A Trade

My favorite number… 15

I guess I'll give a hint about what comes after the revenge arc…

~~~~

One thousand three hundred and forty one documents.

That was the amount of info I had read within a single night.

"Hmm~"

I leaned back from the wooden chair crossing my legs on the table and my arms holding the back of my head.

Most of the documents were practically useless, they were records of the exchanges between both the Pasta family's front (the bar) and Aurore's front, a world renowned jewel company.

The documents that did have what I wanted had some useful knowledge.

The layout of her mansion, bodyguards, nature, impending deals and more.

Rocking back and forth thinking about the actions I took to get the information, I turned my thoughts about my steps forward.

"Now then… what to do…"

The Pasta Family no longer had a use, infiltrating Aurore's house would be suicide.

Creak…

The chair was starting to give out.

I thought more and more about different plans.

"Hmm… What if I…"

I thought of a good enough plan.

'This might take a week or two.'

*

It was any other night, the breeze was cool, the moon gave off light, and the atmosphere was always eerie.

Screech!

Coming out from the guard box, the man asked, "State your business."

Wrr…

"I'm here to make a business exchange."

Getting a clipboard and flipping through different papers he finally asked.

"Name?"

"...Thomas Martin."

"Ah, the new jeweler…"

A look of pity formed on his face before opening the gate to allow the car in.

Clack!

"So the information about her abusive nature was right."

Takahiro adjusted his glasses and stepped into the doors.

"Please, right this way monsieur."

A maid guided him to the third floor, an oddly quiet one at that.

At the end of the floor was a lavishly decorated door.

Knock. Knock.

"Madame? The new jeweler is here to see you."

"..."

The silence almost became awkward before the maid continued on, "You may go in."

Takahiro glanced at the maid walking further away but soon found himself confronting the impending challenge ahead.

'I hope this works.'

He held the silver handle and opened the inconvenient door.

*

'Amuse me, do something.'

Aurore looked at the new jeweler, he had sharp and confident eyes, but how long would it take before crumbling like all the others?

She had the face of a 'god'. Ruling above all people and controls all.

'Thomas' adjusted his glasses before starting, "Hello Madame, I'm here to offer you a trade."

The voice unfit his serious and methodical stature. Or perhaps… it fit more?

'...He sounds like a snake.'

'What does he want? Money?'

"What trade are you speaking of?"

Aurore seemed uninterested, lofty, like she was talking to a peasant.

"...A trade of information."

"Information? You're not selling jewels?"

Rrrrip!

"...!"

Aurore saw her bodyguards lunge towards the unknown man who posed as 'Thomas Martin'.

"HAH!!!"

Unfortunately, they were all tossed around with no difficulty whatsoever.

BANG!

Tap.

'Interesting.'

Aurore thought with a smile.

Walking closer to the couch where Aurore sat with charm, Takahiro walked past where she sat.

'...?'

Pulling a chair from some distance away, Takahiro sat in front of Aurore.

"...If you had stood in front of me and demanded what you wanted, that would have made more of an impression."

Aurore stated.

"Maybe, maybe not. I'm not here to pick a fight."

"..."

She observed him before continuing, "What trade are you offering?"

"I heard that you were an information broker, I have information that isn't your speciality but still something that most people would dream of having."

"What information?" She asked, entertained at the man's confidence.

"Information about the Termites."

"That team? Why should I care about them?"

'...Wouldn't this be a good piece of information to sell?'

Takahiro couldn't help but ask himself.

"...What if I said that the Termites were created in order to neutralize the Yozakuras."

For once after coming inside this room, Takahiro noticed a change in her face.

"..."

Aurore's eyes twitched.

Then her lips curled upwards.

"...Hahahaha!!"

She hysterically laughed at his 'information'.

"Hahahaha!!! Ha…"

As Aurore cleaned up her tears she saw Takahiro just waiting for her to be done.

"..."

"...Oh~ You weren't joking?"

Takahiro ignored her and reached into the bag he brought with him, in it was a folder.

"In this folder you'll learn some of the parts about the Termite team."

Aurore's inner greed started to resurface.

"...You do understand that I am a collector? I hate anything left unfinished or left behind."

"I believe that this is enough for the information or rather the piece of equipment you have in your possession."

"...Value."

"?"

Takahiro became confused at the sudden shift in topics.

"What is Value? It is how much you believe something is worth in conjunction with another object. That is Value."

"I believe that this entire information is worth whatever you want."

Her eyes became apparent with greed.

"...I suppose so."

Bringing out another folder titled 'Entirety of the Termite Plan' he held it between his fingers like the other folder.

'I guess this is fine too.'

If Aurore sold this information on the dark web, it would essentially be a warning towards everyone. This would make it infinitely times harder to find Technician and co but he would rather kill them while living in constant fear.

'They have too much pride to do something like that.'

Takahiro thought, thinking about their reactions about this information spreading.

'But she's a collector too…'

"What do you want for the information?"

Takahiro stared back at Aurore who didn't even try to bother looking him in the eyes and only stared at her current obsession, the two folders flapping between Takahiro's fingers.

"There is a small EMP device that you have. It had the words 'Made by Virus' on it. That's what I want."

Taking her eyes off the folders and staring onto the ceiling thinking about the proposal, she reluctantly agreed, "...Follow me."

Aurore walked towards one of her bookcases, where after pulling a specific book opened up to a highly fortified door where a series of commands took place before opening to a highly lighted long hallway full of glass displays.

'...Is this really necessary?'

Following Aurore down the long hallway, he looked at the various pieces of history or other random things that don't seem to fit in.

'A limited edition Pokemon card?'

'A Roman sword?'

'A gun from a mafia boss she defeated a few years ago?'

"..."

"Ah, here we are."

'June 12, 2012…'

Pulling up the glass display and stretching her hand with the small EMP device in hand, Takahiro gave the files in her other hand.

"Thank you."

About to leave the almost blinding hallway, Aurore grabbed his shoulders before being able to leave.

"That's still mine."

"...Excuse me?"

"That EMP, it's still mine."

"...Did we not just trade?"

"That is still my property… Hmm…"

Aurore grabbed her chin, thinking about something.

"...What if I make you my property?"

'...I think I heard anything about her wanting slaves…?'

"I think my business is done here."

Takahiro hurriedly left the hallway to escape from the ever greedy Aurore.

*

Chasing after a human.

Aurore had once thought of this in the past, but back then she had so many goals and treasures to find and accomplish that it was just another fleeting thought.

Now with an overflowing amount of free time, the thought came back to her.

Of course the person had to fit her criteria of a 'treasure' to be chased.

'Why not him?'

She thought whilst watching the 'jeweler' making his way out of her mansion.

Of course catching him right away wouldn't be fun, so in order to truly enjoy and thrive in the hunt, she set self imposed rules on herself.

Giving a head start was just one of the rules she thought of.

'...This… is fun?'

Her hand touched her rising lips forming into an arc.

She truly thought of the prospect of a hunt as 'fun'.

'I'll catch you~ Just you wait.'

Aurore pressed her hands on the glass panes of her window.

~~~~

Omake 4: An Observer Observing (1)

~~~~

'...Sometimes… peace is a bit too much.'

With my hands locked and 'unable' to move, I played along until I got a bit too tired.

"...I'm going to go…"

I could hear the complaints of them resounding behind me.

"Go to the HQ if you need anything. Don't forget to eat!"

""Okay…""

'I can hear your unenthusiastic voices, you brats…'

Stepping outside I was met with another location.

'...?'

'Where am I?'

The first thing I noticed was how fresh the air was.

'City air is hard to get used to…'

Taking a deep breath, I was slowly accustomed to my surroundings.

My hearing was hearing all sorts of things, people talking, stands…

'Am… I at a school festival?'

Opening my eyes, I saw a school in the middle of a festival.

'This takes me back…'

Touching my face to see if I had my disguise on or not, I eventually started enjoying myself.

Takoyaki.

Soba.

Candied apple.

Students giving out fliers.

Thanks to [Presence Blending] I didn't get much attention.

"Come to our class Haunted House!"

Paying and getting in I was met with an eerie hallway.

'...Futaba might just break everything.'

I couldn't help thinking about those outliers even in a time like this.

"WAA!"

Coming from all sorts of directions, the students tried but failed to get a reaction out of me.

"Haha! Good luck with your next customers, kids."

"We'll get a reaction out of you next year!"

I waved the classroom goodbye and went to a maid cafe next.

'...'

I thought about my first school festival.

'....'

We don't talk about it.

"Welcome mister!"

"Oh, no 'sama' huh?"

I muttered, surprised at how mild it was.

I enjoyed my lunch before heading towards the auditorium, where all the performances came.

Already missing quite a few of the shows but better late than never.

"Hm?"

I looked at the rooftop, there I saw a blond boy with a girl who was crying on his shoulders.

'...A sad memory for a joyous occasion. Not a very good mix.'

'...?'

I focused my hearing more onto the couple on the rooftop.

Ba-thump…

Ba-thump...

'He's… about to die?'

'Even the girl…'

I worried about the boy. I couldn't predict how close he was from death but it was soon… a day or less give or take.

'Do I have any of my serums?'

I usually carried around a few…

Thinking back, I didn't take any out because of how I wanted some me time…

I headed into the auditorium, worried for the boy.

"-s from the light music club"

I looked on stage, the girl from the rooftop here.

"♪ ♪ ♪!!!"

It was like a torrent of wind blew on my face.

Her voice captivated me, drawing me into her voice.

The performance went on for what felt like a millennia but also in a single second.

"..."

"! ! !"

"Woooo!!!"

"Yeah!!!"

The cheers and claps deafened the previous quiet auditorium.

"..."

My eyes drew to her.

Once I snapped out, time stopped.

I was thrown into the rift of time.

Memories about the couple and their bittersweet story.

From their first interaction to their last.

Their meeting first is like a normal harem romcom, meeting the girl half naked in her underwear.

Through a series of meetings and interactions throughout summer vacation they eventually became a couple (not).

They never confessed to each other.

During the summer break the boy, Iijima Hato, found the girls, Takagi Hatsu's talent for singing.

Eventually that led them to her joining his club and planning for the school festival.

But the boy died while she sang in front of everybody.

He hid a disease that would kill him in only a few months.

The story came to a close by the time Takagi Hatsu was twenty-one.

She became an international hit and died peacefully, having the same disease as the boy.

The Koku Haku disease.

…

…Bittersweet, huh?

This story didn't make me cry, I have far too much death to shed a tear from this story.

May they rest in peace.

I opened my eyes to Tokyo.

Forgetting all about this.

~~~~

A/N:

Fun Fact: Taiyo's voice actor, Reiji Kawashima most notably voiced these characters:

Fushi from 'To Your Eternity'

Blade from 'Classroom For Heroes'

Luciel from 'The Great CLeric'

etc…

I had to rewrite almost the entire chapter… I also was working on my next FF that's going to come out after this one.

Finishing Medaka Box in a single week was not a good idea.

I fixed my sleep schedule again… almost.

Okay… time to address the missing now what… two chapters?

Okay so, I actually made a promise to myself to try one chapter a day for five days and actually got one delayed chapter and one normal one (The past two chapters) and failed.

So, for the next like… (accounting normal schedule as well) 7-8 days I'll be doing one chapter a day.

If I can't, I can't nothing to say there.

I'm gonna hope this makes me do one chapter a day.

Peace~

P.S. Can anybody guess the manga the Omake is in? I'll give you a hint, the mangaka is famous and has a romance series that's popular and finished. Though for you cultured people, this should be easy~ Hoho~!

บท 16: A Trade

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บท 16: A Trade

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