The secret third floor of No Answer.

Smiths, the orc without fangs, quietly offered his opinion to his boss, Natasha.

"...Boss, isn't this plan too dangerous—"

But his words were cut short.

"Shh, quiet."

Natasha raised her index finger without turning around.

Then she turned her head to look at Smiths.

"Aren't you under disciplinary action?"

"...Yes."

At those words, Smiths closed his mouth.

It was because he had failed to escort a certain mage home.

Of course, Smiths felt no regret about that part.

Even if the mage said it was fine, failing to properly follow the boss's orders was a serious offense.

No matter what anyone said about the incident, it was indeed his fault.

If he had escorted the mage home, such an accident might not have happened.

Smiths bowed his head silently and assisted his boss.

Natasha organized her documents and thought.

As Smiths said.

It was certainly a dangerous proposal.

Extremely dangerous, in fact.

Moreover, it wasn't something worth breaking the rules she had established herself.

Missions that don't harm Neon City.

That was the most important and

most fundamental rule of No Answer.

But why had she agreed to help Catherine after receiving her call?

Meteor.

Red Horn.

Tech Master.

No matter how impressive they were, they couldn't compare to the entirety of Neon City.

Natasha thought of a certain mage.

She remembered when she first met him.

The first emotion she felt was probably sympathy.

Being a mage was already a disappearing profession in Neon City, no, worldwide.

And because of his exceptionally talented companions, there were many people who envied the mage at that time.

Many people gossiped that he was just lucky to have good friends.

Until then, she hadn't thought much about it.

Deep down, she even agreed with them somewhat.

The next emotion she felt was curiosity.

Because the mage was at the center of his group.

He wasn't particularly strong or incredibly smart.

Yet he naturally moved like the leader of the group.

She didn't understand it then, but now she did.

There were no mistakes in his actions.

He rescued hidden hostages as if he knew where they were.

He easily cleared false accusations and found hidden culprits.

When you considered that everyone who knew him

owed him at least one favor, it made sense.

It didn't take Natasha long to trust him either.

A 100% mission success rate.

A figure no one else had achieved.

Those who didn't know him belittled his achievements, saying it was because of his talented companions.

But those around him would know.

Without the mage, there wouldn't have been that 100% figure, and they might have been more unfortunate.

And finally.

"Well, he did save my life after all."

"What did you say?"

Smiths responded to Natasha's mumbling.

She casually waved her hand.

"Nothing. More importantly, when will everyone arrive?"

"Almost everyone has arrived. We're just waiting for Meteor and Sole Mage."

Natasha nodded briefly.

"Good, prepare the materials and go greet them."

"Yes, boss."

Smiths bowed formally and went outside.

Natasha thought slowly.

Yes, she was just repaying that debt.

Natasha interpreted and organized her actions and feelings that way.

Not even noticing her own excitement.

12. Are we really doing this? (2)

I slowly counted the patterns on the ceiling.

I tried to ignore the reality in front of me.

What were the five stages of grief again?

It wasn't a situation where I should be angry.

I'm not sure about anger.

I kept cycling through denial, bargaining, depression, and acceptance in my mind.

Denial.

'No... this can't be happening.'

Bargaining.

'Can't we just call it a draw?'

Depression.

'...It's over, everything's going to end.'

Acceptance.

'Okay, I can see that. Kidnapping the vice president of MegaCorp? That could happen.'

And then back to denial.

Meanwhile, everyone Natasha had called gathered at No Answer.

To be precise, Catherine had asked Natasha to help plan, but anyway.

Natasha pointed at a hologram with her folded fan.

"Koichi Koozaka, I checked his schedule. Next week, he'll be coming to Neon City from Neo Japan on a private airship."

I was too scared to ask how she found out the hidden MegaCorp vice president's schedule.

The hologram in front of her transformed into the shape of a massive airship.

Drek, Andrea, Catherine, and I all focused our attention on the airship hologram.

"This is the airship's data... check the details yourself."

As soon as Natasha finished speaking, a file was aggressively transmitted.

The data was saved to my neural computer chip through the open network port.

Detailed designs and specs of the airship appeared through my visual interface.

Honestly, I had no way of knowing what was what.

This looks like a wing.

This seems to be the fuselage.

That was about the extent of my understanding.

Drek, the brainiest among us, swiped through the screen with his finger and spoke.

"Since this is the airship used by Koozaka's vice president, the anti-air defense system seems no joke."

He slightly lifted the sunglasses he was wearing with his finger.

His eyes were looking at Natasha.

"Most missiles wouldn't even get close."

At those words, Natasha opened her folded fan with a snap. She habitually covered her mouth with the fan.

"That's right, and this time we'll use that capability to our advantage."

"Hmm."

Drek briefly fell silent.

It was a gesture indicating he would listen to what she had to say.

Natasha explained the main operation.

"We'll attempt an interception from the ground with anti-aircraft firepower... specifically, surface-to-air missiles."

"What?"

I responded without thinking.

Natasha's blue eyes moved toward me.

"The goal is to trigger defensive systems like flares and chaff to create confusion in their radar and vision."

She gestured toward the hologram.

Several beams of light extended from below the airship hologram where the vice president would be.

Then smoke and explosions were also depicted.

"And using this opportunity, we'll infiltrate from the air, capture him, then land at a designated external waste disposal site, which is the most important part, and finally transport the target to a safe house, and that concludes the plan."

Then Natasha continued to explain several other aspects.

She talked about security aspects, Koozaka's information systems, and how long it would take for a response in Neon City...

Honestly, none of it registered in my ears.

[I've saved it to the database, I inform you.]

I just trusted Eve.

It wasn't just me; Catherine and Andrea also had blank expressions.

To be honest, those two weren't exactly brainiacs either.

Only Drek was nodding his head.

Seeing that, it seemed like we just needed to trust Drek with this plan.

"I'll prepare the rest of the details in documents and distribute them separately, on paper of course, due to hacking risks."

Natasha folded her fan again.

She crossed her arms and tapped the fan with one hand.

"Any questions?"

At that, I cautiously raised my hand.

Looking around,

everyone except me was quietly listening.

After clearing my throat a few times, I asked Natasha.

"Um, I've mentioned this several times."

"Hmm."

"...What if we kidnap him and he's not from Smile Zone?"

But I couldn't just let this go.

It was also the biggest reason why I opposed this (crazy) plan.

The whole idea of kidnapping a MegaCorp vice president based on just suspicion made no sense.

In a cyberpunk world, MegaCorps

often wielded power greater than nations.

For reference, Koozaka was one such entity.

We might as well kidnap the President of the United States.

...Not that that would be easy either.

Anyway.

That's roughly the scale of incident we're talking about.

"Then we just let him go."

Unlike my concerns,

Natasha's response was very peaceful.

Well, she wasn't wrong...

Then she continued with additional explanation.

"That's why we're paying extra attention to security, and of course we'll hide our identities. We'll also minimize the number of people who know about this information."

...

I wondered if it was really that simple.

Am I the only one taking this seriously?

They say in a world of three-eyed people, the two-eyed person is the strange one.

I tried to express more opinions to stop this madness, but.

Somehow Andrea and Drek, who had been sitting in chairs, were now standing near me.

Drek's large hand landed on my shoulder.

"Haha, we need to repay our debt somehow. Don't worry! It'll work out."

I appreciate the help, but.

I don't understand why everyone is assuming we're going through with this.

"By the way, my girlfriend said to bring you over sometime, to have a meal together."

"Hmm."

Drek's girlfriend would be Lorenda.

Since she and I had some connection, her invitation wasn't strange—

No, that's not the important thing.

I slowly assessed the situation.

And carefully opened my mouth.

"...Even if I say not to do it, you're going to do it anyway, right?"

There was no subject in my sentence, but everyone understood what I meant.

"Of course!"

"Naturally."

The former was Andrea's answer, the latter was Drek's.

...Why don't these guys listen to me?

I've got too many precious troublemakers around me.

In the end.

I decided to give up on everything.

"...Sigh, fine."

I just nodded weakly.

"Let's give it a try."

"Haha!"

Drek laughed and patted my back with his massive cyberware arm.

Each time, my entire body shook and swayed. It hurts, it hurts.

Drek patting my shoulder.

Andrea, who seemed to want to pat me too, preparing to equip her massive mechanical arm.

Catherine and Natasha analyzing data and conversing.

Smiths with his deadpan expression somewhere.

Just then, my eyes meet with Smiths.

After a brief eye contact, we nod simultaneously.

At least I'm not the only one worried.

Anyway, I don't know anymore.

Well, it'll work out somehow.

I secretly let out a sigh.

* * *

Inside the airship that Natasha had secretly launched.

We were maintaining such a high altitude that the massive Neon City looked tiny below.

I unconsciously swallowed.

Was it due to the pressure difference, or was I nervous?

My ears and head felt stuffy.

I'm crazy, damn it.

Why didn't I sense something was wrong when listening to Natasha's operation explanation?

I silently cursed my past stupid self.

...Should I say we should stop now?

Before jumping out of the airship without a parachute.

I closed my eyes silently with regret.

I should have stopped this crazy plan.

I thought with genuine sincerity.