Break in to break out.

April 24, 2061 - Fukuoka's 3rd District - 10am.


"Hey Haruka wake up and stop clinging to me already, what happened to your coldness from before ? It's too late now to regret me, you should have made your move sooner."

"Huhh... Just one more hour pleeease..."

"Look at you, so sluggish !"

" 'Mh pretty sure I don't work today, leave me alone.."

"Yeah sure but that's not my case so release me now !"

"Meeting with Hikari's father was it ? Have a safe tri--woah !"

"Damn it, when did you become so strong anyway ? "

"It's all thanks to your gym.. Thank you Hanami."

"Yeah, yeah you're very welcome you dork."

Can't blame him too much honestly, being able to sleep so frequently with someone like me must have become so addictive that even he could no longer resist the temptation of this body.
Or so I would like to say.

In the span of a year and a half, he graduated from the oblivious creep amongst the crowd, to being a multi task businessman who also earned the title of "Zhuge Liang II" due to his undisputed reign over the VR, full dive and classic chess tournaments happening all over the city throughout the year. In fact, last month he was invited by the Chiba family to have a showdown against the current heir, Chiba Shigeru who ended up being no match for Haruka.

"Hana !"

"Hm ? What is it ? I'm heading out right now, do you want a goodbye kiss ?"

"Isn't that supposed to be the opposite ?"

"Maybe but I'm not so difficult."

"I take notes."

"Hurry and tell me, what do you need ?"

"Yes, I meant to ask you if I should head over to Hikari's shop to review tonight's "errand" once more. If so I would get ready to head out right now."

"Good idea but don't bother. I'll call Hikari and ask her to meet you here, so rest some more you deserve it."

"O-ok.. Thank you, I'll leave it to you then."

"Yeah, but when you too are done make sure you fax the detailed plan to the other four. Your phones and wristbands can be hacked, but they should never suspect us if we fax our documents. In the worst case scenario in which they happen to learn how we communicate, they still should need some time to understand how that works and why we've done that, which means, as long as we act fast and end it quickly, there should be no problem."

"Understood."

"Very well, then I'll be off."

"Have a safe trip."

Since Hanami allowed me to, I'll gladly go back to bed for one or two hours. 

                                                               ________

"HAAAA-RUUUU-KAAAAA ! Wake up it's noon already !"

"You don't need to yell, I wasn't sound asleep."

"Good, then hurry and let's do what I came here for so I can go back to the shop before it gets dark."

"It won't take this long for me to explain it, and you already have heard about the general idea already. By the way didn't you close the shop for the day ? Why would you hurry ?"

"Oh that ? I simply wouldn't want to miss even an hour of potential income."

"Soon enough you won't need to worry about money anymore, plus I doubt a shop like yours has that much customers in this day and age."

"I was just kidding, and yeah you are right. But you see, most of the customers I have are people in their sixties or beyond, and they are just so sweet. They won't necessarily come to buy anything and we usually end up chatting over a cup of coffee, but that's what matters the most to them, this contact. I have to say in this cybernetic era and in this city in particular, social interactions become quite rare unless you are part of a community such as the gambling addicts or the gamers. So the people who don't find themselves in such groups, can end up feeling lonely. And that's what most of my customers feel."

"It strikes me as obvious now that you say it, but I admit that thanks to Hanami, Shion, my activites, and the rest of the squad, I never felt lonely lately. And since we share the common trait of enjoying to meet in person instead of making use of the current technology, I tend to forget about it."

"There you have it anyway, and I also do like the company of these people I meet thanks to my job, so it's not just a service I offer them."

"I greatly respect that. Then let's not waste any more time and dive into the matter at hand."

"I'll be in your care."

"Alright, first our objective today is to take control over the tower. As to how we will proceed, l'll list the different steps. First step, Hanami will contact Minamoto Hideyoshi's secretary and she will announce her will to buy the Stella Academy from them. This manoeuver should make that secretary leave the tower with some men. Second step, Makoto will cause a ruckus in the private casino from the first district after Shion and Tanabe have helped him get in as a guest to the Ashikagas. This will attract attention and hopefully some high ranked guards from the tower."

"Question ! "

"Go ahead."

"What kind of act will Makoto perform in order to force this much people to look his way ?"

"You must have heard how he has been building up his fame in this city's gambling business in the last two years, yes ?"

"I did hear some rumors, but I have to admit I did not pay too much mind to it. And I don't use social medias either."

"Ok then to put it simply, due to his initial circumstances he was thrown into this small world. But instead of trying to escape this duty he had been given, he decided to turn it to his  advantage. Luckily this city's rules are convenient to this effect. So what did he do ? He started training harder and harder to the point where he could almost freely choose his opponents.
Which leads you to the weight of his name nowadays in the gambling world. He has made billions of yen in the span of about two years."

"I see, but some things are still bugging me. Firstly, how are the people so rich in this city ? And also, why would he keep on gambling when he already has earned more than enough to sit back and live comfortably for the rest of his life ?"

"The answer for your first question is as simple as it is revolting. They made a huge profit out of the war, and since there remains only around twenty percent of Japan's pre-war population right now and Fukuoka's inhabitants represent five percent of the whole, they are free to keep their money for themselves."

"Disgusting."

"You said it. Now about your next question, you need to know that Makoto is quite selfless. In fact he did stack up some of the money he earned and also gave a portion to his family, but the rest which represents something like sixty percent of his earnings, he redistributed them to the poor or the people struggling from their standing in their familes."

"This sounds wonderful, like a Robin Hood of modern times, but isn't that often a waste ?
I mean, it is far from uncommon to see poor people being given large sums of money just for them to end up spending it unwisely to say the least. Well, I guess he must be so certain he would be winning just as much the next time around that he wouldn't care too much, but still."

"I can see where you are coming from, but Makoto goes one step further self satisfaction and feeling like he did a good deed. Remember what I said ? He's selfless. Of course the combination of someone spending most of his time in casinos and him being selfless certainly sounds odd, but he's the living example of that reality. To get to the point, he in fact only gives out money to people through gambling. This is easy for him to spot the difference between someone gambling for his life, and someone gambling for the thrill of it. However, it is still not enough for Makoto. He is looking for those who when in a tough situation in the game, will not give up easily. He makes sure to test the people he plays with, and if the person is not one of his targets, he will leave some openings and see how his opponent reacts. If they are puting their all against both adversity and the odds, they will receive compensation for their effort. 
That is how Makoto works."

"Wow. I have to say it truly feels like hearing about the hero from a story set in a post apocalyptic era."

"I do think so as well, but since I had the chance to observe him several times from up close, I can guarantee you those are not just rumors or enhanced stories."

"I will trust you. In any case, I want to believe in it. And if Hanami-san decided to side with him too, It cannot be for nothing."

"You are right."

"Thank you for answering my questions. You can now proceed to the rest of today's plan."

"Don't mind it. Then let's move on to the third step. This time it will concern your task."

"I'm all ears."

"Your job will be to go down to the hidden basement under your shop and to lead the androids stored there through the sewers with all the equipment available there, from guns to bullet-proof jackets and most importantly the holographic decoy devices."

"Understood, but once I am out of the tunnels who should I meet ?"

"Listen and do not be afraid, there will be bandits and thugs. I contacted them through an acquaintance of sort, and they are willing to help us raid the tower and restrain the people from the first district."

"I would lie if I said I was ready to trust you blindly on that one, but since it is you I will try my best to remain calm and achieve this duty of mine."

"Thank you, that's all I needed to hear. Now onto the next step. This time it will be my turn to act. I will enter the tower and ask if I can meet Minamoto Hideyoshi-sama. If I have to pay my way up I will do so. In the meantime, Ayumu the bandit's leader, will prepare to raid the ground floor. When I give them the signal, they will do so, allowing the rest of you to join me when you are done with ur tasks. And this will act as the last step."

"Pretty straightforward plan in the end. We split their forces as much as possible and enter through the main gate casually. Truly sounds like an Hanami plan."

"True enough. And the main point, you did well to point that one out, will be to act as casually as if running an errand. And that is exactly where lies the main difficulty of our plan considering its perpetrators."

"Very true indeed."

"Alright then let's get started. I will fax the details to the rest of the squad and contact Hanami when everything is set up."

"Then I'll head back to the store and check if everything is still in order in the basement before re-opening."

"Good call, then contact me if anything is missing or if you need any help or further explanation."

"Goit it, then until tonight."

Perfect, everything seems ok on my hand now all that is left is to make sure everyone receive their part of the plan and is available at any given time within the next few hours left before we start.

Bip bip bip....bip bip bi-

"Hello Shion ?"

"Haruka-san I am sorry I bring bad news."

"What is it ?"

"It's Tanabe-san. He decided to side with the enemy.."

"What do you mean ?"

"It appears that he grew close to Igarashi Junpei, the man sent as a bodyguard for our family. And the problem is that he was recommended by Minamoto Hideyoshi himself."

"I see, and did Tanabe told you anything or did he just leave his duty behind or something ?"

"He did come to me to apologize and asked me to pass the message. He said that he decided to follow Junpei-san since their goal are very similar and that he wanted to help Junpei-san reach his own objective even if it meant to momentarily side with the "bad guys"."

"Then we will be missing a very good asset.."

"I truly beg your forgiveness, I should not have allowed him to wander freely outside of his work."

"No you don't need to shoulder the blame alone. If we had been able to offer Tanabe a more reassuring and strong support, he would have invited Junpei to join him instead I am sure. So it's our fault to have neglected such an important matter."

"I understand. Then if you'll excuse me, I have to go back to work quickly before anyone catches me. I would not want to compromise our plans any further by delaying the timing of our attack."

"Thank you for your report, good luck for your remaining hours, stay safe and contact me again if anything relevant happens."

"Will do."

This certainly sucks, but thankfully Shion is over there too so it should not be that much of an issue to carry on with Makoto infiltration. However I do need to contact Hanami quickly to inform her of the situation.