Chapter 168: Visitors

Following the Iida Commercial District Ruins incident, Akira's injuries had once again landed him in the hospital. Upon awakening, he had immediately received visits from Shiori, who wanted him to transfer ownership of the white card to Reina's group, and from Kibayashi, who sought Akira's permission to negotiate on the boy's behalf for the rights to the Old World automatons. Akira had listened to each request and had readily agreed to both.

Now, thanks to a treatment procedure that would set him back seventy million aurum, he was already completely healed-yet just listening to his two visitors had left him thoroughly exhausted, and he lay back down on the bed to rest. The doctor overseeing his care was expected to appear shortly to take care of the paperwork for his release, but he could take a quick nap in the meantime.

Or so he thought. Before the doctor showed up, Akira had two more visitors-Sheryl and Inabe.

?

A short time earlier, Sheryl was hard at work at her base when she got a call from Inabe.

"Why, Mr. Inabe, it's so good to hear from you! To what do I owe the pleasure?"

"I just got word that Akira's finally awake from his comatose state at the hospital," said the executive, "and I was thinking it might finally be time to introduce myself. I'd like to accompany you when you decide to visit him, so what's your schedule look like? I'd prefer to head there right away if possible. Sheryl? Are you there? Sheryl?"

At the sound of her name, Sheryl recovered from her shock, barely holding back a shriek and forcing herself to appear calm. "My apologies, I was just checking my schedule. Yes, I'm free right now."

"Very well. Then I'll send for a car and pick you up in thirty minutes."

"Thank you very much. I'll see you later, then."

She hung up and instantly let out a deep sigh, desperately trying to keep her body from quivering.

Akira could have died out there, and she would never have been the wiser! The dawning realization that her worst fears had very nearly come true seemed to crush her, and it was all she could do to keep from collapsing on the spot.

The moment she entered Akira's room at the hospital and saw he was alive and well, Sheryl felt a wave of relief. Less than an hour ago, she'd had no idea he was even hospitalized, and after hearing from Inabe that Akira had been rushed to the hospital in critical condition, she'd been extremely worried that his life might still be in danger even after he regained consciousness. Now, with her fears put to rest, her smile shone even brighter than usual.

Meanwhile, Akira caught sight of Sheryl entering, and he sat up with a hint of irritation on his face. "Now you're here too? What do you want?"

"I heard you were at the hospital and had just woken up," she replied. "I was worried, so I came to check up on you."

Akira looked skeptical. "And that's all?"

"Yes, honestly. Your injuries are mostly healed now, correct? I heard you were in an awful state."

"I was, but I'm fine now. Any treatment that costs seventy mil like that had better work."

"S-Seventy million, you say... My, that's quite the expensive procedure."

"Well, yeah. It was spendy, but also pretty high-tech, I guess. I mean, I'm as good as new." At first, he'd been a little suspicious of Sheryl's arrival, thinking she, like his previous two visitors, had brought another troublesome proposal. But now, hearing that she had only come to check on him, he felt more relaxed.

Then he noticed Inabe standing behind her, and his gaze became wary once more.

"So, Sheryl, who's this guy?" he asked.

That was a disrespectful way to refer to one of the city's top brass-or at least, Sheryl thought so and panicked a little. But she didn't dare speak up and scold Akira, lest he get angry. So she was forced to maintain a balancing act between keeping Inabe happy and not upsetting Akira.

The official, on the other hand, had never expected a hunter from the slums to know the first thing about etiquette to begin with-and Akira was the only person who knew the true source of the Old World terminals Sheryl had brought to Inabe. Judging, therefore, that he wouldn't stand to profit by incurring the ire of someone integral to his plan, Inabe chose to overlook Akira's lack of courtesy. "My name is Inabe. I'm collaborating with Sheryl on her relic shop business. Has she not mentioned me before?"

"Hm? Oh, right, come to think of it, I feel like she did mention something about that-maybe?" Akira cocked his head. Either Sheryl hadn't explained Inabe's involvement to Akira, or Akira hadn't found the information important and had simply forgotten.

Whatever the case, it didn't really matter to Inabe-if Akira wasn't that interested in him, then Inabe didn't feel the need to go into detail about himself. "Anyway, that's how I know Sheryl," said the official. "So for now, just think of me as someone who has some pull within the city."

At that, Akira snorted. Inabe looked a bit astonished, especially given that he'd just admitted his influence within the government, but didn't call the boy out on it.

The truth was that Akira had come to associate the overlords of the city with trouble. He was neither scared of nor intimidated by people in positions of power-just irritated. In fact, he now felt even more concerned that this Inabe character would be just as much of a nuisance as Kibayashi.

"So why are you here, then?" he asked. "Come to check up on me too, I take it?"

"That, and I thought it was about time we met face-to-face. Judging by your reaction, it seems that you're leaving the shop entirely to Sheryl and its management doesn't concern you in the least. But as we're fellow business partners all the same, I at least wanted to give you a name and face to remember me by."

"I see. All right, then," Akira replied. If this was all Inabe had come here for, then his arrival might not herald any annoyances after all. Akira felt relieved, then remembered something else. "Oh, right. Sheryl, you know those relics I gave you? If I said I needed you to pay me for those as soon as you could, how soon would that be and about how much would I get?"

Akira had delivered three collections of valuable relics, including Old World terminals, to Sheryl's relic shop so far. He'd sold the first batch for six hundred million aurum and had been paid in full on the spot, but had yet to receive compensation for the second and third shipments. Originally, he'd been planning to ask for payment for the latter relics once the store had sold them all off.

"A-As soon as I can, you ask?"

"Yeah, sorry. I wish I didn't have to press you like this, but well, some things happened." Even with Viola helping Sheryl out, Akira wasn't naive enough to think the girls would have the funds to pay him right away-especially since they'd just paid him six hundred million aurum not too long ago. A store wouldn't make any money if all its inventory stayed on the shelf-only when the items sold would it start to turn a profit. Plus, items at higher prices took longer to sell and incurred greater expenses. He was aware it would be at least a little while longer before he'd see any of that money.

This hadn't been a problem for Akira because he'd only just recently purchased a brand-new set of gear, so he'd figured it would be some time before he'd need to replace it. As long as they paid him by that time, he could wait. And the longer he waited, the more the shop would flourish, likely leading to higher compensation for him in the end. So with this in mind, he'd intended to be patient.

But then, during the battle in the Iida Commercial District Ruins, Akira had lost all his primary equipment and now needed to replace it as soon as he could. And due to some messy negotiations over the rights to the Old World automatons he and his team had encountered, it would apparently be some time before his accomplishments in Iida would be converted into money he could actually use. Though he had Kibayashi serving as his proxy, he couldn't afford to be too hasty and ask the city official to try to hurry the negotiations along, or the others at the table might take advantage of him. What's more, since he'd been in the middle of a hunter rank advancement commission from the city at the time, the city might try to raise his hunter rank in lieu of paying him actual money for his accomplishments. Finally, he'd also asked Kibayashi to try and lobby for much cheaper prices on anti-force rounds, so the fulfillment of that request might also reduce his portion of reward money.

And so, he explained to Sheryl, it would be great if she could pay him for the relics as soon as possible.

Hearing the reasons for Akira's urgency, Sheryl felt greatly conflicted. "I-I see. Well, er..." Rarely did Akira ever ask Sheryl for anything, and she had no doubt his opinion of her would skyrocket if she came through for him now, when he was hard up for money.

But to do so, she'd need to dip into her shop's management funds, and not just for a few million-for hundreds of millions of aurum. If she wasn't careful, she might end up sinking...