Katsu Tanaka was not in a good mood today.
He couldn't quite pinpoint why.
Maybe it was because the usual hostility toward David in class had suddenly disappeared.
Some students were even laughing and chatting with him.
Maybe it was because his two lackeys were sneakily hiding something when he looked their way.
Either way—he was annoyed.
It felt like everyone was keeping something from him.
Even his own subordinates.
Carrying that frustration through the school day, Katsu finally got into a car after class—
A Villefort Alvarado.
It was his father's car.
Every day, a man named Maxim—his father's personal bodyguard and driver from Arasaka Corporation—picked him up and drove him to and from school.
This wasn't considered misuse of company resources.
Maxim's sole job was protecting his father.
And once an Arasaka executive reached a certain level, they were entitled to this kind of service.
Katsu Tanaka was one of the privileged few who enjoyed this benefit.
But as he sat in the back seat, he had no interest in chatting with Maxim.
To him, bodyguards and drivers came and went.
He had seen too many die—sacrificing themselves to protect his father during corporate conflicts.
There was no point getting to know someone he probably wouldn't see for long.
Any bodyguard truly capable of keeping his father alive would have already climbed higher—becoming security for someone more important.
Why stay under his father, who was just mid-level management in Arasaka?
Even bodyguards and drivers had ranks.
The ones with real talent moved up.
Arasaka's hierarchy only allowed two kinds of people to rise:
Those with skill.
Those with seniority.
And of the two—
The first always climbed much faster.
Maxim was already in his thirties.
Not senior enough to climb by experience, and clearly lacking in ability—
Which meant he was stuck at this level forever.
Katsu didn't bother paying attention to people destined to be left behind.
His focus was on his father's expectations—
And the higher positions he was meant to reach.
His father's official role in Arasaka was:
Executive director of Arasaka Academy's board
Department head of Arasaka's experimental division in Night City
An awkward and unstable position.
Because in Night City, his father was seen more as a school administrator—
Rather than a rising figure in the experimental division.
Running an academy might have been considered a powerful position in the past.
After all, educating future corporate elites gave you some level of influence.
But in 2075, in Night City's Arasaka Academy—
It meant nothing.
As an executive director, his father had little real authority.
Even when it came to education policies, he had no say.
All decisions were dictated from above.
His job was just to nod and agree.
A figurehead, there to take the blame if something went wrong with the students.
The fact that this was his father's main position spoke volumes about his status in Arasaka.
His real influence came from his secondary role—
As a department head in the experimental division.
That was where the real power was.
In Arasaka, beneath the executives who held absolute power, corporate structure followed a strict hierarchy:
Department Heads: Senior managers, just below the board of directors. Oversee entire divisions and command multiple section chiefs.
Section Chiefs: Mid-level management, considered high-ranking within their branch. Supervise and control regular employees.
Team Leaders: True middle managers, responsible for organizing the workforce.
Supervisors: Unlike in other companies, an Arasaka supervisor was just a slightly higher-ranking employee—not real management.
Regular Employees: The corporate bottom rung.
For now, Katsu's father was just a department head—
Not yet someone with true power.
If Katsu Tanaka graduated from Arasaka Academy, his father's connections would ensure he quickly rose from a regular employee to a supervisor.
But his father's expectations went far beyond that.
After a few years of hard work, Katsu was expected to become a team leader.
And ideally—
Within the next decade or two, he should surpass his father's position, skipping past section chief and reaching the level of department head.
If he could do that—
The Tanaka family would finally have a foothold in Arasaka's upper ranks.
Sitting in the backseat, Katsu glanced at his next private tutoring session displayed on his cybernetic vision.
He was daydreaming about his future—
Completely unaware that the moment he got into the Villefort Alvarado after class, a Quartz EC had begun following him.
Inside the Quartz EC, squeezed together in the cramped space—
Were Karl, Jack, and Oliver.
"Got a lock on him?"
Jack's eyes stayed glued to the Villefort, weaving through the heavy city center traffic.
"Relax, I've got him locked in."
Oliver, gripping the steering wheel, spoke with complete confidence.
"Since he's got a bodyguard, I couldn't stick a tracker on the car. But when it comes to tailing people? Jack, you can count on me."
This Quartz EC had been sitting unused for a while.
Oliver had only dug it out now because his Hera was still in the shop for repairs.
And even then, he was pretty excited to be driving it again.
"I've been driving this thing since my sister gave it to me for my 20th birthday. Four years—racing through Santo Domingo and the Badlands."
"Compared to that? Tailgating someone in the organized chaos of the city center is child's play."
"Besides…"
Oliver smirked.
"Compared to the Hera, this Quartz EC is actually a newer model. It's faster—so speed-wise, we're covered. You can always trust the Quartz series."
Squeezed uncomfortably in the middle, Karl shifted in his seat, trying to make room.
Listening to Oliver hype up his car, Karl made a dry remark.
"Good horsepower, cheap, durable. That's the Quartz series for you."
"Hearing you say that feels kinda weird, though. After all, Quartz cars are basically 'domestic' vehicles for me."
"If it works, I'll drive it." Oliver shrugged.
"Doesn't matter where it's from. As long as it's high quality, reliable, and cheap, I like it."
"Can't argue with that."
Karl agreed—
But his eyes remained focused on the Villefort ahead.
It had just turned a corner.
And its new direction was…
"Japantown?"
.
.
.
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