Chapter 6

However, even though I agreed to teach Hagana, there were very few things among what I knew that I could explain in words. That was because I was the type who looked at daily stock prices, read the news, and traded by riding the atmosphere of the moment.

If asked why I made a certain trade, I could only say it was the atmosphere from looking at the whole picture.

So, I thought I would just talk about the standard stock trading system, but when I actually tried to explain this and that, it turned out to be surprisingly heavy labor.

Just the generally used indicators wouldn’t fit on the fingers of both hands, and when I went on to explain what they were and how they affected stock prices, it became a tremendous amount. There are things that affect stocks from a broad perspective like interest rates, exchange rates, and energy prices; and when I went down to the details like commodity markets for gold, silver, soybeans, and wheat, major stock market indices, dividends, and employment statistics or machinery orders of advanced nations, I was completely exhausted.

Come to think of it, I explained almost all at once what I had investigated one by one over several months.

Hagana memorized them one after another with incredible memory, asking, “What about this? What about that? What’s the relationship with that thing from earlier?” And she absorbed more and more.

If Lisa hadn’t told us to stop for the day midway, Hagana might have extracted every last bit of information from me even if it took until morning.

Due to that situation, the next day, I woke up to the sound of Hagana knocking on the door.

“Teach me the rest.”

Staring intently at me as I opened the door, Hagana said that while hugging a terminal.

Along with the breakfast Lisa made, I answered Hagana’s barrage of questions, occasionally stumbling over my words. There were many things I only half-remembered myself, or things I thought I understood just by hearing a little about them.

Hagana asked about every single word as if it might be a huge clue, and inputted them rapidly into the terminal. To derive an accurate conclusion, there must be accurate premises.

Hagana’s way of thinking was very mathematical.

“I have a final question.”

“Ah?”

By the time those words came out of Hagana’s mouth, I was exhausted, leaning against the backrest of the chair and looking up at the ceiling.

“Suppose I devise a method to predict the future with mathematics.”

“Yeah.”

“If so, what will Hal do?”

It was a quite harsh question, but I didn’t flinch.

“If you found the perfect answer, I guess I’d be useless.”

“…”

“But the trading is for sixty days starting today. I don’t think you’ll find it suddenly by tomorrow. In that case, I’ll be useful until you find it. Suppose you tell me with math that after this, this stock price might transition like this. I, for my part, will judge that using the methods that have generated profit so far. If both you and I think it’s a go, isn’t that pretty strong? Of course, if you find the perfect answer after that…”

I shrugged and said jokingly:

“Manage my money for me.”

Since not a single person has been able to find that perfect answer for hundreds of years, I don’t really think Hagana can find it suddenly.

However, I think she might get pretty close, and even just getting close should yield amazing profits. At the very least, just placing high in this contest will be a big plus for this church, Hagana herself, and me.

Hagana looked at me with eyes that were scary in their intelligence, and blinked once, slowly.

Then, shifting her gaze around, she said this:

“Understood.”

“Which one?”

“Both.”

Hagana answered and drank the coffee Lisa had brewed at breakfast, which had long since gone cold.

“I will predict with math. Hal will judge as Hal. And if I am correct, I will increase Hal’s money.”

“Haha, right, right.”

When I laughed, Hagana snorted a sigh as if bored.

I felt a bit annoyed, but Hagana has an aloof side, so I think maybe she just isn’t trying to force a laugh.

“However, first is the investment contest. We have to win here.”

“Yeah.”

“If we don’t start today, we can’t do the full sixty days. Today, only I will trade. Is that okay?”

“I don’t mind. But.”

“Ah?”

“If I have a question… can I ask?”

It was a unusually timid way of asking.

Her look was sharp as always, but there was something different somewhere.

“A… ah?”

When I asked back, Hagana frowned sullenly and said:

“Hal doesn’t seem to listen to people when in front of a terminal. At least, you weren’t listening to Lisa. But I also hate being disturbed when I’m thinking. That’s why I’m asking if it’s okay.”

My face naturally relaxed.

Because it felt like a miracle that Hagana would care about such a thing.

“Yeah, probably okay.”

“Probably?”

Hagana asked, frowning further.

I said it a little meanly.

“If you approach me poorly, my hand might move on its own.”

And I made a feinting motion.

Hagana seemed to remember accidentally feeding Lisa an elbow strike yesterday.

She made a face of utter disgust, but her usual stubbornness appeared immediately.

“In that case, I’ll hit back.”

“The shin you kicked is still swollen, you know.”

“Guh.”

Hagana flinched and looked like she was about to cry for a moment.

Flying off the handle, doing this and that, and then regretting it—Hagana is completely a child. I feel a sense of affinity, to say the least.

“So, when you call me, use something other than your foot.”

“…”

Hagana stared at me resentfully, and then nodded slowly.

“Understood.”

“Right. Then, it’s about time to trade.”

I turned back to the screen, and Hagana stared at me.

“Actually, want to watch the trading?”

Hagana nodded without the slightest hesitation.

Looking around the contest information published on the dedicated SNS, I found several strange stocks in the virtual exchange where the contest was being held.

For example, there were some where you could guess what they did from the company name, like “Farmer Products” or “Material Industry,” but there were also stocks that were just symbols like “A,” “B,” or “C.”

Opinions on the net varied from “they didn’t make it in time for the contest” to “there must be some reason.” Also, there were many cases where information written for one stock wasn’t written for others.

The stocks I focused on for trading weren’t those quirky ones, but a group of stocks that seemed to imitate real companies. Other guys also seemed to choose accessible stocks to trade, so stocks that seemed familiar from real trading were all actively traded and had large volumes.

The moment trading started, I opened multiple screens of the dedicated trading tool, switching them until my eyes flickered at the limit, checking the movements of multiple stock prices at furious speed. I wasn’t grasping all movements accurately, but chasing multiple stocks simultaneously, patterns eventually became visible.

This stock moves fast. This one is slow. Or otherwise, it’s reacting to exchange rates, or it’s linked to index movements—I started to understand various habits.

The one I caught was a stock particularly linked to an index.

Even in the virtual exchange, just like the real market, something like an indicator to grasp the atmosphere of the entire market was prepared.

For example, in reality, there is the Lunar Securities Exchange Stock Price Average Index, calculated by taking the weighted average of stock prices of 150 major stocks selected from those listed on the Lunar Securities Exchange. It represents the price movement of the entire market and is an important value referenced in some special transactions.

Even in the virtual exchange, the average of so-called major stocks was updated in real-time.

The stock I found was a simple one that went down following that index if it dropped, and went up following it if it rose.

I don’t know who started it first, but surely someone started trading using the index as a clue, and everyone noticed and followed suit, resulting in such a pattern being formed.

The stock I particularly noted was a fictional bank, and its fictional financial results were extremely good. In other words, a fairly bullish judgment could be made, but there was a sense that the price had risen too much. Atmospherically, it felt like guys who thought “it’s already at a high price and will drop from here” and guys who thought “it will still go up” were pushing and shoving against each other.

However, there is a system in stock trading that makes this seemingly simple pushing and shoving a little complicated.

In stocks, there are trades done with cash on hand, and “margin trading” done by borrowing money or stocks. This is called margin buying and selling.

For example, in margin buying, you borrow money to trade more than your own funds. If you only have 100 Mool on hand, you borrow 200 Mool and buy 300 Mool worth of stocks. Then, if that stock rises by 10%, you make a profit of 30 Mool. After the trade is over, you just return the borrowed 200 Mool. This results in three times the profit compared to doing it with the initial 100 Mool fund. Of course, if you lose, it’s the reverse.

Also, there is a method called margin selling (short selling). This is a method of borrowing stocks instead of money. You borrow stocks and sell them, for example, at 100 Mool. Later, if the stock drops to 70 Mool, you buy it back. Then, you return the borrowed stocks exactly as they were. You are left with the difference of 30 Mool between the money when you sold at 100 Mool and when you bought back at 70 Mool. This method produces profit from a drop in stock price. Naturally, if the stock price rises, you have to buy it back at a higher price, so you lose money.

If everyone thinks this stock will go up, margin buying increases, and if the opposite, margin selling increases. In short, it’s a system to fulfill the desire to trade with double or triple the force if you think your judgment is correct. Since you can lift a large stone using a lever, it is called using leverage. However, since humans are basically idiots, if they let their greed run wild without limit, it leads to disaster. Usually, margin trading is limited to three times one’s own funds. In this contest too, three times was applied.

Now, regarding this margin trading, how much margin trading is currently being done is published from time to time.

If it’s known to be a stock everyone wants to buy even by borrowing money, people become bullish, and if the opposite, bearish.

The stock I found, perhaps because price movements were intense, had piled up a considerable amount of both margin selling and buying, and ratio-wise, margin selling was about double.

It means there were many guys betting on it going down because it had become too expensive.

And in most cases, betting with the majority leads to losing.

Because guys doing margin selling have already exposed their trades to the public, the opponent can act after seeing that. In rock-paper-scissors, the one who plays later wins.

Looking at past trading records from yesterday and the day before, the fact that trading volume is increasing day after day is a good sign.

It smells strongly of everyone gathering and plotting to trouble the margin selling crowd.

Margin trading can become very troublesome if someone plays rock-paper-scissors after you.

Because this is a trade done by borrowing something without fail, and borrowed things must be returned.

In margin selling, you borrow stocks to sell, praying for the price to drop. If the price drops, you buy back.

But what if it rises contrary to expectations?

Since profit comes from the price dropping, if the price rises, it becomes a loss. To prevent the loss from getting any bigger, they try to buy back.

And when someone buys stocks, the price goes up by that amount.

Mean guys see the panicking margin selling crowd and buy more stocks. The losses of the margin selling crowd swell further, and they try to buy stocks while crying. The stock price goes up even more.

To a height where the margin selling people have to hang themselves.

This is a situation called a “short squeeze” (margin selling squeeze), and I felt an atmosphere targeting this.

However, what makes it not straightforward is that the fact margin selling is piling up means that much stock is being sold, and if so, as a matter of course, there are guys buying that much stock. In other words, the buying side’s funds might be running out soon.

If funds run out on the buying side, the stock price will naturally go down. If it goes down, the margin selling people rejoice, and this time the reverse happens: the margin buying crowd suffers from losses, sells stocks to minimize losses. Then it goes down further. If it goes down further, the buying crowd becomes even more hesitant.

As a result, the margin selling crowd wins.

Stocks are that kind of psychological warfare.

Company information and such are of course important, but I think they only serve as criteria for judging whether up is strong or down is strong within the atmosphere of the market. Guys who buy stocks and leave them for five or ten years should investigate and rely only on company performance and such.

But even doing that, the stock price only becomes five or ten times in ten years.

Conversely, if you pile up even 1% profit every day, it becomes something tremendous in ten years.

To gather the riches of the Moon and fulfill my dream, there is no choice but to go down that road.

I bit firmly onto the captured stock and read the atmosphere of the market. At a glance, the flow is selling-dominant, and on the “board” where buy and sell orders are displayed, several large numbers are lined up on the selling side.

Since sell orders appear above the board and buy orders below, the atmosphere is like being top-heavy with the upper price being suppressed.

The price looks like it could collapse at any moment, but it doesn’t. It doesn’t drop all the way.

Probably, it’s a “dummy order” (spoofing).

Orders placed on the board are called “gyoku” (jewels/balls), and placing orders on the board to pressure everyone without actually intending to trade is called “mise-gyoku” (dummy order/spoofing). If a massive amount of orders appear in the selling place, everyone thinks this stock price looks like it will drop. Then lots of selling appears, and it drops as expected—that’s the method.

It’s technically classified as illegal behavior, but it’s hard to verify, so it’s done routinely in the market.

However, if a guy with financial power sees through it as a dummy order…

I was staring at that stock. I think I watched it for about two hours.

And at ten minutes to twelve noon, I bought stocks at what seemed to be the bottom of the price range that lingered without dropping completely. 1,000 shares at 267 Mool, so a little under 270,000 Mool. It seems like a lot, but compared to the total funds, it’s tiny. Rather than talking about profit with this, it was more like I bought it to check.

After a while, the morning trading ends.

However, I don’t take a break. Because I have to confirm the trends of other stocks I was checking. I manipulated the screen and opened another window.

It was at that moment that my vision suddenly wavered and my body tilted like an earthquake.

“…Guh!? Oh, ah!?”

Wondering what it was, I was being shaken by the shoulder.

“…Are you doing it on purpose?”

Next to me, Hagana had a very suspicious look on her face.

Rather, it might be better to say she was worried.

I stared at Hagana for a while, and then finally shook my head.

“No… or rather, did you call me several times?”

“I called. You weren’t even blinking, so I thought you had fainted.”

“Ah, is that so… is that why my eyes are dry…”

I closed my eyes and stretched greatly. Crack, pop sounds came from my back and shoulders.

“So?”

“Ah?”

“So, what was happening? Why were you staring at the same screen the whole time?”

Since we are peering into the computer screen side by side, Hagana’s distance is very close.

Moreover, Hagana seems to have a habit of bringing her face close when she is serious.

At the scent of Hagana drifting over as she leaned in zoom, I pulled back in a panic.

It resembles Lisa’s, but has a completely different sweet scent.

I felt like it was something I shouldn’t inhale.

Especially during trading when I have to stay sharp.

“…Do I have to explain everything?”

“Please.”

“…”

At Hagana’s direct words, I reluctantly conveyed the judgment criteria as far as I could remember.

Since time seemed to run out midway, I reheated the pilaf Lisa had made before going to her part-time job at the Chinese restaurant, and explained while eating.

Hagana’s face was generally sour, probably not because she didn’t understand my explanation, but because she didn’t know how to handle it with math.

Besides, there was something more direct.

“What is ‘atmosphere’ in the end? I don’t understand at all.”

“Atmosphere is, well, the overall…”

“What do you base your judgment on?”

“Well, for example… trading volume, company information, and then atmosphere… ah.”

Hagana is indignant at my explanation that isn’t an explanation.

I would explain well if I could.

“B-But hey, if I could explain that part and you could turn it into a formula, I wouldn’t be needed, right?”

“True.”

“…Well, since that’s the case, isn’t it fine if only I understand until I become unnecessary?”

I felt it was a somewhat unfair argument, and it was obvious from her expression that Hagana thought so too.

However, she seemed to understand at least that I wasn’t trying to hide it on purpose.

Sighing, I carried the loose pilaf to my mouth with a spoon.

“If we lose in the earlier trade, Hal’s thinking will be proven wrong.”

“Well, in short, yes. Just look at the result. But…”

“But?”

To Hagana asking, I said while looking at the screen where movement had stopped.

“Probably, we’ll win.”

“Why?”

“Atmosphere.”

“…”

Hagana glared at me with a disgusted face, but I was laughing a little.

I didn’t say we could win just to put up a front.

From this stock, a suspicious smell strong enough to be visible was rising pungently.

It’s a smell I haven’t smelled in a long time.

I had a premonition of huge profit.

“Shall we push harder?”

“Eh?”

“Because the profit is bigger if we pour in funds.”

Saying that, I fiddled with the touch mouse, trying to place an order.

It was Hagana who stopped it.

“It’s strange for Hal alone to use it all up. I won’t be able to use any.”

“I won’t use it all. Then, up to 5 million is free for each of us.”

It’s half-and-half, so it’s logical.

No complaints, right? I thought as I reached for the terminal, but I was stopped again.

“That is strange. If my formula is correct, I should be able to use more.”

“But that formula doesn’t exist yet, does it?”

“Even so, using it first is unfair.”

“I won’t use that much. Besides, I smell huge profit, this is doable. I’m placing an additional order.”

This time Hagana slapped my hand to stop me.

“I want you to prove it. Even if you say atmosphere, I don’t understand.”

Even I got irritated and raised my voice.

“Shut up! I’m saying it’s doable!”

“What is the basis?”

“It’s intuition! Or rather, before complaining about my judgment, first prepare your logi—”

It was at that time, when we were glaring at each other almost bumping foreheads.

Suddenly, Hagana turned her gaze outside the window.

When I looked that way, drawn by her, I met eyes with Chris outside the window.

She must have stopped by in the middle of a delivery.

Clutching her fists near her chest, she was staring intently at our state as if watching a sports match.

When Chris met eyes with me and Hagana, she flinched with a start. Staying like that, staring at us for a good few seconds, she suddenly turned her face away whoosh and ran off at full speed.

Since her face was red, it was obvious at a glance what kind of misunderstanding she had made.

“Ah—dammit! Hey you, move!”

“Dammit? Move? What is it?”

“Shut up!”

I stood up from the chair and ran to the window, but Chris’s back was already on the roof of the house across the street.

When I asked what Hagana liked at the tunnel, she also seemed to like that kind of topic.

“Guh…”

I looked down as if enduring a headache and put my hand on the window frame.

“Did you have business with Chris?”

From behind, Hagana asked nonchalantly. If I say I have business to clear up a misunderstanding, that’s true, but even that felt stupid, so I straightened up.

“Nothing really.”

“Then, what was it?”

Because of her sharp eyes, when she asks suspiciously, I feel like I’m being made a fool of.

However, since there is no mistake that I am a fool, I sat back in the chair and said:

“She ran, so I wanted to chase her.”

“…? Is that so.”

Hagana tilted her head lightly, then nodded as if to say that happens too.

---

In the end, I promised to let her freely use only three million Mool first.

If the investment performance was good, she could do as she liked with up to half.

After that, watching for opportunities, I bought more, eventually purchasing 3,000 shares at an average of 266 Mool.

A little under 800,000 Mool. In reality, it’s a number that would make me tremble, but since it’s virtual money, it’s not scary. Besides, thinking that there’s still a purchasing quota of 2.2 million Mool left, I feel emboldened.

If I wanted to do margin trading, the funds would be three times that, but I thought it was still premature for now.

Applying leverage to a trade must be done only at the critical moment.

And until trading ended at five o’clock, I bought and sold two other stocks.

Both had intense daily price movements, the kind guys like me flock to—fictional entertainment companies with a lot of gambling elements in their financial results. Elaborately enough, they even announced some fake movies during the contest period, repeating wild fluctuations each time.

Just like in reality, unlike companies that make toothpaste or candy lined up at every store, you don’t know which way these kinds of stocks will roll.

So it’s almost the same as gambling, but increasing the certainty as much as possible could be called the show of skill. It depends on reading the atmosphere of the moment well, and how calmly one can buy and sell without getting greedy.

For example, if the stock price is fluctuating between 97 and 103 Mool centered around 100 Mool, buy at 98 Mool and sell at 101 Mool. You could make more at 102 Mool, but at 102 Mool, guys who bought at 103 Mool and are seeing a loss might not be able to endure anymore and sell in a panic, so I take profit quickly below that. I don’t buy at 97 Mool because everyone thinks that once it reaches the bottom of the range, it might drop further from there, so buyers suddenly pull back and the bottom falls out. Then, what was fluctuating around 100 Mool starts moving around 97 Mool.

I repeat such trades every few minutes, at most about fifteen minutes.

In the meantime, I switch screens one after another, flush out stocks I haven’t checked yet with conditional searches, and gaze at price movements, financial results, and financial situations. If I have leeway, I go see the mix of truth and falsehood in conversations on the SNS. Since even real trading can be affected, I reckon it happens all the more in a small world like an investment contest.

And fifteen minutes before trading ended, I checked all my orders and sold everything except that suspicious stock at lowered prices to ensure no loss.

I do such things because demons lurk in the last ten minutes of the stock market.

In the final ten minutes before the market closes, everyone’s orders rush in. The lines get congested, there’s a possibility trades won’t execute well, and aiming for that, there are tons of strange trades.

Once, I saw a stock that had been at the daily limit high for days due to a corporate acquisition battle, with buy orders for 1.4 million shares. For stocks everyone wants but no one is selling, you can buy them by lottery after the market closes, equal to the amount of sell orders. Since stocks at the daily limit high have a high possibility of rising the next day too, those who think the stock will go up tomorrow place buy orders to wait for that lottery. The more you order, the higher the possibility of winning the lottery, so they put in tons up to their fund limit.

And five minutes before trading ended, suddenly exactly 1.4 million shares, a sell order worth 200 million Mool, came in, and it turned to a daily limit low. Since lines are especially congested five minutes before the market closes, even if you notice the abnormality and issue a cancellation instruction, it sometimes doesn’t go through. It’s default that a disclaimer from the securities company stating that effect appears when placing an order. Thousands of people fell straight from heaven to hell in the last five minutes at that moment.

What became clear later was that an investment fund investing in a company participating in the acquisition battle had sold all its holdings. Aiming for line congestion, they massacred all the buyers.

Demons lurk in the last ten minutes.

Since then, unless there’s a specific reason for the trade, I make sure to close my positions fifteen minutes before.

After that, I watch the remaining stocks closely to check if any demons appear. Even knowing it’s a futile struggle, just in case something unexpected happens, I prepare orders to sell off stocks and set them so I just have to click a button.

Fifty-eight minutes. Fifty-nine minutes.

Five o’clock exactly.

The world of numbers stops completely.

“Phew.”

I sighed and leaned my body against the backrest of the chair for the first time in hours.

There is a gradual sensation as if fresh blood is returning to my head.

The result is a float of 120,000 Mool. Considering I used 2 million Mool in the end, and 800,000 Mool of that is still stuck in that suspicious stock, it’s a good job. If I could use 10 million Mool freely, I probably could have made 1 million Mool.

It’s a rapid advance like when I started trading right after running away from home and my assets were increasing with raging momentum.

This is doable. It might work.

Thinking that, I sat up from the backrest and realized Hagana wasn’t next to me.

“Huh?”

I feel like she was next to me for a while after noon ended.

I feel like she asked some detailed questions even while I was absorbed in trading.

I intended to answer, but did she get angry at my half-hearted responses?

Thinking that was likely, I stood up from the chair and realized.

Hagana was lying on the sofa.

“You’re sleeping…”

When I muttered exasperatedly, Hagana’s eyes snapped open.

“Whoa.”

“Not sleeping.”

“What, are you going to say you were thinking with your eyes closed?”

When I said that, Hagana frowned, slowly closed her eyelids, and said:

“…Feel sick…”

“Ah? Oh… did you get motion sickness from the screen?”

Hagana nods.

In the beginning, I also got sick from the rapidly switching screens and sometimes went to the toilet to vomit before trading. Until I got used to it, my eyes flickered, and even when I closed them, I could still see the trading screen, and the dizziness and headaches were terrible.

I’ve become completely fine now, but it seems Hagana couldn’t handle it.

“Are you okay?”

“Look… and can’t you tell?”

Are you stupid?

It seemed likely to follow, but since she really looked unwell, there was no force behind it.

“…Want something to drink?”

“Don’t need. I said I feel sick.”

Blunt.

I think drinking cold water makes you feel relatively refreshed even when you feel sick, but I don’t say it.

I shrugged and poured the leftover coffee remaining in the coffee maker into a cup. It was only half full, so I poured in plenty of milk to increase the volume.

“At that rate, it’ll be a long time before you understand the ‘atmosphere’ I’m talking about.”

“…Did we make profit?”

Hagana changes the subject with her eyes still closed.

“Made profit.”

“How much?”

“120,000 Mool.”

“Guh.”

“Though, it’s virtual money. If only it were real. I wouldn’t stop laughing.”

However, if I had 10 million Mool in funds on hand, just 1% profit would be 100,000 Mool.

That is how the world works. Those who have money become richer.

“But 1% profit a day won’t catch up at all.”

“Is, that so?”

“The top is a guy with a ridiculous name like Mr. Troche. Right now, on the 21st day of trading, a little over 49.52 million Mool. A rise of just under five times.”

“…How is that person doing it?”

“Don’t know. Probably the same type as me, I think.”

“Type?”

“Repeating an incredible number of trades. No matter how much a company skyrockets, in thirty days it’s at most two or three times. Will it even go three times? But it’s not difficult to get 1% profit in one trade. Repeat that ten or twenty times a day. Unless you do that, you won’t go five times in twenty-one days.”

“…Makes sense.”

“Or maybe, going full throttle from the start.”

“Full? What?”

“I taught you margin buying, right? Doing that with full power from the beginning. In other words, doing every trade with the maximum amount possible for yourself. If you do that, the profit is always three times.”

“…Why doesn’t Hal do it?”

I predicted being asked.

“Because the rate of being unable to stay calm when things go wrong is also three times.”

“…”

“Don’t get it? A loss that would end at 10% trading normally becomes a 30% loss. When it’s a 30% loss, it’s actually a 90% loss (of equity). When that happens, you can’t be calm anymore. It’s human nature to want to aim for a one-shot reversal once you start losing.”

“But the profit is the same.”

“You’d think so, right?”

“…The calculation cannot be strange.”

“That’s not it.”

I laughed and put down the coffee cup.

Closing my eyes, I recall the time when, after quickly increasing to 20,000 Mool, I went all in on one stock and got caught in a terrible crash.

If I had delayed my decision by a few minutes, I wouldn’t have been caught in that crash. Watching the stock price drop by the second, I was on the verge of tears, issuing closing orders frantically.

In the end, the trade was executed twelve minutes later, and the 20,000 Mool dropped by 14% to about 17,000 Mool. Certainly, compared to the initial 2,000 Mool when I started trading, it was more than 8 times, but that was no consolation, and I despaired feeling like I made a huge loss.

I learned at that time that no matter how much it increased from the principal, if it drops even a little from the highest amount, my chest feels like it will tear apart. Moreover, that pain and regret linger.

I even went out of my way to write it on paper and paste it on my terminal to admonish myself.

Don’t become desperate. If I do the same things as before, it should increase in the same way.

“To trade with three times the amount, you need three times the guts.”

“If so, Hal certainly shouldn’t do it.”

“…Ah?”

Getting a little irritated and looking at Hagana, her profile with closed eyes looked like she was smiling slightly.

A joke?

Staring at Hagana with surprise as if a dog had spoken, that Hagana sat up slowly.

“…Are you okay getting up?”

“No good. But I have a lecture.”

“Ah, the teacher job.”

Hagana nodded, managed to stand up, and started walking unsteadily.

“Hey, that looks dangerous. It’s okay to be a little late, right?”

I took the hand of Hagana, who looked like a person walking by groping in the dark.

Hagana didn’t shake it off; instead, she answered without saying thanks.

“No good. But if Hal can teach calculus, there is no problem.”

“…There is a problem.”

“Then, I have to go.”

Hagana said stubbornly.

“Everyone has dreams.”

“Dreams?”

When I asked back, Hagana turned only her gaze toward me.

Then, she slipped her hand out of mine and started walking.

Watching Hagana’s back as she went to get her luggage from her room while swaying, I muttered.

“Dreams.”

There is no word that fits less coming from Hagana’s mouth. I waited for Hagana to come out while standing absentmindedly by the table for a while. After a while, Hagana, whose gait had become much steadier, addressed me with her back straightened.

“What?”

“Hm?”

I sat in the chair and said:

“Have a good day.” (Itterasshai)

I imitated Lisa.

Hagana opened her eyes wide in surprise, then looked away as if disliking it and looked down.

Still, after hesitating a lot, she looked at me with distasteful eyes and replied.

“I’m going.” (Ittekuru)

Hagana immediately faced forward with a pui sound, walked with large strides, and left the living room.

Watching her back, I felt like I understood just a little bit why Lisa dotes on Hagana.

---

The next day, when I came out to the living room for breakfast, Hagana also came out of her room holding her terminal.

Being warned by Lisa was annoying, so I quickly finished breakfast first and then concentrated on the screen.

Whether Hagana thought it was a wonderful idea seeing my actions or not aside, she closed her terminal since it looked like she would be warned by Lisa.

However, she was biting into the bread more boldly than usual.

That said, Hagana couldn’t stuff her cheeks full like Chris, so in the end, it took about the same time as usual.

After that, I plunged into trading. Hagana wasn’t watching next to me that day; she was fiddling with her terminal at the same table the whole time. Since I copied the data I obtained from the investment contest’s official page for her, she seemed to be pondering this and that based on that data.

Lisa apparently didn’t have a part-time job today; after finishing the housework, she brewed coffee for me and cocoa for Hagana, and started reading on the sofa. Today, she seemed to be reading a book by a theologian from nearly a thousand years ago, nicknamed “Doctor Angelicus.”

The content of the trading afterward was generally the same as yesterday. Stocks that have risen in profit once often continue to bring profit afterward. The difference from yesterday was only that I invested slightly more war funds than yesterday. That suspicious stock was lingering around 272 Mool today. It was slightly rising, but short selling was increasing further.

In the morning session too, I made a profit of 90,000 Mool with the stocks I made money on yesterday. With this, the total is +210,000 Mool. Not bad, but overwhelmingly insufficient.

The moment the morning trading ended, I was cursing.

“Shit.”

“Shit?”

Hagana, sitting diagonally across the table, looked up.

“It’s shit, shit.”

“Did you lose?”

“I didn’t lose.”

“Why are you angry when you won?”

“It’s not nearly enough.”

“…Problematic.”

Hagana nodded and said deeply.

I got a little irritated and asked:

“How about you?”

“Studying.”

“What?”

“Necessary things.”

Being told bluntly, I felt rebuffed.

“What are necessary things?”

“While looking at the internet, there was a theoretical model for stock price prediction.”

“…Hah?”

“Right now, I am dismantling it and learning what I don’t know. Even as logic, it’s very interesting.”

“…Or rather, is something like that lying around on the net?”

“It is.”

I was a bit incredulous and dumbfounded.

Why are tools for making money lying around on the net? If you can predict stock prices with those tools, everyone would make money.

Is the guy who dropped it an idiot?

“Hey, show me.”

I leaned forward over the table and said to Hagana.

Hagana frowned, but turned the terminal toward me with a jerk.

“…What is this?”

“It was written as the Reach Model, named after the developer. It assumes that stock prices move basically randomly on a short time axis, and that movement follows a normal distribution.”

“…Ah?”

“However, since yesterday’s price change affects today’s price, we find today’s price using conditional probability based on that. Then, integrating a certain range following a log-normal distribution, the expected value of the price range in a certain range is…”

“Stop, stop.”

“What?”

“I get it. I get that I don’t understand what you’re doing.”

Hagana frowned looking at me, looked back at her own terminal, and tilted her head.

“Also, I investigated the story I heard yesterday.”

“…Ah?”

Just as I was trembling in awe thinking she might be a genius after all, she connected her words.

“Using… cha-rts? This one has much simpler calculations.”

The gap between saying “calculations are simple” and saying the word “charts” without confidence made me almost laugh.

“Ah. The Golden Cross story, right?”

“Gol… den?”

“Golden Cross. It’s the state where the daily price movement exceeds the long-term moving average line when the short-term moving average line turns upward from a decline. It’s a shape often used in chart analysis.”

“…I don’t know the name. But the concept is very simple.”

“Chart analysis is easy to understand. I don’t dislike it either, but I feel it’s not quite reliable.”

“You should just bring out statistics and find the probability. If the odds are good, if you trade a lot, the result will converge to the expected value.”

“Well, that’s true but… can you do it?”

“I can. Anyone can do it if they can do the four arithmetic operations.”

“F… our?”

This time it’s my turn to ask back.

“Addition, subtraction, multiplication, division.”

Hagana narrowed her eyes, looking at me with a gaze that even suspected if I was making a fool of her.

Nobody calls addition and such “four arithmetic operations”, I cursed in my heart.

“But well, um, if you can tell which ones seem to have good odds with probability, it might be helpful.”

“Right.”

“So, which one looks good?”

When I asked, Hagana dropped her eyes to the terminal.

I was surprised because I thought she had already finished the calculations.

However, Hagana didn’t move.

As I watched with a “?”, eventually Hagana looked up from the terminal and looked at me.

“There is a problem with that.”

“Ah?”

“Something I noticed even while considering other models.”

“What is it?”

Hagana looked down and mumbled.

“…I cannot… program…”

“Hah?”

When I asked back, Hagana raised her face and said with glaring eyes.

“I cannot program. Even if I understand the calculation method, doing it manually one by one is ridiculous, and for some, manual calculation is not realistic in the first place.”

“Ah…”

Indeed, I thought.

However, that was a blind spot.

Even if Hagana excelled in math ability, it didn’t mean she could apply it.

School problems can be solved on paper.

However, in stock trading, there are a thousand stocks just in the investment contest, and each has massive information.

As I held my head, suddenly, a voice came from the sofa.

“Did you say program?”

“Ah?”

Turning around, it’s Lisa.

“You said it?”

“I don’t really understand, but programming? If it’s someone good at it, I know them, so I’ll introduce you.”

“Seriously?”

Come to think of it, Lisa apparently graduated from Lunar City University. If she’s such a human, she probably has connections with genius crowds I can’t even imagine.

“Yes. I think they will cooperate. Besides, I also want to be of help to you two, even just a fragment. I’ll make them cooperate somehow.”

Lisa says so with a wry smile, but my face also becomes a little bitter.

“I’m not doing this for Lisa from beginning to end, you know.”

“Is that so?”

It was Hagana sitting opposite who said that.

“Hm?”

Turning around, Hagana is glaring at me.

“You are not doing it for Lisa? What do you mean?”

“W-Why are you getting angry… or rather, that’s not what I mean.”

“Then what do you mean.”

Flinching before Hagana who looked like she might throw the terminal at any moment, Lisa stood up and stretched lightly.

“Hagana, Hal is being considerate of me.”

“…?”

“Right?”

At Lisa’s troubled smile, I looked away in embarrassment.

If you know, don’t say it, I thought.

“So, if I’m introducing you, sooner is better, right?”

“Well, yeah…”

“Then, I’ll contact that person. Evening is good, right?”

“Ah, yeah. If it’s after five…”

“Okay. Understood. Then, I think I’ll make dinner.”

And after going to the toilet, Lisa stood in front of the kitchen.

I returned my eyes to the terminal thinking good grief, but Hagana was tilting her head in front of her terminal.

---

The afternoon session had a rhythm befitting a rapid advance.

Swinging two million Mool around, I pulled out a profit of over 2% each time, ending with 16 wins and 2 losses. A total win of 26%. It’s regrettable that if I could have cut losses faster when failing, the performance would have been even better.

Still, it had been a long time since I saw such numbers.

A float of 520,000 Mool. Combined with the 210,000 Mool from before noon, it’s 730,000 Mool. With this, earning 10% used to mean a profit of 200,000 Mool from 2 million, but now 10% of 2.7 million Mool is 270,000 Mool—meaning I can earn an extra 70,000 Mool.

Like this, funds increase through the magic of compound interest.

I wish it could go this well in reality, but even I know that’s probably impossible.

The virtual space is a special environment where tens of thousands of participants are given a virtual 10 million Mool and trade with all their might for sixty days within a limited number of stocks. As I realized while trading, everyone was trading as if they were panicked.

Because of that, price movements became large, and as a result, if you could ride the wave well, you could pull out huge profits.

Reality is much more cautious, so it doesn’t go like this easily.

As I was gazing at the terminal triumphantly enough to flair my nostrils, Hagana, who seemed to have been thinking in her room, came into the living room.

“Going out.”

“Ah?”

“We talked about it during the day.”

“Ah, meeting someone, right?”

I yawned and moved my neck left and right, making a nice cracking sound.

To Hagana, who was surprised by the sound, I directed a question.

“Where’s Lisa?”

“…Went out. Sometimes, she gets called by neighbors.”

“Heh. What is she doing?”

“Preaching.”

“Heh?”

“Lisa is a Christian, after all. There are a few people like that in this town too.”

“Heh…”

I thought guys who come from Earth to the Moon were all scientific and realistic crowds.

Those who want to earn money so much they don’t even fear God, and those who came from a hell that made them realize there is no God.

“Then, do we have to wait until she comes back?”

“Why? I have been told the person’s name and location.”

“Ah, is that so. Then, have a good trip.”

I said it mimicking Lisa’s tone and returned to the terminal.

It was immediately after that that Hagana’s hand hit the table with a thud.

“Why am I the only one going?”

“Eh… me too?”

“Isn’t it obvious? Are you stupid?”

Finally said it.

Too lazy to get angry, I stretched greatly on the chair as if to say good grief.

“Besides, Lisa said if it’s Hal, you’re familiar with the location.”

“…Can’t even run an errand alone, huh.”

“What?”

“Nothing.”

Hagana, speaking while looking at the map on the terminal, glared at me sharply.

Whether she heard it or not, her eyes are scary anyway because they look mean.

“So, where is it. I’m not that knowledgeable either though.”

“7th Outer District, 7-chome, 6-ban, 3-go, 5th floor of the building.”

“I don’t understand if you tell me the address.”

“Shop name, Big Bull Cafe.”

“…Ah?”

When I looked at Hagana, she raised her face from the terminal and said:

“Emmanuel Cerault.”

“Cerault…”

That name rings a bell.

That clerk who looks like the very model of a lunar dropout.

“That guy? Is he going to introduce us to some acquaintance again?”

“I don’t know. I was told to meet this person. Do you know the place?”

“I know it.”

“I see.”

Hagana nodded and put the terminal in her bag.

I also started cleaning up my computer, but a question mark was floating in my head.

Is a guy like that really useful?

Hagana and I departed the church together.

It was a dirty building as usual.

Hagana and I used the elevator in the crack-filled building. Since Hagana was with me, I couldn’t jump along the wall and leap into the corridor from the emergency stairs. The walls were covered with various flyers, mostly part-time job recruitments or loan shark advertisements.

Since Lisa had apparently contacted him in advance, and Cerault wasn’t a stranger, there was no tension.

Opening the automatic door and entering, Cerault was right there at the counter by the side, fiddling with a game console with his long legs resting on the counter.

“Oh.”

Then, noticing me, he took his legs off the counter, and upon seeing Hagana enter after me, his eyes widened.

“Hoh, you found yourself a nice girlfriend, didn’t you?”

“Hah?”

“Hm? Isn’t she? Lisa said so.”

“Wha—”

“Hahaha, just kidding, just kidding. Don’t get mad, Moon Boy.”

When I glared at him, Cerault shrugged and laughed.

Then, looking at Hagana, he tilted his head slightly with a smile and waved his hand.

What’s with this friendliness? I thought.

In contrast, Hagana, perhaps being shy, stiffened her body slightly and braced herself against such friendliness.

However, her gaze was directed at Cerault’s head.

Maybe it’s not shyness, but she’s afraid of that distinctive afro.

“So? Lisa introduced us to this place.”

“Yeah, I heard. You’re looking for a programmer, right?”

“Programmer… whether he is one or not, even I don’t know though.”

“What? That’s vague… Lisa also said something I didn’t quite get.”

“Ah…”

As I searched for words to explain after organizing my thoughts, Cerault continued.

“Or rather, your expression has improved a lot.”

“Hah? Ah?”

“Yeah. Can things change this much in just a few days? Kids are amazing.”

“W-What is it, are you picking a fight?”

“Don’t get mad. No, well, Lisa is really kind, isn’t she… Ah, did you get a lap pillow yet?”

“Hah!?”

Lap pillow?

I imagined myself sleeping with my head on Lisa’s lap for a bit.

It’s not bad—or rather, come to think of it, this guy was also looked after by Lisa.

This guy? With Lisa?

“Lisa’s lap pillow is great, isn’t it. How about you, miss? Did you get one?”

When Cerault spoke with a smile, Hagana pulled her chin back and lightly retreated her body as if wary, but after hesitating for a moment, she nodded.

“Eh.”

“Nahahaha, are you the only one who hasn’t gotten one?”

“N-N-Not really, does that have anything to do with this?”

“No, nothing really? But well, if possible, I wanted it done under Earth’s gravity. Surely, pulled by gravity like this, plump, fluffy…”

“Hey, cut it out, Earth Boy.”

When I threatened him, Cerault shrugged and laughed voicelessly.

“Don’t get mad. You’ll get one sooner or later.”

“That’s not it!”

“Okay, okay. Don’t raise your voice. It’s a program, right? If it’s not a troublesome one, well, I’ll give you a reasonable price.”

“…What?”

“Ah? You want to request a program, right?”

I was a bit dumbfounded, and then asked back.

“You’re doing it?”

“Yeah. That’s right? Any complaints?”

“…”

When I hesitated to reply, Hagana looked at me.

“Is this person not Emmanuel Cerault?”

“That’s right, miss.”

“Miss?”

Hagana asked back as if irritated.

Cerault pulled back his body and acted playful as expected.

“May I ask your name?”

“…Hagana.”

“…Hmm?”

Cerault nodded as if there was some implication in that name, but didn’t say anything in particular.

He probably understands that Hagana is a runaway like me.

There’s no way anyone else has a strange name like Hagana.

“So, I’m Cerault, do you have some business, Hagana-chan?”

“I want to request a program.”

“Direct, I like it. What should I program?”

“Mathematical formulas related to statistics.”

“Hm?”

“If possible, numerical analysis of calculus too. Or something that can calculate repeatedly just by tweaking variables for regression analysis. If Monte Carlo simulation is also possible—”

“W-Wait a sec.”

“What?”

“…What are you talking about?”

“Program.”

When Hagana answered, Cerault stared intently at her face.

Then, he looked at me too, and shook his big head fwap.

“Is it something for Lisa’s university?”

“No.”

“…Do games kids play these days involve regression analysis and Monte Carlo simulation?”

“Apparently the game I’m playing does.”

“Wha… seriously?”

Cerault’s eyes popped at my answer, but Hagana quickly spilled the beans.

“We are trading stocks. I predict with math. Hal trades with atmosphere.”

It’s not wrong, but put that way, it sounds like I’m doing it purely on luck and intuition.

“Ah, oh… ah…”

Cerault looked terribly convinced by the word “stocks” and nodded largely several times.

“I see. So that’s it.”

“So, can you do it?”

Hagana asked.

“Nn, well, probably.”

“Seriously?”

To the surprised me, Cerault looked blank.

“Didn’t you hear from Lisa?”

“Hear what?”

When I asked back, Cerault frowned a little.

Then, scratching his head mosa mosa, he said this:

“Well, whatever. Unless it’s a really crazy formula, I can do it. Monte Carlo, was it? That too, well, isn’t impossible. If the formula is proper, in the end, it’s just a combination. The hardest part of programming is actually making the program easy to use. I guarantee I can do that part better than any run-of-the-mill programmer.”

“Really?”

“Of course.”

He answered Hagana with a smile.

However, Hagana’s eyes were still directed at Cerault’s head, bracing herself warily as if something might jump out from there.

“If it’s stocks, there’s data, right? What format?”

“Ah… it’s the Ratzinger Institute of Economics Investment Contest. I’ll send the data later.”

“Nn, Ratzinger?”

“Ah? You know it?”

“Nn… well, it’s famous. I have a few acquaintances inside too.”

“He, eh?”

Unable to grasp the meaning well due to the unexpectedness, Cerault moved the conversation forward quickly.

“Well, understood. Then, if you write down what you want programmed and send the data to this address, I’ll do it. You can come directly if you have complaints or questions. I’m usually in this shop. When I’m not, I’m in the VIP seat in the back.”

“…Do you live here after all?”

“That’s right.”

“…”

I was somewhat exasperated, but anyway, it seems the program will be managed somehow.

Having acquaintances among the investment contest staff might mean he has some human network typical of a programmer.

“The fee is… let’s see, pay me when you make it big.”

Cerault grinned.

Hagana and I looked at each other’s faces for a moment, but since we couldn’t spend money wastefully, we nodded for the time being and thanked him.

When we returned to the church, Lisa was also back and preparing dinner.

“Welcome back. Did you meet Cerault?”

“Yeah.”

“I see. That’s good. Connections with people are exactly what you have to rely on at times like this.”

Lisa immediately turned back to the kitchen and said that, but watching her back, I remembered the exchange with Cerault.

Lap pillow…

It’s not that I absolutely want it done, but it’s not that I’m uninterested.

Thinking such things, I seemingly had been staring.

Noticing Hagana looking at me suspiciously, I hurriedly looked away and returned to my room.

Lap pillow…

What does it feel like? I tried changing the orientation of my pillow and testing this and that.

And, exasperated by my own stupidity, I face-planted.

---

The next day, there was movement in the stock I had thought suspicious and placed buy orders for.

The trigger, I think, was a large block purchase someone put in.

Immediately after, the trading for that stock seemed to stop for an instant; that was likely the exact borderline where the tide changed.

What had been hovering around 270 Mool until then began to rise furiously.

I immediately clicked the button labeled “Market Order” on the trading tool screen to place an order. It’s not a “Limit Order” where you specify a price like “buy 1,000 shares at 270 Mool,” but an order called “Market Order” literally meaning “whatever the price is fine, just execute the trade based on the market flow.”

It is used when it’s a hassle to write the price every time, when price movements are too fast, or when price changes can’t keep up.

I put in buy orders up to the full five million Mool limit promised with Hagana.

Short selling on this stock had now piled up to more than thirty times the daily trading volume, looking like it was about to burst at any moment.

Into that situation, sharp-eyed crowds like us rushed in en masse.

At first, some large block sales appeared to resist, but the crowd expecting a short squeeze smelled blood and swarmed even more. With a demonic sense of solidarity, they built a scaffold to hang the short-selling crowd.

Orders flooded in, and a lag began to appear between the stock situation on screen and the actual situation.

Movement stopped for a few instants, and prices that should normally move one Mool at a time began to jump four to five Mool at once frequently. Processing on the server side wasn’t keeping up.

This happens often even in the real market, and when it does, it becomes a one-sided rise from there.

The guys who sold short and took losses put in buy orders to cut their losses, which invites further liquidation of other short sellers.

It rose to 290 Mool in just ten minutes.

Normally, since stock trading tends to go endlessly once it gathers momentum like this, a limit value is often set for daily price movements. The upper limit for this stock, commonly called the “Stop High,” is set at 354 Mool. Since the opening price was exactly 270 Mool, it’s +30% from there.

The price on the screen rose rapidly, and 300 came into view in the blink of an eye. In the column for the price of 300, sell orders one digit larger were waiting.

As you understand when trading, even though there is no rational reason, large orders lie in wait at round numbers like units of 10 or 100. It is a psychological milestone.

If we could cross 300, no larger milestone existed beyond that.

If the sellers were to resist, it would be here, but against 46,000 buy orders, there were 128,000 sell orders.

It was a nearly three-fold advantage, but I thought it was impossible to stop.

At that moment, I opened the margin buy order column.

Here. This is the first critical moment.

Perhaps because the wall of sell orders was visible on screen, trading took a breather for an instant.

Into that, I thrust ten million Mool in margin buying. In short, it’s debt. Since margin buying wasn’t included in the promise with Hagana, I can make an excuse. Besides, if I make a profit, I won’t get caught.

Anyway, at that moment, the buying pressure reaching nearly 40,000 shares from my order acted as a herald.

The rest was like a gushing fountain.

Whether that was the fine wine of victory or a spray of blood depended on where you were standing.

Restraining the urge to jump out of my chair and scream, I placed a sell order the moment the buy order was executed.

The limit price was 349 Mool, 5 Mool subtracted from the maximum price limit of 354 Mool.

The reason I didn’t make it 354 Mool is that if it goes that far and the number of buy orders and sell orders don’t balance, the trade won’t execute until the market closes. Then, there is a possibility of being eaten alive by those demons of the last ten minutes.

The reason I didn’t make it 350 Mool is that it’s a round number.

This stock is currently updating its highest price, so everyone other than the short sellers is currently making a profit. Considering people who want to lock in profits, the milestone of 350 Mool becomes a number where everyone psychologically wants to sell.

That’s why I placed the order at 349 Mool, just before that.

Meanwhile, the stock price was rushing across the screen like the throttle of an old-fashioned spaceship. This sensation of my holdings increasing with every breath possesses an irreplaceable charm. The sense of omnipotence that my judgment was correct, and the sense of superiority of having outsmarted others, bring something close to sexual excitement. It is a fact that many stock traders are womanizers.

And, twenty-seven minutes before the noon trading session ended, everything was executed at 349 Mool.

The profit was a little over 3.6 million Mool.

A sensation like the area around my head was tingling and my hair was puffing up whoosh.

This is it, this is the very sensation I had forgotten for a long time.

“…”

I took a deep, big breath, overwhelmed with a joy I couldn’t even voice.

Looking at the stock that had hit the limit high due to a flood of buy orders, I laughed wearily. In conclusion, even if I had put it up for sale at 354 Mool, it might have sold sufficiently. In fact, if I had carried it over to the next day, it might have hit the limit high again tomorrow.

However, the iron rule for victory is not to dream such dreams.

I didn’t forget to tell myself that cynically.

If you get greedy, you lose.

The story of selling a stock that has risen, seeing the price rise again, buying it back unable to resist the rise, and then going bankrupt due to a crash immediately after, happens so frequently it’s like a classic joke. The person who left us the most famous precedent for that was Isaac Newton. Although he made money successfully at first, immediately after dabbling in the same stock again hoping to profit once more, he was caught in a crash and went bankrupt.

That was a story from two or three hundred years ago.

We should learn from the failures of our predecessors. Stock trading is difficult even for Sir Newton.

On the other hand, I properly locked in my profit. As I was grinning at my terminal, Hagana came into the living room from the hallway.

“…?”

She gave me a suspicious look as if to say there’s a weirdo here, but just for now, I didn’t mind at all.

If she were a little closer, I might have even run up and hugged her.

“Before you start trading with math, I might reach a point where victory is certain.”

I said to Hagana, who was about to go to the toilet.

Hagana turned slightly toward me just as she put her hand on the doorknob.

“But you will give 30,000 Mool from the prize money to Lisa, right?”

“Hm? Ah, yeah.”

“Then, that is fine.”

Hagana said that and went to the toilet.

I thought she would be frustrated, but there was no such feeling at all.

Feeling anti-climactic, I returned my eyes to the terminal.

“What happened to go so well?”

Peeking her face out from the corridor leading to the chapel was Lisa, wearing a triangular kerchief on her head and a mask, doing some cleaning.

“Fufu. Wanting to be praised when things go well… you’re honest, aren’t you.”

“…Shut up.”

Lisa is truly sharp.

Having hit the mark, I held my head in front of the terminal.

“Well then, I guess I’ll wrap up my side for a bit too.”

“…What have you been doing since morning?”

“Hm? Major cleaning.”

“…Hah? Was it that time of year?”

“No? But this is about all I can do, you see.”

“Hah?”

When I asked back not understanding the meaning, Lisa took off the triangular kerchief, threw away her gloves, and entered the living room as if to say good grief.

“I can’t be of direct help to Hal and Hagana. So, I’ll help by keeping this place clean. Just by being clean, a place fills with power.”

“…I don’t really get it but.”

I turned back to the terminal and said:

“It’s better than being dirty.”

“Right? Well, the rest is, let’s see. Delicious food, laundered clothes. Ah. Hal is always cracking his neck and shoulders goki-goki, so shall I give you a massage?”

Lisa said, moving her long, slender fingers waki-waki.

For some reason, she was stooped like a witch scaring children, but what does she intend to do?

“Don’t need it.”

“Oh my. It’s rare to get a massage from a young lady like me, you know?”

“…Don’t say that yourself.”

“Hohoho.”

Lisa laughed theatrically and went toward the washroom.

Watching her back, I muttered in my heart If it were a lap pillow… and sighed.

That day, I continued to steadily increase profits in the afternoon as well, and eventually, the amount I could move at my discretion exceeded 10 million Mool. In other words, I made a profit of over 5 million Mool. If it doubles in less than a week, it will be four times in two weeks, eight times in three weeks, sixteen times in four weeks, and 256 times in eight weeks—a runaway victory, but obviously, it won’t go well somewhere along the line.

However, for now, I gained the feeling that 50 million Mool wasn’t a reckless number at all.

Because the fluctuation range of market prices is large, the profit when things go well is that large.

Also, Mr. Troche stalled in the latter half of the week, settling at 47.8 million Mool with a turn to the negative. Second place was far behind at 31 million Mool, but they had already finished trading. If things go on like this, second place becomes a very realistic rank.

If I can slip into second place, I can give the entire 50,000 Mool prize to Lisa, accept the headhunting from Schrödinger Street, and leave this place.

I can repay the favor to the place that took care of me, and I think it’s not a bad way to take a leap forward.

Joking aside, maybe I can do it even without Hagana.

I thought so, but it was visible that blatantly treating Hagana as a burden would cause problems again.

Lisa wouldn’t like that either, and Hagana seems to be doing this and that while cooped up in her room. Apparently, she’s keeping in touch with that afro guy Cerault and has already received the program.

Thus, the next day, Sunday, a day of rest for warriors.

I was absentminded even while eating breakfast, and although I had opened my terminal just in case, I was so relaxed that Lisa laughed at me.

There, Hagana, who had finished eating her bread and was drinking hot milk, put down her cup with a clack and said:

“I am doing backtesting with the program, but.”

“…Haa.”

It was such an abrupt statement that I could only respond like that.

“And, so?”

“I don’t know if my usage is wrong or the program is wrong. The values are strange. We exchanged emails a few times, but we’re getting nowhere.”

“…Ah.”

So?

When I looked at Hagana, she was staring intently at her cup.

What is it?

As I was bewildered, Lisa, who was doing the dishes behind Hagana, was trying to convey something to me over her shoulder.

With that, I finally realized.

“Ah, you want to go to Big Bull Cafe?”

Hagana raised her face.

“Yes.”

“Then just say so.”

“…”

Hagana pursed her lips tightly.

“Learn the way at least.”

Just as I said that and tried to bring up the map on my terminal, Hagana for some reason dropped her gaze to the table and looked down. What? I thought, when Lisa was staring at me from behind Hagana.

After looking back and forth between Lisa and Hagana about two times, my brain, which had a loose screw, finally derived the correct answer.

“O-Or, shall we go together?”

When I asked, Hagana’s body twitched, and then slowly her gaze turned toward me.

“Please.”

She said that part clearly, and Lisa returned to the dishes with a good grief look.

When we went to Big Bull Cafe, Hagana seemed terrified of Cerault’s head.

But maybe she was simply afraid of Cerault. Even if “afraid” is an overstatement, maybe she’s not good with guys she doesn’t know well.

Hagana looks strong-willed but is weak in strange places.

I wouldn’t be surprised at all if she’s a timid young lady outside.

“Is sooner better?”

“I want to make it in time for Monday.”

“…Okay then.”

I shoveled the remaining ham and eggs into my mouth and closed my computer.

“But I wonder if that guy is properly awake at this time.”

Nobody replied to that mutter.

---

 

Sunday mornings have a unique atmosphere.

Perhaps because many people are working on weekdays, the air in the town feels somewhat braced and brisk.

However, the holiday air is somewhat relaxed and calm.

Partly because there were few people passing by, the air also felt refreshing.

As usual, I was walking while looking at this and that which caught my eye on the way, thinking about things like is that a product of that company over there? Because of that, the distance between Hagana and me often widened, but today Hagana didn’t complain or glare at me.

When I lagged behind, she would stop, look around absently waiting for me, and start walking again, repeating this.

While doing that, we arrived at Big Bull Cafe.

Entering the shop, instead of Cerault, a huge bearded man befitting the shop name was crampedly squeezing his body inside the counter, reading an electronic magazine. Then, he looked at us sharply.

“Welcome.”

Hagana completely stopped in her tracks, standing frozen right in the middle of the automatic door.

“Ah—, is Cerault here?”

“Manager? If it’s the manager, he’s in the number two seat at the very back.”

What, that bastard was the manager? I thought while thanking him.

“Thanks.”

The Bull Man nodded largely with a “hmph” and returned his eyes to the electronic magazine.

I turned back to Hagana, who was standing frozen at the automatic door, and gestured to go to the back.

However, since she didn’t move even when I started walking, I took Hagana’s hand and pulled her along. The Bull Man was glancing back and forth between the magazine and us, but I felt like he was laughing a little at the end.

“…Aren’t you scared?”

Walking through the narrow passage like a maze, Hagana said that.

“Ah?”

“He looked like a bad person.”

“Bad… well, he’s not a bank clerk.”

“…”

Hagana seemed unsure how to react, but her expression was serious.

“Just train your body. Most opponents won’t be scary anymore.”

“…Hal, do you train?”

“Didn’t you see me beat up that old man Toyama? I can easily win against adults around there.”

“…I see.”

Hagana then nodded.

I thought about saying something, but stopped. I felt that being afraid of a large adult man might have a reason other than simple difference in physical strength. Because even coming here, if she could come by herself, she would have come alone.

“So, seat number two, is it here?”

At the very end of the shop, there were two rooms. These were booths that cost about three times as much as other seats.

“Are you awake?”

I knocked on the door knock-knock. Since the shop was quiet, I couldn’t raise my voice too much.

I knocked a few times but there was no reply, so I opened the door softly. Then, some video was moving silently on the computer screen. Can he not hear because of headphones? I thought, but immediately after, I closed the door.

“…What?”

Hagana looked at me and asked.

I got a little flustered, then said to Hagana:

“Just, go over there for a bit.”

“Why?”

“Just do it.”

“…”

Hagana looked dissatisfied, but eventually backed down.

Reluctantly, she went back about three steps down the hallway we just came from. I signaled with my hand, a little more.

Hagana frowned, but stepped back two more steps.

I nodded, opened the door, and slipped inside.

Inside the booth, an erotic video with no sound was playing full screen.

“Hey.”

I poked Cerault’s head, who was fast asleep on the sofa.

Cerault woke up shortly and looked at me with sleepy eyes.

“Nn… oh? Ohh…”

He mumbled something and yawned widely. Because he was tall, even lying on the sofa, his legs stuck out from the knees down. When he stretched greatly, more than half of his body stuck out. If he’s going to sleep in a place like this, he should just rent a house, I thought, but maybe he’s not making money.

Anyway, during that time, I turned off the display power.

A woman about Lisa’s age was doing unspeakable things in an unspeakable state with outer space as the background.

“Don’t sleep with an erotic video running.”

“Fwaaa… hm? Ah, not to your liking? That series has quite a few pretty girls, you know. Isn’t fully naked with a spacesuit good?”

“That’s not the point!”

“Then what. Ah, you prefer someone around Hagana-chan’s age? No, well, it’s not that there aren’t any, but you’d get arrested…”

“Hey, I’ll really kill you.”

“Okay, okay. Don’t get mad.”

I grabbed Cerault by the collar and tightened it, but Cerault didn’t flinch at all.

Feeling stupid for getting angry, I let go.

Cerault was scratching his head mosa-mosa while laughing foolishly.

“So? What’s your business?”

“…Geez, well, Hagana has some business apparently.”

“Eh, Hagana-chan is here?”

Cerault was surprised, hurriedly checked his clothes, and pressed down on his hair with both hands as if wondering what part to fix.

“I made her wait right there. Since you had an erotic video running when I opened the door.”

“You should have said so if that was the case. I’d be misunderstood as a pervert.”

“Like I care! Apparently, the program isn’t working well.”

“Ah? Ah, she said something like that in the email too.”

“I’m calling her, okay?”

“Oh, go ahead.”

Facing a small mirror hanging on the wall, he was turning his face sideways and diagonally, fiddling with his massive volume of hair.

When I poked my head out the door and looked down the hallway, Hagana, who was standing listlessly, looked at me.

She looked blatantly relieved, and partly because of her sharp eyes, she also looked like she was sulking from being left out.

“Is it okay?”

“Yeah, he says the gentleman’s preparations are complete.”

“…? Is that so.”

When I withdrew into the booth, Hagana entered somewhat hesitantly.

It probably wasn’t that everything she saw was novel, but at least the environment was vastly different from Lisa’s church, so she seemed a bit bewildered.

“Hi, Hagana-chan.”

“…”

To Cerault’s greeting, Hagana just nodded.

When Cerault spun the chair in front of the computer halfway around and urged her with a smile to sit there, Hagana sat down timidly.

“I heard it’s about the program.”

“…Yes. An error occurs when specifying the period for statistical processing. For example…”

Hagana switched gears briskly, took out her terminal from her bag, and started explaining. The content was something completely incomprehensible to me, sounding almost like incantations.

It seemed there was nothing I could do here, and with three people inside the booth it was admittedly cramped, so I put my hand on the door thinking I’d go outside.

It was at that moment that Hagana stopped explaining.

“?”

When I turned around, I met eyes with Hagana.

Are you going? It was a defenseless face like that.

I was startled and froze.

However, not wanting Cerault to sense that, I feigned calmness, shrugged my shoulders, took my hand off the door as if resigning myself, and sat lightly on the desk.

Hagana watched that anxiously, then returned to her explanation. An exchange lasting less than a second. Perhaps because Cerault was frowning at Hagana’s question, he didn’t seem to notice.

Hagana resumed her exchange with Cerault.

While watching the two of them, I desperately calmed the pounding of my heart. Indeed, even for Hagana, I suppose being left alone as a girl in a cramped and cluttered place like this would be scary.

But even so, Hagana’s defenseless face was very innocent.

Something like a protective instinct was stimulated, and I felt strongly driven by the feeling that I had to protect her.

I have never been relied upon by anyone like this.

Sitting on the table, I was thinking… not bad.

“Hmm, I see… then, as expected…”

It was when Cerault, talking with Hagana, groaned.

“Nn, you look bored, huh?”

Cerault, who had been talking to Hagana, suddenly said.

“If it’s games, they’re right there. The net is connected too, just kill some time. It looks like it’ll take a while.”

“Ah? Is that so?”

“Yeah.”

Since Cerault said so, thinking in that case, I looked at the various things scattered around the table.

On the other hand, Cerault turned back to Hagana and said seriously:

“No really, my intellectual curiosity is stimulated by you, Hagana-chan. Despite how I look, I like these difficult topics. It’s rewarding.”

Listening from the side, I couldn’t help but chuckle.

“Is, that so?”

“Yeah. I’m a hardcore science type. It’s nice, I didn’t think I could talk math with a girl like Hagana-chan.”

“…I see.”

It was blatant flattery, but Hagana looked down somewhat hesitantly yet seemed not entirely displeased. Having someone to talk to in one’s field of expertise must be fun. I don’t think Lisa, who gets a headache just talking about stocks, could keep up, and her students are all students, not equals.

That means Cerault must be quite smart too, but is that so?

“The only people who come to this shop are dirty bastards like this guy. I’d be happy if more people came.”

“What do you mean dirty.”

“It’s a fact, isn’t it? I’ve had complaints several times. That there’s someone smelly.”

“…Yeah. Hal was smelly.”

“Guh.”

“Haha, right?”

Cerault laughed, and Hagana also agreed. Damn, I thought, but since it’s a fact, it can’t be helped.

Giving up on arguing back, I tried to escape to games. Turning on the display power, I stuck my head under the table to connect the game controller to the computer.

At that moment, Cerault stood up from the sofa with a clatter, moving his mouth open and closed.

“?”

I looked at Cerault like that from under the table, wondering what?

Then, Cerault’s hand tried to reach over Hagana toward the display, and I remembered that the erotic video was left playing.

“What?”

Hagana asked Cerault.

Cerault looked at Hagana.

Hagana twisted her body, trying to turn around.

It’s over. Cerault made such a face.

At that moment, I yanked out the bundle of cables at hand with all my might.

Bzzzt-kyuuuun.

Making such a sound, the computer unit stopped.

When Hagana turned around, nothing should have been displayed.

“What is it?”

Hagana’s gaze turned from the display to me.

“…M-Mistakenly pulled out the plug.”

“Ah, a-ah, w-well it’s fine.”

Cerault played along.

“I-Is that so? No, that’s good.”

“Yeah, don’t worry about it. It’s fine. Or rather, that was good.”

“That was good.”

While Cerault and I exchanged such conversation, only Hagana was tilting her head with a “?”.

---

Hagana and I bought bread and drinks at a nearby bakery and returned to the tunnel leading to the 7th Outer District.

It goes without saying, but the weather was fine again today, a perfect day for eating while leisurely gazing at the scenery.

However, since I felt awkward eating face-to-face with Hagana alone, I had suggested bringing Chris along, but the essential Chris was nowhere to be found.

“Well, maybe she’ll come eventually.”

I couldn’t bear to take the food back to the church as it was, and I certainly couldn’t tell Hagana to go home alone. I readjusted my bag, jumped towards the tree as usual, kicked off the trunk, and lightly soared up onto the tunnel.

“Alright, time to eat, time to eat.”

Imppatient to even settle down, I was about to bite into the sandwich wrapped in recycled paper. My hand stopped because Hagana was looking up at me irritably from the middle of the road.

“I cannot climb up.”

“…”

Come to think of it, Hagana was a frail person fully accustomed to the Moon’s gravity.

What a hassle, I thought, but I couldn’t ignore her.

Holding the sandwich, I jumped down to the side of the tunnel and took a big bite.

“Mmph… baggage.”

Hagana, who walked up to me, held out the bag containing bread as told.

“Hug it tight to your chest. The bag too.”

“?”

Hagana hesitated slightly but obediently followed my words.

I stuffed my cheek with a bite of sandwich, then said:

“Don’t move.”

“…Eh?”

“Heave-ho.”

With the sandwich in my mouth, I passed my arm behind Hagana’s knees and lifted her up just like that.

It was what people call a princess carry. Hagana’s eyes darted around in surprise, staring at me.

Naturally, doing a triangle jump using the tree like this was impossible, so I ran towards the cliff, taking a slight detour. I jumped from tree root to rock, then to another root, then to a branch, and finally leaped onto the protruding part of the tunnel.

Each time, Hagana let out a small, voiceless scream.

“Here, we’ve arrived.”

When I said that, Hagana finally came to her senses.

She tried to get up in a panic, but seemed to have completely forgotten she was in my arms.

“Hi, ah…”

She lost her balance and almost fell backward.

Thinking good grief, I first lowered my legs, supported her body, and helped her stand.

“You have no athletic ability, do you?”

When I said that while munching on the sandwich, Hagana, with her hair slightly disheveled, answered wearily.

“…I won’t deny it.”

“Look out, the bread and bag are going to fall.”

“…”

Readjusting her luggage, Hagana fixed her hair with her fingers.

And the moment she suddenly looked up, her eyes widened greatly.

“…Amazing.”

She stood frozen on top of the tunnel, murmuring as if she had forgotten about her hair.

Feeling a bit proud, I sat down and started on my second sandwich.

“It’s the best view I know. Plus, there’s no one else.”

“…Hal, do you always eat here?”

She seemed to have finally returned from being moved by the scenery.

Looking down at me, she asked.

“No? But I come here occasionally. You can see Newton City from here too. It’s perfect for thinking.”

“…”

Hagana looked at the scenery again, narrowed her eyes, and nodded slowly.

“Chris also said she often thinks about problems here.”

“Unfortunately, you can’t climb up on your own.”

At my teasing words, Hagana pursed her lips.

Then, finally sitting down, she said this:

“I should just bring a ladder.”

“Haha. That’s lame.”

“That is more rational.”

It sounded like sour grapes, but also sounded serious.

Either way, being Hagana, she might actually bring a ladder.

Imagining that figure, I laughed a little.

“But.”

“Ah?”

Just as I was picking up a piece of vegetable sticking out of the bread with my fingers and carrying it to my mouth, Hagana said:

“It really is a nice view.”

“…”

I felt happy as if I myself had been praised, but felt a bit embarrassed by such self-consciousness.

“The third floor of the church isn’t bad either.”

That’s why I said that, but Hagana turned around and answered.

“The view is completely different from here.”

I was told the obvious.

“Besides, this resembles a scenery I know.”

“Ah?”

When I asked back, Hagana was looking at the scenery with distant eyes.

There was none of her usual sharpness in her profile.

However, it was also different from calmness.

Nostalgia.

Immediately after I thought of that word, Hagana returned her gaze from the scenery to the sandwich.

“More importantly, there is one thing I want to ask.”

“Hm, ah, what?”

It’s certainly not that I was captivated by Hagana’s profile, but her words brought me back to my senses, and I asked back in a panic.

“Wh-what?”

“About the contest.”

“Ah, yeah… What is it?”

“…”

Still have questions? I felt like asking, but even when I asked back, Hagana didn’t ask her question. She remained still, staring at the sandwich in her hand.

I didn’t urge her or ignore her because I understood well that she was thinking about the question.

“About the prize money.”

However, the words that came out were direct.

“Yeah.”

“Will you really share it for Lisa’s sake?”

Thinking you’re asking now?, I realized that was ultimately Hagana’s concern.

Licking the mustard off my finger, I answered.

“If it’s under 50,000 Mool, all of it. If it’s 200,000 Mool, maybe split the remainder in half.”

“…Really?”

“Do I have that little trust?”

When I asked back without intending to be angry, Hagana unusually looked away timidly.

Then, looking up at me as if gauging my reaction, she said:

“Hypothetically.”

“Hm?”

“Hypothetically, what if my program is of no use at all?”

Hagana’s pitch-black eyes were firmly capturing me.

I couldn’t laugh it off as being a worrywart.

Hagana had spoken self-deprecatingly about her math being of no use for real problems.

And Hagana had been powerless throughout her life.

I couldn’t laugh.

Not just because Lisa asked me, but because I can’t do that to a girl.

“I’d prefer it not be useless if possible, though.”

“…”

“But, well, I am indebted to Lisa, after all.”

Besides, if I place high enough to get prize money, headhunting offers should come too.

If anything, my goal is that side.

If I can leave that church without any lingering trouble, I don’t mind sparing a few tens of thousands of Mool.

“Besides, we don’t know yet if you’re useless or not, right?”

When I said that, Hagana looked at my face intently with a surprised expression.

Then, slowly lowering her eyes, she nodded slightly.

“I want to be useful.”

Hagana said firmly.

“For once?”

“Guh!”

At my words, Hagana jerked her face up.

Then, seeing me grinning, she grimaced enough to make a sound and glared at me.

“Haha, just kidding.”

“Shut up.”

Unusually, Hagana retorted like a child, and my mood improved even more.

However, thinking that one is of no use at all—anyone, not just Hagana, would hate that.

Looking at the vast scenery, I reluctantly said this to her:

“It would be nice if it goes well.”

I could sense that Hagana, who had been sullenly nibbling on her sandwich, raised her gaze.

And Hagana also looked at the scenery and nodded slowly.

The world seems to be enjoying peace without incident.

If possible, I wish the people I’m involved with could be the same. Even though until a little while ago I was only thinking about my own profit, I was thinking such things.

If I win the investment contest, in addition to the 200,000 Mool prize, there’s the headhunting from Schrödinger Street. Thinking about that makes my chest flutter restlessly. Saying I hope Hagana’s program proves useful is my true feeling. The composition ratio of that true feeling is just slightly different.

However, since I was completely unrelated to such investment methods, its true value is unknown.

I finished eating my sandwich a step ahead and lay down.

I really hope it goes well, I thought genuinely.

Shortly after, with the sound of running up the cliff, Chris arrived carrying a large load.