Clay
The office was surprisingly plain, containing only a garden-variety reception furniture set and a terminal for looking up information. The man who sat facing Washu was slender and bespectacled; to all appearances, a nervous clerical worker. Washu’s bosom and crossed legs clearly held his focus, although he hoped she would not notice.
So this is why Naja told me to come here in my adult form, Washu thought.
When she first arrived, the man looked clearly annoyed and eager to shoo away all visitors. As soon as he took a look at Washu, however, he let her in, albeit reluctantly, thanks to her curvaceous good looks.
“Naja…san? Yes, I know her. She’s in the Student Union’s Information Bureau. She told you about this place… So, what can I do for you?”
“I heard you were the best informant in the Academy.”
“I am not an informant. I am an information collector,” the man said, quickly and furiously, and grimaced. “I’m insulted that you would consider me to be in the same category as those sleazebags.”
“Oh, well, I apologize.” Washu recrossed her legs in an exaggerated fashion.
“Th-that’s no problem. They would seem the same to people who don’t know.” The man had completely fallen for her charms.
In fact, Washu came here precisely because she knew the difference. This man did not sell information; he was indeed a collector. He saw value in the process of gathering knowledge, and he did not consider using that information for business reasons. Thus, he had different priorities than informants did. Furthermore, despite the man’s indifference to information that was easily accessible, he spared no expense gathering information that he deemed useful. The problem was…
“Since you do collect information, how do you acquire it?”
“I buy it. People come to me with information from all over that galaxy, and it’s quite difficult to select only that information which is most valuable.”
“But I heard you’re the top collector in the Academy. You must have quite a discerning ear for information.” Collectors loved to boast about themselves. Some did not want to share their collections, but most liked to show off. This one was no exception, especially with such an attractive audience.
The man talked endlessly about his methods, preferred genres, memory capacity, hardships and struggles, and, to top it all off, his gripes about other collectors. Washu was not averse to such talk. And since she herself was a collector of books, it was easy for her to play along.
After the man finished his spiel, Washu got down to business. “Don’t you do any gathering yourself?”
“Meaning?”
“Wiretapping or hacking, for example.”
“Some people do engage in such activities, but they’re outside my area of expertise. We information collectors call that ‘restoration’ among ourselves, and there are definitely some who enjoy it. But my objective is solely to collect. Besides, those people aren’t collectors. They’re informants.”
“But you possess information from those people?”
“I see… That’s what you’re after. Yes, I do. Some of the juiciest,” he stated proudly, eyes still focused on her body. He probably thought he was being discreet, but his behavior was obvious. What he desired was plain as day. “S-someone like you, who understands, is so rare… Would you like to make this a regular thing and get together once in a while to talk?”
Hmm, he wants to start with normal socializing. I thought he was going to proposition me outright, but… Tsk, how boring. Drat. Washu’s thought patterns were growing similar to Naja’s.
“Is…anything wrong?” The man, bewildered by her body language, asked the writhing, displeased Washu.
“Huh? Oh, it’s nothing. Ho ho ho ho.”
Argh, it can’t be helped. It’s dreadfully dull, but I’ll proceed as planned. Washu removed the disc from her inside pocket, revealing her cleavage in the process, and held it out for him. “I’d think this should be to your liking.”
The man stared at the disc quizzically, but his collector’s curiosity got the better of him, and he played the disc. It contained his unspeakable secrets; all sorts of them. It was a shameless blackmail ploy. “M-my God!” The man stood up in surprise and turned pale.
“I don’t like doing this either, but…” Washu felt some pangs of conscience, but there was no other way. She had no time to lose. There were several things she had to do and consider.
She had to find Mikumo and bring him back.
She had to infiltrate Seniwa, which had closed its borders.
Supposedly, Seniwa had registered Washu as a security threat.
She had to leave the Academy to boot.
She had to acquire the most cutting-edge technology the Academy had to offer.
Washu could have developed the technology herself…
But that would have taken hundreds of years.
The only way for Washu to get the technology in a short amount of time was to steal it.
And for that, she needed the best hacking technology.
That was why Washu was here. She glanced at the man, still pale, and cleared her throat to state her business. “I would like to exchange this information…”
“This is…wonderful!!”
“Huh…?” Washu’s thoughts stopped short at the man’s unexpected reply.
“I never imagined this would be information about myself… Please, sell this to me. I’ll pay anything. Please!!” He grabbed Washu’s shoulders and shook her.
That’s not what you’re supposed to ask for! This turn of events fulfilled her goal. Still, Washu felt very, very sad for some reason.
“How’d it go?” Noticing that Washu seemed depressed when she got back, Naja opened her mouth in surprise. “You didn’t fail, did you? Are you okay? Did he do anything to you?” She worriedly peered into Washu’s face.
“No, everything went well… I just feel a little vexed,” Washu answered weakly.
“…?” And then… “Ha ha ha ha! Gah ha ha ha ha ha! Haaaaah ha ha ha hah ahaha aha hahah!!” Upon hearing Washu’s story, Naja rolled on the floor, laughing like she never laughed before.
“Grown-ups are the worst…” Washu took on her child form and pouted in the corner of the room.
“I-I’m sorry… Heh, s-sorry. Heh heh heh…” Naja laughed too hard, and the muscles of her stomach contorted in a spasm. “But isn’t it a good thing that you got what you wanted?”
“Yeah, but…”
“You know what they say, time is money.” Rushed by Naja, Washu played the disc she got from the collector.
“Wow, this is amazing. I never imagined this way of organizing it.” Naja exclaimed, seeing the disc’s information categorization. Jurai later adopted the structure and used it continuously, unchanged save for two upgrades. “This is a lot of information. Say, Washu, what is this…?”