Clockwork Planet: Volume 1 Page 11

  That was her intention when she began the “interrogation,” but—

  By the latter half, she had become wanton.

  Stabbing the man with the syringe was despicable of her. There had been no reason to do it. It was simply to dispel her frustration. It was nothing but an emotional outburst of violence. It was indignation towards someone who had abandoned his duty and responsibility of rescuing twenty million people.

  And also...

  “Repair it in forty-two hours? That’s impossible... How many tens of trillions of parts do you think there are?!”

  It was indignation towards herself for catching herself wanting to run away in the same manner upon bearing that same duty and responsibility.

  Her lips trembled.

  “Oh, God...”

  Marie hadn’t believed in God. At least, she had never believed in any gods who had been named by humans. Marie had come this far by putting her faith in human reasoning and intelligence.

  However. Even so. Revelations had descended upon her before—Marie knew of times when she had racked her brain in crucial moments and the gears in her head suddenly and subtly clicked. She believed that beyond a sharpened mind and logic lay an existence unfathomable by humans.

  Marie lifted her face up slowly, after which she stood up.

  “—I’ve gotta go... In any case, right now, I can’t waste even a single second.”

  After all, divine favor is only bestowed after one has exerted oneself to the fullest.

  Wiping away whatever it was that had formed at the corners of her eyes, Marie began heading towards the twenty-fourth floor.

  Chapter Three / 11 : 45 / Conflict

  “Why did things turn out this way...”

  The time: lunchtime on a weekend. The place: a burger shop on Shijou Street.

  RyuZU asked Naoto, who was lying face-down on the table and looking totally worn out, “Master Naoto, are you aware of the phrase ‘fine feathers make fine birds’?”

  “Yeah, I know its meaning. I feel a sense of spite from you bringing it up to me, though,” Naoto answered in a groan. He looked completely different than usual.

  He was wearing his school uniform, denim shorts and a black shirt, that he had worn day in and day out, but in place of the cheap, overworn sneakers he usually wore with it were black leather boots—which, despite their simple design, were rather tasteful. His voluminous, ruffled hair been turned into a neatly trimmed shorter cut that curled outwards.

  At this point, no matter how one looked at it, Naoto had become a “stylish person,” a fellow comrade of normies.

  ...In appearance, at least.

  “I didn’t know what to expect when you told me we were heading out in the morning, but... being thrown into a barbershop, then taken all over the place shopping has made me seriously tired...”

  “Master Naoto, it wasn’t a barbershop, but a beauty salon.”

  “How are they any different?” Naoto grumbled as he raised his face.

  RyuZU, who was sitting facing him, was attracting all sorts of attention from the crowd in the store.

  I guess that’s a given.

  After all, RyuZU was “inhumanly” beautiful.

  She had lustrous silver hair that swayed softly, a face as white as snow, and eyes that glittered gold. On top of that, her ephemeral limbs made her appear like an angel even when she was simply sitting.

  However, RyuZU paid no heed to those gazes of admiration, saying, “With all due respect, Master Naoto, this much personal grooming is a given. I think your shabby looks would go to waste if you wore only your school uniform every day, forever.”

  “I have no idea what I’d be wasting if that’s the case, but...” Naoto said as he exhaled a small sigh. “Well, it’s true that loitering about until nighttime in my school uniform would be a bad idea... but wouldn’t a go-to of mine like Uniloq or Shimumara have been fine?—”

  “Master Naoto, to look good in Shimumara or Uniloq would require both a befitting flair and face.”

  “D, Don’t say face...” Naoto said in a trembling voice, but RyuZU ignored him.

  She continued. “Should inadequates pick something out half-heartedly, they would have even their financial sense questioned, much less their looks and taste, making their inadequacy all the more apparent. Though admittedly, to be daft enough to deliberately challenge oneself like that despite everything would be sublime in a way.”

  “...RyuZU, aren’t you awfully well-informed despite having been asleep for two hundred years? Did you look this up in the manga cafe?”

  “Yes, that is a part of it. However, it is also that both brands have existed since a thousand years ago, and it does not seem like they have changed their direction much during my slumber, either.”

  “Wow... Those brands have had that kind of public image since a thousand years ago?”

  RyuZU nodded; however, Naoto suddenly tilted his head.

  “By the way, I guess this is late, but how did you find the money to gladly pay for these boots and my haircut?”

  “I raised it,” RyuZU answered with a calm face, but Naoto knit his eyebrows.

  “—More specifically?”

  RyuZU smiled sweetly and presented Naoto’s passbook to him.

  ...Now that I think about it, I’ve left her with my passbook the whole time, haven’t I, he remembered.

  He had completely forgotten about it. Naoto opened his passbook for the first time in a while.

  “——”

  He froze.

  Looking at the zeroes, there were one, two, three.................. there were a lot of them.

  “M-M-M, Miss Ryu, Ryuryuryuryuryuryu, Ryu RyuuuRyuuu, Ryuuu, ZU?”

  “Master Naoto, no matter how impressed you are by my abilities as the pinnacle of all this world’s automata, you need not have expressly sang my name in praise with such awful musical sense.”

  “That’s not it at all! Rather, huh? Like, is this for real? What? How...?” Naoto spurted out in such a fluster that his pronunciation turned awry.

  RyuZU pityingly gazed at him in such a state. “Master Naoto, please rest assured, by no means will we end up being chased by the police.”

  “Umm, that explanation only makes me more uneasy, you know.” With an eye half-closed, Naoto asked, “Seriously, what’s up with all this money?”

  “While it may have been impudent of me, I took the liberty of putting Master Naoto’s paltry savings to work.”

  “By investing... uh, with just that little to start with?”

  “A credit-based economy is but the generic term for financial systems in which it is possible to generate wealth out of nothing when taken to the extremes. If one has a thorough knowledge of the structure of the system and the intelligence to navigate it, accumulating this much money is not even a trifle of trouble.”

  —There’s no way that’s how she got the money.

  So Naoto thought, but if he pressed her, he’d probably end up discovering the truth, which he’d rather not know. He kept his mouth shut.

  RyuZU smiled with the face of an angel.

  “In any case, as you can see, we need not worry anymore as far as finances are concerned. Hereafter, I shall pay for expenses like Master Naoto’s food and clothing, so you can lead a life that can at least be considered civilized. As such, please do not worry about the future. Enjoy the life of a kept man—excuse me, I mean a life of luxury.”

  “...Didn’t you say ‘kept man’ just now?”

  “No? Even if I did increase your savings by a more than a hundredfold, the capital did come from Master Naoto’s savings, so this wealth is all yours. Even if you were to blow through it like a kept man would, there would not be even a sliver of justification for you to be called a kept man, you kept man.”

  Naoto collapsed without a word.

  ...A kept man, huh... I’m a kept man, huh...

  ...And I’m not even the kept man of a woman I seduced, but an automaton.

  RyuZU, who was in to
p form, sprinkled the salt on from above his head.

  “If Master Naoto were not in the poorest segment of society, or more specifically, if you had even a single usable bill in your wallet, I would not have had to do this, you know.”

  “But I did! If I withdrew some savings, I would have had some!”

  “In that situation, I believe you would have exhausted all your savings the moment you entered the beauty salon.”

  “Spending that much money on a measly haircut is bizarre! It’s just gonna grow back in no time!”

  “It’s a necessary expenditure,” RyuZU declared. “—Even though Master Naoto is shabby, short, and suffering destitution as a sacrifice of capitalism and democracy, if I do not have you keep up a minimal level of grooming as my master, then as your follower, my caliber will be questioned.”

  “...Ah—” Naoto nodded.

  Now that I think about it, it’s true that the absurd number of gazes that gather on RyuZU invariably focus on me afterwards.

  —As if to say, “Why this chump?”

  “I see. I get it now. I’ll pay more attention from now on so I don’t embarrass myself or you.”

  “—Also, it was an expression of gratitude for the other day.”

  “Gratitude? Did I do something to be thanked for?”

  “If it is not in your memory, feel free to forget what I said just now.”

  After that, they exited the burger shop and began walking through the shopping district, heading towards the station; however, Naoto stopped when they came across a flowery-looking boutique aimed at young women.

  Staring fixedly at a set of frilly dresses displayed behind a pane of glass, Naoto called out, “RyuZU, wait up a bit.”

  “...Master Naoto, if you are interested in cross-dressing, please mention that from the start. A dress wouldn’t go well with the clothes I’ve chosen f—”

  “That’s not it! Forget that and come with me for a bit.”

  Naoto pulled the venom-spewing RyuZU by her hand and entered the store.

  “Welco—whoa,” the clerk who had come out from the back cut herself off, and her eyes widened as soon as she saw RyuZU.

  Naoto had already gotten used to that kind of reaction since they got it wherever they went, so he ignored it and approached the mannequin that was being displayed through the window and checked the price tag.

  “......Hey, RyuZU, could you wear this for me?”

  “Are you telling me to undress myself on the spot? Never mind, it is not a problem. Meeting the needs of my master is also a part of my—”

  “Quit intentionally misconstruing me! Use the dressing room! Excuse me, she’d like to try on this set of clothes.”

  “Huh?! Ah, r-r-right, please wait a moment.”

  The clerk who had been enchanted by RyuZU came back to her senses and began moving.

  After watching her disappear to the back, RyuZU began suspiciously, “...What is the meaning of this?”

  “Nothing really. Look, just try it on.”

  “Do you mean to say that you are displeased with my usual attire?” RyuZU said as she spread her arms out.

  Indeed—Though RyuZU was wearing a school uniform now, she also had the set of clothes she had originally worn: a black, classic dress with ample amounts of frills and lace that seemed to have been woven and tailored from the darkness of the night.

  That was probably why she hadn’t paid any attention to her own clothes, but—

  Naoto smiled upon seeing the clerk return with the clothes to try on. “I think your usual dress looks good, too. It’s okay, just try this on.”

  “...Certainly.”

  RyuZU looked grudging and reluctant as she entered the dressing room with the clothes.

  Shortly after,

  “—Is this fine?”

  The curtain was pulled back.

  Even the female clerk who snuck a peek gasped in amazement at the sight of RyuZU.

  A velvety, lustrous white camisole, a pink skirt made of cloth that had been layered several times over, and a shawl that was the same shade of pink. Every one of them left a gentle, light impression on the viewer, as if one were looking at a carefully wrapped confectionery.

  “Yeah, I was right. It looks really good on you!” Naoto smiled enthusiastically, but RyuZU seemed hesitant.

  “...Is that really so? I do not think this is proper wear for a servant, but...”

  “That’s not true. Miss RyuZU, you really are the best.”

  “However, if I walk alongside Master Naoto like this, it would be as if, rather than a servant... Never mind. Now then, I would like to receive an explanation any time now.”

  “Explain what? Why I had you try this on?”

  “As far as other matters that require an explanation, one would be why Master Naoto’s critical thinking skills require him to ask.”

  “Because, I mean, I’m having so much fun. It’s like we’re on a date,” Naoto answered with a serious look, to which RyuZU made a sour face, as if she had just inadvertently chewed on bitter pills by the dozens.

  “......Master Naoto, do you call bringing your watch along on a walk ‘having a date with your watch’? Your language interpretation is awfully profound and novel, I see.”

  “Hmm? You sure say some strange things. It’s not like you’re a watch, RyuZU.”

  “In that case, what am I?” RyuZU tilted her head slightly and sharply exhaled. “What am I to Master Naoto?”

  “A super cute automaton girl.”

  RyuZU opened her eyes wide at Naoto, who had answered without a moment’s pause. “......Cute, you say?”

  “Yeah! I may have no eye for my own clothes, but I do have an eye for automata! I’m confident enough to assert this: The cutest automaton in this universe right now is you, RyuZU!”

  “...Without even a point of reference to compare me to, how can you assert that I’m the cutest in the uni—”

  “It’s a self-evident truth!!” Naoto declared without wavering, then seemed to suddenly realize something as he gushed, “Ahh, but I’d like to play around with your hair a bit as well. You have such beautiful hair, after all.”

  Naoto reached his hand forward and began playing around with RyuZU’s hair. She wriggled her body, her face seeming to say that she felt a bit ticklish. Just then—

  “Ah—”

  RyuZU was taller than Naoto, and when he extended his hand towards her head, he ended up tripping over the step of the dressing room, whose floor was slightly elevated above the rest of the store.

  The curtain that he’d tried to grab onto in a fluster slipped right out of his hands, causing Naoto to dive right into both the dressing room and RyuZU’s bosom.

  RyuZU, who ended up being pushed down and having Naoto’s face buried in her chest, remarked in a dispassionate tone, “...I see. So you had an advanced calculation like this in mind. Allow me to applaud you, Master Naoto. I am forced to admit that this schemed sexual harassment surpassed my calculations.”

  “What? No, that’s not it okay!”

  Naoto abruptly popped his head up. RyuZU gazed at him coldly.

  “As I suspected, do the organisms known as humans only exhibit abilities that exceed their own limits when pursuing base and vulgar lust, after all?”

  “No, that’s... Ahh, ugh, I can’t deny that in all cases, but...”

  “—So what do you plan to do now?”

  “Huh? What do you mean?”

  “After purposefully pulling the curtain closed as you fell, shoving me down in an isolated room and panting roughly through your nose as you enjoyed my breast components to your fill, surely you do not plan to pass this all off as a coincidence.”

  “Err, I do actually. Is that bad?”

  “Right, that is bad.” RyuZU breathed out a small sigh, then said, “...Well, it is fine, I guess. I cannot help but admire how you wrung that meager intelligence of yours to one-up me through deception—Please state your demand. What is it you desire?”

  “Eh? I
t’s okay for me to demand something?”

  That very moment, the capability of humans to exceed their own limits that RyuZU had mentioned just before manifested itself in full force as thoughts hopelessly oozing with worldly desires ran amok in Naoto’s mind.

  All just to pick out the most suitable option from his endless sea of desires.

  —In all sincerity, men are an incorrigible bunch.

  “Th, Then... how about you start by stripping down?” Naoto pressed RyuZU as he made a fondling gesture with both hands, wiggling his fingers deviously.

  ●

  “............”

  Right now, the woman was exceedingly troubled.

  She worked at a boutique marketed towards teenage girls.

  Though her friends told her she looked like a college student, she wasn’t an employee of the store. She was its full-fledged owner, and the merchandise on display was all items she had meticulously and proudly selected herself.

  The selection at the store was a mass of frills and laces that one might end up dismissing as simply sweet, white, or gothic lolita, but the clothes here were completely incomparable to the cheap imitations of the fashion used in cosplays. The only lolita clothes here were ones that measured up to her professional standards.

  “For starters, lolita fashion is a burst of imagination that expresses the fleeting, innocent sweetness of a young maiden...” —Once she began talking, she couldn’t stop. The store was packed with that passion and taste of hers.

  Now then, it was just a short while ago that a couple consisting of a girl who was a drop-dead beauty and a boy who was, eh, cute for the effort he put in entered the store she was so proud of.

  When she’d brought them the set of clothes that the boy had requested, the beautiful girl had kindly unveiled herself wearing the outfit marvelously, which had made the store owner inadvertently let out a sigh of wonder.

  Ahh, that’s right. It’s precisely for this kind of girl that I’ve gathered all these clothes.

  ...However—

  The couple was acting strange. When the owner had heard a clamor in the dressing room and took a look, she found that the boy had plunged into the beautiful girl’s stall, after which he’d simply remained in there without coming out.