The time was approaching when Hanako Arasaka would contact Faelan via video call. Galina decided to make herself visible in the background to greet and, at the same time, introduce Sasha to her former employer.
Kiwi was also present silently, curious about someone like Hanako—a well-known netrunner with many resources at her disposal.
Dorio was the only one who made it clear she wasn't going to be there. Hanako's identity was too much for her, even if nothing bad was supposed to happen. Instead, she went to visit Gloria, bringing a basket of fruit and the little troublemaker David.
Since there were so many people and she didn't want to just wait around, Faelan decided to wait for the call at Gordon's restaurant while they ate. He brought a small portable projector for the conversation, and when Gordon found out they wanted some privacy, he generously gave them one of the restaurant's VIP private rooms.
The restaurant not only had a large dining area with tables for guests, but due to its quality and status, it was necessary to have certain rooms where more important or sensitive guests could dine peacefully.
"How was my mother's relationship with Hanako?" Faelan asked Galina while eating some potato gnocchi with pesto sauce. "I mean, you told me Tasogare helped her a lot, but personally, how did the two of them get along?"
Galina looked at him, finished chewing, and swallowed.
"Their relationship was a bit… what was the word we used, tsundere?" she pondered. "Hanako-sama and Motoko got along well, no doubt, but because of some personal differences, they didn't get along as well as I do with the boss," she explained as she pushed a gnocchi with her fork. "You see, when we were assigned missions, Hanako-sama set specific goals to accomplish them her way. The thing is, to achieve those goals, sometimes (like, a lot of times, if not almost always) your mother would change the meticulously calculated plans in ways nobody expected," she laughed. "The most frustrating part was that she always got exactly what Hanako-sama wanted despite everything and without any negative consequences to criticize, so Hanako could only swallow any complaints with resignation," she said, poking a gnocchi and bringing it to her lips. "I think you can get the idea from that detail."
"…I don't need to add '-sama' when I address her, right?"
Faelan knew she was a powerful woman, but even if she got along with his mother in this world, he wasn't going to act like a lapdog.
"Oh, she'd love that!" Galina laughed, noticing his hesitation. "Although the boss never added honorifics when talking to her, so just do whatever you want."
Galina was sure that even if Sandayu were present, he wouldn't say anything to correct Motoko's son; he might even be laughing silently inside while keeping a stoic expression!
"Fae, the call is coming in," Kiwi pointed at the projector's blinking light.
Faelan didn't activate the projector immediately to start the video call. Instead, he grabbed a napkin and wiped the sauce off his mouth before pressing the button. The projector was good enough that they didn't even need to dim the lights to have a clear image.
A woman with Asian features, dressed mostly in white in an outfit that screamed wealth, with neatly tied black hair and brown eyes, appeared in close-up on the image projected on the wall.
Hanako's calm expression broke for barely a second after connecting the call.
She had expected Faelan to be in a meeting room or something similar, maybe with a secretary taking notes.
But so many people?
And they seemed to be eating calmly in a restaurant!
"She doesn't look nearly seventy," Faelan thought seeing her "in person." "Maybe a little over thirty at most, but well, with enough money she could pass as a teenager if she wanted."
It should be noted that when the game events occur, Hanako was already almost eighty years old—around seventy-seven or seventy-eight.
"Hanako-sama, it's been a while!" Galina greeted, also wiping her mouth with a napkin, taking advantage of the woman's momentary confusion.
Hanako looked at her and a faint smile appeared on her face.
"Ah, so the information was correct. For a moment, I thought it was just a name coincidence," Hanako said. "Good to see you well, Galina." Her gaze shifted between Sasha and Kiwi. "And well?" she asked. "Which one is your daughter?"
"This one!" Galina put her arm around Sasha's shoulders. "This treasure of mine is Sasha. Sasha, say hi to 'Auntie' Hanako~"
"Eh?" Sasha froze.
Hanako's lips tightened, and Faelan would swear a vein popped on her forehead for a moment. He made a mental note not to mention age—it seemed that, like many women, it was still a taboo topic.
"I see you haven't changed much," Hanako sighed, rubbing her forehead with her fingers. "Nice clothes, by the way."
Naturally, she immediately noticed the resemblance.
"Thanks!" Galina ran her hand over the synthetic leather. "The boss's son picked it personally."
Faelan gave her a questioning look.
No, he chose one outfit and then she took the same model in another color, so the "credit" for that outfit couldn't go to him.
"Motoko's son," Hanako fixed her gaze directly on the only man in the room, pausing just a fraction of a second to look at Faelan's horns—the reason for the misunderstanding and their current meeting—"Faelan Verdant Kusanagi, right?"
"That would be me," Faelan answered without standing or bowing, just giving a polite nod. "A pleasure to meet you, Miss Hanako."
As expected, using the word "Miss" made Hanako's lips lift slightly with satisfaction.
Galina discreetly gave him a thumbs-up.
Addressing her by her name in their first meeting would be very rude, while he himself wasn't willing to use honorifics. Calling an older woman "Miss" was a safe bet.
"The pleasure is mine, Faelan," Hanako looked at him with clear interest, noticing he didn't have a single implant, not even the most basic neural port on the back of his neck, but said nothing about it. "First of all, allow me to apologize for the matter with Motoko," she said seriously and sincerely. "Since I became aware of the recent details, I have ensured to act accordingly. Currently, all my people are tracking Kawatatsu to get answers. I have frozen his accounts and revoked any permissions or privileges within my power."
Faelan raised an eyebrow but did not protest—having someone else take on the task of finding that guy was a great help.
"I understand. I would appreciate it if you kept me updated on the situation."
Seeing him remain calm, Hanako nodded approvingly—he really was Motoko's son. Her gaze briefly shifted to Kiwi, roughly deducing her general identity.
"This is my partner Kiwi, Miss Hanako," seeing the clear interest, Faelan had no problem introducing her. "Like you and Sasha, she's also a netrunner."
"Oh?" Hanako alternated her gaze between Kiwi and Sasha, slightly interested in their netrunner level, but she had other priorities to address first.
Her time, after all, was limited.
"Well, let's close the transactional part first," she requested, interlacing her fingers and leaning slightly forward. "The sooner we finish finalizing the details, the sooner we can catch up with the remaining time."
Faelan nodded, also curious about what gossip might come out of the conversation later.
"As I mentioned in the file I sent you, for various reasons, I want to make a reservation for the last Japanese pheasants," Hanako began. "But although the selected area on the island seems fine, it is not their ideal habitat. I learned some details about your C-65 and X-27 products. If they do what I read, I'd like to buy enough to restore their original habitat and establish the reserve there." A flicker in her optics showed the deteriorated places where the Japanese pheasants' habitat used to be. "Consider this a product trial on my part. If the effects are reflected in reality as I expect, I'd like to buy the formula or make a deeper collaboration to produce and acquire large quantities of these products."
Obviously, restoring the polluted land and waters would greatly improve her image, as well as help the planet recover.
"I understand," Faelan looked at the images. "I can produce enough for the area you indicated within a week."
"That fast?" It was Hanako's turn to raise an eyebrow. "Alright, I'll send people to escort the shipment. Just have the containers ready."
The potential wasn't small, and dealing with Motoko's son, she wasn't going to do things halfway.
"No problem," Faelan said. "The containers can be bought in a couple of days at most. Regarding the last request, I'm not going to sell the formula since it's part of my company's livelihood. A closer collaboration… could be a possibility, but some details would need to be worked out to make it work well."
As expected, Hanako couldn't help but want more.
"For example?"
"The biggest problem producing these products (and others) right now is the scarcity of raw materials, which I barely manage to cover on my own," Faelan admitted, sending a file he had prepared in advance via his Pip-Boy. "If you're so interested in having large quantities, you could prepare the semi-finished product yourself following my instructions in some factories, then send it to me so I can finish processing it," he offered.
"Aren't you worried my team of scientists might crack the formula?" Hanako couldn't help but ask—it was common sense to run tests on these things.
PFFF!
Galina and the others choked on their drinks as they started laughing, much to Hanako's genuine bewilderment.
But it wasn't their fault!
What were her scientists going to discover when the final step was applying Faelan's mystical crap to complete the final catharsis?
If any of Arasaka's scientists figured out how to do magic, they'd earn her respect!
"No, I'm not worried," Faelan pretended not to notice Sasha almost snorting her drink out of her nose laughing. "Besides, this way, not only could much larger quantities be produced than if only my company was involved, but also the cost would be much cheaper since we only have to take care of the final and most crucial step," he explained. "Naturally, there will be confidentiality conditions and more details to discuss in a later meeting."
Hanako stared at Faelan, realizing he wasn't joking.
Did he really trust so much that they wouldn't break his formula?
Did he really trust so much that his product would meet expectations?
Really, Motoko's son—his attitude was just like hers…
They spent half an hour finalizing the details.
"All right, that was the most important part," Hanako concluded the business side with satisfaction. "Now, what have you been up to all this time, Galina? The last time I heard from you…"