“You want a drink, Miss Hieda? I’ve got cheap wine and nonalcoholic beer.”
“I’m fine.” Echika tried to put up her strongest front. “Why did you bring me here?”
“I didn’t have you pegged as the impatient type.”
“How did you find out about the bureau?”
“You’d do well not to trust other people.” So someone had leaked the information somehow. The NGO was the most suspect. “That aside, I see you got your sour face from your father.”
…What did he just say?
The man walked toward the kitchen, leaving Echika to wallow in confusion. In a friendly tone, he told her to take a seat on the sofa as he opened the fridge. She decided it would be wise to do as she was told for the time being. With her eyes fixed on the man, she carefully got to her feet and took a seat on the hole-ridden sofa.
Somehow, this man knew her father, Chikasato.
“Since you’re on the clock, I think you’ll prefer this to wine.”
The man returned and handed Echika a bottle of nonalcoholic beer. She took it but had no intention of uncorking the thing, of course. She focused on registering every motion and gesture the man sitting across from her made.
“How do you know Chikasato Hieda?” she demanded.
“We were acquaintances,” the man replied briefly. “The name’s Kai. I’m the person in charge here in Al Bahah.”
His name was clearly phony, but that was trivial at the moment. Why did a TFC member know her father? There was only one theory she could come up with.
Echika went straight to the point. “Are you a member of the Alliance?”
“All I told them to do was bring you here. I wanted to talk.”
“What for?” She gripped the bottle. “You didn’t plug an isolation unit into me, so the bureau will be here in no time. Are you sure you want to be arrested?”
“You’re the ones illegally trespassing on our turf.” He remained perfectly calm. “Your bureau must really be in dire straits to knowingly send its investigators into danger in a remote town outside its jurisdiction.”
Echika swallowed. How much of their plan was he aware of? No, maybe he was just asking her leading questions. She didn’t know, so it would be best not to give away information. She needed to stall for time and get out of him any information she could. And while she knew that she didn’t excel in this area, she didn’t have any other alternatives.
“So… Why did you want to talk to me?” She repeated the question. “Depending on what you ask, I might answer. But in exchange, I want you to tell me about the Alliance.”
“I never said I was a member of the Alliance,” Kai said, scoffing. “But I do know your father sold Taylor’s thought manipulation system out to the Alliance. That’s all I can say.”
“That’s convincing enough.”
Claiming he was unrelated when he knew that much would be absurd. He was just watching what he said while refusing to flat out admit it. And since he didn’t have a Your Forma, she couldn’t perform a Brain Dive on him, which meant she had to take his words at face value.
Echika licked her lower lip. She hadn’t been expecting a member of the Alliance to outright contact her at this point. She needed to get this man into custody and return him to the bureau at all costs.
“Was my father involved in the Alliance, too?”
“You’ll have to do your share of the talking first. I’m the one who invited you over, after all.”
Kai spoke with a joking tone, but his attitude made it clear this wasn’t up for debate. She couldn’t risk provoking him, in case he tried to slip away. Echika clammed up, silently awaiting his demands. She could feel his eyes on her behind his sunglasses.
“Hand over the software Chikasato Hieda made.”
Echika frowned.
“What software?” Her father had made countless programs besides Matoi. He’d been involved with the production of much of Rig City’s software. “There’s too many of his programs to count.”
“I want all of them, including the incomplete, unpublished ones.”
“What for?”
“To save the world from being ruled by evil.”
Echika had to squint at Kai’s theatrical, bombastic response. He couldn’t have meant it literally. Given the TFC’s ideals, he must have been referring to the Your Forma, and if they were involved with the Alliance, they were likely working toward putting the thought manipulation system into use.
The Farasha Island incident had highlighted one of the system’s flaws, however—it didn’t affect people with high processing abilities, like Echika. And the system’s designer, Elias Taylor, had passed away. In other words…
“What, do you think you can improve the system using my father’s technology, since he was Taylor’s ‘friend’ and familiar with the thought manipulation system?” Echika sked quietly. “If so, you’ll probably end up disappointed.”
“Refuse to hand over the software, and I won’t reveal what you want to know about Chikasato’s involvement with the Alliance.”
“It’s not a fair deal to begin with. I stand to lose too much.”
“If you want to keep trying to guess what I’m thinking, that’s fine by me.” Kai reached for his back. “If that’s how you want to play this game, I can make you an offer that’s even more unfair.”
His tone still soft, he took out an automatic pistol he had hidden behind his back. He held the muzzle mere centimeters away from Echika’s forehead. She’d assumed he was hiding a weapon, but even so, the sight of it made her shudder. There was no chance she’d survive if he shot her from this close. Even if he was bluffing, she couldn’t oppose him openly.