"I think you're his type."
Of course she did, she hated tasks that required social interaction. Outside the VRAINS Aoi had even less charisma than Yusaku himself. "You've barely tried. You just spent twenty minutes trying to get him as a partner, failed to impress because you've never played tennis, and then failed to get him in a conversation because you had nothing to talk about."
She glared, only slightly, but enough to remind him of Aoi's skills in a spar. "I was being polite."
"You were being creepy."
Aoi shrugged. "He probably has a lot of strange girls go up to him and ask about his job or dueling. Dueling is related to his job, and his job produces his income, which the girls are probably thinking about when they approach him. I need to show him that my first thought when I see him isn't about what he can buy me. To do that, I need an introduction that doesn't have a clear connection to his wealth."
She started to take off her sweater, and Yusaku carefully turned his attention to his drink. A pool boy walked past, ignoring two wealthy teenagers out on what could have been a first date.
"There's three problems with that line of thought." Yusaku said. "One, most gold diggers will only get one chance to approach him and they know it, so he's probably accustomed to money-seeking women targeting him specifically. The amount of time you waited before playing made it clear that you were trying to get Zaizen's attention, which makes it clear you were targeting him.
"Two, you approached him with an activity you have no skill in, which implies you lack interest in tennis. Since you spent so long trying to play tennis with him, and you have no interest in tennis, therefore your interest must be with him.
"Three, you're playing against type."
Aoi tapped the table. To an outsider, she looked like a bored girl on an uncomfortable date, but those who knew her would take note of the speed of her taps and stiffness of her finger. It was Aoi's way of saying: "I've had a long day and you're pushing my buttons, please back off before I do something I regret."
"Zaizen isn't interested in cheap flings. His purchases check out and he's got no credit accumulated with any of the escort services in Den City, or any other city he frequents for that matter." She said.
"That doesn't mean he's looking for a summer fling either." Yusaku said.
"Hey, your idea was to follow him until we found 'something we can use.' If I listened to you we'd have been caught and thrown out for stalking."
"He's probably noticed me with you by now." Yusaku caught a brief glimpse of Akira Zaizen in the reflection of one of the servants' trays. He was heading inside. "If I approach him now, we'll probably be charged with stalking anyways."
Why did Revolver think the two of them could do this mission? Yusaku had no social skills to speak of and Aoi could barely keep herself from freaking everybody out with that creepy stare of hers. Neither of them was cut out for espionage work.
Yusaku highly doubted that SOL Technologies had any more information on Firedog than Hanoi did.
SOL Technologies might boast being the lead technological developers in the nation, but Hanoi had ways of finding out their deepest secrets. They couldn't go through every detail, but Yusaku knew for a fact their information went far deeper than SOL Technologies believed.
Even if they had managed to keep some information out of Hanoi's grasp, Zaizen would have acted on it by now. At the very least they would have noticed him make a move in that regard.
Besides which, Firedog had barely been active since catching the Ignis. He or she never went directly onto the VRAINS, and never left any trace behind when finished. There was no lead that SOL Technologies could have followed up on. If anything Hanoi had more clues, ever since the Ignis sent out that signal a few nights ago.
For some reason unfathomable to Yusaku, Revolver got it in his head that they needed somebody to get an in on Zaizen. If it was up to Yusaku he'd be working on analyzing the data storm to track it back to its source. Something productive, at least.
It seemed that Aoi agreed with him. "They should have sent Go."