THEY’D BEEN SUMMONED to a café in the Tokyo area by Polt, a kobold woman. “Mr. Kurusu Kimihito! I hear you’re helping out with the work program?” Polt had a fluffy layer of brown fur over her body, and her head was topped with two pointy ears. Her eyes were large and round, and her body was well sculpted. She usually wore tight athletic clothes that let her move around easily, but for the moment, she was hidden in a coat with a flipped-up collar and a pair of unflattering sunglasses. It was obvious she was avoiding someone, and it made Kimihito uncomfortable sitting near her.
“How do you hear this stuff so fast, Polt-san?” he asked.
“Heh heh, my company’s always expanding into new areas, so I never lack for information! It’s great that you’re helping the government develop better opportunities for liminal employment. So kindhearted!”
Kimihito thought Smith had been pushing the girls too hard, but hearing someone from outside complimenting the program, he didn’t feel like he could say that.
“I’m wondering if you could help me out, too,” Polt said.
“With what?” He tilted his head. Was this related to her shady disguise?
“Like I said, my company’s looking at new business developments—”
“How…proactive.”
Kobold Industries provided a variety of health and well-being services for liminal people, particularly gyms. They also ran volunteer services to boost their reputation. They were a very wealthy species, but most of that seemed to go towards positive enterprises in the liminal community. Really, Kimihito wondered if he should be complimenting Polt, instead of the other way around.
“This is totally different from our usual trade. An absolute first of its kind! We’ve made some blunders during setup, but now…” She looked at him eagerly.
“Hm?” He waited for her to continue.
“It’s ready for focus group testing!”
“Okay?” He tilted his head further. Polt had invited Miia and the rest to try out her gym before. She’d shown them through herself, giving demos of the state-of-the-art training equipment and shouting her way through the special training options.
“I’m not comfortable with this particular business move, personally.”
“Wait, what?”
“It’s kind of…immoral, I guess? Too hedonistic for me,” she said thoughtfully.
The gears turned in Kimihito’s head. “Is this ‘new business’…illegal?”
“Illegal?! Whoa, no way! In fact, the government told us to set it up!”
“The government?”
“Some branch came and asked for—ah, whatever, I’m just gonna come out and say it.” She leaned over the table, lowered her sunglasses, and whispered to him, “They asked us to build a casino.”
“Oh!” There it was! In fact, the prefectural governor had been in the news recently, saying a casino could bring tourists to the area and boost their economy. Was that who Polt’s company was involved with? How’d they get caught in a huge story like that?
“It’s not clear which municipality it’s for, but we’re the only liminal company with the know-how to make it happen, so they could be from anywhere. If we succeed, we’ll make a lot of money. It seemed too good to be true, so of course, they tacked on other conditions—”
It wasn’t just the kobolds standing to make a profit. This could be complicated. “Such as?”
“We’ve gotta staff it exclusively with liminals—by liminals, for humans. It’s aimed at Japan for now, but if it’s successful we’ll advertise internationally, too,” she said.
“I see.”
“I’m really struggling here. Is it even right for my company to build a casino? Especially like this!” She gripped the fur on the sides of her face and groaned. “It’s like, we make money to invest it back in the community. Carefully, steadily, healthily, building funds to support the people. That’s our mission statement! A casino’s kind of the opposite of that.”
“You seem pretty conflicted, Polt-san.”
“It’s not what kobolds are about. We’re having trouble at every stage. But we’ve taken the contract, so we’ve gotta deliver.” It seemed she wasn’t alone in her problems. The way she was struggling reminded Kimihito of how he felt whenever Smith brought him an assignment. “Which brings us back to our first topic.”
He refocused on her. “Sure.”
“We’ve established a provisional location, but we still haven’t figured out, uh, what the appeal is meant to be. So! I wondered if you could come by and tell us what the pros and cons are, then we’ll implement the feedback as we iterate on the concept!”
“M-me?” he asked, baffled.
“You’ve helped with so many jobs already—bartender, idol, maid café—you’ve gotta be an expert on service and entertainment! If you come by and tell us what you think, it’ll be a huge help. Whaddaya say?”
Kimihito was concerned. Even without the pilot program, he was stretched thin every day with housework. He still had Suu and Lala’s assignment to attend. But Polt seemed really troubled—seeing her with her ears down, her smile and optimism gone, was getting to him. “Of course, if you’ll have me,” he said.
“Thanks so much! That makes you our first official tester!” Her grin returned in an instant.
“Um. Great.” He looked around the quiet café she’d chosen. “Hey, why’d we meet here, anyway?”
“Oh, right.” She looked, too. “It’s to keep this a secret from the girls. Whatever the prefecture says, it’s gambling, and this is Japan. Of course, you’ll be monitoring a test with no actual money—yet.”
“I see.”
“You’re just a regular citizen, Kimihito, but the girls are studying abroad, and being caught at a casino might reflect poorly on them. Miss Smith would take issue with it for sure. This should stay between us,” she said.
“Of course. I understand.” Whether because of the optics or immigration, if the girls were seen gambling, it would cause a lot of problems for everyone. Plus, with how impulsive some of them were, they’d inevitably lose a lot of money. Miia and Centorea seemed like they’d be particularly bad gamblers. Rachnera and Suu had amazing poker faces, so they might be surprisingly good, though. Mero would probably do okay, and Lala… Who knew with Lala? It was hard to imagine her gambling at all, but if she did, he doubted it would go well.
“All right. When’s the test starting?” he asked.
“Let’s see…” Polt said, “that’d be tonight!”