Volume 4 - CH 6

〇 Future

“Excuse me, can you please bring out the high up in the room?”

“Igarashi Kouki?

When I asked the lady at the reception desk, she called me out and was very surprised. Apparently, my name recognition in the future is quite high. The receptionist at the headquarters of Phoenix, a first-rate robot manufacturer so far from entertainment that it could be called the opposite, knows me.

“U-um……the appointment……”.

“If you tell them my name, they’ll know.”

“Yes sir…..and about that bucket…….”

“Don’t worry about it. It’s kind of a punishment.”

I spent about 5 minutes signing autographs for the receptionist and taking pictures to kill time.

“Sorry to keep you waiting. I’m the president of the company, Phoenix, Fushidori.”

An old man with a soft-spoken yet unusually strong presence, the kind of person you would never see in a sales position at a bottom-line company, came down from the elevator. He doesn’t have any secretaries with him. Either he wants me to leave quickly……or he doesn’t want anyone to notice.

“Nice to meet you, sir. I’m Igarashi Kouki. I’m sorry for coming here so suddenly. I’m sure you have a lot of plans and stuff.”

“Yes……well…….”

“Well, it’s only natural that you’d put me ahead of those plans, but…”

“…………”

Normally, I would flatter him by keeping a low profile. Now I’m an incredibly arrogant customer, even though we’ve never met before. I always thought that no matter how successful I was, I would never become that kind of person, but now that I have, I wonder what it’s like. I felt really bad. In short, I guess it was all part of the job. To make the deal work.

“Please come this way. Let’s talk in the president’s office.”

“No, no, no, it’s fine. Unfortunately, I have nothing to lose, and if I do lose it, I can get it back.”

“….This way.”

“Okay, okay. That’s fine.”

Once I’m putting aside the pointless words, the president takes me to the elevator. My enemy is far superior than me. It’s the kind of person I would never be able to compete with. I have no intention of taking them seriously. I must irritate them as much as possible to get them to lose their mind.

“…..That bucket, carry it?”

“Fweee—-ba—–!”

“Agent, test mode.”

The moment I get into the elevator, the president called out to me, and I silently threw my origami ax into the bucket. Yes, the opponent isn’t Daiki. I can never win. I don’t dwell because of unnecessary pride.

“Do you want to hold it? It’s pretty heavy.

“Kouki sama, you are rude ! You can’t be saying that women are heavy !” 

“…… No. I beg your pardon.”

The president’s forehead is covered with cold sweat. That’s no wonder. In other words, this junk is a weapon switch. And its power is space class.

“…..So, what do you want to talk about?”

I entered the president’s office and sat down on the sofa before he could prompt me to do so, the president sat on the sofa facing me. Naturally, I was on the top. The other is on the bottom. ….I really felt bad. Still.

“I’m here to tell you the details of the contract.”

I’m not going to compromise. I’ll take it all right here.

“What are the details of the contract…..”

“I don’t know how it works in this world, but I made a promise when I became a subject of the agent. Agent, play it out.”

“Yes, sir. ‘There is a condition for cooperation. However, I will not tell you that now. Tell that to the higher up.’. ‘……Understood.’.”

From the mouth of the agent who emerged from the bucket placed at my feet, the exchange with the first adult shinobu I had ever met flowed. This is exactly why I was convinced that I had won the moment I returned to the future. In the past, I couldn’t make a contract with Phoenix because agents hadn’t been created yet, but in this time period. They will have to accept it.

“….. such a record is not kept by our company, though.”

“Well, the world line has changed, so I suppose so. Shinobu is not an employee either. But, you know, I don’t care about such circumstances. You and your product did something selfish. That’s why you don’t have any record of it. Do you think that will convince us?”

From the president’s point of view, it would be extremely unreasonable. He’s at a disadvantage because of another world line. Well, it’s true that I don’t care.

“……Don’t get carried away, young man.”

“…… sorry, I didn’t hear you very well. Could you repeat that?”

Finally reach your limit, huh? I felt a sense of accomplishment at having robbed the president of his composure.

“I’m going to sleep mode.”

“……Huh?”

Suddenly, the agent closed her eyes and stopped moving.

“The employee, Shinobu, didn’t tell you, huh? Even if she’s a goddess, she’s still a robot. The power supply can be shut down at any time.”

“Ah…… you said that ten years ago.”

That’s why they left the agent that could destroy the human race unattended. Because they can stop it at any time. Because they’re just machines.

“But you also said that it’s impossible to completely control the Agents, even for Phoenix.”

The Agent wasn’t just a machine. They’re my friends who have decided how to live by her own will.

“Fwee—-ba—!”

“Agent, test mode.”

“Ah, I don’t need that. I mean, I don’t even need the ax. That functionality is already broken.”

“I see.”

In the bucket where the agent submerged her legs. I threw the origami ax in there again, it bounced off the agent that was there originally and A from 50 years later popped out…… rather, 40 years later.

“Impossible……why are there two agents…..!?”

“It’s called the millions gods, right? A, she can reboot without harming herself, right?”

“Yes, just like humans. Yes, just like humans. She can’t harm herself, but she knows how to heal her body.”

“Ah, I slept well. Oh my, there’s a very frightened old man here. Has God’s majesty gotten to him?”

As soon as she woke up, A got out of the bucket and fitted the agent into it. I didn’t check up on her, but she’s just as I expected. The agent is taking information on her own to send to the Phoenix headquarters. Otherwise, the president wouldn’t have known about A’s existence, who had been with me for the past 10 years. In other words, they don’t know that A has lost most of her goddess-type robot functions. In short, she can’t go against me.

“Now then. Shall we make a new contract, you old bastard?”