Chapter 288 Preparation
The night in Kyoto always possesses a unique beauty: the brightly lit main streets, salarymen working in office buildings, the liveliness of outdoor food stalls, and the dazzling lights of bars and clubs.
It’s like the opposite faces of a metropolis and Gotham; the night city of Kyoto is filled with emotions completely different from the daytime.
Luxurious, decadent, dark.
Just as everyone has an unknown dark side beneath their shining exterior, people are the same, and so are cities formed by human aggregation.
Standing at the highest point of the city, Kazumi quietly watched everything bustling and noisy below.
The familiar night view gave Kazumi a feeling of being from another life, bringing the young girl back to the time when she worked overtime in an office building in her previous life, smoking a cigarette and staring blankly outside during her breaks.
Thinking about it, this life doesn’t seem too different from her previous one; both are striving for unrealistic dreams, and both are giving their all for the work at hand.
However, this life seems to hold a bit more hope.
Shaking her head with a hint of bitterness, Kazumi brushed away the strange memories in her mind. She tidied her hair, which had become a bit messy in the wind, and took out her phone to check the time.
It was about half an hour until her scheduled meeting with Masashi Sakuraba, but Kazumi had arrived at the designated location early. This is a basic courtesy a subordinate should have in any world, let alone in a world where the boss has the power to control your life.
But frankly, Masashi Sakuraba hadn’t assigned her any preliminary tasks, so there was nothing for her to arrange by coming early. Thus, she could only wait in boredom.
Overlooking the city can indeed improve one’s mood a bit, but one can’t just stare at it continuously! Moreover, the wind blowing here for a long time is quite chilly.
Walking back from the edge of the rooftop, the girl leaned against the wall and took out her small black mobile phone from the inside of her pocket.
Fragmented time doesn’t lend itself to high learning efficiency, and this time isn’t very convenient for chatting with people either, especially since the only person Kazumi can truly talk to in her friend list is her own dog.
After thinking about it, there wasn’t anything interesting to look at, so Kazumi finally tapped on the cartoon avatar in the bottom right corner of the desktop and started mindlessly completing her daily tasks.
This mobile game, full of “moe” elements, was something Kazumi had been looking for for a long time. It needed to incorporate feminine elements like dress-up and nurturing, while also having a farming aspect, and such games are indeed not very common in the market.
And all of this, in the final analysis, was because of what she had explained to Shinichi Sato before.
One lie requires a thousand lies to cover it up. In order to complain about things in the territory to Shinichi Sato, Kazumi had consistently claimed to be playing a mobile game.
The girl didn’t want to be discovered by her dog later that the things she said simply didn’t exist. Although Shinichi Sato, with his personality, would certainly not care about such things, it’s better to maintain trust properly.
Even if it’s just a false emotion.
After changing her in-game character into an event-exclusive dress, the girl expressionlessly watched the screen as a youthful girl defeated similarly cute enemies in a strange way, like an emotionless monster-grinding machine, using her fingers to collect the rewards obtained from battles.
“Yo, you play this kind of thing too?”
A playful voice, tinged with a smile, suddenly rang out in the girl’s ear. Instinctively, she turned off the phone in her hand and abruptly raised her head, only to see a pair of heterochromatic eyes gleaming faintly in the darkness.
“Lord Sakuraba.”
Hurriedly putting her phone back into her pocket, Kazumi straightened up and respectfully looked at the tall young man walking slowly towards her.
“No need to be so formal. You can continue to rest; it’s not time yet.”
Masashi Sakuraba smiled faintly, waved his hand, and spoke to the girl in front of him.
Seeing Kazumi like this gave him a glimpse of the girl’s genuine side. Compared to subordinates who were as calm and shrewd as machines, a girl who secretly played games gave him a bit more a sense of reality.
“Yes, Lord Sakuraba.”
Kazumi nodded, feeling no embarrassment at being found out. She continued to answer seriously and respectfully.
After all, everyone understands this: when a leader acts friendly with you, it’s because the leader is approachable, but if you truly treat the leader as a friend, you’re an idiot.
“Eh, sometimes I really wonder if you’re actually a high school student.”
Looking at the girl, who was so well-behaved, Masashi Sakuraba shook his head helplessly and reached out into the void, pulling out two cans of soda.
Glancing at the flavors of the sodas in his hands, he kept the purple grape-flavored one and tossed the orange-flavored soda to Kazumi beside him. Without waiting for Kazumi to speak, Masashi Sakuraba continued.
“Consider this an order. Just drink it.”
He pulled the tab on the soda can he was holding and, without putting on airs as an executive, sat down on the edge of the rooftop and took a sip of his soda.
“…….”
Looking at Masashi Sakuraba’s demeanor, Kazumi looked at the soda can in her hand and finally opened the tab in the same way.
“How’s the preparation?”
Shifting his gaze from the distant buildings to the girl beside him, who was sipping her soda in small sips, Masashi Sakuraba suddenly asked.
“What do you mean, Lord?”
Masashi Sakuraba’s question surprised Kazumi a little, as he hadn’t instructed her to prepare anything.
“I mean, the method of survival.”
“Even I don’t know what kind of guys we’ll encounter this time. Although I promised to ensure your safety, if even I feel there’s danger, I’ll definitely abandon you.”
Masashi Sakuraba crossed his arms behind his head, leaned against the wall, and said with a smile. However, his casually spoken words made Kazumi unable to smile.
“…Lord, you’re joking.”
Even Kazumi was speechless for a moment before she could react, and could only reply somewhat stiffly.
“Hahahahahahaha.”
Even through the cloak, one could see the girl’s almost speechless expression. A hint of a smile flashed across Masashi Sakuraba’s young face.
Perhaps this is a form of romance unique to middle-aged men? For such young and excellent juniors, they always have a peculiar sense of mischief.
“Although it’s a joke, it’s also true. [Shadow] is never a charity organization; I think you know that better than I do.”
He let go of his smile, looked at the subordinate in front of him, whose age was comparable to his daughter’s, and shook his head as he spoke.
As if remembering something, the snake’s eye on Masashi Sakuraba’s right side flashed, and a small purple snake quickly crawled out from a corner, slithering smoothly along the cloak to the girl’s wrist. Its miniature jaws dislocated and opened, and its abdomen, with its peculiar shape, writhed, finally spitting out several objects that were far larger than its body.
What finally landed in Kazumi’s hands were a dark purple cloth doll and a ball of swirling black mist.
(PS: I’m back.)
