Ichiro woke up. He slept through his phone’s alarm clock, as usual. He didn't want to get up, his joints were sore. So he lay in bed for a half hour, doing nothing but yawning now and then. While he was doing so, he heard his phone’s notification tune.

“Yesterday was just a fluke.”

Ichiro muttered as he moved himself up and stretched his arm to the phone. He unplugged the charging cable, turned on the phone’s display, and examined the notifications.

NueTube [KuroKuruu uploaded a new video |Kittens playing...|]

TweetTweet [@renko_art uploaded a new image...]

CURVE [Chief-Manager-sama |Come to the main office at 12:00...|]

CURVE [DemonSlayer69 |This is Dave...|]

Ichiro tapped the third notification and muttered the entire message from the app.

“Come to the main office at 12:00. We have a special delivery to Tokyo. Details will be given there. Please be on time.”

It was sent at the 7:34 in the morning. I checked the time on the screen. 10:13. He still had some time. Ichiro sent the ‘OK’ to her and replied to Dave in a friendly manner.

Ichiro sat up and stretched his arms, one hand holding the phone. He pushed himself out of bed and walked like a zombie to the bathroom. After taking a shower, he got dressed and tossed the sweaty pajamas into the ever-growing unwashed pile of clothes in the corner. He wore a black-red striped shirt, red hoodie, yesterday jeans. Even though it was the early days of summer outside, it was still cold by Ichiro’s standards.

He then walked to the kitchen, poured himself a glass of water, and gulped it down. He then started cooking his morning meal–

“Yesterday was definitely a fluke.”

Half of the ingredients were missing. Ichiro forgot to buy yesterday, given he was busy at work, and went to the noodle shop at night. He cursed himself inside, and he did what any rational adult would do. He walked away from the kitchen and into his bedroom, where he sat near an expensive laptop, and turned it on. Ichiro would eat ‘later.’

The laptop powered on fast, displaying the WindowZ logo in all its glory before fading into the desktop. Its wallpaper was an old photograph of his mother and his dead father. He opened his Manilla Kitsune browser and went to the news site that was in his bookmarks. He looked at today’s most popular articles.

[The Prime Minister delivered a speech on the state of Japan’s economy...]

[A series of earthquakes struck the middle of Osaka Bay, causing a tsunami..]

[A killer that murdered over ten people in Kishiwada was found dead...]

[The Japanese Maritime Self-Defense Force conducted an unplanned naval exercise in the Seto Inland Sea...]

All of them were boring except for the second. On the new page, he instead typed the URL of a popular international anonymous forum board. He looked through the posts and found none that piqued his interest. Usual posts about single men’s lust, current events, state propaganda, gore, and so on. He checked it once again, and still nothing interesting. There wasn’t anything important happening either. He felt bored.

After closing the previous browser, he opened the P_Thor browser, activated its hiding functions, or whatever his now-unreachable friend said it was, and typed the site that was like the previous one. It loaded almost instantly, displaying that a password and username were required. He typed them, and on the first try, he got inside.

As evidenced by the posts, the site was clearly intended for more ‘elite’ members of Japanese society. It was filled with discussions about politics, economics, and social issues. The top post was about the recent scandal with the Prime Minister. The second one was about the ongoing investigation into the murder case in Kishiwada. In the top left corner, he could see that the site currently has over 2000 users online.

It also had a ‘supernatural’ forum side, under the ‘categories’ hyperlink, but he never entered it because he thought they were delusions from people who wanted to believe in something impossible. The supernatural forum had topics like ghosts, monsters, conspiracy theories, and other nonsense. The thread titles alone were enough to make him cringe, and never clicked on it, forgetting about it completely after seeing it.

Ichiro joined this site after an online only friend with whom he had previously played MMORPG for a long time invited him by accident. When he asked about it, his friend brushed it off, saying he earned it.

Ichiro scrolled through the posts and saw a title that caught his attention.

1. Anonymous Web Analytic, 9 hours ago

*date_numbers*.jpg

I came across this strange truck image in that forum. The post was obviously a troll, but the image appeared genuine. I checked the EXIF, and it showed that it was shot yesterday somewhere in Osaka. The troll was clearly inexperienced, as evidenced by the data left on the image.

So, military officials, what model is the truck (?) and why on earth does it have civilian license plates? I looked through the open sources but couldn’t find anything. Thank you in advance.

ｍ(＿　＿)ｍ

His truck, which was parked at the gas station, was shown in the image.

“Hmm.”

He examined the image with care. The right and back of his black armored truck were seen, along with the unedited blurry car numbers. This piqued Ichiro’s interest. What a strange coincidence. He scrolled down to the responses and attempted to adjust his glasses by the bridge, which he failed at, touching his nose because they were on the pile of clothes in the bathroom.

The first responses were simply speculations and additional information provided by the OP.

...

15. Anonymous High-ranked Official, 7 hours ago

Hmm, I don’t think there’s such an armored truck like that in the army, but I think I’ve seen one somewhere. I’ll try to remember and maybe send a photo.

16. Anonymous Web Analytic, 7 hours ago

>>15 Thank you, I’ll wait. ｍ(＿　＿)ｍ

...

31. Anonymous Retired Veteran, 6 hours ago

I saw this specific truck with my eyes. This jerk had overtaken me with such speed while driving that I nearly crashed into another vehicle. If I ever see him again, I’ll smash his face until he turns blue.

...

Oops. Ichiro smirked. Another one bites the dust. He then continued reading the rest of the replies, but they were mostly useless. He skimmed through the comments and stopped at the high-ranked official’s returning comment.

...

98. Anonymous High-ranked Official, 2 hours ago

DCIM_0955.jpg

I found it! I’ve ridden it in one of Canada’s open military testings. Here’s a look at the image above. I’m afraid I won’t be able to show much more than that. I’ve heard that they halted development for unknown reasons. The guy who made it is a Japanese Canadian national, apparently. I’ll post some more info in a minute...

...

So, at the end of this thread, this forum posters went from a slightly blurry photo of his truck to finding the creator’s name, truck’s approximate location, what probable corporation owns it, and old specifications alongside the photo in 6 hours. Fortunately, they did not discover who the driver was, which was Ichiro. In this thread, he learned more about the truck than he did from the boss.

The armored truck, nicknamed internally ‘Black Beast’ or simply Blackey, was developed by the Kensuke Izumi, ‘crazy inventor’ for the Canadian government and was to be used on the uneven terrain, especially on mud and snow. As per the specs, it could carry up to three tons of cargo without issue, and has a maximum speed of 200 km/h. It had an experimental engine that can run on any commercial fuel available, depending on the user’s preference. The armor on its front and rear was bulletproof, and the tires withstood heavy impacts and extreme temperature changes. They stopped the development after failing the tests, and the company that manufactured these trucks closed down shortly thereafter.

All of those details were useful, but there wasn’t any real reason for Ichiro to care. Sure, the old specifications were a significant find, but it contradicted what he saw. For example, the maximum speed on that truck was not 200 km/h, but 300 km/h. However, it was probably close enough for Ichiro to ignore. The only thing he cared about was the fact that he temporarily owned that exact truck.

And for this reason, Ichiro decided to never do maintenance on it himself, unless absolutely necessary.

One thing was certain.

“Scary...”

He didn’t want to be searched like that again. He considered responding to that thread, but decided against it. If he responds, he won’t be able to answer questions because he knows nothing more about the truck than they are.

As his stomach grumbled, he turned off the notebook, and then closed it. He yawned and walked to the glasses, put them on, and went to the supermarket to buy a bento.

***

After 20 minutes, Ichiro returned home. He got a cheap bento with a lot of meat and vegetables. To help him wake up enough to be focused, he also bought a large can of Blue Bull energy drink. He ate with no taste in his mouth. The aftertaste of the heavenly udon from the Master Of Noodles lingered on. He watched NueTube videos about kittens doing adorable kitten things while eating his lunch.

After finishing his meal, it was time to leave for work. The time showed 11:28 on his smartphone. Ichiro threw the bento plastic case into the trashcan, grabbed the Blue Bull, double-checked to see if he forgot anything, and exited the apartment, locking the door. Nothing noteworthy occurred while he was walking to the mini-parking lot; he entered a truck, placed the can on the holder, and started the engine.

While the engine was revving, Ichiro looked at the truck with fresh eyes. His mind drifted away from the usual thoughts of how to fight effectively in his dreams, to the mysterious armored truck he was now driving. Is his company crazy enough to buy experimental trucks that cost millions?

The idea came out of nowhere and popped into Ichiro’s head. He took a sip from the can and drove away.

The road was empty and straight, as usual. There was nothing unusual except for the occasional car passing by, and the light traffic flow was good.

***

Ichiro arrived at the main office building at precisely 12:00. He parked the truck in the same parking lot where it had been parked yesterday; the truck was on the allowed list, so he entered it through the back entrance, which had a security gate.

Once inside, he locked his truck completely and walked to the lift. He was on the first floor in minutes.

Ichiro approached the receptionist he didn’t know and inquired about his boss. She picked up the phone and dialed a number. She said the secretary would arrive in five minutes. Ichiro stood in front of her desk and waited patiently. He stared at his phone and scrolling through the offline accounts of old friends on the CURVE app.

The lift doors had opened, and the man in a formal suit had exited. He was carrying a tablet and several folders and wore a headset over his ears. He approached Ichiro with a smile, which made Ichiro tense.

“Good morning, Ichiro-san.”

“Good day, er... secretary-san. I forgot to ask your name every time we’ve met.”

“My name is Itano Kagesada.“

“Okay, Kagesada-san. Nice to meet you. Where is the boss?”

“Because of the emergency, she has been dealing with the problems all night. She is now resting at the hospital.”

Ichiro nodded, not showing any emotions. Hospital? The fuck? He then opened his mouth.

“Oh, okay. I guess it was an awful night? I’m sorry for waking you up.”

“No need to worry about it. I just woke up myself. So many strange things were happening in the waters near Osaka, you know? Even the government was involved.”

“Yes, I’ve heard about it in the news. So, what do I need to deliver to Tokyo?”

Ichiro had received the file from Kagesada. While the Kagesada was speaking, Ichiro quickly glanced over it.

“There are some materials that must be delivered to one of Tokyo’s research labs. Don’t worry, it’s just a pile of rubble. Important rubble. Also, to a few places, an entire box of documents. The file contains locations where you must be. Is there anything that you don’t understand?”

“No, I believe I understand everything.“

Kagesada nodded and adjusted his sunglasses. He turned around and gestured Ichiro.

“Follow me.”

Two men entered the lift, the older man pressed the button, and they were going up to the upper floors. When the lift reached its destination, the doors opened, and they stepped into the hall. The upper floors were luxurious than the reception area. They were decorated similarly as the lobby downstairs, but the furniture was more expensive and the paintings on the wall were more exquisite.

“This way.”

Ichiro followed him to the office of the nerdy-looking man in the brown sweatshirt. Ichiro didn’t listen to the conversation that Kagesada had with him for a short time. The man showed the box, which contained a few thick documents with sticky notes on top of them. Ichiro grabbed it after placing the first file he got on top, said goodbye, and walked back to the truck via the lift.

***

When Ichiro left, Kagesada frowned. He didn’t feel the same powerful aura that Ichiro did the day before. When they were in the office, he and the man cooperated to use their spiritual powers in front of Ichiro to further test his ‘anti-spiritual’ aura. After that, they discussed what they should do next, but that topic did not interest Ichiro. He knew he needed to be cautious, as to not alert Ichiro.

He felt the aura was stronger than the last time he tested it. As if his aura... had grown. Which was almost impossible.

He decided not to think much about it and focus on the task at hand—given Kiyona was still recuperating her soul and spiritual power; he needed to take her job temporarily. His job for now was of assigning new tasks to other members of a department. He will report about that later.