Chapter 177: Failure.

My stomach dropped. On instinct, I clung to the ice to keep my cool as I took in everything. Everyone was frantic, pouring over documents, checking and re-checking their computers. The new hires were present as well, looking lost, unsure.

At the center of it all was Terada, no longer a solitary rock in the midst of a raging river, but a boat struggling not to capsize. He looked lost, and based on how he stood alone, I could tell. He was barely keeping it together.

The moment he approached he looked at me like a man drowning at sea, desperate for anything to cling to.

“Prima, it’s good that you’re here.” He said, sounding so unlike himself. He was shaking, stuck between a rock and a hard place. I could tell, he wanted to keep being aloof like he had been these last few weeks, working, but distant, yet a part of him truly did care. Now, faced with whatever was happening, he didn’t know what to think or feel. And that contradiction was rapidly breaking him down.

“What happened?” I asked, not knowing at all what had happened. It wasn’t that I arrived late, but over the last few weeks everyone had been arriving earlier and earlier. For them all to be here, now, someone must have sent an alert out. An alert I had missed. Or perhaps, they had simply not let me know.

I’m not sure which bothered me more…

“The servers, they went down last night.” Terada said.

“Servers?”

“Yes, the physical archives where we keep most of our data, they went down. Nobody knows how it happened, just that everything on them has been lost.”

“Lost?” My voice leaks out. “We had copies though? Physical ones? It’s not like we didn’t have backups, right?”

Terada grimaces, and this time, it was Tom that spoke up, overhearing our conversation.

“About that… with what you said before the weekend, we put what we had onto the servers, and we also had the rest archived.”

“So, the recent physical copies are all in the archive then?” I couldn’t help but breathe a sigh of relief, “If so, why the panic?”

“They went missing…” Tom said, sounding defeated. He shriveled under my glare.

“Missing?” I wanted to yell, but the ice kept me cool. “How did they go missing? Who was in charge of them?”

Tom winced, giving me all the information I needed. I nearly exploded. Was this incompetence? Was he paid off? Was he really the mole? After all, he might have been the one to spread the rumors about me, make sure the entire company knew about me and beyond.

Could he have been on the take the whole time? The timing would make sense, sinking me would benefit him, most likely. He was struggling, his health declining. A sudden boost from behind, a promise, the man was a walking liability.

Should I make a move? Do, say something? By now, others in the office had noticed me. They’d noticed me talking to Terada, and now Tom. Each of them had the same look on their face. As if watching a show, as if waiting for the other shoe to drop.

They all likely felt the same as me. How had he lost them? Who had put him in charge? The answer was obvious, likely Terada had passed the job off to him. Yet, when Tom glanced over to the man, Terada was lost in his own mind. Not stepping up or vouching for the older man.

I wanted nothing more than to execute the man. Make an example of Tom. To show the division that a mistake of this level would not be tolerated and yet…

Even through the biting cold, through the cold fury building in my chest. I understood all too well, what was the point of that? Rather than finding someone to blame, it was better to come up with a solution.

“The most recent physical copies of our work are gone, but we still have the older copies, correct?” I ask instead, taking the man by surprise.

He nods, “We do.”

“How far back are they?”

“A month, at least.”

I nearly bit the tip of my tongue off. A month? The product was already choppy at best. Having to put everything back together again, even if it was just retreading old ground… that just wouldn’t be possible…

Not unless we hit a second wind, or we hit the ground running, but… One look at the office and it was clear. The mood was down. The atmosphere bad. They all looked like they’d been forced to eat lemons.

I probably looked the same, and yet…

“Then, I guess we have to play catch up.”

Everyone looked at me like I was insane.

“What, a whole month of work in two weeks?” Someone muttered?

“Did I stutter?” I answer back with a bark. My sharp retort echoed like a dry snap on a cold winter day. Everyone flinched. “We have two weeks to make something presentable, so get to it!”

Nobody argued, in an instant, the chaos became order. Yet… even if they began working, I knew for a fact that we weren’t going to make it, but I had to hope…

After all, what else did I have?

The whole week was nose to the grindstone. Nobody wanted to leave, building security had to throw us out before it got too dark. After all, they didn’t want to be liable if something happened to us during the night. The crime rate had been spiking, the number of incidents at night had risen exponentially. The city was changing with every night, with sections of the city being marked as unsafe as gangs openly began to move.

Even my own condo instituted new rules, security cards to enter and exist, a newly hired security officer to man the front door, and new shutters were put in for our safety with every unit’s window and patio being reinforced.

The city’s public order was going down the drain, and this just made it all the more troublesome. There was no easy answer, and as the week ground down, we were faced with the coming inevitability.

We wouldn’t make it. Progress was beginning to stall. The engine was sputtering. We couldn’t go that much further. And the reason was obvious. Terada. Terada had stalled. He was our cornerstone and with the recent shocks, what little he had left, was gone entirely. He was a shadow of himself. Barely working, barely overseeing things.

I tried to keep the peace, but everywhere I went just made things worse in the long run. Tensions were running high.

Apparently, I wasn’t the best mediator…

Yes, I got them to work and temporarily set aside any issues, but it just bought us time. This whole division was a barrel of gunpowder in a burning building, and I didn’t have the skillset to even begin to neutralize the danger. The best I could do is keep people working in spite of the imminent danger.

Yet… The more I pushed, the faster that imminent end approached. And with the weekend now sitting before me, I was forced to make a series of decisions.

Do I quit? Double down yet again? Or… go for a hail mary?

“Leo, any word from the executive?” My words cut through the tension in the office.

“The investigation is still ongoing from what I last heard. I do know he isn’t happy with what happened. That and he’s planning to make a big deal out of this. We lost a lot of information with the loss of our servers, and they were able to restore a good chunk of it, and we might be able to save most of it, but…”

“Not soon enough to matter…” I fill in.

“Yeah… I did hear that it didn’t benefit anyone though.”

“It didn’t? Not even the second division?”

“That’s the odd thing. The server disruption actually hit the second division really hard, they might not even make their deadlines based on what I’m hearing.”

A slight reprieve, and yet… that only deepens the mystery… Corporate sabotage? Possible. Another entity saw what was going on here and decided to intervene, I could see that. As for the missing physical copies…

“Any ideas on the physicals?”

“They haven’t turned up. I let the executive know, but he didn’t give us additional time.”

“I figured he wouldn’t… do you have any ideas?” I ask the man sitting across from me.

“On who did it?” He asks back.

“Yeah, any suspicions?”

“I wouldn’t know… I’m not a detective.” Was his answer, yet, I couldn’t help but raise an eyebrow at his words. “I will say this, Samantha wouldn’t do anything without Terada’s orders, and I don’t see that old man tanking this project. Even if he seemed unbothered by everything, I’d say it was more resigned. Tom’s an old hat, so him making a mistake like he did is a bit odd, but not if you consider that something must have happened, that or he knows more than he let on.”

“Really now? I do suppose Tom can be more of a fence sitter…”

“A little. To say he and Terada were friends would be a stretch. They always had problems with each other… but it’s never interfered with their work. If anything, he’s always acted like a counterweight in a sense.”

“And Kenta?” I ask.

“No idea. He gets a bit over his head from what I hear, but he’s followed rather closely in Terada’s footsteps all these years. I’d almost say he follows a bit too closely, and he can be a smug bastard at times.”

“Guessing you don’t like him?”

Leo snorts. “Obviously not. Especially not with how he looks at you.”

“And how does he look at me?” I counter.

Leo doesn’t have an immediate answer. “I just don’t like it.” Was the end result of his deliberation.

It was defensive, but… I suppose I can understand. Kenta was a bit of a… trickster? I suppose. Early on he’d been stacking plates on my head when I fell asleep. Something I hadn’t known about until someone had spilled the beans during some idle talk. He was known to pull things like that, especially on the new hires.

He was the type to haze newbies. He never crossed the line, but… he got close. Liche hadn’t cared much for his attempts, and Joan somehow sidestepped all his attempts somehow. Though, knowing a little more about Joan, I’m not surprised she had.

As for me? Barring the plates, he’d more or less kept his distance. At least, not until he’d asked me out that one time… He’d used the excuse of talking about and possibly ending the rumors, but what did he know?

I was still on the fence on just who had spread the rumors, but Kenta was a suspect, if only because of that conversation. It is entirely possible he merely used that as bait to try and secure a date with me…

Not that he’s tried again, but…

I couldn’t help but glance over at Leo. He wasn’t just idling but actually doing work. Which was, a bit odd. Sure, it was becoming a commonality. No longer was he a waste of space, nor was he hanging off my every word like he had for a time.

Now he was actually contributing. And I had no idea how to feel about that… The more time I spent with him, the more my image of him, and well, Him, diverged.

Sensing my gaze, Leo looked up and flashed me a smile. My response was to roll my eyes and get back to work, or at least, the illusion of work. My fingers tapped the keyboard, but the result was gibberish. My mind was working away, stacking blocks, making a complete picture, piece by piece.

But, something was still missing. Questions were still left.

Could the reason that Kenta has never approached me be due to Leo? Is that why Leo has an issue with him?

Wars have been started over women, though… yeah… thinking in those terms is definitely strange. Were the two fighting over me on some level? Trading snide remarks in passing?

I could see it… Leo was childish enough to do that and, honestly… I didn’t hate it…

“Thinking about me?” the man of the hour pipes in.

“No, just thinking about all the trouble you bring me.” He laughs… how he knew I was thinking about him is another issue.

“That aside, you have to have a plan, right?” He asks, clearly having more confidence in me than I did.

“The framework of one.” I admitted. He simply smiled as if he knew it.

Oh, how simple his thinking must be… I couldn’t help but sigh. In truth, progress had ground to a halt. If… if Terada could get his groove back, we’d be able to hammer something out. It’d look atrocious, but… we would have something. In the end, I didn’t have anything concrete, but I knew what I was going to do.

So, after work, I talked with Liche and Joan.

“You’re going into the depths instead of coming into work?” Liche spoke back, confused. “Do you really think that’s a good idea?”

“I have no other option. If I get a gold coin, I can turn this around. As it is, we’re heading for a dead end. We won’t make it, not like this. And especially not with me hovering over their shoulders.”

“Progress has already halted though, without you steering the ship… the whole division will descend into chaos!” Liche announced. Joan nodded.

“She’s right.” Was Joan’s response. “People see you working, seeing you throwing your all into the project and it’s what’s keeping them moving. The moment you leave, it’s obvious what will happen.”

“But what else can I do? The best I can do is keep this disease-ridden body shambling forward. Even that isn’t enough. If it was, I’d be at the forefront, but it isn’t.”

Joahn bit her lip, not answering back. Knowing full well that what I said is true.

“So, what, you’re just going to risk your life delving into the depths?”

“I won’t be alone. And no, I don’t plan on bringing you both with me. I need you stay here and do your best to keep everything going.”

Liche snorts. “You really think we can?”

“It’s not a matter of can or can’t. You simply have too.”

Liche opens and closes her mouth before groaning. “Shit… you really are a demanding boss… Fine, yeah, I’ll do it.”

“It’s not like you’ll be alone though.” I glance over to Joan, whom nods.

“I’ll do what I can. With both of us, I think… No, I know we can keep progressing.”

“Good… that way… if something does happen, or if I fail… well…”

“Nothing will happen.” Joan answers with a severe face. “You’ll succeed, I know you will.”

I couldn’t help but laugh. “Not often I see you being so forward Joan. But, yes, you’re right. Failure isn’t an option for me either, now is it?”

Both agree and instead of heading back to my unit, I head right for the warehouse. I immediately gave a breakdown of what we were going to do.

Talia’s response? “That’s insane… even with me, Shi, and what soldiers you have, I don’t think we can tackle a proper gold rank.”

“And what would you suggest? It’s not like I have any other options.”

“You have plenty of other options. Your job isn’t worth your life, is it?”

“Without my job, I can’t legally own this warehouse.” I answered back.

She goes quiet.

“Nor can I legally own my unit, or anything. I’d have to move into the lower district or find some way to get citizenship through other means.”

“Is that really all, I mean, I’m a citizen, aren’t I?”

“You were registered, but are you a full-fledged citizen or were their additional criteria for you to become a full-fledged citizen?”

Again, she went quiet. She didn’t answer, which meant, I was likely right. I doubt me losing my position would remove her own status, she’d just be shuffled back to whatever program the city had for people like her.

As for me, my contract was rather harsh. So long as I kept my job for… I blinked… processed what I just realized…

This felt a bit too convenient, no? After all, starting next month… I would officially become a citizen, or at least, the process would begin winding down. This was June, I’d arrived in July… After the blood moon nearly a year ago, speaking of…

“We have the blood moon at the end of the month as well…” I mentioned. “What do we know about that?” I ask.

“Oh… well… I did receive this in the mail.”

A letter? An invitation, a very familiar one, only…

“Summer event?” I mutter.

It was signed by sheep, only, the letter was more a postcard of a beach with a starry night in background.

Did I have time for this? Not really… But… it did mean one thing. The next event was non-mandatory. On top of that, it was a special event. A kind of, seasonal bonus event, apparently… the description was sparse, the letter was addressed to Talia of all things. Which meant I had one waiting for me back at the condo.

The exact details of the event could wait, but… it wouldn’t eat into my current plan. If anything, it was perfect. I could push myself to the brink over the next week, and have an extended vacation during this summer event, if the postcard’s information rang true.

“Right, well, this doesn’t change anything in the end…” I finally say. “Although, we need to make preparations. If you have any other ideas, I suggest you bring them up now.”

“Actually… I do.” Talia said, fidgeting. “There’s, uh, somebody I’d like you to meet actually.”

I couldn’t help but take a second glance at her. Talia met someone? I had no idea what that meant, or how that was relevant, but…

I could set time aside for this, after all, I highly doubt Talia would mention this out of nowhere.