[To Anyone reading this, "Game Over" ties into my other story, "The Second Apprentice". Just a heads up.]
Click. Click.
Art3mis: Chiu hasn't posted anything in ages. Do you guys remember her?
HonoredShinichi: Chiu? Yeah She got me through most of middle school. She's got to be some sort of ancient hag now.
LockJaw: Agreed. She probably lost her looks as she aged and stepped aside for some younger models. It's about time anyway. Her last few sets weren't even that great.
Hisao47: Her site's still up though. I wonder if anyone still goes to it?
LockJaw: I doubt it. There are a ton of better looking models now. And if she isn't going to bother updating, then it's probably time for it to come down.
HonoredShinichi: She's probably fat and married or living with a thousand cats or something. She ran the site for ten years. I think it's time that she stopped anyway.
Art3mis: Can you imagine how much she'd have to photoshop her pictures now just to look decent?
Chisame's fist slammed down on the desk, knocking over empty soda cans and old instant ramen cups. She ignored the mess that was probably around her desk on the floor now for the much more pressing matter of these jackasses. So she had not updated in a while… Okay. More accurately it had been about five years since a photo and four years since a news post. Big deal. The site was still up! That meant she was still alive and paying for the site hosting! They had to know she was still alive. Who else would be keeping the site paid for? She could hear her teeth grinding against each other as she worked through the fury coursing through every inch of her body.
How dare they do this to her!
How dare they speak of her like that!
She had given them the best years of her youth!
She was Chiu! She was the Queen of the Web Idols!
"Bastards." She spat. Her fingers began rapidly pounding against the keyboard in front of this monitor. How dare they treat her this way after everything she had done for them! If they wanted another update, they could wait! There were always more pressing matters these days! Chiu had to hold down an actual paying job. She had kept the site free for them! That was out of the kindness of her heart! She shelled the money out each month for them. For them! And they had the audacity to speak of her as though she were some sort of dirty, diseased ridden old woman!
They would pay!
She would make each and every single one of them feel her wrath somehow.
And what better way to start off than with a post describing just exactly how she would brutally murder each and every single one of them after a nice, painful and humiliating public castration?
Okay. So she had not slept in a few days. Maybe that was not making this situation any better. Besides, they were just four morons on the internet. She could cut them some slack. Maybe make a news post on Chiu's website and plan to take some new photos soon. That could sate them. Maybe they would even take everything back and say something nice.
Chisame stopped for a moment.
No.
This was much more self-satisfying.
They had just picked the wrong day to start making these ridiculous accusations about her.
Besides, she was busy.
She had a full time job now. It was something that kept this roof over her head, the power on and food in her stomach and that site up for them to enjoy. So she was too busy to schedule every day updates for Chiu anymore.
And she had to be ready to stop in case Negi sent her something.
So, Chiu had fallen on hard times.
That certainly did not mean she deserved to be treated like that!
Chisame, finally satisfied with the flow and anger of her post, hit enter. They would understand her now. She would check back on them later, groveling for an apology. She had not said that she was Chiu, of course, but had hidden behind the mask of a loyal fan. Who better than one of them to make them repent?
She turned her chair, spinning to the other side of her desk. The side with her work computer. Her hands slid over her keyboard and sit into the ready position. The eyes behind her large round glasses, tinted yellow to offset the glow from her computers, glazed over as she stared at the rows and rows of code plastered on her screen. That was what she did. She wrote code. She fixed code. She sent code off to her boss. She fixed it again when they sent it back claiming that it had stopped working, usually because they tried to do something to it originally. She was tired of staring at this crap every day after day. It was invading her dreams now. It would have been seven thousand times easier to just use her Idolum Virtuale pactio card to breeze through all of this. Her electronic sprites could take care of it in seconds.
Her fingers twitched once before rapidly clacking away at the keyboard.
There was no way she was mixing that magic crap with her job. If Negi contacted her with more requests, sure, then she would use her pactio card. Maybe if Hasake sent her another email, with schematics to some sort of magic technology plans she had need of her for, then she would use it. But coding was simple. Chisame could write code like this in her sleep. There was no need to drag magic into this part of her life too. Her fingers danced on the keys, creating beautifully simplistic and elegant code. Something that she could have been proud of, if she gave one crap what that boss of hers thought.
Chisame lifted her hands and stared at the screen, double checking her work. If it worked, she got paid. If it didn't, she would have to fix it later. Chisame hated having to fix anything the company sent her. There was always some long email attached that barely explained what the real problem was and was filled with unnecessary pleasantries asking how she was working from home and everything like that. It was enough to make her gag just thinking about it.
There was a reason she worked at home. She did not want to build any sort of repertoire or friendship with these people. She wanted to be left alone. That was why she worked at home. In her room.
She grunted at the computer screen. Everything looked good so far. There was no reason that crap-for-brains, her boss, would not be perfectly happy with any of this. Chisame's hands continued their waltz across the keyboard as more code spilled out.
It was actually nice for her life to have some order the last few years. It had been two years since Negi's last data packet from Chachamaru. Not many of the other girls from the class knew how to contact her anymore. The only real contact she had left with Ala-Alba was Ayase, who was just asking her to "acquire" information from databases with "less than exactly legal" means. At least she was straight to the point.
None of it ever made sense. Sometimes it was video feed from some obscure place halfway around the world. Or it was usage logs from a train station. Once it was chat logs from some messenger service.
Yue had opened some sort of Detective agency back at Mahora. Chisame did not like to ask questions. She just got the woman whatever she asked for and got on with her life.
Chisame turned her chair back to the other computer to check on the message board. She refreshed the page. Someone had to have replied by now.
Beep.
Chisame stared at the instant message that popped up on her screen. She certainly did not know the sender. But if they were contacting her on this, it did not really matter who they were. They just needed her to get them something. All that mattered was how much they were paying.
H5T67: I have a job for you.
Chisame adjusted her glasses. She went by FallenIdol on these little hacker circles she floated in and out of. She was aware of how stale and rather stupid the online hander was, but she found it rather fitting. She put her hands on the keyboard and typed a reply.
FallenIdol: I'm listening.
Chisame picked up the soda can and took a sip.
H5T67: I need a number of files from separate servers and databases all over the world.
She shrugged. Simple enough.
FallenIdol: I'll need the list and details on my compensation.
The list popped up as a download a moment later in the chat window. Chisame sent it through a series of wipes and checks before downloading the file to her computer. She scrolled through it. It was pretty similar to a list that Ayase would have sent her. Each item was from some server in some random location in the world. Credit card records. Emails. Security feeds. Most were simple enough. A few looked mildly tough.
Then there were the last five. Chisame stared at them for a long time. There was no way. She shook her head and typed up a reply.
FallenIdol: Everything looks simple enough. Except the last five items. That'll take some time. New area for me. What is the payment?
H5T67: Very well. Payment will be fully discussed upon completion of the project. However, we will transfer a down-payment of ten thousand to your accounts as a gesture of goodwill. Each completed item will net you another payment based on how difficult we deemed it was to obtain.
FallenIdol: Ten thousand what?
H5T67: Euro.
Chisame dropped her soda can. Where they being serious? If that was just a hint of what they would be paying her for this list, she could quit. No more coding. No more emails to people she didn't give half a shit about. She could start up the Chiu updates again. Heck, she could even move out of this crappy little apartment. It was not as if she ever left it, but the sink in the kitchen leaked and the water pressure was all wrong.
Ten thousand euro?
That was a nice tidy amount.
This was getting interesting.
FallenIdol:Very well. If you're serious, the job should take two weeks, at the most.
Chisame stared at the screen, trying not to smile. She would have to be crazy not to, right? There was no was another offer like this would come along again.
H5T67: We will contact you then.
Whoever it was signed out. Chisame stare at the screen in disbelief. This was amazing. This was a gold mine she was sitting on. There was no way she could come out of this not sitting pretty. The woman allowed herself the fainted smile. This was it.
The last job that they always talk about in heist movies. She drummed her fingers against her desk in anticipation. She wanted to start now. Not just for the money, but for the same of her own curiosity.
She pulled open her bank accounts. She couldn't help but smile when she saw the new fat number sitting there. They were telling the truth.
Chisame leaned back in her chair.
For that money, whatever it was she was retrieving, it had to be something dangerous.
She tapped her fingers together, basking the glow of her monitors in the darkened room. Who could want security feeds and stuff that badly? Well, Ayase.
She popped open the list again to read it over.
Tokyo. New York. Montreal. Paris. London.
She paused.
Mahora.
She rubbed at her eyes under her glasses. No. It could not have said Mahora. Chisame kept rubbing at her eyes. She was tired. It had been days since she last slept. It was a trick of the eyes. Maybe she could have read it wrong. It could have said Montreal again. Or even Molmol.
Chisame lowered her glasses back into place. Okay. One last time. Just to confirm that it was not Mahora city listed on this.
She looked again.
Mahora.
Chisame blinked. Her jaw opened and shut a few times, looking for words to let out.
It actually said Mahora.
Chisame let out a little puff of air in disbelief.
She had to look at this list a little more before she got started. Who would want something from Mahora?
Chisame groaned.
The same person who would want the access logs of the gate to the Mundus Magicus.
She chewed her bottom lip in frustration. The lack of sleep had gotten to her. Normally, the last five items were a cause for alarm. The general public wasn't exactly aware of the existence of magic or the Magicus Mundus. The only people who asked for information on the Mundus Magicus were Negi and Ayase. And they never asked for gate access logs.
But this mysterious hacking contractor was.
Chisame stood up from her chair. This was bad. This was very bad. No regular person knew about the gate. Nor of Magi-Technology. She had just accepted a very dangerous job.
The last job.
It always killed the guy who said it was his last job.
Chisame walked into her bathroom and flipped on the light.
That was a mistake.
She had not been in direct light for quite a while. She winced at the blinding light, shading her eyes with one hand. It probably would have been better to let her eyes gradually adjust to stronger light. But the lack of sleep was not exactly helping with a clear train of thought. She slapped her cheeks lightly with both hands forcing herself to concentrate.
It took a bit for her eyes to adjust to actual light again.
Chisame let out a sigh.
She had let herself go over the last eleven years. Her acne had almost disappeared now, but she could see and feel a few blackheads forming on her pale skin. Her hair, even though it was pulled into a mess bun at the back of her head, was completely wild and tangled. There were definitely split ends too. She kept it in a bun as to trick anyone, which just meant her, into believing that she hadn't been cutting it herself this whole time.
And she had put on weight. It was not a ton of it, because she usually forgot to eat for days at a time. But the fact that she barely left the computer these days was definitely showing. She was not skinny like she was back in high school.
Maybe Chiu's updates would have to wait a bit longer than expected.
This wasn't the time to stand here and pity herself over the physical changes of becoming a hikkomori. She needed to concentrate.
Chisame picked up a small silver container on her bathroom counter. Lipstick, from her Chiu days. It was terribly out of date. She uncapped it and took a deep breath.
It would have made more sense to use a piece of paper, but in that mess out there, she was sure that she would lose it.
How did she start?
After some debate, she leaned forward and placed the tip of the lipstick against the mirror.
Sleep.
Chisame clicked her tongue against the roof of her mouth.
Finish the list
Contact C, Y and H.
Chisame stared at the three list items on her mirror. There. Order. She knew what she had to do. A small sigh escaped her lips as she flicked the light off and left the bathroom.
Sleep. Sleep would be nice.
Chisame pushed the clutter of empty boxes and dirty clothes off her bed and onto the floor. Her room was a disaster area. She knew that. There was not time to fret over that now. She flopped onto the bed and pulled the plain monotone covers over her bare legs. Chisame let her head sink into the pillow and stared at the ceiling.
Who would want video feed from Mahora?
She let out a groan and flung her entire body out of bed and back into her computer chair. Curiosity would not let her simply put this off until tomorrow.
She pulled up the list again and cracked her knuckles, breaking into the peaceful hum of her machines and the whirring of their fans. Her fingers flew across the keyboard as she began.
The idea of hacking shown in movies and television was always something dangerous and exciting. That was stupid. There was nothing extreme about hacking. In fact, most of it involved a lot of sitting around and being patient as you shifted through code to find a weak point or a backdoor.
Or, if you were smart about it, you just built a program to do it much faster than you ever could.
Chisame was one of those smart hackers.
It only took fifteen minutes for the program to create a dummy account and password so that Chisame could see just what her newfound employer wanted so badly in Mahora.
She brought up another window that brought up the screen of whatever computer she was logging into.
There was some sort of adorable child as the desktop background. Chisame frowned. This was someone's personal computer.
She opened up a folder on the desktop named "Security Camera". It was filled with video files arranged by dates. Lovely. For once, someone was organized. That made stealing things much easier. She clicked one at random.
The video that popped up was black and white and a little grainy. But she recognized the street. This was the video feed of a camera for a café in Mahora.
She had met Hakase and Chachamaru there a few times.
Odd.
She closed the video and found the one she had been sent to retrieve. Chisame made a copy of the file and transferred it to her computer.
With a deep breath, Chisame closed her program, cutting the remote link to the other computer. Okay. Nothing to do now but watch and entire day's worth of stationary camera footage. Oh boy. Tons of fun there.
She opened it.
After a few minutes, it was clear that it recorded even when the café was closed. She sighed, running a hand down her tired face and skipped ahead to when the shop opened.
Owner. Customers. Waitresses. Waiters.
Chisame scratched her thigh, eyes not leaving the boring footage. Eventually, she doubled the play speed. There was no way she had enough time to sit through twenty-four hours of video at normal speed.
Who would want this video? And the other items on the list. The gate use logs? What good did those do?
Whoever sent her this job had to know about magic and knew she knew too before contacting her. Unless the last five items were some sort of test to find out if she did. Had she left it open enough to be mysterious or had just revealed it all?
She doubled the play speed again.
That still didn't explain all the ordinary video feed requests, like this one, on the list.
Chisame blinked a few times to keep her eyes from watering up. The video was already in the evening. She had completely glazed over the lunch rush of the little café. Another irritated sigh escaped her as she moved to rewind the video.
She clicked pause instead, almost missing it.
Chisame stared in silence at the frozen frame on her computer screen.
She could have been mistaken. There were millions of people with hair like that. And Mahora was not exactly lacking in guys with suits.
Even one of the girls standing next to him could be explained as a mistake. The video wasn't high quality. They were across the street.
But the other girl. The one with the funny metal bits where her ears should be? There was no mistaking that.
Her eyes widened.
Chachamaru.
The other girl was Ayase. The woman hadn't bothered to change her hairstyle even after all these years.
Which could only mean the man they were meeting with was…
Chisame started playing the video again, hoping he would turn around, just to prove her wrong.
The man placed a hand on Ayase's shoulder as she began shouting at him.
No audio though. Damn.
He looked over his shoulder.
Chisame stopped the video again.
She bit the bottom of her lip in frustration.
It was Negi.
She glanced around at the date of the video.
It was the day Negi sent his last packet of data to her through Chachamaru.
She grimaced.
There was no doubt in her mind that every single item on that list related to Negi or Ala-Alba.
Two things were clear.
Someone wanted Negi.
And they didn't know that they had just hired one of his former students.