Chapter 49
To Rivera, Hot Dog Man was a strange kind of person she had never once seen in this city.
Even now, the memory of their first meeting came back as vividly as though it had happened yesterday.
All the residents of Risk City lived with sharp spines tucked away in their hearts, like hedgehogs.
Piranhas swarmed through the city, biting without hesitation whenever they spotted an opening in someone else, and no one found anything strange about it. It was a dog-eat-dog world.
But.
- What did you come here to buy, kiddo? Running an errand for your mom?
He was an existence that did not fit in with this city.
A kind voice that came to her together with the grocery store's warm, cozy air.
It had not been an act or a pretense.
Through some experiment, Rivera had acquired senses dozens of times more sensitive than other people's, allowing her to recognize that fact.
Although he had acted that way because he had mistaken Rivera for a child, even after she revealed her identity, Hot Dog Man's attitude did not change in the slightest.
- I need to use some of it elsewhere, so I can't give you all of it, but this should be enough, right?
He had even casually handed over most of the subsidy he had received from the mafia boss, as though he were giving children pocket money.
Rivera had refused several times, saying she could not accept it, but she could not simply ignore his persistent insistence that she think of the children, or his kindness.
- …Thank you. Truly.
She had thought there was no such thing as pure goodwill in this city.
That day, Rivera learned for the first time.
That kindness, lighter than someone's sticky malice, could feel heavier.
‘How am I supposed to repay this kindness….’
Moreover.
What was she supposed to do about the metabolism inside her body, which had begun accelerating whenever she recalled the face of the man who had shown no disgust even after hearing her true identity?
She had originally kept her hair over her face to conceal her identity, but now she could not move it aside because she needed it to hide her face, which had turned red for purely personal reasons.
‘…He must have returned by now.’
But separate from her embarrassment, her steps toward the grocery store were incredibly light.
Having succeeded in finding a new home where she could live with her family, Rivera ran to meet Hot Dog Man at a faster pace than usual.
A homeless man warming himself by the flames of a barrel atop a horribly worn-out mattress in one corner of an alley spotted her and called out a greeting.
“Yo, squirt! Headed to the boss?”
“……”
“He probably just got back. I saw him come with Michael, who went out to meet him.”
This, too, would have been absolutely impossible in the past.
With no separate RCPD handling public safety, Rivera had gone around displaying blatant hostility in every direction like a rabid Chihuahua, in order to protect herself and the other members of her family.
Even now, if one went to the slums, there were countless homeless people who had tried to harm her and ended up being harmed themselves.
But things were different near the grocery store.
Most of the homeless people here were not ignorant of the value of food.
That meant they did not take the kindness they had received from Hot Dog Man lightly.
Sometimes deranged homeless people caused a disturbance, but before Hot Dog Man could see it, they took care of it neatly among themselves.
Rivera herself even remembered following some (crazy) android carrying a huge amount of food and giving him a ‘light warning.’
The public safety around here was better than elsewhere,
and the people did not hide their kindness.
When Rivera nodded without answering, the homeless man who had spoken to her gave a snort of laughter and bit into the sandwich he was holding.
“But the boss's expression looked a little serious…. Michael beside him did too. We feel awkward asking ourselves, so could you go check what happened, squirt?”
“……”
“Yeah, thanks as always.”
Before they knew it, the way they addressed Hot Dog Man had become ‘Boss,’ and everyone had grown accustomed to seeing that boss affectionately pat Rivera's head, so her form of address had become ‘Squirt’ as well, but.
That was not a particularly important fact.
They all shared the same feeling of cherishing Hot Dog Man.
Forms of address were ultimately just different ways of calling someone.
‘…Personally, I’d prefer Hot Dog Man to be the only one who calls me Squirt.’
Still, it was fine.
They were all comrades who protected Hot Dog Man.
Having lived her entire life in a laboratory, Rivera possessed a stronger sense of community than other people.
They were not quite at the level where she could call them family, but they were certainly close enough to call them comrades.
And Hot Dog Man.
‘Maybe this is what having a dad feels like….’
Of course, there were more ‘personal feelings’ mixed in than that.
Like a puppy getting ready to go for a walk, Rivera trotted all the way to the grocery store.
And.
Rivera met a ‘beautiful android with white irises.’
“……”
“……”
The prideful staring contest began just like that.
* * *
“This is Nova. Uh, the management AI that operates the turrets on the grocery store ceiling.”
“……”
“And this is Rivera. She’s visited the grocery store often, so you remember her, right?”
“……”
Only after I gave them an explanation that could have appeared on the opening page of an English textbook did the two of them take a single step back.
Rivera, hiding her expression behind her shaggy hair, gave a small nod first, and Nova, looking down at her expressionlessly, gave an identical nod.
This oppressive air.
‘…It feels like we’ve entered the deep sea.’
In addition, a tension like that of a UFC match just after the weigh-in and at the moment of the face-off filled the grocery store.
Blue corner—Nova, an android with overwhelming physical specifications that had been evaluated as comparable to those of a Goliath walking on two legs!
Red corner—Rivera, a terrifying squirt who had escaped a secret megacorp project and even successfully assassinated the chairman and taken revenge!
‘…Now that I think about it, this lineup really is formidable.’
I continued speaking in an intentionally bright voice to dispel the heavy atmosphere.
“Since this is essentially their first time meeting, I suppose it’s unavoidable that things feel a little awkward. I was like that earlier, too.”
““……””
“Well, you’re both nice people. Get along with each other.”
No, please get along.
In Rivera's case, she was wary of people she met for the first time because she had a sad past.
In Nova's case, her very identity was that of the management AI responsible for the grocery store's security, so she did not seem capable of responding with simple friendliness.
Then Rivera's gaze landed on the powerful presence bulging beneath Nova's shabby T-shirt,
and she quietly glanced down at her own chest.
“…Tch.”
Rivera suddenly hunched her shoulders.
I did not know why, but she seemed to have felt an intense sense of defeat from the very beginning.
Seeing her clench her fists, I felt sorry for her without meaning to and habitually patted her head.
At the same time, Rivera abruptly raised her head and looked at me.
Ah, right.
She was not a real squirt, but a perfectly grown adult.
“Sorry, I’ll be careful from now on—.”
“…It’s okay!”
When I tried to take my hand away, Rivera thrust her head toward my palm.
Her shining eyes burned like flames of the sun between her fluffy locks of hair.
…Well, since she said she liked it.
I still did not know Rivera's exact age, but she could not be older than me, at least.
‘Probably.’
As I fiddled with Rivera's hair, which was positioned at exactly the right height for petting, a low voice suddenly emerged beside her.
“Ah.”
“…?”
Nova, who had been waiting calmly, covered her pale pink lips with one hand at the sound of the voice that had escaped her without realizing it.
“…It is nothing.”
She straightened her posture again as calmly as before, but there was a hint that something was bothering her.
For some unknown reason, Nova also seemed to have felt a strange sense of defeat, in her own way.
After the bout of war between their wills ended.
Leaving Rivera and Nova, who seemed to have reached some sort of agreement and were warmly shaking hands, behind, I approached Michael, who had retreated a considerable distance away.
“You saw them like that. Why didn’t you introduce them to each other first?”
“…It would have been impossible for me.”
Fair enough. The atmosphere had been pretty heavy.
Still, at least now I could finally take a rough breath.
Perhaps Michael felt the same way, because he exhaled deeply and asked me,
“But why did you say earlier that there wouldn’t be any more pursuit from the megacorp?”
“Oh, that.”
How much should I explain?
There were too many sensitive details to explain all of my employer's circumstances, considering that she worked for the city government.
So I decided to give him only the rough conclusion….
“I asked an eighth-level Web Spider to erase every trace that could be used to track us.”
“…An eighth-level?”
“Yep.”
If my memory was not mistaken, that was probably the case.
If I explained only this much, it should be fine—
“An eighth-level Web Spider…. That would be someone who could casually serve as a security officer—or no, even a Chief Security Officer (CSO)—for some family or megacorp.”
Huh?
“…I cannot even dare guess how far Hot Dog Man’s connections extend.”
His tone sounded as though he had misunderstood something.
A strangely sparkling look followed across Michael's expressionless face.
“I will strive to improve myself further as well.”
“No, that’s not what I meant.”
“Yes, of course it isn’t. Because it’s a secret.”
I’m telling you, it really isn’t that.
It was simply thanks to my employer's help….
‘……No.’
The more I said here, the more pointless misunderstandings I seemed likely to cause.
In any case, if one looked at it strictly, it did count as a connection.
Well, anyway.
We had found Nova a new body, and the possibility of pursuit from the megacorp had been reduced considerably,
so I thought all we had to do now was spend peaceful days distributing food to the homeless as usual.
I thought that until I heard Michael's calm voice immediately afterward.
“Then I suppose I don’t need to worry too much about the matter involving Hakuga-gumi either.”
“Haku what?”
“Hakuga-gumi (白牙組).”
Michael brought up the name of an organization I had completely forgotten about.
“The most notorious faction among the three organizations that backed Hall Paradise.”
Come to think of it, Luciana, the boss of the mafia family, had said something similar.
That was why I had received the subsidy.
When I fell silent in shock, Michael added more, as though that was not the end of it.
“On top of that, wasn’t the place we took the megacorp’s goods from this time Black Square, which is managed by Heixinghui (黑星會)? The details have not yet been revealed, but I was quite worried because it seemed you had made enemies of two organizations at once.”
“……”
“Now that I see it, I suppose there was no need for me to worry.”
Michael bowed with impeccable posture.
“I do not know what kind of picture you are painting, but an ordinary person like me cannot even begin to fathom it….”
I had really just been moving without thinking.
He probably would not believe me.
“I, Michael Dillon, will do my utmost to trust and serve only Boss—Hot Dog Man.”
I quietly closed my eyes.
The world turned pitch-black and rippled ominously, as though foreshadowing my future….
* * *
For now.
‘…First, let’s eat a hot dog.’
I was escaping reality like that and about to heat up the hot dogs in a box in the microwave when.
Kuuung….
A huge noise rang out from the vacant lot behind the grocery store.
The moment I heard it, my body moved reflexively.
‘Could it be an attack already….’
They say even a tiger appears when you speak of it, and Hakuga-gumi, or whatever they were called, apparently were no exception.
But.
The scene unfolding in the vacant lot behind the grocery store was a little different from what I had expected.
“…Ah, they’re already here!”
Rivera spoke brightly as she approached my side.
As I looked at the ‘structural components of a gigantic building’ hanging all around in midair.
I slowly looked down at Rivera with eyes demanding an explanation.
“I’m going to put up a small building with the money Hot Dog Man gave me this time…!”
I remembered seeing something similar on YouTube before.
I mean the sight of heavy machinery ‘assembling’ a building's components and putting up an entire new house in an instant.
Indeed, the technological prowess of cyberpunk….
Once the heavy machinery and gigantic drones began moving, their speed was truly absurd.
“I’ll make the first floor a pilotis-style open level so other homeless people can stay there, so you don’t have to worry too much about space.”
“……Uh.”
I had thought she would simply remodel the building where they already lived and be done with it.
But suddenly, I had acquired a neighbor.
“I honestly don’t know what expression I’m supposed to make in a situation like this….”
Of course, unlike the content of what I was muttering, my expression was probably smiling.
Of course, unlike what I was muttering, I was probably smiling.