The new chairman of Mikoshi Trading Co. was a man named Mikoshi Misozo.
“Like a miso storehouse?” I asked Fairy.
“The ideograms for thirty-three,” she replied.
I appreciated the culture of ideograms, though it was a shame his name was just a number instead of a proper name. Still, a numerical designation... I had nothing but a bad feeling about that.
“I’ll send you a photo,” Fairy said.
Sure enough, the face in the image was identical to the head that had been delivered to me earlier.
“Are they... twins?”
“Oh, stop it. You know exactly what’s going on!”
They were clones.
“Does that mean they have the technology to transfer consciousness into a new body?”
“I doubt it. They’re likely just standard clones. There’s no need to go to that kind of expense.”
The Thirty-third Clone, then.
It seemed Mikoshi Trading Co. followed a pattern: invade, fail, and then have a clone commit seppuku to settle the score. Since their headquarters was a fortress, they considered themselves invincible. They didn’t even bother keeping significant assets at the branch offices. It was a filthy way to do business.
I reached the Mikoshi Trading Co. Headquarters Building.
Calling it a “building” was an understatement—it was a literal fortress bristling with anti-aircraft guns.
“NICE TO MEET YOU! IT’S JUST A SMALL GIFT!”
I took a shot with my Latarnia-made rifle.
Whoa, this thing had some kick! The bullet struck the building but was deflected by a barrier. I knew that wouldn’t hold forever, though.
As I continued my assault, reinforcements in Yakuza-colored machines swarmed the area. I suppose it was easier to mass-produce those than actual warships.
“You brat!”
They all used the same insult. It was starting to get on my nerves, so I sliced one of them down.
“PREPARE YOURSELF!”
I was ready to take on the rest, but then the pirate-colored Chronos Personal Guard Knight Order arrived. They suppressed the opposition with overwhelming violence.
“Kawagon... you know what I’m going to say, don’t you?”
I was currently being lectured by the Commander of the Personal Guard Knight Order, Raven-kun’s successor. He looked furious.
“I told you not to go out alone!”
He was treating me like a toddler. I felt... pathetic.
“Heeeey, teacherrr♪”
“Whose fault do you think this is?” he asked, his face right in mine.
Ah, right. My fault.
I’ll probably never be able to outrun “destiny,” but I promised myself to exercise as much self-restraint as possible from now on.
“So, what’s the next move?” the Commander asked.
“Hmm. For now, just destroy the place. The chairman inside is probably a clone too, so the real body must be... Hey, Fairy?”
“There’s a vast facility underground,” she chimed in.
Nice work, Fairy!
“Right. We’ll secure the clones while—whoops!”
With a heavy mechanical rumble, a massive water tank—no, a pool—split open, and a destroyer emerged. They were trying to pull a midnight flit!
“Hup!”
I caught the ship with my bare blades the moment it surfaced, hauled it up, and... Uprooting Suplex!
I slammed the vessel into the ground. Since it was in the middle of taking off, it actually felt lighter than expected. That’s a no-no. If you’re going to flee, you have to do it without the other person noticing. Because they were so obvious about it, I was able to throw them before they could reach full engine output.
“Master... Kawagon. I believe I just witnessed some rather... abnormal behavior?” the Commander noted.
“Well, if I let them get away, you’d just shoot them down, right? I want to capture the people inside, so I just went... BAM!”
See, it’s the same for humanoid fighters or battleships; there’s always a “tell” before a major movement. If you hit them during that moment, you can take them down with minimal force.
“Anyway, just go catch the people inside!”
“Ground forces! Infiltrate the destroyer and secure the targets!”
“They might have self-destructed, so be careful not to get hurt~♪”
“Save the Boss!” the enemy Yakuza screamed.
“Protect Great Leader Kawagon!” my men roared in response.
A melee broke out. I quietly slipped away to finish destroying the base. This is how you really handle a nighttime escape...
“Angyaa!”
I tore through the facilities like a giant monster. There was no need to worry about documentation; I’d already extracted everything from the branch servers to the main headquarters’ database.
Tanks rolled out to stop me, but it was far too late. You have to have those things deployed in advance. By the time they finished mobilizing, the battle was already over.
“And... toss!”
I scattered the tanks with a grenade. Oh, the Latarnia pulse rifle actually had a grenade launcher attached. Alright, grenades it is.
“Gwahahahaha!”
With the tanks dealt with, armored vehicles and more Yakuza appeared. They fired at me desperately, but their shots felt like popguns. I swiped a rocket launcher out of the air, batting it away before it could explode. The deflected rocket blew up right next to the enemies. These things were slower than missiles from fighters or warships, so there was no way they were going to hit me.
As I was playing around, the Knight Order came to help, shouting “Kawagon!” even though the enemy was already decimated.
“Alright, wrap it up~”
The invasion was a complete success. Quite an easy win, honestly.
“Master Kawagon! We’ve located the Mikoshi Chairman... but...”
“Eh? What is it?”
I had a terrible feeling about this. I felt like I’d seen this exact scenario play out before.
An image was sent to my display. As I suspected, it was a brain floating in a tank. An old man who chose to become a floating brain wasn’t a tragedy; it was a comedy.
“Ah... yeah. Secure it. Just don’t kill it.”
And so, Mike & Hammer Co. effectively absorbed and merged with Mikoshi Trading Co.
I returned to my apartment, where shattered glass was still scattered everywhere. I really needed to clean up. However, when I stepped inside, I found that people from the company had already tidied the place for me. They must have taken pity on my sparse living conditions—nothing but a futon and some dishes—because they’d added an expensive mattress to the room.
Oh, hey! This was one of those luxury mattresses handled by the Kamishiro Group!
Suddenly, the doorbell rang. It was the Ninja Captain, holding a supermarket bag.
“Kawagon, I brought sushi.”
“Thanks, thanks~, Captain.”
“Must have been rough, getting attacked at home like that.”
“It’s whatever.” It was pretty much a daily occurrence for me at this point.
The sushi turned out to be California rolls. Pure, unadulterated California rolls. It seemed they were determined never to wrap the nori on the outside. They also avoided the sashimi entirely, despite it being sushi.
If that’s the case, I wondered if there was money to be made by selling Inari Sushi made with leaf wasabi from my fields in Chronos. Maybe I should start a chain. I could sell rice balls and leaf wasabi tsukudani, too. My business dreams were really starting to expand.
“By the way, Kawagon... you did something today, didn’t you?”
“Nope, not me.” I looked away, pouting.
“Then why did Mikoshi Trading Co. suddenly vanish!?”
“Total coincidence.”
The Captain then took the conversation in a completely unexpected direction.
“You... you’re actually a Mike & Hammer Co. Auditor, aren’t you?”
“Pardon?”
“Word is Mike & Hammer Co. moved its headquarters to Chronos. You’re the agent sent from there—a High-ranking Ninja, right?”
...Well, this was a problem. The conversation had veered into a territory I hadn’t even considered. I mean, technically I was an auditor in a sense, but... I couldn’t exactly tell him, “Actually, I'm the Owner!”
“Captain... it’s a secret.” I decided to play along and keep things vague.
“I knew it! Don’t worry, I’ll support you with everything I’ve got!”
Well now, things have certainly become chaotic!