My boy wasn’t lyin’ after all. Well, shit, I sure am surprised. He eyed the visitor. She was far from a “hot chick,” but “pretty girl” seemed close enough.
“Nice to meet you,” the girl began. “My name is Mitsuha, and I have a request for you…” His guest was an elementary schooler with silky black hair, mysterious dark eyes, and a well-proportioned, doll-like face. The captain listened to the entirety of her monologue before speaking up.
“So, you’re tellin’ me you wanna learn to use small arms, get some target practice, train in knife and short sword fightin’, and for us to get all that gear for ya, huh…?” Child or not, she was a client. He was in charge here, so obviously he knew how to talk business even if he was weirded out by the whole situation.
The girl nodded in response. “Handguns are the most immediate matter. In particular, I’d like a small one I could carry with me at all times for self-defense, a powerful, high-capacity pistol I could use as my main weapon, a light revolver I’d switch to if the others jammed, a set of holsters for all three, and training in how to use them. Everything else is secondary. The knife and sword training might not be too useful…so feel free to gloss over them. Assume it’s just for intimidation.”
“…Says here ya also wanna learn to use machine guns, assault rifles, sniper rifles, and grenades, plus rocket ’n’ grenade launchers… Li’l lady, what the hell kinda megacorp ya goin’ after?!” He couldn’t help but raise his voice. Crap, I lost my cool.
“I’m planning no such thing…! This is merely for self-defense. My country is currently in a state of unrest, you see… Oh, and of course I will be paying in advance.”
Where the hell’re ya from?! Do yer hoodlums have tanks or somethin’?!
“Ah, I currently have a lot of Japanese yen lying around,” she remarked. “Would it trouble you if that’s what I paid with?”
“Well, yen’s a whole lot better’n yuan or won, at least,” the mercenary replied. “There’ll be a fee when we turn it into dollars, though… Yer gonna cover that, right?”
“Oh, but of course. I don’t mind at all. Ah, but I may switch to using gold coins. Would you accept those as well?”
Gold coins? Seriously, who the hell are ya? If he could’ve raised an eyebrow any further, he would have. “Got nothin’ against it, but what kind we talkin’? Krugerrands? Maple leaves?”
“No. They would be nameless coins from a nameless country. Just think of the value of the actual gold in them. I’ll bring you a sample sooner than later, so you can have it appraised. But…”
“But?”
“Keep in mind you may eventually have to convert these coins by the hundred─no, by the thousand.”
After they came to an agreement, the girl left. She was hella shady… No… Hella weird. But I had to take that job. Somebody’s gotta cover these squad costs, damn it! The captain was fairly sure he’d made the right choice, but for some reason, the hand holding his cigarette still trembled. He’d ordered one of his subordinates to follow her. Now I just gotta wait till he comes back.
“I’m back, Cap’n,” the man in question said as he came in.
Uhh, okay, that felt a little too fast.
“How’d it go?”
“Sorry, but…I lost her.”
What? She shook off this guy?
“I saw her turn the corner on her way outta the base, but when I went after her, she was gone. I looked around the place, but I couldn’t find her anywhere.”
“What kinda bullshit is that?! There ain’t no more turns for miles!”
His subordinate had no reply. He had nothing else to say, either. Man, I guess I really do need to get the guns, he thought as he stared at the objects on his desk. There was a thick roll of yen and a piece of paper with the girl’s─Mitsuha’s─measurements on it. They needed her sizes to know what kind of holsters to get her.
An A cup, huh…
Man, that was sooo stressful! Mitsuha thought.
Her conversation with the captain had been the first time she’d spoken with someone in English outside of her classes. On top of that, his being a foreigner and a mercenary didn’t help settle her nerves at all.
Keeping up the act of some high-class lady was really hard! I was totally drenched in sweat! After her business was done, she vanished from the mercenary base. They might have sent someone to tail her, but it didn’t matter. She simply walked out the front gate, turned right, and jumped.
She’d chosen that particular group after hours of online research. It had surprised her to see how varied mercenary groups were. Some were enormous, some small, some were upstanding, some the scum of the earth, and so on… Then again, perhaps it was strange to call any mercs “upstanding.” Still, she’d gone for the group that seemed to have the best reputation.
If she’d felt she was making a mistake, all she had to do was make herself scarce. Staying off their radar seems easy enough. And if they tried to capture or violate me, I’d just crush them. If their armory was suddenly emptied, or their funds and documents went missing along with their safes, the mercs would have their hands too full to concern themselves with some runaway girl. As a world-jumper, I’d make a great thief, assassin, or terrorist… But that isn’t my style! Teehee! She only hoped this new relationship wouldn’t turn sour.
As for how she got to another country so easily… She’d essentially had an epiphany. She had initially been under the impression that, because she needed a concrete mental image of any place she wanted to go, she had to have been there at least once. But it had occurred to her to try a little experiment. She’d absorbed TV shows, movies, and newscasts that showed a specific place, then checked a satellite photo of the location. This had given her a mental image as good as─no, even better than─the one she’d have if she saw it in person.
The result? A complete success. Mitsuha could now jump to many different spots outside of Japan. However, she could only use this tactic on Earth. There weren’t any photos or satellites in the other world, after all, meaning that she had to actually travel to her destinations at least once. What a bummer.
I’m basically burning through Mom and Dad’s money… But this here is like any initial investment. A necessary expense.
Her thoughts were directed toward a necklace on the table. It was a real luxury item. The necklace was adorned with pearls a third of an inch thick and had cost her over a million yen. This was actually her greatest weapon, so she couldn’t have settled for something cheap.
Right beside it was a Gerber folding knife. Not the one Tsuyoshi had left behind, but a new one she had just purchased. There was also a Swiss Army Knife and a Randall hunting knife. On a nearby clothes hanger, there was an expensive-looking─and actually quite expensive─dress, partnered with a pair of heels. Besides that, there were some spare sets of clothes, as well as a couple accessories. Mitsuha carefully put everything in a large backpack, got dressed, and equipped whatever she could.
All right! Moving out!
Soon she was standing in front of a large door. Taking deep breaths, she prepared herself. It was finally time for the next step in her plan. She grabbed the knocker and rapped it on the door, creating loud thunks. Though no one could hear her, she shouted from within her thoughts.
Hellooo!