ikinuku tame ni kikonda
生き抜くために着込んだ
In order to survive
kimi dake ga mieru yoroi wa
君だけが見える鎧は
I donned an armour only you could see
mie to gaibun ni obieta
見栄と外聞に怯えた
I stood in fear of appearance and reputation
oroka no hate no genjitsu
愚かの果ての現実
And the realisation of a hopeless end
karada kishimu hodo dakishimete yo
身体軋むほど抱きしめてよ
Hold me tighter until my bones begin to crack
isso kowashitekureyo
いっそ壊してくれよ
Please, just break me apart
kara no ore no naka ni wa mata
殻の俺の中にはまた
Down to my next empty layer
nan no itami mo nai
何の痛みもない
It doesn't hurt at all
And my face gets smaller and smaller
sara ni chippoke na ore no kao da
さらにちっぽけな俺の顔だ
ne
ね
Hey
nige mo kakure mo shinai kara
逃げも隠れもしないから
I won't run or hide
koko kara dashitekure matoryoushika
ここから出してくれマトリョーシカ
So get me out of this Matryoshka
You guild bastard!
Why can't I hit you?!
Curie!
[MICROFLATION]
Understood.
Ooh.
Oh my...
[LACKING AMOUNT]
Again? It's mileage must suck...
I might as well just end this.
Mezzo INSIDER ON!
[INSIDER]
[MICROFLATION]
You're in the way.
You bastard!
[DIRECT]
Guess I'll use my shoulder.
That hurts quite a bit...
[CLOSING]
[YOU HAVE GAIN]
Just as planned.
Hmph, you think I'll let you?
[FLOWER BELL HOSE]
That's one amazing growth rate...
Bell!
[MEZZOFLATION]
Understood.
[DEAD MAN'S TRIGGER]
21% Mezzo.
Understood.
Flyer!
[CLOSING]
[YOU HAVE GAIN]
In order to minimise the effect upon the real world,
you must win with the smallest gap possible.
In order to control a deal to that degree,
the most important ability is skill in measurement.
You mean to gather information about your opponent?
That's something everyone does.
The important thing is to understand your own strength inside and out.
If you can do that, you can measure your opponent by comparing them to yourself.
My own strength...
Fortune, knowledge, IQ, physical capability...
There are a myriad of factors.
The more you understand these things,
the better you can measure your opponent.
Assets too, right?
Of course.
When it comes to deals, your asset is the most important factor of your strength.
Well, then can you tell me more about assets first?
Shouldn't you just ask me directly for that?
I see...
This place again?
Our opponent is said to attack rather excessively.
That's why I'll draw the battle out and study his movements.
He's from the guild? What a pain in the ass...
I think you can win just fine without doing all that.
Help me out here. I want to learn to control deals.
You're really an odd one...
Well, assets are an Entre's personal property.
Without your order, I won't let out so much as a micro.
I know that, but isn't how you feel important?
How I... feel?
[OPEN DEAL]
Right about now, the guild membership fees should be getting deposited.
Barbarosa!
[GREAT WALL]
Microflation!
[MICRO]
Kimimaro!
Crap...
What the hell is this?
Mashyu, c'mon!
Kimimaro!
You're using flation to form that barrier?
That's right.
I tried to deflect it, but...
Kimimaro!
[MICROFLATION]
Barbarosa, I'll leave the rest to you!
[DIRECT]
Mashyu!
Do it now!
Yeah...
[DIRECT][DIRECT]
Shit...
Mashyu!
[MICROFLATION]
Got it.
[DIRECT]
Barbarosa, get over here and protect me!
We'll hold our ground here as best we can!
Only 2,400,000 more...
Mashyu, keep me guarded!
[DIRECT]
Okay!
Flation, right?
Nope, just guard me.
Here he comes, damn kid...
[DIRECT]
He used his left hand...? I'm an idiot...
Yes, I'll barely win.
Wait, I'll win by too much if you...
Stay back, Mashyu!
What?!
[CLOSING]
[YOU LOST]
Really...?
So, what exactly do you want me to do?
All you have to do, Vice President, is prevent the reduction of the national budget.
Expansionary policy is still necessary?
I suppose that's true, but...
It's difficult to ask the country to take on more debt.
I'll support the state by buying national securities.
You're able to support a country's ballooning debt all by yourself?
It doesn't sound like you're lying, and that's what's frightening.
Just who is he, Vice President?
Were you not listening?
He's a man who can single-handedly shoulder a country's debt.
In actuality, the country would fall apart without him.
You must be kidding!
Just what is so great about him?
He'll save the people.
No way. He's throwing money into government bonds for that purpose?
Are you making light of helping this country's people?
Uh...ah, no...
It seems the tables have been turned...
Now that you've finally lost,
you're worried about what will befall you.
But I lost by such a small amount... it can't be something serious...
There are people who have had their houses burned down for barely losing.
Huh? Why?!
Well, the very matter of having your future set as collateral is quite ambiguous in itself.
It's hasn't been burned...
Hello?
Aunty? Are you all right? Are you well?
Huh? Did a little birdie tell you? I'm on my way to the hospital.
Huh?!
Well, it's just my appendix, so I should only be there for a week or so.
Oh, and you don't have to worry about visiting me.
If you make a big fuss over it, it'll be really embarrassing.
Do you have any other places that are giving you trouble...
...or anything else that's worrying you?
What's wrong?
Even though I'm on my way to the hospital, I'm doing well for my age.
I see...
Man, there are even people that fail a class like this.
Business Ethics Announcement: Those listed below have been dropped. Finance Department, Finance Focus, 2nd Year, Yoga Kimimaro
Signed, Heisei Financial University, Student Affairs Office.
Wasn't that the class where you'll pass if you attend at least half the lessons?
He must have done something to ruin it...
I bet!
So this is it, huh?
If that's all, then...
Huh... What about Hanabi?
Kimimaro? What has you so panicked?
Hanabi, has anything bad happened to you lately?
Huh?
Like an injury... or a sickness... or just something that's been worrying you?
Not at all? What are you talking about? Oh, fortune-telling?
If you're wondering about good things, I do have something!
My application to be a student teacher at my Alma Mater went through!
I have a lot of memories there, so I thought it'd be nice if I could,
but there were a lot of applicants this year, so I wasn't very confident...
Oh, that's right! I bought a new suit for student teaching too!
I'll wear it next time!
So Hanabi wasn't influenced, huh?
What am I getting so depressed about?
Congratulations on your safe return this week.
You too, congrats...
Once again, birth rates and renewable resource availability have decreased,
while suicide and crime rates have risen to take their place.
How terrible.
Before you know it, the present has gone and changed on you.
Any plans to do anything about it?
Nothing yet.
My organisation isn't international, so...
However, the information that you leaked to us seems very credible.
This is the information that I have on the financial district.
There isn't anything too major on there, but I'll lose sleep if I leave you empty handed.
Later...
What?
Uh... I was wondering how your injuries were doing...
I healed from that in a flash...
I see... you did say you heal quickly, didn't you?
More importantly...
Huh?
Why did you stop me back there?
You were totally winning!
That's because...
You cause problems for me when you do that crap.
Even assets feel pain when they're
forced to eat a surprise attack!
Even if you think I'll heal, there's still pain!
If you're going use complicated tactics, explain it to me beforehand!
And by the way, were you not even thinking about it ahead of time?
Assets have no choice but to obey their-
Huh?
What's that noise?
Ah... I was making cup noodles.
Cup noodles?
Ah, you don't have those in your world...
It's a type of food.
What's food?
Huh? Stuff you eat...
Like I said, what's that?
Assets don't have meals, huh?
Meal... I don't really get it.
Like this.
Yuck, that looks disgusting.
Why would you do something like that?
It's for giving your body nutrition... to keep you energetic!
And it's delicious!
Delicious?
Ah, well... It makes you feel better.
It's similar to having fun or being happy, I guess.
Hmm...
Let me try it!
Huh?
That stuff.
It's fun, right?
Uh... yeah...
Hey, right here!
Hey!
On second thought...
What?!
Why?
Next time I go to the other side, I'll bring some.
H-Hey! Wait! Give that here!
Are you listening? Wait!
Ahhhhhh!
It's the same guy that Mikuni fought before... Kikuchi?
His opponent is Seizawa Yasushi.
He is also a man of means.
That just means they'll be elegantly beating the crap out of each other...
No matter which one of them loses, the real world will be greatly damaged.
Kikuchi... after all the trouble Mikuni went through to keep you from going bankrupt.
Sudden death and crushing victories, anything goes, is what you get when your future is on the line.
The guild had better get the financial district under control soon...
Tell me, why did you fail in persuading him?
Well, the guy's a rich bastard, so he cut me off mid-way.
Prepare funds.
Next time try to limit the danger of future duels.
You got it.
[OPEN DEAL]
Hurste!
[PACKMAN DEFENCE]
There's that idiot's only move. Porte, Mezzo.
[GATE KEEPER]
A mezzo?!
I'll be taking everything... Kikuchi!
I won't let it end like this...
[DIRECT]
Big name pharmaceutical company, Bashou Pharmaceutical,
is expected to fall into extreme debt.
The current president, Kikuchi Yoshiyuki-shi, has been suspected of embezzlement.
Coinciding with the release of an unsafe product, he has been unable to restore trust.
Sales have suffered a sudden drop.
A single deal affected his future that much, huh?
What happens if Bashou Pharmaceutical goes bankrupt?
You have a point there...
If there's a chain reaction of bankruptcies, the economy may suffer a loss of hundreds of billions.
There's also a high chance that goods, equipment and medicine, that are in production, will go to waste as well.
That's also a great loss.
It may be easier for you to understand if I put it this way...
If Bashou Pharmaceutical goes bankrupt, 10,000 people will have lost their way,
and will lose access to a secure future.
Bashou Pharmaceutical is a phenomenon that will destroy the future of 10,000 people.
10,000 people...
Hard to imagine, isn't it?
Um... how's your wife doing?
Ah... my wife left me.
To tell you the truth, I've started to wonder just how much my life with my wife and kids was reality...
...and how much I was just imagining.
I can't tell them apart any longer.
This won't work.
Why?
You won't be able to move this much.
Why not?
He told you before, didn't he?
You have to measure your ability accurately.
Rewrite it.
If you want to do something as intricate as controlling deals,
you'll need to do just that much preparation.
Otherwise, I won't be able to cover for you.
I get it...
You're quite the odd one to be feeding your asset meals!
Is there something bad about doing it?
Nothing bad, really...
What the hell? Did you just come here to make fun of me?
Not at all!
I have some excellent information and was wondering if you'd be interested in buying it.
It's about the Bashou Pharmaceutical incident.
Looks like you're interested.
Why do you know about that?
I'm an information gatherer.
How does one million sound?
One million?!
One million is the lowest price I ever charge for information.
With the fortune you have right now, that shouldn't be too much.
It should become big news in the other world soon,
a pharmaceutical company that's a mere 5 years old, FE Firm,
will be purchasing all of Bashou Pharmaceuticals' debt.
What?
Moreover, FE Firm is known to do international investment,
but the person who suggested this was Mikuni Souichirou.
With this, the effect of deals should have very little impact on the real world for some time to come.
How was it, are you happy with the information you purchased?
Huh?
Do you have something to talk to me about?
Yeah.
Hmph, way to go, Taketazaki.
It is true that FE Firm is my company.
As soon as I received the report from Isurugi, I moved to support it.
In order to control the effect on the real world?
Yes.
I brought the Starling Guild together and am using Midas Money to keep the resulting effect of deals under control.
The ultimate goal is to take control of the financial district.
If we can do that, controlling the effect of deals should become even easier.
Why go that far?
If I didn't, would you do it for me?
What are you talking about?
What do you think about that city?
Huh?
I'm talking about the financial district.
What do you think?
Well... I think it's pretty amazing, but...
A perfect answer. I felt the same way.
So then, why is it amazing?
How should I put it... it seems amazing that such a world can be so expansive...
If I were to put it in my own words, you mean that,
in addition to the real world, there's another reality that most certainly exists.
That's what's amazing.
It really bothered me.
It frightened me that, mixed with the paper money we use every day, there was Midas Money.
I wondered if there was anything I could do.
Midas Money was so clearly evil.
But I came to a realisation.
That the financial district and Midas Money were a reality.
Just as you can't overturn our own reality, you also cannot overturn the financial district.
Just as you can't stop the system that circulates paper money within our world,
you cannot stop Midas Money from entering it.
Therefore they must coexist.
There is no choice but to use the Starling Guild to reduce the effect caused by deals,
and use Midas Money to purchase Japanese government bonds and keep the country afloat.
The real world and the financial district,
we must strike a balance between and control the benefits each world receives.
Even though you know it's evil.
The world is already moving with Midas Money in circulation.
If you were stop the flow of it entering, the country would collapse.
Many people would meet with disaster.
Are you all right with that?
Rather than seeing people starve in a clean and innocent world,
I choose a dirty and polluted peace.
Even if I dirty my hands, if I can support the world as it is, that's my only wish.
But... I still can't feel comfortable with that black money.
Even if the world can't go on without it,
I don't think I can accept it to that degree...
You'll also understand it someday, surely.
I wonder...
Yes, surely.
Can I ask you something?
Sure, what is it?
Why have you set your eyes on Yoga Kimimaro?
He's not especially bright or anything.
He doesn't do well when dealing with money.
I can't even believe he's actually studying economics at a university.
People that are possessed by money cannot move it freely.
That's why.
Simply think of it as a hobby of mine.
Are you unsatisfied?
No...
Q.
I heard that he fed his asset cup noodles.
Cup noodles?
If you're interested, I'll bring some for you next time.
I don't want any.
I read your report.
IMF International Currency Fund
It seems every time you return,
positive reports are revised to negative reports.
The financial district's way of business is destroying the future of mankind.
I know that too.
It is not the time to be thinking about the risk of stopping the Midas Money.
That is not your decision.
Do you really think that you are the only one who is considering this?
There are certain things that even a small time bureaucrat can't fix.
This morning, I formally registered Yoga Kimimaro into the guild.
Isn't it a bit soon for someone of his ability to be doing a...
...balanced deal for the guild with a person on the "dangerous" list.
If he can't take care of this much, he can just be destroyed.
It probably still won't have that great of an effect on the real world.
Whoa, gross!
[OPEN DEAL]
mado kara sotto esukeepu shite
I silently escape from my window
yoru no machi ga
and the nighttime city,
RPG ni kawaru
becomes an RPG
yajirushi ni sotte izanawareta
Following an arrow marker, I'm being led
iromeku sekai
to a world brimming with colour
hajimari no aizu hibiiteiru
A sign that something is beginning can be heard
karadajuu koikogareru
and my whole body begins to yearn
kimi ni aitakute hashirinuketeku
I break into a run, wishing to see you
yami wo tobikoete
and break through the darkness
kuraimakkusu nante
It doesn't matter
konakutatte
If we reach a climax
ichi ka bachi ka no kiken na kake datte ii sa
I'd even take a high-stakes bet
ki wo hiite
Anything to get your attention
kimi ni ima hamacchaitainda
I want to think only of you
sekaijuu wo azamuitemo ii
I'd turn my back on the entire world
ima sugu te wo hiite
Take my hand now
A or B ja nai ya
It's not a choice of A or B
rikutsu ja nai ya
It's not something to reason about
sekaijuu no subete no nazo yori
More so than all the mysteries of the world
shiritai kimi no kokoro wo
I want to know your heart