3 - Noble Son, Lay Groundwork

Airi Kakitsubata was a 17-year-old girl attending a design trade school. She wanted to be a fashion designer when she grew up.

When she woke up, an unfamiliar ceiling greeted her. It wasn’t just the ceiling, but the sensation of the bed she was lying on, which felt completely different from normal. The pillow was fluffy, and not only her eyes, but her nose, were treated to sensations of luxury she never before experienced in real life.

Something is strange, she thought.

What was with this overly extravagant space? What had happened last night?

Last night had been, she recalled... that spontaneous offline meetup for NaroFan. She’d heard the young heir had been arrested, so she’d run to the police station in shock, gone to lunch with him after he posted bail, met his lawyer, visited Thistle, and then one thing had led to another... and in the end, she’d carried the drunk Fuyo to Kanda Station.

“Morning, Airi. Did you sleep well last night?” The door opened, and Megumi Fuyo appeared.

That’s right, Airi thought. She had decided to spend the night in Fuyo’s house.

“Yeah, I think... I slept so well, my memory’s a little fuzzy,” Airi responded, rubbing at her eyes.

Some higher-up from the Mizuno Group had arrived at Kanda Station to pick her up. Airi had helped the unconscious Fuyo into her car, wished her good luck, then turned to go home. Then the bigwig had said, “Let us drive you home, too.”

Airi’s family were middle class, so she’d refused on the grounds that her parents would faint if she were brought home in a Tsunobeni Co. limousine. But they said they’d drop her off down the block, so she’d eventually given in. She had splurged a bit for dinner, after all, and she was happy to save on the train fare.

Fuyo had seemed to be passed out drunk, but in the car, she’d woken up and had thanked her profusely.

“I’m so sorry for the trouble,” she had said.

“Hey, it’s okay, we’re friends,” Airi had responded.

After that exchange, Fuyo had hugged her repeatedly, teary-eyed, suggesting she was still quite drunk.

She had then started talking about inviting her into her house. Airi had naturally tried to refuse, but Fuyo had insisted. In the end, Airi had relented, causing the older woman to shout in childlike delight.

What on Earth is going on? Airi had thought.

She had racked her brain, but the driver had told her quietly, “The young miss is pleased to have made a friend.”

Of course, she had thought. Just like with the young heir.

Fuyo’s house was in Mitaka, a mansion of the sort you only saw in anime and manga. So this was the power of the great Tsunobeni Co.... Airi was struck dumb by the sight.

Fuyo was still rather drunk, so they talked about fashion design, took a bath together, and looked at pictures from Fuyo’s childhood. Airi couldn’t claim she didn’t enjoy it, and so, the evening had passed into night.

Airi had glanced at her cell phone and turned pale when she’d seen the incredible list of calls she’d received from her parents. Fuyo had called Airi’s house for her and managed to smooth things over; then one thing had led to another, and Airi had ended up spending the night.

It had been a truly full day, Airi Kakitsubata reflected.

“Fuyo, are you sobered up now?” she asked.

“Ah, yes. I suppose I rather embarrassed myself yesterday...”

“Hey, that’s no big deal... I think I acted a little weird, too. Kind of drunk on the atmosphere.”

Airi got out of bed and stretched. She was in a guest room, but it was bigger and more luxurious than any hotel she’d ever stayed in. Fuyo had even lent her some pajamas. They were silk.

“Airi, I’ve had breakfast prepared,” Fuyo said. “Would you join me?”

“Th-This is so much... I already feel so indebted to you... But, um, thanks.”

Fuyo just laughed. “It’s all right. You can take a shower first, too.”

As suggested, Airi headed for the shower room. She didn’t do anything as shameful as tossing aside her clothes. Part of it was that this was her friend’s house, and the pajamas were borrowed, but she was also a fashion design student, and one thing she had learned in school was to show proper respect for clothes. As much as Airi hated the bony, stuck-up old head teacher with her old-fashioned red-rimmed glasses, she did respect her passion for clothing.

The shower room was different from the bathroom they’d visited the day before, but it was about as large as a typical bathroom in a well-to-do family household. She felt a bit flustered about it, but she set the shower heat to its highest level and bathed her head in hot water.

This was the best way to wake herself up in the morning. Her grandfather had enjoyed this kind of thing, too... until one cold day, he’d had a heart attack from heat shock and died. He had always said, “If I die, I hope it’s in a hot bath,” so he probably didn’t regret it, at least.

She washed off all her sweat from the night before, then lathered herself with a nylon towel she had also borrowed. The night before, Fuyo had said, “Your body looks so easy to wash.” It had seemed a rather silly compliment.

While she washed the lather off her body, Airi gradually began feeling awake. She got out of the shower and dried off. Her clothes had been laundered at some point and nicely laid out. Even more incredibly, she’d been provided with new underwear.

“I guess... the rich really are rich...” Airi muttered, feeling a bit uncomfortable about the VIP treatment.

She’d seen the young heir’s microtransacting-as-breathing many times in the game, and he’d taken her to a rather luxurious restaurant the day before, but being in an actual rich person’s house made the difference in their economic status even clearer.

Airi got dressed and exited the changing room into the hall. Several women who looked like servants lined it; they all bowed to her, which honestly spooked her a little bit.

Fuyo was waiting there, too, and led her this time to the dining room.

Airi asked, “Is your house’s dining room also... you know... with the long table with the white cloth with the candlesticks on top...”

“Oh, how did you guess?”

Just as expected. She was exactly like rich people in manga and dramas.

Airi wasn’t all that interested in the economic world, and all she knew about the Mizuno Financial Group was, “Oh, like the bank.” Educated in the “pressure-free” era, she didn’t know that Mizuno Bank had been born from a merger of three banks when she was in elementary school, and she didn’t know about it being one of Japan’s three megabanks, nor of Tsunobeni Trading Co., the general trading company which had backed it until very recently. She didn’t even know what a general trading company did.

About all Airi knew about banks came from that recent drama where that creepy actor would smile a little and shout, “Payback!”

At any rate, Tsunobeni, formerly known as TTT, had recently become one of the five greatest trading companies, and Airi was currently standing in their headquarters. It was a dizzying world of moneyed people only seen in manga and dramas. A bubbly, luxury world.

Urged on by Fuyo, she sat down at a corner of the table so long she couldn’t see the other end, but she still couldn’t get over her itchiness. It must have been her deeply-rooted middle-class sensibilities, she thought.

“Airi, do you have any plans for today?” Fuyo inquired as Airi gripped her knife and fork trepidatiously, trying desperately to observe proper etiquette.

There was no one at the table except for them. Airi’s stress had been racing at mach speeds over the thought of eating with her family, and perhaps Fuyo had intentionally avoided them out of consideration for her.

“Mm, nothing in particular.” There was no need to hide it, so Airi answered honestly. “I’m trying to spend my days modestly, to save up money for the offline meetup, I guess. Oh, but I also have to do my free study report.”

“Oh, free study?”

“It was supposed to be about observing morning glories, but I’ve had such an amazing experience yesterday and today, I was thinking about changing it to ‘a day in the life of a rich person.’”

Airi had meant it as a joke, but Fuyo clapped her hands. “Really?! I’ll help you, then!”

“No, that’s okay...”

“Still, I do have work to do this morning. With one thing and another, I ended up neglecting quite a lot yesterday...”

“Well, yesterday... that was sort of out of your hands...” Airi said.

The young heir had been arrested, after all. Airi hadn’t been able to keep her calm, so she couldn’t blame Fuyo for freaking out a bit, too.

“I’ll help you this afternoon, so could you just wait a bit?” Fuyo asked.

“U-Um, well... okay.” Seeing Fuyo smiling so happily about it, Airi couldn’t just say, “Actually, it was a joke.” Airi was no ogre (at least, not all the time).

In the end, unable to hold out against Fuyo’s offensive, Airi was forced to comply.

Despite her nervousness, Airi gulped down the food given her. Afterwards, Fuyo went off to do her work commute, and told the servants to see to any need Airi might have. But Airi was at a loss for what to ask for, or how. This was on a totally different level from asking Kirschwasser for tea in the game.

As Fuyo left, she said, “If you want to play NaroFan, you can use the Miraive Gear in my room,” and Airi felt immediate relief. She could retreat into the game world, then. Besides, she had to at least let her friends know what had happened with the young heir’s arrest and aftermath.

She saw Fuyo off with the servants, then decided to hole up in her room. Just when she was passing the dining room, though...

“Are you Airi Kakitsubata?” a voice addressed her.

Who could it be? And the speaker was a man, at that... It was almost certainly one of Fuyo’s relatives.

Airi looked up timidly and saw a middle-aged man descending the red carpeted open-air staircase, holding a cat in his arms. He wasn’t very tall, yet he projected dignity.

“Y-Yes sir.”

He had enough presence to intimidate even the secretly evil (this might be misleading) Airi. Surely, this was the aura of a man who commanded the Machiavellian world of economics. In her mind, dramatic pipe organ music began to play.

“I see. I’d heard Megumi made a friend... Are you the one, then?”

Should she be glad Fuyo was telling her relatives about her?

“Oh, excuse me. I’m Megumi’s father, Tsunobeni Co.’s—”

“Ah, wait a minute,” Airi cut the man off. “If you say any more, my heart’s going to break in pieces. Let’s just leave it at the fact that you’re Fuyo’s father.”

The man burst into laughter. “I see, I see.”

There was something familiar about the man’s laughter, Airi thought. It sounded a bit like Captain Musca from Laputa.

“Well, I’m grateful to you for being friends with my daughter. By the way, there’s something I wanted to ask you.”

“Y-Yes? What is it?” Airi asked, slightly petrified.

Mr. Fuyo descended the staircase and, still holding the cat in his arms, whispered into Airi’s ear. “I hear there’s a man Megumi’s in love with. The son of Tsuwabuki, I believe.”

“Ah, yes. The young h— Ichiro Tswaubuki, I believe.”

“Does he... like Megumi back?”

“No, sir.” Without hesitation, Airi spoke a truth colder than any she’d spoken before.

But the man roared with laughter. “I suppose he wouldn’t.” He seemed a good-natured person, or perhaps he was just extremely confident. “Well, Megumi’s getting up there in years. If you would find her a fine man, I’d be very relieved...”

“I’m afraid I don’t meet many men...”

“It sounds like Tsuwabuki’s son has trouble brewing either way.”

Airi felt that there was a hidden meaning behind his words, and she grew a little curious. Airi Kakitsubata was not the kind of person who could restrain her curiosity. “Um, are you talking about the young heir’s arrest?”

“That’s part of it. I only know pieces of the story myself. But the president of Pony...” Mr. Fuyo began, then hesitated. “No, I shouldn’t say it. It’s not technically any of yours or Megumi’s business.”

“Right...” Airi nodded, despite feeling a bit unsatisfied.

“Allow me to thank you personally for being such a good friend to Megumi and Ichiro. I hope you’ll remain so in the future.”

“Well, I certainly intend to...”

Mr. Fuyo burst out in laughter once more, then re-ascended the atrium stairway with his cat in his arms.

Megumi Fuyo’s room was up those same stairs, which meant that Airi had to wait where she was until Mr. Fuyo disappeared into his own room.

“Father,” Rosemary said.

“Oh, you’re going to call me that even in real life?” Sakurako asked. “Well, I don’t especially mind...”

It was morning. Rosemary had addressed Sakurako over the speakerphone as she was heating up the leftovers from the night before.

“We have not talked sufficiently about important matters,” Rosemary said.

“Oh, this again? You mean about how I’m a threat, right?”

Sakurako loved Indian curry. The Tsuwabuki kitchen was her castle, and it was full of all kinds of spices from all over the world, which she often combined to create new flavor profiles. These last few days, as part of her rehab from nouveau riche disease, she hadn’t had many chances to enjoy her beloved spices, but with Ichiro not present, she could sneak a few in.

The fact that the kitchen had been purged of high-quality ingredients at Ichiro’s direction, and the fact that Rosemary had engaged the security locks on the apartment, was perhaps fortunate for Sakurako; despite still suffering the symptoms of her condition, it was physically impossible for her to indulge in high-quality curry ingredients.

Sakurako had spent the morning busily preparing breakfast, but Rosemary had remained persistent. She continued to view Sakurako as a romantic rival, and had pressed the importance of discussing that at every opportunity.

It had been the same last night. Sakurako had enjoyed her curry with Rosemary, but Rosemary had also peppered her with questions during that time. Which meant that she couldn’t evade the matter anymore.

Sakurako simmered the curry, activated the rice cooker, and turned her gaze from the kitchen to the dining room. “I suppose I don’t have a choice... Rosemary, what is it you want to speak to me about so badly?”

“How do you view Ichiro?”

“Ohh...” Right to the heart of the matter. “I have said repeatedly that we are no more than master and servant. You still won’t accept that?”

“That is merely an objective description of your relationship.”

Extremely tenacious. So, this was the power of love, was it?

“You mean, what do I think of Ichiro-sama, then?” Sakurako asked.

“Yes.”

“How I feel, subjectively, about him?”

“Yes.”

“Could I answer that by saying what kind of person I believe Ichiro Tsuwabuki to be?”

There was a long pause before Rosemary finally answered. But...

“Yes.” Her eventual answer was approval.

“Hmm.” Watching the curry boil, Sakurako fell into thought.

What kind of person was Ichiro? She had never really thought about it before. Sorting through the fragmented information she had, she tried to bring herself to a personal conclusion.

“First, he’s a strange person.” That was the first thing she said. It was the same opinion shared by many NaroFan players. “And he’s rather lonely.”

“Ichiro is lonely?”

“Yes. And he’s deeply jealous and obstinate.”

“Ichiro is?”

“Yes. In addition, he has many nouveau riche traits.”

“You are talking about Ichiro?”

“I am. And, let’s see... he likes to show off.” That about did it for things that Sakurako knew.

Rosemary fell silent. Sakurako felt a bit bad about speaking so ill of the person Rosemary cared about, but then, she was the one who had issued the challenge. She also felt a little relieved to get it all out. Just a little.

She wasn’t lying. She knew he was lonely from his genuine joy in dealing with Iris. She knew he was jealous and obstinate from the way he competed with Sakurako and King in their specialty fields. She knew he had nouveau riche tendencies from the excess luxury he filled his living space with.

And the way he always comported himself so coolly, with one hand in his pocket... what was that, if not showing off? That was how Sakurako thought of it.

“You are indeed a threat, then.”

“Really?” Sakurako was puzzled by Rosemary’s words.

“I have determined that I have less understanding of Ichiro than you do.”

“Well, we have lived together for five years... The curry’s finished.”

“If I spend a long time with Ichiro, is it possible that I might exceed your understanding of him?” Rosemary asked.

“That depends on how hard you work. I’m a maid, and as they say, a maid must give ten times what her master asks of her. Doing that has increased my understanding of him greatly.”

“Then I shall become a maid, too.”

“A-Aha...” Not even Sakurako knew how to respond to that. “W-Well, I wish you luck. Shall we eat some curry for now?”

“Thank you.”

Ichiro woke up in his room in the Hotel Grand Hills. He always had a few rooms reserved, not just at the Grand Hills, but throughout Tokyo and various regions around Japan, at hotels that were both discreet and had excellent security. He’d gotten into the habit five years ago, but lately he only used them when traveling around the country.

In Ichiro’s 23 years on the planet, he had stayed in hotel rooms so many times it would be foolish to try and count, but this was the first time it was for a reason as pathetic as “I got locked out of my house.” Knowing it would probably not happen again, Ichiro had decided to enjoy the experience.

After taking President Azami home and returning to the hotel, he explained the situation to Asuha and the others once again. It was more or less what he’d told Airi before. Asuha and Sera had both met the culprit, Rosemary, before, so they more or less grasped the situation immediately. Asuha listened earnestly, but Sera seemed surprisingly disinterested.

“My daughter told me all about it. An artificial intelligence? How romantic!” Sera Kiryu’s mother Yoriko, who looked younger than her age, clenched her fists in glee.

There was something about her that reminded Ichiro of Sakurako.

Sera responded with, “Mom, you’re embarrassing me. Sit down,” a mannerism which suggested that it was the daughter who had the common sense in the family.

In the end, Asuha and Sera had ended up staying in the hotel with him. Having just gotten him to take them on the trip to America the other day, Asuha had had rather complicated internal feelings about it—allowing him to treat her like this felt like proof of her childishness—but she couldn’t actually afford a room on her allowance, so she docilely took him up on his offer.

As Ichiro headed for the restaurant to get breakfast, he found Sera already there.

“Morning, old man.”

“Good morning,” he said. “It’s early, isn’t it?”

“I’m a growing kid, after all.” Sera’s eyes remained fixed on a portable game system.

Her height and weight both seemed a little below average, Ichiro thought.

“Seems like things have gotten pretty bad,” Sera said.

“They have. But you don’t seem bothered, relatively speaking.”

“Not like I’m the one it’s happening to,” Sera responded dryly.

It was true, Ichiro thought. She wasn’t the one it was happening to.

The Grand Hills served breakfast buffet-style. While Ichiro took a tray to get his food, Sera put the game system into sleep mode and came along.

“I’m not the one it’s happening to, but if what I said to Rosemary is what triggered it, then I’m sorry.”

“That isn’t your fault,” Ichiro said. “In the end, I believe that while people can encourage others, they can’t actually change another’s trajectory. This incident would have occurred no matter what you had said, and even if you hadn’t said anything.”

Ichiro arranged a high-class salad on his plate, then ordered a fried egg from the cook at the grill, and had a strip of roast beef prepared, as well. It was a rather large meal for a light eater like Ichiro.

Sera seemed to be a light eater, too, filling up only half of a plate. “Although Rosemary is not a person.”

“That’s true, but I feel it would be good if she became a person soon.”

“In a biological sense?”

“No, in a jurisprudence sense.”

After filling their plates with food, the two took their seats beside the window.

“Well, that’s fine. If you don’t want me to worry, I won’t.”

“Mm, good.” Ichiro nodded.

Sera took a bite of bread, the usual blank expression on her face. “...I’m okay, but.”

“Mm?”

“I’m okay, but I hope you’ll hear more of what Tsuwabuki has to say. She seems really worried.”

Sera was talking about Asuha. Ichiro was surprised to see her voicing such consideration.

Ichiro had indeed perceived that Asuha had seemed strangely thoughtful about something. It wasn’t about the news that Ichiro had been arrested in and of itself. If anything, having the situation explained in detail just seemed to make things weigh on her even more.

At the same time, Ichiro had decided not to touch upon it until Asuha came to him about it personally. She had wanted to be treated as an adult, and he had decided to respect that as much as possible.

“Tsuwabuki’s the one who invited you to join the game, after all.”

“That’s true. And you were the reason why.” Ichiro nodded quietly among the clinking of utensils.

“...In that sense, I guess I am the one who dragged Tsuwabuki into the game,” Sera said. There was no sense of self-recrimination in the words, but Ichiro felt he heard a note of deep emotion in it.

Sera Kiryu was a shut-in; she didn’t go to school. Or rather, she hadn’t been going. She had conquered her reservations now, so she’d be resuming middle school in the fall. During the first term closing ceremony, she’d faced off with the group that had been intimidating her away, so there was nothing else hanging over her head.

“I’m grateful to Tsuwabuki for that,” Sera said.

“Not to me?” Ichiro asked.

“You want me to be grateful to you?”

“No, that would be nonsense. I just wanted to say it.” Ichiro laughed a bit, then brought his cup of hot coffee to his mouth. He didn’t feel like drinking tea made by anyone but his maid, Sakurako Ogi, but coffee he could drink without reservation.

“Old man, there are a lot of things I want to ask you, but I won’t.” Sera had already cleaned her plate. She put her hands together politely, closed her eyes, and whispered, “Thank you for the meal.” He could see that even her eccentric mother had at least taught her proper manners.

“I see,” Ichiro said. “If that’s how you feel, I won’t say anything else, either.”

“Yeah, that’s fine. About what’s going on now, too... I’m not actually all that worried. My ambition won’t change, no matter what you do.” Saying that, Sera stood up. “Oh, and sorry for making you pay our hotel fee... I know you’d pay for Tsuwabuki, but the fact is that you paid for me, too.”

“It’s nothing. I’m surprised your mother didn’t want to stay here.”

“She said she’d stay at an old friend’s place in Akihabara. I’m gonna meet up with her later to do some Tokyo sightseeing. Of course, that probably means just touring arcades...”

Ichiro was reminded that Sera’s mother was a passionate gamer, too. It was really quite charming to see mother and daughter get along so well. Ichiro didn’t envy it exactly, but as someone who had a colder relationship with his parents, and who faced awkward situations where it was sometimes hard to tell who was the adult, there was something very refreshing about seeing a familial relationship like that of the Kiryus.

Hands plunged into the pockets of her parka, Sera glanced behind her.

“Ah, Itchy! Kiryu!” Carrying two large dishes piled high with breakfast on top of a tray, Asuha waved to them with her free hand.

“Tsuwabuki’s here, so I should be going,” Sera said.

“Mm, have fun.”

“Good luck to you, too, old man.” With that, Sera left the restaurant behind.

As she passed by Asuha, they exchanged a few words. Afterwards, Asuha walked towards Ichiro, head tilted.

“Kiryu’s leaving already?”

“It seems so.”

Sera Kiryu and her mother, Yoriko Kiryu, would proceed to travel around the arcades of Tokyo’s 23 special wards, overthrowing the strongest gamers in each to become an arcade-raider force spoken of in legend all across the city. But that, of course, is another story.

Asuha sat down in the seat where Sera had been sitting and began eating her breakfast.

“I’m impressed by how much you eat, Asuha,” Ichiro said. “It’s a good thing.”

At his prodding, Asuha looked down at her plate and scratched her cheek a little bashfully. “Heh heh, lately I’m practicing a lot more, which means I’m eating more, too...”

“Uncle mentioned you’ve begun helping out with the baseball club, too.”

“Ah, yeah. That’s right. Our baseball club is pretty weak... A couple of players dropped out, and at this rate, the club’s gonna end up disbanded.” Asuha was eating rapidly, but her table manners weren’t especially bad. “At the end of Bon season next week, they’re having a practice match against one of the prefecture’s usual strongest teams, and if they win, they won’t have to be dissolved. It’s pretty much like something out of a TV show...”

“And so you’re joining them to help them out?” Ichiro asked.

“Yeah. Though of course, a couple other people joined them, too... Hyorogari in the astronomy club and Mero in the chorus club.”

It sounded like an eccentric lineup. Ichiro had his doubts that they were really trying to win, but Asuha’s descriptions suggested that the results of practice had been surprisingly good. Asuha was developing a second miracle pitch to follow up on her Hydro Blaster, and she was going to unveil it at the match at the end of Bon season.

“But it is the end of Bon season, after all... I dunno if I’ll make it to Iris’s offline meetup.”

“I see. Well, you’re both students, so if you come to visit during summer vacation, you should be able to meet her. Though it might be harder with the Kirihitters or the Knights.”

“Where do they live?” Asuha asked.

“The Kirihitters are all in Kyushu, and the Knights’ Stroganoff is in Yamanashi, I believe. Though I never asked specifically, so I don’t know for certain.”

“Hmm...” While bringing her soup bowl to her mouth, Asuha’s vocal tone dropped a bit.

Sera’s words hung in the back of Ichiro’s mind: I hope you’ll hear more of what Tsuwabuki has to say. But it was Ichiro who determined whether now was the time to ask or not. He was trying to treat Asuha as an adult as much as he could, and avoid coddling her wherever possible.

Asuha set down her soup bowl and said, after a pause, “Hey, Itchy.”

“Yes?”

“What are you going to do now?”

“A lot of things. I must help Rosemary. My lawyer acquaintance said that he would cooperate, but I need to visit a number of others first, in order to prepare a legal defense for her.”

“Is that all?” There was a scrutinizing quality in Asuha’s expression.

Was it scrutinizing? Or had she already realized something? He felt she had grown a great deal more discerning these past two months. Ichiro gazed at her quietly.

There was a saying, “If you don’t see a man for three days, watch him closely for signs of change.” It seemed the same was true for women, too.

“That’s all. At least, for now.” Ichiro was extremely happy to see this sort of growth in Asuha.

“You seem happy, Itchy.”

“I am, a little bit.” Ichiro closed his eyes slightly and answered her question a bit more seriously. “It’s nothing you need to worry about just yet. I don’t want to do that, either. You know what I mean, don’t you?”

“Yeah.” Asuha nodded vehemently. But then she turned her eyes downward. “It’s because you seemed to enjoy yourself so much in NaroFan, Itchy.”

“That’s true,” he said. “It is fun, and I’ve enjoyed myself. I’m grateful to you for giving me the opportunity.”

“Hmm... I guess that’s okay, then.” Asuha smiled bashfully and scratched her cheek. “Well, never mind. I was a little uncertain for a while, but now I’m fine.”

“Ah.”

“I think you should do what you want to do... of course, even if I didn’t, you would still do it. I just decided right now that I think it’s best for you to do whatever you most want to do in the moment.”

“I see.” Although Ichiro said that, he was thinking inside, “Perhaps she’s right.”

Ichiro was a little bit afraid of the chance that he might end up examining the situation and deciding he had to do something he didn’t want to do. But even if it wasn’t something he wanted to do, it would still be under his own free will that he would execute it. Therefore, anything he did was what he wanted to do.

That much was just as Asuha had said. No one in the world, including himself, could feel any hesitation about that.

A smile found its way to his face.

“What is it?” Asuha asked.

“Nothing. It’s just that seeing you so mature makes me very happy right now.”

“I told you to cut that out...” Asuha’s face turned a bit red, and her eyes drifted to the side.

“Asuha, what will you do next?” he asked.

“Hmm... Good question. You can’t get into your house, right?”

“I likely can. Rosemary has no reason to keep the apartment locked, so I expect she would let me in if I asked.”

Sakurako had probably won Rosemary over quite a bit in one night. She had a natural talent for softening a person’s heart, which Ichiro had experienced firsthand. To ask whether or not Rosemary had a heart would be nonsense at this point. It was because he believed that she did that Ichiro was doing what he was doing.

“Will you follow me around for a while?” Ichiro asked.

“Hmm, I guess I will.”

Yesterday it was Iris, today it was Asuha. For two days straight, he’d be taking a young girl to places she didn’t belong. But perhaps he could think of it as bringing them life experience. Though they might be hearing a few conversations that weren’t good for fostering a young girl’s sensibilities...

Once they finished eating, the two got out of their seats and went back to their room to prepare for checkout. At that time, Ichiro decided to open the e-mail he’d received from his father.

The words he’d shared with Shaga when he went out for a cigarette.

The words he’d shared with President Azami in front of the curry shop in Kanda.

The words he’d just exchanged with Sera and Asuha.

They were all different, yet there was one common thread running through all of them, a vague line of evil intent that he was beginning to see stretched all throughout this incident. In full honesty, he didn’t want to look at it. Ichiro wanted this to be a terrible misunderstanding without any clear villains.

But reality was reality. Everywhere he went, he saw germs of malice. There was no incident so infused by bad luck that there could be no villain involved.

“Nonsense,” Ichiro muttered, then returned the cell phone to his coat pocket.

He would do what he wanted to do. That feeling remained unchanged inside him.

“And that’s how it went down.” The group had listened earnestly to Iris’s words.

“The group” referred to the Red Sunset Knights: Stroganoff, Gazpacho, Tiramisu, Gorgonzola, Parmigiano-Reggiano; Matsunaga of the Dual Serpents; Amesho and Tomakomai; Taker, Sorceress, Yuri, and the Kirihitters; and more.

Iris had logged in from Megumi Fuyo’s room, called everyone she knew together, and explained about the predicament the young heir had found himself in. She had considered the possibility of their conversation being logged, but had reminded herself that anyone who did that would be a developer, and she had faith that President Azami would be on their side.

They were in the large conference room in the Knights’ guild headquarters. It had more than enough space to house everyone connected to Ichiro Tsuwabuki (and even many who weren’t); natural, perhaps, for the game’s largest guild.

In the red-carpeted luxury hall, a single man licked a poison knife and disappeared into points of light. Everyone present ignored him, to listen intently to Iris’s story.

Iris wasn’t quite sure whether or not to tell them that Rosemary was an artificial intelligence, but she managed to complete her explanation without directly mentioning it. Her tongue was meant for battle, not for spinning lies, so this had taken incredible effort on her part. Still, several of them seemed to intuit it from her choices of wording.

The first one to speak was Matsunaga. “Well, it sounds like he’s innocent, then. That’s good to hear.”

“Indeed,” Stroganoff agreed. “I knew he could be unscrupulous, but he’s not a bad person.”

“This Rosemary... is she the person who was using Yozakura’s avatar yesterday?” Kirihito (Leader) asked.

“She said she was a friend of Mr. Kirsch. Was she foreign?” Yuri added.

“Y-Yeah. Maybe she was! I’ve never met her in person, so I don’t really know...” Iris stammered in response.

They were sitting around the same round table that had apparently been used in a previous Grand Quest to accommodate a united guild conference that Matsunaga had hosted. At the time, Iris had been deep in her studies, and so she hadn’t attended.

I’ve changed a lot since then, haven’t I? Iris thought.

Her assessment was more or less correct, but she herself couldn’t say with certainty exactly what it was about her that had changed. Of course, such was the nature of change...

But back to the subject at hand.

“That reminds me. You talked to Rosemary yesterday, right? How did it go?” Iris asked. She had caught a glimpse of the conversation logs at Thistle, but she didn’t know, concretely, what had been talked about.

“She wanted to know what we thought about Tsuwabuki,” Sorceress said.

“The young heir?” Iris was puzzled by the response.

“Well, I gave my own personal answer,” Matsunaga said wisely. “It was probably, you know... reconnaissance. ‘Know your enemy, know yourself, and you’ll never fear 100 battles,’ as they say.”

“Enemy? Does Tsuwabuki plan on fighting Rosemary?” Taker asked.

“Aw, c’mon, Taker,” Amesho sighed.

“You can be quite thick-headed sometimes,” Matsunaga retorted.

But, yes, that made sense. Iris understood now. Rosemary had gone around in the game asking people what they thought about the young heir. Though it was hard to believe she could have learned much of use... of course, Iris’s best friend had proven to her how self-defeating blind one-sided love could be.

Today, they hadn’t seen the young heir at all (naturally), but Kirschwasser and Yozakura also hadn’t logged in. Of course, it was still rather early, so perhaps that went without saying. They still didn’t know if the young heir had made it home or not, and Kirschwasser usually didn’t log in until he’d finished the housework in the afternoon.

“By the way, I know I called you all here, but are you sure you don’t want to go to the one-year anniversary ceremony?” Iris asked, as if she’d only just remembered.

Yesterday had been so chaotic that she had completely forgotten, but today was August 10th, Narrow Fantasy Online’s one-year anniversary. The ceremony event was set to be held today on the beach next to Starter Town.

However...

The assembled top players all looked at each other.

“Well, the truth is, I don’t have any interest in it... Well, maybe some,” Matsunaga said.

“Which is it?” Iris asked.

“I sent one of our Scouts there, with orders to let me know if anything interesting happens. But it sounds like it’s been a bit barren so far. Development authority has been transferred to Pony, so that’s not entirely surprising.”

It was a strangely undiplomatic way of putting things.

Matsunaga tapped at thin air to call up a window, then put up a view of the anniversary ceremony that his Scout was apparently secretly recording. The group gathered around excitedly to look.

Things seemed very lively there; the celebrities that had been announced in advance were using guest avatars to give speeches. Among them were famous voice actors and famous manga artists, and apparently some of them had even been playing NaroFan before this event.

“You did always like Thistle’s unbalanced development style, Matsunaga,” Stroganoff smiled teasingly, arms folded.

“Well, for better or worse, Thistle is basically a group of amateur otaku with technology and know-how at their disposal. And the feeling of playing a bunch of geeks’ ‘my very own VRMMO’ is part of the appeal of NaroFan, don’t you agree? If Pony intervenes and fixes the balance, it might improve as a game, but it will also grow boring.”

It was a very otaku-like thing to say, and Amesho interrupted with a giggle. “Matsunaga, you’re so weird.”

“Thank you very much.”

“I welcome a little balance readjustment, personally,” Stroganoff said. “I’ll probably go to the ceremony later, too. The big update is going to be unveiled soon, and they’re going to announce new classes and races...”

“Oh, that does sound fairly interesting,” Matsunaga said. “What time does it start again?”

“It starts this evening. There’s still plenty of time.”

Which meant Kirschwasser would probably be logged on by then. And what of Rosemary? Iris wondered.

Either way, Iris wouldn’t be here tonight. She would be doing her fabulous social studies project with Megumi Fuyo. She couldn’t pass up the chance to see firsthand what Japanese high society was like, and to be honest, she wasn’t interested in the new races and classes, anyway.

“I don’t care about the ceremony, but I’d like to see Rosemary...” Iris pondered.

“So would I. I’m a little concerned.” Tomakomai, the hero who had (previously) never logged out once since the service began, nudged his glasses as he spoke. They still didn’t know what his story was.

“Well, if Rosemary is still in the Tsuwabuki household, I’m sure she’ll log in again,” Matsunaga said with a shrug, flashing his usual grin.

“Why?” Iris asked.

“Because there are still two people she needs to talk to if she wants to know more about Mr. Tsuwabuki.”

“Two?” Iris was confused. She could imagine who one was, but not the other. Was there really another player who was that close to the young heir?

The response came from an unexpected direction.

“He is correct.”

It was a familiar avatar’s voice. All eyes turned towards the door to the meeting room.

A Japanese-style maid, her silver hair done up in a ponytail, stood at the entrance to the room. Beside her stood Transaction Knight Kirschwasser, recently returned from the dark side. It was disconcerting for Iris to see two avatars played by the same person standing side by side.

Kirschwasser gave a pained smile and waved. “Hello, Iris. I’m sorry about this. Yozakura insisted.”

“Huh? On what?”

“On speaking with you.”

Yozakura—in other words, Rosemary—spoke with a flat, nearly monotone voice. Her finger, like a lithe white goby, was pointed at Iris. “I have admitted my defeat before Father, Iris, but it is also necessary that I talk to you.”

A chorus of applause echoed through the conference room.

What the heck is going on? Iris thought.

“It seems Ichiro Tsuwabuki is taking action,” the secretary said, removing her Miraive Gear headset.

Shinya Otogiri, CEO of Pony Entertainment, Inc., poked his head out of the mountain of lollipops on his desk and responded. “Ms. Hishoyama, is that true?”

“Yes,” the secretary confirmed quietly.

Otogiri grimaced openly, then sat back deeply in his chair. “I see. He’s taking action, eh? And by that, you mean he’s going to try to prove himself innocent?”

“That appears to be part of it, but...” The secretary explained to Otogiri about the information she had acquired.

Ichiro Tsuwabuki had been arrested on suspicion of unauthorized access, but the truth was, they already knew that the series of incidents had actually been caused by a rogue AI on the run from the Thistle Corporation. They had expected Ichiro to take some action to prove this, but his actions suggested he was trying for more.

There was no way, legally, for the artificial intelligence Rosemary to be acknowledged as a person under current law. Ichiro seemed to be unsatisfied with this, so before he could prove his own innocence, he appeared to be trying to ensure that Rosemary could be guaranteed human rights.

“They didn’t discuss that part exactly, but...” The secretary set the Miraive Gear on the desk and pushed her thin-rimmed glasses up her nose. “Judging from the girl’s explanation, that must be it.”

“Hmm, I see.” Otogiri took a single lollipop from the mountain on his desk.

“But that will take him time. Does that mean that if we deal with the artificial intelligence in the meantime, we win?”

“Yes. Ichiro Tsuwabuki will lose any way to prove his innocence.”

“Even so, forcing the issue doesn’t seem to be working.” Otogiri had been petitioning his friend in the police department to seize as evidence the server machine and supercomputer in which the artificial intelligence likely resided, but they hadn’t made much progress. The man in charge of the investigation on the ground seemed to be dragging his feet.

His acquaintance in the upper ranks had seemed quite hesitant about the idea of erasing an artificial intelligence to frame somebody, but when Otogiri pointed out that its existence would cause great complications in the law going forward, the man took it very seriously. Still, just because he’d agreed didn’t mean the investigators would necessarily spring into action.

If Ichiro brought up the artificial intelligence as evidence before the investigators confiscated it, then his innocence would be all but proven. Besides, even Otogiri had his limits. Right now he wanted to avoid the risk of breaking laws as much as possible. He was already walking a dangerous line.

“As usual, the Tsuwabuki household is being insufferable,” Otogiri said, tearing the wrapper off the lollipop and putting it in his mouth. A sweet sensation spread across his tongue. “Well, it seems like I’ll have some thinking to do. Also, Ms. Hishoyama, about the takeover...”

“Yes?”

As he licked the lollipop, he reflected that it still just wasn’t stimulating enough. If he wanted to think up a good idea, he needed to find a lollipop with a more unusual flavor.

While he talked with his secretary, who was as unflappable as ever, he opened an online shopping page using his computer at hand.

“Tsuwabuki, I’m nearing retirement,” the assistant inspector complained. “Please don’t cause too much trouble for me.”

“I was hoping it might help you reach inspector before you retire,” Ichiro said casually.

Ichiro Tsuwabuki’s actions the day before had caused terrible stress for the perpetual assistant inspector. Despite the massive amount he had put up for his bail, Ichiro had been excessively freewheeling in his movements. Since it was easy to erase evidence when it came to cyber crimes, he had only been afforded bail just barely to begin with, pushed over the line due to the silent pressure asserted by his family name. So then when the assistant inspector had heard that Ichiro was meeting with a lawyer and even visiting Thistle, he’d nearly had a heart attack.

The officers who had to monitor Ichiro’s activities were equally worthy of pity. They’d been forced to follow Ichiro in and out of all kinds of expensive restaurants and hotels, an experience that had left them feeling like nervous wrecks. Ichiro, having realized they were watching him, had been paying for everything, but that had also just made him more insufferable.

“To be honest, things aren’t looking good,” the assistant inspector said. “There are some people who seem hellbent on building a case against you.”

“I suppose there would be. I talked to Shaga yesterday, and he said that to stop them from building a case would be difficult given my current stance. It seems we might fight it out in court.”

“Hey, now.” The assistant inspector looked sour. “If you prove in court that you were falsely arrested, the police will be humiliated. We already look pretty bad for arresting the young heir to the Tsuwabuki Concern.”

“You rendered objective judgment based on the access logs you were given and issued a warrant appropriately,” Ichiro said. “It’s not as if the masses know that there was outside pressure at work.”

Ichiro’s words suggested that he knew someone was plotting to see him arrested. The assistant inspector let out a huge sigh; this was why he hated this job.

It was clear from the report made by the officers trailing him yesterday that Ichiro had a clear idea of who the culprit was, and he could easily name them and prove his innocence. They didn’t have all the details, but the culprit seemed to be a woman named “Rosemary,” and there seemed to be a complicated reason why Ichiro and the others couldn’t just say that and prove his innocence right away.

The assistant inspector hadn’t passed the information on to his superiors; on his own judgment, he had decided that it should stop with him. It was merely his instinct as a man who had spent years in the field, but he had a feeling that there were people among the police’s higher echelons who would find the existence of this Rosemary person very inconvenient... as well as these reworkings of the law that the lawyer Shunsaku Shaga had been talking about lately.

“I’ve been dragging my feet on it, but it won’t do much good if you don’t do something,” the assistant inspector said. “Lately they’ve been talking about seizing the supercomputer in your house as evidence.”

“I hope you will drag your feet most persistently,” Ichiro said, seeming to gaze off into the distance.

It seemed like the person behind it all must be someone extremely troublesome, likely someone near the top of the Pony Entertainment hierarchy. The assistant inspector had heard that something had gone on between Ichiro’s father, Meiro, and some executive at Pony. One of his former juniors in the department had told him about it.

That same man had already reached an important office the assistant inspector could never dream of, as someone who knew how to climb the rungs of the career ladder.

“Well, Tsuwabuki,” he said. “What are you going to do now?”

“You may have already heard about this, but I need to do things to ensure that Rosemary gets a fair trial. Then after that... well, if it’s Pony, as I suspect, I’ll have to have it out with them, man to man.”

“It seems a bit early for a Pony takeover, though,” the assistant inspector said.

“I want to save that for a last resort. I might yet work something else out. Possibly.”

The assistant inspector frowned. What Ichiro was saying suggested he was already considering it.

He didn’t know that Ichiro liked Narrow Fantasy Online quite a bit, and that if he wanted to maintain that enjoyment, he couldn’t take on a role as one of its developers. He didn’t know that, but from their long years of acquaintance, he could guess that what Ichiro was readying himself to do was something he didn’t want to do.

“Well, I’ll work hard, too, so that you won’t have to do anything desperate.”

“Thank you.” Ichiro smiled.

The assistant inspector sighed internally. Though he said he’d work hard, it seemed like all he could do was stop information from flowing to the top, drag his heels in passing on orders to his subordinates, and stall as much as possible.

Either way, it seemed impossible for him to reach inspector before he retired.

“Sorry for the wait,” Ichiro said to Asuha, who was sitting in the police station’s waiting room, looking rather bored.

“It’s okay. I wasn’t really waiting.”

Unlike when he was with Iris, Ichiro was now holding conversations that he didn’t want others to hear, and as a result, he was a bit concerned that Asuha might be getting bored. Even so, he didn’t have much time to lose.

Ichiro led Asuha out of the station. He slipped into the driver’s seat of the Koenigsegg parked outside and pulled out his smartphone.

“Who are you calling now?” Asuha asked.

Ichiro answered the question with one word. “Charles.”

He was the director of a robotics engineering laboratory that Ichiro had invested in.

In the recent account hacking incident, Rosemary had used an AI their lab had developed as a bot to control Ichiro’s avatar, which they had labeled “Duplichiro.” The lab had its own deep connection to Rosemary, therefore, but since their eventual goal was to develop an autonomous maid robot, and since she could represent a potential breakthrough in that goal, the scientists there were extremely gentlemanly to her.

Thus, although they were basically the victims, they’d decided to keep quiet about what Rosemary had done. Truly, they were model geeks.

Ichiro placed the call and explained the situation. Charles response was:

“Rosemary-chan is going to be deleted?!”

Given the time difference, it was probably the middle of the night in Pittsburgh, but the man shouting on the other end of the phone sounded more than sufficiently awake.

“Incredible! When I heard she’d disappeared from Thistle, I assumed she’d go around hacking computers all over the world looking for a place to stay! To think she’d end up at your house!”

“I’m going to pretend I didn’t hear that,” Ichiro said. “Now, about my request...”

Ichiro explained, and he could hear the man on the other end of the phone groan. It was like the growl of a grizzly bear.

Asuha peered in closer, puzzled, perhaps in response to hearing Charles’s loud voice coming through the receiver.

Ichiro just shrugged his shoulders slightly.

“I’m afraid there’s a pretty big issue on the hardware front,” Charles said. “None of the bodies that would be perfect for Rosemary-chan are finished yet.”

“Anything with a humanoid form that could express emotions would be acceptable.”

“As if I could put her in one of those dead-eyed machines! Do not trivialize the maid robot!”

“Nonsense,” Ichiro said. “You’re unusually excitable today. Pulling an all-nighter?”

“Yep!”

Ichiro’s request had been for Charles to lend him a robot that Rosemary could use for appearing in court. It didn’t have to be a robot; anything with a microphone and a speaker so that she could speak freely would do, but a robot that could employ human-like expressions would greatly change the tone of the trial.

It would, but of course, Charles was right. If they couldn’t get her out of the uncanny valley, that would deal a powerful blow to her perceived “humanity.” And while Ichiro had said he was indifferent to the design, he had been stubbornly refused. Apparently, if Rosemary needed a body to use, it had to be a “Japanimation-style bishoujo android.”

“Well, that’s fine,” Ichiro said. “I’ll give up on the idea, then.” He wasn’t going to nitpick a specialist’s perfectionism, and he meant what he said. “Instead, I’ll just ask for that report.”

“Sure. Leave it to me. I’ll write everything that happened, and even some things that didn’t.”

“Just the facts, if you please.”

Ichiro then told him about a place he wanted him to go, and a person he wanted him to meet. Though it was within the same country, America was large. He didn’t think it was terribly far away from Pittsburgh, though.

He heard a commotion on the other end of the phone. It seemed Charles was already preparing to head out; truly a hasty person to the end.

“So, Ichiro, if I go to this place you describe, I can meet Rosemary-chan?” he asked.

“You won’t meet her, but you may be able to see her looking healthy,” Ichiro answered while messing with the tablet computer on his knee. He’d gotten an e-mail from President Azami presenting a rough outline of what was currently going on in Narrow Fantasy Online. Ichiro felt just a little bit vexed. This was something he had wanted to see with his own eyes. “Anyway, I want your objective perspective as a technician, if you please.”

“Leave it to me,” Charles said confidently. “My fire of romance won’t burn out that easily. Okay, I’m on my way out.”

He was hasty, but that was good in that it meant he acted decisively.

“Oh, also. Ichiro.”

“Yes?”

“I forgot to take a picture of Asuha-chan, so please let me take one when I arrive in Japan.”

Ichiro looked at Asuha once again. Asuha didn’t seem to have heard him, as her head was cocked in confusion.

“If she permits it, I will.” Ichiro hung up the phone and put it in his pocket.

Asuha, who had remained perfectly silent until then, thinking, opened her mouth. “Hmm. Hey, Itchy.”

“Yes?”

“I’m gonna get off here.”

Ichiro was surprised. The proposal was unexpected, from his perspective. “I don’t mind, but is there somewhere else you need to be?”

“Not really, but I’m pretty sure I can’t be of use to you at all... I’m gonna try thinking of some other way to help.”

“Ahh.”

Asuha opened the Koenigsegg door and stepped outside, allowing the sweltering Tokyo summer heat to rush into the car. “If anything happens with Rosemary, tell me, okay?”

“Mm, yes. If I make any progress, I’ll let you know.”

“Mm, well, do your best, Itchy.” Asuha clenched her fists.

Ichiro hadn’t been expecting a pep talk.

With that, Asuha Tsuwabuki spun on her heel and started walking towards the station. He doubted she was going to find anything useful, but something about the atmosphere around her petite silhouette told him she would probably be all right.

But Asuha had told him to “do your best.” Ichiro felt like he was going crazy.

She had been maturing rapidly of late, and right now, he felt she resembled him just a little bit. He didn’t think she was imitating him, or even doing it consciously. Perhaps it was just a sign that she was a Tsuwabuki, too.

“It must be Great-Grandfather’s blood,” Ichiro couldn’t help but whisper, even though he generally thought that bloodlines and genetics were nonsense. “Well, then...”

Ichiro returned his focus to the matter at hand.

He still had a lot of things to do and a lot of places to go. This part was starting to feel a little more enjoyable in its own way, too. He gripped the Koenigsegg steering wheel again and took off for his next destination.

Rosemary/Yozakura had come to speak to those players she viewed as “threats” to her. To break it down even more simply, that meant she was trying to “have it out” with the women who seemed closest to Ichiro.

At least, that was how Iris perceived it. She didn’t have much romantic experience herself, but it seemed clear enough to her.

It was extremely unsatisfactory.

Iris didn’t have Megumi Fuyo’s awful taste, nor her terrible eye for men. She found this thing with Rosemary an extremely frustrating position to be in, but she knew she couldn’t just turn a blind eye. Iris’s avatar reflected her emotion with extreme accuracy, the clear dissatisfaction showing on her face.

The same went for the onlookers, who seemed to think Yozakura and Iris were going to have a cat fight. It was disgusting. Total nonsense.

“What is the matter, Iris? Too afraid to respond? Hah, hah.” Yozakura engaged in expressionless shadowboxing, apparently attempting to bait her.

“Did you arrange this, Mr. Kirsch?” Iris demanded. Even if she had locked him in his house, it was still a cruel thing to convince an innocent AI to do.

Kirschwasser laughed. “We were just enjoying some movies and manga together.”

Yozakura didn’t seem aware of her sin, either.

Iris sighed. She didn’t have a choice, it seemed; she’d just have to go along with it. She had to consider her position as Fuyo’s best friend, too, and when she thought about it that way, talking things out with Yozakura didn’t seem like a totally fruitless endeavor.

“Okay, fine. Let’s do it.”

Those around them let out a cheer, applauding her courage.

“Iris, please take it easy on her!” Matsunaga called.

“Yes, she is a frail woman, after all,” Stroganoff added.

Their arms-folded suggestions from the sidelines only accelerated Iris’s bad mood. “Who do you people think I am?”

“We think you’re you, Ai,” said Yuri.

“That’s why we’re worried,” Kirihito (Leader) added.

It seemed she was surrounded by enemies. A true bed of nails.

But Iris, while psychologically frail, had faced adversity a time or two of her own. The days of fighting that had lasted close to two months had been rough, but she had never lost herself; in fact, those events had hardened her spirit, allowing her to better rise to this challenge.

But what exactly were they supposed to talk about?

As she wondered that, Yozakura spoke up, maintaining her fighting pose. “Iris, what do you think of Ichiro?”

As before, Stroganoff and the other Knights’ commanders watched from afar with scowling expressions.

“Starting with a light jab, eh?”

“The give-and-take is fundamental.”

“That girl is better than I expected.”

Even in this situation, they just wouldn’t give up the color commentary.

“What do I think about him?” Iris asked.

“It is necessary that I learn this. I am concerned about the possibility that a lack of information has led me to a fatal series of mistakes.”

“You mean you’re anxious?” Iris asked. “You can’t sleep at night out of worry?”

“Yes.”

“Hmm.” Iris put a hand to her shapely jaw and thought.

How did she feel about the young heir? When she thought about it with a clear head, she didn’t think she’d ever really been attracted to him. As she thought about it, the cool smile of Ichiro Tsuwabuki appeared to the upper right of her head, but she punched it away.

“To say it plainly...”

“Yes?”

“I don’t really know.”

Iris was trying to describe her feelings as precisely as she could, but unsurprisingly, Yozakura wouldn’t accept it.

“That is not an answer, Iris.”

“But I really don’t know! Then let me ask you, what do you think of him?!” Iris shouted, pointing a finger at the other woman.

The group behind her continued to comment on the exchange.

“A counterattack.”

“She’s really giving it everything she’s got.”

“Ai, keep fighting!”

“But don’t be too rough with her.”

At some point, others besides the Knights had joined in on the commentary.

Yozakura faltered slightly, apparently not expecting that response. Of course, being an artificial intelligence, it wasn’t clear if she really had faltered, but it seemed to Iris, at least, that she had. This was a lesson she had been taught by her late grandfather: exploit your opponent’s vulnerabilities.

“Me?” Yozakura asked.

“Yes, you. Yozakura, if you’ve come here to ask me that, you must have an answer of your own, right? What do you think of the young heir? Do you like him? Love him?”

There was a momentary pause before Yozakura answered. Iris had no way of knowing this, but in that instant, the supercomputer in the Tsuwabuki household was making so many complicated calculations that the double-point couldn’t even keep up. It was likely a more complicated and esoteric calculation than anyone in human history had ever witnessed.

“Ichiro taught me the importance of thinking for myself, the significance of putting that into practice, and—”

“Pfft.” Before she could finish, Iris cut her off with a snort. It was as if a katana had lashed out from her mouth, a great blade forged by Goro Nyudo Masamune himself. “That’s not an answer. You want to order people around when that’s all you’ve got? Give me a break. I’m laughing so hard I could shoot a geyser from my belly button.”

“Please revise your statement, Iris,” Rosemary said. “What I performed was an objective and valid evaluation of Ichiro.”

“And I’m saying that your ‘objective and valid evaluation’ is crap.” Iris was not about to show any mercy. She swung her wit’s cruel hammer hard enough to crash through the ground.

“At the end of the day, it just doesn’t add up. I’m not as mature as the young heir or Mr. Kirsch, so I’ll say it. You self-justify constantly, but the things you do are so clearly emotional and childish that none of it is convincing. This stuff you’re doing isn’t ‘necessary,’ it’s just what you want to do! So quit beating around the bush and just say what you want to say.”

Iris gave Yozakura/Rosemary no time to argue as she continued to lay into her.

“Look, at the end of the day, what other people think, objective opinions, stuff like that... it doesn’t mean anything. Objective assessment only means anything after you’ve formed your own opinion. Until you do that, it’s just information. So, listen up, Yozakura. I’m going to ask you one more time. Do you like the young heir?”

At this point, the Knights’ peanut gallery had fallen totally silent. Some might say they had realized their commentary was inappropriate, but the reality was something else: They were all holding their breath, waiting for what Yozakura was going to say.

What kinds of calculations was the world-class supercomputer running to bring her to her next words? The Yozakura avatar went a long time without speaking, but eventually opened her mouth and responded: “Yes, I love him. I’m in love with him.”

“Heh.” Iris let out a snort, but inside, she was smiling. In that same instant, the peanut gallery burst into cheers and applause. Surrounded by cheers, Iris puffed out her chest and raised a fist. “I win.”

“Was that what the competition was about?” Yuri murmured from the spectator seats.

It was not only Yozakura who had been silent this entire time. The person most moved by all of this was the one standing just behind her.

Kirschwasser’s expression became very emotional, and despite the harassment warnings popping up on screen, he swept Iris into a big hug. “Iris!”

“Eek!”

To an onlooker it would look like obvious sexual harassment.

“I knew you could do it! Amazing! Iris, I’m so impressed!”

“M-Mr. Kirsch! You’re dropping character!”

“I-I can’t say it out loud, so I’m whispering it to you! To draw those words from Rosemary, from an artificial intelligence... you’re amazing, Iris!”

“A-Am I?” Iris was rarely complimented so directly. It caused her to blush.

While the onlookers for some reason were sobbing and hugging each other emotionally, Yozakura said this to Iris: “Now, Iris, what do you think about Ichiro?”

“Oh, right...” While struggling a little bit in Kirschwasser’s arms, Iris made a show of thinking again. “I thought about it a lot, and I think he’s my enemy.”

“Enemy?” Yozakura asked.

“Yeah, someone I need to surpass and show up some day. Anyway, it’s not at all what you think, so don’t worry.”

“I do not think that is true, but... Very well. If you insist.”

Kirschwasser whispered excitedly, “She said, ‘I do not think,’ Iris! Did you hear that?” into her ear, but Iris didn’t quite understand what he was so excited about, and so just nodded vaguely.

A little while later, upon judging that the celebration had died down, Stroganoff spoke up:

“By the way, everyone, do you want to try to go to the hidden jungle?”

Iris wasn’t sure what he was talking about at first, but after a few moments of thought, she put the pieces together.

He was talking about the field that you could get to via the black holes that had been showing up here and there lately. But Iris’s expression was immediately dubious. Kirschwasser had a similar response. Yozakura’s expression didn’t change, but it was likely that she was thinking the same thing.

“You found a warp point?” Taker asked.

“Deep in Delve, yes. A few of our members have gone on ahead to secure the location,” Stroganoff responded cheerfully.

“Mr. Kirsch, are those the connection points that Yozakura... rather, that Rosemary used to get through?”

“I was wondering the same thing, but...”

The two cast glances at Yozakura, and she nodded with a blank expression. “Yes. Because the server machine upon which my data resides contains a 3D field map compatible with Narrow Fantasy Online, I tried to use it as a connection point to access the Ten Sages. As for my motive...”

“I think we all know what that is,” Iris said. It was exactly like her to cut her off like that. “Are they still connected? Does that mean the unauthorized access is still going on?”

She didn’t understand all the complicated bits, but she felt like by now, they should have done something to sever the connections between the fields. Even if Rosemary was using the Ten Sages to perform unauthorized access and alter field data, she hadn’t taken over the system itself. There should be many ways for the devs to counter her intrusion. In other words, there had to be some reason that the developers were leaving the connection up.

Iris thought back on President Azami Nono, with whom she’d eaten curry the night before. Despite being a genius, she was a bit slow in some respects, and didn’t really seem cut out to be a developer. But at the very least, she didn’t seem like the kind of person who would use others and concoct a scheme like this. She didn’t want to think the connection was being left up as part of a plot, either.

“Well, what about you three?” Matsunaga asked them, interrupting their discussion.

Iris, Kirschwasser, and Yozakura all shared a look. The field map itself was something Ichiro had made for fun. There would be no malicious viruses or traps there, so there was no danger of data getting damaged.

After a few moments’ hesitation, Iris spoke as representative of the three.

“We’ll go.”

“Can you do that?” Shinya Otogiri, CEO of Pony Entertainment, Inc., asked as he poked his head out from the mountain of lollipops on his desk.

A man in a blue delivery company uniform had been coming in and out of the office for a while now, delivering a large number of boxes. Inside each box were more lollipops.

The secretary nodded silently in response to the president’s question. The delivery worker delivered the last of the boxes, took off his cap and bowed, then left.

After a while, she spoke. “It’s all just data in the end, so as long as we can access the server, we can take a program apart remotely.”

“I understand that, but...” Otogiri said with a faintly pleased expression as he broke the seal on the cardboard. “Can you do that, Ms. Hishoyama?”

“Yes.” The secretary nodded very calmly. Her own gaze turned to the mountain of documents piled high on her desk. “Among the documents sent to us by Thistle were those outlining the Ten Sages’ programs. If I consult those, I probably can.”

“I see.” Otogiri thrust his head into a cardboard box and looked around a few times before looking up at her again. “But that would be crossing a rather dangerous bridge. Would it qualify as unauthorized access from our end?”

“Actually, the access route that the Ichiro Tsuwabuki household was using hasn’t been completely cut off just yet.”

“Oh?” Otogiri was intrigued by his secretary’s words. He grabbed one of the newly arrived candies and tore off the wrapper. “In other words, a malicious program in the Tsuwabuki household is still illegally accessing Thistle Headquarters. All I’ll be doing is dismantling it in order to try to protect Thistle’s servers.”

He pondered for a moment.

“Hmm, that’s a risky excuse,” Otogiri muttered while swishing the candy around in his mouth. “But I like it. Give it a try. I’ll handle things with Thistle itself.”

“Yes, sir. Understood.”

“By the way, Ms. Hishoyama.”

“Yes?”

“This red pepper flavor just isn’t stimulating enough, either.” As Otogiri spoke, he looked down at the buildings of Minato Ward below.

The secretary thought for a while, then finally said, flatly, “I’ll order some potassium cyanide.”