"And why didn't I get to the States?" I thought, being squeezed from all sides in the subway car.
The Amers allow their children to get a car license at sixteen, but here in Japan, only from eighteen. An alternative for me could be a chauffeur, but he must be somewhere nearby all the time, and at the same time the Koyama quarter is excluded. Your own separate house... eh. It remains to find out where you can rent an apartment nearby, and, of course, the easiest thing is to find a devoted person whom I fully trust. It even sounds a little funny.
Seeing the pretty girl's face curled out of the corner of his eye, he knocked out some forty-year-old man with his elbow, who was pawing her ass.
To hell with Japan, well, I didn't hit a woman. Tokyo metro is cooler than Moscow, a fact.
In response to my blow, the girl smiled gratefully at me, and I nodded and stared at the ceiling of the car again, waiting for my station and trying not to think that after the "Swallow" I still have to go home.
Yes, I was on my way to the club. After Taro and I broke up, I wondered who I would ask to get an invitation to this Crystal Party. And it turned out that, except for Koyama, I have no one, which means I have to go to them to bow. Kenta or Akeno will undoubtedly help me, but... how should I put it... I didn't want to aggravate my debt to this family. I didn't want to in front of anyone. So, you need a gift. Something that I will go to Kenta with and present to him as a present before the conversation. It seems like it is not a fee, but at the same time it is quite an understandable hint. If it were some other family, less familiar, the gift would be considered payment. But Koyama, thank God, are close enough to me to understand everything correctly. Here I am, coming out of the cafe, and I thought, what should I actually go to them with? Here you need something really valuable and preferably not only financially. Maybe you should limit yourself to information about me? But from what I can tell them, they already know everything, so the value of what I will tell will be small. If at all. And from what I can give them… What I have is either not valuable enough or too valuable.
And then: I also have to beg for a coat of arms from them, which even they and even me will not give just like that. Reputation and all that. They will not give a coat of arms to a person who has nothing — no name, no money. Actually, this is one of the reasons why I got involved in this auction story. If you really want to come out of the shadows, then you need to do it beautifully. And if so, then I know what to offer for help. The main thing is that I personally don't need this thing. Except for the big money earned for it. So I'm riding now in the subway car, getting to the "Swallow", where the future present lies.
I entered the club through the service entrance. Just in case. Walking through the kitchen, where the girls were already bustling with might and main, I noticed Kazuki, who, keeping a concentrated look on his face, was dragging a box of vegetables somewhere.
— Oh, the loader! There is no wrapper, how will I look?
— Hello… Sakurai-san," they panted to me in response. —He's... in his room." He's... doing something there, and he told me... to go to the kitchen... to go.
—That's how it is," I replied, glancing at my watch. — Well, work. Not long left.
— Four hours…
— Go, go. There is no need to waste energy on talking.
I didn't want to bother the wrapper, but thinking that it would be rude to appear and disappear without even saying hello, I exchanged a couple of phrases with the grumbling old man. And here I am standing next to the open safe and looking at the case with my gift. Opening it, I take out a knife from it. Black scabbard and hilt made of incomprehensible material. A small curved blade, edging made of metal similar to silver, but only similar to what kind of metal it is, the Wrapper and I did not understand. An artifact of the Ancients. Not such a rare thing, but also far from common. And it's certainly quite... well, it's a very expensive thing.
Artifacts of the Ancients have been found all over the world throughout the history of mankind, even now. They differ from the simple things of the Old ones in that they can absorb bahir, after which, if it is a weapon, for example, they become even more dangerous, showing one or another new effect. For example, the most famous Japanese artifact of the Ancients and at the same time one of the imperial regalia — the Kusanagi-notsuruga sword — after "charging" is able to penetrate any protection based on bahir. Something is easier, something is more difficult, but any. The "Armor of the Spirit" does not notice at all. Or here's another — "Twelve-tailed", a futuristic-looking hand-held machine gun. It can create a protective dome around itself. There are quite a lot of such things: edged weapons, including brass knuckles, firearms, bows, whips, or do not understand at all what is not a weapon. There are amulets that do not destroy, but, for example, heal.
What my knife is capable of, I do not know. Akemi only confirmed that it was an artifact of the Ancients, and that's all, she never managed to find out what it could do. And his former owner didn't have time to say, somehow I didn't think to ask him. At that time, his words were enough for me that no one knows about the dagger, which means that I can safely sell it, and its former owners will not look for me. Including the owner of that time, because I came to him not to steal, but to kill, and the knife was just a random bonus with which they wanted to buy me off. The toad, of course, pressed to give it away just like that, after all, according to the most modest estimates, two hundred or two hundred and fifty million rubles, but there's nothing you can do about it — it's necessary, so it's necessary. So we close the case, Max, and stomp back to the subway. Just think, two hundred and fifty pounds at my side, and I'll be shaking on public transport.
When he somehow got home, he immediately went up to his room, where he threw off his expensive burden. Half an hour for a shower, and here I am standing at the door of Koyama's house, in which, as always, you won't find anyone, after all, it's too big for this family.
— Kagami-san! Kenta-san! Is anyone home?
— Sin-cha-ya-yan! — with these words, Mizuki jumped out at me from around the corner.
If it were an ordinary guy in my place, she could easily knock him to the floor. At least from surprise.
— Hi, Mizuki. Are your parents at home? I asked the girl hanging around my neck.
— Nope. Just Mom.
Damn it!
— Will they be soon?
— I don't know.
— And where's Mom?
— In the kitchen.
I sometimes get the impression that Kagami is a kitchen slave who is not allowed out of the house.
— Okay. I'm going to visit her.
— Go to the kitchen!
— Maybe you'll get off me after all?
— Why?
Calm down, Max, just calm down.
"To avoid getting my ass kicked by Kagami—san."
- hm. — After thinking for a couple of seconds, she still got to her feet and let go of my neck. — Then I'll go sweep the yard.
Girlish thoughts are tortuous.
Going into the kitchen, I found Kagami slicing meat.
— Hello, Kagami-san. Don't you let me forget who is the main one in the family? I nodded at the meat.
— Hello, Shinji. Here, I decided to cook shabu-shabu today. I would like you to appreciate it too.
— Oh, I don't know, I don't know. I have a lot of things to do. I'll have dinner at some restaurant tonight. — Yes, my tongue is my enemy. Talking to Kagami about the restaurant was clearly not worth it. "I'll just talk to Kenta-san and go."
Kagami narrowed her eyes a little and looked at me.
— You know, no matter what business you have, food is not the kind of thing that you can throw at a restaurant. And I would really like you to try what I can do today.
I was somehow reluctant to argue with one of the Koyama family here and now.
— It will be seen there, Kagami-san, first I would like to talk with Kenta-san or your husband. Can you tell me when they will be?
— Yes, just before dinner they should come. "Hmm, it looks like fate.
— I see. Well, then I'll enjoy the meat.
—That's great," Kagami smiled. — By the way, maybe I can help you with something?
— I don't even know, I don't think so.
— Well, then. — And a kind of knowing smile. Like, the boy wants to talk to men. And we, women, can only fuss in the kitchen. — But if anything, contact me. I mean something in the clan, too.
Oh, Kagami. You keep trying to build me up as your men. No, she doesn't want to be a gray cardinal to rule the clan. But inside the family, her word means a lot. But Akeno and Ken-toy are not henpecked at all. I'm still a child to her, on top of everything else. So her attempts to influence me are quite understandable, only I have not been a child for a long time.
— If only you have a way out and influence over Prince Oama.
—Uh, ahem," the woman said, pausing for a moment. — Indeed, with such a thing, it's better for you to go to the men of the genus.
It was she who apologized so ornately. Mentioning the genus, as if she said: "Yes, we are just weak women, and a man does business with a man." Yeah, we know such "weak women". Next to whom you rejoice that they are on your side. However, the deflection is counted, I think we understand each other.
— Then I'll go for now. Will you give me a call when they get back?
"Of course, Shinji.
When I got home, I thought that I could make extra money on this story with the purchase of Yamashita Corp. After all, at first a very narrow circle of people will know about the transaction, which means that it will be possible to play well on the stock exchange. That's just me in this neither boom-boom. But the moment I picked up the phone to contact Tanaka, who should understand something like that, Taro called.
— Hi, boss.
— Hello, hello. Something happened?
— Yes, I was thinking here, we can cut down some good money, while no one knows about all this. Well, I'm talking about the auction.
— I know what you mean. Only Tanaka has to do this, why are you calling me? I just wanted to contact him right now.
— Here's the thing, boss. Tanaka is more of a manager. He, of course, understands this, but the relevant department will still deal with the case, and he does not really stand out in Shidotemoru.
— What are you talking about anyway?
— I have one man in mind. I am not familiar with him myself, but competent people say that he is a genius in finance.
— Great. But for some reason I strongly doubt that financial geniuses are sitting idly by. Why would he come to us?
— And here's the most interesting thing. He's kind of out of business right now. — And fell silent.
— Taro, stop stuffing the price, what's wrong with him?
— He's in prison.