Chapter 16: The Plan

“You got a what?!” Hikaru loudly exclaimed after Celia presented him the news.

The three of them had decided to meet up at Celia’s apartment the next day after Celia contacted the man for more information about the internship, so that they could discuss their next course of action.

“An internship at Terrastock,” she repeated, “I was helping a random businessman yesterday because I wanted to make some quick money before I wrapped up for the day but I didn’t expect him to be someone who actually holds a relevant position at that company… I thought he was just some random salaryman getting yelled at by his boss.”

“Well this is great news Celia,” Alto said, “if we take this internship offer then we have another reason to go to Shanghaijing.”

“How did you know the company was in Shanghaijing?” Celia asked.

“I gave him some crucial database updates along with everything else,” Hikaru explained, “I figured that it’d be important to keep him up to date on some stuff since he’ll be traveling a lot with us. Seeing as how he knows that information means that I must’ve done a pretty good job at that, but that’s besides the point right now. How much of this internship is paid?”

Celia takes a moment to recall the information the man gave her earlier today.

“Well my train ticket and housing expenses are paid for, but anything outside of that isn’t,” she said, “which means I still have to pay for food and any extra travel expenses like visiting the old space centers. Also, since the offer is only to me, if you and Alto want to come along, we’re on our own with that, and since Alto is too big to count as a carry-on robot, we’ll also have to pay for a separate train ticket and hotel room for him too.”

“...And how much will that cost us in total?” Hikaru asked.

“That would greatly depend on the train route you take, the hotel you book, and how long you plan to stay there,” Kyomi suddenly spoke, “would you like me to calculate the options available and lay out the price plans for you?”

Everyone except Hikaru turned to look at her in surprise. 

Kyomi rarely ever spoke to anyone, so it was a surprise to hear her talk. Her voice was also much deeper — albeit still feminine —  than Celia had initially expected when she heard it the first time; something that still surprised her since it didn't fit Kyomi's smaller, more adorable design in her eyes.

“Thanks Kyomi, please do,” Hikaru thanked her before looking back at everyone, wondering why they all looked surprised, “what? I’m an international student so of course I’d have a travel expense calculator as one of Kyomi’s utility functions.”

Ignoring his obliviousness, Celia decided to give more information to Kyomi. 

“My internship only lasts up to a month at most, and they’ll only give me a big payout at the end if I successfully complete it,” Celia said, “the hotel they gave me is within walking distance from the headquarters I’ll be working at so you don’t have to take into account the travel fees. It’s called the Jade Orchid Hotel and it’s located along the coastlines of Shanghaijing.”

“Analyzing…” Kyomi said as she takes a moment to think before finally processing everything, “Taking into account factors such as the desire for a direct train with no stops along the way, the merits of the train companies available, and pricing, the cheapest most optimal route with a return ticket costs about 75,000 Neuros per person and 35,000 for a large robot. The closest cheap hotel to the Jade Orchid costs about 300,000 per month and based on food prices, the estimated cost is 90,000 per month. Travel expenses will vary throughout the city.”

Everyone stared at each other in silence.

“...That’s a lot of money…” Hikaru finally spoke, “I have enough but… that’ll cost me pretty much everything. The people of Shanghaijing and the Silk Axis as a whole don’t really use the ProtoTask app so it’s not like we'll be making money there either.”

“They don’t?” Celia asked.

Hikaru shook his head.

“I only found out about the app when I transferred over to Euracia. I had never heard of the app before that since the people in my home country don’t really use it,” he explained.

Right, that makes sense, she realized, that’s why the Han hadn’t heard about it until I brought it up. I had just assumed he was just oblivious like me when Hikaru first showed me the app.

“In other words, we’d have to give up pretty much all of our money if we want to check out the Xichang Satellite Launch Center,” Celia silently murmured, “its location is near the outskirts of Sector Sichuan while the Terrastock headquarters is located in the capital sector of Shanghaijing, and it’s quite a long distance from those two points as well."

“Well it’s not like you two have to go to Shanghaijing at the same time,” Alto pointed out, “plus, instead of heading directly to the capital sector, Hikaru and I can first visit the space center along the way. We can make a stop at Sector Sichuan and then take a train to the capital sector if we see it isn't there.”

“He’s right,” Hikaru agreed, “the only reason we’re deciding to go now is because you basically get to go for free, which reduces how much we have to pay overall. Alto and I can go check out the Xichang Satellite Launch Center and if it’s not there, we’ll go to the Tanegashima Space Center which is straight across the sea from the capital sector. It’ll save us a lot of time and money and we don’t even have to depart the same day you do.”

Celia nodded in agreement.

“That’s actually not a bad idea…,” she said, “the only problem is that my expenses are only paid for a month so we can’t postpone your departure for too long. Ideally, we should visit a space center together so we can better come up with a plan on how we're going to pull this off, which means that we need to find a good time period that balances out reducing your trip cost while also having enough time to visit the space center together before my internship period ends.”

The whole room fell silent again as everyone brainstormed their ideas.

“How about one week?” Celia suggested after a while, “it should give us a good amount of time to work together if we find a working space center, and a week’s less of expenses is still a lot of money saved.”

“I think that would be good,” Hikaru agreed, “Alto and I will visit Sichuan and let you know over a phone call if the space center is still there or not. If it isn’t, we’ll head to Tokyosaka to see if the Tanegashima Space Center is still there. If both aren’t then we can just head back but if one is then —”

“Then we can figure out the rest from there,” Celia cut him off, “I don’t want to plan too far into the future since it makes me nervous and frustrated when things don’t go too according to plan, so I typically like to avoid overthinking these things. With how many variables that can exist when searching for a space center, including whether or not it still exists, if it can still function, and how it looks, any reasonable plan we come up with right now is bound to fail anyway.”

“Hmm… alright if that’s how you feel about it then I can keep the plans to myself,” he said, “I prefer thinking of these things even if they’re bound to fail just so I can have a feel of what to expect when the situation comes to it, but if it makes you uncomfortable then you don’t have to hear them.”

Celia smiled. 

Even though the misunderstanding was cleared up now, the first initial impression he gave her still left a bad taste in her mind. It was times like this where he was being much nicer and considerate that Celia had begun to slowly trust and accept him as a partner in crime for all of this.

“Thanks,” she said, “well then, I have to get to packing now. My train leaves tomorrow and I have a long journey ahead of me.”

Hikaru nodded.

“Alto and I will call you in a week to let you know the situation and check in on you,” he said, “good luck on the internship; we’ll need the money you earn from it to make the rocket.”