Chapter 1: The Meeting

For a meeting spot, it’s certainly cozier than the Brewery they met in just a weeks ago.

Cloudberry’s. A chinese themed restaurant located quite comfortably nearby the Twilight District’s most touristy areas. One could even reach the place within a couple of minutes, just from starting at Kamimachi street, and reaching the more populated routes itself. She couldn’t really be sure as to which part of Twilight’s territory this place belonged to… likely thanks to a mix of not keeping up with the local gang politics (up until recently, anyway), alongside not seeing it as much of a problem for her to consider. At most, she just needed to mind where she shouldn’t wander off, even if it meant not being able to cut through alleyways to save on time.

Although, her slime form tends to conveniently help with that part. Go figure for her powers having considerable utility.

Anyway, this seems to be the place Rito chose for them to meet. And not a moment too soon too, considering both she and Mikasa were hungry after their hangout together at a mall.

“…fuck. I actually hope I don’t have to pay for my meals.” Mikasa seems to have somewhat regret her decision to join, even as she stood in front of the entrance itself. “Hey, your friendo’s gonna be the one paying for us, right?”

Lin was using her teen girl look to hangout with Mikasa, since the apparent age gap made it super awkward for them to hang out together. But being a functional slime helped with that immensely.

She was still thinking that she had just moved out from her place to another one, almost too quickly. Her stuff was slowly moved, but her immediate things were a few blocks away from where she lived. Yes, it was a bit closer than she would like but it was gonna throw off anyone that would come her way…

Only Rito and Mikasa were the only ones that knew her new place was located at. And it felt nice to let her guard down, at least for a moment… But hey, the hangout spot was called by Lin to Rito, she had something important to talk about, she alluded a few weeks prior, before the moving.

“Yeah, he is. He’s a nice lad, and much more successful than I am.” She said, with her teen look (known as Subaru) and accompaning teen voice, different from her own.

“Well, I can’t really be sure until I actually talk to the dude. But I’m gonna bet he’s alright in someway, considering he’s paying you to do stuff.” Mikasa said, letting herself through the double doors first with ‘Subaru’ following closely behind. “I just kiiiiinda hope he doesn’t mind me tagging along for this one. Heheheh.”

Based on the texts Rito sent to her, his table was within one of the upper floor areas of the restaurant itself. And knowing his preferences, he had likely made sure to pick out one that had a decent view through a window.

Even if the view outside was just the usual night life of the Ward with wavy oceans hovering above them, it was still a decent pick. Just not as sunny as one would usually hope.

Ah. Looks like he had made sure to get himself changed this time, rather than to arrive looking like he came straight out of the office. The man certainly looked comfortable in his turtleneck sweater and jeans set, even if winter was starting to end.

With a moment of chewing on his dumplings, he would finally notice the presence of Subaru and Mikasa approaching towards his table… and seemed to be visibly confused.

“…wait. Which one of you is Lin right now? ‘Cause I can’t really tell… wait a sec…” The dots were starting to connect in his mind, wondering why there were two people arriving instead of just one.

Isn’t it a rather amusing coincidence that their stomach growls just as he realized what they intended? Or rather, Mikasa’s stomach was growling…

With an unamused frown, the man lets out a sigh. “Seriously…?”

Lin pointed at herself, as Subaru. “Me. I forgot to show you this look, it’s to accompany Mikasa here. Oh, and yeah, this is the girl I helped out last time. You remember her, right?” She winked.

“I hope you don’t mind I brought her along. Don’t worry, she knows about my secret thing, in fact, it’s a good thing both of you are here…”

Lin found a place to sit next to Rito, not to be annoying but just to make him some company. “How are you doing, bossman?” She chuckled.

“Is her stomach also the reason why she’s here?” Rito flatly said, garnering an embarrased blush from Mikasa.

“…well, I ain’t gonna complain if you pay for my meal, but-“

And yet, with a handwave, the man would suddenly cut her off. “Nah, it’s fine kid. Just don’t go too wild with the orders, alright? Just go ahead and order for yourself.”

The answer would make Mikasa pause for a moment before nodding, choosing to take her seat across Rito.

“And as for how I feel, Lin… if you asked that same question a couple of weeks ago, I would’ve said that I wanted to dive off the edge of the Airport District and have my bones shattered at the seaports, but I’m somewhat recovered now. So I feel okay.” He said without even stuttering. “I was looking forward to an uneventful weekend at that time. And then you suddenly catch the eyes of a mob family… fuck, I hated doing those last minute calls.”

“Well, if you felt like that, imagine me… I still feel a bit of neck pain after I wake up… And I shouldn’t, I essentially have no muscles or bones, in a way…” She mused.

“In any case. I told you I got the files for TransNatural all stored in my storage devices… I got names of scientists and others that worked there. It also appears that the building was abandoned but no order of ‘clean up’ came along, meaning that the machinery is very likely still there.” Lin replied. “All we need is to get the people responsible back there, which will the be the worst part and we could try to revive the project…”

“Bullshit there’s no order of a clean-up. Especially for a top-secret project these guys were working on.” And immediately, Rito seemed absolutely sure the possibility sounded far-fetched. Likely thanks to his experience in working at a mid-sized corporation for a while. It wouldn’t be surprising if he’s seen a one or two highly confidential projects with his own eyes.

“If all of that shit is still present in the building, tech, materials, infrastructure and all that, then how the hell is not ransacked yet? I would bet you, the biggest of megacorps would be fucking slobbering at the thought of getting that research into their hands.” He takes a moment to sip his drink, continuing once he cleared his throat. “Not to mention the problem of whether or not the guys that worked on it are even alive, much less ready to work with a startup. If they worked on good stuff like what TransNatural had, chances are, they’re gonna wring us dry of our creds.”

The man paused for a moment, “…That or they’d be dead. One of the two.”

“I’m just telling you what I had seen. Maybe someone had ordered it, but remember, this was a facility in the middle of nowhere that people wouldn’t just stumble upon… Waaaay underground too.”

She continued. “I fully assume that the top and ground floors were ransacked, but not the underground ones. If that’s the case, we could go there and figure out if it’s all inside. Remember, I can enter almost every place.” She winked again.

“Wait… ‘middle of nowhere’? To what level?” Rito asked, concerned of what she might be implying. “If this is somewhere within Labyrinth, then we’re not considering it until you can handle yourself in a fight. As it stands, while you’re pretty good, you’re also not at the same level as the guys that go monster huntin’ as their day job. You’re asking for death at that point.”

“Wait, people actually do that in the Labyrinth District? And from what you’re implying, they’re able to make a career out of that shit?” Mikasa was impressed and somewhat horrified at the thought of it.

“Oh, kid, you’d be surprised… if you’re not up for doing corpo contracts or working with morally questionable clients, you can choose to monster or treasure hunt there. Assuming you’ve got the endurance for it, that is.” The man would turn his attention back to Lin, “Which brings me to your guess of the building itself… let’s say that we actually managed to find this place, AND choose to focus on the underground areas rather than the top or ground floors. What do you think the security system would be like?”

“I don’t think it’s in Labyrinth. Their HQ wasn’t there, they were a big corp but with only a couple of buildings. Maybe five, max.” She pondered.

As for the security question, she smiled. “Well, it so happens that I have all the files. All the files. That includes any security passwords. Sure they were encrypted, but it has been years since I let one of my servers to crack it and it probably has already done its job. If anything is still powered, we’ll be able to get inside. The only issue is that my brain ain’t big enough to operate the machines that make the project work, but anything security related is on our side.” Lin gave him a reassuring nod. “All we need is to find if it’s dangerous to get inside, locate the equipment and after that, we could restart the project.”

“…I see.”

Judging by the look on Rito face… while he had some amount of optimism on the plan itself, the doubts still continued to linger on the back of his mind. As if the plan felt far too easy. Far too simplified on paper. The man may have been a desk jockey at most, but he’s had a decent sense of intuition based on whatever was being presented to her.

“Man, c’mon… can’t you just hear her out on this one?” Mikasa said, trying to support her friend. “There’s only like, two questions you gotta fulfill for this one. Where’s their HQ located? And if we end up finding it, how dangerous would it be to explore it? If whatever wacky security system the place has is still up and running, then maybe Lin could use those passcodes to shut them off. Simple, right?”

“I genuinely doubt it would be that simple. And that’s just one part of the project itself.” Rito lets out a ‘hmph’, laying back on his comfortable wooden seat. “Did you even look up what these employees are doing right now, Lin? I’m not exactly an egghead like your client’s mom is, but they’re basically one of the main reasons a project actually comes out with a good product in the first place. Scientists and engineers.”

“Well, that’s what I have you for… And perhaps I could ask miss Bellevue if she knows anything.” Lin pondered again. “I don’t think it’ll be that simple, no. We will have our work cutout for us, regardless of the place being easy to enter or not. Have some faith, it’ll work out. And if the tech is still there but we don’t get the engineers and scientists back, we could just sell it, and the project as well.” She shrugged.

“Well, since it’s probably some weird magitech shit… maybe you could sell it to Ashina proper?” Mikasa nervously suggested, showing an unsure smile while doing so. “I looked up GailVenn for a bit, and while the company mostly does cybernetics, the CEO’s an Ashina girl. And Ashina itself mostly does magitech stuff, so…”

It sounded like a good idea, at least. But there just had to be a catch…

“I… guess she might want it? To be honest, Kotohane kinda scares the shit out of me, especially whenever I talk to her face-to-face. But if she’s buyin’, then… she’s buyin’, I guess.” Rito said. But then came the second suggestion of hers…

“There’s also whether or not we could sell it to Hades’s guys… considering he’s… y’know. An elf with some damn good skills in magic. Him and his crew.” Mikasa asked, before immediately grimacing from the soured look Rito was giving her. “Hey, don’t gimme that look… just think about it for a sec. If the guy’s interested in something, he at least tries to make some good business out of it. And as long as the business partner isn’t being an asshole to him, they tend to come out winning on both ends. That’s what I’ve been hearing at least.”

They likely had the capital twice, or even thrice over to actually pay for the funding too…

“Yeah, that assumes that we find the machinery used for it but can’t use it for ourselves.” Lin pointed out. “I want to try giving a shot, at the very least…”

She then looked at Mikasa. “What would you do if you were a Shoggoth like me, Mikasa?” And then at Rito. “And you, bossman?”

A good way to gauge interest from her buddies was to ask.

“If I was a shoggoth…” Mikasa wondered, trying to think of what she could do with such a power. “It’s basically slime girl powers, right? if I got powers like yours, then… maybe I’d just live out the stuff from my otome games? I dunno… maybe I’d even see how it feels to be a dude.”

“…I hope you would mean in a perfectly normal way, and not along the lines of what a shameless pervert would do.” Rito commented… then lets out a sigh as the red-head would be as scarlet-faced as her own hair. “Ugh… of course you would. At that point, you can just ask for a service like that at Azalea’s brothel. She’s already got some gender-bending options, I’d bet.”

“That’s completely different and you know it, you asshole…!” Mikasa blurted out, trying to defend her choice.

At the very least, Rito seemed to be less perverse with his intentions…

“If I had the same shoggoth abilities as yours, I’d be using it to climb to the top of the company in someway. Not in the same vein as committing fraud, but… maybe I could make some pretty creative commercials by using it.”

The smile on his face begins to fade, however. “Hrmm… but I still need a team to film them, so in practice, the shoggoth powers might not be that vital anyway. I’ll likely use it for personal reasons.”

“Hm.” Considering the replies, it would be worthy of chasing this.

“I could record it for you, I’m pretty good at it.” Lin said, looking at Mikasa for a moment. “Mikasa knows.”

“But it sounds like we could use some abilities, so I’m gonna figure out where the place is located and then we can try to get it started again. Deal, bossman?” She asked, smiling at him, no smug smile or anything like that. Perhaps she wanted to connect with Rito a bit more and if he was like her, that could happen a bit better.

“I guess… wait. Locate?” Rito repeated, blinking in surprise. “Didn’t you say you used to work for them? Doesn’t that mean you can revisit the place and see if the building’s got anything we could work off of? It’s probably got the location for the HQ if we’re lucky.”

“Yup. And then from there, we could start the plan to revive this.” Lin nodded. “I seldom went to the HQ but I was allowed there… Hopefully we don’t have many issues.”

“Next thing you know, the HQ would have some weird, escaped science experiments or something… eheh.” Mikasa commented.

But soon enough, the trio would order their chosen main courses for the night.

Rito had chosen to go for some sweet and sour pork. Something that felt filling but not too much for his stomach. Mikasa meanwhile, would go for something hearty and choose the simple yet fulfilling seafood fried rice. It’s not too expensive, but the portion she’s eating was quite a lot, especially for someone as tiny as her.

“Jeez… did you do some kind of intense workout or something?” Rito said.

“Yeah, pretty much. Then I hung out with Lin for a couple of hours, while only having some melonpan for lunch. So I’m fucking starving. Mmn…”

She didn’t even wait a second… The moment she had finished speaking, she was already shoveling as much rice as she could inside of her mouth. Not enough to get her choking, but holy crap was she eager.

“…okay then.” Rito said, trying to pass it off as nothing as he stabbed a piece of pork with his fork. “Anyway… guess we’ll leave those as plans for the future. Maybe we could figure out if anyone else wants to be a shoggoth…”

Lin went with a mix of both, a bit of rice and a bit of sour pork, completely by accident too.

Mikasa being a bit eater was something that made Lin chuckle.

“Mhm… I wonder how cute you’d look as a girl, bossman. Someone that I could ‘manhandle’, so to speak.” She ate, looking at him. “Someone completely cute too. Like a ‘girl next door’ type.”

“Mmph…! cough, cough! Ack…!”

For a moment, Rito was completely relaxed, chewing away on his piece of fried pork… but the moment Lin’s stray thoughts managed to leave her lips, he nearly managed to choke on his own food.

“Wh… what?” He asked, baffled at what he was hearing. “What are you even talking about, Lin? Where’d that even come from?”

She did a very mischievous grin at him, more characteristic of her Lin form than her Subaru one.

“I bet you’d love it… Hehe.” She winked at him again.

That look of hers was… concerning, more or less.

“…I’m… not really sure if I like that cheeky grin of yours.” Rito said, narrowing his eyes at the woman. “In fact… what are you even planning? Because this feels oddly specific to be brought up out of the blue.”

“Everything in due time…” She chuckled at him and kept eating.