Rebuild world volume 7, p.16
Rebuild World: Volume 7, page 16
“All right, I’m on board.”
“That’s the spirit! All right, we’ll plan accordingly going forward.” Hikaru felt elated that everything had worked out exactly as she’d intended. “Oh, and by the way,” she added casually, “if any other troublesome negotiations have popped up in your life since we last talked, just let me know. I’ll take care of ’em all without breaking a sweat, just like before!”
“I mean, even I can’t get into more trouble that quickly,” Akira quipped.
“Really? Well, I certainly hope you’re not holding back on my account.”
“Nah, not at all. If I absolutely had to pick something, though, remodeling my bathroom has been on my mind for quite a while.” After tasting that most luxurious of baths at Sheryl’s base, he was no longer satisfied with his and had wanted to remodel it for some time now. And unlike before the nationalist incident, he now had the extra budget to afford it.
So he’d called a company to see about remodeling.
Upon hearing exactly what kind of bathroom he had in mind, however, the sales rep had recommended that he just think about moving to a new house instead. They couldn’t merely alter his bath the way he wanted—they would need to build a brand-new bathroom from scratch. Moreover, they’d claimed, his current home was meant more for hunters around rank 30, and now that Akira was rank 50, his living quarters ought to reflect this. If a high-ranking hunter like him was unsatisfied with the facilities his current home provided, he would be better off planning to move to much nicer lodgings than spending more money to improve what he already had.
Now Akira was torn. “I mean, I see their point,” he told Hikaru. “But besides my bath, everything else in the house still suits me just fine, and I feel like moving would be a huge pain. So I’m not really sure what to do, to be honest.”
“Simply do what they recommended,” she told him. “I completely agree with the bath company’s opinion here. You’re an amazingly talented hunter, and you definitely have the money, so you ought to treat yourself and get the home you deserve. Think about it: Wouldn’t this be a prime opportunity to upgrade everything in your house, rather than just the bath?”
“Hmm. I dunno...”
Realizing Akira still wasn’t exactly on board with the idea, Hikaru immediately backpedaled. “Well, that said, it’s your house and you’re the one paying for it, so what ultimately matters most is how you feel. Choose whichever option seems right to you, and if you’d like, I can negotiate on your behalf to get you what you want.”
“Are you really fine with that?”
“Of course! Just say the word, and you’ll have that nice bathroom you want in no time. Oh, and since it’ll probably be noisy inside the house while the room’s being built, how about I also schedule the construction to take place while you’re away on the intercity transport mission? Then when you get back home, you’ll already have a brand-new luxury bathroom waiting for you! Wouldn’t that be exciting?”
“Wow! That sounds awesome! All right, let’s do it!”
“I’m on it! I’ll make those arrangements at the same time as the ones for the intercity transport job, and we’ll be all set!”
After Hikaru had hung up, Akira idly looked around his bathroom. Now that he knew a new one would be taking its place soon, its current structure seemed shabbier than ever. “Can’t believe I once thought this was the height of luxury,” he mused. “Guess I really have come to appreciate the finer things, huh? I’m already getting excited just imagining my new setup.” He grinned widely.
If it’s just the appearance you’re looking forward to, I can do that for you right now, you know, commented Alpha, who was in the bath with him as per usual. Almost immediately, his current bathroom, viewed through his augmented vision, transformed into the model he’d requested from the sales representative, right down to his exact specifications.
“Wow, now that’s pretty convenient. And yeah, if I only cared about the appearance, I’d probably say this was good enough. But changing my surroundings won’t do diddly-squat for the actual water,” he said, scooping up a cupful with his hands.
Alpha gave him a mischievous grin. Oh, that’s right—the sensation of touch is super important to you, isn’t it? Silly me, I should’ve known.
“Well, yeah. I mean, after experiencing how the water in Sheryl’s bath felt, this stuff just seems...”
Belatedly realizing what Alpha was alluding to, Akira trailed off mid-sentence. Despite being just an image in his vision, Alpha’s naked body was close enough now that he could have reached out and touched her had she been real. What’s more, thanks to the technologically advanced artificial hands he’d worn while in the hospital, he had—just once—been able to experience for himself how her body felt. Alpha smiled at him teasingly, wholeheartedly enjoying his reaction.
◆
Having received Akira’s permission to send him on the intercity transport security gig, Hikaru immediately set about arranging everything, including the negotiations with the transport company. Just as she had guessed, the company had no complaints about Akira working solo, but they did have another concern: Akira was not yet authorized to enter Kugamayama’s middle district—in other words, to pass within the city walls. The security measures for the city’s transports were just as strict as those in the city’s middle district, and the company couldn’t in good faith allow a hunter without such clearance to work security on one of its transports. If Akira ventured there at present, he’d be considered a trespasser.
So the transport company’s only stipulation was that he obtain the necessary clearance first. Hikaru assured them this wouldn’t be a problem and finalized the agreement.
Now she just needed to submit the request for authorization to enter the middle district. As he was a high-ranking hunter with connections to an important city executive, this seemed to her a mere formality.
But much to her surprise, her request was denied.
Apparently, sending the request on Akira’s behalf as his representative wasn’t enough. Nor was any reason given for the rejection. So she tried again, this time adding a personal recommendation from herself. But once more, it was denied.
This time, a reason for the rejection was provided, brief and vague: “Security concerns.”
Now Hikaru was starting to panic. Even if she sent a third request and it happened to go through, Akira wouldn’t receive permission immediately. The paperwork would take at least a day—perhaps even a week—to process, which might be too late for him to work the transport job. And without him, there would be a gaping hole in the intercity convoy’s defenses—defenses that were supposed to be as rock-solid as the city walls. Failing here would leave a black mark on her record that simply couldn’t be overlooked. And that wasn’t all: Akira was also already hard at work preparing for this task because she’d given him the okay. After all the confidence she’d shown, she could hardly call him back and tell him there’d been a change in plans and he couldn’t go after all—Akira’s faith in her would undoubtedly take a nosedive.
I gave him my personal recommendation, and they still rejected him?! I’m from the city’s General Administration Department, for crying out loud! If that’s not good enough, I dunno what is, but I have to do something! I guess I could call up the defense force and ask them precisely why my request was denied, then negotiate to get my way? No, there’s not enough time for that!
At any rate, one thing was obvious to her: if her recommendation didn’t suffice, then someone else had to be interfering behind the scenes. And when she calculated the amount of time she would most likely require to untangle that mess, even her tightest estimate ended up well after Akira’s job was scheduled to begin.
Hikaru furrowed her brow, deep in thought. Eventually, she came to a decision. “Well, I didn’t want to have to force my way through, but I don’t really have much choice at this point.”
The defense force was in charge of granting any clearances to the inner city that lasted a year or longer. But the General Administration Department had the authority to grant temporary clearance for a brief time, like several days or a couple of weeks. In other words, Hikaru herself could grant Akira temporary permission. However, just because she could didn’t mean she should—granting permission to someone the defense force hadn’t cleared might be seriously frowned upon. She might even wind up accused of abusing her authority, going behind the defense force’s back and compromising the security of the middle district.
Still, she decided to do so anyway. Even at the risk of the defense force criticizing her actions, after weighing the consequences, she judged that would be better than having to scrap all of her plans. So she filled out the necessary documents with haste.
“All right, that ought to do it,” she murmured. “Maybe including Inabe’s name as well was a little overkill, but now there’s no way the defense force will complain.” The way she’d filled out the papers gave the impression that she hadn’t wanted to resort to this, but a city executive had ordered her to, leaving her with no choice. By mentioning Inabe, she hoped to make it look like she wasn’t to blame, that she had simply been doing as she’d been told.
Upon submission, her document was also automatically sent to the defense force. While she attended to her other daily professional tasks, she waited to see if anyone would respond. This was just temporary clearance for the sake of completing a job, she told herself—it wasn’t like she was granting him permanent permission, and she’d made sure to clarify as much in the document. Surely they’d allow this—or at least any rejection would have to come straight from the defense force itself. When the workday ended and she’d received no reply, she decided it was safe to assume the paperwork had gone through, and she finally relaxed.
Because Hikaru had used Inabe’s name, the city executive was among those notified of her submission. And after mulling it over for a while, he decided to wait and see what would happen before making any moves.
Chapter 199: Hikaru’s Blunder
The day of the intercity transport security mission arrived. Once Akira was all set to leave, he headed to the Kugama Building’s first-floor lobby and waited for Hikaru to show up.
For this job, he’d purchased two more modded LEO multifunction guns, bringing his total number of LEOs up to four, and he already had the AF laser cannon. All five weapons were stored in a case at his feet. As he would shortly be entering the middle district of the city, inside the walls, he could wear his powered suit, but he couldn’t have his weapons out in the open—or more accurately, he hadn’t been authorized to do so.
As always, the lobby was crawling with hunters. But this time, their eyes weren’t glued to Akira. A number of other incredibly skilled hunter teams from farther east were currently visiting Kugamayama to conquer Kuzusuhara Zone 2, so the sight of a high-ranking hunter like Akira wasn’t that unusual by comparison.
Akira found himself a little disappointed but felt more relief than anything else. Guess those teams of top-tier hunters I heard were coming really did show up, then.
Looks that way, Alpha said, floating next to him with her usual smile. We’re in the distribution period now, so they probably arrived on the intercity transports you’re going to be guarding soon. Look over there!
Alpha glanced off to the side, and Akira’s gaze followed. He saw a hunter wearing a jacket so designed that it didn’t seem possible to zip the front closed, over a powered suit that looked more like a swimsuit.
Judging from how racy that looks, it must be an Old World-inspired outfit, concluded Akira. So that’s one of those hunters from way out East?
That’s right. And the outfit’s probably not just Old World “inspired”—it’s actually from the Old World.
A real Old World suit? Well, if they can afford gear like that, they’ve gotta be pretty skilled. And a bunch of them are here right now, huh? No wonder I don’t stand out anymore. After the nationalist incident, Akira had, in a sense, been Kugamayama’s top hunter, though only for a short time. But now the bar had been raised to a much higher level—now he was just another high-ranking hunter.
I’ve got to climb even farther, Akira thought, having recognized the vastness of the East anew.
Just then, Hikaru showed up, right on time. “You’re already here, I see. Excellent! Right this way.”
Akira followed her through the corridor leading to the middle district.
As they walked, Hikaru commented, “Did you see those racy outfits? Those hunters must work pretty far east, no?”
“Probably,” Akira agreed. “And while some hunters just wear Old World gear to make themselves look more dangerous than they are, that one back there sure seemed like the real deal to me, at least.”
The ridiculously powerful Old World gear worn in the far East came with equally ridiculous designs. To someone who knew nothing about hunters, fighting in such outfits would look about as foolish as rushing headlong into an extremely dangerous monster hive armed with only swimwear and water guns. Yet Old World gear made such seemingly impossible scenarios possible and would even keep the user safe while doing so.
Alternatively, some high-ranking hunters chose to use New World gear modeled on Old World technology, which provided similar levels of safety and functionality. However, there were also those who wore cheap knockoffs that only resembled Old World gear in appearance. These people were often mocked and looked down upon by other hunters because their bluff worked only on humans and not monsters—though it did in fact work on monsters intelligent enough to recognize an opponent’s strength from visual information, of which there were quite a few.
As experienced as Akira was now, he, too, could distinguish fake Old World gear from the real deal. “Hikaru,” he asked, “have all of those superpowerful hunters reached the city already?”
“Yes, and their arrival will undoubtedly accelerate our conquest of the Kuzusuhara depths. Of course, that means more hunters will be running around the city in outfits like those, which might cause problems in and of itself,” she added with a small smile. “You know, maybe once you’re able to afford gear like that, you’ll look the same too.”
“Nah, I’d rather not if I can help it,” he said, grinning at her joke. “Though I definitely wouldn’t mind a set of Old World gear that looked more normal.”
“What if it was a really powerful, really cheap set?” She smirked. “Would you wear it then?”
He paused for a moment. “D-Depends on how powerful.”
“Heh, I knew it. To you hunters, power is everything.” She looked amused.
Akira smiled sheepishly. Indeed, from swimsuits to maid uniforms to bunny suits, a hunter had every reason to wear something that would allow them to stay safe and kick powerful monsters to the curb. Between looking normal and keeping yourself alive, the choice was obvious. And those who couldn’t make that choice had no business out in the wasteland because they weren’t going to survive.
As they chatted, Akira and Hikaru passed through the border checkpoint between the lower and middle districts. Akira noted that the guards here were armed far more heavily than the security in the lower district. After they had proceeded down the corridor a while longer, Hikaru stepped in front of Akira and grinned proudly.
“Here we are, Akira! Welcome to Kugamayama City’s middle district!”
The scenery that lay inside the city walls spread out before Akira’s eyes. The enormous wall was a barrier that carved out two different worlds in terms of public safety, economics, and discipline. Akira couldn’t even count the number of times he’d stared up at the imposing structure, wondering what could possibly lie on the other side—and now, he’d made it here at last.
They headed to the intercity transport station in a vehicle she had arranged for. The car made its way automatically to its destination, with no driver in the front seat. As he rode, Akira gazed out the window in fascination.
Hikaru, sitting opposite him, looked somewhat dissatisfied with his reaction. Compared to the city outside, the middle district’s landscape was elegant and pristine, as though everything had been carefully calculated to be uniform. Most hunters from the outside who laid eyes on this scenery for the first time looked astonished, surprised, taken aback, or incredibly tense—all appropriate reactions for hunters who’d finally been permitted to set foot in a place they’d always been denied. Hikaru had been hoping for a similar reaction from Akira—she wanted him to recognize just how amazing the district she lived in truly was.
But his reaction didn’t meet her expectations. He wasn’t completely unfazed, of course, but rather than visible shock or surprise, his expression seemed to say something like “Now that’s something you don’t see every day.”
And this just wasn’t good enough for Hikaru.
“I really thought you’d be more shocked,” she said with a hint of a pout in her smile. “Perhaps the middle district isn’t quite as impressive as you imagined?”
“Wh-What? Nothing could be further from the truth,” he replied. “No, this really is worlds apart from the city I’m used to, that’s for sure. And I’ve definitely never seen a self-driving car outside the walls.”
“Oh yeah?”
She still found this an insufficient reaction. Determined to make him realize just how amazing the middle district was compared to the lower one, she racked her brain for something that might impress him.
“Look,” she said casually, “it isn’t just the scenery that’s so different here, you know. Listen to this! In the middle district, you can’t just kill people out in the street. Murderers here are immediately apprehended, interrogated about their motives, put on trial, and thrown in prison for as long as their sentence dictates! Isn’t that awesome?!”
“Wow, no kidding?! Gotta say, that is really different from the city outside!”
Now Hikaru was a little taken aback—if anything, this felt like an overreaction to her. But she could tell he wasn’t just trying to match her enthusiasm—he was being genuine. And such a reaction did meet her expectations, at least, so she decided she was satisfied for now.
