Kaiju Slaying For Death And Profit Ch 42

Good evening, sorry for the late post.

I'm certain many of you lads and lasses were expecting an Asuka chapter. And I assure you, that is coming. But I want to do the redheaded menace justice, so that chapter absolutely needs some more time in the oven.

So instead, have something that I've been struggling to find the time to fit in.

I'll work to make sure that the Asuka chapter that's coming up does justice to her character.

That's all for now, here is chapter, hope you enjoy.

=][=

Takumi Yuto growled and drank his ninth cup of instant coffee of the morning. It was now 0632 and he hadn’t slept in two days.

Tanaka Rin sat in a different table from yesterday, having just ordered an exceedingly long and complicated cup of coffee. She sat with her white shirt impeccably ironed, her pencil skirt pulled elegantly taut around her legs, her eyes hidden behind oval spectacles.

Tanaka Rin was the very image of the beautiful secretary.

She always came to this very same coffee shop, at 0630 sharp, no day came that she didn’t put in an exceedingly long and complicated order. So far she hadn’t repeated an order more than twice. Making it so that the only true pattern that there was to discern between her orders, was the lack of a specific pattern in what she asked for.

She sat in one of three tables, to the untrained eye, it might seem like whichever table she chose was dependent on patrons already sitting at one of the other two regular tables, but they’d be wrong. There was a meaning to her choice in seating, Yuto knew this, his gut had never led him astray before!

He couldn’t prove it.

And there lay the issue.

Nobody was willing to entertain his ‘suspicions’ that miss Tanaka Rin was a spy. Her record could be traced back years. He had personally followed up on it; school records, those that had survived the time after the Second Impact at least, painted a picture of a studious young woman. Her acquaintances all swore to her intellect and resilience. Her medical history showed minor substance abuse, alcohol, which considering how many other people did the same and to a much greater degree, was not exactly suspicious.

She’d had a near-death experience some months back and had seemingly sworn off the stuff since. This seemingly led to a change in her personality, making her far more driven, turning her into a career woman, as it were. Rapidly climbing the ranks until she was the secretary to the head of the Japanese Strategic Self-Defense Force, General Tetsu Kenji himself. And by all accounts one of the best secretaries the General had ever had.

Except she was a spy.

There was no one specific thing that Yuto could point to.

She had never been caught releasing classified documents or leaking important information. She had been tested on this. Situations had been engineered for her to seemingly have had access to extremely sensitive information.

She had filed a report for those documents and chastised the staff for ‘leaving documents that might contain sensitive information unattended.’

She had done this multiple times.

Tanaka Rin received her coffee. She remained in her seat, sipping the monstrosity while reading a newspaper. Exactly seven minutes later, she got up and walked out, got in her vehicle and drove away.

Yuto waited for several heartbeats before following.

=][=

Tanaka Rin sat at the same ramen stand that she always sat at for lunch. Today’s choice was pork ramen, an extra soft-boiled egg, extra spicy.

A change, her order had been garlic ramen with added seaweed for three days running.

A clear change in the pattern, but signifying what?

Yuto needed more data points.

He had attempted asking for the same things she did, after she went back to her work. But he hadn’t been able to discern anything, other than the fact that Tanaka Rin had an excellent taste in noodles.

Better than her taste in coffee, at least.

He watched as she finished, and walked back to the office, the sway of her hips having a near-hypnotic effect on the eyes of every red-blooded male in the street.

And several women.

He emptied another packet of instant coffee into a thermos filled with bottled water and began shaking it.

She was proving elusive, the hardest of his career in Military Polite, but he would crack through her deception yet.

His stomach rumbled, and he looked longingly at the ramen stand as he pulled out a few ration bars.

=][=

“You are obsessed.” Said Mitsuaki Kenzo.

“I am this close to cracking it!” Yuto insisted.

“Look, Takumi, you are one of our best. But this obsession with Miss Tanaka has to stop.” Mitsuaki said gently. “Other people have begun to notice.”

“Don’t you understand!? She has some other agenda! Her ultimate goal is unknown! We have to stop her!”

“Takumi…Yuto, please.”

“You can’t do this. She’s dangerous, I can feel it!”

“I know that the last several months have been hard on all of us. The reports we’ve heard come out of Tokyo-3. All those monsters, it’s scary stuff.”

“I’m not cracking under stress!” Yuto raged. “She’s dangerous!”

“Yuto, I really didn’t want to do this. But if you don’t leave Miss Tanaka alone, I’ll be forced to suspend you.” He said, bringing Yuto up short. “The General is very protective of her, she does the work of several people and she does it without error. It’s seriously impressive, her loyalty has been thoroughly tested and she passed each and every one with flying colors. So please, for the sake of your career. Stop this.”

Yuto growled, spat. “Fine!” And walked out toward his office.

It was a shame that he could no longer follow her movements on the clock, but what he did with his free time was his business and no one else’s.

He just needed to be more careful.

=][=

She stopped at a bakery every night on her way home, a rare one that opened late and remained open late, an unorthodox approach that nonetheless seemed to work for it, as, thanks to its location, it was at an arterial where plenty of people who worked late went past it on their way home from work.

Most would think her insistence to stop there every night to be a sign that she was a creature of habit, but they’d be wrong. A creature of habit always got the same things over and over. Yet as was her wont, Tanaka Rin did not repeat her order of last night, chatting with the baker about seemingly inconsequential things, a paper bag was filled with pastries of various kinds.

She had stayed to work late, unusual, she seldom worked overtime. Not because there wasn’t a lot to do, but because of her efficiency and the speed with which she worked. She simply didn’t need to work overtime to finish her tasks on most days.

Most would think that admirable. But Yuto knew it was unnatural. A further sign. No matter that nobody else could see it, Yuto would drag Tanaka’s duplicity into the light.

He would crack this before the Big 3.0 hit if it was the last thing he did!

=][=

Yuto made a note that he would need to buy more bags of instant coffee powder, maybe a bottle of those caffeine pills he’d heard about on the radio.

It was late into the night when it happened. The break he needed. The way to expose Tanaka Rin’s duplicity!

She left her apartment building late into the evening. Dressed more conservatively than was usual, overdressed one might say, using a long coat that would do her no favors on the hot, muggy night, wearing a facemask and large round sunglasses.

Finally!

He let her have a solid lead before exiting his vehicle and following on foot.

He kept a far enough distance that she didn’t notice him, nonetheless, she led him through a merry chase, losing sight of her altogether a few times. But eventually she stopped at…a bookstore?

Genius. What better place was there to pass on information, than on a building where documents would be surrounded by other documents?

Still, the danger increased, as he couldn’t afford to miss the handoff. He quickened his steps and walked into the bookstore, where he quickly spotted Tanaka, he followed her, surprised when she went into the manga isles, specifically the ‘adult’ section.

What the…?

No! What better way to dissuade an observer!? Doing something embarrassing to make someone look away was a favorite tactic of the dishonest!

Yuta walked forward casually, his heart hammering, he noted what shelf Tanaka was at as he walked past, then waited for her to leave.

A thorough search of the area she had been at revealed only that she had taken a few ‘adult only’ books whose plot seemed to be centered around Magical Girls losing their battles against monsters and being…ravaged once at their mercy.

What could this mean?

Could Tanaka Rin truly be so amateurish as to go out on an overdone disguise just to buy her cartoon porn?

No, someone who had been able to trick her way into being the secretary of the leader of the whole of the JSSDF would not make such a mistake.

Could it be that she had known all along that he had followed her, and thus had done this to confuse him?

Could it be…that everyone else was right? That Tanaka Rin was merely an exceptionally talented young woman? One whose greatest embarrassing secret was the…the media she enjoyed?

Had he really spent the whole day following a hard-working young woman, up to and including stalking her to see what kind of cartoon porn she indulged in?

Could Yuta’s gut truly have led him astray?

…

He would not fall for her trick!

He would not give up! He would uncover her secret, drag her screaming into the light!

It didn’t matter that no one else saw it, Yuto knew, and he would never drop the case!

With renewed purpose, Yuto made to follow Rin, stopping at a convenience store to buy those caffeine pills.

He was going to have a lot of late nights.

=][=

Tanaka Rin made a long and complex order to the barista, the young woman read back the order, indicating that she had indeed jotted down the cypher correctly and that it would take her a while to decode it. Rin went to the second table to wait, signifying that she was not in a hurry, and her agent could take her time in deciphering Rin’s own report as well as compiling her own. She set down the newspaper she’d tucked under her arm, and read it as she waited.

She could feel the eyes of that man, Takumi Yuto, she had found nothing in his background that would constitute an offence great enough to remove him. By all accounts that she had been able to search, he was merely a man devoted to his duty.

Vexing.

Eventually, a drink was placed in front of her. Rin took it and carefully sipped, coffee, extra strong, black. Good, nothing untoward and the report should be written into the cardboard sleeve around the to-go coffee cup.

She waited for the time it would take for the traffic to her destination to ebb, before walking out, stepping into her vehicle, and driving to her place of employment.

She pretended not to notice the man’s eyes following her every move.

=][=

Tanaka Rin sat at the ramen stand, she’d put in an order for the usual and had received pork ramen with an extra soft-boiled egg, extra spicy.

So, her agent’s informant had something hefty and time sensitive, but their situation was so volatile that they feared getting that information out would result in them being burned.

Worrisome.

So, the question became, put in an order to extract the informant without knowing what their information is, or leave potentially important information untouched to keep the agent in his place.

A tough decision, that was one of her three contacts in one of the organizations that was a direct subordinate to SEELE. Losing that agent permanently would certainly be a setback, but if it truly was important enough to ask for extraction…

“Perhaps something sweeter next time, Master.” Rin said to the cook, who nodded to indicate he’d understood her instructions.

She paid and made her way back to the office, the eyes of That Man following her all the while.

=][=

“I do not know how I managed before you came along, Miss Tanaka.” General Tetsu Kenji said with a smile.

Unlike most of his coworkers, his eyes remained in inappropriate places only momentarily. Rin could more than forgive that, he was a but a man, and better than most at that.

When the time came to remove him, she would endeavor to make it instant and painless.

“I’m just doing my job sir.” She said, demurely, rearranging the papers on his desk so he could more easily take care of his work.

“No need to be so modest.” The General said with a grandfatherly smile. “You easily do the work of five people on your own. Are you certain you don’t want that raise?”

“I’m just doing my part, sir.” Rin said with a smile.

“Right right, well if you need anything. Feel free to ask.” The General said.

Rin paused.

She had not considered the social aspect…

“Well…I do have a small complaint.” She began. “There is this man, Takumi Yuto, brilliant Military Police but…”

=][=

Rin subtly bit the inside of her cheek.

Her social gambit had failed.

That Man had merely been driven to be more careful.

Vexing.

She went to the next location where her agents were. She maintained a steady rotation. Often enough to seem like it was merely part of her routine, while not appearing untoward to any reasonable observer.

Unfortunately, That Man was anything but reasonable.

She sincerely hoped he was not there when the time came. The otherwise preventable death of someone so devoted to his duty would be a true shame.

She made seemingly idle conversation with her agent at the bakery. Thus learning that many of her enemy’s deadlines and schedules had been moved up, children had gone missing, orders of food and supplies were expedited. They were preparing for something big.

Soon.

She went ‘home’ with a bag overfilled with different types of sugary bread.

She was becoming soft, indulgent. But at the same time, why not treat herself? She had been working so hard, and the Master was kind…

She stepped into her apartment and set down the bag with various breads on her table. Tanaka Rin had been a promising young woman who stupidly got herself killed by drinking too much then hopping behind a wheel.

It had been child’s play to replace her, the current medical scanners far too crude to pick up the Polymorphene in her system.

From there, she had climbed the ranks, Tanaka Rin’s name being showered in accolades as she did everything she could to rise to the point where she would be beside the greatest powers in the local military.

Once there, she was able to coast, waiting for the right moment to aid the Master.

She kept a close eye on His movements, on the ways that He slaughtered the Xenos filth. Her heart broke at the reports of His mounting injuries as He sacrificed Himself in order to safeguard His people.

She bit her tongue as the fools around her failed to comprehend the Master’s true majesty and magnanimity. But that was fine, they would learn in time.

Her apartment’s phone began to ring. That meant it wasn’t work related. And it wasn’t the Young Master, He would not need to rely on such primitive forms of communication.

His lack of contact clearly meant he trusted her to carry out His will.

She answered. “Yes, this is Tanaka Rin speaking.”

“Ah, miss Tanaka.” Said a slightly nasally voice on the other side of the phone. “I just wanted to let you know that those books you were interested in came in.”

Rin’s heart skipped a beat, should she go?

No, this was a sensitive time. She should not.

But she wasn’t expecting an update, she was embedded as deeply as she needed to for her assignment. Would it really be wrong to take an evening to herself?

What was she thinking of course it was.

But what harm could it do, really?

No, she should not do something frivolous at such a delicate time. Every action she took had to further His cause.

…

Confusing the one irritant who continued to stubbornly be the one thorn in her side would further His cause.

From the start of her pondering to decision, less than a tenth of a second had passed. “I see, thank you, I will be there shortly.”

With that, she ended the call.

Though it pained her to do it, she dressed in the way an amateur would imagine would aid in their anonymity. Serving only to make her stand out painfully and awkwardly. It grated her professional pride to do this, but she had to do what was best for the mission.

She went out on foot, taking public transportation to reach her destination. She had to give it to That Man, he was a skilled tracker for a mortal. Yes, maintaining awareness of his presence even as he hid his movements from her as best he could was child’s play, but if she did not have her enhanced senses and abilities, he may have managed to make it an actual challenge.

It wasn’t long before she arrived at the bookstore. When she stepped inside she nodded to the cashier who barely registered her presence, it was not long before That Man walked in behind her.

She went straight for the area where her treasure was located and picked up a few others that looked promising.

She paid for her purchases and left, leaving That Man behind, his thousand-yard stare assuring her that her ploy may well have succeeded.

She took a peek at her treasure. The cover of the latest issue of ‘Magical Girls Struggle To Stop The Demon Host’s Advance’ greeted her eyes.

A fascinating concept, that of the ‘magical girl’. A normal human who utilized dread sorcery to transform into an unnaturally powerful form, utilizing the abilities thus granted to fight back against the Forces of Darkness.

Then losing. Having many unseemly things done to her. Then digging deep and against all odds succeeding.

A most marvelous story.

Happy in the knowledge that her action had both advanced the Master’s goals as well as securing her own enjoyment, M’Shen walked to her apartment to enjoy this planet’s fascinating culture.