Chapter 199 - Chapter 199: Fair Enough

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"I think you should treat that gunshot wound in your abdomen first."

As Chiyome stared at him, Karl stepped closer and tossed her a Rejuvenix-3 injector.

"You wouldn't want to show up in front of Hanako all bloody, right?"

Hearing that, Chiyome caught the Rejuvenix-3 midair and immediately injected it near her wound.

"Not removing the bullet?"

"In a situation where proper medical care is accessible, stopping the bleeding and regaining mobility is the logical move."

Just one dose in, and Chiyome's complexion visibly improved. She looked at Karl, then handed him the phone. "Lady Hanako told me to return this to you."

"Thanks."

As Karl reached for the phone, he suddenly felt the hand that had been holding it flip around and grab his wrist, pulling him slightly forward.

Karl instinctively braced himself—didn't react defensively—and instead used the tension to help pull Chiyome up from the ground.

"Trying to borrow a bit of strength?"

Watching her stand by gripping his arm, Karl understood what she was doing.

"And to check your arm while I'm at it."

Chiyome stared at Karl's forearm—so well-covered by synthetic skin that it showed no signs of cyberware. "I read the reports. A merc helped Lady Hanako during a critical moment. Afterward, that merc received treatment… and a pair of cybernetic arms."

Her eyes lingered on his wrist. "And his preferred melee weapon? A monowire."

She was looking for clues. But with the latest-gen synthetic skin, every trace was perfectly hidden—no way to tell just by sight.

Karl, however, didn't hide it.

"That was me."

"I thought so."

Chiyome studied Karl's face—entirely unmodified, purely organic—and gave a nod of approval. But what she was really acknowledging wasn't his appearance, but his conduct.

"Looking at your face, I wouldn't have guessed. But to think you were that loyal merc… Well done."

"…Huh?"

Karl blinked.

Loyal merc? What kind of nonsense was that?

Putting aside the natural contradiction between "loyal" and "mercenary"—loyal to who, exactly? Eddies?

Sure, the job had paid well. If anything, you could say he was loyal to money. But judging from her tone… she clearly wasn't talking about that.

Seeing the look on Chiyome's face, Karl had a sinking suspicion.

…She means Hanako, doesn't she?

Loyal to Hanako? Seriously?

Even understanding what she meant, Karl had trouble keeping up with Chiyome's logic.

She must've interpreted his mission behavior as some kind of loyalty ritual.

And yes—that's exactly what she thought.

Chiyome's entire demeanor toward Karl had shifted. Even through her vocoder, her voice now carried a gentle tone. Her movements, once guarded, now showed none of the hostility she'd directed toward Kenichiro.

"To have someone like you—so loyal—keeping an eye on that failure and coming with him to find me… I clearly misjudged the situation."

…If you say so.

Feeling Kenichiro's sharp gaze—for some reason even more pointed than usual—Karl began to piece together her train of thought.

To simplify:

Her once-revered master failed to protect Lady Hanako, let her get injured—bad guy, derelict, needs to be eliminated. Can't be allowed near her again.

A stranger merc helps Hanako, gets patched up on her orders—good guy, loyal, trustworthy, ally.

Huh…

That logic might seem extreme, but… maybe not? It's actually kinda consistent?

It's just rigid—completely black or white, no gray area. Clearly a product of old-school, hyper-disciplined training.

Karl figured that this binary thinking might've been deliberately instilled through Arasaka's ninja doctrine.

After all, tools only need to know who to kill and who to protect. Anything beyond that is noise—and dangerous. Like that Lone Wolf Chiyome had hunted, who got tangled up in faction politics and ended up marked for elimination.

Honestly, Chiyome's worldview was probably the norm. It was people like Kenichiro, with their capacity for nuance, who were the exceptions.

Her friendliness was nothing more than allegiance to Hanako. But flip that? Even a hint of disloyalty or incompetence…

Thinking back on how ruthlessly she'd tried to kill Kenichiro, Karl could only sigh.

Yeah, the corps really knew how to condition people. One command or one judgment call, and they'd turn on their own in a heartbeat.

Upper management loved good dogs like that.

Still—for now, this ninja was on his side.

Karl wasn't planning to go against Hanako anyway. What he was thinking about was simple: if there were ninja loyal to Hanako, then others were definitely loyal to rival factions.

Originally, Karl had thought maybe he should keep that hunted ninja alive—see if there was anything useful he could extract for Hanako's benefit.

Now?

No point.

Karl: Target no longer needs to be taken alive. No need to preserve the body or recover the chip. He's been deemed worthless.

Mann: So… full clearance to engage?

Karl: Decision made after consulting affiliated party.

Brown: Understood.

With the comms closed, Karl stood quietly as the sounds of distant gunfire and explosions echoed in the distance.

That first blast? Definitely Mann's projectile launcher—mini-missile payload.

The following gunfire? Brown's team lighting up the scene with their Saratoga SMGs.

Roughly 300 meters away, from the sound of it.

"…Time to head back."

Karl turned to Chiyome with a grin. "Hanako's waiting for you, isn't she?"

Then he looked at Kenichiro. "Wouldn't you agree, Mr. Kenichiro?"

Kenichiro stared at him, nodded… then shook his head a moment later.

Karl raised an eyebrow. "What's that supposed to mean?"

Kenichiro finally spoke.

"From now on, you are not to message Lady Hanako without my permission."

Then, shooting a glance at Chiyome—who was still standing beside Karl, coldly watching—he added:

"And no unnecessary contact with Chiyome either."

"You're being a little overprotective, Mr. Kenichiro."

"I'll add 100,000 eddies to your monthly pay. Out of my own pocket."

"…"

Karl smiled.

"Fair enough, Mr. Kenichiro."

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