Rebuild World

Hunter, but the sacrifice was not small.

Arabe could not help but to rub his temples when he imagined just how much death it would cause if Akira decided to attack Drankam.
Seeing that, Kibayashi was happy since it seemed that Arabe understood just how big he owed him.
Thus, Kibayashi decided to change the subject.

“So then, how is Drankam right now? With that huge debt to me, it would be such a waste if the gang crumbles and can’t pay it back.”

“To be honest, it’s a huge mess.
The effect of Katsuya’s death is huge.
Although this might sound weird, most of the officers including me, never thought that he would die like that.
Some of them even got long-term contracts under the assumption that Katsuya would not die.
And with his death, all of those turned into dust.
He’s a Hunter, it was not strange for him to die anytime.
Although it was so obvious, I wonder why no one expected it at all…”

Getting ahead of themselves, getting too optimistic, was completely normal for Hunters.
Even so, planning for the worst was a given as well, Arabe thought it was weird how no one was prepared for the worst-case scenario.
Kibayashi smiled wryly at Arabe and said.

“He even caused Drankam to break into factions, it means that he must have been that talented.
I did want to have a good chat with him at least once, but that chance never came until the very end.”

“It would be bad if your reckless loving fetish infects him after all.
I bet the officers, especially the people around Mizuha, were actively keeping him away from you.
Now that I think about it, it might have been better to let him meet you and get him through some dangerous situations.
That way, we wouldn’t have placed that much expectation on him.
But I guess it’s all too late now.”

“Well, you should make sure to learn from your mistake for the sake of those who are still alive.
Katsuya was loved by many, right? It’s not rare for those who are unhappy with the situation to still pursue revenge.
They might even do so with the peace treaty and Hunters notice from City Management in place.
Be extremely careful with this, in the worst-case scenario, the peace treaty might be rendered meaningless, you know?”

“Yeah, I know.
We went to get Akira’s approval first, so we’re going to use that as a reason to get Katsuya’s team to sign a separate peace treaty through the Hunter office.
We’ll kick out any of them who refuse.
Their equipment is all provided by the gang.
I’m sure they’re not stupid enough to go and attack Akira bare-handed.
Some of them are still unconscious from exhaustion, so we’re planning to deal with them one by one.”

Arabe imagined all the work that he had to do from here on and sighed.
Kibayashi only smiled, watching how great an effect a Hunter could bring during his life and after his death.
It was indeed one of many fascinating things related to Hunters.

—*—*—*—

On the second day, the doctor who was responsible for Akira’s treatment visited him with a large tube in hand.
A single arm could be seen floating in the middle of that tube, it was Akira’s new arm.

The doctor then changed the setting of Akira’s prosthetic to connect his arm stump to the new arm and asked Akira to test how it felt.

Akira was surprised when the sensation from his new arm was sent to his prosthetic.
He then proceeded to try to move his arm as he was told to.
Although he could feel a time lag between his mind and the new arm, he could more or less move it like normal.
He felt a strange sensation seeing an arm that was not connected to his body moving under his will.
He tried closing and stretching out his palm, and moving his fingers one by one.

After trying a few things, Akira suddenly thought of trying something.
He tried to move different fingers of his detached arm and his prosthetic arm.
Although it was difficult at first, he quickly got used to it in no time.

The doctor watched that with fascination.
But he quickly returned back to reality and stopped Akira.

“Ah, don’t do that! Stop doing something like that! It would cause confusion in your brain once we attach your arm back!”

“S-sorry.”

Akira flusteredly mentally synced back his detached arm with his prosthetic arm.
The doctor lightly sighed and stated.

“But still, you’re pretty skilled.
Normally, it’s impossible to do that, you know…”

“It had the same feeling as when I’m using my augmented suit, so I thought of trying it and somehow actually did it.”

“I see… If you’re that skilled, how about you try adding an extra arm? Like 2 normal arms plus 2 extra arms that are attached to your augmented suit.
We can get you something like that if you want, you know? Normally, it would be extremely difficult to learn to control the new arms, but seeing what you did there, I bet it won’t be that difficult for you.
I actually have an acquaintance who works on that kind of thing, I would be happy to introduce you if you want.”

“Thank you, but no thanks.”

“I see.”

The doctor looked rather disappointed.
After returning the prosthetic arm setting, he then left the room together with Akira’s new arm.

Akira sighed in relief.
Seeing that, Alpha smiled amusedly and asked.

“That was an interesting offer though.
Why didn’t you like it? Don’t you think it would be convenient to get 2 more arms?”

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“Well, it does sound convenient, but if I get too used to four arms with an augmented suit, I feel like it would be bad.
I might just start feeling that my original two arms are not enough.
In the worst-case scenario, I might end up wishing for more and more arms.
I have no complaints with my current two so I have no plans to get more arms anytime soon.”

“Is that so? Well, I won’t force you though, it’s a matter of preference after all.”

“Preference, huh.
How about you, Alpha? You have only 2 arms yourself, right?”

“Should I add more?”

“No, don’t.”

Akira knew that he would definitely be teased if he said yes.
He would most likely have to live with a 4 armed girl every day, so Akira made Alpha seriously stop.

After that, a group of people came to visit Akira.
There were people from Sheryl’s gang, along with Inabe, Viola, Yodogawa, Erio and Shijima.
Of course, the only one who came there to check if Akira was okay was Sheryl.
While the rest were only there to check if the Hunter supporting Sheryl was still alive or not.

Their visit started with some normal talks, but after that, they let Akira meet each individual in private to talk about business.
The first one was Inabe.

Akira joined the large-scale expedition under his request.
Regardless of the reason, Akira was not able to finish the request.
So he thought that Inabe was here to talk about that.
However, contrary to his expectation, Inabe was there to give Akira his connection as a reward for successfully finishing his request.

Akira was extremely surprised by that.

“Well, uh, I’m really thankful for the information, but are you sure you’re okay with that?”

“Yeah, in the first place, these connections will no longer be available to me after such a large-scale expedition failed under my watch.
And right now, regardless of the situation, I was saved from that.
Although it was completely unexpected, I did send you to danger for my own profit, so you can think of it as an apology from me.”

“That’s quite a large sum for an apology, you know.”

“…Well, it’s complicated, but I have reasons to be generous to you.”

Inabe sighed and smiled wryly before continuing.

“About the expedition, putting aside who deserves the credit, it actually ended up being a huge success despite all the sacrifices.
Do you need more explanation on it?”

“No, there’s no need.
I heard that City Management managed to strike a deal with the ruin’s caretaker AI to trade with Aurum through someone by the name of Commander Yanagisawa.
And I heard that it would no doubt bring in huge profit for the city.”

Inabe raised his eyebrows.

“You even know that too, huh.
It seems that you have some other connection to City Management besides me.
In that case, you don’t need any more explanation, right? Basically, the area that is under lockdown by the soldiers dispatched by City Management is under my control.
Although Yanagisawa basically has control over the deal made, I also gained a considerable amount of influence as well.
That’s why it did not end in a failure.
As a matter of fact, it’s okay to say it was a success.
Though I don’t like the fact that I’m basically working under Yanagisawa now.”

Inabe rubbed his hand on his forehead as if to relax his face that had slowly turned stern.
He then sighed as his expression completely returned back to normal.

“Well, so that’s what happened.
If you say you don’t need it, although it’s not like I’m forcing you to take it, you still can keep it.
If you still can’t accept this form of payment because you feel like you have not completed your request.
Well, it might be weird, but there’s one thing that you can do for me.
Tell Sheryl that you’re not angry.
After all, I did end up sending you to the hospital.
I want to get along well with her as well, so it would be great if you can, you know, pacify her.”

“If it’s only that, then sure.”

Akira was surprised that Inabe actually thought that much of his connection with Sheryl.
But thinking of Sheryl’s current position, Akira thought that it was nothing strange and just lightly chuckled.

But in reality, Inabe actually did that to keep his connection with Akira.
Inabe knew about Akira’s battle with Katsuya’s team in more detail compared to most people.
Having a connection with a Hunter who could crush Drankam’s rising star alone was a good thing.
Moreover, he already noticed that Sheryl could not go against Akira.
Considering his plan to gain money through Sheryl’s gang, he needed to keep an amicable relationship with Akira.

“That’s good to hear, well then, that’s all I have for today.
I will also tell Kibayashi about the connection I passed to you.
I hope that we can keep working together from here and on out.”

Inabe was satisfied with Akira’s reply as he left the room after speaking his piece.

Yodogawa was the next one to enter the room.
He was there fully for the sake of business.

Akira’s badly damaged powered suit was hung inside his hospital room.
He was planning to bring that to Shizuka for repair once he was discharged.

But Yodogawa strongly recommended he buy a new augmented suit instead.
He was enthusiastically recommending Akira trade his currently broken augmented suit with a new augmented suit from Yodogawa’s company.
He brought up the company’s connection with Sheryl’s gang, a special discount for a high ranking Hunter, and a limited-time campaign to offer an extremely expensive high-quality product of his own company to Akira at an abnormally low price.
Yodogawa’s vigour greatly surprised Akira.

Of course, Yodogawa had a reason for this.
To be more precise, it was because of competition.
It would be bad for his company’s reputation if Akira loved the products of another company; especially when he was the Hunter who demolished an entire team that was using their equipment.

Yodogawa’s company already knew that Akira crushed Katsuya’s team.
Although connections were being jammed, which caused the coordination support system to be unable to utilise its full potential, it did not change the fact that Akira,  alone, was able to crush them.
To top it off, Akira did that while using an augmented suit from a different company.

The recent expedition was filled with a lot of important information.
Those with keen insight already knew about Akira’s battle against Katsuya’s team.
Although equipment did not exactly dictate the end result of a battle, it would still play a big role in deciding the victor. 

If Akira used equipment from another company and made a deal with said company, then if he said that the coordination support system was nothing special, it would deal a crippling blow to Yodogawa’s company.
On the other hand, if Akira decided to change to his company after that battle, it would be a huge boon for his company.

In order to get over this crisis, Yodogawa did not care about profit or loss as he was trying to get Akira to change his equipment to products from his company no matter what the cost.

Regardless of the reason, Akira only stood to profit from being able to get an expensive product at such a low price.
But that was exactly why Yodogawa panicked when Akira refused.
With reason simply being that he wanted to buy equipment from the shop that he was familiar with, which caused Yodogawa to panic even more.

“I-in that case, how about ordering via that shop?”

“Hmmm, well, to be honest, I want to discuss with Shizuka-san first before deciding which to buy though.”

Akira was insisting on discussing with Shizuka first before ordering any equipment from her shop.
Basically, he only bought equipment from the shops that he had a good experience with.
The only exceptions would be the equipment that he got through his connection with Kibayashi and Inabe.
At the moment, he had no plans to add Yodogawa to that exception.

Yodogawa already knew that trying to bait a Hunter like this would be futile.
After all, many of the Hunters decided not to use helmets due to their intuition.
Though, it was certainly safer to use one.
Against those kinds of Hunters who risk their lives out in the wasteland, money would not be able to overcome their preference.

So Yodogawa decided to withdraw.

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“Very well.
It’s indeed unfortunate, but I’ll excuse myself here for today.
Do tell me if you change your mind.”

“Ah, sure, thanks, and sorry.”

“Please don’t be, it’s perfectly alright.”

Akira felt that it was rather anti-climatic, but he did not say anything as he watched Yodogawa leave the room.
The moment Yodogawa stepped out, the next visitor entered in a rush.

It was Viola and Sheryl.
But when Viola brought up the suggestion about asking for compensation from Drankam, Akira told her that he had signed a peace treaty with them already.
Hearing that, Viola was so surprised as she said curtly.

“To think that they made their move first, it seems that they have someone pretty skilled with them.
Can you tell me the name of the negotiator that Drankam sent?”

“No.”

Akira’s answer was short and showed no chance for negotiation.
But Viola then gave her usual smile and commented.

“Oh my, you’re so cold.”

“Only say that to me again when you mean it.
The first thing that you said when you came here was suggesting that I demand compensation.”

“Oh, isn’t that exactly because I care for your well-being? If you just leave it to me, I can still deal with it somehow, you know?”

“There’s no one as desperate to rush to their death as to ask for a favour from you, and if there’s one, I’m sure they’ll kill themselves first before asking for your help.”

In contrast to Akira, who obviously seemed to be in a bad mood, Viola was smiling amusedly.

“Is that so? Well, feel free to come to me if you change your mind.
I’ll do it for cheap.
Well then, since it seems that there’s nothing more I can do here, I’ll excuse myself.”

Viola turned around and walked with a rather uppity stride.
Akira saw her leaving the room while thinking, [Does she have another prey to go to?] 

This was when Akira noticed that Sheryl was sitting next to him while staring at him.

There was a short silence.
If they were real lovers, they would have embraced each other or leaned on each other.
But Akira did not make any move at all and Sheryl did not have the courage to go any further.

“…It might be a little late, but I’m glad that you’re okay.
Well, I guess you’re not really okay, huh?”

“Is that so? To be honest, I think this is still considered to be ‘ok’.”

“But, that arm, it’s prosthetic, right?

“Well, it is, but I asked for the regenerative treatment and I should get my new arm tomorrow.
The arm is still in its growing phase and I’m going to go through surgery tomorrow to attach it back.
Today, they brought the new arm and I tried to move it around by connecting it to the prosthetic.
It was pretty interesting.”

“So, it’ll get back to normal? That’s great to hear.”

“Yeah, that’s why I think this isn’t that bad.”

“But it’s weird for you to be sent to the hospital if you’re really okay.”

“Is that so? Hmmm, well, other than losing my arm, I was in a way worse condition the last time I was sent to the hospital though.
So judging from that comparison, this is not that bad.”

Akira was not trying to look strong, he only said so casually.
But Sheryl saw that as how distorted Akira’s way of thinking was.
He went to face death and many close calls.
This normally led to the tragic end of those who saw the thin line between life and death too many times.
They got too used to dangers, they stood calmly on top of the cliff that separated life and death.
They had no problem peeking down the cliff, knowing that falling down would be fatal.
As humans, they were already broken, and Sheryl caught a glimpse of that from watching how Akira responded.

The person who she loved and was the pillar that supported her, continued to stand next to death even now and it was unlikely that would change anytime soon.
Moreover, she had no means to stop him.
Sheryl had to learn to live with the fear of losing the one that she loved anytime from here on out.
She could not handle that anxiety as she inadvertently hugged Akira.

“…Please don’t die.”

“Yeah, I don’t want to die either after all.”

“…Please don’t die.”

“It’s fine, don’t worry.”

“…Please don’t die.”

Sheryl’s voice was thin as if she was crying.
Akira was not sure what to do there but he eventually slowly coiled his arm around her.

Although Sheryl knew that Akira only did it to calm her down, the warmth still soothed her heart.

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