Rebuild World

he took him to where Shikarabe was.
Shikarabe then sent a glance to the master of the bar and he just left.

There was more than one person in the room Akira just entered.
Those inside did not seem like they were in a bad mood, and they were not as rowdy as the others in the bar.
It did not feel like they were in deep trouble as well.
However, it was obvious that they had something preoccupying their minds.
Shikarabe was exuding that kind of feeling.

“You’re here, huh? I’m sorry for asking you to come here, we can talk later, so can you finish your talk with Arabe first?”

“Long time no see, please, take a seat.”

“Sure, okay.”

Akira was a bit bewildered, but he still took a seat.
Shikarabe took a sip of his glass and glanced at Akira.

“Do you want… Ah, right, you don’t drink, right? Well, they have non-alcoholic drinks as well.
We’ll be the ones paying, so you can go ahead and pick anything you want.
I know this is not the kind of place to request a meeting with a Rank 50 Hunter, but Drankam is not really doing well with money, you see.
Due to that, unfortunately, we can’t really invite you to the upper floors of the Kugama building, am I right, Arabe?”

“Eh? Ah, yes, it’s as Shikarabe just said.”

“I don’t really mind though, so…”

Akira was a bit thrown-off by Shikarabe’s unusual attitude, but as they agreed on, he first listened to Arabe’s business with him.
But after listening to the content, Akira was a bit surprised.
Basically, Arabe was requesting to let Drankam join in the pruning job that Akira had been receiving from Hikaru.

Seeing Akira who was frowning at him, Arabe felt the awkward mood start to drift in, so he flusteredly added in an explanation.

“Ah, please don’t misunderstand, Drankam itself finds this request a bit awkward.
But it came from the higher up, or more like, it came from City Management so we can’t really ignore it, you see.
It’s true that we have signed an official peace treaty, unfortunately, it doesn’t mean that we can guarantee that there won’t be any trouble… We thought that City Management had already informed you about this, but it does not seem to be the case.”

“I this is the first time I heard about this thought… So, give me a second.”

Akira quickly called the person that might know about this.
Hikaru immediately picked up the call and after a short explanation of what was going on from Akira, Hikaru also replied saying that such a proposition did reach her as well.

“Back when we were talking about the gap between each request, you did say that you need someone else to handle the vehicle and wait for your supplies to arrive, and these two things become a bottleneck for you, remember? You also said that otherwise, you would have gone every day, right? And that was when you ask me if I have a solution for that, right?”

“…I did? I feel like I did, but… I feel like I just said it because I just wanted to complain.
It was not like I was looking for a solution… Either way, I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to actually ask for your help back then…”

“But you did say that, remember? Although, I might have received it differently than what you have intended.
But putting that aside, because of that, I went around looking for something to help you out, you see.”

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“And that included Drankam too?”

“Not directly.
I did ask the other staff, so someone with a connection to Drankam might have gone and asked them.
Ah, I’m sorry if I’m troubling you instead.
I have no wish at all to pressure you to accept it.
So, if you think that it’s too troublesome, please feel free to just reject it.
Tell them that there’s no penalty even if you don’t take up their offer.
And also, if it’s too much work for you, you can just leave that to me if you want.
I will happily do it for you.”

“Alright, ahh, don’t worry, it’s not like I’m angry or anything, I just didn’t expect it, that’s all.”

“I’m glad to hear that.
Please call me again if you need anything else.”

After he finished that call, Akira gave a short explanation to Arabe about what he just heard from Hikaru.

“…So that’s basically what happened, it seems that it’s not like City Management is forcing Drankam to do it either.
So, uhhh, can we just drop this subject?”

“Ahhh, I see.
Honestly speaking, if you’re not bothered by it, we from Drankam wish that you would accept our offer.
The transport season brings in many jobs and all of them are good for building one’s reputation.
Of course, we promise that we’ll be careful with the team composition.”

“I-I see, hmmm.”

Akira started to look troubled.
He had signed a peace treaty through the Hunter office with Drankam, so it might look suspicious if he insisted on not working with them.
It’s true that bringing more people would mean that Elena and Sara would have less burden and he himself would not have to resupply as often as before and put Shizuka in trouble.
It was not a bad offer at all.

But making a deal with an organization was a huge pain in the neck, or at least, that was the case for Akira.
Unlike with Elena and Sara, who he could trust, or Sheryl, who would just accept any amount that Akira decided to give her, dealing with an organization was different.
He would have to wrestle with all the trouble that came with dealing with an organization, not to mention, he had to think about commanding the team as well as some kind of insurance for each person.
All in all, it was extremely troublesome.

After taking his time to consider his options, Akira decided to take on Hikaru’s offer.
He then recalled Hikaru, gave her a quick overview, and left the rest of the negotiation with Drankam to Hikaru.
Hikaru happily accepted the job, she quickly called Arabe after that and completely took over the negotiation in place of Akira.

With Arabe’s negotiation opponent being shifted to Hikaru, Akira decided that he had no more business with Arabe, so he moved on to Shikarabe.

“So then, what do you want to talk about with me?”

“Well, about that… It has more or less already been taken care of, so…”

“The heck? It’s done? But I haven’t said anything yet.
You can’t just say that when you’re the one who called me here.
So, what is it?”

Seeing Akira was still curious, Shikarabe took a rather aggressive chug of the drink in his hand.

“…Let’s see.
Well, you did come here, so I guess it’s only fair if I tell you.
What can I say… It’s some kind of adjustment for my intuition, wait, no, it’s more like a check for my intuition…”

“What in the world are you even talking about?”

“It would be a long story if I have to tell you everything, but I will tell you the bare minimum since you did come here after I called you.
If you’re interested, you’re welcome to listen, but if you’re not, feel free to finish your meal and leave anytime you want.”

Akira frowned and took a posture saying that he was interested.
Shikarabe took one big gulp of the newly filled beer cup before he started talking.

After Katsuya’s death, Drankam went through dramatic changes.
It basically eradicated Katsuya’s faction and it sent a shockwave through the inner management of the gang.
Everyone, including the officers as well as the ordinary members, were all busy dealing with the aftermath.
Thanks to that, there was no struggle for power at all.

With the excessive prioritization toward the young Hunters gone, Kurosawa and the other veteran Hunters, who had left the gang because of that policy, returned to Drankam.
It was all thanks to them that the gang was able to finish the other deals that should have been handled by Katsuya.
Although they were able to fill in the hole that Katsuya’s left, they still could not do anything about the long-term contracts involving Katsuya as an individual.
Due to the violation of the contract from Drankam’s side, Drankam had to pay a huge fine.
With no more support from Yanagisawa, Drankam was quickly thrown into a financial crisis.

“It’s all because those in the managerial side accepted those reckless long-term contracts.
Those who took on such risks are now in deep trouble.
But still, it’s not like I can just say that they got what they deserved and be happy about it.
It’s also our fault for not stopping them before they signed those contracts.
I know all of them are now blaming themselves, but that’s the same for me too.
Just like them, I’ve believed that Kastsuya would never die, that he would only keep growing bigger.”

Shikarabe pour another beer into his empty cup and heaved a huge sigh as if he just let out something heavy that was latching onto him.
He brought the beer to his mouth as if to fill in the hole that was left from his huge sigh.

“He was basically just that good.
Whether it was hatred or the opposite, he had power that not all Hunters have, and his power threw us off.
But with all being said, he still died in the end.
People die when their time comes, it was obvious and even doubly true for Hunters.
His death allowed us to come to our senses and sober up.”

Shikarabe then looked up as if he was digging through his past.

“I always hated his guts.
No, I still hate him even now.
Although it’s not as bad as how the me from the past would have felt.
I hate him just like how I hate the other brats that get too cocky.
I still don’t know, even now, why I hated him that much.
Well, it might be actually just jealousy for his talent and that jealousy is now gone now that he is dead.”

No matter how far he dug through his past, Shikarabe could not recover the hatred that he once had.
He somehow looked even more irritated than before.

“Let me return to the real subject, so, basically, my intuition is telling me that he’s someone who would not die and grow big.
In contrast to that, I’m sorry to offend you, but you’re not that amazing and I’ve always felt that you’ll die sooner or later.
But then, the result was the opposite, he’s dead and you survived, you even got to Rank 50.
So, I just want to know just how wrong my intuition is.”

As a Hunter who placed his very own life on his intuition, for Shikarabe, questioning his intuition was like questioning the most basic principle of his identity.
That was the reason why he called Akira to meet him.
Even though it was important for him, it did not show at all on his face.

“And so, after I calmed down and threw away all my preconceptions.
I once again asked my intuition, whether you’re an amazing Hunter.
If even after that, I still can’t see you as an amazing Hunter, then it only means that my intuition is not to be trusted.
That’s why I called you here and I’m already done with that as well.
So basically, that’s all there is it.”

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“I see, so, what is your intuition saying now?”

To Akira who was asking while showing his honest interest in the answer, Shikarabe just smiled at him.

“We are not so close that I would just tell you that.
Well, at least, I’ll tell you that there’s no need to completely throw it off the window for the time being.”

“I see.”

Shikarabe’s reply already served as half an answer, so Akira just slightly smiled at him.

They continued talking while Shikarabe was enjoying his beer and Akira, enjoying his meal.
As the alcohol started to take effect on Shikarabe, he suddenly asked a rather rude question to Akira.

“But still, that’s pretty impressive of you to kill Katsuya.
Oh, it’s not like I’m looking down on you.
It’s just that you were alone when you were facing Katsuya and his whole team, right? Considering the difference in fighting prowess, it should have been impossible, no? So how did you kill him? Did he make a mistake somewhere? Or did you catch him off-guard or something?”

“…Both, I guess.
I’ll omit the details, but in the end, he died protecting his teammate.
That’s why I won.
If he had abandoned his teammate, I would have been the one dead.”

Shikarabe gave a lonely bitter smile and mumbled.

“…I see, so in the end, he thought too highly of himself and brought his friends closer to death again, huh? But I guess he did hold on to his belief to the very end.
Well, that’s just like him to die like that.”

“He was always like that?”

“Well, yeah… Now that I think about it, back then, when he was the leader of a small team, he remained like that.
He should have continued to lead a small group of people that he could save with his hard work.
That way, others would not have died.
Well, it’s Drankam who pushed him to lead a bigger team, so it would be wrong to blame him on that one, huh? He has always…”

Akira listened to Shikarabe’s recollection of Katsuya for a while before leaving.

—*—*—*—

On their way back, Arabe glanced at Shikarabe and threw a question to him.

“By the way, what is your intuition saying about Akira now?”

“Whoah there, are you seriously asking me that?”

“It’s fine, isn’t it? It’s not like we’re strangers anyway, right?”

Arabe asked that question in a casual manner.
But Shikarabe replied with a rather serious tone.

“Let’s see.
Before you think of anything weird, I’ll tell you this first.
He’s crazy, that’s what I think about him right now.”

“That‘s rather harsh, but it’s not like he’s weak or anything, right?”

“Overall, including his equipment, there’s no doubt he’s stronger than me.
And even if we’re using the same equipment, it would still be a close fight.
But rather than strength, his craziness sticks out more.
In order for that crazy talent to bloom, it needs to be accompanied by someone crazy enough to do crazy things.
You’ve heard about Kibayashi, right? I heard that Akira is just the kind Kibayashi loves.
A reckless Hunter.
So, basically, he gambles on his life on a daily basis and survives through all the risks he takes.
There’s no doubt that someone who has gone through all those things would become that strong.
So, it just makes me wonder… Why did I only see him as a common Hunter in the past…”

Seeing Shikarabe starting to admonish himself, Arabe decided to stop his original plan of trying to recruit Akira to Drankam.
Shikarabe, who had been close to Arabe for so many years noticed that.

“I think you’ve made a good choice there.
If you got Akira into Drankam, I bet he would drag the whole gang to his crazy stunts.
So just forget about it, he would never be able to replace Katsuya.”

“You’re right, I’ll tell the others that too.”

“…Whoah there, so there are others who consider that too?”

“Yeah, pretty much.”

Shikarabe sighed exasperatedly, seeing that  Arabe could only smile wryly.

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