Mimata Chieri
Mimata Chieri's memories of her childhood were utterly tasteless. Her parents were not good people. They never crossed the line into outright abuse, but they completely neglected her. Every single day, the only things young Chieri ate were the cheapest sliced bread and jam sold at the supermarket.
When she entered elementary school and tasted her first school lunch, Chieri—who had known nothing but bread and jam—didn't even know how to use chopsticks. But she was quick-witted and had excellent hand coordination. Without anyone noticing, she mastered the proper technique by the end of that very first day.
Even more surprising than learning to use chopsticks was the flavor of the food itself. For someone who had only ever known bread and jam, the discovery that such delicious tastes existed in the world was a revelation. From then on, going to school every day became something she genuinely looked forward to. It meant she could eat something new each time.
After attending school for a few days, Chieri began to realize that many things she had taken for granted were not normal at all. Most children grew up under their parents' care. Eating nothing but cheap bread every day was strange. But she was still too young to have the power to change her circumstances.
Her life truly began to change when she reached her third year of middle school. There had been a moment when a terrible accident nearly claimed her. A car came barreling toward the crosswalk where she was walking at a speed far beyond what was legal on a normal road. Yet Chieri calmly sprinted forward and dodged the vehicle.
"Are you okay? You must have been terrified."
The speeding car had already vanished, but the driver of the vehicle behind it stopped and got out to check on her.
"Yes, I'm fine. I didn't get hurt."
When the driver saw Chieri speaking as if nothing had happened, he was momentarily at a loss for words. After staring at her for a moment, he handed her his business card, told her to call if she needed anything, and drove off in his luxury car. Chieri looked down at the card.
It read: Fumimoto Takayuki, Director of the Taira Bio Planning Secretariat. A phone number was listed below.
"Taira..."
Chieri knew the Taira name very well. The jam she had eaten throughout her childhood was made by Taira Foods. Taira was everywhere—producing all sorts of products, running telecommunications companies, and stamped across countless things in her daily life. Without really thinking about it, she kept the business card from the man whose face and name were all she knew.
Originally, she had only planned to hold onto it. She never intended to actually call. But everything changed because of her parents.
People who could neglect their own child to the point of near-abuse were never normal to begin with. The pair, who had no real jobs and were involved in the nightlife industry, suddenly found themselves buried under an enormous debt. Naturally, they had no way to repay it.
So when they saw Chieri coming home, a horrific idea occurred to them. They decided to sell her to the yakuza. Claiming she was finally paying them back for feeding and housing her, they contacted the yakuza without a shred of guilt.
Fortunately, as mentioned before, Chieri was sharp. She pretended not to notice anything, then stole her parents' phone before the yakuza arrived and dialed the number on the card.
There wasn't much time, so she didn't explain anything in detail. She simply said one short phrase: "Please help me." The reply was equally brief. "Understood." That was all.
Perhaps she had been a little too late. Less than five minutes after the call, two yakuza burst into the house. They frowned when they saw that Chieri was still a middle schooler, but after getting a good look at her appearance, they nodded to each other. "She's young, but with a face like that, she'll sell."
"Hehe... about the debt...?"
"We'll call it even. You worthless pieces of trash."
Even the yakuza grimaced at the parents who were grinning ear to ear as their daughter was being sold off. But Chieri felt nothing. She had never expected anything from them in the first place, so there was no sense of betrayal. She only thought, I should have called a little sooner...
It didn't take long to be dragged down from the shabby apartment and loaded into the yakuza's car. In front of their black vehicle stood three men. It was Fumimoto Takayuki and two subordinates. He had arrived later than the yakuza, but not too late. At first the yakuza had demanded to know who they were in a threatening tone, but the moment Fumimoto revealed his identity, they immediately backed down.
After a brief conversation with the yakuza, Fumimoto took custody of Chieri. The yakuza stormed off angrily, heading back to her parents' house. Chieri bowed deeply to Fumimoto.
"Thank you."
"What will you do now?"
"I have to go back home..."
"You can't go back. Now that those yakuza have returned to your house, neither your parents nor your home will be left intact."
"Ah..."
When Chieri fell silent, Fumimoto spoke again.
"Will you come with me? Your current life isn't good, but the life I'm offering isn't exactly pleasant either."
"But there will be a place to sleep, right?"
"There will."
"Then I'll go with you."
Chieri's thinking was simple. Even if what Fumimoto said was true, if she didn't follow him, her immediate problem would be where to sleep tonight. Between two bad lives, choosing the one that at least guaranteed her a place to rest was the correct decision.
After that, Chieri transferred to a different school in Tokyo. On the surface it looked like an ordinary boarding school, but in reality it was an institution that trained assassins and agents for the Taira Group. There, she received a completely new education.
How to interact with people, conversation techniques, how to conceal her identity, how to identify weaknesses, marksmanship, dagger combat, and countless other skills. She studied everything the school demanded, mastered foreign languages, and earned various certifications.
She even underwent body modification surgery—an extremely expensive procedure for civilians. It wasn't the kind of mechanical augmentation that would set off metal detectors, but rather treatments that strengthened and increased the elasticity of her muscle fibers while enhancing her eyesight. As a side effect, her hair turned orange, but that was easily explained away as dye.
After graduating, she worked at the Taira Foundation, which handled the Group's black funds, primarily carrying out missions handed down from above. If ordered to kill, she killed. If ordered to gather information, she gathered it. If ordered to destroy a facility, she destroyed it. Chieri was an outstanding agent.
As time passed, she could say with confidence that this life was far better than the one she had lived before following Fumimoto Takayuki. Since her boarding school days, she no longer had to eat plain bread, and her sleeping arrangements were far cleaner than her old home.
And if she had continued living that old life, would she have ever been able to join the Taira Group, Japan's top conglomerate? Chieri couldn't say for sure. No matter how sharp her mind was, entering such an elite organization usually required a certain level of family backing.
"Starting next week, you will report to the Human Resources Development Center."
"Is there a target there?"
One day, Fumimoto Takayuki summoned her and gave her a new assignment. Her primary duty at the Taira Foundation had been monitoring the flow of black money belonging to the Chairman's children, along with handling occasional solo missions.
"In six months, the Chairman's grandson will join that center."
"A grandson... Would that be Taira Kitsumasa? Or Taira Akio?"
The only grandsons of the right age to join the Human Resources Development Center were Taira Kitsumasa and Taira Akio. While the center held considerable rank and importance within the Group, it was essentially the front yard of Taira Saburo, the Chairman's third son. After all, Taira Yukiko—Saburo's wife—served as its director.
It was the kind of place where someone in their twenties like Kitsumasa or Akio might join to build a bit of experience before transferring to a subsidiary where they could establish their own power base in their thirties. Or perhaps strike out on their own entirely.
"It's Taira Ryuta."
"I've never heard that name before."
"He's Saburo's illegitimate son. The Chairman has already designated him for the Human Resources Development Center. You will enter first, observe and report on every one of Taira Ryuta's actions, and protect him if anything dangerous occurs."
"Understood."
Chieri nodded. Surveillance and protection. To her, Taira Ryuta was nothing more than a target defined by those two words.
At least, that's how it should have been... But at some point, without her realizing it, Taira Ryuta had become someone special to her. Was it because they had become lunch buddies who ate together every day? Or because she had spent so much time secretly watching his every move? She didn't know the reason. All she knew was that, like water soaking into a sponge, the existence called Taira Ryuta had seeped deep into her heart.
That was probably why she had unconsciously stepped in front of him. Even though her mission was to protect him, she had never intended to sacrifice herself.
She was afraid of dying. Afraid she would never see Taira Ryuta again. Afraid she would never be able to eat lunch with him again. With those thoughts, Mimata Chieri lost consciousness.
"...."
When she tried to open her eyes, they felt painfully dry. She could feel her body. Keeping her eyes closed, Chieri carefully checked her physical condition one part at a time. Her fingers moved. Her toes moved. She could tense every muscle. From the state of her muscles, it seemed about a day or two had passed. If she had been unconscious much longer, she wouldn't have been able to generate any strength.
Chieri forced her dry eyes open. A white ceiling came into view. Her vision was fine. It was the ceiling of Taira General Hospital, the place she had been taken to several times during high school.
"Senior, this is the first time we've had dinner together, isn't it?"
A voice reached her ear. When she turned her head, she saw Taira Ryuta standing there with a smile, holding a container of porridge he had brought.
