The Demonic City of New York
-Alik, I miss Ryuta.
“You saw me yesterday. You can see me again. I’ll stop by the Cerberus side after I get back from America.”
-Yeah… They say my time’s up. I’ll hang up now.
Alexandra had earned the title of outstanding trainee and received a whopping three-minute phone call privilege. What kind of military was this? Three minutes? And since the only person she knew was me, she always used her call time on me.
The basic military training that Cerberus had planned lasted a full two months, so it was expected to be quite grueling.
After basic training, the recruits would choose their own mentors and undergo an apprenticeship-style regimen to hone their abilities. After several real combat missions, they would become full-fledged PMC employees.
“Isn’t that Alik girl getting a little too attached to you, Junior?”
Mimata Chieri asked while sitting on my lap. Hey, who’s the one actually clinging here? Even though the office was empty, there were plenty of chairs. Sitting on my lap like this was the textbook definition of being clingy.
“Aren’t you the one clinging to me right now, Senior?”
“Nooo~! I’m different.”
“You should become Alexandra’s mentor and train her yourself, Senior.”
Alexandra was originally scheduled to receive guidance from Kiyona Marie, a pyrokinetic who used natural forces in a similar way, though not the exact same ability. But because she wanted to work directly under me instead of Cerberus, she had asked Mimata Chieri to provide additional training.
She usually acted a bit airheaded, but Mimata Chieri had successfully completed the Taira Group’s agent training program. If Alexandra trained under her as well, she would surely become an outstanding combat operative.
After all, in the future where she never met me, Alexandra became the secret weapon of the First Group. I needed to keep giving her experience and real battles so she could fully unlock her potential.
“Haa… Fine. Since she’s an ability user, I’ll have to tweak the curriculum a bit.”
“Thanks, Senior. By the way, when exactly do you plan on getting off my lap?”
“I was thinking of staying here until Aris arrives. I want to teach her what it feels like to be NTR’d.”
What the hell? Had she become some kind of NTR evangelist? Mimata Chieri was doing things that a normal person like me could never understand. Speak of the devil—right on cue, Aris approached the office where we were sitting.
She walked straight up to Mimata Chieri, who was still nestled in my lap, placed both hands on her hips, and asked with a stern expression.
“Chieri, what do you think you’re doing?!”
“I was trying to make Aris-chan jealous~.”
I had no idea when the two of them had become so close, but they were now speaking casually to each other. It was probably because of that three-on-one session with Aris, Mimata Chieri, and Sawayanagi Azuma back then.
“Poor Aris-chan, who doesn’t know the true taste of NTR…”
“You don’t need to know that taste for the rest of your life, so get off!”
When Aris spoke firmly, Mimata Chieri pouted and moved to the chair beside me. Seeing that, Aris quickly hopped onto my lap with nimble movements.
“Hehe, Ryuta♥”
“Ah, aah…!”
The expression Mimata Chieri made while looking at Aris on my lap was so masterfully ambiguous—whether sad or happy—that if an actress had pulled it off, she would have received rave reviews for her acting.
“When did you two get so close?”
“After you went to Korea, we chatted on Line pretty often and got closer. Recently we even met up with Sayaka, the three of us.”
Ah, that explained it. I had thought it was strange. When Mimata Chieri suddenly said she wanted to come to America too, I wondered if Aris would allow it, but it turned out she had already gotten permission. So the three of them—Aris, Mimata Chieri, and Hanasaki Sayaka—had become friends.
Incidentally, Hanasaki Sayaka was supposed to join us when we reached LA. When she heard I was going to see my master, Fujigasaki Rinka, she had begged and pleaded with me and Aris until we let her tag along. Her fandom was truly impressive, following us all the way to America.
“I have my own schedule, so I figured Ryuta would be bored since he can’t speak the language. That’s why I decided to go with Chieri as an interpreter.”
That made sense. Since I barely knew any English, if Aris had to leave for her schedule, I could use a translation app, but having someone who could interpret in real time was much better. Though I hadn’t realized Mimata Chieri was that good at English.
“You’re good at English, Senior?”
“Of course, Junior! Anyone good enough to enter the Talent Development Center should know at least one or two foreign languages. Though I suppose a parachute like you who got in through the back door wouldn’t know that.”
Excuse me, but you also entered the Talent Development Center using the Taira Group chairman’s connections to watch over me. I gave Mimata Chieri an exasperated look and turned on my smartphone’s lock screen to check the time. It was about time to head out.
“Let’s head to the airport now.”
“Yeah, let’s go!”
Mimata Chieri and I would ride in one car, while Aris had to take a separate vehicle provided by her agency’s manager.
After leaving the East Weapon headquarters building and arriving at the airport, we spent some time in the first-class lounge before boarding the plane. Thanks to technological advances, passenger plane speeds had increased significantly, shortening the Tokyo-to-New York flight to about eight hours. Still, it was a long time.
There were plenty of things to do during those eight hours. We could eat the in-flight meal, review our schedule in New York, and if we got bored, watch a movie.
“New York, huh…”
New York wasn’t the main stage for the youngest son of Megacorp. That honor belonged to TMC, the previous work that depicted the future era of Megacorp’s youngest son. One of its primary settings had been New York.
New York itself wasn’t an especially old city compared to the thousand-year-old capitals scattered across the world. But through the American Dream and several world wars, countless people and races had flowed in from Europe, Asia, and Africa—places that had become battlegrounds.
The problem was that among those who came, some were exiled mages, mad scientists conducting human experiments, fanatics who worshipped strange gods, and cannibals intoxicated by human flesh. And beyond that, non-human beings had also slipped in among the humans, forming the city known as New York.
On top of that, there were gangs armed with guns supplied by the military-industrial complex and police who cracked down on them with brutal force. It was a city that truly deserved to be called the Demonic Capital. Over a hundred people went missing every day, and a significant number were found as corpses. That was New York.
Well, for someone like me who had experienced both TMC and Megacorp’s youngest son, most of them were just bundles of experience points and fragments of hidden pieces. Since I was already going to New York, I might as well collect them properly. Of course, I had no intention of going near anything truly dangerous at my current level.
After eating the in-flight meal and thinking about the items and benefits I could gain in New York, I still had some time left. I took a photo out the window showing the sky and uploaded it to the group Line chat with Kazuhiro and Kiyohira.
Once the “rag-man” image stuck, these guys would wring every last drop of material out of it to keep teasing me. With Aris, the pinnacle of Western beauty, right beside me, why would I even look at another woman?
.
.
.
“Aris~!”
“Mom~!”
At the airport, Nae Fitzgerald, Aris’s mother and my aunt, was waiting for us. Though she was half Japanese and half Western, her appearance leaned more toward Western features, just like Aris. She was a stunningly beautiful woman.
The differences from Aris were her larger breasts, brighter platinum blonde hair, and eyes that were a slightly lighter shade of green than Aris’s deep emerald.
Anyway, the sight of the beautiful blonde mother and daughter embracing each other was quite picturesque. Passersby in the airport kept glancing at the pair as they walked by. Once their greeting ended, Nae Fitzgerald seemed to notice me and turned her gaze my way.
“Oh my, Ryuta!”
“Hello, Aunt.”
“Aunt? Just call me Nae. And who is this?”
“Hello. I’m Mimata Chieri, Ryuta’s interpreter and Aris’s friend.”
“Oh my, Aris’s friend?”
After everyone introduced themselves, there was one odd detail. Nae Fitzgerald had a large suitcase beside her. Wasn’t she here to pick up Aris? Was she going somewhere?
“Are you heading out?”
“Ah, no. I just got back from France to New York, so I was waiting for you all~.”
So she had been in France. It seemed she had timed her flight to meet her daughter and wait together so they could head home as a family.
“Come on, let’s go home first and talk. The car should be waiting.”
Following Nae Fitzgerald’s lead, we left the airport, and sure enough, a limousine was waiting for us. Inside was a man with gray hair who appeared to be a butler.
“You didn’t have to come personally, butler.”
“Since both of you are coming together, of course I had to. And there are the young lady’s friends as well…”
So he really was the butler. After loading our luggage, we got into the limousine and headed toward the Fitzgerald family mansion.
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Since we’re comparing with Aris, here’s a rare full-body shot of her too!
