Chapter 1 – Starting Out

Beeeep. ”You have… ONE… voicemail.” Beeeep.

The answering machine for Lin’s office phone would let out a programmed chime, before changing to the noise of… what sounded like a rather loud public place? Judging by the occasional noises of cutlery and callouts for people’s orders for food, it was likely somewhere within the Food Court within the Twilight District.

“Hey, uhh… got a job for ya. Friend of mine’s got a daughter that wants to hire you, ‘cuz she felt like you might be a good fit. Said that it was about some beauty or… battle pageant show? I don’t fuckin’ know…”

And there he was, clearly sounding annoyed he had to make this call in the first place. With a distinct Brooklyn accent, and wafting with an aura not unlike that of an asshole. A somewhat begrudging one, knowing how many times they’ve saved each other’s hides. The both of them knew he wasn’t in a position to throw venom towards her, since she was ironically one of his best assets. Even if she wasn’t officially employed.

“Since you’re a bit busy to pick up, though, how about we talk this over some sake? Yo–… my… treat, of course.”

Click.

One could almost hear him gritting the offer through his own teeth.

Lin had done a few jobs, making ends meet. Re-surging without a home to call their own wasn’t easy, but she absolutely managed… With that being said, it’s a good think she had a phone just for these sorts of things, that would eventually come up. Being called a ‘hunter’ now was new to her, but it wouldn’t change how she approached her jobs, and the like.

She had just returned home, after getting herself some groceries, she needed food like anyone else, and saw that the office phone had a voicemail. As she heard it, many ideas came up to her head. Plenty of them, almost too many. Foul play was likely part of it, and it didn’t sit nice with her, she liked things organized and not burning up (preferably).

And looky-look, it was the person that she saved multiple times over the years. A patron of the local bar, Oeyama Brewery, a rich man that didn’t know his ass from his elbows, apparently. It always seemed that he had to mince words when talking to her because she saved his bacon so many times by now that if she cashed out, he wasn’t gonna be rich anymore. She wasn’t that heartless, of course, since he did pay well.

And he was gonna pay for drinks again? She was absolutely in on that as well. Lin sorted her groceries into place and went back out to the Oeyama Brewery.

And thus, she packed up her belongings, which included her phone, wallet, even her tactical pistol (just in case)… all which she absorbed within her slime body as an easy storage compartment, before heading off towards her usual meeting place.

Sake and tonkotsu noodles awaited her tonight, and boy oh boy, was she going to make her cute little exec boy pay for them all…!

---

The Oeyama Brewery. The one stop shop for all Twilight District dwellers to experience the best sake anyone could afford. Whether you were a lowly rung worker from a brothel coming in after a long night’s work (assuming you weren’t the type to open your legs far too easily), or you were one of many favorite workers that a mid-sized company paid well to keep you within their employment, this was the place they would go to decompress through a mixture of food and burning spirits.

There were plenty of customers abound within this fine oni-ran alcohol-oriented ryōkan, a majority of them onis and spirit races themselves thanks to the heavy drinking culture they have kept up within the Ward. It is said that a majority of them were the kind capable of outdrinking the average heavyweight human, easily staying somewhat sober even after chugging through drinks of an alcohol level bordering on poison.

Absolutely intimidating stuff for a normal human to find out. Yet it seems they wouldn’t really judge you much if you’re incapable of handling alcohol to their level. After all, they could talk all they want, but the moment the proprietor of the brewery, Shuten-Douji comes out to play, that’s when their mocking laughs would be silenced. Replaced by their snores as they passed out midway through whatever drinking challenge she would offer them on a whim.

It made her somewhat grateful her exec-boy was, at most, a cyborg with mostly human parts. Including the liver itself. It means he wouldn’t ever hope to catch up to neither Lin nor Shuten-Douji in alcoholism.

<rito image>

There he was. The man himself, Rito Scottwald. A man in his late-20’s, and one of five middle-rung managers within GailVenn Cybernetics. From what she could remember, the guy was in charge of one section for GailVenn’s marketing department, responsible in putting the word out and advertising some of their products on offer. Said products initially oriented around selling repurposed Automatas (or maybe even outright people that were ordered to ‘disappear’) into sexbots, but ever since the CEO’s sudden change of heart they had since moved onto selling cybernetic enhancements for the wider masses. Their profit margins aren’t as huge as they used to be of course, but it was still enough to let them grow as a company. Even if it’s rather slow.

Rito couldn’t really give a shit about any of that, however. All he cared about was getting his paychecks, his bonuses for his performance, and his life staying well intact from any corporate skullduggery. Which, unfortunately for him… he wouldn’t have been able to keep the third one, if he hadn’t hired Lin as his on-call huntress in the first place.

Lin could easily see his mood souring ever so slightly as he spotted the woman, already sitting at his chosen table.

“…I was kinda hoping you wouldn’t show up.” He said, already pouring two shots of sake from a nearby bottle.

Lin was fairly accustomed to the local bar, even if it was called a ‘brewery’. It wasn’t exactly wrong, just not what she expected.

Her nature as slime contrasted her nature as a person, and while he could carry guns inside herself, being a ‘hunter’ probably meant that she could do open-carry. Maybe. Better safe than sorry after all.

As she headed inside, a buzzing headache was about to return to her mind, even as a slime she had the pain… Of talking to her patron. He really didn’t know his ass from his elbows and even after saving his bacon many times, he still kept that ridiculous way of acting.

The one thing she didn’t stop doing was belittling him, trying to make him act like the person he was supposed to be and not a teenager that forgot to grow up. One day he’d realize he was being rather inconvenient.

But of course, it wasn’t that day. Or probably neither soon.

She stopped next to the table, hands on her hips. “Well. It’s also a huge displeasure to talk to you, Rito. If you didn’t want me here, why would you leave a message?”

She sat at the table to face him and force him to face her. “But since you did, that means you can’t deal with it yourself. Who could have seen that coming, right? Anyway, what are the details?”

“That’s because I’m–…” Just as he was about to take Lin’s passive aggressive bait, Rito would bite his tongue to forcefully silence himself, lest he pushes the patience of his fixer for far too long. Or leave himself far too open for any negotiations to go towards Lin’s way.

A moment of silence between them passed, filled with him passing his phone over to the fixer. Likely to show contact details of the one asking for her help.

…and yes, one of his eyelids was very clearly twitching.

“Like I said from the voicemail…” He hissed out, trying to calm himself down. “The client, named Bellevue Nguyen, is the daughter of a co-worker within my company. Not exactly in the same level or… even the same department of course, since she’s R&D and one of the senior staff at that, but she already knew full well I had a fixer I could count on. Of course, she said that there were other, bigger fixers she could request help from, but her daughter felt as though this issue would be simple enough for a beginner huntress to investigate. Which means you.”

Lin read the details, taking in what was described by Rito. “I see. Glad to see you’re still somewhat of a man.” She smiled, poking at him more.

“I’ll need to talk with the client for more information, even if you do have some of it. Don’t get me wrong, Rito, it’s not that I don’t trust you, I don’t, but this is not gonna be something for you, it’s for the client.” She then sported a smirk. “How does it feel now? Knowing that I won’t be saving your sorry ass for once?”

“It feels like I wouldn’t have to deal with a bunch of lice crawling around my hair. So in a way, I’m grateful about it.” Rito answered. His eyes would then narrow as they bore into Lin’s own, feeling rather irritated. “But let’s be fair here… I know for a fact you’re just going to leech off of my bank account, even midway through this job. It’s only a matter of time knowing you. But at least I’m not the one paying for this… it’s gonna be out of the client’s pocket this time.”

“Hey, I’m not the one with a massive job at a massive corp, and a massive bank account. I’m surprised you just walk around without any security, and as I said before, many times, I’m not fit for that either.” She returned the phone to him.

“If you recommended me to your client, that is good enough for me, since I’m also getting paid in exposure. In the end, I guess you are right, it does leech off from you. Where is the client located right now? I’ll need to talk to her, so I’ll get on it right away.” Lin said, crossing her legs at him.

Another bit of twitching could be seen from Rito’s eyelids, sensing Lin’s estimate of his position to be highly generous. “Oh, you yourself would certainly assume I’ve got one of the biggest dicks in the company. But in practice, there’s always plenty more that are bigger… especially if you look outside of GailVenn. We’re not at like, AshinaCorp or Hades-Faulk levels of massive, and I’m still somewhere along the lines of middle management. My coffers aren’t as deep as your parasitic mind would think.”

The man would quickly down one of the two sake shots, wincing as he felt the slight burn of a high-proof alcohol rolling down his throat.

“Ugh… as for your client, I believe she should be finishing her shift at the Lucky Lady which is the uhh… one of the bigger casinos in Twilight, from what I remember. Well, mix of a casino and brothel, where the girls could choose who they would be paired up with. Somewhere in the mid-high society in terms of target demographics… which means no elves, of course.” Rito said, pointing towards the phone. “That part right there has her contact info, including her number. You can go ahead and setup a meeting with her if ya want to.”

“Rito, c’mon now…” Lin took a sake shot… Then a second and a third. A fourth? Fifth.

“Unless you’re some sort of cyber-security rat, you’ll always be seen as part of the company, even in off hours. Which is why I keep telling you about having at least one bodyguard with you all times, minus when you’re home. But since you’re refusing to do it, I guess I’ll drill it on your head until you get it. And you do have money! Look at how well you paid me…”

She took the phone again and got hers out of her pocket (conveniently moving there first) and called the number.

“Hello, is this miss Nguyen? I’m Lin. One Rito Scottwald has told me you need to get something fixed. Thankfully for you, I’m a bit of a problem fixer myself.” She said in the call.

It took a while for the call to be picked up, but once a ‘click’ had resounded from the other end, followed by Lin’s given greeting…

“…Uhm… Oh! Right, right… sorry, I almost forgot about that. Geez, I didn’t even know Mom would be this fast in sending out help…”

Judging by the voice on the other end, she sounded around a half-decade younger than Rito. And not only that, her behavior was comparatively much more warm compared to the reluctant exec that sat in front of her.

“Yes, as it turns out, there’s something I’m gonna need you to investigate. I’d admit that I’d probably do it myself, but err… this month and the month before’s been especially hectic for me, so I don’t think I’ll be able to fit this one in my schedule. You, however, definitely could do in my stead. Do you wanna meet up in my place or yours? Depends on which one you’d prefer, since I live in the outer parts of Resi Dis.” She asked.

“Do you know Oeyama Brewery? I’m there right now. It’s a good place to discuss things… I’d rather not discuss this in my place, it’s rather small…” Lin pointed out, looking at Rito.

“If that’s not possible, I’ll be able to head out to your place, and I don’t mind walking around to get wherever.” She said, being open to either the client’s place or the bar.

“Oeyama Brewery… hm…” This ‘Bellevue’ at the other end of the call seems to audibly consider the proposal first. Maybe a lot longer than most people like herself. Maybe she was looking up information about the ryokan itself?

“Ah! Yeah, I think I’ve heard of this place. Dunno if my friends ever frequented this bar, but I’ve always heard of this place as a favorite for a lot of onis… which makes me feel like our discussion wouldn’t be as private as I’d hope. Much less calming, considering how rowdy it could get…”

As if the world was present to prove her point, there was a female oni and wolf girl getting ready to throw hands at each other, shouting insults at each other just outside of Lin’s view. Judging by all the yelling and thwacks of fists colliding against muscle, it was most likely happening within the basement of the inn. Because of course, shitshows like that always happens in that area… why not, right?

“So uhh… we’ll just meet up at my place instead. And since I’ve finally got a car for myself, I should be able to go ahead and pick you up~!” She cheerfully answered. “…that is, unless if you wanna come here yourself. I can send out the location, if that’s the case.“

“Send me the location, I’ll meet you there.” Lin said, standing up and quickly taking Rito’s sake shot, before winking at him and leaving the bar.

“Yeah, you’re right about that, miss Nguyen… Some oni and wolf girl were about to start a fight.” Lin said, outside of the bar. “Gimme the location and I’ll be there soon.” She didn’t hang up the call just yet.

“Hey, wh… wait, that was mine you fucking cunt!” Lin could hear the shouting of an especially miffed Rito as she stepped away from the bar, allowing her to find a place to quietly discuss business in. Good thing the alcohol tab was his job to pay for.

“Mhm~ I’ve made sure to order some takeout as well, so we wouldn’t go hungry as we eat.” She paused for a moment, before quickly elaborating. “Or well… technically, you’ll be the one that’s eating, since I can sustain myself through other means. Perks of being a succubus and all.”

Ah. No wonder she works as an ‘escort’ for a brothel. To her, it was likely a set of free, easy, and sustainable meals alongside a decent paycheck at the same time.

Ping!

“There! Details for my apartment are sent over to your phone. Floor 8, number 807. Go ahead and press the buzzer once you’re here. Mkay~?“

“Alright, thank you.” Lin said, and headed off to the direction described. She hung up the call and thought for a moment. Flying there as a bird would be more of a hassle than anything, considering she had things with her. So instead… Time to use public transport.

She mapped out the way to the client’s place and got a taxi to get her there. From what Lin could tell, based off of the location sent to her phone, it would likely take her around 30 minutes if she were to use any of the vertical trams the Ward had readied up. But oddly enough, if she were to pivot towards using a taxi, the travel time gets cut down to around 15-20 minutes. Likely a factor of the Outer Walls traffic having eased off, with many of it’s office workers returning to the Twilight and Residential Districts.

…soooo taxi cab it is, then!

---

Compared to the absolute Wild West tier slums that was the Twilight District (the sections that weren’t being controlled by a large organization, at least), the Residential District seemed to be what one would expect for a city at the forefront of technological and thaumaturgical forefront to look like. Somewhat glitzy, flashy, with many a bountiful signs of social life dotting throughout the place as the middle class walk amongst it’s streets.

Many of it’s inhabitants, whether that maybe kids, parents, students, spirits, all of them seemed to go about their merry way. Some she could spot drunkenly walking together, with their respective bottles of beer in hand. Some of them were teenagers that had returned from Kamimachi Academy’s high school section, stepping off of a bus or nearby tram station before proceeding to walk home to their apartments. There was even a group that seemed to be filming a broadcast, likely to show off a mega-mall that had just been opened to the public.

It’s likely nowhere near the level of luxury the elite were provided several stories above this District, and… Lin had a good feeling that it would take selling one’s soul to even live here in the first place. But once one does manage to get the chance? It’s easy to imagine herself living comfortably here.

Squeeeeakkk… The brakes of the taxi were… definitely audible as they pulled up towards a set of apartments. From what she could tell, these ones were placed somewhat around the fringes of the district itself.

“Aaaaand… here we are, miss. Orca Suites, Building Number 5. Probably some of the more affordable places you could rent around here these days… shit’s gettin’ expensive around here.” The taxi driver said, looking back as he held a hand towards the slit of the backseat’s view. “Fare’s about twenty microcreds.”

Lin took in the sights, taking a taxi was much better idea than being sneaky and stealthy, because, frankly, she could use a break from walking. And since she was carrying things with her, it would be annoying to go around.

The Residential District didn’t faze her that much, if she was honest with anyone. Yes, pretty lights and everything, but at the same time, she liked both the mess and the quiet from the Twilight District. It’s not that she wouldn’t live here, but maybe once she stopped being a hunter, as an end goal, not intermediate one.

“Thank you kindly, mister. Fortunately, I don’t have that kind of money just yet but I can do this.” She offered the taxi driver 30 microcredits. “Keep the change and have a nice day.” And left the taxi.

Time to meet with the client, hopefully more details would come from them, considering Rito was being… Rito. “Floor 8, number 807…” She mused out of the taxi, and walked to the apartment to find her client, hopefully they arrived home before she did, or she would be waiting.

A trip on the building’s elevator would pass, where she patiently awaited until it reached the 8th floor.

Okay, which one was it again? The set of apartments for each corridor of the floor were already hinted at from the entrance signs.

So… take the left for apartments that were numbered 801-810… Number 807… number 807… ah! Here it was! Number 807! and it seems there was already a button prepared right beside the apartment door itself. Likely a button for guests, considering the bell icon printed upon it.

“Ah.” Lin said as she found the apartment and rang the doorbell. With luck on her side, she wouldn’t need to wait for too long.

ring ring

“Excellent idea, Rito… Just don’t get any information from the client… Then again, you really didn’t want to see my face again…” She mused as she waited for the client to answer.

…initially, there didn’t seem to be any answers coming from the other side. But once she had rung the bell again… Ring, ring…!

“Just a minute…! Still getting myself changed!”

She could hear a voice from within the apartment. The same exact one Lin had heard through the phone call. Judging by the timeline itself, it was more than likely her client had taken the time to shower first.

Oh! Lin could hear the faint clacks of her high heels from within the apartment… here she comes…

And thus, out comes a pink-haired succubus. One whom was on a similar height as Lin herself, if not slightly shorter by a few centimeters. Her demon wings (likely nonfunctional) were still folded, all while her spade-tipped tail absentmindedly flitted around the room like a considerably lazy snake.

And… holy crap, no wonder she’s an escort for one of the nicer brothels within the Twilight District. The woman was practically shameless with her chest, giving the fixer a very open view of her cleavage as it jiggled with each small movement. Likely DD cups in terms of size and shape, all to complement the hourglass figure she seemed to sport. It was like the woman was made for a fashion runway…!

…wait, did she just pulled up a glove of synthetic skin over what seemed to be a mechanical arm? Was she a cyborg?

“Ah! Evening…!” She cheerfully waved. “I assume you’re Ms. Lin, like my mom’s co-worker said? Now that I’m getting a look at you, you’re a lot cuter than I thought you were~!”

Now that was a better sight than Rito. A woman with some actual good looks. Really good looks. Thankfully, Lin was more interested on what she had to say than anything else but she could appreciate someone that was both friendly and good looking.

“Greetings, Miss Nguyen. Yes, you can call me Lin, it’s a pleasure to meet you.” The compliment made her smile. “If only your mom’s co-worker was as friendly as you, I might like him more. In any case, I heard you have a job for me? Something only I could do? May I enter so we can discuss in more detail?”

“Ehh… no need to call me by my surname, Lin.” The succubus woman politely waved at the fixer. “It makes me feel like I’m my mother if you say it… just call me ‘Bellevue’ or ‘Belle’ if you wanna keep things simple.”

She would then step aside, motioning the huntress to let herself in. “Oh, yeah. Go ahead and come in! And if you’re feeling hungry tonight, then don’t worry. I’ve made sure to buy some potstickers from Cloudberry’s right after my shift was over.”

The succubus motioned towards a room, just out of sight from where Lin was standing. “Placed them on the living room’s coffee table right there… They’re really good, especially when you try them out with the dipping sauce. Trust me!”

Lin stepped inside, walking and inspecting the place for a moment. “Just being polite, but of course, Belle.” She said with a smile.

The mention of food made Lin shake her head. “Thanks, but I’ll have to refuse… I’m not exactly hungry at the moment.” And then she carefully sat down at the living room’s couch. “So, Belle… What’s going on?” She crossed her legs.

The living room itself happened to have a rather comfortable couch for her to sit on, a somewhat large flatscreen TV (likely provided by the apartment building itself), along with the aforementioned coffee table and minimal decorations placed upon it. Like a fake plant to give it some life, and maybe even a plushie from someone named ‘Elma’, and… that was about it.

It’s a huge contrast compared to the room across from it, where it seemed to be a hallway that was converted into a dedicated workshop room. One that was easily identifiable, due to the visibly intricate router setup, a local home server (likely for hosting a website or for general storage), and even one or two laptops that were clearly kept around for their disposability.

Seems as though Lin has gotten quite the tinkerer as her client.

“Well… let’s start with this, then. Have you ever heard of the Sparkle☆Battle Girls competition? The one that gets streamed annually within the winter season?” She asked.

Lin pondered for a moment before hearing out what Bellevue said. The Sparkle☆Battle Girls competition? Of course she knew what that was! She submitted a few designs for the robots of her own she was younger.

“Yeah, I do. I submitted some designs in when I was young. And I’m surprised it’s still going…! Well, now you know old I am, haha.” She chuckled. “I’d imagine something has gone sour with the competition?”

Just as Belle would speak out her explanation, she seemed to audibly pause. Followed by an immediate double take as she stared at Lin.

“…wait, what? Since you were young? What did the robots even look like? Was more like a spec sheet for them to work off of, or just a vague concept–… wait, no, I’m getting sidetracked!” The succubus shakes her head, the curious side of herself briefly leaking out like a dripping faucet.

“Well, in a way… it definitely felt like something sour happened, alright. And I’ve got a feeling it wasn’t an accident.” Belle said, before proceeding to tap the side of her head, her eyes glowing a stark bright blue for a moment.

Right then and there, the flatscreen TV would flash a few times, having detected some form of a video signal coming in. Even if it was wireless…

Within the video Belle was showing, it seemed to be some sort of clip that was taken from a stream. One that came from the day before judging by the pre-labelled name of the video itself.

“Ah! I see we’re getting our next Battle Girl for this session and it’s… Sophia Minetta! Or her chosen Battle Girl name… Plasma Slice! As you can see everyone, she seems to have more than readied herself for her turn, having done a couple of test swings with her vibro-blade. From what we could tell, her cape and headgear are specifically made to heighten her mobility… she might be quite the blonde heartthrob for men and women alike, but don’t let her cute face fool you. She could rip you in half with her sword if she wanted to…!”

The announcer (one of two, from what she remembered) for the competition continued to speak, all while a camera had given her a good look of the contestant herself.

<image>

And with her style of dress… it shouldn’t be surprising as to why a woman like Bellevue would be into the show itself. Heart-throb of men and women alike, indeed.

But her appearance wasn’t the point. Her performance likely was, judging by the reason Bellevue was likely showing this footage in the first place. But from the looks of it, as she slashed through the multiple robots that fiercely fought her within the arena (hey, that robot tank design was her own, wasn’t it?!), it seemed as though she likely had her performance in the bag.

Her sword was basically gliding through the multiple instances of steel and electronics throughout the area, cutting through them like a hot knife through butter. And all while making sure to occasionally pose for the cameras, whenever there was an appropriate chance for her. The girl could be a potential runner-up, at least.

…and then the oddities seemed to happen out of nowhere. Occasional failures of lighting her arena, sometimes engulfing the arena floor in pitch darkness for a second or two. Enough to throw her off. Certain robots that seemed to be magically enhanced in some way, judging by the lack of scratches with her starter swings upon the machines. Maybe even some mishaps with her given flight unit, all thanks to these distractions ruining her focus.

“I can assure you, I’ve looked the venue up myself after the stream ended. Not to mention previous streams that used the venue… none of them had ever experienced a problem like this. None.” Bellevue explained, her eyes hovering over the sight of a disappointed Sophia as the judges tallied up their score. “Something’s going on. Something that smells fishy.”

With the eyes glowing, Lin (still being a bit of a nerd) noticed that this woman was most likely something close to an android, a robot of her own. Past Lin would have swooned over this but current Lin… Not as much. “Impressive… So you’re not a cyborg, huh… Not to pass any judgement of you, Belle, but you’re what I’d call ‘impressive’…”

Then she watched the video. Sophia was pretty much spot-on for what she remembered about this insanely fun looking competition. “That one! That is my design! I can’t believe they still use it!” She pointed out when she saw it.

Her happy face turned into distress as the oddities showed up themselves. Lights going out? The robots being enhanced to throw the contestant off? Yeah, something was very wrong here.

“Definitely, Belle. Now I must ask you… Are you looking into competing into it? Do you have any friends there? Because this would be something of a localized issue, and yes, I know the show is for entertainment, which is now very much ruined, but… That is very minor if I can tell you… But I’ll take a look at it anyway, because I can’t stand seeing one of my favorite shows being ruined like this.” Lin replied, recrossing her legs. “Now this is the point of the conversation that I’ll ask you… How do you want this done?”

“Well, considering most of the stuff that’s involved here is along the lines of huntress work… I wouldn’t really say any of my friends are competing in it.” Bellevue said, visibly grimacing as she continued. Almost as if it pained for her to admit something.

“And as much as I’d love to get myself involved, my schedule’s… well… it’s a bit tight right now.” She said, shyly twiddling her thumbs together. “Even after the holidays had just passed, I still need to talk to my fashion employer about any ideas we’d have to prep for Valentines’ Day next month. And then there are some of the vacation stragglers that still have a week or two left, and wanted to spend them with us girls at the Lucky Lady… yyyeah, I don’t really have the time for it unfortunately.”

Yep. Even just saying it was likely killing the young, energetic heart within herself.

Bellevue would then begin to continue, clearing her throat to recompose herself. “Ahem-and as for how I’d want this done… all I can ask for is to not create too much chaos from it in the process. If this goes well, we might be able to keep it a relatively quiet issue… but if I were you, I’d suggest going against taking any rash decisions you’d have in mind. It might end up screwing the both of us over.”

Lin nodded, seeing that Bellevue was somewhat of a busy woman (android, whatever), thanks to all the stuff she spoke. Meaning that she would have to do this alone.

Then the suggestion of not making too much of a fuss was welcomed if anything. “I’ll try to use a bit of discretion. I could have you join as a combatant and make sure that we could investigate both ends, the inside the competition and the outside, but considering you’re busy, I’ll have to make do. Don’t worry, I’ll get it done.” Lin spoke.

It did feel like she could reveal her true nature for Bellevue, but since she wouldn’t be joining the competition, there was no reason to do so. “Anything else you can tell me that you know will help me greatly, Belle. Do you recall anything other than what you saw? Did this start happening recently or has it been a while?”

“Well from what I could recall, Plasma Slice was definitely one of the runner ups for the competition.” She leaned a it forward towards Lin, as if she may just be speaking of insider information. “I looked into their databases and auditions when they held the auditions for this year, and based on what the organizers had written about the contestants, she was one of the top 5 picks based on performance alone. Which makes the slip-ups that we’re seeing here as something more than Sophia having a bad day.”

She would then press a finger against her lower lips, letting out a contemplative hum. “And as for how long this has been happening… hmm… I think it’s only starting to happen this year. The previous ones didn’t feel this weird in terms of happenings, which… kinda makes them stand out ironically.”

Lin pondered after receiving the information, it could work to investigate the place further.

“If that’s the case, then something changed this year only… It should be easy to figure out the issue and root it out.” Lin replied.

“Payment is standard, twenty-five percent to start and the rest at the end. But because it was your mom’s friend that recommended me, you’ll make it fifteen percent.” She spoke about the payment. “I’ll give you my phone number so you can ask about the progress.” Lin pulled her wallet from her pocket and gave Bellevue her business card.

“Yep. Figured you would’ve asked for a down-payment straight away… it’s not what I typically do when I get a contract, but it’s still standard practice for hunters.” Bellevue smiled at her before proceeding to holding out one of her arms. One of them would open like a perfectly hidden compartment, seemingly meshing together with her skin until it slides open.

“Good thing I’ve made sure to prep some beforehand.” Reaching into the hidden compartment, she pulls out a bundle of credits that were tied together with rubber bands. “So… your payment’s going to be a total of a hundred credits, which means… you’ll get fifteen to start with… five, ten, fifteen.” She says, pulling out a part of the bundle’s contents and passing it to Lin. Exchanging it for the business card. “There. Should come in handy for any emergencies at least. And yeah, we’ll keep in touch through messages or calls.”

Lin accepted the money, smiling a bit. Better having some than having nothing.

“Yes, I encourage you to call or message me, it keeps me honest.” She smiled. “If you can, send me all the information you have to me and I’ll be able to review it.”

She stood up from the couch. “Ah, one question… Is there a timeframe for this?”

“A timeframe… hm…” Bellevue said, crossing her arms and closing her eyes. “Well, we’ve already gone through the first day of the starter brackets, which would take two days at minimum to go through. Couple that with the intermediate matchups, which would take another day, and the semi finals plus finals taking another one… I’d say you’d have about three days to figure this out in a timely manner. Maybe four if you have to stretch it… might make things a bit of a close call, but it’s better than to let something like this continue.”

“Then I should get to it immediately. Thank you for the information and for picking me for the job, Belle.” Lin said. “Time to go.”

Three days was a bit too close to conform for Lin, she was used to a few weeks to work out details but not in this case. She had to make do with it.

Once she was off the apartment block, she called another taxi to bring her back home, and immediately texted her ‘beloved’ friend, Rito.

Lin

Care to spare a car for your lovely girl?

Rito didn’t exactly seemed pleased about the request.

Rito

You’re kidding, right?

What happened to the car I gave you, the last time I hired you for a job? That was about two months ago, Lin.

Unless if the auto-valet feature already kicked in a few weeks ago, and had it driven back to GailVenn’s parking lot… fuck me, if that’s the case.

She quickly replied.

Lin

I thought that was you! I didn’t know it has an auto-valet feature… Gonna have to disable it.

Anyway, things went good with the client. Hot android woman, very hot. Might be a model from what she said. In any case, I’ll be using the car for a bit.

Rito

Son of a fuck.

Alright… sending out another car, then. Four door sedan, company provided but not registered under our name.

The fancier one with all the options is being used by the CEO right now, but this one’s still gonna be comfortable nonetheless.

And yeah, I heard about the broad you talked to. Don’t really know much about where she came from, since Victoria’s a bit tight lipped about it, but she’s working as an escort for a pretty high-end casino AND a fashion model for a specialized boutique store in Twilight.

Girl’s a walking example of making maximum use of her looks. And a bit of luck, now that I think about it.

Lin

Girl gave me 3 days to solve it, gonna have to cancel sleep for the next few days to get it to work…

Rito

3 days? Considering this doesn’t seem like a lotta trouble, you’ll probably be done within half that time.

But regardless, if you need any caffeine or sex drugs to keep you calm, I can hook you up with my usual supplier.

Keeps me awake when I have to stick around for overtime. Or when I need some personal ‘me’ time.

Seems as if the timeframe didn’t faze Rito all that much. Considering his position, it was likely he had to deal with the same type of timeframes for his milestones. She didn’t bother to reply Rito with that, he was always insufferable, it seemed…

Lin quickly sent Belle a message.

Lin

Hi Belle! Lin here. Can you send me all the information you have, please?

Bellevue

You sure? It’s quite a lot of info.

Took me a few hours to sift through them all.

It might take a bit more for a normal human to process, y’know…

Lin

Don’t worry. Remember that I told you one of my designs was in the competition? I’m not the average person.

Send it over and I’ll take a look at it. Everything helps!

Bellevue

Thankfully the folder’s not that huge when compressed. Still a bit of a big boy to sift through, though.

A minute or two passes, and… a file finally arrives to Lin’s phone!

Bellevue

[audition_info.zip]

There’s about 100-150 contestants’ worth of info in this folder. Documents, spreadsheets, the past life they typed in as a measure of experience, even the audition results, too…

You sure you’d know what you’re doing with this?

It was quite a bit, yes, but she could use some of her computers to do some work.

Lin

I’m sure that I don’t know it yet, but I’ll figure something out. I’d rather have the information than not have it.

Ah, she was finally next to home, apparently. She was gonna put her computers to work and figure out anything suspicious in the files. With her computers right by her side, and the folder unzipped and unpacked within their data drives, it was now time for them to process said folder’s contents…

Two hours later, after a moment of boredom, it seems as if the computers (thank the gods she’s got some damn good spirits running those processors) had found a few interesting things for her to look at.

For one, based on the little notes and comments Bellevue had attached to the files, along with the files’ contents themselves… it seems that quite a good chunk of the contestants that had signed up seemed to be rather… vague as to where they came from. Barring the mountains of teenaged girls signing themselves in like it was an obligated popularity contest, there were about 25% of contestants that seemed to have mostly been, if not entirely sponsored by either nigh unknown talent agencies or shell companies. That was what the computers managed to figure out, considering some of the histories of these agencies or companies only seemed to have an official registry and not much else. Even getting a website would be a luck of the draw… A group (or groups) covering their tracks, perhaps?

Another revelation was that, comparing the top performers in the auditions list with the included video links of their first live performances on stream… It seems as though a majority of them were having troubles with their broadcasted sessions. Some of them had the same problems as Sophia Minetta did, with strange occurrences with the venue’s lighting or the faintest hints of magical shenanigans throwing the contestants off. But others were reporting strange oddities relating to things such as their equipment and even communications. One had their battle-axe feeling rather off, as if someone had tampered with it’s weight distribution. Another claimed as if someone had cursed their magical girl transformation medium with dark magic, cursing them to wear a much more lascivious outfit as they felt strange intimate touches in their special spots…

Quite the interesting tidbit to read through, for that particular one. In fact, a lot of this info had yielded good results.

Lin noted down these, but what mattered for her was the management files. The contestants were useful yes, but she didn’t have days to figure things out with them, going to the fewer people inside the management would be faster. So she looked to see if the computer spat out anything relating to changes in management recently, as far back as a year ago.

Glancing at the management files of the folder, she could see that quite the majority of it’s holding staff had clean backgrounds and records, all things considered. Some came from the idol industry, others came from defense and armaments corporations (no surprises considering the comp’s main aspects), there was even an overseas investment company essentially bankrolling a good part of the event itself.

However, with a bit of a personal look-through, there were at least a few people within the management team that had… rather strange origins. The shady kind, considering their dossiers on the files didn’t provide her much in terms of information. Maybe a bit too sparse, even for people within a middle management position.

It was initially difficult for her to pick them out, too. Their photos and descriptions made them blend in with the rest of the crew itself, but whenever she decided to look their names up on the net… in social media specifically… Already, she could see certain naughty aspects of themselves being listed in front of her screen. One was a convicted felon, charged with grand larceny thanks to a get-rich-quick pyramid scheme that he once had a hand in creating. Another was once charged with multiple accounts of tax evasion, even if they managed to be considered innocent from the charges in the end. And another one had suspected ties towards the Ward’s underworld, even if it was still completely unproven.

Interesting. “Well, that was quick…” Lin noted, she found what she was looking for. “These people, I swear… They hate covering their tracks, thinking someone else will do it for them…”

“Let’s see… I need a name and a picture…” Lin looked up and see if she could get something from them. “With luck, I can also search other people up as well, and try to spring something with this person…”

First person for her to look up… the one with suspected ties to the Ward’s mob organizations. Out of everyone else, they seem like the most ‘squeaky clean’ out of her trio of suspects, so it might be good to figure out the skeletons in their closet first.

Mikasa Mishima. Aged 19, high school graduate with decent grades, and seemed a bit listless in terms of her life once she became an adult. Her work experience consisted of being a part-timer for a convenience store, located in some back-alley of the Twilight District. Logistics from the looks of it, along with a bit of courier work. Meaning she must’ve moved some boxes and delivered orders straight to a customer’s doorstep.

And yet, she’s managed to take on the same logistical responsibility for an event that, compared to warehousing work for a middling konbini chain, is comparatively of higher prestige? The experience would be understandable, but it’s certainly strange she managed to bag herself a position within middle management that quickly… yeah, within a year, from what Lin was reading here.

Hrmm… it’s not that out of the ordinary. Something about it just seemed.. odd.

Next one in line… the one that was suspected (and somehow relieved) of all tax evasion charges. Robyn Ives, a 27 year old Kamimachi Academy graduate with a Master’s in Economics, and from what Lin could tell, seemed to have been involved in a high-profile lawsuit against one of her professors. Something about them ‘cheating her out of a product I patented’, which was a legal battle she ended up losing in the end. Afterwards, it seems she ended up getting herself involved with the organizer’s financial team, likely managing the budgets and sponsors year after year.

And finally, the last one on the list. Maxmillian Klaus, or simply named ‘Max’ is a 26 year old ‘expert in marketing’ who was involved in a marketing scheme that managed to defraud quite a lot of investors, both domestic and abroad. Mainly through a project that he once claimed to be capable of ‘changing the world’, all through a mix of magitech-based esoteric terms and odd technology claims that Lin was sure to be impossible… but plenty of people seemed to take the bait anyway, even as obviously suspicious as his project’s premise sounded. It seems as if none of those victims were elves however, as he was allowed to live and had managed to finish his 3-year prison sentence about a year ago. Betting he was counting his stars on how lucky he was.

Apparently, now he’s working in the organizer’s HR department… which is almost baffling to think about, given his track record.

Lin looked at their profiles and images. “This whole thing smells.” Her apt thoughts on the subject were resounding, but with limited timeframe she had, she had to pick one, at best two to investigate.

“Guess the teen gal should be the first to take a closer look into, although this Max guy… Criminal vibes are all over him.”

With more clicks and clacks of her keyboard, Lin went to investigate Mikasa a bit further, and maybe talk with her, if she was online or even around.

Thankfully, with how young Mikasa was, it wouldn’t be surprising if she somehow had a social media account… although technically, all of them were young in a manner of speaking. Likely a few years younger than her, at most.

And as it turns out… she does have a social media account! And it’s regularly updated too, including various photos of her hanging out with her high school buddies, the occasional meme video that she posts, maybe even a recording of the weird happenings and people around her end of the neighborhood… she’s far from a dumb sack of bricks, but she’s also far from the high profile fraudster and college graduate accompanying her on the suspects list.

Oh, hey, she’s even online too. Go figure.

Oh look, she’s online. Time to spring a bit of a trap by being friendly. Using her second online account posing as a guy named ‘EvanTheMan’, she tried to get in contact with Mikasa.

Hi, nice pics!

Easygoing, and conveniently accompanied with the avatar of a handsome man… likely a male alter ego of herself, as a convenient thirst trap for whomever would be at the receiving end of it.

And knowing Mikasa’s age, there was no way she would be immune to it…

MikaMishi20

Oh!

Uhh, thanks?

You look pretty great too, though I never really had guys coming into my DMs like this.

Who are you, exactly?

Line, hook and sinker (or sucker in this case?). Time to continue the talk.

EvanTheMan

Oh, sorry. I’m EvanTheMan, nice to meet you. Looking to talk to some girls, I usually only get guys myself so it’s kinda a relief to see that a real woman exists out here!

Don’t get me wrong, I made several buddies but… It sucks…

And it seems she wasn’t suspecting much from her… Perfect.

MikaMishi20

Oh man… you think the fuckers online are bad? Some of them could be even worse when you’re face-to-face with them…!

Shit, at least with certain guys online, I could just go with the ol’ reliable ‘fuck this i’m out’ and just block them. A bit of a different story if you managed to get saddled with a NEET trading card enthusiast.

The 2 hour train ride was pain. Both for my cringe-o-meter and my nostrils.

EvanTheMan

I know how that feels like, I feel like doxxing them just to teach them a lesson!

Also I saw your name in the credits of that cool robots vs girls show… And I was like ‘no way, is that the same lady?’, so I decided to check. You really work in there?

Time to spring the second bait… Please don’t be suspicious, please don’t be suspicious, please don’t be suspicious…

MikaMishi20

Yep! Me and my guys are in charge of getting the arena all setup directly. Y’know, moving the robots into the elevators, getting the girls their weapons and gear into their hands, maybe even setup the arena before the show even starts…

Shit’s exhausting sometimes, and it feels like my co-workers tend to be mega retarded on occasion, but it’s pretty honest work I’d say.

Success! She didn’t suspect a thing!

Well, that was easy. Blame on being a bored teenager. Lin couldn’t help but to chuckle at the replies, already giving enough information for her to sell. But she wasn’t going to… No, she wanted more. But had to be a bit subtle.

EvanTheMan

That’s fucking awesome! I’mma tell my friends about you, miss!

Sounding like an enthusiastic male was very easy. “Glad I picked her for this… But I need more information.”

Lin pondering for a moment on how to gauge more information from this girl, seemingly an open book.

EvanTheMan

Oh, wait… I’m looking at footage from this year’s competition… Did the lights go out in the middle of a fight? What happened there? I was gonna look to see who were the competitors this year.

Hopefully she would act coy enough to deny it, and if she did, Lin would confirm her suspicions, she was also involved on it.

It took a while for Mikasa to reply, but eventually…

MikaMishi20

Oh, shit, right.

Yeah, some of the contestants had the lights go out on them. Pretty sure some of my guys made sure to keep them as mint as possible, but uhh

I dunno man, shit happens

I think we might’ve fixed it by this point. At least that’s how it looks? Just gotta wait and see.

‘Shit happens’? And she’s not really giving out the specifics of how it was fixed? Much less explaining what was even broken in the first place? Yeah, Mikasa’s gotta be hiding something. She was being far too evasive with her words. Perfect.

EvanTheMan

Hey, I’m not the best guy to say these things, and in fact, you might not even trust me since we’re just met, but I know another girl that could help with that. She can do anything, I swear. She helped my ass many times.

And I’m sure if you two talk out, she could look into this for you without causing you trouble… You know Yokohama Park? I’ll tell her to meet you there… If she doesn’t help you, I’ll give you my personal info so you can slap me personally. I swear it.

The final part of the talk was set. A meet up to gauge the woman directly and perhaps even replace her for a time.

MikaMishi20

Oh c’mon, we already got it handled. It’s not like I’m friggin’ trauma dumping my job’s shittyness onto your lap.

Buuuuuut since you’re a pretty cute guy, judging by your pics… I guess imma be willing to hear you out.

Yeah, she was not even surprised that her own avatar would be the reason Mikasa’s being rather lax… She was probably thinking of getting a quick hookup out of all this.

MikaMishi20

Yokohama Park

That’s one of the newer built ones up in Resi Dis, right? the one attached right next to a pretty big mall?

EvanTheMan

Yeah. I like going there during the days. My buddy said that you should go when it’s like super late night.

Sorry for just telling you all of this, and even telling you how to live and shit, but I do wanna keep talking to ya. You sound like a nice gal.

With all of that said to Mikasa, all she needed to do was agree to the terms and meet her. Maybe reveal a tiny bit… And get the girl on the side of ‘not really bad’.

MikaMishi20

Well, my shift within these two months tend to end pretty late, so it’s not like I’d have to wait for too long.

But yeah, if you think it’ll help for me, then I wouldn’t mind giving it a try.

Don’t think your buddy will give me shoulder massages with some of the shit I tend to carry for my job, but hey. Kinda hard to say no to a cute guy like you.

That might be the entire reason she’s unwilling to say ‘no’, based on how accepting she seemed to be.

MikaMishi20

Anyway, gotta go. 5 minutes until my break break ends so I’ll need to finish up my beef bowl right away.

Gonna gimme the coords in the meantime?

EvanTheMan

Sure thing. Let me know how it goes!

Perfect. All she needed to do was to send the coordinates to the park, which she did shortly after replying and then take some rest. Her night was gonna be a bit long, and the next few days as well. All she needed to do was to look at how much time she had left. Maybe get herself prepared for the meeting soon and…

Huh.

From the looks of it, she could just about squeeze in a few hours of rest. It took about an hour to look her up on social media and talk to her, which means she could squeeze in at least two hours of rest. She just needed to head towards her bed, and… zzzz….

Out like a light she went.