullen face.

She had collapsed onto the workshop floor and dozed off in her state of total exhaustion—that was the last thing she remembered before she fell asleep; upon waking up, however, she found that someone had carried her to her bed.

To be more precise, she had been tightly packed inside a rolled-up futon that had been tied up.

Not only that, for some reason she had been stripped of her clothes as well.

Marie turned her head, the only part of her body that was free. She gave RyuZU the stink eye.

“—Care to explain, RyuZU?”

“Of course. It was I who moved you to this futon,” RyuZU, who had been sitting by Marie’s bed with elegant posture, said with a nonchalant face. “At this point, the situation we face is such that there is nothing you can do about it anymore, Mistress Marie. If I may be frank, just you being here hinders me considerably.”

“...............If you’d go so far as to say that, then why don’t you just take AnchoR with you and go rescue Naoto? I wouldn’t resent you for abandoning me, you know.”

“I have given some thought to that, too,” RyuZU said, nodding solemnly, “but I decided otherwise for three reasons. One, AnchoR is attached to you. Two, the situation is not so desperate yet that I must proactively dispose of you. And lastly—because Master Naoto probably would not wish for me to do so.”

Marie blinked several times before asking, “What’d you say?”

“As I have already said, Master Naoto probably would not want me to abandon you.”

To which Marie was left half in disbelief with her mouth open.

However, RyuZU frowned and continued in a firm tone, “I should add just in case—that you should correct your false assumptions now if you are fancying that this may be due to Master Naoto having romantic feelings for you.”

“That didn’t cross my mind,” Marie answered with a serious expression. She studied RyuZU’s face as she asked, “Which makes it all the more baffling. Why?”

“Who knows? Though I can probably guess, leaking my master’s private thoughts to others is awfully questionable behavior, so I am afraid I cannot answer you. If you really want to know, please ask Master Naoto yourself when he returns.”

“True. I’ll do just that, then— So, leaving that aside, think you could tell me why you’ve done this to me now?”

To which RyuZU shrugged slightly and said, “As I said just a few moments ago, the situation is out of your hands at this point, Mistress Marie. Presently, we have no choice but to simply wait for the direction of the wind to change—given that to be the case, I believe you should at least rest sufficiently and store up your stamina in preparation, even if you cannot help being a hindrance right now.”

“......I guess you’re right?”

“Yes. Yet, of all things you choose to sleep on the cold, hard floor, despite it being obvious that a warm, soft bed would provide much better rest—so I can only assume that you have lost the ability to take proper care of yourself, Mistress Marie.”

“Huh? No, that’s—”

“My loving care should be exclusively reserved for Master Naoto, so frankly I hate that I am stuck here babysitting you like this... but considering the situation, I decided that I had to be a little flexible in my policy.”

Ignoring the dumbfounded look on Marie’s face, RyuZU continued with a serious face, “First, I removed your clothes to help your body fully relax and wrapped you up in a futon to maintain a constant body temperature and improve your circulation, as futons are excellent at retaining warmth. I also asked room service to bring up some easily digestible foods earlier. I shall take it upon myself to replenish your body with the nutrition it needs.”

“Wait, are you saying that you’re going to feed me hand-to-mouth?!”

“Of course. You have not ingested any solid foods these past few days, Mistress Marie. As you have apparently lost the ability to take care of yourself, should you begin to gorge on food without any restraint like a starved rat, your digestive system would surely be heavily stressed. In the worst case, you could even die, so...”

“Wha, are you kidding me?! No way! Untie the futon now!”

“Once you have been sufficiently nourished, we will then be washing your entire body, so please wait until then.”

“You even plan to take care of my bathing for me?! You’re just doing this to bully me, aren’t you?! The stress of simply waiting for the tides to turn is getting to you, so you’re trying to relieve it by messing with me aren’t you I know you are!!”

“That is what is called an unfair accusation. As I mentioned to you just now, my loving care is solely dedicated to Master Naoto, so I really am babysi— no, rearing an animal like yourself with much reluctance.”

“You’re clearly going out of your way to spite me!!”

Just then.

There was a knock on the door, then a polite voice called out, “Excuse me, this is room service. I have a delivery for you.”

“A delivery...?”

Marie furrowed her brows perplexedly. ...I thought what she ordered was food?

Marie gazed at RyuZU with a cautionary look. It looked like RyuZU was on the same page, for she cautiously approached the door without making a sound, upon which she looked through the peephole and tilted her head.

“Well now, your words were clearly suspicious, so I thought it was an enemy for sure, but... actually, you are in fact an enemy, yes?”

“Oy oy, isn’t that going too far, Miss Dolly? Be a little more welcoming, won’tcha?”

Hearing that impudent voice, Marie realized who it was, as well.

It was Vermouth. RyuZU opened the door, upon which he came inside with a wagon, sporting the hotel’s uniform that he had somehow gotten his hands on.

He surveyed the room with a broad smirk on his face; upon finding Marie wrapped up like a sushi roll, he said, “’Sup Missy, hope you’ve been faring...... What, so you were in the middle of kinking out, eh? I don’t mind coming back later, if you’d prefer.”

“—That’s absolutely not what’s going on here!”

“It is as Mistress Marie says. I have no obligation to fulfill her outlandish fetishes, after all.”

Vermouth laughed flippantly as he raised both hands defensively, “Hahah— I guess that was rude of me, then. I get it already, so stop howling.”

Marie shot him a fishy gaze. “Vermouth, just what’ve you been up to while we’ve been facing such a dire situation?”

“Oh my? What, were you counting on me, bitch? Guess I should apologize, then.”

“Haah?! In your dreams, you fucking idiot!”

“Hahhah— Seems that Boss has left you in quite the dumps from the looks of it, huh?”

“...You know what happened?” Marie asked.

To which Vermouth smirked faintly and shrugged. “These eyes and ears came in handy, so thanks for fixing them up. Well, it’s true that it isn’t exactly something that everyone knows, but I’ve gotten the general gist of things.”

“...I see.”

“Actually, I met with him just now,” Vermouth added casually.

Marie’s face immediately paled. Meanwhile, RyuZU glared at Vermouth with darts in her eyes.

As the air became filled with tension, Vermouth raised and shook both hands defensively.

“Don’t be jumping to conclusions, now. He threw me into the dumpster, too. As expected of the legend himself. I was reminded of why I admired him in the first place...”

“...What legend?” Marie muttered. He’s just a traitor, Marie muttered inside her mouth.

Seeing that, Vermouth raised an eyebrow before he couldn’t help but laugh, “Hahah! Could it be that you still don’t get it, Missy?”

“...Get what?”

“Listen up. It’s not like Boss is the number one specialist in the world, you know. Ranged combat, stealth operations, piloting mobile suits, making explosives, medical knowledge, and clocksmithing—sure, he’s at a pretty high level in all those areas, but you could still find plenty of guys better than him if you looked around.”

“So what?”

“...Not very sharp, are you. My point is, he was still known as a legendary mercenary despite that.”

Vermouth erased the smirk on his face before continuing with a serious face, “No matter what kind of monster or hero you are, a single bomb dropped from above you at an unpredictable time, and you’re one with the earth again. It doesn’t matter whether you’re a genius or an average joe, a rookie or a veteran. Boss has the full understanding of that merciless reality carved into his very bones—because he survived through it.”

In other words.

“Knowing exactly what his abilities are, choosing the right allies as well as the right enemies, assessing both his immediate surroundings and the overall flow on the battlefield from a bird’s eye view standpoint—he worked his brain coolly in situations where his head might have been blown away at any moment, giving both his enemies and his allies a wild ride, and in the end, handed over only his enemies to the reaper.”

By picking the optimal methods and giving his best, yet at the same time still accepting the merciless reality that there were some things he just couldn’t do anything about—he would always fight to the very end until, at last, fortune smiled upon him.

“He dominated both his immediate surroundings and the overall flow on the battlefield. He would put together the stage and the script before the battle even began and thus ensure victory. That’s why some called him Vainney Halter Oberon, while others referred to him jokingly as thus,” Vermouth paused for a breath.

“The absolute war machine—Overwork.”

His voice filled with admiration and envy, Vermouth smiled again and asserted, “Yet, you think such a master would sell you guys out for chump change—yeah, I doubt it. A script like that ain’t fit for his stage.”

“You’re saying... that Halter didn’t betray us?”

“Well well, who knows? I haven’t read the plot summary that Boss wrote yet myself. If he had deemed it necessary, it’s possible that he might have betrayed you for real, you know?”

“This conversation is meaningless,” RyuZU muttered indifferently. “That junkbot abducted Master Naoto and handed him over to an enemy. That is all I understand, and all I need to understand to decide how I should deal with him.”

“Sure, have it your way. I’m sure he’s factored your reaction into his calculations anyway. Though, I doubt he’d show himself while he knows you’re out to get your claws in him.”

“Well then, I only have to dig him out.”

“As you please. —Well, leaving that aside, I’ve got a delivery for you guys. Could I get a stamp or a signature?”

“A delivery...? That wasn’t just a pretext?” Marie asked, tilting her head.

To which Vermouth smiled suggestively and carefully dragged out the large trunk case from the wagon, then opened it up nonchalantly.

Marie gulped upon seeing what was inside.

“Don’t tell me that this is...”

—the main frame for an automaton?

Standing next to her, RyuZU also widened her eyes, unable to hide her surprise. “Judging by its size, is it for AnchoR...? But who could have made it?”

“Naoto had a message for you: ‘I bought it from the master on credit. You can take care of the rest, right? If you do a poor job we’ll have to pay a premium, and you’re footing the bill. Alright then, don’t disappoint us.’”

“..................That, bastard,” Marie growled as she grit her teeth hard.

A curious mishmash of excitement, rage, and confusion assaulted her heart.

With the fire deep inside her heart that had been reduced to a smolder now fully reignited, Marie shouted, “You dare look down on me? I’ll show you, alright—!”

—Just then.

RyuZU suddenly flinched before turning her head backwards, her expression grim. She warned,

“Well then, let us make haste—as it seems an enemy attack has come.”