Chapter 23: Searching for a new vehicle

Not three steps in and he already felt sick to the stomach. An endless number of cars was there to greet the two, parked haphazardly all over the shop’s floor like a spoiled child’s forgotten toys. That was all Jaya's shop was, anyway. A massive, brightly lit room, in stone as well, filled to the brim with automobiles of all shapes, forms, colors.

“You don’t look too well, master?” asked Suzuka, somewhat absentmindedly.

“I don’t think I’ll ever get used to this…” he sighed, trying to keep his composure even while surrounded by that absolute warzone of vehicles.

It wasn’t that they seemed dirty, broken or old, quite the opposite in fact. They looked speck-clean, most even polished to a sheen, and light reflected off their surfaces in much the same way it would off a literal mirror. It felt uncanny to look at. Utterly unreal, to be completely honest. The only thing getting in the way of the absurdly orderly air that establishment could’ve had, given different circumstances, would really be the haphazard way each of the cars on display had been placed throughout the room, not even a hint of symmetry or harmony to their placing.

Powering through his discomfort, though, he looked ahead, trying to spot whoever was running this place.

“Hello? Can we get some… huh… service, please?” he spoke up, hearing his own voice echo slightly throughout the ‘shop’.

He glanced dubiously back at Suzuka, as if to ask if she was really sure this was the right place. She simply shrugged back at him, though, then pointed past him towards one of the darker ends of the shop.

“Jaya’s generally off on some corner working on something. She’ll eventually show up to help us out, so just wait a bi–”

Before he could say anything in response, a tall middle-aged woman had suddenly skipped into view behind one of the farthest vehicles, several feet back, and waving merrily at the redheaded girl she quickly made her way over to them, not wasting a single step to reach her.

She was only slightly taller than Suzuka, wearing an extravagant business suit and her brown hair in a messy-looking braid over her shoulder. He also noticed some unusually well-defined smile lines, even from that distance.

(Hoho, she’s prepared to die, alright…)

“Suzu!! How’s the hunt been going? I haven’t heard much from you since those riots at Magna a few weeks ago!”

(Riots!? Even here, there’s no peace for anyone?)

Haruto shrugged off that first thought, as he wanted to keep his mind on track to get over with whatever he needed to in that weird dealership and beat it. He wouldn’t take a single more second in there than he needed to, since all those wheels, windshields and metal were starting to turn his stomach in circles, even though he couldn’t even remember the last time he’d eaten anything.

“Well, I’ve been… um… busy… With jobs and stuff…” the girl stammered, averting her eyes from the older woman as her face flushed all over. “A-Anyway, we came here for… well…”

He could already tell what was coming up next in the conversation, so he didn’t really blame her for acting like that.

This woman, whom he assumed to be the so-called Jaya, had then turned to face him, her look quickly shifting into one of puzzlement.

“I don’t think I’ve seen you before… Level 7? You don’t look like you’ve been around here for very long.”

“... I haven’t. In any case, we’re here to see about a car (obviously). Something practical, preferably. Good handling, acceleration… Maybe something with a seatbelt, for a change? (yeah, that would be good…) So, if you could help us out, I would be than–”

Cutting him off, though, the woman seemed to completely ignore everything he’d just said, in favor of completely derailing the conversation into the exact topic he’d been dreading the most.

“Don’t tell me…!” the woman gasped, bringing both hands over her mouth. “You’ve taken this young man for yourself?? My, my, Suzu…”

“It… It’s not like that…! I… just… uh…”

Taking advantage of the girl’s lackluster answer, the odd Jaya continued on.

(Ugh… This is why I hate people…)

“I thought it was about time you finally took in your first servant, Suzu… But a beginner like this? He doesn’t even look all that bulky, either… I didn’t know you went for that type…”

“Actually…” he interrupted. “She’s the one who’s serving me.”

“...”

The woman’s face froze, and bringing her hands to the sides of her head, she seemed to stagger slightly backwards.

“... What? You mean… Suzu!?”

Suzuka wouldn’t look at her, no matter how many times she called out

“You got defeated… by a level 7? No… If my calculations are right, you’re a complete beginner!!”

“Yes…” he sighed. “Guess I have a few lucky bones? Now, can we get back to –”

“Impossible!!!!!”

The woman started to run around wildly in circles, then dropped to the floor and went still before them, without any further elaboration.

(Is this person right in the head?)

“Look, huh, miss… I… We came here to see if we could find an appropriate vehicle for tra–”

The woman suddenly jumped back to her feet, skipping straight to the boy and getting right in his face, shamelessly interrupting him once again.

“You didn’t do anything to her, right!? You didn’t ruin my cute little Suzu, did you!? Oh, my poor little Suzu, I never thought I’d see the day someone could defeat her and turn her into a slave… And here I was wondering why she wasn’t being so talkative today… Oh, the consequences of the mercenary life, no one can escape them…”

(Oh, what’s wrong this fucking woman!? Does she want my money or not?)

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She turned to the girl next to him, getting right in her face as well, making it unable for the redhead to avoid her. The crazy lady seemed to be emulating crying and grieving, but Haruto had the very uncomfortable feeling that she was secretly having fun behind all the tragic charade. This must’ve been the kind of thing that weirdo got herself off on.

“What did he do, honey? Did he hurt you? Has he been playing with you like a toy all these time? What kinds of things have you done… I wonder?”

“He… uh… he…?”

“What did you do to my dear Suzu!?” she turned back towards him, in a very poor attempt at faking indignancy. “I bet you threw all kinds of abuse at her just to pass the time!! Heh, you must’ve had a lot of fun with that 18+ tab…”

“There’s an 18+ tab…? You know what, nevermind.” he said, taking a moment to loudly clear his throat. “For you see, I, of course, haven’t done any of those things! I am a perfect, honorable gentleman who would never hurt a lady after taking her under my wing!” he formally declared, bowing theatrically to the strange woman, purely because he could. “I am a man of principles and compassion who shall never in his lifetime abuse the power granted to him! Right, Suzuka??”

The girl suddenly turned to him, giving two weak nods.

(Except for tasing her, and nearly freezing her… And that time I literally made her explode… But does she really need to know that? Naaah…)

The tall shop owner quickly raised an eyebrow at him, seeming unconvinced at the clearly overdone statement.

“Well, you can certainly talk the talk, newbie… Heavens, I can’t believe my cute Suzuka was taken down by a newbie…”

Heaving a deep sigh, Jaya then suddenly snapped back to the conversation’s original topic, nearly killing Haruto’s confused brain from the sheer mental whiplash…

“So you came here for a car, didn’t you?”

“... I… Yes! Exactly!” he answered immediately, quietly commemorating in his own head as his words had finally seemed to reach inside that shop owner’s thick skull.

“Well, if you want handling and speed, balanced…” she said, waving her finger in the air as a bunch of overlaid menu screens appeared between the two. “A durable vehicle, too, right? I would personally narrow it down to a list… like… this.”

Moving her singer in a spinning motion, the largest of the menus quickly spun around to mimic it, presenting itself right in front of him as a list of seventeen different models, all vertically lined up. They looked fairly similar, but all with significant divergences in terms of appearance. What he couldn’t make heads or tails of at all, though, was the stats that were shown right next to the vehicles’ picture. Horsepower, number of previous owners, defensive values, gear system and a bunch of other trite.

“Huh… Suzuka?”

“L-Let’s see…” she mumbled, taking a look at the list. Her face was still heavily flushed, and she audibly struggled to speak. That whole exchange must’ve really gotten to her, he guessed. “The ideal power for you would be around 260, or higher. Brand new is the best way to go, if you want the vehicle to last, even if it costs more…Maybe… go for one of these three?”

She pointed to three different cars in the middle, similar looking but differing in some of the stats. They all looked fairly modern in design, though not the kind of vehicle you’d see often in Japan. The driver’s seat was once again on the left side for all of them. Two were listed as ‘automatic’, while the other one was dubbed ‘manual’, and considerably cheaper by about three thousand credits.

He supposed going for the cheaper option was the best way to go, if taking the leap to put his trust on Suzuka’s experience inevitably narrowed it down to those three options.

“I suppose the one in the middle would be best.” he said, pointing at the dark blue automobile, which just so happened to line up perfectly with his eyes. “But how are we going to afford 30,500 credits?”

They were still stuck with 15,400 as of now, of course. Getting over their heads wouldn’t do them any good.

“... Maybe… sell one of the motorcycles?” suggested Suzuka.

Haruto pondered for a moment, opening the inventor. He picked the bike closest to the right, which had a disturbingly gleamy golden paint job, at least according to its profile image, checking out its stats. Then, he checked out the one next to it, which was covered in both white and yellow. Finally, he glanced over to the scarlet motorcycle.

The golden bike seemed to be the one with the highest mileage, even though it was nowhere near reaching the stated limit. 34,000/150,000, only a single user in its lifetime, while the others were considerably lower. Regardless, it was also the one listed with the highest reselling value even in its current state, since the stats indicated it to be a rare model.

“Wow. 90,000 credits worth of gold. You must’ve been pretty well off, matchsticks.”

She didn’t answer simply averting her eyes again.

“I’m kinda surprised you’d be eager to trade it in so soon, though… Thing must’ve taken you some work to get your hands on, no?”

“W-Whatever, just do it…”

With a disturbingly bright expression to rat out what ran through her mind, Jaya seemed pretty content to buy the used vehicle.

“This will look quite nice on the collector’s section. With a bit more polish, of course… Heh…Hehehehehehehe…”

(Now, that’s a true motorcycle fanatic right there. Gross…)

Tapping with his finger over the vehicle listings, Haruto had made his choice. Simple but practical. It being brand new also assured there wouldn’t be any more ‘balding’ tires situations, at least in the near future.

‘Midnight Gale, brand new. Successfully acquired.’ the message popped up.

Finishing up the transaction with a few more windows, he checked his status menu to confirm the 74,900 credits now in his possession.

Looking over the vehicle inventory, there were only the two other motorcycles still left in there, though. No blue car in sight.

“Hey. It’s not showing up.”

He stared at the dubious shop owner, who kept her lively expression nevertheless.

“Did you hear me, miss? The car’s not here. What gives?”

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