Let's Establish a Foothold! (2)

When I woke up, it was already morning, and the birds were chirping... Or not. The room I was in was so high that birds couldn't be heard chirping nearby.

"Ugh..."

I raised my lethargic body, cradling my head while trying to recall how I got on my bed. "The only thing I recall was Mother's rare angry face..."

That face was something that's engraved deep in our minds. No, it was more like a trauma for me. Just recalling the first time I saw her have that look and what happened to Kaede and me, I can't help but shiver in fear.

Turning to the clock, I noticed that it was around 5 a.m. still. The windows were still closed by shutters, so I couldn't tell at all. I stood up from bed, noticing a new set of regular clothes prepared on top of a chair nearby with a little note.

The clothes were prepared by Toki, while the note was from Mother. She said that she'd handle Kaede for a while, so I should just focus on my task. I guess Toki already told her about how many blast wands I need to make.

"Well, that all should end by today." I stretched my body lightly, hearing cracks from all over. "It has been a while since I felt Mother's electrocution. My muscles feel a little stiff..."

To relieve it even a little, I decided to take a warm shower before changing into the clothes they had prepared and walking out of the door. It may be a little early, but I guess I could start on my task. The earlier I start, the earlier I can finish!

I pressed the button of the only elevator on the floor and waited for it to come. I was expecting someone to be inside it, but it was empty. Entering, I pressed the button for the ground floor and stood idly. The door closed, and the familiar floating sensation hit me as the entire elevator rushed down.

*Ping~!*

When the elevator reached the bottom floor, the door opened. As I was about to head off, a familiar face passed by, making me stand still and open my mouth. "Ah."

"... Ah, Katarina's boyfriend~!"

It was the girl yesterday—the one who pretended to be hotel staff and led me to Toki's room. "Wait, who's Katarina?"

"My sister?" The girl with blonde hair tilted her head, question marks covering her face. "You're going out with her but don't know her name?"

"... Right..." I think Toki did mention her name before; it just didn't register in my mind. "And in the first place, I'm not her boyfriend."

"Eh~? No need to be shy! Katarina wouldn't surveil a man whom she isn't interested in, right~?" she said, her eyes curving up like crescent moons as a teasing smile appeared on her face.

So Toki really was watching my every movement! Wait, it could be another lie from this woman too. Both cases are equally likely, so I'm starting to get confused about what's true and what's not. Just as I was about to counter her words once more, an angry voice echoed from afar.

"Sister! Stop spouting half-truths!"

The figure who appeared was a beautiful woman, Toki, clad in a silver cocktail dress. It did look similar to her clothes last night but had a slightly different design. Her silver hair matched the color of the dress perfectly, as if it were made precisely to match her hair color.

"Toki..."

I didn't see it much last night, but Toki in a dress looks mature and, honestly, stunning. But more than that, seeing her face makes me recall the little accident last night. My right hand twitched lightly, recalling that soft sensation as my gaze landed on her chest.

"Ohoho, should I leave you two alone~? It looks like Mr. Boyfriend here is a little pent-up," Toki's sister said, covering her mouth with a small folding fan. Her teasing tone wasn't hidden at all, though.

Hearing her words, Toki's face turned beet red before she crossed both arms in front of her chest reflexively. Oh, was my gaze that obvious? I guess it was...

"H-He's not my boyfriend yet! Don't spout nonsense!" Toki responded in retaliation, but her words made Mary's smile wider.

"I see... [Not Yet]? So you plan to announce it in the future~?"

"...!"

I stared at the two sisters fighting using words and felt left out. "Then, I'll take my leave." I just blandly declared that before walking away, ignoring the voices calling me to stop.

I have a pretty good sense of direction, so I quickly found my way back to the underground passage. Using the barcode that Toki sent me yesterday, I bypassed all barriers once more before finally reaching the workshop.

Unlike when I left it yesterday, more crates containing materials were piled at one end of the room. That must be the materials for the additional order of 50 wands.

"Alright... First..."

I quickened my pace, walking to the green button and pressing it. The same robotic voice echoed, asking me what I wanted, so I quickly told it to bring me breakfast and some sports drinks in case I got thirsty while working.

Of course, I didn't stand still while waiting but rather placed all the materials inside my skill, the [World Storage]. Just when the fist-sized black hole sucked all the material crates inside it and I was reading the descriptions of the items, checking if there was anything new, the door to the workshop opened.

The robot pushcart came with the food and water I requested, together with the few bottles of sports drinks that I asked for. It had only been a few minutes; were they waiting to deliver it before I even asked?

Anyway, I quickly finished breakfast and relaxed for a short while before finally starting to work on crafting. I could still vividly recall the entire process from yesterday, so my speed didn't drop. I think around the middle of the afternoon, I could finish the rest of the orders.

---

In a large building, where the heads of several corporations gathered, a heated meeting was currently ongoing.

"Do you really have no intention of sharing the information, Mr. Todoroki?" A bald man wearing a gray suit said with a deep frown. "You do know how much of an impact that [Staff of Destruction] had on the city's defense, right?"

The person in question, a dandy man with sharp features, black hair, and a nicely trimmed beard, sighed lightly before shaking his head.

"I have told everyone in here since the start. I am under a confidentiality agreement with the said person. Have you not seen the papers I presented the day before?"

The black-haired man, Toki's father and the president of the Todoroki Enterprise, lied as if he were just breathing. After all, Mahiro didn't sign any confidentiality agreements with him. The papers he showed the day before were even forged by his daughter, enough that any forensic investigator would find them "original" and "untampered".

Rather than a confidentiality agreement with the creator of the Staff of Destruction, he was under a verbal promise to his daughter. If Mahiro's name as the creator of the weapon was to spread prematurely, Toki declared to stop all support for her father's "backroom" deals. That was something he couldn't live without anymore, so he was working hard to protect his promise.

Still, the old foxes in the room weren't that easily deceived. "Proof? Anyone can randomly sign those! Who says it was actually the creator of the staff who signed it?"

A stern-looking brown-haired woman, wearing a deep V-neck dress in a rosy red shade despite her age, waved the long smoking pipe in her hand. Of course, it wasn't lit since they were in a no-smoking conference room, and she was only holding it out of habit. Still, looking at her figure, it was hard to guess that she was already reaching her sixties. No matter how one looked, she was someone in the range of thirty or so, right at prime age.

"You just want to keep him all to yourself, don't you?" The woman asked, her blue eyes glowing eerily.

This conversation has been repeated over and over, and Mr. Todoroki was about to get fed up. He sighed exaggeratedly, trying to "open up" to the others about the "truth" of the matter.

"Well, he wasn't someone I found but my daughter. Technically, she has the right to initially harness his talents, right?" The faint smile on his face was saying that with this, it was his win.

"Ugh... That midget hacker!" Another old man, who was wearing a white suit with a black necktie and a red handkerchief folded in his breast pocket, slammed his wrinkled fist against the table hard.

"I still haven't gotten her to pay the 4.7 billion yen I lost due to her hacking our system!"

"What payment?" Mr. Todoroki asked with a blank face. "You couldn't find proof that my daughter did it, so having her pay for it isn't fair, Mr. Grimwright. Rather, that's defamation and false accusation, so we can sue you for charges instead?"

"Tsk!"

The old man, Mr. Grimwright, could only click his tongue in disappointment. After all, the root of the problem was their trying to hack into Todoroki Enterprise's mainframe. Of course, Toki wouldn't let rats enter her backyard, so she quickly smashed them to bits and even sent a "gift" for them to play with.

Unfortunately, the entire IT team of Mr. Grimwright couldn't lift a finger against her gift, ending up in a tragedy that cost them more than 4 billion yen in damages. That happened two or three years ago, and since then, no other company has dared to hack into the Todoroki's in fear of the same thing happening to them.