Chapter 8
The next day, Hagana readily accepted the matter of remuneration, and when I conveyed that to Chris over the phone, the other party also agreed immediately. It’s worth asking. If we take 30,000 Mool and double it, 20% of the 30,000 Mool profit, which is 6,000 Mool, will be paid as remuneration. From there, after giving Hagana her program fee, my share will be 4,800 Mool. Not bad for pocket money. Also, I acted tough and added an important clause. That is, I won’t take responsibility if we make a loss. After all, I didn’t ask them to give me money. It would be unbearable if I were held responsible for losses. The one gambling is the other party, not me.
Chris’s father was a huge man who would make Burton look small, possessing a worker-like grimness, but in the end, he swallowed all my demands and bowed deeply. Lisa had a sour face, but I am the one with the skills. I can say with my chest out that selling skills as high as possible is extremely natural. Besides, Hagana seemed to genuinely not have thoughts about losses or remuneration in her head. Staring at the 30,000 Mool brought by Chris and her father, she muttered powerfully.
“Increase it, a lot.”
That’s right. Since Burton is watching me too, this was no time for slack trading.
However, I was surprised myself that to “increase it a lot,” worry—let alone such pressure—was unnecessary. Hagana’s program was that excellent. Every few minutes, every day, it constantly monitors, calculates, and analyzes 1,000 stocks in the virtual space and 3,000 stocks in the real market. It is far more accurate and superior than me switching screens frequently and looking at so many stocks that my eyes flicker. It instantly lines up dozens of analysis results as if I had been staring intently at just one stock. Also, since it precisely outputs the statistical price range I seemingly understood vaguely, the time spent dealing with a single stock could be drastically reduced. Moreover, I almost stopped chasing stocks with distorted investment structures or suspicious smells. Even without chasing such dangerous stocks, Hagana’s program finds money trees one after another, so there is no reason to take risks.
My main task became buying and selling according to the program and reporting to Hagana what went well and what didn’t. Hagana would rack her brain next to me, occasionally solving incomprehensible equations by hand, but I stopped asking what she was doing day by day. On Hagana’s terminal screen, Greek letters used in equations increased day by day. Beta, Gamma, Delta, Theta… All of them seem to have mathematical meanings, but among them, the only one I could understand was Alpha. Alpha holds the only simple and clear meaning among the incomprehensible Greek letters dancing in investment theory. It is the plus part of how much more profit was made than the market average.
In the world of investment, nothing is more boring than the figure called market average. After all, since it’s the average of the market, the performance when purchasing all stocks existing in the market is a number even a monkey could produce if it had money. Any human with a thinking brain would immediately understand that if they choose avoiding stocks that go down among those thousands of stocks, they can easily beat the market average. Alpha was an indicator showing how much smarter one is than a monkey. My Alpha has good times and bad times. But what Hagana is trying to establish with mathematical formulas is a system that constantly outputs Alpha, my best performance. Unaffected by physical condition, weather, or mood. Always calculating the best and optimal performance according to formulas. Hagana sits next to me and turns everything I do into formulas. Therefore, the more the program is improved, the more time I have, and if I have time, I can trade calmly. If I can trade calmly, I came to understand things I couldn’t see or didn’t have the leeway to feel until now very well. I thought maybe the reason my performance was getting worse before teaming up with Hagana was that I had too little leeway. I might have become like a knife sharpened so much it became flimsy.
If I were to complain about anything in trading, it would be that Hagana’s program is too excellent, so there’s no thrill anymore. “Risk” has long been hidden on the other side of Earth. Watching news, looking at finances, sensing the atmosphere of the place, and making all-or-nothing big trades could certainly be called gambling. Now that I am entrusted with people’s funds, and above all, things are going exceptionally well, there is no reason to take such risks anywhere. So, thinking that it’s lonely or boring is a childish and luxurious worry, I laughed it off.
Funds increased further in a week. 47 million Mool in virtual space. 92,000 Mool in real space. With a rise of about 30%, the portion entrusted by Chris and her father had become a little under 40,000 Mool. The result is not bad at all, but there is still a distance to fully repay the debt. I made arrogant conditions that if a profit is made, I get 20% remuneration from Chris and her father, and moreover, I don’t take responsibility if a loss occurs. I wasn’t quite confident if the profit was enough to match that arrogance.
One week after entrusting the funds, Chris came to hear the investment results anxiously. Actually, I was anxious too. However, if hers was the fear of being scolded by parents for bad school grades, Chris’s was that of a patient terrified of being reported having cancer. In front of such Chris, Hagana announced the number.
“It became 39,200 Mool.”
Hagana was dignified. Dignified enough to say she should naturally be so. Chris seems to be incredibly smart, unimaginable from her clumsy appearance. If so, she should understand that the money they entrusted only increased by about 30%, and there is still a considerable distance until full debt repayment. Since I thrust such arrogant conditions, it should properly be about half in a week. I thought I might be told something like that, but Chris, like a curly-haired puppy, was staring at Hagana while trembling.
“…I-Is it, true?”
“It is the truth.”
Then, her legs gave way and she collapsed on the spot.
“Ah, hey.”
I tried to reach out in a panic, but Hagana crouched down faster.
“This is, the truth.”
Hagana said with a gentle face, took Chris’s hand, and squeezed it tightly with both hands. Chris looked at her squeezed hand blankly, then looked at Hagana’s face in front of her. It was a face that couldn’t believe what had happened.
“This is, the truth.”
Hagana said once more. However, there is still a long way to full debt repayment. For Chris and her father, 30,000 Mool must be the last lifeline squeezed out from truly meager assets. Having received it with arrogant conditions, although I have the pride of doing my best naturally, I feel guilty that it is still totally insufficient. Precisely because I think so, seeing Chris’s surprise, I might have had a twisted thought. Because they can’t look at the whole picture and calculate the profit and loss properly, the poor remain poor forever. Entrusting precious funds to us and losing their legs just because it increased by 30%, that’s why they are no good. I was looking at Chris from a high horse and thinking that. But Hagana said this:
“It is the truth. So, with the increased money, you can buy shoes and clothes.”
“Guh—”
I gasped involuntarily.
“From now on, we will increase it more. Buying shoes and clothes, buying a bag, I think there will still be surplus.”
“Ah… u…”
“? It is not something to cry about.”
“I, I’m not cwying…”
Then, Chris started crying, and Hagana was unusually a little flustered. However, the one most upset on the spot was probably me. Hagana’s words pierced deep into my chest. Can buy clothes and shoes. It wasn’t words like how much is still missing for the debt, but words so concrete it was nauseating. The clothes Chris is wearing are tattered and ill-fitting, and her shoes are sneakers with holes that fit even less. It was a terrible state to the point where saying she should buy new ones seemed stupid. Still, I didn’t realize until it was said. I didn’t realize at all. For Chris, for Hagana, money is such a thing. It’s the flip side of when I thrust bills at Hagana and said it was real. I also didn’t understand well what money is. I didn’t understand the true meaning of earning to live. Before rolling into the church, I certainly stayed and slept with money I earned myself, but that was after saving some money at my parents’ home. Being able to buy clothes and shoes was a matter of course. What was in my head was only about how to economize on those matters of course. There was never a time since I was born when I couldn’t buy something I wanted. Things that are natural to have. Hagana and Chris are residents of a world where those don’t exist.
“Chris.”
Hagana calls Chris’s name. Hagana’s face, poor in expression, was in other words always a serious look.
“Increase, more.”
Chris, who looked more like she was on the verge of tears than crying, looked at Hagana as if seeing a savior. Hagana nodded slowly. Then, raising one arm, she pointed at me.
“Hal will, increase it for you.”
“Wha…”
I get flustered by the suddenness, but Chris’s doubtless eyes look at me. Beautiful, blue eyes. Seeing such eyes, I, who was thinking things about the poor, seem like a terribly dirty existence. In front of the faltering me, Chris roughly wiped her face with her worn-out sleeve, straightened her posture while still sitting, and looked at me clearly.
“I am counting on you.”
And politely, she said that. What we are doing was this kind of thing.
Since Chris was so stunned by our performance that her legs gave out, it was predictable that other folks who caught wind of the story would come to the church. Acquaintances of Chris and her father, who similarly held debts to Toyama. Many were also acquaintances of Lisa, and they were people who knew each other’s financial straits as well as they knew last night’s dinner menu. Such folks brought their precious 10,000 Mool, 30,000 Mool, or in some cases, a few thousand Mool. If they accepted the bold conditions that the remuneration was 20% of the profit and I wouldn’t take responsibility for losses, there was no reason to refuse. Basically, investment is just doing the same thing, so only the profit increases without the effort changing. Plus, there was the feeling that I was helping people. The number of people who came to entrust money reached eight, and the funds quickly exceeded 200,000 Mool.
“With this, we can help a lot of people.”
Looking at the list Lisa made with names and entrusted amounts, Hagana muttered softly. Even I, after seeing Chris in that state, started to think that earning money for someone else wasn’t bad. Still, every time someone came to bring money, my anxiety increased little by little. Because as the amount gets larger, quick buying and selling becomes that much more difficult. Stocks are no different from the real market. If it’s one or two apples, you can buy them immediately when you want, but if it becomes a thousand or two thousand, you can’t do it instantly. Especially, unless it’s a stock traded by many people, just me buying raises the price, and just me selling lowers the price. When that happens, I have to divide the 200,000 Mool into three or four parts and invest in more stocks than before to avoid that obstacle. Logically it holds up, but is it really okay? I was anxious, but once again it was a groundless fear. There was leeway. As long as I didn’t indulge in the luxury of stopping, scrutinizing stocks, and trading deliberately, the leeway solidly existed.
And Hagana’s program was improved almost every day, becoming robust enough to endure being trusted blindly. In other words, I came to refer to the analysis results the program spat out without doubting them, and used them to pile up trades. Just as I used to do by myself before teaming up with Hagana, I switched screens dizzyingly, stuck to the terminal without taking a breath, and piled up countless profits. All the gears were meshing well. Profits swelled rapidly, and the number of people coming to entrust money increased further. The funds under management exceeded 500,000 Mool including profits, and of that, my assets amounted to 120,000 Mool when calculating remuneration. Since I felt dizzy at the point of 200,000 Mool, to manage 500,000 Mool, I had no choice but to put virtual space trading on the back burner. Burton should be watching this side, but if I talk about real trading, he should understand. Even Burton would value real trading over virtual space, and if I’m banging out high performance there, he should understand. For that reason, the investment contest was marking time around the point where it exceeded 50 million Mool.
However, perhaps because that was stuck like a small fish bone in my throat, I gradually became unable to genuinely rejoice in the profits from real trading. My senses might be numbed, or the fatigue from trading might be accumulating not just physically but mentally. Amidst trading that felt like work, I was often driven by the temptation to make a big gamble for a diversion. However, if it were just Chris it might be one thing, but now the fates of over ten people were at stake. Moreover, considering that each one of them was the kind of folk who could “buy shoes and clothes” with the increased money, it was all the more so. Among them were naturally children of Chris’s age and Hagana’s students. It wasn’t a situation where I could say something like it’s boring because the gambling element is gone from trading and there’s no thrill, even if my mouth were torn. My head was heavy, my stomach felt nauseous, and when the afternoon trading ended, I lost the energy to do anything. Yet, my personality couldn’t stand staying still, and the place I escaped to was Cerault’s shop.
“You come here often lately.”
While I was vaguely watching an old Earth movie, Cerault poked his face out opening the partition door. “‘The Godfather’, huh. You have austere taste.” “…What is it. Got some business?” “Not exactly business. Here.” Cerault hands me a bottled carbonated drink. If it’s raw material for glass, there’s enough to rot on the Moon, and glass that can be made just by collecting sunlight is valued. However, perhaps because bottled drinks have a retro image compared to PET bottles, they are unpopular with Earthlings. Conversely on the Moon, PET bottles that require using oil are despised as foolish items. Before accepting the bottled drink, I ask shrewdly. “Is it included in the fee?” “It’s on the house, idiot.” “Then I’ll take it.” I accepted it and closed my eyes tightly at the stimulation of the carbonation. “You really like Earth movies. And mostly mafia movies and war movies. Gloomy. You won’t be popular.” “Shut up…” Slurping the juice zuzu, I return my eyes to the movie. It’s a scene where a slightly dim-witted henchman tries to infiltrate a hostile force and gets killed easily. Why does this guy think the opponent won’t suspect him? “Watch something like romance like I do.” “What you watch is just porn.” “What did you say!” Cerault said, looked left and right theatrically, and then brought his mouth close to my ear. “I got one with a girl who looks just like Hagana-chan.” “…” Thinking does he think I’ll be shaken by that, I glance at him sideways. “Oh, reaction is dull…” “Monkey.” “…Yes, I am a monkey. But really, what’s good about a movie like this. Wouldn’t something with more kaboom, bam suit a youngster better?” “…” I ignore him. I like mafia movies and war movies because their principles of action are easy to understand. Also, it’s not about a hero solving problems alone. People are connected by threads thick enough to touch, and they dance madly on the screen like puppets pulled by those threads. That aspect is similar to the stock market. In the stock market too, although the participants’ principles of action are clear, it’s not a place where one person can do anything alone. In such a situation, I really like imagining or watching them head toward a clear goal. I like it so much I shiver when the mafia or an army platoon makes decisions that are irrationally rational for the sake of face or comrades. There are almost no unexpected developments. If there are, it’s merely the initial motive to move the incident. In terms of the stock market, it’s like unexpected news. The battle begins after that news flows.
“…Boring.” As I was contemplating silently while watching the movie, Cerault said sulkily. I was a little curious about the erotic video of the girl looking just like Hagana, but I felt like watching it would be too much of a defeat, so I didn’t want to see it. “Don’t act like a child.” I said to Cerault. “I cherish my youth, you see.” “Earth bastards are famous for being mother complexed to Mother Earth.” “I miss gravity.” Cerault tries to return to the counter with a good grief attitude. I also returned my eyes to the screen, but suddenly the afro stopped moving, and he thrust his big head into the booth again. “By the way, there were rumors about you guys.” Implied words allow for many interpretations. However, the reason I looked at Cerault sideways was that his tone was strangely serious. “Ah?” “With Hagana-chan.” “…Are you an elementary schooler?” When I said exasperatedly, Cerault looked blank for a moment, then smiled wryly. “No, no. Not that.” “Then what.” “I heard you guys are collecting people’s money and managing it?” That one phrase was as if a rival mafia organization was bringing out the spark of a conflict. “…So?” “Does Lisa know?” “Obviously.” I return my eyes to the screen. Rumors. Is it becoming a rumor? “Lisa knows… is that true?” “Shut up… yeah. Though, originally we didn’t intend to handle other people’s money. At first, it was for Lisa’s debt.” “Guh.” Cerault opened his eyes wide and brought his big head closer. “Lisa, had debt?” “Too close… yeah. Didn’t you know?” “I didn’t know…” “She lost a valuable book borrowed from the university. So she got into debt of 30,000 Mool or something, couldn’t pay it back, and was at a loss.” “Oh…” Cerault put both hands on his big head, making a mosa sound. “If she had told me…” “You could pay it back?” When I asked, Cerault started to say something, then stopped. Probably, he tried to put on a meaningless front. “No, but, is that so… But, it’s with the program I made for Hagana-chan, right?” “And my investment power.” “…Well, putting that aside.” “You doubting me?” “Don’t get mad. In Hagana-chan’s emails, the first words are always ‘Hal says,’ ‘Hal says.’ I’m not doubting.” Having such a thing exposed, I was a little caught off guard. “So, not that, I mean be careful.” “…Hah?” “I know you seem to be flying around this area. You probably train, but dangerous folks in the world aren’t just that.” “…Like hackers?” “That too. Anyway, it’s better not to talk too much about collecting money. You can think of it as an old man’s meddling.” “…” He was terribly serious, and I didn’t know what to say. “A, ah…” “You never know what might happen in the world.” Cerault said that at the end, tapped my shoulder lightly, and returned to the counter. Certainly, there is nothing good about people around knowing that we are collecting and managing money. However, we can’t return the money now, and the folks entrusting money to us are actually in need of money. Besides, since we don’t hold cash, there is no worry about being attacked and robbed on the way home. If there are concerns, it would be having the account cracked by hackers, or Lisa or Hagana being kidnapped, but I can’t quite imagine it. I return my gaze to the movie. Ten minutes later, forgetting Cerault’s words, I immersed myself in the movie, and returned to the church after finishing watching it.
Though I went to Cerault’s shop and tried sleeping early, the fatigue accumulating in my body steadily increased as the days passed. I don’t know exactly what is wrong. What I do know is that thinking about trading makes me heavy-hearted and depressed. Maybe the amount of funds has increased, and to maintain performance, there are too many stocks to trade. Or perhaps I feel more pressure from shouldering people’s fates than I realize.
That day too, after the morning trading ended, I couldn’t finish the lunch Lisa made before going to work at the Chinese restaurant, and was slumped over the table.
“Are you… okay?”
And finally, during the lunch break, I was told that by Hagana. Even for Hagana, it was a halting way of speaking, as if she used such words for the first time in her life.
“…I don’t know. Let me sleep…”
Even when I close my eyes, the trading screen flickers, and there is a dull pain in my head. I wonder if it’s a cold, but it doesn’t feel like that either. If it’s something other than a cold, I have plenty of ideas. Until now, no matter how tired I was from trading, if I slept and woke up, I was full of spirit to do it again today, but that is gone. When I wake up in the morning, I think trading again today? and find it troublesome. I also wonder if it’s a reaction to making too much profit after a long time. It might be similar to cheating in a game to raise levels all at once; it’s fun for a while but you get bored quickly. If so, it’s a luxury disease, I think to myself. If I continue to pile up profits like this, I can save many people, and I myself can reach an amazing place.
“…Is the trading volume too much?”
There, Hagana called out to me again. The reason I raised my face was that I was interested in Hagana’s words.
“If it’s too much, what do we do?”
The reason my way of asking became sarcastic is that since the amount of funds has increased, there is no way to do well other than trading finely and abundantly.
“…I have, a proposal.”
“Guh.”
I reacted to those words surprisingly even to myself. Not only my face, but I also sat up. Hagana, remaining seated in her chair, was staring at me intently.
“What is it?”
“We should automate the trading for the investment contest.”
“…”
I stare at Hagana’s face. It was a simple, and all too clear solution.
“When I talked to Cerault, he made it immediately just by extending the existing program a little. When I did a backtest, although it doesn’t reach Hal at all, it became properly positive.”
Hagana opened the program on her terminal, displayed a table of test results, and turned it toward me. I narrowed my eyes to look at the numbers, lightly grimacing at the dull headache. In the numbers on the table, pluses and minuses were jumbled. Because it can’t read the atmosphere of the market well like me, the loss is large, and it’s not even producing a third of my performance. Still, the fully automated trading program was certainly making a profit.
“Hal, right now, you look very having a hard time.”
Looking up from the terminal, Hagana was staring at me expressionlessly. I understood well that she was worried about me in her own expressionless way.
“Efficiency will drop, but with this, you can concentrate on the real one.”
Hagana’s eyes were serious. If balancing with the investment contest is starting to become impossible, one should be cut, and Hagana would judge without hesitation that the investment contest should be cut. Hagana’s eyes were worrying about me incredibly sincerely. However, to that offer, I had no choice but to lower my gaze. Instead of me, an investment program? Thinking so was partly because the performance was shabby. If Burton is watching this trading history, I feared he might give up on me. But the biggest reason was something more obvious. It’s fine even if I’m not here. At that fact, the area around my solar plexus went cold. I finally noticed the pitch-black hole in front of me that I hadn’t noticed at all until just now.
“Efficiency… I will work hard to raise it from now on. But, Lisa is also worried about Hal. So.”
“Don’t need it.”
I interrupted Hagana’s words and said so.
“Don’t need it. I’ll do this one too.”
Hagana starts to say something. However, I immediately connected words and interrupted.
“First place Mr. Troche is increasing assets at a pace like a lie. Relying on a program like this won’t catch up.”
It’s a plausible logic, and factually true. But the real reason lies elsewhere. There is only one thing I cared about. Raise efficiency? It would be possible for Hagana. The program is becoming more and more excellent. But I cannot grow at the same speed as the program. Someday I will be caught up. Even though I should have known from the beginning, I stood before that problem as if seeing it for the first time. When I am overtaken by the program even in judgment, what on earth will I do?
“Y… You search for stocks that are easier to make a profit on, and concentrate more on… right, raising the accuracy of the price range. I will pull profit from there. The role division was like that, right?”
Hagana’s eyebrows distort slightly painfully. I don’t know well if that is worrying about me or not. What I know is that before I knew it, I was in a bad position. What if Hagana’s program finishes copying everything about me and creates a fully automated program? At this moment, my processing capacity as a living human has reached its limit. What I said jokingly at first was becoming realistic. Far from it, there was even a possibility that Hagana’s program would surpass me. When that happens, how much value do I have to Burton? How much value to Hagana? And, there was no way I could refuse cooperation with Hagana now. We aren’t even in a situation to repay Chris and her father’s debt. There is no way I can refuse. If so, the choices I can take are limited.
“I will also do my best until the contest ends.”
The contest has less than three weeks left. It’s not unbearable. It’s not something I can’t gloss over. Facing Hagana who was hesitating to nod, I said this regardless of means.
“So, lend me your strength.”
“Guh.”
Hagana shrunk back lightly as if nervous, and then nodded powerfully. That figure is not the Hagana who thought she was a powerless existence who could do nothing. Now she is in an important position of keeping many people’s money and whether she can repay many people’s debts. Moreover, lend me your strength is probably the best killer phrase for Hagana. However, it was also ironic words. The more I borrow strength from Hagana, the more my strength is chipped away. I finally understood why I couldn’t laugh and why fatigue wouldn’t go away no matter how much profit I made. Because what I am doing now is no different from simple work where it doesn’t have to be me. I stopped watching the news when I woke up in the morning, and stopped looking at stocks after trading. I wasn’t earning using the program. It was painful because I had been reduced to the final component of the program. But even if so, I have to gloss over it as it is now. Until I defend a high rank in the contest and go to Schrödinger Street, I have to keep this trading as “my trading.”
“…It’s about time for the afternoon trading to start.”
I said shortly and returned the terminal to Hagana. Simple work is repeated again. I have to endure. And, I had to gloss over it.
The investment contest passed the halfway point, and Mr. Troche, perhaps using some sort of catalyst at the end, saw his numbers jump to 92 million Mool. This is undoubtedly full leverage using margin trading. I thought it was simply impossible to produce a performance better than ours without margin trading. Furthermore, as the investment contest entered its final stages, almost everyone started taking large positions in the market, causing price movements to become rough, and people making huge profits began to appear one after another.
Even though we reached 60 million Mool, we were surprisingly in fifth place. I decided to completely lift the restrictions on the margin trading I had been using sparingly and always go all in. Using the principle of leverage, I aimed for profits with three times the financial power.
However, even though I was supposed to be leveraging, I felt a lack of response in front of the terminal. It wasn’t about performance, but about my mental state. The more we profited, the more Hagana absorbed herself in mathematical formulas, and the more she absorbed herself, the more the program improved. And that indicated that my place was disappearing more and more.
In the last few days, even looking at the presented stock list, I was starting to not know whether it was good or bad. I know it’s not bad. I know it’s a stock I like. But I couldn’t understand anything beyond that, as if my eyes were covered with a thin film.
Is Burton watching this trading record? There has been no contact since then, but perhaps seeing this trading record, he might think I have degraded into a boring guy. Burton seemed to have called out to me after seeing my first big gamble, so he might not be interested in a guy who can only leave a fifth-place investment result by diligently picking up small change like now. The first-place Mr. Troche is said to be a super-elite who got an MBA from Harvard and has an informal job offer from Platinum Smith. With such a guy existing, why would he continue to be interested in someone like the current me?
However, there was no doubt that our current success was helping many people. It wasn’t just about the folks shouldering debt. Hagana gained confidence through success and was becoming like a flesh-and-blood human. Since we met, she had softened unbelievably, and occasionally smiled shyly. Lisa was happier about that than anything else.
But conversely, a heavy feeling was accumulating deep in my stomach. Occasionally, I would show displeasure close to taking it out on others, but Lisa defended me, saying I was tired from trading. But I knew that wasn’t it. I had to be desperate not to have my place taken by Hagana’s program. I had no choice but to show through attitude and action that what I was doing could not be replaced by anyone else. If I didn’t do that, I was scared that Hagana would start developing an automated program in earnest.
Around that time, I often woke up from nightmares in the middle of the night. A dream where my body turns into mathematical formulas every time I answer Hagana’s questions. Like a puzzle that doesn’t fit, my body crumbles into Greek letters and falls apart. I desperately gather them, but no matter how I gather them, they don’t return to the original body.
On the other hand, unbelievably, Hagana started kindly passing me spoons or sugar during breakfast and such. However, just as I started harboring a delusion that I myself knew was stupid—that it might be harassment with some evil intent—Burton’s email arrived. Just when I thought I was at my limit.
“I found some time, could we meet? Sorry, but if possible, starting from the morning would be good.”
The designated date was a weekday. Before even wandering outside during the day on a weekday, going out during trading hours was out of the question, but before teaming up with Hagana, there were times like rainy days when I stopped trading and spaced out. I replied to the email as if clinging to it.
“I can meet.”
The reply was fast as expected, designating the same Grand Central Hotel as the other day. When I told Hagana that I would go out from the morning on a weekday, she was bewildered rather than surprised.
“What about the trading?”
Naturally, she asks that. My answer was also decided.
“It’s okay to rest for about a day.”
That remark surprised Hagana enough to make her eyes perfectly round, but Hagana probably couldn’t trade on her own, and I absolutely hated leaving it to an automated program.
“You should rest a little too. You’ve been staying up until late at night recently, haven’t you?”
“…Understood.”
Hagana nodded and didn’t say anything more.
The night before the promised meeting with Burton, I could hardly sleep. In the back of my mind was the glittering night of Newton City I glimpsed when I met Burton.
Keeping my outing a secret from Lisa, I disguised myself as much as possible, went to the Grand Central Hotel via the same route as two weeks ago, and was guided again to the seat in the back of the cafe. Everything was the same up to the point where Burton stiffened his smile when he saw me.
“You look terrible.”
The difference was that line.
Burton ordered a hot chocolate liqueur, light on alcohol. The moment I drank it, inadvertently, I felt like crying.
“Hmph…”
Burton sat heavily on the opposite side of the low table, resting his elbow on the armrest with a finger to his temple. Naturally, he was observing me, but I felt like everything was being seen through, which was embarrassing, yet somehow, comfortable.
“When people say living is painful while succeeding, others call them extravagant,”
And suddenly Burton said:
“Those are the words of a loser who has never succeeded. They don’t understand that the world is often like that. No matter how hungry you are, if you’re stuffed with a feast until your jaw dislocates, anyone would suffer.”
Burton sipped his Irish coffee, which seemed to contain more whiskey than coffee, and said while looking at the cup.
“I saw your performance in the investment contest. The numbers are wonderful but… you know.”
He said, and burped slightly.
“Excuse me… Hmph. It’s boring.”
I truly almost dropped my cup.
“It’s like a completely different person from the early stages. Certainly, the investment method, or rather, the way of selecting stocks is consistent but… at a more fundamental level… yes, it’s just like work.”
Burton put down his cup, leaned forward, and looked at me. Those eyes seemed to see through all truths and sharply gaze at the invisible future.
“Hey, Mister. By any chance, is there another person involved in your investment?”
My hand trembled, and chocolate liqueur spilled. But I couldn’t move. I didn’t hide it intentionally. I just didn’t say it because I wasn’t asked. However, if two people are doing the investment, this performance should have been produced by two people. Yet, there is only me here. Moreover, how much of the profits gushing like spring water am I currently responsible for? I am desperately clinging to my current position so as not to be replaced by a program. Staring at the cup, I couldn’t raise my gaze. Burton continued to speak.
“Do you think I would say, ‘Bring that other person’?”
And the words that came out were exactly my concern.
“You’re partnered with a quant anyway. Am I wrong?”
“Guh…”
I finally raised my face. Burton mixed an expression as if he had eaten something bad into his aged, dignified face.
“So it is as expected. Teaming up with a quant leads to that.”
“B-But…”
That quant is responsible for most of the earnings. Burton stopped me with his large palm as I started to speak.
“Quants are tremendous. The more excellent they are, the more so. They model the market with mathematics. And in many cases, they can quantify most of the trading methods humans use.”
“…”
Burton said point-blank that this is exactly what is happening to me now.
“Were you perhaps the shark-type investment style, biting and biting at stocks, making small profits while always searching around for the big waves that occasionally visit?”
“…Yes, that’s right.”
“That is one wonderful method. Short-term booms and crashes in the market are mostly artificial, you see. Those cannot be fully expressed by mathematical formulas. They are lumps of irrationality. And those are things only humans can perceive.”
Atmosphere, a matter Hagana wouldn’t understand no matter how many times I explained.
“In this day and age, human labor is increasingly being replaced by machines. Just because you compete here doesn’t mean you can escape from that.”
Burton lightly tapped his temple with his thick index finger.
“There are only two ways to outwit machines. One is to become the side that makes the machines. The other is to continue doing things machines cannot do.”
“…Things machines… cannot do?”
“That’s right. The reason I called out to you is also that, looking at the investment data from the early stages, I thought you had the aptitude to do that. Whether you can see through people’s intentions from data and phenomena is an aptitude.”
Burton leaned forward while staring at me.
“For example, about the quant you are partnered with. How about that quant? Do they possess the aptitude to see through people’s intentions?”
At those words, Hagana’s figure came to mind in an instant. If asked to name one thing Hagana is worst at, it would be precisely seeing through people’s intentions, thinking about people’s feelings.
“Hmph. There are many such people among quants. It’s proven to some extent in brain science too. Developing the brain for every matter is an extremely difficult task. Especially, the act of handling numbers is very special, developed only by humans. Math enthusiasts who can earn as quants generally use their brains too much for math. Therefore, they have defects in other things, especially interpersonal skills. It includes those who just don’t want to get involved with people because it’s troublesome, but even that is a kind of defect, right? Just imagine a math doctor with glasses in a white coat. Almost certainly an oddball.”
I understand what Burton says very well. Hagana’s thinking is always straight like math. If A is B and B is C, then always, at any time, A must be C, and it should be so. That’s probably why Hagana always resorts to extreme actions, like thinking she should sell herself to repay debt. The harmful effect of being too immersed in math. Is math talent the price for that?
“Besides, the math quants handle is a universal tool. Since everyone competes using the same tools, even if the best answer comes out, it will surely be imitated by someone someday.”
“…”
“It’s a competitive world that shreds your stomach. Yet, it’s not necessarily rewarded. Building a permanent advantage is almost impossible. Everyone goes through trial and error to make things work, so one person, then another finds the same profitable method, and when everyone starts doing the same thing, naturally it becomes unprofitable. One year, half a year, at most a few months, maybe. What was working until then suddenly stops working. In your case too, when trying to pick up small profits, didn’t you hit a wall? Ultra-short-term trading grasping the atmosphere of the market other than booms and crashes is, in principle, doing the same thing as quants.”
“Guh.”
I don’t know how many times I’ve gasped. It feels as if everything was seen from behind. Just before cooperating with Hagana, my trading suddenly stopped going well. Even though I should have been doing the same thing, I couldn’t get the same performance. That might have been because someone else also found that profitable method.
“So it is as expected. Thinking of teaming up with a quant because of that is naive. When trading relying on intuition and reflexes, you start wanting scientific endorsement. But relying on science won’t solve it. Because in the end, what you are doing is the same. Therefore, if you want to be a ‘human’ surpassing machines, you should think as a ‘human’. Trying to profit from irrational situations like booms and crashes is one such method. Quants assume people are rational and model the market. Therefore, they are useless in places where people are not rational. And people are often irrational. Romance is exactly so, isn’t it?”
Burton grins, but I can only nod vaguely. However, thinking it’s okay to pay 30,000 Mool for a lap pillow from Lisa would be the height of irrationality.
“Though, everyone wants to rely on science. I won’t laugh at you. Recent economists also only bring out formulas when they open their mouths. They are terrified that they won’t be recognized as full-fledged scholars unless they use formulas. But doing such things doesn’t mean escaping from fear. They are simply avoiding what cannot be calculated. Friedrich Nietzsche said: ‘The secret of science is the instinctive fear of what cannot be calculated.’ For humans to surpass machines, they must approach what cannot be calculated. The only ones who can do that are…”
Burton flicked his suspenders with his finger and said mischievously:
“Only those who can see through people’s intentions beyond events.”
I could only listen in front of Burton. Trying to understand was the best I could do, and it was doubtful if I understood. But I understood that I was being told something very important. I had dreamed many times of my body turning into Greek letters. At this rate, I will become unnecessary. Then, I have no choice but to do what Hagana cannot do. I swallowed my spit and said in a trembling voice.
“…Can I, do it?”
Burton in front of me frowned for the first time and looked at me.
“It’s not about whether you can or not. To survive, you have no choice but to do it until it works.”
Words I felt like I heard somewhere. And I thought how powerful words they were. I nodded slowly.
“Besides, I’m not free either. I’m calling out to humans who seem capable. In that respect, your sense of smell has already been proven. Calling you out on a weekday morning was actually with thoughts along those lines.”
Burton drained the remaining coffee in his cup, placed it on the table, and took the jacket he had draped over the sofa next to him.
“I want to show you the outline of my investment method.”
Since his body is large, when he stands up, I feel as if even the surrounding air moves greatly guwa. Burton took a high stance and said while looking at me.
“Let’s go.”
It was a powerful word, like a hero guiding a lost person.
Burton drove himself that day.
The car didn’t look cheap, but it wasn’t the type that screamed luxury the moment you saw it. It looked like the kind of common vehicle that would blend into the street, which left me feeling a bit bewildered.
“Sit in the passenger seat.”
Urged by Burton’s words, I sat in the front.
“The selection of a car for work always weighs on my mind,” Burton said as he squeezed his large frame into the driver’s seat, steering with power as he started the car. “Not too luxurious, but not a piece of junk.”
“…Why is that?”
“Seeing through people’s intentions is the only way to surpass the machines,” Burton said mischievously.
He wanted me to think.
A car for work.
The moment I repeated the phrase to myself, I knew the answer immediately.
“Is it because if it’s too much of a junker, people will think you aren’t making a profit?”
Burton is the head of an investment fund. Funds take money from clients, manage it, and take a fee from the profits. Unless the clients were like the folks around here—chased by debt with nowhere else to turn—they would much rather entrust their money to a fund manager in a luxury car than one driving a clunker.
“Correct. Then, the reason for it not being too luxurious?”
Burton asked without taking his eyes off the road.
I thought desperately.
But I couldn’t come up with a definitive answer.
“Because it would be… sarcastic?”
“Sarcastic? Haha, well, there is that too.”
The car turned right at an intersection. Since Newton City is stratified, roads and sidewalks are separated in most places. Newton City seen from a road exclusive to cars has a different charm than when seen from the sidewalk.
“The real reason is, it’s a precaution.”
“A precaution?”
“Yes. Funds make money sometimes, and lose money sometimes. Especially if you do it for a long time. Try driving around in a luxury car at times like that. It becomes harder to make excuses when you lose. Therefore, the car used for work should be neither too expensive nor too cheap, settling on a practical luxury car.”
I see, I thought.
“Well, such things are immediately understood if you actually try doing it yourself. More importantly… what we should be looking at is elsewhere.”
We descended from the upper level, passed through the highway, and came out at the edge of the government district.
It was an area lined with the Moon City University campus and, to my interest, companies that generate high profits from intellectual property such as pharmaceutical companies and biotechnology-related firms.
“Among the companies around here, which ones have you seen the financial statements for?”
Burton asked as we emerged onto the upper level and drove slowly down an elegant street lined with trees. Burton rested both hands and his chin on the steering wheel, gazing at the buildings outside like a lost person searching for a meeting place beyond the windshield.
I immediately searched my memory.
Companies in this area were naturally among the stocks I mainly handled.
“Rupert Pharmacy, Hutte, Totsuka Holdings, Ring Tech, Amine Biology… and…”
“Haha, it’s impressive that you can rattle off that many. Moreover, they all have good financials. I could recommend them to an elderly widow with my chest puffed out.”
“…Haa.”
“But, looking at financial statements, looking at stock charts, and judging from there—most of that can be done by a program. Signs of window dressing or accounting fraud can also be flushed out mechanically to some extent if there is know-how. Because everything is expressed in fixed logic and numbers. Did you know that false entries in accounting books can also be calculated statistically?”
“Eh?”
Isn’t that precisely something machines can’t see through, and only humans can notice?
“Countless numbers appear in accounting books. You investigate the frequency with which the first digit of those numbers appears. With that, you can sometimes tell if fraud is being committed.”
I didn’t understand what was being said. With my meager knowledge, numbers lined up in accounting books are random, so isn’t it like rolling dice?
In other words, numbers from 1 to 9 appear with equal probability.
“Accounting firms and tax offices use it when uncovering accounting fraud. Statistically, in a natural state, the number 1 appears most frequently as the first digit, and that ratio is roughly about 30% of the total. Numbers 1 to 9 don’t appear equally. It’s called Benford’s Law.”
“…”
That’s a lie, I thought, but words didn’t come out.
“It’s a bit of difficult math, but if you look at a logarithmic graph, you can see it’s true. And such things are a specialty of quants.”
Burton sat up, increased speed slightly, and entered a narrow road.
Then, he stopped the car on the shoulder and jerked his chin towards a nearby building.
“That’s Ring Tech’s building. Magnificent, isn’t it? Twelve floors underground, fifty-three floors above ground, total construction cost 2.5 billion Mool. A brand new building just completed last year. You can fully feel the enthusiasm to step closer to the signboard of a ‘major’ company, tired of being called an up-and-coming biotechnology company. It’s close to both Moon City University and the government district, so it’s convenient for recruiting talent and lobbying. Now.”
Burton looked at me.
“There is a problem with the building.”
“Eh.”
With that, I thought, Is it a defective building?
However, the glass-walled building towering majestically there was a symbol of wealth and success.
It’s a super blue-chip company that exceeded 12 billion Mool in sales last year, its twelfth year since establishment.
Looking at the data referenced for investment, there were no problems anywhere. It is a representative example of a company that will likely continue to prosper over the long term.
“I’ve known Ring Tech since its predecessor was on Earth. It was in Washington, but this company’s selling point is its free corporate culture. You know that, right?”
“…Yes.”
“When it was in Washington, it was a venture launched by researchers tired of the bureaucracy of the pharmaceutical giant Pfizer. It was called a company where management and researchers were closest. The free research environment paid off, and they made a great leap forward by obtaining innovative patents for bio-related test kits and genome marking technology. They hit the jackpot with gene therapy drugs and came all the way to the Moon. The CEO always appears in a white coat at company briefings. Company cars are the same for everyone from sales to CEO. Welfare benefits are generous, there is no hierarchy, it’s a wonderful place.”
Burton says this, but he implies clearly that it is not as he says.
I asked.
“It’s… different, right?”
“On the surface, they still say so, but look at the upper part of that building.”
He pressed his forehead against the windshield and pointed upwards.
I peered in together with him.
“Just a few floors at the top have a strange shape, don’t they?”
“…Yes. Cross, shaped?”
“Right. Only the top ten floors are terribly distorted in shape. When a sense of privilege sprouts in management, new office buildings usually get distorted like that.”
“…No way.”
I said involuntarily.
Next to me, Burton was grinning.
“They design it like that to increase the number of corner rooms for executive offices. Because the big shots hate entering rooms side-by-side. Also, there are places where a single sheet of glass is used for two whole floors, right? That’s an executive-only dining room. It’s supposed not to exist officially, though.”
I looked at Burton as if exasperated, and then I had to ask.
“Why do you know that even though it’s unofficial?”
“If you peek with binoculars at lunch time, you can tell in one shot.”
“Guh.”
That is true.
But would anyone really do such a thing?
There is. Right here.
“When a company whose selling point is a free corporate culture becomes like that, the fall is terribly fast. If you know it’s bureaucratic from the beginning, humans get used to it. But since many people probably gathered there because they hated that, the disillusionment is also huge. Before long, researchers will jump out in large numbers and launch new companies. Therefore, there exist buildings that clearly represent the rise and fall. An up-and-coming company pays a fortune to move in, but business performance suddenly deteriorates and it gets bought out. Superstitious folks say there is something about that building, but in reality, it’s different. The reason they want to move into such buildings even paying a fortune is that they are all companies whose management thinks similarly.”
A flag with the company logo was fluttering at the main entrance of the building. The people coming and going all looked like go-getter businessmen or excellent researchers, and there was no smell of danger at all.
However, now that he mentions it, the shape of the building is unnatural.
And if there is an executive-only dining room that shouldn’t exist officially, surely more lies and deception are rampant inside.
Those stories never appear in numbers.
By the time they appear in numbers, it’s too late.
“Unique information that those around you haven’t grasped becomes a strength, obviously. If it were me, while everyone is buying like idiots, I would carefully wait for a chance to short sell. But without this information, whether to take the buyer side or seller side can only be judged from other numbers. For example, suppose there is a phase where margin trading piles up on a stock, and whether it goes up or down, it should move significantly either way. At that time, if you misjudge which side to take, it’s this.”
Burton mimics slitting his throat.
Certainly, when judging by atmosphere, when it reaches the limit, it’s always frustratingly fifty-fifty. Even so, within the clues obtained by straining my eyes, I judge whether to sell or buy.
“I make it my job to go around various companies every day and find patterns. And when I see a pattern, I think about why such a pattern appears. Mostly, it reflects extremely simple human emotions. This is work a machine can absolutely never do.”
He started the engine again and slowly moved the car.
“And in my experience, guys who are good at grasping the atmosphere of the market are also good at finding those patterns. Even looking at the same thing, they must feel differently or look at different places. That isn’t something that can be achieved by training. It’s a natural gift.”
I didn’t know how to answer when praised.
I just looked down in embarrassment and mumbled.
“Well, the rest is anyway getting connections with people is the job. Occasionally, there are guys who revive without being discouraged no matter how many times they fail. The famous one is the real estate king Daniel Trap.”
“Trap?”
“Oops, don’t you know him? A man who takes the nickname Mr. Indomitable in America. He went bankrupt three times by the age of forty. Each time the bankruptcy amount got larger, and the third time he collapsed a company with a debt of 1.2 billion dollars. But four years later, he purchased a 500 million dollar building in Manhattan, shamelessly named it Trap Tower, and tailored it into a first-class commercial building. Why do such guys appear? Is he a genius of management? Certainly there is that too. He is smart to death. Anyway, his memory is good. But if he were truly a management genius, he wouldn’t go bankrupt so many times. Where he is a genius is regarding socializing. If you hang out with the rich, the level of work matches that. Personal connections generate money more than savings.”
While talking, Burton drove the car into the Moon City University campus.
There wasn’t even a proper gatekeeper at the university, and no one stopped us or cared.
Maybe because classes were in session, shadows of people walking on campus were sparse.
The car ran on a narrow road and stopped midway. Then, Burton slowly got out of the car and stopped by a sandwich shop on the side of the road. Since he didn’t even look at me a bit, it didn’t seem like he wanted me to get out. Also, perhaps because he comes to buy often, he seemed friendly with the clerk.
Sandwiches were put in a paper bag, and Burton paid with a 100-Mool bill when paying.
And he didn’t accept the change. He tapped the clerk’s shoulder friendly with that large hand, waved, and left the shop. He came around to the driver’s seat with a smile as if he had a fun conversation, opened the door, and got in.
“Lunch.”
Handing me the paper bag and waving to the person in the shop once more, he started the car.
“Humans, no matter how much they earn, can only eat three times a day.”
“Eh?”
“Moreover, almost no guy goes to a different shop every day. In other words, dining places are mostly fixed. Especially, this is common among professors. If a professor of biology, chemistry, or engineering stops eating sandwiches that are cheap and can be eaten with one hand, there is a high possibility they were headhunted by a company. If a professor who ordered beef sandwiches with plenty of cheese until then suddenly changes to tomato sandwiches without cheese, there is a high possibility they are immersed in entertainment at night. The easiest to understand is starting to use a car for commuting, though.”
Burton grabbed a sandwich with one hand and bit into it.
“Instead of eating there, I collect that kind of talk. I’ve known the clerk just now for quite a long time. He also understands my intention and remembers almost all the faces of headhunters coming and going on campus. I pride myself on being better than professional reporters regarding headhunting at Moon City University. Because reporters can’t shell out a 100-Mool bill for every meal.”
Saying that, he winked mischievously.
“Daniel Trap is also good at this kind of thing. Really good. So a lot of information gathers. He uses that. Naturally, he has the sense of smell to select good and bad information, and the decisiveness to bet big when it counts. It’s the same as the market. Collect information as much as possible, sniff out the scent from there, and bet heads or tails. How about it? Rather than volatility sigma whatever, don’t you think you are suited for this?”
Being told suddenly, the chicken I was about to swallow almost got stuck in my throat.
But, it is exactly so.
I absolutely didn’t understand what the Greek letters Hagana described on the terminal were. I couldn’t even have an interest.
“Traders who surrendered to quant programs fall ill mentally and retire before long. Heads or tails of a coin, judging that is a privilege solely for humans. When you surrender that privilege to a machine, that guy stops being human.”
I dreamed of my body becoming Greek letters.
That was truly exactly Burton’s words.
“Open your eyes and look at the world. In things involving people, there is nothing where people’s intentions aren’t entangled.”
The car stops at a traffic light.
Burton said while looking ahead.
“Don’t you want to try real investment, not math play?”
“That is—”
At the timing I asked back, the car started.
Burton didn’t say anything while looking ahead.
In that profile, there was something strongly appealing to be human.
If deciding is a human privilege, doing something about Burton’s words is also my privilege.
“However, I don’t trust quants, and I don’t think it will be for your good in the future.”
Turning the steering wheel, the car headed towards the suburbs.
“You should cut ties.”
Burton says clearly.
Cut ties with Hagana?
I imagine that state. Released from the program, I start as a member of the financial district.
And that under Burton, who has pursued classical investment methods like collecting corporate information that absolutely cannot be expressed in numbers and investing.
Humans obtaining information from human activities and judging based on that, which machines can absolutely never do.
The mafia movies and war movies I like were exactly similar to that. There are principles to follow and realities to consider. And there is an accumulation called experience. I felt like I was reading participants’ intentions from stock price movements and seeing through everything with that. But Burton says he collects information from more fundamental places and judges.
That was, frankly speaking, cool. It was steady work, but I thought it was an investment method more grounded than anyone else’s. After all, he even goes as far as monitoring with binoculars to confirm if there is an executive-only dining room. If that doesn’t work, I think it’s hopeless. There was something that made me think so.
My dream was to gather humanity’s wealth and go to unexplored lands. It was never to collect the precious assets of poverty districts and help repay their debts, but I had forgotten that for a long time.
However, there is naturally a reason why I hesitated. It’s about Hagana. I wondered if Hagana could get by even if I were gone.
The program will probably work well. But if Burton’s words are correct, there is a possibility it will become unusable sooner or later. Besides, when we were in the church together with Lisa, both of us were truly stuck. I think Lisa is an adult, but she is somewhat airheaded and has low life skills. Hagana goes without saying.
In addition, even if I was tormented by Hagana’s program, I wasn’t tormented by Hagana.
Far from it, just recently Hagana worried about my physical condition.
She isn’t a bad guy. Rather, she might be too honest.
Abandoning such Hagana right now was something I couldn’t do.
“Can I… have some time?”
Saying that was the best I could do. The opponent is a super-rich man paid respect at the Grand Central Hotel. Normally, he shouldn’t be dealing with a kid like me. This is a lucky thing. An unbelievably lucky thing.
However, leaving that was the only path left for me.
“Of course.”
And Burton answered immediately.
The car eventually arrived at the 6th Outer District. I got out of the car there and thanked him for today. Burton didn’t stage a passionate farewell like the first time, but he showed a smile from the driver’s seat at the end.
Well, see you. That way of leaving was terribly stylish.
I watched Burton’s car until it disappeared among other cars there, and started walking.
I know my principle of action. My purpose is also clear. Then, I knew the solution to the problem.
I start walking toward the church. Is the time a little past two? It’s a time zone where police will say things if I wander around clumsily. I wasn’t in the mood, but I returned to the church along the roofs of houses.
So, seeing that figure was truly a coincidence. If I had walked the road trudgingly and entered the church, I probably wouldn’t have noticed. When trying to descend to the church roof from the neighboring house’s rooftop, the third-floor garden is fully visible. Since Lisa is working at the Chinese restaurant, no one else is there. It’s Hagana.
Moreover, since the nap set Lisa prepared consists of nothing but pure white fluffy cushions and blankets, Hagana dressed all in black stood out very much.
I went down to the third-floor garden and looked at Hagana fast asleep. Taking my words to rest seriously, she is really resting. This guy trying to copy all my actions is not to make me useless. Above all, I know Hagana is really seriously adjusting the program values.
On the Moon, wind blows occasionally for air circulation. Just then that wind came, and the air caressed the place as if slowly washing it away.
Lily flowers swayed, large tree leaves swayed, and Hagana’s bangs swayed. Sleeping, she is truly just a girl. Besides, looking closely, she is sleeping hugging her usual terminal to her chest, and there are two cups at hand. Chris probably came during the day and studied or something.
Even if not Lisa, one would want to protect this carefree life, and for example, would want to save the plight of folks working desperately hard like Chris and her father.
According to Burton, quants’ methods eventually become obsolete and performance drops if they use the same method. In other words, if I cut ties with Hagana, Hagana will eventually lose the means to earn.
Burying her body in the cushion, Hagana is sleeping while occasionally fretting like a baby.
One person swallowed by the great unreasonableness of the world, sold from Earth.
But I must chase my dream. For that, Burton was an absolutely necessary clue. So, I made up my mind.
Walking up to Hagana, I look down at her sleeping face intently. Hagana frowns a little at the change in light and wakes up.
Realizing it’s me, she rubs her eyes, and then as if realizing something, she clumsily worried about her skirt moso-moso.
Even though she didn’t care at all when I peeked from below when we first met.
“…What?”
With eyes where sleepiness still remains, she asks as if glaring. Or perhaps she was embarrassed to be seen sleeping.
I said this:
“Let’s take first place in the investment contest.”
“…Eh?”
Hagana asks back. Right now, aren’t the people shouldering debt more important to us?
She seemed to want to ask that back, but I was thinking about something completely different.
If we have the prize money from the contest, Hagana will probably be able to live without any inconvenience until she goes to university.
No matter how much Lisa and Hagana lack life skills, with 200,000 Mool, they definitely shouldn’t be in trouble.
If Hagana’s program can operate for a while longer, priority should be given to the investment contest.
If I do so, I can cut ties with Hagana with peace of mind and head to Burton.
The deadline for debt repayment is still far ahead, but the investment contest is not.
“Why—”
Interrupting Hagana asking, I said.
“Please.”
“Guh.”
Hagana freezes in the posture of just sitting up from the cushion.
The Moon’s wind blows gently and long.
Hagana’s beautiful hair sways in unison.
“Is that, important?”
Her way of asking is also direct. If told it is even as a lie, would she nod without doubting?
Probably so. Because Hagana ended up rolling into this church precisely because she has sharp eyes and seems suspicious, but can’t maneuver properly.
However, it is important.
There is no lie there.
“It is.”
Hagana looks at me intently.
Then, looking away, she lightly stroked the hem of her skirt and raised her face.
“Understood.”
Hagana stands up.
Perhaps because she was sleeping buried in the cushion, from Hagana standing right next to me, there was a very strong scent of Hagana.
“There is quite a gap with Mr. Troche.”
Hagana says.
I answered.
“We just have to catch up.”
At those words, it looked like Hagana smiled faintly.
