That Incident
I shook hands with Liam Taylor, sealing what felt like a solid deal. Now I could finally focus on the research I truly wanted. I also shook hands with his niece, Vivian Taylor—the future chairwoman of Mother Earth. Hmm, as expected from a woman, her hand was incredibly soft.
While our hands were still clasped, Vivian Taylor looked at me and spoke.
“Mr. Taira, are you in charge of something at the Taira Group?”
“I’m just a regular employee. I made my money through stock investments.”
I kept holding her soft hand, savoring the smooth texture as I answered. Vivian Taylor’s expression shifted from mild surprise at the idea of an ordinary employee earning so much through stocks to one of understanding. She probably assumed that, being a Taira, I had received a hefty amount of starting capital from my parents or Chairman Taira Danjo. Honestly, she wasn’t entirely wrong. I had received several payments of fifty million yen each as allowance and mission completion bonuses.
“Since I’m now a partner with a stake, I’ll contact you from time to time.”
“That sounds good. Please do.”
After one final round of pleasantries, I left the private room in the café with Mimata Chieri.
When I contacted Alice, she said she was simply sitting in the general seating area of the hotel café, enjoying a cup of tea.
“Ryuta~! Did the deal go well?” Alice asked, waving her hand.
I smiled and nodded. It wasn’t perfectly satisfying, but I had exchanged money and shares under acceptable conditions.
“Let’s hurry and go to Lady Fujigasaki Rinka’s villa!”
Hanasaki Sayaka downed the entire cup of black coffee—despite it not even being hot—and stood up. Since Fujigasaki Rinka’s home had rarely been revealed to the media, she seemed incredibly excited.
Alice, who had been leisurely sipping her coffee, looked slightly annoyed at her friend’s haste. But when she saw Hanasaki Sayaka’s sparkling eyes, she let out a small chuckle as if she couldn’t fight it, set her cup on the table, and stood up.
“Alright, let’s go!”
Once the two of them rose, even Kiyohira—who had been drinking tropical juice—had no choice but to follow.
We climbed back into the car Kiyohira had rented and headed toward the luxurious residential area along Malibu Beach.
Before long, we arrived at Fujigasaki Rinka’s villa. Several armed security guards and household staff were present. The estate sat on a high cliff overlooking the Malibu shoreline, offering a clear view of the horizon. Both the interior and exterior had that Hollywood-star-quality feel.
Back in middle and high school, she had simply been the older sister who ran the dojo. Now she was called the GOAT of the fighting world and owned an ocean-view villa in Malibu. It felt strangely surreal. Of course, I had changed a lot too—possessing this body, carrying the Taira name, and running multiple businesses. Everything changes with time, it seemed.
Hanasaki Sayaka looked around the house with an expression of pure emotion, on the verge of tears. The caretaker, apparently used to such reactions, guided us to our rooms while leaving her to her awe. Still, since she was Fujigasaki Rinka’s one and only disciple, we were given rooms with direct views of Malibu’s blue sea.
I took out the statue of the Daughter of the Abyss from my bag. Since the elixir might have condensed in its chest, I needed to check it periodically.
Progress: 99.9968/100
Hmm… the number had gone up a little. If I roughly calculated it… with a 100-year cooldown, each point representing one year, divided by 365… it looked like the elixir would emerge from the statue’s chest right before dinner tomorrow evening.
That was a bit inconvenient. Checking the timing, it seemed the elixir would appear right in the middle of Kazuhiro’s soccer match that we had been invited to watch. Sucking on a goddess statue’s nipple in the middle of a soccer game… with all those spectators around, wouldn’t people think I was a pervert?
I tried to think of a way to suck the statue’s nipple without drawing suspicion, but no good ideas came to mind. Maybe I could pretend to have a stomachache, go to the bathroom, and do it there? It was a random thought, but it actually seemed like a decent plan. I wouldn’t be disturbed by the crowd, and I could comfortably suck the nipple in private. The only downside was that the location would be on top of a toilet seat.
It was pretty funny that I was seriously contemplating how to suck on a statue’s nipple, but with a stat of 8, this level of mental effort was worth it. After all, that was equivalent to four level-ups in terms of stat points.
Having decided to fake a stomachache and suck the nipple in the bathroom, I lay down on the soft bed. Come to think of it, around this time in America, that incident had occurred. It was the very event where superhumans were first revealed to the public, resulting in significant civilian casualties. Yet I couldn’t quite remember the exact details.
During the early days after my possession, when I had written down lists of people worth recruiting—like the youngest son of MegaCorp or TMC’s hidden pieces—I hadn’t recorded that incident because the memory was fuzzy. I only remembered that it happened around this period.
I was wracking my brain, which stubbornly refused to cooperate, trying to recall exactly when that incident would take place, when I heard voices and footsteps outside the door.
“Hey, Ryuta! Come out for lunch.”
Kiyohira’s voice came from beyond the door. I stopped trying to force a memory that wouldn’t surface and got up from the bed. It would probably come to me eventually if I let it be.
“What’s for lunch today?” I asked, opening the door.
“How would I know? The caretaker just told me to call you, so I’m passing it on.”
Kiyohira gave me a light jab before walking ahead. I hadn’t eaten the in-flight meal because I slept on the plane, so I was pretty hungry. I followed after him at a leisurely pace. I wanted to run ahead, but since I didn’t know where the dining room was, I had no choice but to trail behind him.
“How’s your training going these days?”
“I’m hitting some kind of wall. I’m starting to think that ordinary martial arts schools have their limits. Even if I asked Lady Rinka to teach me, she says Shinkai Yatsude is a one-person transmission style, so she won’t…”
Kiyohira seemed to be feeling his limits. He had always wanted to fight in the unlimited weight class like Fujigasaki Rinka, but since he still wasn’t even a champion in his current weight class, he must have realized he wasn’t ready to challenge the monsters who transcended humanity in the unlimited division.
“Do you know about the Dark Market?”
“Dark Market?”
From the way he repeated the words with a blank look, it was clear Kiyohira had never heard of it.
“How should I put it… it’s like the name suggests—dark merchants. If you look at the app, they sometimes sell martial arts manuals. I’ll recommend you so you can join. Check it out from time to time. You might find a good one.”
I had considered giving him the Palgeuk Seonhyeong Kwon I obtained in Korea, but I ultimately decided to give it to Mimata Chieri, who served as my hands and feet. So instead, I introduced him to the Dark Market app so he could choose a manual that suited him.
“There’s an app like that?”
“Yeah. Martial arts manuals don’t come up that often, but they do appear occasionally, so keep an eye out. If it’s being sold on the Dark Market, it at least means it has decent quality.”
I manipulated the Dark Market app and sent Kiyohira a referral code. Regular or plus members had fairly strict referral limits, but as a diamond-tier member, I had more freedom. That didn’t mean I could spam referrals, though.
“Thanks, Ryuta. You’re the only one I can count on.”
Kiyohira looked at me with a touched expression as he installed the app.
“Promise me you won’t buy drugs or anything weird with it.”
“Of course. You know I hate that stuff.”
Since the Dark Market app also sold drugs and poisons, I felt the need to warn him. We continued chatting about the app as we walked, and before long we arrived at the dining room. It really was a huge mansion; it took quite a walk from my room. This might get annoying.
On the large marble dining table sat an impressive spread. There was a massive butter-grilled lobster nearly the size of a calf’s leg, along with grilled shellfish, white fish, and other seafood-focused dishes.
“Please enjoy your meal.”
The caretaker gave a slight bow and left the room. We began eating.
Alice, the noble lady through and through, ate with refined little sounds of appreciation. Mimata Chieri, who had a hobby of touring gourmet restaurants even back when she was an assassin, wore a blissful expression as she savored every bite. Hanasaki Sayaka seemed more moved by the fact that this was Lady Rinka’s food than by the taste itself. Kiyohira, distracted by the Dark Market app I had shown him, barely touched his food and just stared at his phone.
I stopped paying attention to the others and grabbed one of the huge lobster claws, dipping it in garlic butter sauce. As expected, its size made it incredibly delicious. The chef they hired must have been quite expensive, because everything else was excellent too. I wasn’t sure if it was because Fujigasaki Rinka had told them about my appetite or if this was their normal portion size, but there was more than enough to satisfy me.
After the meal, the table was cleared and dessert was served—refreshing lemon sherbet that perfectly cleansed the palate.
“Now that lunch is over, what should we do next?”
“Ryuta.”
Kiyohira called my name with a serious expression in response to my question to the group. His face was so grave that everyone in the room turned to look at him with curious eyes.
“Yeah, Kiyohira. Is there something you want to do?”
“Can you spar with me?”
Hmm, he suddenly wanted to fight. Back in the early days when Kiyohira had just started pursuing his dream of becoming a fighter, we had sparred often. But once he reached a certain level, he stopped asking me to spar. From his perspective, a pro-aspiring fighter like himself probably thought it was wrong to fight an amateur like me. The original Taira Ryuta before my possession had also neglected training while worrying about his future, so he hadn’t been much help to Kiyohira.
However, ever since I destroyed the barrier created by that cult in Aokigahara with my bare fists, Kiyohira had felt a strong competitive urge toward me. I had known he felt that way, and it seemed he had finally made up his mind today.