1 Prologue
Shibuya, Japan.
Inside a certain apartment, a male 'high school student' with a height of 176 cm was standing in front of a mirror, looking at himself. He was wearing a white shirt, tucked in by brown pants, and pairing it up with black shoes and seemingly school I.D.
He then took a comb, fixing his hair to the sideways despite having a bit of wavy hair. Unsatisfied with it, he grabbed a hair product that could ensure that his hair would stay still the way he combed it.
Looking at himself in the mirror, he wore heavy brown colored contact lenses in both of his eyes. And to finish things up, he smiled with a bit of exaggeration while enlarging his eyes and lowering his eyebrows.
If a person were to see him right now, he would have an impression that this student must be the 'brave, and courageous' type of person. A type of person who's likely always ready to take on any challenges.
Seconds passed, and he took a briefcase on top of the table beside the mirror. His 'preparations' were now done.
He grabbed his keys. And with a few steps, he went outside his room and locked his door.
—Thud
He then took a glance at the familiar buildings behind him with a blank face, having thoughts unguessable to anyone but him.
Retracting his eyes, he started to go to his destination.
...
Inside a two-story house, a man wearing a business suit was sitting on a table. He looked like he was in his thirties. He has brown sunken eyes, adding deep eyebags with a tired expression. He was reading a newspaper as a set of simple breakfast was laid bare on a table before him.
He was Takanashi Sumeru, a 39 year old salaryman working in a successful business company. He was a single man, or rather, a divorced man who used to have a bright happy family.
He carefully flipped the newspaper as he tried to analyze the written information on it.
[TODAY'S NEWS: HUMAN-SHAPED DAMAGES ON THE MONUMENT IN FRONT OF THE SHIBUYA STATION]
He frowned his eyebrows as he read the title of the article. Lately, it seems that strange occurrences have been happening frequently. And as a business worker, it was important to take note of anything changes that happened. Especially if it concerned the market as even a tiny bit of unknown changes could affect everything. Even simple words.
A certain famous individual known for playing sports once refused to drink an advertised beverage and at an interview claimed that people should just be drinking water instead.
In just a couple of days, that same advertised beverage drink lost an estimated Four Billion dollars of market value.
Thinking about this, Takanashi Sumeru proceeded to read the rest of the article.
[Just today, 6:00 a.m in the morning, several human-shaped damages on the monument in front of the Shibuya Station was sighted.]
[According to the reports, it was unknown when the damages was committed on the Moyai Statue. Additionally, there were hints of blood near the said human-shaped damages, alarming many people.]
After reading some of it, he folded the newspaper and put it away. He sighed, "Now.. who's idea was it this time?" For him, this was probably a plot of some organization.
Gaining something by stirring up the citizens, this type of conspiracy was not new. He thought that the organization behind this must be trying to take benefits from this issue, or that they had hidden agendas.
As a business worker, all he could do was try not to poke his nose into anything lest he risked the chance of being involved. The most safety that he could do was just to analyze what else would happen in the following to monitor if the situation would be their concern. Aside from that, he would just continue to watch.
After eating breakfast, he then unhurriedly prepared himself to go to work. There was still so much time before his shift started so he was not in a rush to go.
Just then, his doorbell rang.
—Ding..dong.
He glanced at the door, "A visitor at this time?" He then walked calmly and opened the door.
He then heard a loud voice, "Hello sir, good morning! May I have a couple of your seconds? No, a few of your minutes?" A person with a bright smile said.
In front of him was a student; seeing that he was wearing a uniform. He was a tall young man who's probably not yet in college. He has wavy hair, and dark brown eyes that were strangely familiar. His voice was full of energy, greatly matching the expression on his face.
He didn't have any idea why such a student wanted to speak with him. "Yes? Do you have business with me?" He replied and asked back.
The student raised his eyebrows, seemingly surprised. "Business? Well, you're exactly right!" he said as he handed Takanashi Sumeru a flyer. "Here, I have a business pro..pro… Ah, business preposition with you," he added, unsure of his words.
"It's called—business proposal. Don't make me remind you of that so many times," Takanashi Sumeru grunted.
"Ah, er, yeah, you're exactly right!"
Right, this student in front of him was a very persistent person. For almost everyday, this student would knock on his door, asking for a so-called business proposal.
"Haa… Fine! Let me see it," Takanashi Sumeru finally gave in as he snatched the flyer in the hands of the student.
Upon seeing the content of the flyer, Takanashi Sumeru once again sighed. "Did you make this?" he asked as he stared at the pathetically made flyer.
"Yep! With my blood, sweat, and tears," the student proudly answered.
Takanashi Sumeru remained silent. "Listen here kid, there is ninety percent that people would not read this," he said to the student. He then flipped the flyer and showed it to the student and said, "This looks horrible, even by a student's standard. If I were to be your teacher, I would fail you."
The student couldn't believe it. "Ehh..? But I work really hard for that, you know?" the student replied.
Takanashi Sumeru then handed the flyer back to the student. "The amount of hard work doesn't matter, what matters is the actual result. Leave," he said, placing his hand on the doorknob.
"W-w-wait!—"
—Thud
…
The next day arrived, and as expected, the persistent student was in front of his doorstep again.
And as expected, the student handed him a flyer again.
And as expected… The expression of that student doesn't seem to be giving up anytime soon.
Again, the flyer didn't seem to have any changes. Just… A little bit.
"Leave," he said.
"Wh—"
— Thud
…
Three days had passed, and as expected, the student was in front of his doorstep yet again.
Donning a bright smile, the student handed him a flyer once again.
This time was different, the flyer seemed to have a noticeable improvement. The goal that the flyer intended to show was now a bit understandable.
The flyer seemed a bit different, so Takanashi Sumeru replied a bit differently. "Change the font, use a proper color scheme, and make sure to write concisely and directly to the point. Now, leave," he replied indifferently.
Although, his reply was more than just a bit different, wasn't he?
The expression on the student brightened much further as replied back, "Yes, sir!" he said as he saluted.
—Thud
The door closed as Takanashi Sumeru's lips curled up for a bit, only for it to return to an indifferent one.
…
A week had passed.
—Knock-knock
The knock on the door was once again heard. Takanashi opened the door and was once again greeted by the persistent student.
The student saluted and said, "Good morning! Hehe!"
Takanashi Sumeru smiled back. "Good morning, let me see it," he said as he grabbed the familiar flyer.
Compared to the last three weeks, this flyer on his hand was incredibly different. It was well done.
The flyer itself wasn't an eyesore, the color scheme matched perfectly, the composition of the text and font wasn't that horrible, and the details were concise and direct.
The details mainly showcase the great effects of what donations can do to the people who are in need. It also left information on where you can provide help.
"Good job, this flyer is now barely passable," Takanashi said as he smiled, wanting to hide his true praises in order to make sure that the student in front of him wouldn't have his ego inflated.
The praise worked nonetheless as the student said, "Hehe, of course it is! Well, most of it is thanks to you, uncle."
The cheeky reply annoyed Takanashi Sumeru. "Stop calling me uncle! I am not that old yet, you shorty," he retorted back.
"Wha!? I'm not a shorty. In fact, I'm even tall by the standards."
"I'm taller than you, therefore, you're shorty," Takanashi Sumeru said with a smirk.
"Woah, to use logic like that… As expected of an uncle."
"I told you, I'm not that old!"
"Heh. I'm younger than you, therefore, you're an old guy!"
"Tsk, whatever. Get out of my face," Takanashi Sumeru's reply only earned a smirk from the student.
Takanashi Sumeru grabbed his wallet and handed the student his personal business card. "Here, take this. As much as I don't want to meet you again, well, you could say that you can contact the number on that someday," he said.
The student's expression brightened once again. "Woaahh! This is what they called a business card… First time I've seen one. Thanks, mister..," he said as he looked at Takanashi Sumeru with expectation.
Takanashi Sumeru sighed and said, "Sumeru, Takanashi Sumeru."
"Ohh~ I didn't know you had such a girly name, Takanashi-san. Haha!"
"What a brat… Anyway, I'll take this flyer now. May I never see you again soon," he said as he grabbed the flyer. "Take care, study hard."
The student nodded and said, "Mhm! You too, Takanashi-san, Thank you very much for the help!"
Takanashi Sumeru only nodded with a smile.
—Thud
And with that, Takanashi Sumeru closed the door. But before he could walk away, he heard someone shout.
"By the way, Takanashi-san! My name is Akira! Onodera Akira! Hehe!"
Takanashi Sumeru's eyes widened. 'Akira? What a horrible coincidence,' he thought as closed his eyes, his face flashing a warm smile.
…
At the doorstep, the student's smile lowered. His expression became stoic.
"Yes, you too Takanashi-san. You should take care too..," he whispered.
…
A day had passed.
Takanashi woke up, and as expected… He didn't hear a knock from the student anymore. But that didn't bother him, he had a nice sleep.
Unknowingly, the student had brought a little bit of peace of mind to him. He had a nice sleep.
Yesterday night, he donated a small amount of money to the bank account on the flyer. The bank account looks blatantly suspicious— well, to a stranger that is.
If he didn't know the ignorance and the horrible sense of creativity of the student, he might be extremely suspicious of the bank account.
For a moment, he feared that he might meet him again extremely sooner than he expected.
At this moment, his phone rang. It was his co-worker.
"T-Takanashi-san! Come here, quick! There's a problem!" the one on the phone said with a panic.
"Calm down, I'll be there. What happened?" he asked with calmness.
"T-the money in the account o-of our company! The money! they're gone!!"
"WHAT!!?"
"Someone leeched on us!! They somehow connected to our account and took the money!!"
Takanashi Sumeru dropped his phone as the figure of a bright student flashed in his mind.
"Takanashi-san! We've been hacked!! Hello!? Takanashi-san? Takanashi-san!!?" the voice on the phone continually said.
…
Inside an apartment.
The student weaved a breath to calm himself as he took a seemingly potion.
His appearance seemed vastly different now compared to when he was a 'student'.
He carefully drank it whole, making sure that he didn't spill or waste a drop.
His body twitched for a whole three minutes that seemed like several much more minutes to him.
His body stabilized, and after a whole minute, he stood up as he wore glasses.
He smirked.
The swindler had now become a cryptologist.
