IGTL Chapter 56

Chapter 58 – Carve Open My Destiny with the Lucky Item “Kitchen Knife”!

“Now, now, sir. If you let this chance slip by, you may never encounter such wonderful artwork again.”

“I mean, I personally think I’d be fine never encountering it again…”

When I said that and tried to stand up again, Manager Yamada’s expression changed.

The guy behind me who’d been gripping my shoulders started threatening me too.

“Hey, kid. Don’t you think that’s a little cold? We’re carving out precious time to give you this sales pitch here. After making us go to all this trouble, you can’t just walk out on us.”

“Oh really? So, what, are you threatening me?”

I shot a glance at the Elemental, which looked about ready to blow, silently telling it to hold off, then muttered that back at him with a brazen look.

“No, no, threatening you would be unthinkable. We’re simply desperate to help you understand the true value of this painting. So, what shall we do? If you would just sign these documents, you’d be free to leave immediately…”

“……………”

Yeah, it didn’t look like they were planning to let me leave quietly.

While I was hesitating over what to do, a brilliant idea hit me.

Come to think of it, the lucky item in that horoscope had been a “kitchen knife”…

Alright, maybe I’d just try pulling out my lucky item for now.

With that very casual thought in mind, I pulled out the three kitchen knives from my apartment out of Item Storage, and they stabbed straight into the paperwork.

“Oh crap…”

I had absolutely not expected them to come out like that.

An awkward silence filled the air, and when I slowly raised my head, Manager Yamada’s face was twitching.

“U-Um, Mr. Tanaka…? These knives are…?”

Before I knew it, the man who had been pinning down my shoulders had let go and backed away.

The atmosphere had gotten real bad, real fast.

A bunch of expensive paintings at a private exhibition, and then knives.

If I answered this wrong, I was absolutely getting arrested.

“It’s a magic trick.”

That was why I answered with that on instinct.

“A-A magic trick… I-I see… That’s amazing. Producing three knives out of thin air like that…”

“Yes. They’re today’s lucky item. According to the horoscope, if I carry them, I’ll be able to carve open my destiny, you know?”

“I-Is that so…”

When I said that while picking up one of the knives, he looked terrified.

Huh?

Wait, was he scared?

Was this maybe my chance?

I put the three knives back into Item Storage, stood up, and said with a smile:

“Well then, I can go now, right?”

“Y-Yes, of course! N-No problem at all! T-Thank you very much for visiting us!”

With a calm, stately air, I walked out of the exhibition and into the bright, refreshing sunlight outside.

Yep. Horoscopes were surprisingly accurate sometimes…

Well, probably what had really happened was that some completely ordinary-looking guy had suddenly pulled out knives, scared the hell out of them, and gotten released on the spot.

Honestly, for dealing with people like that, it might actually have been an effective lucky item.

When I checked the time on my smartphone, it was already noon.

I’d just had coffee and looked at some paintings, and somehow it was already past midday.

According to the horoscope, today was supposed to be the kind of day where trouble would find me no matter where I went, so… screw it. Maybe I should just go get wrapped up in trouble on purpose.

To be blunt, I was already in full whatever mode.

If anything, I’d been getting dragged into trouble nonstop lately.

Both in the real world and in the game world.

In that case, bring it on!!

Come at me, supernatural phenomena!

If it was going to be like this, I’d humor this whole day to the bitter end!

That idiotic thought crossed my mind for a second, but first things first, I was hungry, so I decided to go into a nearby Saizeriya*. (TN: A popular Japanese ‘family restaurant’, specializing in affordable, Japanese-style Italian cuisine.)

“Welcome! Table for one?”

“Yes, that’s right.”

The staff greeted me the moment I stepped inside.

“Right this way, please.”

I followed them and got shown to a two-person table.

“Please write your order on this sheet. Once you’ve decided, press that button and call for a staff member.”

“Okay. Got it.”

For now, I was hungry, so I started glaring at the menu, trying to decide what to eat, when I suddenly heard a familiar voice from the next table over.

“Ugh… This is bad. What the hell am I supposed to do…? I’ve still got student loans to repay, and now I’m another 800,000 yen in debt too. If I tell my parents, they’ll kill me…”

When I snuck a glance at the table right beside me, there he was: Kudo, the guy who’d gotten caught in a Ponzi scheme, borrowed two million yen from a consumer finance lender, and eaten an 800,000 yen loss.

He was poking at his Popcorn Shrimp and Milan-Style Doria with a fork while drinking a decanter of red wine.

O-Oh crap!

I’d gone through all the trouble of escaping him, and now I’d ended up seated right next to the worst possible person.

That said, it was too late to run now.

I jutted my chin out and tried to look like a different person, hid my face behind the menu, and for the moment just started writing down the menu numbers on the order sheet.

I desperately wanted to bolt right now, but moving carelessly and getting noticed would be a disaster.

Besides, not looking at the person sitting at the next table over was basically just good manners, so I’d probably be okay.

More than anything, I’d never once walked out of a Saizeriya without ordering anything, so I honestly had no clue whether it was socially acceptable to leave now.

For the moment, I figured I might as well order, so I pressed the call button, and a staff member came over to take my order.

“Thank you for waiting!”

She answered with incredible energy, but please, not right now.

Kudo glanced over here for just a second.

I instantly jutted my jaw forward and furrowed my brow.

Then I handed the order sheet to the staff member, and she cheerfully started reading it back.

“Let’s see, one Diavola-Style Hamburger Steak, one Mini Ficelle, one Spinach Sauté, and one Garden Salad. Will that be all for your order?”

“Ah, yes.”

I answered in as restrained a voice as possible, and after saying, “Please wait a moment,” she left.

Th-This was bad…

No, more than bad, this was awkward as hell.

Why did I have to go through this much awkwardness just trying to eat lunch…?

Even now, right next to me, Kudo, my former high school acquaintance, was muttering curses at Saizeriya’s spot-the-difference puzzle.

“Differences? When the hell did I ever make a mistake? I really thought I’d found an easy way to make money… Ahhh, this is bad. I should never have borrowed money from a consumer lender… I wonder if there’s anyone who’d lend me some cash…”

T-This was bad.

If he spotted me in his current state, he’d absolutely lock onto me.

We were sitting right next to each other.

If Kudo realized I was here, there was no doubt he’d start begging me to lend him money.

What do I do? What do I do…?

For now, I pulled out the half-face fox mask I’d bought as a joke from Item Storage and put it on so he wouldn’t recognize me.

At that exact moment, the staff member arrived with my food.

“Thank you for waiting. Here is your Diavola-Style Hamburger Steak, Mini Ficelle, and Garden Sala…”

She froze mid-sentence.

“Ah, yes. Thank you.”

The moment I muttered that, she set the dishes down on the table while giving me the same look people gave suspicious creeps.

“P-Please enjoy your meal!”

After saying only that, she hurried away from my table.

The fact that she didn’t even ask, “Will that be all?” gave off a very strong vibe of, I do not want to get involved with the weird guy in the mask.

Honestly, I agreed with her.

If Kudo hadn’t been sitting right next to me, I never would have done this.

Curious about how Kudo was reacting, I glanced over at him, and he immediately looked away at top speed.

Alright. This might actually work.

For now, I should just eat and get out of here fast.

I picked up the fork and knife on the table and, still wearing the half-face fox mask, took a bite of the Diavola-Style Hamburger Steak. Juices flooded my mouth.

As expected of Diavola. It was devilishly good.

It paired perfectly with the Mini Ficelle (French bread) too.

The Garden Salad was pretty tasty as well.

Hamburger steak, bread, and salad.

A magnificent marriage.

If Kudo hadn’t been sitting next to me, I could’ve enjoyed all of this a lot more.

To distract myself, I kept eating while working through the spot-the-difference puzzle, when I started hearing smartphone camera sounds around me.

Click! Click! Ping.

What the hell was that?

When I looked around, the people seated nearby were all pointing their smartphones at me.

Apparently, the sight of a fox-masked guy eating Diavola-Style Hamburger Steak with bread and salad was a rare enough spectacle to warrant photos.

And on top of that…

“Hey, why’s that guy wearing a fox mask?” some random kid asked while pointing at me.

“That’s rude! You’re bothering Mr. Fox too, aren’t you? I’m so sorry… oh ho ho ho… Come on now, let’s go already!”

“Ehh? Why?”

What a weirdly curious kid.

But listen, kid. Curiosity can ruin your life.

You should really avoid getting involved with me.

When I glanced toward the next table, Kudo had vanished at some point.

I turned my eyes toward the register and saw him staring at me like he’d just witnessed something deeply unsettling before hurrying out of the restaurant.

“……………”

Phew. Well, mission complete.

The supreme objective here had been not getting spoken to by Kudo.

I might have lost many things in the process, but I cleared the mission itself.

“Phew…”

The moment I took off the fox mask and tossed it back into Item Storage, I heard a familiar voice.

“Ahh, crap. I forgot something… Huh? Takahashi?”

At that exact moment, my whole plan turned to dust.

After taking another bite of my Diavola-Style Hamburger Steak, I muttered:

“No, I think you’ve got the wrong guy. Takahashi? Who’s that? My name’s Tanaka.”

With hamburger in my mouth and bread in hand, I answered like that, and Kudo looked profoundly relieved.

“No, you’re definitely Takahashi. I’d know. I’m your best friend. No way I’d get that wrong.”

I had absolutely no memory of us ever becoming best friends, though!?

More importantly, weren’t we just casual acquaintances from high school!?

And honestly, having a debt-ridden person as a friend sounded awful!

Seriously, please cut me a break!! I’m begging you!

“No, you’re not my best friend…”

I muttered that, but it didn’t get through to Kudo at all.

“Don’t say that. We’re friends, right?”

Kudo shamelessly sat down across from me and said that, so I looked up at the ceiling.

“…No, we really weren’t that close, were we? And seriously, why did you sit across from me?”

I barely managed to force that out, and Kudo replied without a hint of shame.

“Well… actually, I’m in a bit of a money problem right now… This is a once-in-a-lifetime request. Lend me a million yen!”

With that, Kudo bowed his head to me.