Chapitre 02, Prompt : So Say We All

Takashi’s mood may have been high, he still needed some time to adjust to his younger body.

A few minutes after his arrival he started by taking off his shirt and wash off the blood that was drying on him. He then took cleaning tools and went to wipe out the blood on the floor.

The blood traces taken care off, Takashi saw he had a missed call from his mother. It happened when he was trashing on the ground. Replying with a text, he told her he wasn’t feeling well, implying that it was normal since he stayed awake late last night. Her immediate response was as usual, let his teachers get his homework on time, never let his grades go down, and call if absolutely needed. With just this exchange, he assured himself to dispose of the whole penthouse without disturbances for a few weeks. Even if he knew were his parents were supposed to be for the next two weeks, he didn’t try to check on it. Some habits stayed the same for years.

Not wanting to waste time, as the first part of his plan was the most time consuming, he ordered some takeout from his phone. It would be delivered for noun and included twelve different meals so he would always had something to eat for the coming days.

With food secured, he then went online, ordering different electronic parts. Having access to his parents connections and money through his father’s company helped him fast-track the whole process. His shopping list done, he went to his computer, as he had to write the longest code ever done in one go by a single human.

These lines of code and the device he planned to built and connect to his computer, would enable him to have access to the blackballs communication network. For four days, almost without sleep, Takashi wrote code on his computer only stopping to built the new communication antenna. His only distraction being eating, receiving his order of electronic parts, washing himself and the small amount of sleep he allowed himself.

Finally, as the fourth day was about to turn into the night, Takashi connected the device he assembled on his desk. This particular antenna would allow him a temporary access to the gantz network, without detection, from the company or the government.

His access granted, with the help of the security codes he knew, he executed the program he worked on since his arrival here, the fabrication by gantz, of a special chair for him. Granted, the gantz company only used teleportation right now, but ten years in the future, creation of mater from energy would become a common occurrence. The chair began to take form. Extremely slowly alas. But he only had time to code only the most rudimentary part of his upgrades. The neural access this chair would allow him to extract the rest of the code he still had in mind. After a well earned meal, he went to sleep putting his alarm to ring in twelve hours to finally rest his body.

The morning of the fifth day, after a light breakfast, he tested the chair for the first time, connecting himself to the Gantz network. For his time-travel plan to work, he had to make sure Gantz thought everything was normal for the time being. Takashi couldn’t act by himself to help every Gantz team in the world, as one of his major advantages was his knowledge of the future, from the notes and information left by the Tokyo team. He knew his arrival here would cause ripples. What he needed to do was the most controlled actions possibles for now. Always knowing that things could still go sideways. It would still be time to cause large ripples when Gantz or the governments wouldn't be able to stop him anymore.

His plan was simple even if it had many parts : money, equipment, bases, troupes.

Even if Takashi was what people called second generation money, he still was a minor and spending the amount he needed would raise all kind of bad flags. Good thing was, whatever the era, you would always find some generous sponsors willing to finance you. Especially if they didn’t know about it.

Compared with the time it took him to write the chair’s code, cracking the banks firewall only took him five minutes. Too bad for them he had hacking knowledge from ten years in the future. And their current security passwords that he brought back with him. Ten minutes after he got access, anonymous numbered accounts were put in place as if they had always been there. A small incursion in the government database listed this account as clean, having already been controlled. A final keystroke started the money flow, the numbers in his mind adding on and on. The best way to be discreet was to lay low, no need to rob a huge amount in one go. Order ten thousand one of ten to a hundred yens and you already got yourself a payroll.

His next stop was the Tokyo stock exchange market were he used his new funds to program a whole bunch of transactions. This would help him secure more than enough funds for what he needed to do.

His hacks that day also got him access to all the CCTV cameras in Tokyo, the police and some of the government places and agencies. Gantz activities were going to cause havoc in the city and in the world. He had to be prepared when the hunt for them started.

Having eaten at lunch, Takashi took a shower and put on some of the clothes his mother got him. True at this time his past self was more a geek than anything else, but that didn’t mean he couldn’t put on a good look.

Checking his jacket inner breast pocket assured he had the VIP ticket for the event. One of his father’s friends worked in the music production and was able to procure one for Reika Shimohira’s private concert, followed by an encounter for the VIP tickets holders. A girl he knew who worked as a bike courier for his father's company, delivered it to him in the morning, joking when she saw the label on the envelope that he would have to risk sun exposure to attend. Some small talk later she was gone and he was back to hacking.

Going there by the subway to avoid attention, he soon found himself in front of the entrance, ready to go through the security check, surrounded by a joyous crowd.

One hour later, most of the fans started to exit the premises while a select few was allowed to a small area backstage.

There, Reika had already started to pose with the first fan, allowing an assistant to take pictures of them. It would then be mailed to each person following the event. The other lucky few, mostly girls, were already in line, adjusting their clothing or deciding wish pose they would take. After waiting for nearing half an hour, Takashi could finally approach the idol.

“Watanabe-sama?” She asked surprised.

“That would be more like my father, Shinomura-san. Please call me by my name.”

“Tanaka-san then, it’s a surprise seeing you here.”

“Yes I know. I for once wanted to go out and already got a warning about the sun.”

They started to chat together, already having been semi-acquainted from one of his father’s company’s event. At that time, her producer was pushing her to meet him, just as his father was doing the same. All so they could use each other for social advertising. Their respective awkwardness in this situation at the time made them laugh, and they became something like distanced acquaintances. As they posed for the different pictures, a sudden scream alarmed everyone.

“You’re only mine Reika-chan !” Shouted the waiter that came next to them, brandishing a kitchen knife. As he threw himself on Reika, Takashi’s hands were faster than anyone in the room. The assailant only targeted Reika, having passed next to Takashi before his assault. The future gantzer hands went to the nut-head forearms, making them plunge to the ground before he yanked them back. Founding himself on his back after an unexpected front flip, this small moment of confusion by the assailant was used by Takashi to roll him on his front, pulling the hand with the knife behind his back before he twisted it, hard. The culprit’s scream woke everyone up after they found themselves stunned. The security guards were already rushing to secure the guy, their training preventing them from sharing the same state of the audience.

As the staff from Reika’s production label busied themselves to calm everyone, the idol was looking at Takashi with new eyes.

“I never knew you knew self defense”.

“I was lucky his attention was on you. I usually use this move on X-box”.

“X-box only, really ?”

“Don’t forget who I’m. Stay-on-his-computer-Takashi”. He said with a smile half sad half awkward, making her laugh.

Reika’s special event complete. Though Takashi. With that, I will be able to be next to you.

You’re not allowed to die on me Reika-chan.