Chapter 17: The Fox Borrows the Might of the Fence - 4

A wanted criminal who couldn't be handled by Valkyrie, prompting even SRT to be dispatched for her suppression, yet she managed to escape. The Fox of Calamity, Wakamo Kosaka.

Having lost a significant portion of her strength, she decides to rob a store belonging to 'The Farm', a recent hot topic in Millennium, to immediately replenish her lack of weapons.

However, she was instead subdued by 'the Farmer', the owner of The Farm, who had anticipated the situation and come out in advance. In the process, she lost a significant portion of her memories, making it impossible to proceed with legal procedures at present.

It is concluded that the Farmer will temporarily take Wakamo and four of her subordinates under his protection.

 

"...Is that correct?"

"Yes, that's correct."

"I see."

A woman reads through the report.
The person who submitted said report, Kanna Ogata, is currently facing the greatest crisis of her life.

Because the person she is speaking with right now is neither the Chief of the Public Safety Bureau nor the Chief of the Security Bureau.
It is the Vice-Director of the Defense Office. Shiranui Kaya.

She has been reading the report Kanna submitted for ten minutes straight with her inscrutable slit eyes. For Kanna, who is at best a candidate for the next Chief of the Public Safety Bureau, it's an agonizing experience.

Only after another five minutes did Kaya lift her eyes from the report.

"Good work. You may leave now, but before you go. May I ask a favor?"

"What might that be?"

"It's nothing much. Please report periodically on Wakamo, or more precisely, on The Farm that is protecting Wakamo. And please send over the details of your investigation so far."

"For what reason..."

For Valkyrie to conduct a close investigation into a company and deliver that information to a private individual.
It's an act that clearly goes against professional duty and ethics.

But as a rising star of Valkyrie, it would be difficult for her to refuse an order from the Vice-Director of the Defense Office.

"...It's nothing."

With that, Kaya said no more, and Kanna quietly exited the Defense Office.

A moment later, after confirming that Kanna had completely left, Kaya made a phone call to someone.

"Hello?"
 

[It's been a while, Vice-Director.]

The voice coming from the other side of the phone was somewhat different from a person's.
A voice made of mechanical sounds.

It was the chairman of Kaiser, the President.

"A company called The Farm recently subdued Wakamo."

[Ah. I've already heard about that. The growth of the young ones is truly something, isn't it?]

"However, according to my findings, Kaiser is behind The Farm. Do you know anything about it?"

[Well. I can't say I know everything my subordinates are up to.]

"I'll take that as a yes. In any case, its recent growth has been astonishing. A total profit of roughly 30 million yen in just one month of establishment. It only has one factory site, but it has even set up a retail store in the mega-academy, Millennium. And it even managed to subdue that Wakamo."

[The establishment of a new factory is always a joyous occasion. Wouldn't you agree?]

"Indeed. It's certainly something worth celebrating, isn't it? I hear they even made a deal with the General Student Council President. Regarding a patent."

[My, my. It seems I'll have to give them a gift soon.]

"Oh. A gift sounds lovely. Will you be preparing it, Mr. Chairman?"

[I hear that after the fox lost her memory, most of her subordinates fled, save for four. You would know her preferences well, I suppose.]

"Then I shall help prepare the venue for the party. It would be unpleasant if pests crashed the party, wouldn't it?"

[That goes without saying. Who are you thinking of inviting? The Farmer?]

"Hardly. They say class is permanent. Subduing the fox couldn't have been pure luck."

Kaya opened a document that had just been sent directly to the Vice-Director's office.
The sender was Kanna Ogata.

The document contained a brief summary of information about The Farm.

"I'm told that every morning, two employees move the inventory to the retail store."

[Inviting those two would be appropriate.]

"It's a pleasure working with you, Mr. Chairman. You're so easy to talk to."

[You as well. Then, I'll deliver it next week.]

"Yes."

With that, the President ended the call.

"...That wretched old man."

Her attitude was completely different from before the call, but to her, it was only natural.
She was a superman, whereas the Chairman was a mere mortal.

For now, he was just a hunting dog to be fed, useful for ousting the General Student Council President, who was a superman like herself. But recently, she had grown displeased with that hunting dog trying to lie in the same bed as its master.

In that sense, The Farm was a useful card for her to play.

To Kaiser, which does not welcome encroachment on its territory, The Farm's existence would be quite irksome, and if they follow through, they'll kidnap The Farm's personnel next week.

This event was beneficial to Kaya in several ways.
If the kidnapping succeeds and The Farm is ruined as a result, she would gain a leash to tighten around Kaiser's neck.
Conversely, if The Farm escapes Kaiser's scheme, she could use it as a replacement for Kaiser.

Whatever the case, all she had to do was wait.

Whether the old hunting dog would lose its fangs, or the young one would tear at the old one's neck.
—Or whether it would become *her* hunting dog.

"The Farmer, was it? I hope he isn't too much of a fool. I'm tired of looking at that cunning tin can."

 

* * *

 

"Boss, are you sick? No, are you an idiot?"

"Boss. By any chance, have you been experiencing hallucinations or auditory illusions recently?"

"...I said I'm sorry."

Why are Arin and Sarin suddenly nagging me?

To understand this, we have to go back to the interview this morning.

"Alright, let's begin!"

To reminisce about the old employees' fight with the sukeban and to instill a sense of hierarchy, I decided to hold the interview as a fight in an empty lot. I picked up a newly acquired baseball bat to compensate for my weakness in close combat due to lack of strength—a flaw I noticed while fighting Neru and Wakamo—and to make it easier to bat away bullets...

"Ah, sh—"

*Clang—!*

It was my first time using a melee weapon, so I couldn't control my strength, and I also had some pent-up feelings towards Wakamo, so...
...I went at it a bit too seriously.

Of course, I only get pushed around by the really strong ones; thanks to my sister's "special training" disguised as special assault, I could easily defeat about four Helmet Gang members.

As a result, all four of them fainted and are now lying in our dorm.
It's only been a few hours, but it's strange. Why does it feel like two weeks have passed?

"Great job, Boss! Are you planning on giving them amnesia too!"

"Wow~ We were lucky to have kept our memories, weren't we?"

"Who knows. Maybe you've already lost them."

"Hey, you bastards."

I had been listening to three hours of nagging from my employees, who couldn't pass up the rare opportunity to mock their boss.
Maybe I should ask Neru or Wakamo for a sparring match later...

"Is anything wrong with them?"

"No fever."

"Sis. She's unconscious, too."

"Sarin. Shut it."

"Boo, down with the oppression of subordinates."

"Are there any other subordinates who nag their boss this much?"

The current time is five in the morning.
Even with four patients, we can't just not work.

"Let's just proceed as usual. I'll take care of the patients."

Same as always.
Seven people each in charge of manufacturing pistols, submachine guns, assault rifles, sniper rifles, shotguns, and machine guns.
Two people to take the weapons made yesterday to the store and sell them.

Arin and Sarin will each supervise their respective tasks.
And Utaha can go over there and rest.

"Wait, what the fuck."

"It's been a while, Boss."

"What are you doing here? Utaha."

"Ah! She called me!"

In response to my curiosity, Sarin came scurrying out from inside the factory.

"I discovered something amazing recently!"

"Something amazing?"

"Yes. What should I call it? Sometimes when I reeeeally focus my power, my gun shoots harder?"

Is she talking about Mystics?
Our Farm's weapons should have already been developed to channel Mystics well. Is there more to it?

"But you see. I tried firing the submachine gun that Ms. Utaha uses, and something was strange, you know?"

"Take a look at this."

The tablet Utaha handed me showed a total of four shot groupings.

"The top groupings are on a Heavy Armor plate, the bottom ones are on a Light Armor plate."

"The left is me! The right is Ms. Utaha! Using just one of Ms. Utaha's guns!"

"This is, certainly..."

There was a clear difference in the groupings.
In the grouping Utaha shot, the Heavy Armor was completely pierced, but it was weak against the Light Armor.
In the grouping Sarin shot, it was just so-so against Heavy Armor, but the Light Armor was practically shredded to rags.

The same gun, yet the results differ depending on the user.

"That is strange."

"Right!? So I came up with a hypothesis."

The hypothesis Sarin explained was this.
The energy that increases the power of the bullets themselves when students fire their guns. What I call Mystics.
It doesn't just have a simple enhancement effect, but a kind of type advantage system.

The proof was the shot groupings we just saw. For example, Sarin's own Mystic is more effective against Light Armor than Heavy Armor, and conversely, Utaha's is more effective against Heavy Armor than Light Armor.

"What kind of bullshit is this?"

"Aww, this is why you're no good, Boss!"

"I've never heard of Mystics having attributes."

"Ah! Mystics! That's a good name for it! No, that's not it, they're not all different, maybe roughly three? Or four types? I think it's around that much!"

Ah. I shouldn't have said that.
No, but really. Even the person who told me all about Mystics never told me that they had attributes.

What is this kid, really. What does she keep finding?

"What is this, Pokémon?"

"Ahh, Boss, you have no sense of wonder!"

"Why would a technician look for wonder, you crazy kid."

"Anyway! If this is true, and if we can make bullets for each type of Mystic!"

We could pierce Light Armor with a sniper rifle, and Heavy Armor with a pistol.
One could just carry their familiar weapon and switch out the bullets to change the type advantage at will.

"But, is that even possible? According to you, every individual's Mystic has a different attribute."

"Well. Not everyone can use Mystics. And in the first place, even with Millennium's technology, it's hard to analyze the guns you're producing now. That's how much of an intuitive field Mystics are."

"What kind of bullshit... Fine. Then how long would development take?"

"Roughly speaking, a week? I think we could have a prototype by then!"

A week, huh.
I was planning to look for a new store location around that time anyway. The timing is perfect.

"Okay. Need any support?"

"Just give us a lot of bullets. We'll handle the research."

Just give them bullets and a kickass tech prototype comes out in a week?
That's fucking cost-effective.

 

* * *

 

"Alright! That's all for today's work! When the kids from the store get back, let's all go to the bathhouse and then get some food!"

"Yeeeah!!"

"Phew, I'm leaving now. It was fun, Boss."

"You worked hard, Utaha. What do you guys want for dinner tonight?"

"I vote for pizza!!"

"How about chicken for a change?"

"That's not bad, but considering the nutritional content, a salad would be—"

"Director of Internal Affairs. Step outside. Let's have a traditional interview for the first time in a while."

"You've got some nerve. I'll make you relive your sukeban days."

"Are you crazy kids going to fight again?"

...They're having fun.

Leaving the employees to their chatter, I checked my bank account on my smartphone.

From today's business, the current capital is 13.12 million yen.

"Not great."

For the first time, today's daily sales dropped below 950,000 yen, below 1 million yen.
Of course, it's always fluctuated, and I expected the initial hype from the grand opening to die down, but...

It seems I need to build a new store quickly...

"I don't know about the land, but the building itself is expensive. Arin said we'd need about 20 million yen..."

"Is something worrying you?"

Just then, Wakamo, who hadn't been mingling well with the other employees, approached me.
Come to think of it, where has she been all day?

"I sat on the bench and watched all day, and it seemed like the employees had a lot to do."

Did those crazy employees not do anything?
Ah. I didn't assign them anything.

"So?"

"I don't know the details, but as far as I can remember, I think I had a building."

"?"

What is this crazy talk all of a sudden.
Does a wanted criminal on the level of the Fox of Calamity also own a building?

"Hey! You guys, come here!"

"Yes? Sir?"

"You four, get over here!"

I couldn't ask the amnesiac, so I called over the four new employees who had woken up five minutes ago and were now stuffing their faces with ice cream.
...Come to think of it, I need to buy them clothes and daily necessities too.

Fuck my money...

"Hey. Does this girl Wakamo have a building?"

"Ah~ Is she talking about that place?"

"That place~ The hideout?"

"What hideout?"

"Our boss usually gathers the Helmet Gang a week before an operation, and there are core members, you know? Like us."

"The ones who raided with you last time?"

"Yes. Anyway, there's a building where we gather weapons, eat, and sleep."

"Sounds similar to The Farm."

When you think about it, their roots are both in sukeban and the Helmet Gang, so it's one and the same.

"Why do you ask all of a sudden? New Boss?"

"Wakamo suggested building a new store there."

Hearing my words, the four new employees thought for a moment, then shook their heads in unison.

"It's a decent idea, but that place is probably a living hell right now."

"Besides the four of us, where do you think the thirty-one members who didn't come to The Farm went?"

"And before, the boss would at least coordinate things. Now, they're probably raising hell trying to decide on a new boss among themselves."

"Still, if everyone from our Farm went, plus you guys and Wakamo, wouldn't we stand a chance?"

"Winning the fight is one thing, but would the building remain in a usable state for a new store?"

"Besides, leaving our base completely empty would be a huge loss, Boss."

"Arin?"

As we were talking, the other employees had gathered around us at some point.
Don't you guys rest?

"...Forget it. I was just thinking out loud."

In the first place, no matter how broke I am, I have no intention of robbing another building.

"You robbed Millennium—"

"Shut up."

It's better to just go the honest route, even if it's hard.
My sister used to say that. Money helps with most things.

It was the only thing she said that I took to heart.

I looked at the clock and it was already approaching ten at night.
It's time to take care of the thing I've been putting off.

I got up, went into the office, and grabbed a few sheets of paper.

They were contracts.

"Alright, my employees. It's already been a month since you started working here."

Our first meeting was due to my misunderstanding, but after working together as if we were living together for a month, I've grown quite attached, for better or worse.
In fact, aside from my classmates in middle school, my only human relationships were with my sister and one acquaintance from the neighborhood.

From my perspective, I couldn't shake the thought that they were the first friends I'd made on my own.

Well, with a bit of exaggeration.

"At this point, you guys are like family to me."

A family-like relationship, I mean.

"Of course, our company is a bit shabby."

"We have to go to a public bathhouse to bathe."

"And we eat at convenience stores!"

"Our dorm is just mattresses, ya know."

"And we only just now hired new employees!"

"The term 'shitty small-to-medium enterprise' fits us perfectly."

Yeah. I'm sorry, you bastards.

"Now that you've worked hard for a month, it's time for me to keep my promise."

They became the foundation of my company, kids who worked with me all this time without a single clear contract.
Without them, I wouldn't have even 1.31 million yen right now, let alone 13.12 million.

"Salary negotiations. Let's do it."

Even though my net profit will obviously plummet, I have a conscience.
This isn't my money being spent, it's their money that I've been holding onto.

"Alright, let's start with the Goto sisters. From what I see, monthly revenue is roughly 25 million yen, so for the eleven of you, the average..."

"Um, Boss? I have something to say."

"What is it?"

Arin, who had been listening intently until now, suddenly raised her hand.
Something feels ominous.

"Actually, regarding this matter, we've already finished discussing it amongst ourselves."

"...What?"

"You're going to expand the stores and hire more employees, aren't you?"

"...Yeah."

"So we—"

I... thought of these kids as family.
I was mistaken.

 

Mistaken in thinking that I was the only one who felt that way.

"—as long as you let us maintain our current lifestyle, we have no intention of receiving additional wages."

"...What?"

"Literally! We'll just live like we do now~ I mean, Boss. You buy us food, you buy us necessities! This place is basically our home, so is there really any reason to get more money?"

"That's right, ya know."

"Did all of you really agree to this?"

"Yeah."

"That's right."

"There was no reason to object, so."

For a moment, I was at a loss for words.
Not because I was sad or angry, of course not. It was just.

My heart felt full.

"Anyway. Who do you think would be happy about this?"

"You're failing to hide your expression right now, Boss."

"Is that so."

At first, running away from home felt hopeless.
The contract with Kaiser was also unsettling, to be honest.

But now, another feeling comes before those.

The desire to keep going with these kids. A kind of friendship mixed with a sense of responsibility.

"Hey. We have work tomorrow. Go to bed early."

"Yes~!"

"See you tomorrow, ya know."

"Good night."

 

And so, the salary negotiation that had been weighing on my mind the most recently came to a simple and heartfelt conclusion.

At that moment, I think I laughed freely for the first time since running away from home.
Without a thought for what would happen in a week.