258. Recruiting Some People from Academy City Back to the Base World.
With every goal now achieved, Kaito, Misaka, and others decided to return to the base world in a few days as planned. Because of that, today, everyone starts looking at people whom they deem 'worthy' to be recruited back into the base world.
The first, naturally, is Kaito, who has been looking forward to recruiting Frenda and Kaibi to the base world. The second one was Misaka Mikoto, who couldn't accept leaving Dolly behind in here while she could be 'treated' in the base world, and lastly, Manaka, who apparently has been gone since morning. She only promised that the people she's recruiting will be people who fit his taste, and actually, they do need for the base world... so Kaito can only look forward to her promise.
...
"So, Boss... you want to kidnap us to your world and continue to overwork both Frenda and me." Kaibi commented calmly after hearing Kaito's confession about his real identity, "What a capitalist boss."
"That's what concerned you? I thought you guys would be shocked by the fact that we came from another world." Kaito said with confusion.
"I mean, we are shocked... but we also feel helpless." Frenda complained, biting her lips in anger as she pointed her finger out, "You don't think managing the company was easy, boss? And you want us to follow you doing something even bigger?!"
"Uh, no... I am sorry."
As the leader of Aincrad City himself, he knows very well how much work is involved in managing the organization. That's exactly why he has been desperately recruiting people to help: Kaito believes he would overwork himself to death.
"Anyway, in another world... what is our job? Do you also own a company there, boss?" Kaibi asked.
Hearing such a question, Kaito looked away, felt a pang of guilt, but Aika answered on his behalf.
"No, Kaito didn't own a company, but he technically owns a city." Aika explained seriously, putting her hand on their shoulder and expressing her pity, "The biggest city in the world with millions of residents who come from many different worlds altogether."
...!!??!!
"A city...?" Kaibi, this time, opened his mouth wide in shock and complained, "We are trying hard to lead your company, and now you want us to manage the whole city."
"Boss... No, Kaito, can I reject this offer?" Frenda asked weakly.
Kaito shook his head, "Unfortunately, you can't."
"So why don't you just kidnap us then? It's not like we can resist you, boss." Frenda complained with a resigned tone, "Like, what's the point of asking nicely if we can't refuse?"
Kaito scratched his head, then promised solemnly, "Because you guys are my friends."
"Or your slave?" Kaibi corrected with contempt, "Are you sure you are not overworking us?"
""Pffft!"" (Everyone)
"No, I don't treat you guys as slaves! It won't without benefit!" Kaito persuaded.
"What kind of benefit are you talking about, boss?"
"You guys can bring your family to follow, and we also allow you to access the opportunity to get stronger, and you will never worry about money anymore as long as you work hard!" Kaito seriously stated, "I promise you guys in the name of myself, and I won't break my promise."
"Is it safe? That another world...?"
"Of course. I can guarantee that." Kaito nods, "Also, there are many more amazing props and magical items that exist. Things that can grant eternal life and a method to get strong instantly exist in our world."
...!!!??!!
Hearing Kaito's explanation, both Frenda and Kaibi were indeed tempted by his proposal. The benefits were excellent: their family would be prosperous, and they could stay young forever.
The only con is that they might be extremely busy working under Kaito, but they also do not reject the idea since working under Kaito was much safer than working on the dark side of Academy City.
Kaibi and Frenda looked at each other for a while and nodded together. As sisters who have been working together for a while, they are quite aware of each other's family situations and seem to come to the same conclusion.
...
"We agreed, but we need to inform our family first," Kaibi requested, "And we need time to prepare to move out."
"Boss, we are willing to follow you as long as you don't break your promise about the employee benefit." Frenda followed.
"I promise. promise! Double promise." Kaito nodded repeatedly, then pulled out 2 identical silver rings from his inventory. "To show my sincerity, I will give you a space ring, so you can fit anything you want to bring inside it."
Anyway, in the base world, they are, in fact, the 'gods', so Kaito could just use his owner authority to design a location that would be extremely protected and very safe... as a benefit of working for him.
After that, Frenda and Kaibi quickly left the apartment and started contacting their family members in the Academy City. They were also prepared to bring things for moving, because even though Kaito informed them that time would be frozen, they would still be staying in the other world for quite a long time, too.
>>>>>
Not long after Frenda and Kaibi left to inform their families about the other world's invitation, the next people who were going to join them also arrived. It was Misaka Mikoto, who came to their apartment with Shokohou Misaki, and Dolly followed along, bringing a big backpack... meaning they were clearly prepared to move out.
"Yo, Misaka~" Kaito also greeted her casually and looked at the people behind her, "Have you reconciled with Misaki-san? You really want to bring her to another world?"
"I mean, there's nothing I can do." Misaka shrugged, "Dolly won't leave if this cow were not invited."
???
"I am sorry, sister..." Dolly apologized, clapping her hands, while Misaki, with a distorted smile after being insulted, said, "Ara~ calling me a cow, that's extremely rude, Misaka-san."
"Tch. Whatever." Misaki looked away, knowing she couldn't start a fight here with her.
"Then, have you explained about the thing?" Kaito asked.
Misaka nodded, "I do. And they are willing to follow us to the base world, but... they wanted to work for you."
?????
Hearing what Misaka said, Kaito looked at Misaki with a questioning gaze, "Uh, why? I mean, even Misaka technically works for me... but why specifically?"
"I don't want to work under Misaka."
"As if I want to work with you either!"
"Oh? Do you think I can't work?"
"What you can
"You!!"
"You!!"
...!!!
Both of them were glaring at each other, making the situation quite 'loud' and fun. Kaito didn't know what he was supposed to do to separate them, but honestly, seeing Misaki actively annoy Misaka kinda made him happy.
After all, when it comes to Misaka, Kaito wasn't exactly on good terms with her.
...
"Isn't this just like watching a fight between Misaka and Kaito?" (Aika)
"Umm... but at least Kaito-san won't get so offended easily... I think." (Ravel)
"You are wrong about that, Ravel-san. I heard from the oldest member, Misaka, and Master often fight over the smallest matter." (Sakuya
"I can't refute that. It took a while before we could work together." (Kaito)
*Sigh*
In the end, Sakuya then came between them and warned, "Misaka-san, please behave. And Misaki-san, if you want to work with the master, you should also behave, or I will punish both of you."
...!!!
Instantly, both of them retreated together to cease their hostility. Misaka knows very well how scary Sakuya can be, and Misaki knows that this woman singlehandedly paralyzes the whole AntiSkill alone by herself and shouldn't be offended by any cost.
In fact, Shokohou Misaki had an idea to join her harem, but she knew that saying that in front of her girlfriends would be very stupid and would offend so many people. Misaki knew none of the girls around Kaito was simple; Aika was the mastermind behind that night, Sakuya was dangerous without question, and Manaka was believed to be the mastermind behind the Kihara family massacre in the Academy City!
"Anyway, I won't refuse talent, as long as Misaki doesn't abuse her esper power," Kaito proposed after thinking it carefully.
Kaito realized that Shokohou Misaki's esper ability could be a great help in an emergency, such as forcibly ordering people to follow instructions in a chaotic situation. However, Kaito knows he also needs to talk with Lala to prepare props that could effectively cancel Misaki's ability on them... to make a countermeasure against such an ability.
Although Shokohou Misaki could be said to be a 'good guy', Kaito didn't want to risk the chance that Misaki might control them at any time.
>>>>>
After Shokohou Misaki and Dolly confirmed they would follow, the last to enter the apartment was Manaka, who brought someone no one in the group expected.
Behind the seemingly casual Manaka, a small blonde girl with two pigtails followed nervously, clearly scared, her entire body trembling and her face quite pale. She wore elementary school clothes with a large red backpack, giving the impression of an elementary student, but everyone in the group who had seen the memory knew that this girl's identity was actually quite dangerous.
However, from what they saw, Kihara Nayuta isn't a mischievous kid like in the original; if anything, she looked like someone who is just getting through a traumatic experience.
"This girl... Isn't this Kihara Nayuta?" Kaito guessed, probing Manaka with doubt, "So, you want us to bring her to another world? Are you not afraid that the other Kihara would get curious?"
"Don't worry about that, Kaito-kun~ No other Kihara will get curious. I guarantee you that." Manaka answered confidently.
"Umm... why?"
"Because I have eliminated all the Kihara Family in the city except for this one~."
...!!!??!!
Hearing the answer from Manaka, everyone couldn't help but shudder. Nayuta, who followed behind her, even looked so frightened that she seemed about to pass out.
"Uh, why?"
"Because those Kiharas have an idea about you, about everyone!" Manaka answered with a righteous tone, "Misaka and everyone who watched the broadcast that night can prove the truth of my words."
"...But killing everyone... is a bit too much?" Kaito complained weakly.
"Indeed. There's no need to take such drastic measures against them." Ravel added, "Killing an entire family... although most of them were all evil."
"I admit that, but we can't let them potentially endanger our family, right?" Manaka argued, "Besides, by killing Kihara, wouldn't that mean that many of the tragedies that happen in the original plot won't happen anymore? I think it's a pretty good decision to make this city better."
"..."
After hearing what she said, Kaito and the others fell silent because Manaka was right. Many of the problems in the original were caused directly by the Kihara family, one by one, and now they were gone—undoubtedly, Academy City should be much safer. However, it would make all of their knowledge about future events completely useless.
Not that it matters much since the plot has been broken beyond since Kaito and others decided to clean up the dark side of Academy City.
"So, why did you spare her alone?" Aika asked, looking at the terrified Kihara Nayuta.
...!!!
"Because... well, Archer takes sympathy on her." Manaka sighed and then explained, "Then she begged me, and I realized that her appearance is someone that our lover likes."
"Look, she is just a little girl with blonde hair, and on top of that, she's also a researcher. Wouldn't it be best if we just recruited her, right?"
Sakuya, Aika, and Ravel looked toward Kaito... and Kaito himself gave a slight nod. Anyway, his preference wasn't a secret, and all her reasoning makes sense.
In the original, Kihara Nayuta was one of the good Kiharas —she doesn't like experimenting on human beings, and, if anything, her goal was to stop the Kihara family. Unfortunately, she was just a little girl with no authority-- so Nayuta chose to compromise with Kihara Gensei to work together.
Kaito genuinely feels she could be a perfect lab assistant to Lala and him, and they could even recover all Academy City technology faster in the base world.
Decide to recruit this girl, Kaito coughed, cleared his voice, and then squatted in front of her, "Ehmm... Kihara Nayuta, right?"
The girl gave a slight nod, but then Nayuta was shocked because Kaito suddenly reached her hair and patted her, "You are willing to work with us, right? In another world, you will get many friends at the same age, and then we will also recover all of your health."
"Friends?"
"Right. You will work as an assistant with Sister Lala... we work in the laboratory. You, as Kihara, certainly know how to operate in one, right?"
"It depends on what kind of laboratory... b-but I should be able to help!"
"Very good!" Kaito nods satisfiedly, "And if you work hard enough, we could even help you resurrect all of your friends who your grandfather killed in an experiment."
...!!!
"Resurrection?"
Hearing Kaito promise, Nayuta, who had earlier been scared, now became curious and looked at Kaito in front of her seriously. Weirdly enough, despite Kaito's bold action touching her, she doesn't feel any disgust, only feeling warm and genuine care from him... as Kaito didn't show any perverted desire toward her.
'No wonder Miss Manaka said that he would like me as a present, but I don't hate this brother at all,' Nayuta thought.
...
"Yeah. What do you think?" Kaito said while continuing to pat her head, "It might be impossible here, but in another world, there are countless methods we can use to resurrect someone."
"Then... I promise... B-But!!I don't want to work with Miss Manaka." Nayuta begged and hugged Kaito tightly, which startled everyone. This makes everyone curious about what kind of experience Manaka had with her, as Nayuta was clearly very scared of Manaka.
"You are the 'present', of course, you will stay with our leader." Manaka retorted, then looked at her darling with dangerous eyes. "But Kaito-kun wouldn't dare to play with her, right?"
...!!!
"That's right." Aika nodded in agreement, "Remember, there are rules, you lay a hand on an underage girl, minimum 3 years in prison."
"No, no, no, you can trust me on that." Kaito quickly defended himself frantically, "Look, there are many cute girls in the city, yet I don't touch any of them."
"You lay a hand on me, though. And I think I am cute." Aika teased.
"That's because you are my girlfriend!" Kaito retorted.
"When you lay your hand on us?" Manaka added.
"Uh... soon... I promise!"
"Scumbag!" Misaka snorted, which enraged Kaito.
"Yes, I am so what?" Kaito glared at Misaka. Unlike with the girls close to him, Kaito wouldn't hesitate to yell back at Misaka.
"Don't get close to my sisters!"
"No way! They are also little girl."
"Then you will get Dolly? I will bite you, Kaito-san!" Shokohou Misaki also joined the fun.
"Not you two, Misaki!"
...
The situation quickly became hectic as Misaka and Kaito called each other, yet it also helped dissipate the tension about moving to another world. In fact, Kaito did this on purpose to make Nayuta feel relaxed, and it worked very well.
After that, Nayuta was introduced to Est, and her first task was to become her close friend... which she agreed to. (since such task much easier than become lab rat of her grandpa). In fact, later on, Nayuta would become Est's best friend alongside Midori, and both of them would go to school together in the base world.
