YF lifted his plated fist, extending his fingers out and flipping from the back to the palm. He then looked down at his full body armor, which was obviously reassembled from a decommissioned government or corporate unit. No it was definitely a government one, the model was too old for corporate. He was sitting in the back seat of the same modified vehicle that Mizuno drove during the wilderness run. But this time his vehicle was the only one, and the sectarian who was driving him was not anyone he recognized.
“We’re arriving soon Mr. Sakai, please prepare to disembark.”
The driver pulled up slowly to what looked like a luxury apartment building, one where he was sure waltzing into the front door with bootleg armor was going to arouse suspicion and hostility. YF alighted and watched the sectarian drive off into the afternoon. He stood for a while contemplating taking off his armor somewhere in the bushes but then noticed from where he stood that the guard at the front desk appeared to be wearing the same color and style armor that he was. YF walked through the front sliding door and allowed the scanner to run over his body.
“Goto Yusuke detected.”
“Goto! You’re late!” the guard at the desk rose from his seat, flagging him down. He was helmetless and pouring sweat from his brow. The man’s right hand was ungloved with a shirt sleeve extended far out from under the armor, which he used to wipe his forehead profusely. With the temperature setting on YF’s own suit so high — probably to save energy — he could see why. YF started to feel the sweat beads dripping from his neck.
“I’ll see you tomorrow!” said the man, pausing as if waiting for a response.
With the extra light from the building filtering in through his helmet, YF saw for the first time what looked like incompletely scrubbed blood stains near the neck inside of his armor. There were no bolt marks on the outer plates, leaving YF only to guess how the former owner of the armor — this Goto — was injured. He decided he did not want to know.
“Understood,” said YF, hearing his own voice distorted through some implanted device.
“Great great,” said the man, patting YF’s shoulder. The man already started stripping off the remainder of his armor on his way out, shoving two vape boxes into his mouth as he did so.
YF waited until the man was safely out of view before going for the elevator, where the only information he had been given for the assignment was which room number to look for and to retrieve a person from there. As he rode the elevator up, YF tried to ignore the guilt that he was about to kidnap somebody, focusing instead on what level of resistance he should expect from the apartment occupant.
The elevator opened and YF saw another guard wearing similar armor to himself collapsed on the red rug floor. Upon approaching him, YF could see that blood was leaking from the downed guard’s neck opening and mixing with the rug such that it was hard to tell when not up close. He stepped over the man, his heart beating faster as he proceeded further down the hall. YF stood for a few seconds in front of the door when he reached the room. Other than a verbal note from the driver there was no message or record of where he was supposed to go. He hoped he remembered correctly. YF knocked on the door with his armored fist. He was not sure why he thought that would be less disruptive than ringing the doorbell, as he heard the pounding sound echo through the room behind. He waited about five minutes before raising his fist a second time, only for the door to slide open before he could hit the metal. A woman wearing large, pink matching pajamas stood in the doorway with a sleepy expression. She rubbed her eyes. "Goto-san? Something wrong?"
YF recognized her as Mori, the woman he had retrieved from the abandoned warehouse when he confronted Yui in her frenzied state.
“Mori-san, we need—”
Mori's eyes grew wide and she quickly went to shut the door. YF clamped his hand onto the thick curved metal plate when it slid shut about half way. "Ms. Mori. I need to take you somewhere, please don't—"
Her pupils became narrow as slits and the veins popped against her neck as she lashed out with a hand at lightning speed, clawing across the thick metallic armor. YF lurched back, his heart pounding as scraps of metal shaved off of his breastplate clanked against the floor.
Mori seemed to forget about the half closed door as she lunged toward him, swiping his helmet off with a second attack. In his dazed state, YF grabbed her hand just as she was about to strike again, her thumb nail cutting through the glove and drawing blood. Mori grew suddenly confused, enough to give YF an opening. He raised her arm high, crouched low and pivoted hard with his right foot. The world seemed to slow down as his right fist extended out from his shoulder, his plated arm traveling straight like a battering ram until he punched her hard in the stomach. YF could hear the wind being knocked out of her as she flew backward into the apartment. He stood up in the doorway, blood still dripping from his left hand.
YF looked down at his right hand, then at Mori lying motionless on her floor. He pressed the button to close the door and turned back toward the elevator. A squeaking sound stopped YF in his tracks. He turned around. The half closed door must have derailed when YF stopped it from shutting the first time, the mechanism’s efforts to close it causing the annoying, repetitive sound. YF instinctively rushed back to the door and grabbed the door, pressing the manual override button from inside the apartment to stop the noise. He was expecting the neighbors to come out and see what was going on. But minutes later there was no commotion from any of the other units. It must have been too early in the afternoon, or the rumors about Nishida people liking to mind their own business were true. YF took a second look at Mori laying there and cursed bitterly. He walked over to her and picked her up gently. He then brought her over to the balcony, where he contacted a one way encrypted line written on a scannable, self erasing chip.
If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.
Minutes later, a personal aircraft flew up to the balcony, a lady that YF had never met before exiting the vehicle and leaving it in its hovered state.
She climbed over the glass railing next to YF. "Hello Mr. Sakai. Please bring her here, I'll help you bring her on board."
YF looked up at the still hovering vehicle. Such aircraft were not cheap, and YF doubted Uwada had the funds for one. It made him wonder just what sort of person Numata really was.
“Thanks,” he replied.
The two of them brought Mori on board and YF climbed over the driver's seat onto the passenger side. After the woman got into the driver’s seat, she took off in the direction of Itsugo.
When she was safely on the highway, she turned to YF. "You're hurt," she said.
YF looked down at his hand, which was already starting to heal. Almost immediately he
could feel a splitting pain in his head. His throat grew dry, and he found himself clawing at his neck. The woman reached calmly into the vehicle console and pulled out a can-sized transparent container of what looked like blood infused with bright, glowing stabilizers. "Please take this. Part of your compensation for the job."
YF looked at the container, and then up to her. What he wanted to do was grab it and chuck it out the window, watching it break against the levels below. But he could not bring himself to do it, instead slowly plucking it from her hand and twisting open the top. He stared down at the liquid. A barrier suddenly shot up between the two of them.
"Please forgive my manners, I will give you some privacy," she said.
"Can you promise me I'll never see you or your boss again?" asked YF.
"The boss will not contact you," she said. "Whether you choose to contact us, though, is up to you."
YF did not like the sound of that but with little other options and realizing he was not going to obtain something this expensive on his own power, he downed the drink in one gulp. Nothing tasted so bitter to drink in his life. When he was finished, he opened the window and tossed the container out, quickly raising it back up and pressing his head back into the headrest. The woman left the barrier between them up, continuing to drive in silence until they reached their destination.
***
“The boots as well.”
YF looked from the fixer to the robot assistant next to him. The armor and rifle YF had already handed over to the fixer were now sticking out of the robot’s storage compartment module. YF took off the boots and handed them to the fixer as well, who promptly took them and tossed them into the bin. The man then wiped one hand against the other.
“Good. Thank you for your cooperation Mr. Sakai. I will be going now.” The fixer turned to the robot. “Come along.” He motioned and the robot followed him back to the truck where the robot attached and secured the container onto the bed. With little delay, they soon drove off in the direction of Itsugo.
When YF started for the bus depot a phone notification rang on his receiver. It was from Toa, demanding payment. He suddenly felt a wave of helplessness, made even worse by his own realization of how small of an issue this was compared to everything else he was dealing with. YF knew there was no more money. With the key money for the new apartment and all that he had spent up until that point, YF was sure that he could not pay her. He should have asked Uwada for something on the side for this mission, but he did not want to risk Erika’s protection over something like that.
“Give me time,” YF texted her.
“I already did. Pay up,” came the reply.
YF pocketed his receiver and continued for the depot. Nishida City was much more lively during the day than Itsugo was. Young couples holding hands passed him to the right along the walkway, and he could see businessmen sucking on vape boxes on the other side of the road. Passing through the various market streets and bar districts should have made him feel better but at that moment YF wished he was walking on an abandoned Itsugo street. He made it about halfway up the next main road before he realized that the last bus to his residential district was over an hour ago, and with no money for a taxi he would need to make it the rest of the way on foot. YF sighed and turned back the way he came, starting on the long detour home.
***
When he arrived hours later, Erika was still sleeping. It was only then that YF checked his messages and saw that she had left him a note saying to eat whatever was on the table. YF heated up the rice, eggs, and vegetables and ate voraciously. As he did so he noticed tears streaming down his face. He put down the chopsticks and looked at the empty bowl in front of him. All he could think about was that he was glad Erika was too deeply asleep to notice.
***
The next day at work nobody in Division Four was interested in speaking to him beyond the evening greeting — which was fine for YF given his lack of sleep and general bad mood. YF started going through the files of sectarian cases at his desk and quickly realized he could probably solve the majority of them without much extra investigation. A lot of them were property crime or racketeering charges; YF could get a few guys on the street to track down the thieves; he also already knew which stores were being shaken down by which sects. The real problem was getting the handful of people to take the fall for these things. That meant he did have to go out there and negotiate it with them.
YF packed up his belongings and tried not to make any eye contact with the others.
“Going on a trip, Mr. Sakai?” asked Muto from his place at the head of the desk island.
YF forced a smile. “Yes sir, it’s related to the cases. Will be in Itsugo for a bit.”
“Good! Be careful.”
“Yes sir.”
YF exited the Ward Office with his jacket in his arms. He then walked the short distance from the entrance to the train station.