"Master, I've got something to report. There have been 7 attempts from various tech company to extract the black box inside the capsule, yet none have been successful."
Belfast stated the moment he returned to the virtual world after spending hours with Akeno in reality. He appeared out of breath but the smart AI maid pretended she didn't noticed anything amiss, and continue with her reports.
The black box mentioned by her is the real magic behind the capsule, it is made of the amalgamation of runes and enchantments. In short, it's the key to his Imaginary Space—the virtual world to be exact. Although most tech company couldn't understand how the black box worked, they knew instinctively that it plays important role since it took them countless trial to even get it out. Some of the smart ones had even asked the mages for help, but the counter was much worse than just getting sick.
"Then, I've also stopped three kidnapping attempted on the CEO as instructed. Though now, she appeared much more tense and rarely go out by herself, even in the office. Would you like to talk to her?"
"I was expecting something like that happening, but three times? Yeah, I wouldn't blame her if she became paranoid even though there are countermeasures I've prepared against those." Kousuke muttered after gathering his breathing and thoughts. He knew this sort of things would happen, especially to someone like Mei who holds the CEO position of his company.
That's why he also makes Belfast watched over her, and warned him if things get out of hand but everything were going according to plan. But still, they didn't seems to understand there are limits to their actions. If it happens again, and again, Mei might not be able to take it anymore. So he needs to nip it in the bud.
"You have their information right? Give it to me," he stated. It's about time they learn why he dares to release the capsule ahead of time. 'These greedy worms, they won't stop until they realized the futility and consequences.' Some of them might even have supernatural force backing them up, but that doesn't flinched him at all. Even those people will have to pay what had been sowed.
Looking at countless information appearing in front of him like holographic window, Kousuke read everything slow and carefully. He wouldn't want to missed anything, all of them must be accounted for. Belfast who was observing him from the sidelines were captivated by the serious expression on his face. The corner of her lips slowly curled up, unbeknownst to her.
...
Meanwhile, inside the plain hostel near Kuoh.
"Foiled again? This is the third time now, are you sure none of you are actually working with them?"
One of the men threw aside the mask on the floor before plopping on the bed with a sigh. His eyes scanned around his companions, none showing any signs of deceit. After all, these are all professional at their jobs, thus it's given that they had trained their expressions to high level to a point that they wouldn't reveal anything even in their weakest moment. However, exactly because they are professional that these failed attempted makes them questions whether one of them had lied.
"What about you? You were supposed to keep an eye on our target, how did you lost track of her all of sudden?"
Another man with rough voice asked, his hand were lighting the cigarette around his lips before huffing a smoke. There was a scar on his temple, giving the impression that he shouldn't be offended. However, that very scar was something he got when he was a kid. But to the people in this line of work, they thought he must have gotten it on the job so he shamelessly took it as a badge of honor and proudly showed them at any given moment.
"I was! She just disappeared from my sight right in front of my eyes, like a fucking ghost, yet none of you believe my words at all!"
"Yeah right... fortunately I didn't have to expose myself too early, or this whole plan is over~ Clearly, someone can't do their job at all~"
A feminine yet grating voice came from the only woman of the group. She was propping herself against the wall while twirling a shuriken around her finger, even her current outfit stood out, similar to that of ninja from some obscure anime. Amongst them, she was the only one who didn't take her job seriously, which angered the other two but they couldn't do anything to her. Rather, they tried to and failed spectacularly. She seems pretty good at the whole stealth thing.
Even for this job, she had already blended perfectly into the company of their target, working as a regular staff while occasionally poking fun at them. To her, this was an easy job that she could finish when she truly go for it. So she was taking her time, sometimes noting down anything any normal person would normally ignores on her little notepad. For someone who prioritize her role as ninja more than her profession, this method is very crucial to her.
"You... you're always playing around, don't you know how unsatisfied our client is at your attitude huh?"
"He could always cut me off if he wanted to, not that I care. Unlike you, I have no problem completing this commission~" She answered calmly. But then, she suddenly threw the shuriken in her hand at her companion laying on the bed. But her throwing weapon was hit by a bullet fired with a silencer, and the two clashes with a clank before both missed each other by hairbreadth. She smirk underneath the black cloth covering her mouth, while the man who had launched the sneaky attack simply clicked his tongue at the missed opportunity and fall back on the bed, as if he had lost interested on her completely.
"...Fortunately this room is soundproof," the rough man muttered, not the least bit surprised by their actions. At this point, he was used to them constantly trying to kill each other. It was clear from the way the two often clashes even at the small talk, they didn't get along at all.
Unbeknownst to these contract hitmen, someone is listening to their conversation directly through the connection of Wifi, and the speaker from the TV broadcasting the news about the rise of Mythos Entertainment and their influences toward the future. With the power of AI, there's nothing Kousuke couldn't find in this modern day world. After all, rarely do people would abandon the convenience known as technology, especially now after his company had shown the world how far the tech could go.
'Now then, how should I teach them a lesson? That chuunibyou ninja seems oddly familiar, I should keep an eye on her.' He didn't know why someone like that was hiding her strength, and pretending to be a ninja of all things. But the reason doesn't matter, because he were about to find out directly from her mouth. 'This should be interesting...'