Gratitude System: From Class F To a God

Chapter 3

The conference room was on the top floor of the Kuroda Tower.

Glass walls, long table and leather chairs. Twelve men and women sat around it. They were investors. 

Kazuo stood at the head of the table. He was wearing a black suit. His hair was perfect. His smile was perfect.

"Thank you all for coming," he said smiling.

A man at the far end of the table spoke. His name was Mr. Endo. He is a Class A citizen. He had gray hair. He was wearing a Rolex watch. He smelled like old money.

"You said there was an emergency meeting," Mr. Endo said. "What is the emergency?"

Kazuo pressed a button on the table. A screen lit up behind him. It showed a picture of Hiroshi and his student ID photo. 

“You all asked for accountability and thorough breakdown of your investments. The company was running at a loss and I didn't know how. This man," Kazuo said. "Hiroshi Tanaka, a former intern at Kuroda Industries."

A woman with short hair which looked like it was dyed brunette leaned forward. Her name was Mrs. Fujiwara. A Class A citizen too. She is in her early forties. "What did he do?"

"Embezzlement. Data theft. Industrial sabotage." Kazuo counted on his fingers. "He stole three million credits from company accounts. He copied sensitive files. He even threatened to harm my daughter when she found out."

The investors looked at each other.

Mr. Endo spoke again. "Is he in custody?"

"He has been convicted and sentenced to Class-F citizen status. He will spend the rest of his life in jail or paying back what he stole. Whichever one he chooses." Kazuo smiled. "The threat has been neutralized."

A woman with red hair and sharp eyes raised her hand. Her name was Mrs. Yamamoto. A Class A citizen. She always wears a serious face. Lord Kazuo didn't even look at her twice.

"How did he get access to those accounts?" she asked, tapping her nails on the desk. "He was just an intern."

Kazuo's smile did not waver. "He exploited a weakness in our system. That weakness has been fixed."

"So you say," Mrs. Yamamoto said.

Kazuo walked around the table. He stopped behind her chair. He put his hand on the back of it. "Are you questioning the security of my company, Mrs. Yamamoto?"

Mrs. Yamamoto did not flinch. "I am questioning how an intern stole three million credits without anyone noticing."

"Because he was clever. And maybe because he had help."

"Help from who?"

Kazuo walked back to the front of the room. He didn't think the board would question him this far. He quickly said, "From someone inside the company. We are still investigating. But the main perpetrator has been caught. The money is being recovered. The files have been secured."

Mr. Endo nodded slowly. "So our investments are safe?"

"Yes. Very much safe." Kazuo spread his arms wide. "The Kuroda family is stronger than ever. We have identified a weakness and we have removed it. We have sent a message to anyone who might think about stealing from us."

The investors looked at each other again. Then Mr. Endo nodded.

"I am satisfied," he said.

Mrs. Yamamoto did not say anything. She just watched Kazuo with her sharp eyes.

Kazuo clapped his hands together. "Then the meeting is adjourned. Thank you for your time."

The investors stood up and filed out of the room.

Mrs. Yamamoto was the last to leave. She wasn't satisfied with the so-called investigation. She stopped at the door and looked back at Kazuo.

"I hope you are right about this boy," she said.

Kazuo smiled. "Yes. We carried out investigations before arresting him. He was even caught in the act."

She left.

Kazuo was then alone in the empty conference room. He looked at the picture of Hiroshi on the screen.

"A student," he said to himself. "Just a student. He can't fight back."

The hospital smelled like antiseptic and drugs. 

Hiroshi was sitting in a chair close to Emiko's bed. He wasn't moving. He was very still. He couldn't wrap his head around what just happened. A class F citizen received thousands of credits overnight. He kept looking at the numbers on the machine fluctuating. 

The doctor walked in and turned to Hiroshi. 

“Your mother is out of danger. She is responding to treatment.” 

Hiroshi took a deep breath and said, “Thank you doctor Han.” He smiled back and said “You are welcome. She will need to be in the hospital for a few days for monitoring.”

Sure. It's not a problem.

Emiko's eyes were closed. Her chest went up and down. Her breathing was stabilizing. There was a tube in her throat. There was a small tear in the blanket near the corner. 

He kept checking his phone to see if the money in his account was still there. He placed his hands on his waist and moved it back and forth. He bit his lips and said, “I hope this money doesn't disappear soon. I need to use it for the hospital bills.”

Seventeenth time he was checking his phone. Every time he looked he wasn't sure what to expect. In all the seventeen times, it was still there. Two hundred thousand credits, still sitting heavily in his account. 

“What if I am being framed again?” He thought to himself.

He looked at his hand. Something felt off about it. Not bad off. Just different. Like something had come in and filled the empty parts of it up and just stayed there. He noticed his shirt was tight. His muscles had grown bigger.

The blue screen showed up in front of him.

[System Tutorial: Protection must be genuine. Intent cannot be faked. Selfish acts yield no reward but penalties. Emotional neglect carries penalties.]

He read it. It was there for a few seconds and then it disappeared. He didn't really sit with it. His head wasn't there right now. His mother was breathing. That was the whole thing. That was all his brain was thinking about.

He suddenly remembered the Kurodas and everything that had happened lately. “Hana Kuroda. I thought you loved me. How could you betray me like this? Three million credits in debt to your fathers company. Money I know nothing about. Where do I even start from? I cannot go to jail else my mother would die.” 

A tear dropped from his eyes. He quickly wiped it and adjusted his posture.

His stomach made a noise. He couldn't remember the last time he ate something. Yesterday morning he thought. Maybe before that.

He stood up from his chair. He noticed his legs had gone numb so he didn't take any step for like 10 sec. He kept stretching the legs before he felt his leg again. He walked towards his mother's bed.

"Going to get food," he said to her. She didn't say anything back. He wasn't expecting her to.

He walked out into the hallway of the hospital. It was quiet at that time of the night. A nurse was passing and waved at him. He nodded and waved back. His jaw was tight. He'd been clenching it the whole time and hadn't even noticed.

The doors slid open and cold wet air came in. It was raining outside. It's always raining in Tokyo. He pulled his jacket shut and walked toward the convenience store two blocks away.

He got about half a block before a hand landed on his shoulder from behind.

"You're Hiroshi Tanaka right?"

He turned around. It was a man in a cheap grey suit. His tie sat crooked. His shirt was wrinkled all through. His breath smelled like coffee and cigarettes. His name was Yamazaki. He worked for a collection agency that the Kurodas owned in secret. He had been doing this job for twelve years. He had never gone home empty handed. His hand was big and his shoulders were wild. 

"Yeah?" He answered with his face looking confused.

The man smiled but only with his mouth. "Collections. You owe us a lot. Your payment was due 3 days ago."

"Oh. Yea. I know what I owe."

"Then you already know I'm not here to talk." He stepped in closer. Hiroshi stepped back and hit the wall behind him. 

 "Class F means we don't need to be nice about it. We just take what we need. Starting with that room your mother is in right now.”

"I have it."

The man laughed. "Sure you do."

"Check the account."

He brought a tablet out and tapped through it. His face changed while he was doing it. The smile just left. "Where did two hundred thousand come from? Have you stolen another money?"

"Not your business."

"When you owe us money, it's all our business." He pushed Hiroshi back into the wall hard. "You think you can sit on money while you're under a collections order. You think we're not going to find out where it came from."

Something snapped in Hiroshi. Not anger exactly. Anger is hot and it makes noise. This thing was calm and it was only feeling it in his chest.

He grabbed the man's wrist.

The man pulled back.

Hiroshi just held on. He wasn't squeezing hard or anything like that. But the man's face was going red and his fingers were becoming numb from lack of blood flow and this little sound came out of him that wasn't really a word.

Hiroshi let go.

The man stumbled back. He was holding his wrist now. Breathing heavily than before.

"How much do I owe right now?" Hiroshi said.

"Right now, twenty thousand. But once you put the interest and fees on top it gets closer to…"

"Right now."

The man went quiet for a second. "Twenty two thousand."

Hiroshi transferred it from his phone. The tablet beeped.

"Go. Never return. I am done with you guys.”

The man looked at his wrist. Hiroshi's fingermarks were visibly red on the skin. He looked at Hiroshi's face. Then he turned around and walked off and didn't say another word.

A notification came up.

  [Act of Protection Detected: Self (Defensive) - Partial Credit. Full reward requires protection of another. ] 

[+1,000,000 credits]

[Agility +2]