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……The powerful figure before my eyes. A suspicious individual even when standing still.

Aaron is so suspicious it’s driving me crazy. His kindness is excessive.

“A partnership agreement… Do you have a pre-made copy? If not, even a very rough draft would be fine! It’s my first time with a private agreement excluding the company, so I’m quite excited!”

I couldn’t even guess why he was so excited and elated.

No, even a fool could tell when his attitude changed. Once when I rejected his ultimatum, and again when I reciprocally requested cooperation.

“What about a notary? Who among the higher-ups could we bring in right now without raising suspicion… Should I contact the Elysium branch manager?”

I was trying to escape the defensive by suggesting an unexpected direction.

However, it was logically difficult to explain how a counter-proposal with a shady intention like, ‘Let’s secretly help each other behind the company’s back!’ could elicit this kind of reaction.

Could he be some kind of freak with a bizarre fetish, like a contractophile, befitting a corporate executive…?

If not… Dissociative Identity Disorder? I’ve already suffered so much because of someone with mental illness recently, and now again?

Or could this man, who seems like he wouldn’t shed a drop of blood, actually be under so much stress from corporate life that he desperately craves an escape?

“The original contract should naturally be stored in the New Century Bank vault, right? …Ah! Using a reliable Private Bank (a business where employees of an unincorporated bank personally visit depositors to handle transactions one-on-one, keeping deposit details and storage locations secret) wouldn’t be bad either.”

“Stop… Stop!”

That’s the method used by the rebels in the original story and the Five Eyes?!

Who are you treating me like, someone on the same level as a top-priority wanted criminal…!

I stopped Aaron, who was approaching with sparkling eyes, an expression that couldn’t even be described with such words.

If I lose my composure and get carried away, it’ll be difficult to predict where the flow of events I managed to change will go, so I need to proceed with caution.

“…How rude of me! I got too excited when the originator is present. I will listen to Miss Anastasia’s intentions first.”

“Listening is a bit too much…”

The more I talk to him, the more I feel his sudden change in attitude.

There’s no poison as sweet as a favor without a price.

But that’s only possible when the other person has room to be deceived, isn’t it? It’s not like he’s trying a lone good cop, bad cop strategy. If he thought I’d follow along all giddy just because he’s back to his gentle attitude, he’s mistaken.

“…Ah?”

…No, what if Aaron’s actions weren’t based on such an uncertain expectation?

For example, something much simpler. A moment of carelessness, or… stalling for time to create another variable…!

The moment my rigid thinking barely reached that point, the scheme he had been waiting for appeared.

Thump—!!

I turn my head at the heavy footsteps.

I felt it even in Wiseman’s office, but here, the sleek automatic doors perfectly block out any sign of people, and they don’t make any unusual noise when opening, so it’s difficult for a regular person like me to notice unless I’m concentrating.

As a result… I hadn’t even prepared to deploy the virus. I openly made eye contact with the Levy unit that came to catch me.

“……Ha.”

They say you can get your nose cut off even with your eyes open if you’re not careful. It was a mistake to let my guard down in the heart of enemy territory, especially in front of someone who can make even trivial jokes a reality.

Fortunately, they don’t seem to intend to kill me, as they’re holding tasers and shotguns loaded with riot control rubber bullets.

…Shit. That’s going to hurt like hell too, but I don’t intend to be an easy target.

I need to inflict some meaningful damage on the internal data before they fire, so there will be something to negotiate with later.

Without even considering what side effects might occur if the connection is cut off by physical impact, I closed my eyes and emitted a signal….

“……Oh dear, I forgot to withdraw the call order… I was too hasty. Everyone, you may leave. No, I’m terminating the entire department’s security duty as of this moment.”

“……?”

In an instant, the smile completely disappeared from Aaron Dreyfus’s face.

His voice was unusually stiff and suppressed, and not only I, who jumped up from my seat, but also the troops who stormed into the office froze.

“Mr. Dreyfus, we have completed the indoor scanning and confirmed the target’s armament status. There are no overlooked threats, so we can subdue them immediately….”

A soldier, representing the others, tried to brief the situation, perhaps judging that I was threatening Aaron to force a withdrawal.

Creak…!!

Before the soldier could finish speaking, he slammed his hands on the table as if to break it, and raised only his upper body from the chair.

“Leave. Now. All of you. Do I have to say it multiple times for you to understand?”

“”……””

Uh… um….

Just because it’s a corporation doesn’t mean skilled personnel fall from the sky, so they wouldn’t recklessly reduce staff just because they’re in a bad mood.

However, the atmosphere was such that a few people might actually disappear as an example if they persisted any longer, so they retreated faster than they had entered, fully armed.

“…I have no excuse for showing you such a low-level display. I’m truly sorry, Miss Anastasia.”

He even withdrew the troops who had seized the opportunity. I don’t know his deep intentions for deliberately showing such a fiery attitude.

But one thing I’ve learned for sure is… no matter how extravagant he may seem, the person in front of me is clearly a monster, and he really hates being interrupted suddenly.

And… if he’s really a multiple personality, I need to proceed with this partnership agreement while he’s seriously interested and finish it quickly.

“…I won’t leave a separate physical contract. I don’t want to leave any room for it to be used differently in any way.”

“That’s… quite disappointing.”

I carefully observed him as he muttered bitterly.

He seemed to readily agree, perhaps because he couldn’t bring himself to tell me not to be wary after showing me something like that. Even if I didn’t have the ability to enforce the contract in the first place, I didn’t want to just gloss over it without any symbolism.

“Instead… let’s publicly declare each other’s goals and ambitions, the things we want to achieve by helping each other. As a symbol of this precarious cooperative relationship. Swearing only to the truth, without any lies.”

“……Oh-ho.”

Only as equals. Only flawlessly.

If we’re in a relationship where we’re using each other, it would be right to hand over our weaknesses to the other party, but I had no intention of revealing what I had been hiding. From the start, even the story I’m about to tell now might become a stumbling block in the future.

While mentally synthesizing a completely different chunk of code from the prepared ransomware virus, I extended one hand towards Aaron as if to shake hands.

“I, Anastasia Valentine… my life’s goal is to complete a highly advanced device that cannot even be dared to be created with the materials that exist in this world right now.”

He wasn’t someone who could be fooled with plausible acting and appropriate excuses. I threw him only the facts that I could squeeze out to the limit that I could really reveal.

…I don’t really expect to receive much help.

I just hope that I can end this tiresome bad relationship well, without becoming enemies.

“I, Aaron Dreyfus, my immediate task would be to establish myself as the unwavering second-in-command of Paradise. My goal… well, should I tell you gradually after experiencing Miss Anastasia’s assistance?”

“…How petty.”

I knew it.

He’s trying to extract only my information and hide his own intentions somehow… but this is still within the expected range of results.

If so, he’ll at least think he’s gained something and show generosity, or he’ll obediently agree to the contract, which isn’t even a contract.

I lightly grasp the outstretched hand and send the signal.

I’m not trying to touch the Implant and cause a head-on collision of consciousness like last time. It didn’t take long to transfer the document file completed with Aaron’s Cyberware.

“Is this… evidence of the contract?”

“…It’s just a very simple symbol.”

Forgery or manipulation is too easy, and only two people have directly confirmed it, so it’s easy to deny. An electronic contract that no one trusts in this era.

The document, hastily created just to meet the formality, only recorded what we each said, so it looked like a kind of declaration.

But he nodded as if satisfied with such crude data.

…Phew, as expected, there’s nothing to lose by putting in effort….

“Then we’re… partners from now on!”

“…Don’t emphasize it with such a weird nuance, just call us strategic allies?”