Vol. 1 Ch. 3 Ep. 1: Prologue

I finally found you.

Our old ally who was expelled from Gematria, buried, and sealed away.

It hurts... It hurts...

No, your asceticism ends now. Rise up, "Underground Dweller."

...

...This voice.

"Anonymous Bystander," is that you...?

No. Call me "Francis" this time.

No... It doesn't matter. Please...just leave me alone...

I don't know why you came to find me... But I'm not interested. Heeheehee...

Whatever it is... I no longer...

Gematria has been dispersed.

...

What...do you mean?

Gematria is no more. Call it disbanded, call it dismissed.

There is only one cause for it.

It's the existence of Schale and Sensei...that person who has twisted all rules of causality and genre.

To face them now, though...

...Shhh.

...Hm.

Well then. So the Codex has been updated...

The new world... Yes, I can feel it. The alien element in this world.

If we've been handed a new edition...then the rules have changed, heehee. I suppose it's session zero of a new campaign.

I s-s-see... Heeheehee. Then it's a whole new story.

I wonder what lessons I'll learn from th-th-this edition...

Let's see... You said...Sensei?

That's the big bad of this campaign? Then let's s-s-see.

The new Codex is...

Academy City...?

And a Sensei...?

Wh-What the... Isn't that difficulty too h-h-high...? Something like this...

...But there's a strategy for everyth-th-thing. A blind spot...an elemental weakness...an Achilles' heel...anything is good...

Do not underestimate that teacher, Underground Dweller.

Interpret this world how you will. But just because you pretend it's a tabletop game, it doesn't mean you're the winning player.

...

I'll give you a hint. The..."best build" for fighting that person is...

Don't mess this up for me!!! You trash!!!

G-G-Garbage like you don't even know what death is!

To think vermin like you could ever understand my s-s-suffering, my solitude, my fear!!

Get lost, "Anonymous Bystander"!!! This is my campaign!!!

All that matters is the enlightenment of my asceticism!!!

Don't you DARE get in my way!!!

Don't you DARE mess with myyy campaign!!!

*huff*... *huff*...

Victory... Victory... Why is everyone obsessed over s-s-something as stupid as winning?

The ending is already set!!! We all die in the end! That doesn't change!

We're all fated to lose!!! But that's not what's important!

All that matters...is the journey... What you experience on the journey...and what realizations you come to... Now that has meaning.

How dare you presume to clothe yourself in the sublime name of "Gematria"! I-I-It's...

An utter shame!

*huff*... *huff*...

C-C-Calm down. I need to calm down...

I need to...d-d-decide my opening move...

G-G-Gematria, dispersed?

No! I am the true Gematria!

I sh-sh-shall show the true face of Gematria from here on out…

Heeheehee. Good. Good! First I should learn about this world... This new codex. This new campaign...

Ahh. Hahaha...I should start with...that place.

...Abydos.

The empire that birthed the first great Mystics... I wonder how they've been written in this codex...

Heehee... I'm looking forward to it.

Please... Don't you dare disappoint me.

Hoshino, look!

This says that the old student council buried something amazing in the Great Abydos Oasis!

Huh? Something amazing?

Yes! It looks like something used for fireworks displays. It might be a bunch of firecrackers made from rare minerals.

It says that if you burn it at a high temperature, it'll make some kind of plasma firework which fills the sky with beautiful light.

Look, they could even make them explode into shapes like this! Isn't it cute?

I guess they wanted to use the fireworks for a festival... But for some reason, they didn't work properly and were dumped into the lake.

...Hm.

Isn't that amazing? Imagine dumping something made with a rare mineral that costs over a million yen per 100 grams just because it doesn't work right away...

But I guess we shouldn't expect more from the same Abydos Student Council who used gym mats made with duck feathers because they had more money than they could spend...

I wish they had left us even a hundredth of their budget... Ugh...

...But it's been a long time since that oasis dried up.

Yeah. You're right.

That place is nothing but sand dunes now...we saw nothing like fireworks the last time we were there. What are you trying to say?

Hee...hee...hee... Hoshino, you only see the surface-level story, don't you.

These records are from when there used to be a lake, which means it happened a very long time ago, right?

Just what are you implying?

Those expensive fireworks...

They must be buried somewhere beneath that sand.

There are valuable minerals buried beneath the dried-up lakebed of the great oasis? Is that what you're saying?

Exactly!

...Yume. Do you have any idea how long excavating that desert might take?

Uh... Well...

We can't afford to waste any time! We have to get started right now!

Yeah! That's exactly what I'm saying! It's time for a treasure hunt!

Eheheheh! Let's go, Yume!

We're going to be rich, Hoshino!

Hoshino... Um...

Don't say it, Yume! I can feel it too!

Right? It's not just me, then? In that case...should we wrap up soon?

M-Maybe after digging just a bit more...?

Sorry, Hoshino... I think we're done for.

U-Urgh...

Hoshino... Where did we go so wrong...?

When you came up with that ridiculous plan?

Aww... But Hoshino, you liked it too. Is it all my fault...?

...I-I know that already, you don't have to tell me!

Now that I think about it, we probably didn't need to wear our swimsuits at all...

...I mean, that was obvious, right?! Why did you say we should wear them in the first place?

Well... I thought we might be digging and then... Boom! We hit an aquifer and a burst of groundwater floods out...

Is that even possible?!

Just imagine! We strike it rich and solve the desertification crisis in the same moment...!

There's no way that could happen!

Aww...

Mmm. I have to write down everything that happened today...and reflect on my actions…

W-Wait, Yume, What are you writing?

You're going to record this idiocy? Don't do that, it's embarrassing!

But it's my responsibility as the Student Council President... So it can help you do better in the future...

First of all, the only thing that notebook has is our failures! And who would want such a dingy old thing handed down to them?! I'm going to buy a new one!

Aww...

Okay, let's start our regular Abydos Foreclosure Task Force meeting...

...But before we begin, aren't we missing someone?

Yup yup! The one person who never shows up on time! ☆

Yes. Hoshino isn't here.

Where has she run off to now? Don't tell me she's hiding somewhere to take a nap again!

I saw her sleeping in the classroom next door.

What? Then you should have brought her, Shiroko! You knew we had a meeting!

I...did not wish to wake her up...

Why? Because she was dozing off without a care in the world again?

I understand. Shiroko has a soft spot for Hoshino.

I'll go get her now.

Ah, I'll tag along, Shiroko.

There's no need for everyone to go...

Ahaha... Well, everybody likes Hoshino too much to wait...

Hoshino. It's time for our meeting.

Yup yup, it's time to wake up! ☆

...Hmm?

Hoshino?

Were you awake?

...Ah.

...Right. We have a meeting, right?

Ah, my bad, my bad. This old timer forgets things all the time.

Yes.

Huh? You're not going to say something like "You're not much older than us!" this time?

Well, all right then...! Let's go! Ayane is scary when she's mad.

Hoshino, wait for me.

...

"Ah, good. Everyone's here."

Yes, Sensei. Now that the task force is assembled, let's begin.

We'll start by discussing some odd movements detected in the Abydos District.

Odd movements?

Will there be trouble?

...Well, it's just something to keep an eye on for now...

What is it, Ayane?

It involves the Kaiser Group.

We're all familiar with the Kaiser Corporation's previous excavations in the Abydos desert, which they only concluded recently.

Although we were unaware of precisely what Kaiser was trying to find at first...

Well... We all know what they dug up.

Although that ship was totally wrecked...

Yes. After the Utnapishtim was destroyed above the stratosphere, no trace of its remains have been found.

And once the battleship was destroyed, Kaiser appears to have lost any interest in continuing their occupation of the Abydos desert.

Kaiser pulled their forces out of the desert and now all of the ruins stand empty.

Yes. We detected their activity and confirmed their retreat from the excavation site.

Yeah! It was like a dream come true! They better not dare to set foot in Abydos again!

But Abydos is still in debt to Kaiser...

Yes... Our school still owes a debt to Kaiser. Their withdrawal had no impact on our financial situation.

Though it does seem that the president of Kaiser Corporation is more interested in the new Sanctum Tower than the Abydos desert now...

But that's not the important point.

The important point...

Yes.

What's going on, Ayane?

To cut to the chase, Kaiser Group announced that they would convert Abydos' debt into bonds, which they'll sell on the debt market.

What? Bonds...?

Debt market? Wh-What does that mean?

They're going to securitize their right to collect on our debt...

...Meaning, they're going to sell the ownership of our debt to someone else.

What?! What'll happen then?

Whoever buys the bonds will be able to collect our debt payments...

D-Does that mean we'll have to pay back to someone other than Kaiser?! Isn't that a good thing?

That's...

No, that doesn't make sense...

Hoshino...?

People only buy bonds if they believe they can make a profit from them.

On paper they can make a lot of money from us, but the debt of an academy that could close down at any moment is a huge risk.

No one is going to buy bonds expecting to make a profit from five students who can barely make their debt payments.

...

That's true but...

This is a sign that Kaiser has completely abandoned any interest in us...or will, if they can find someone to buy them out.

...Well, I suppose they could be trying to recoup some of their losses by selling the debt off at a cheap price.

D-Does that mean we'll have less debt to repay?

Unfortunately not, Serika. They're selling the rights to our debt at a lower price, but the amount we owe won't change...

They could sell the rights to collect one million yen for a thousand yen...but we'd still owe the million.

I-I got it! You don't have to explain any more, Shiroko!

Hmm...

Ayane, how much of our debt has Kaiser converted into bonds? I would assume they didn't convert all of it.

Yes...and according to what they announced, it's about 45% of what Abydos owes to the Kaiser Corporation.

Hm... I wonder what they're up to...

Ah, but what if we buy our debt at the cheaper price...?!

If they're selling the rights at a low price, we can just buy it ourselves!

Yes. That's why I brought it up...

I was thinking of using the money we've saved to buy those bonds once the debt market opens.

That's brilliant! Let's do it, Ayane!

We should keep an eye on the ups and downs, just like the stock market...

All right, then...

...H-Huh?

What's wrong?

Th-The price of our bonds...is skyrocketing!!

S-Skyrocketing?!

200%, 300%, No, 450% of face value?! S-Someone is buying the bonds at a crazy rate!

Wh-What?!

Who in the world...?!

Uh, th-there are a lot of them... Checking the purchaser...

...Sold out.

Abydos' bonds...have been sold out...

J-Just who would...

W-We can check now...

The group that purchased all of the derivative linked bonds, which use Abydos' infrastructure industry as a guarantee...

...Nephthys Group?

...

...?!

...

...!!!

"...!!!"

There. Opening moves worthy of a walkthrough.

I hope you're prepared for your first turn, my dear player, No, my dear Sensei.

We sh-sh-shall understand the true profundity of death through our game.

Foreclosure Task Force Chapter 3