Chapter 21:

Deal

MinDivers


“Looks like you should never underestimate the loss of a father figure…” Sute thought aloud. It was the first thing she said after they returned from the dive.

“Yeah, you should never.” Hisoka agreed.

“Now that they mention it, I don’t remember seeing Hukaru’s father much... the boy was always with his grandfather while Kazashi was usually in the distance, sometimes with their grandmother…”

“We can’t know for sure what his father’s deal was, Masuyo.” it was as if Hisoka read his mind, “We can’t even trust 100% in what we just saw.” he patted Masuyo’s shoulder.

“Huh?” the boy tilted his head.

“Most of it should be accurate, but I’m sure a part of it is distorted to fit the boy’s point of view, and another part is just a creation.”

“Hmm…”

“Anyway!” Hisoka smiled, “It’s not like this is a big deal or anyth...”

“Oh! It looks like everything went well.” although smiling, Yoko had her arms crossed. It looked like she was mad at being left out of the conversation, “Although it took most of the day.” she looked at Hisoka: “I would’ve taken you out, but Hisoka said it was important to finish it today. So, blame whatever hunger you have on him.”

“Hey! It isn’t my fault!” Hisoka protested with a smile, “Maybe you should blame them for wasting time on fighting. I just did my job as the leader!” he approached his girlfriend with raised arms.

“Leader?!” Yoko raised an eyebrow, “A leader shouldn’t let the others fight at all!”

“Look, Yoko-san, I…”

“Don’t come with that 'Yoko-san' now! You should…”

Ignoring the quarrel in front of him, Masuyo noticed the peaceful feeling within him fading. He was starting to recognize his hunger, and his discontent towards Sute. Thankfully for him, one of those things could be settled right then and there. “Sute!” he called and looked to the side, where she was supposed to be.

“I have something to do.” the girl’s voice came from the door. After uttering that, she left the room.

“Wait!” Masuyo dashed forward, only to be stopped by a hand on his shoulder.

“Hey, man! You should calm down.” Hisoka advised him.

“What? Bu…”

“Look, we’re all hungry now!” Hisoka smiled, “Human beings can be idiots when they’re hungry. Did you know that?”

“I…”

“Besides, didn’t you want to go to the FuturingTech building? You shouldn’t waste time going after her.”

“He’s right… Sute can wait. I should focus on getting into that building again and finding out how the chips can be properly destroyed...” “Hmm… so can we go there now?”

“Huh? Go where?” Hisoka tilted his head.

“To the FuturingTech Building, of course!”

“Oh, that! I’m sorry but you’ll have to wait until tomorrow.”

“What? Why?”

“Well…” the man scratched his head, “It’s because I made a promise, so I have something to do now.”

“That’s not a problem. I can go there by myself.”

“Hey, Masuyo. It’s pretty late, you should just eat something and get some rest.”

“Bu…”

“It’s for your own good. Besides, Adda isn’t going to drive you anywhere until I let him do so.”

“Hmm…” Masuyo stared at Hisoka, it didn’t look like the man would give up. “GROWL.” his stomach seemed to settle things. “Ugh.” the boy sighed, “Okay, I’ll wait until tomorrow.”

“Thank you, Masuyo!” Hisoka patted his shoulder once again and darted out of the room.

“Hey! Don’t forget to eat something you too!” Yoko shouted to the man. She then touched her forehead: “Oh my, what am I going to do to him?”

“Looks like you have quite a job.” Masuyo remarked with a low voice.

“Yeah, but it’s fun.” Yoko smiled and looked at him. “So, Masuyo. How do you feel about eating something with me?”

“I don’t mind, but won’t he get jealous?”

“Hehe.” she straightened her glasses, “I don’t mind!”



After Yoko criticized Masuyo’s eating habits during dinner, she accompanied him to his apartment.

“I know it’s a bit early, but good night, Masuyo-kun!” Yoko waved at him, “Maybe you should use this time to finally study!”

“I don’t think this will happen, but thanks.” the boy replied and proceeded into closing the door.

“Good evening Masuyo-san!” Juria-chan greeted the boy.

“Oh, hi.”

“How was your day today?!!”

“Fine, I guess.”

“That’s good! Would you like to…”

“Wait, Masuyo-kun!” a muffled voice came from behind the door.

“Huh?” 

“Oh! It looks like Yoko-sama is on the door!” Juria-chan informed.

“Yoko? What is she still doing here…?” Masuyo murmured as he went to the door.

“I’m sorry for this, but I thought I heard another voice coming from your apartment!” Yoko glared at him. “Is Sute-chan here or something…?” Yoko peeped into the apartment.

“Why would Sute be here?”

“Oh! I didn’t want to pry or anything! I just found it odd, you know?! I don’t know why Sute-chan would be here either!” she shook her hands in front of her body, and then diverted her gaze to murmur: “Even though she’s totally into you…”

“What?”

“Nothing!”

“Huh.”

“So, there’s no one in there?” Yoko peeped into the apartment again, “You were just talking with yourself?”

“No, it’s just this thing on my Utablet. Something called ‘Juria-chan’.”

“Hey! Why are you calling me ‘something’?!” Juria-chan’s voice protested.

“Oh! Juria-chan is active here, huh? I think she was supposed to be locked, but anyway...” Yoko held her chi., “Hello, Juria-chan!” she exclaimed.

“Hello, Yoko-sama! It’s been a long time!” the AI greeted her.

“Yeah… it has…” Yoko murmured. “Well, I have some business to take care of now, so we’ll catch up later, okay?!”

“Okay!”

“Please take good care of Masuyo-kun!”

“As you wish, Yoko-sama!”

Surprised by the exchange, Masuyo only managed to gaze at Yoko and utter a single word: “What…?”

“Oh, don’t worry about that!” Yoko smiled, “I just know her like this because of the previous owner of the apartment.”

“Hmm…”

“Anyway, I should get going for real this time! Good night, Masuyo-kun!” she waved at the boy and left the place.

“Okay…” Masuyo closed the door.

He wasn’t feeling sleepy, so he just lay on the couch and turned on the TV. Curiously, the first thing that popped was Heavy Meka Battles of all things, and it seemed like the same episode as the one in the dive. “Hmm… maybe Sute was just getting ready to dive? But why would she be doing that here…?” he felt that something was amiss, he had butterflies in his stomach, “She said my uncle… no, it’s better to not read much into it.” Masuyo shook his head.

The boy turned off the television. Maybe it'd be better if he just rested already, tomorrow would be a big day… “Yes… that’s what I should do now.”



That day, Hikaru didn’t let her enter his room. In reality, it looked like the boy’s attitude only got worse after Masuyo, Hisoka, and Sute visited them, which just made Kazashi get mad and doubt the magic promise from Hisoka even more. She ended up going to her room to rest for a moment but ended up falling asleep. Managing school and trying to take care of the boy was really wearing her out.

Ding dong.” the sound of the doorbell woke up Kazashi.

“Shit.” Kazashi sat on her bed while touching her head. She shook off the dizziness of sleep and got up, going down the stairs and heading to the front door.

Ding, Dong.” the bell rang again

“Aargh! I hate this doorbell.” the girl frowned and opened the door with a grumpy face.

“Good evening, Kazashi-chan!” Hisoka smiled at her. He was holding something.

“Hi.”

“I’m sorry for coming this late! But I made a promise after all, besides…” he indicated what was in his hands, two pizza boxes, “Sasaki-chan told me you probably wouldn’t have eaten by now.”

“Aan?” Kazashi crossed her arms and raised an eyebrow.

“Oh, this?” Hisoka looked at the boxes, “I’m sorry, but I’m really hungry and Sasaki-san told me the flavors you’d enjoy, so…” he stopped and stared at the boxes.

“So…?”

“By the way.” the man fidgeted restlessly, “I spent the entire day solving your problem. Well, it was more Masuyo and Sute-chan... but I was there!” his eyebrow was twitching as he looked at Kazashi, “I’m sorry, but I’m really hungry!”

“Come in already.” the girl stepped aside, letting the man enter the house.

“I’m sorry for the intrusion.” Hisoka uttered and walked to the kitchen, quickly opening one of the boxes and starting to eat, “I’m sorry for this as well.”

“I don’t care. You probably received my grandma’s blessing to do whatever you wanted anyway.” she observed the man with dissatisfaction.

“Well…” the man munched the food, “Are you ready?”

“Ready for what?”

“Huh?” Hisoka tilted his head, “Ready to come and work for us, of course!”

“What?”

“That’s my line. I fulfilled my part of the deal, so now it’s your turn.”

“Deal?!” Kazashi clenched her fists. “It seemed like my brother was acting worse than ever before today! The only time I saw him was when he left the bathroom with that stupid toy in his hands!”

“Hey! Calm down!”

“Ugh. Cut the bullshit!” she yelled, “You’ll need more than these cheap-looking pizzas to make me leave this place! You promised me my brother would get magically better, and it looks like I was right in not trusting you! I-I’ll have to, I don’t know, beat you and that stupid Masuyo Hirano for saying stupid things!”

“Hey, Kaza…” Hisoka was interrupted by a thud.

"Huh?" Kazashi looked upward. The thud seemed to come from Hikaru's room. "Hikaru!" the girl shouted after hearing a second thud. She bolted from the kitchen and went up the stairs, quickly turning left and opening the boy’s bedroom door: “Hikaru! Are you alright?!” she looked at the dim room, but her brother was nowhere to be seen. "Hika..."

“Sister!” a voice came from below Kazashi’s line of sight. When she noticed, Hikaru had already jumped on her, making them both fall to the ground.

“Hey, what are you do…” she stopped when something wet hit her cheek.

“Sister!” the boy was crying. He wrapped his arms around her and buried his face on her chest, “Sister! T-Thank you! T-Thank you very m-much.”

“Oh…?” Kazashi looked at the sobbing boy, “What…?”

“T-Thank you! And I-I’m s-sorry, Sister!” Hikaru kept repeating these words.

Still dumbstruck, the girl started to pat the boy’s hair. While doing it, she noticed something weird: from the opened bedroom door she could see a small robot toy lying on the laminated floor.

“Hmm… I’m sorry for that.” a voice came from beside the brothers.

While Hikaru kept tightening his grip around his sister, Kazashi looked to the side to see a man sitting cross-legged and observing the two.

“It’s just that sometimes they have something pent-up.” Hisoka remarked.

Kazashi turned her attention to where the man was looking now, her brother was screaming his lungs out while drenching her clothes with tears.

“Well, I’m sorry for being on your way.” Hisoka stood up, “I’ll wait in the kitchen so you can have a moment to yourselves. Just keep in mind that the pizza will get cold.” and with that, he went down the stairs.

“T-Thank you! I-I’m s-sorry, Sister!”



The girl went down the stairs quietly while being followed by her younger brother. They headed to the kitchen, where a young man was lounging about. When he noticed their arrival he smiled and uttered: “Hey, guys! How are you doing now?”

“Good evening, Hisoka Kubo-san…” Hikaru was the one to reply. He stepped in front of Kazashi and fiddled with his fingers. “I’m sorry for causing you trouble!” the boy bowed to the man.

“What…?” Kazashi looked bewildered at her brother.

“Oh, I thank the consideration, but there’s no need for that, man! Raise your head.” 

“What…?” Kazashi said aloud as she looked at her brother.

“As you can see, we’ve got results. So, we have a deal now, right?”

“Hmm…” the girl’s mouth hung open. Her brother was probably acting more politely than ever before, “I guess…?”

“Well, I’ve already explained most of the stuff to you. Here is the contract.” Hisoka put something on the table, it was an Utablet. “I’ll leave it here. You’ll have to read and agree to the terms, and then…”

“I-I’m in.”

“Hmm… what?”

Kazashi glanced at the Utablet and then at her brother, “I said I’m in.”

“Well… that’s great! You just have to come here and si…”

“But I have one condition.” she stared at Hisoka’s eyes.

“Hmm… okay. What is it?”

After hearing the question Kazashi looked at her brother, the boy tilted his head and gazed back at her. The girl took a deep breath, preparing to state her demand clearly.

Real Aire
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Kerry Kamiya
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