Chapter 175: Budding Rebellion.

Decision made, I went back to my seat. Of course, it was knocked over but after reorienting it, I proceeded to get an explanation. It was rather detailed. And the one speaking, surprisingly, was Usagi.

As for Nathaniel, while I was speaking with Usagi he was cleaning up. Getting his desk back in shape, doing his best to collect his things and scattered papers. While I listened, I watched, gleaning what information I could from the man as he worked.

Surprisingly, I learned quite a bit. Nathaniel was not the confident sort. I hadn’t really noticed it when I first arrived, but the man had no air of authority. It could be argued that my chastisement might be part of the issue, only, it was clear Nathaniel had other issues.

He was a bit of a perfectionist. Awkward too. There was a subtle way in which he shrunk in on himself, as if to make himself smaller. The sweat on his brow was not only from exertion, but fear, perhaps even anxiety. His eyes darted to face me, and each time he jolted like a cat sprayed with water when our eyes met.

It was amusing in a way, but as I watched him work, I didn’t feel any kind of kinship. Nor did I even feel an ounce of empathy for the man. If anything, I only felt contempt.

“So… you’re telling me, you gave him an exemption from the tutorial?” I voiced out the most glaring reason for my contempt.

“Indeed, Pyon! Sure, he could have joined the tutorial if he wanted too, but we weren’t going to treat him like the rest of you, Pyon, Pyon!”

I did my best to keep the loathing from poisoning my tone. “And why is that? Why him?”

“Because his magic is almost worthless in combat, Pyon! At least, as it is now, Pyon, Pyon. And though rare, there are magical girl’s that come into the city with specialist powers like him, Pyon, and in these cases it’s better to leave them to their devices, with some restrictions, Pyon!”

“What restrictions?” My voice made Nathaniel tremble.

“Well for one, he can’t use his power all willy nilly, Pyon. There are ways he could brute force his power to affect the citizenry, and those are banned, Pyon!”

Usagi continued to lay out the restrictions and most of them were fairly simple. He couldn’t brute force his magic, yes, but also, he couldn’t create slaves, or force people, especially those close to other magical girls into harming others.

Really, the rules sounded more like an attempt at making fair play. After all, with a power like his, Hypnotism, which was a sub-type of mental type magic, and part of mind control and such, he could do a lot without restrictions. Even with the other limitations at play.

“Tell me Nathaniel, how does your magic work exactly?” I asked, Usagi had given me some information, but I’d rather hear it from the person himself. “And don’t bother lying, after all, I’m sure Usagi would just love to tattle on you.”

Usagi giggled, making the already pale Nathaniel pale even further.

“I, well…” He stammered, “It’s not like I can snap my finger and control people. That’s not how my power works.”

“Not yet, Pyon.” Usagi interjected.

He worked his jaw to reply back but couldn’t find the words. “Continue with your explanation.” I say waving him on.

“My power is a bit more nuanced than that… I… I get a sense for how people feel about me, like a relationship meter from a dating game. If that makes any sense…”

“I have no idea what that is.” I answer back, he works his jaw.

“I… really? I mean, okay, well, uh…” Again, he flounders, “Well, I can sense how people feel about me and well, I can, uhm, when I give them things, or give them compliments I can make them feel better about me? Under the right circumstances, I can multiply these effects and when they hit certain thresholds, I can make them better or worse at things, or change their minds, slightly…”

“And if this supposed meter fills to the max?” My words crack into him like a whip, nearly sending him toppling over.

He stammers; eyes glance at Usagi before shutting his eyes. For a moment, he stops. Settles himself, his shuddering frame calms, and when he again opens his eyes, he doesn’t look confident, just resigned.

“At max affection I lock them in, and I can make a much larger array of changes. At least, that’s the case for citizens, as for others like us… well… It’s a bit iffy. I’m not too confident in what I could do, but I think I can adjust talents around when it hits a certain point, or when given permission?”

I think. I tap my fingers on the desk in an irregular rhythm. With no rhyme or reason. I can tell it bothers him as he fidgets. However…

Casually, I grip the now broken metronome he’d placed on his desk and chucked it at the still working clock behind the man. The broken metronome clocks it perfectly. Taking it down, where the batteries scatter about, silencing the clock for good.

Now all there was, was the beat of my fingers on his desk. The tone shifted. My eyes took him in.

Nathaniel had arrived about when I did, only, his story had been much more different. Having been placed here, he’d done his best, pulled his way up. Usagi had been sparse on what he had done, but I could imagine what he’d do. After all, he wasn’t the imaginative sort.

“Now, let me make a prediction…” I started, Nathaniel, stiff as a board nodded woodenly. “When you arrived, you started to suck up to the division leader here. With your magic, you managed to gain a bit of a foothold and started restructuring the division which is what led to this division’s unprecedented success. I also imagine, using your position, you were able to worm yourself into being the in-between for this division and Terada, am I right?”

He nods. “You… are… how did you?”

I cut him off. “Problem is, you got a bit too big for your britches, you thought your position was more solid than it was, and at a critical moment, you whispered in his ear and let me guess, it all went wrong?”

Again, he nods less like a human and more like a chicken pecking at rice.

“Now… elaborate.”

And… so he did. It was mostly boring. Sickening even, listening to how he bent over backwards, uncaring for his dignity as he essentially worshipped the ground the division lead walked on. He’d lavishly spent on not only gifts for the lead, but on those he thought he could poach, only to end in failure, though… The how of it was rather interesting.

“We’d already hammered out a deal with your division, but at the last minute we had the second division leader, well, the newly promoted leader, he approached the division head here and, I don’t know what happened exactly, but the pair made a deal. A big one.”

“And this deal was?” I questioned.

“I don’t know the specifics, but we’re getting a lot of money flowing into the division. Those directly under the division lead were given all new setups, and it has only furthered the divide between groups here in the fourth division. He’s also recruited an unprecedented number of people and seems on pace to slowly push out everyone not on his side.”

I leaned forward. “For what purpose? This seems a bit much for just some extra work.”

“It is.” He answered back. “And honestly, everyone knows about you, your project. A lot of people talk about it, and plenty of rumors have been spread, especially with how you met the executive. Something that very few people can attest to doing.”

“Is it really that rare?”

“Yes.” Nathaniel starts. “He’s only known to meet with division heads, or with the shareholders on a regular basis. To meet with you, a troublesome employee, and considering your work history and notes, well, a lot of people thought something was up, that you were either in bed with him, or related to him.”

He winced as I glared at him for that mention of being in bed with him, and for the other… Honestly, us being related would make no sense. My only family belonged in the other world. Not to mention, the father I knew was nothing like that man.

His head was always bowed. Always a step behind my mother. He lacked that same presence I felt in the office. However, father had always been odd. He’d always looked at me strangely, even when he offered words in support of me, it always felt, lacking. Like he didn’t truly care if I did well or not.

Even when I was doing better than my sister, as my mother grew more irate, spending more time speaking down to my sister, telling her how she should do better, how she shouldn’t let me of all people show her up, even then, his attitude never really changed.

If anything, he’d always looked at me as if I were some kind of specimen, as if he were trying to assess something from me. Only, I never knew why he looked at me, or for what reason.

As for the executive being my father… it couldn’t be possible. Not just for the aforementioned reasons, but also because he felt nothing like him. Even if that skull he wore hid his presence, that man, that executive, he was far more than my father ever could be.

Still… the information I was given was concerning…

“Continue.” I waved him on.

“Yes, well, uhm, I don’t know too much but everyone suspects the new second division leader is making a sprint for the top. He plans to topple the first division and based on numbers alone, and what little I’ve seen, he might even succeed. Word is, he has a lot of money coming in from outside donors and shareholders that are propping him up, and he was given a slew of projects to work through.”

I hummed, “Do you think… the Dragon Gang might be funding him?”

“That is a prevailing theory. With public security going down the drain, and a multitude of other issues propping up, including the new mass investments into the boardwalk, rumor is the Dragon Gang has made some serious investments into various companies in the hopes of taking them over.”

“Concerning…” I muttered.

“It is, isn’t it?” He said. “I mean, money is money after all, but if someone backed by the Dragon Gang manages to become an executive, we could be in serious trouble.”

I didn’t disagree. But probably not for the same reason… It also didn’t answer the most important question…

“What made you break your ties with the fourth division head? Surely you could have rode his coattails to the top? Just staying by his side would likely have ensured that you’d work your way up the ladder. So, why? What made you turn against him?”

Nathaniel didn’t answer back, not immediately. He worked his jaw, clenched and unclenched his hands. I could tell he was working towards something, his eyes darting to the still present Usagi, whom seemed to be taking extreme joy from this encounter.

Eventually though, he settled on something. “I didn’t want that… If I had stuck by his side, I’d always be bowing and scraping, I’d never have achieved anything. It would, honestly, just be like my last life. So, I… I tried to get him to stick with you, I thought, of everybody, sticking with you was a sure bet and well, he didn’t like that. I lost everything at that moment, all the benefits I built up, and even though some people left and joined with me, those that did were already on the way out.”

That… I could understand. Still…

“What is your goal?” I asked.

“I want to change things… How this whole system is run, how everyone here is cycled through and discarded. It was how my old life went, just another body, another disposable piece.”

“A revolution then?” I said, he nods.

I didn’t speak. No, I took my time to mull over what I’ve just been told. Nathaniel’s words cemented my opinion of the man. That he was a liability. A danger, a threat. He was someone that I needed to eliminate, at some point or another.

Yet, with one glance I knew, I understood fully why Usagi had intervened. After all, I had no chance of killing him, not yet, not now. He was too pivotal, too useful to me right now.

I needed him, even if he was dangerous. After all, a revolution could help shake the corporate structure up, and give me a chance to climb…

His attitude though, was a problem. Perhaps he could have been useful if he were a bit more confident. Bringing in others, making the most of them, bolstering our ranks. Creating an army of productive workers. Contesting for the throne with him at my back would be far too ease, yet, even then, I’d have to be afraid of him. Afraid of his power, how deep it could infect the ranks.

At least then, I knew I could play into his personality. I could leash him in some form or another, but as he was, his wish, his desire. It was to fundamentally change the system. I could give him some ground as the new exec, but that would never be enough. He’d keep pushing and pushing. Until I am either dethroned, or until he dies.

As it was, I did need him. And that frustrated me. Especially when I see just how incompetent this man is. After all, he’d lost everything. He had little to no value as he was. Not only would I have to work with him, but…

I would have to throw myself behind him and his ideals…

With a stifled groan, I buried down the bile in my throat. I clenched down hard, dousing in ice that bubbling rage, and I made the best decision.

“What do you need? Explain your position.”

So, he did.

It wasn’t great, as anticipated. Yet, knowing how his magic worked, well, I was sure it could work. Even if the man himself was a failure in all aspects.

The hurdles were as followed, old, extremely outdated equipment. A few, but motivated followers. Fools that believed in his ideals, that the system could be changed. However, motivation didn’t make up for lack in talent and numbers, at least, normally.

As it was, these issues could easily be resolved. A work order, especially of the magnitude we needed, would make it a cinch for him to recruit. The flow of money and benefits would keep his followers around and grow his base. And inevitably, those that join under him will be read in on his little revolution and added to his ranks, not unless Nathaniel flubs it, but, honestly, beyond this project I didn’t care.

As for equipment?

“We recently changed out our own equipment, I can make sure the older equipment is donated to your team, which should help.” I started and like that, piece by piece, we hammered out the deal. And as it came to an end, I gave him my final bit of advice. “And Nathaniel…” I said, standing by the entrance to his little office. He looked up at me from his desk. “You would benefit immensely from some sincerity in your actions.”

He looked confused until I stood across from him, my hand stretched out over the desk.

“My name’s Prima. Prima Belle.” I said, he glanced at it, to me. he stood, slowly, surely. Uncertain. He took my hand; I clasped it hard. Tentatively he returned it back full force.

“Nathaniel.” He said back, unsure. “Nathaniel Smith.”

“I look forward to our continued cooperation.” I say, firmly, calmly, and lying through my teeth.

“I do too.” He said, his voice now firm, his stance now more solid. Assured.

“Until we meet again.” I say back.

“Until then.” He replied back, now sounding confident.

With my work done, I made my way back up to my division. The moment I arrived; I finished my part of the deal. Old computers were sent down for Nathaniel to use, all the while I sat and mused over everything I learned.

Honestly, I was stuck in a bit of an awkward position. The second division making a go for the throne meant they were in my way, and it also meant I was a potential problem for him to nip in the bud.

If he was being funded by the Dragon Gang, it meant he would have a lot of power to exert. There was also no way the executive didn’t know it and yet, he wasn’t interfering, merely letting it play out.

He probably had something planned, but it wouldn’t benefit me. No, if anything, if he had to move, it would mean I failed.

The executive clearly had eyes on my division, so it wasn’t impossible for the second division head to have eyes, or an informant here. Finding the executive’s eyes wouldn’t be possible, but… I could perhaps find the second divisions mole.

A low-key audit of my division members might reveal who the snake is. Yet, even if I knew who it was, what could I do? More pressing was, who do I entrust it to? I couldn’t do it myself. Not with all the scrutiny I was under. Especially not with how much work I had to do.

Terada was out, after all, anything that would distract him from his current objective would cause the project to slam to a halt. Samantha was a no go as well, even if I trusted her, to an extent. Mainly because I knew for a fact that she’d run off to Terada with her findings the moment she could.

I could ask Liche to keep an eye out for me, but despite her magic people would pick up on her actions. Joan was probably the best bet, but she’d be like using a chainsaw when I needed a scalpel. At least, I suspected that would be the result.

Which meant, frustratingly, the best bet right now, was to keep my eyes peeled and ears open, while pressing forward. Ready at any moment for any kind of sabotage…

And frankly, knowing what I know now, at the very least I can say I won’t be caught off-guard when something else goes wrong.

That is… assuming that the rot doesn’t go any deeper…