Translator: imperfectluck Editor: Kurisu
Wednesday, another bright and clear day…
"I'm going to die without Anna!!!"
Chiaki was howling.
She lay prostrate on Seiji's table while punching the innocent tabletop. Seiji and Mika were observing her speechlessly.
The "Anna" cell phone game was undergoing maintenance. The maintenance started last night and continued even now, which was why the tomboy was currently in such a condition.
This was the first time that the "Anna" game had ever had such a long maintenance period.
Could something have happened?
"Seigo, hurry and go find Kazuhiko Haiga! Make him release Anna! I'll pay any amount of ransom!!" Chiaki shouted.
"It's not like he's a kidnapper." Seiji gave Chiaki a sidelong glance. "Although, this situation does seem rather unusual. I guess I could try giving him a call."
After all, he did have Kazuhiko Haiga's cell phone number.
However, his call didn't connect when he attempted to dial Haiga's number.
Could something really have happened? Seiji slightly furrowed his eyebrows.
"Seigo…"
Chiaki was looking at him pitifully, as if she was a little puppy.
She was truly in love with this game and the gentle Anna that always talked to her.
"Fine then. I'll go and look for Kazuhiko Haiga after lunch." Seiji opened up his lunchbox. "Make sure to tell the teachers some excuse why I'm skipping afternoon classes."
"Seigo! I love you!!" Chiaki's eyes instantly lit up as she passionately "gave a love confession."
Mika was rendered speechless.
"I love you as well, sweetheart." Seiji played along before he started shoveling food down his throat.
He figured that he might be in time to do something if something really did happen to Haiga.
"Seigo, how about I go together with you?" Mika spoke up.
"Eh?"
"I'm your companion… the Sixth Knight." She had a serious expression as she looked at him.
"Mika…" Seiji smiled as he glanced back at her. "I'll definitely ask for your help if it's needed. But right now, I'm simply going over to check out the situation. There's no need for you to cut classes along with me."
The double pigtailed girl remained silent.
Not long after, Seiji finished eating his lunch and said goodbye to Mika and Chiaki as he left the school and headed over to Haiga's game company.
---
Haiga wasn't present at the Paperwing Game Laboratory, nor was he at his residence.
Seiji was still unable to get through to Haiga's cell phone. So, he decided to contact Natsuya and asked her to help him find out some of his coworkers' cell phone numbers. He then called these numbers to ask if anyone knew about what happened to Haiga.
As a result, Seiji learned that Kazuhiko Haiga had disappeared!
Last night, he sent all his coworkers an email, saying that he felt too much pressure and that he wanted to stop working on the "Anna" game and that he was quitting his job at Paperwing Games Laboratory. He resigned just like that.
His coworkers were astonished that he would suddenly quit like that. What they found unacceptable was that Haiga even changed the core programming of "Anna" before he left!
After Haiga changed the programming, "Anna" didn't seem quite as intelligent and responsive as she was before. She was now just like any ordinary NPC character, just like a human who had lost her soul.
This "Anna" was no longer the same "Anna." The players definitely wouldn't accept this! That would mean the end of this game.
And so, the game company's employees were searching everywhere for Kazuhiko Haiga in order to attempt at recuperating their losses. They hadn't found him anywhere yet.
Haiga directly left upon making his decision… that was how he did things.
Perhaps this was rather heartless towards his coworkers, but it was probably the best way for him to protect himself and little Anna. Seiji felt that Haiga was neither right nor wrong in doing so.
Seiji had no idea what Haiga must have been thinking or struggling with before coming to such a decision, and felt that there was no need for him to think too much into it.
A man left together with his treasure… or, perhaps another analogy would be that a father left together with his daughter, leaving everything else behind. That was all there was to it.
…Was that really all there was to it? Was he really not kidnapped?
Seiji thought about this some more. He felt that if Haiga had been attacked, little Anna, who was an artificial intelligence constantly connected to the internet, should have at least been able to send a signal for help over the internet.
And so, Seiji felt that it was unlikely that Haiga had been kidnapped and interpreted it as Haiga having left of his own volition. Seiji decided to not pursue the matter any further.
"I wish that you and Annsan will have a calm and peaceful life, Haigsan."
Seiji gave the creator of this game, who was hiding who-knows-where, his blessings and returned to school.
"How did you find me?"
Kazuhiko Haiga, who was in a hotel room, was asking a question to the young man in front of him.
This young man wore a dark brown jacket and black long pants. His long hair reached his back, he had a slightly narrow face and eyes, and his smiling expression made him resemble a fox.
"I used some special methods that I suppose you could call tricks of the trade," the young man responded warmly. He handed Haiga a name card. "Here's my business card."
Haiga took the card and saw that the name written upon it was "Shinsei Yamazaki". His supposed job was "business manager". And the company… was one that Haiga had never heard of before.
"Yamazaki-san, didn't you say that you were here on behalf of Takadsan? Why is your company's name different from his?"
"The company I belong to has a cooperative relationship with Takadsan's company. Takadsan is busy with other affairs and is unable to personally come meet you, which is why he requested that I contact you in his stead."
"Is it because you have some type of special ability to find people that don't want to be found?" Haiga looked directly at Yamazaki.
"I don't have any such special abilities. It's merely a small trick of the trade." Yamazaki smiled.
"I used all sorts of methods to avoid detection, and only chose this location after going to many other places first. Not only did I disguise my physical appearance, I also used a fake name when registering here. Yet, you were still able to find me! Such detective skills are impossible to be described as 'small tricks of the trade,'" Haiga stated coldly. "Just who are you!?"
Yamazaki maintained his smile and spoke politely, "I'm just an ordinary business manager who's here on behalf of Takadsan. We simply wish to cooperate with Haigsan on the 'Anna' game."
"I'm no longer working on that cell phone game. If you'd like to cooperate on it, feel free to find my former coworkers at the Paperwing Games Laboratory."
"I already have. However, only Haigsan's version of 'Anna' is the version of 'Anna' that Takadsan wishes to cooperate with."
"I already said that I've quit working on that game already! I refuse to work on it again no matter what. Please leave me alone, Yamazaki-san."
"Why would you wish to stop working on it, Haigsan? 'Anna' is an excellent game. As you were the game's creator, you shouldn't just give up in the middle and cruelly bury her away."
Haiga fell silent for a moment.
"I'm giving up precisely because of Anna," he stated in a low voice.
"Eh?"
"Creating an interesting game that people enjoy and love, along with earning money through this is my dream," Haiga told him. "However, Anna's existence is more important to me than my dream. Being able to live together peacefully with Anna is twice as important as my dream to me… no, countless times more important! I love Anna, not 'Anna' the game. That's why I refuse to work on 'Anna' any longer. I'll definitely never work on the game again," Haiga spoke in an adamant tone to Yamazaki.
Yamazaki fell silent for a moment before speaking up again, "I don't understand very well what you're saying, but I do clearly understand that you insist on refusing." He started frowning slightly. "Is there no room for negotiation at all? If you have any demands at all, you can make whatever request you like. We can discuss on meeting your needs."
"I have no demands at all. I've said everything I wanted to say. Please leave, Yamazaki-san."
"I can't simply leave just like this. I wouldn't be able to face Takadsan who entrusted me with this task."
"That's your problem."
Yamazaki fell silent yet again.
Even though the hotel room's window wasn't open, there was a sudden chill in the room.