Chapter 709: A Few Kilos.
"Well then, when he shows up, just tell him to drop by the club."
"Fine. I won’t guarantee that he will show up, though."
Finishing his conversation with the fixer, Dante got up to leave. The last topic they discussed had added to the noise in his mind, but when he looked into it, he realized that he had yet to get rid of the feeling that he forgot something, which meant his promise to Finn wasn’t it. He tried thinking about the other things he had been avoiding for the last month or so, but nothing filled the gap.
"Heyyy, Dante, how have you been?"
Looking up with a start, Dante saw his giant blob of a friend, Boris, but something was different about him this time.
"Huh? Did you lose weight?"
The question removed the nervous look on the big guy’s face, quickly replacing it with surprise, then an embarrassed smile.
"Damn, you actually noticed."
"Still can’t believe it, though..."
Though he still looked obese, it was clear that he was at least one size smaller than he was the last time they met.
"I’ve been working out lately. A lot, actually."
"Heeh... did Nana dump you or something?"
"What? No!" For some reason, Boris looked quite offended. "We’ve actually made some good progress! We’re officially dating now!"
"C’mon now, stop massing with me."
"I’m not! Hold on, pretty sure I already told you!"
Dante felt that he had heard the news about him and the teacher going out, but he couldn’t remember when.
’Guess my memory really isn’t at its best, huh?’
"Actually, it’s the reason I’ve wanted to talk to you..."
The big guy twiddled his fingers as he spoke, looking as if he was trying to force the words out.
"C’mon, man, if you need something from me, just say it."
Boris had been a good friend of his, so Dante didn’t have to think about granting him a favor from time to time.
"I was wondering if you could lend me one of your cars..." Boris smiled awkwardly. "If I remember right, you had that dark blue 2045 Natsuki, right?"
"The Natsuki?" Dante raised an eyebrow. "If it’s for a date, wouldn’t you want something fancier?"
"I don’t want to overdo it. Nana doesn’t really care about those things."
"I guess you’re right..."
Boris had the hots for the grade school teacher ever since he first saw her, so it was a good thing that they were going steady. Still, Boris wasn’t exactly clean, so it was a little worrying that he was involving himself with a civilian such as Nana.
"Alright, you can have the car," Dante said. "Talk to Henry and ask him to get you a reservation at La Soleil or some other restaurant. If you’re going to take the lady out, then you should at least do this much."
"Thanks, man, but I have already picked the restaurant."
Seeing the grin on his face, suspicion crawled into Dante’s mind, and his eyes widened just then.
"Don’t tell me... are you going to propose already!!?"
"Well, I thought there was no point in delaying it any further."
"Damn, you lose a few kilos, and suddenly you’re sprinting..." Though he said that much, Dante couldn’t stop himself from smiling. "Alright, if she says yes, I will sponsor your wedding and honeymoon."
The goofy grin disappeared from Boris’s face as blood drained from it.
"Wha- That’s a bit..."
"Don’t worry about it. This much is nothing."
Talking about Nana brought to mind the Owl’s Lantern, and that returned Dante’s thoughts to their real estate problem. The daycare/primary school was one of the few facilities that didn’t run on a profit model, giving the parents who flock to it a breather and sparing them the stress of education fees for the first few years of their child’s life.
Depending on whom the district gets sold to, there is a real threat that such facilities, which rely on favorable contracts with the previous owners of the megacomplexes, would be forced to close down. Recent history was full of examples showing greedy fucks ruining the lives of millions for the sake of their profits, so Dante didn’t put it beyond them to get rid of schools that didn’t earn them any profit.
’Well, at least this one won’t be so difficult to deal with...’
Thinking back on it, that lawyer had tried to use his old identity to force him into complying with their demands, using something about his father’s research as the bait. Dante had concluded that they couldn’t possibly have anything that important. His father was one of Eidolon’s top scientists, after all. If they truly had something of importance, the world’s most powerful megacorporation would have crushed them, no doubt.
’Still...’
As he continued following down that line of thought, Dante found himself thinking about his father’s research and how he never understood much about it. A while back, he considered looking into it, but ended up forgetting for some reason.
-You sure forget a lot of things, huh?-
An important scientist who worked for Eidolon, one who would be invited to an event attended by the megacorp’s top. That was one important connection he kept on ignoring for some reason. In the first place, why did Eidolon want to get rid of him?
-Did you forget already?-
Just as he thought he was making some progress, the voice returned, as if to remind him of something he already knew.
-It’s because of you.-
-It’s all your fault.-
As the words pulled him down, Dante clicked his tongue and severed his line of thought. The last thing he wanted right now was to ruin his mood and spend his time waiting for it all to turn into anger.
"Nope. Not letting it get to me..."
Considering all his plans for the coming future, he realized that this might be his chance to get a breather before things got busy. As the night fell, he sent his clone back and donned his 8-6. It was time to visit the beach one more time.
