A New Partnership
“......”
Mizunashi Rena's expression was a little hard to describe.
If Ganyu hadn't looked so utterly sincere, Mizunashi would have suspected the girl had seen through her deliberate attempts to get close and was simply brushing her off with a careless answer. But Ganyu's face didn't look like that at all — so did the world actually contain people who were content to eat nothing but flowers and vegetables, whose hobby was work, and who happened to be outstanding at it besides?
Where on earth had Miss Ningguang found such a wonderfully useful subordinate? Even Gin would be envious if he knew...
“Speaking of restaurants I like, though, there is one — Wanmin Restaurant. It's at 5-chome 39-10, Beika-cho. If you ever have a free day, Miss Mizunashi, I'd be happy to take you there. Their vegetable dishes are the best I've ever tasted — though everything else on the menu is excellent too,” Ganyu said cheerfully, recommending her favorite restaurant.
Thankfully, Ganyu had at last offered something Mizunashi could actually respond to.
The two of them chatted about the topic for a while, exchanged contact information, and promised to have a meal together at Wanmin Restaurant whenever their schedules allowed.
Soon the group arrived at the company entrance. After exchanging farewells, Mizunashi and the others headed back to the TV station — they still had to edit today's interview footage, and it was due to air tomorrow.
In the car on the way back, while the other staff weren't looking, Mizunashi sent the information she had just gathered to Gin, and asked whether there was anything he wanted her to do next.
[Interview data attached. Target: Ningguang, head of the Jade Chamber Corporation's new Japan branch. No further instructions received — awaiting orders.]
After waiting a while with no reply, Mizunashi put her phone away and set the matter aside for the time being.
Meanwhile, Gin read over the email Kir had just sent, thought about it for a moment, and then fired off a message to Cointreau.
Before long, a reply arrived on his phone.
Got it. I'll ask him. — Cointreau
He opened the message, saw the words “Understood. I'll ask him. — Cointreau,” and, satisfied that the man had the situation in hand, put the matter out of his mind.
After all, the deal with that Kaeya was Cointreau's responsibility. Unless it proved necessary, Gin had no intention of meddling in it.
That's right — Gin already knew that Ningguang had some connection to Kaeya. He had even guessed that the two of them very likely belonged to the same organization, that whatever "Teyvat" group it was.
He had a rough understanding of the Silver Bullet research data he had traded to Kaeya back then, and he knew exactly what kind of skincare products Kaeya had developed from it.
After all, part of that original deal had been for Kaeya's people to help the Organization establish a foothold in Country H — so when the skincare company Kaeya's family built there launched, the Organization had taken a hand in it as well, and Gin had naturally learned a thing or two about how effective the products were.
And now this Ningguang, newly arrived in Japan, had opened a branch company selling skincare products of suspiciously similar effectiveness — and Kaeya and his people hadn't reacted at all.
Gin did not believe for a second that Kaeya, that black-fox of a man, had failed to notice the matter by now. If the other side still hadn't made a move, that could only mean one thing: Ningguang and Kaeya were in league together.
As for whether a partnership was possible — that would depend on how the talks between Cointreau and Kaeya went.
Elsewhere, Cointreau looked at the message Gin had sent him and let out a resigned sigh.
Seriously, Gin really did have a talent for dumping trouble on him.
The deal had finally gotten on track, and everything from here on out only needed to be handed off to Ireland and to Bourbon, who was always so eager to help. He had actually been planning to use this lull to go see Xia Yu — to meet up again, have a nice long chat, that sort of thing.
Come to think of it, the two of them hadn't seen each other since that time at the Twilight Mansion. They'd been apart this long, and maybe it was just his imagination, but he couldn't shake the feeling that the tone of Xia Yu's messages had been getting more and more...
Cointreau thought for a moment and landed on a word... volatile.
In his judgment, if he didn't explain things face-to-face soon, the longer this dragged on, the worse the punishment he'd suffer the next time they met.
He distinctly felt that his little sister's attitude had softened quite a bit recently — that was exactly why he hadn't been in any particular hurry — so how had it soured again after so short a time? Were girls all this fickle?
And now, on top of everything, another task had landed in his lap, pushing their meeting back even further.
It looked like he ought to stockpile a larger personal supply of the Life Potions Kaeya was trading to the Organization — that way, if he got beaten black and blue meeting his sister, he could patch himself up before anyone else in the Organization noticed something was off.
Yes — Cointreau was already planning the cover-up for the injuries he expected to sustain at his own sister's hands.
Cointreau stared at Gin's message, thought it over, and decided it was best to contact Kaeya directly.
He called Kaeya, and the two of them talked the matter through over the phone.
After a lengthy discussion, they reached basic agreement on most points, but deadlocked over a handful of details. In the end, it took the threat of Kaeya telling Xia Yu everything to force a grudging concession out of Cointreau.
After hanging up, Cointreau thought for a while, composed his words carefully, and sent an email to the Boss outlining the broad strokes of the new deal he had just struck with Kaeya, and asking for the Boss's opinion.
Before long, the Boss replied, approving the deal — except that this time, it would no longer be led by Cointreau. Instead, it was being handed to Rum, the Organization's second-in-command.
Cointreau wasn't the least bit surprised. Given how paranoid that old man was, there was no way he'd entrust a job this important to Cointreau a second time — and Gin wasn't suited for this kind of work, which left Rum as the only option.
Not that it mattered. As long as the deal went smoothly, that was all that counted. If anything, handing it to Rum worked out even better for Cointreau: if something went wrong, it would be Rum's failure, and none of it would trace back to him.
At the thought, Cointreau allowed himself a small, scheming smile, then sent the relevant details of the deal along with Ningguang's contact information to Rum. From here on, Rum would arrange for his own people to reach out to Ningguang and her group and negotiate the specifics of the partnership.
The matter was settled, and none of the follow-up concerned him anymore, so Cointreau put it out of his mind entirely. It wasn't until the next day that he remembered to forward the outcome to Gin.
Gin stared at the message that had just come in, utterly speechless.
He'd already heard how things had gone from Rum himself — and only now did that idiot Cointreau think to tell him...
At his side, Vodka noticed his Aniki's mood had turned sour and asked, concerned, “Aniki, is something wrong?”
“It's nothing.” Gin had no intention of telling Vodka more — the man would find out soon enough anyway, and right now he couldn't be bothered to explain.