Branch J-03 (before battle)

Doing our best to skirt around the crushed, gut-churning remains of the Tieqiu Crew's boss - with Sinclair barely suppressing a gag - we made it to the elevator.

Despite being the first to grouse and fuss about "insects" during our last expedition, Rodya made her way to the elevator without a word and pressed the button heading down to the basement.

And once silence descended…

Saude began hitting Rodya with a barrage of pent-up questions.

… How did you manage to win without even using any Wishpower?

No, before any of that, what made you so sure that you'll win regardless?

Yikes, hold your horses, gal… One question at a time. Okay?

With a grin, Rodya talked Saude into calming down, then slowly began to elaborate.

The Tieqiu Crew's boss had been wary of the Tingtang Gangleader before the game even began.

How did you know that? You couldn't have read the tells from his mechanical body.

He had every reason to. After all, everyone seemed to know that the Tingtang Gang owned a Wishpower extractor.

He must've been totally sure that Wishpower was gonna come into play one way or the other, regardless of who ended up playing.

So… You deliberately made it look like you were using a sticker to bait him into calling you out on it?

Yup! Then I declared I'm going all in~ I needed to appear suspiciously ballsy in his eyes.

A winning gambler creates her own momentum and rides it. Fuhu.

……

I mean, look. Even you guys thought I'd popped the wish stickers, right?

If I'm being real, at the end of the day, wish stickers and all that stuff are just hopes and desires given official-sounding labels.

To someone with unshakable faith in themselves, it's nothing more than a weird piece of paper.

That can't be true… J Corp.'s Wishpower-related tech is an officially approved semi-Singularity with widely proven efficacy.

Tens of thousands of people rely on Wishpower for every aspect of their lives…

Nothing hits the spot like a little confidence boost in this day and age, right?

But me? I'm different.

I've always believed in myself.

... To have faith is to preclude the plummeting of one's heart.

Pray tell, how does one go about acquiring such faith?

Oh, that? It's actually super simple. I'll let you in on the secret, so listen up.

Ooh…

Just think: "I'm the most awesome person in the world, so whatever anyone else says is a crock of shit!"

That certainly makes sense. Faust subscribes to that perspective as well.

……

… Perhaps I shouldn't have asked at all.

<Rodya… Don't tell me you've been taking my words as a crock of - ?>

Sadly, our merriness over this small victory was short-lived.

The cavern was filled with the sounds of pickaxes striking against craggy walls, and we saw security guards keeping strict watch over a vault,

almost as if they were trying to send us a note of warning that they weren't about to let us reach the bottom so easily.

Hold on a sec! The heck was the point of winning the game, then?!

Why do we have to be so sneaky about this? And what's up with those slaves picking away at rocks?

We technically did earn ownership, but... we don't have anything to prove that we're the winners, not to mention how we're more or less intruders to them.

In all fairness, the way we were lurking in front of the vault painted the picture of blatant thieves.

Quite the grand excavation. They sure didn't waste space - they even made spare vaults here, all the while digging a tunnel.

What an incredible sight… When my time comes, lay me to rest under a pile of cash just like that one over there. I want my last breath filled with the smell of banknotes.

By the way, about that fella at the table who gave us the up-down… Did you know him from somewhere?

… A friend from back home.

<Something tells me the history between you two runs deeper than just that.>

Greg, love, these get-togethers are always uncomfortable. Didya already forget about that one heck of a reunion you had with your former comrades?

… Can't argue with that.

There are things moving behind those bars.

Aha, I wonder if this is where they raise their pets?

… Do pets from your home usually rattle their cages like they're about to rip the bars apart?

It's the Peccatula.

<Did they think they could tame Abnormalities?>

Miss Yuri would've knocked three grown adults out cold with a scoff if she heard that.

Oh, Yuri…

It is possible, theoretically speaking.

Provided that they possess a similar level of intelligence to humans and that an empirically proven method of managing them exists, that is.

Huh… I guess they could make for excellent guard dogs if that ever works out.

Oh? On closer look, these people have fingers or other parts of their bodies bitten off.

Thankfully, he didn't add an obnoxious remark like "Is this in fashion?" this time.

… Is this in fashion these days?

<……>

Almost. Almost didn't.