The shady groups—Inari still remembered the names of the five clans Yasuno had mentioned before.
Red Dragon, Black Fang, Awakener Mutual Aid Society, Sunlight, and Pure Wind.
Among them, Black Fang had already been taught a painful lesson by Inari not long ago.
“Letting such unsavory folk run around unchecked... 'tis most unbecoming.”
“You’re absolutely right. But, well… there are a lot of political strings involved…”
“Well, so be it. And what is this consultation of thine?”
When Inari prompted her, Yasuno let out a clearly relieved “Ah, right!”—she was probably genuinely relieved the topic had shifted—and handed her a booklet.
It was a pamphlet for the Servant Uniform Workshop—and Inari nearly let out a high-pitched squeak.
Yes, it was that maid shop’s pamphlet. They were good people, true, but their intensity was far too much, and to this day Inari still hadn’t mentally processed all of it.
“Ah! Wrong one! That’s... my personal thing!”
“Personal? Surely thou dost not mean... dressing as a maid…?”
“P-purely in private, I swear! A-and didn’t you get along really well with them yourself!?”
“I didn’t buy aught from that shop though…”
Well, Inari pushed the image of Yasuno in a maid outfit out of her head and decided to leave her personal hobbies be. She also deliberately ignored the fact that her photo was now displayed at that shop.
“Uh, anyway. This is what I meant.”
“Oh? fokkusu… fon?”
“It’s ‘FoxPhone.’”
“Aye, fokkusu fon, indeed.”
“Er, yeah...”
With a resigned look, Yasuno lightly tapped the FoxPhone pamphlet.
“The truth is… your information is already starting to leak. Thanks to that paparazzi incident, your image has gone nationwide. Anyone perceptive enough will start connecting the dots.”
“Hmm...”
“A no-name rookie who took down Black Fang solo. Gear from an unpopular dungeon showing up at auction. The dungeon’s difficulty... it all leads to you.”
A rookie capable of wiping out a clan wouldn’t find it strange to clear Tokyo Dungeon #4 solo. And such a rookie would obviously be highly sought after.
And it wasn’t just the shady ones after her—countless other small and large clans were starting to take notice.
Genesis, from that recent video, and Flashlight, who handled the large-scale raids of Tokyo #4—either one would likely be the first to track Inari down.
“Which means... what comes next is a fierce recruitment war. Right now, the Security Division is still posted around this neighborhood, but it’s only a matter of time before they can’t contain things anymore. That’s where this comes in.”
As it turned out, the president of FoxPhone—who hadn’t been at the Akihabara branch the day Inari bought her Awakener Phone—had received word about her visit. Not just her visit, but also a rather high-quality portrait sketch from a very skilled employee.
And so, the president made a certain decision and contacted the Awakener Association.
“FoxPhone wants to make you their official mascot. The Association wants to use that as a cover.”
“Hmm? Thou sayest ‘cover’... but it sounds to me like thou wouldst thrust me into the public eye.”
“Not quite. By presenting you first and foremost as FoxPhone’s image girl, people won’t see this as a case of a lone rogue Awakener—they’ll assume you’ve been operating with their powerful support behind you.”
Exactly. Among Awakener-founded companies, FoxPhone was one of the most influential. All of their employees were Awakeners, and many of them were stronger than your average operative—truly an elite force.
So if word got out that Kogami Inari was FoxPhone’s image girl—
“Then people would assume you’re a carefully trained Awakener raised by FoxPhone itself. The Association estimates that alone should have a substantial deterrent effect.”
“I see. In exchange for becoming their figurehead, I might use them as a shield. Most clever.”
“Exactly. And from FoxPhone’s side, as long as you agree to help out with promotional work, they won’t place any restrictions on your activities.”
It wasn’t a bad deal. In fact, Inari thought it was pretty good.
She owed that shop some thanks anyway, and there was nothing particularly unpleasant about the idea.
More importantly, there would be no restrictions on her freedom—a very critical detail.
Joining a clan, after all, would mean becoming part of a group—and Inari had absolutely no intention of doing that. To have her power limited to fit others would be a complete waste of time.
“Very well, I shall accept the offer. But there shalt be no talk of dungeons and such with some assigned partner, aye?”
“Oh, no no! I think they’re thinking something much... cuter than that.”
Inari tilted her head, puzzled by Yasuno’s words—but this would soon become a grave miscalculation on her part.
After all, Inari, who spent her time watching home shopping networks and baseball, had no way of knowing—That in the world of Awakener business, being a “mascot”... meant becoming something akin to a full-blown idol.