"Please wait and see." Vera did not answer the question directly. Instead, she looked meaningfully at Goro Takemura. "Perhaps we'll be seeing each other often in the future. We might even forge a friendship, don't you think?"
"I am Lord Saburo's sword. I have no need for superfluous feelings."
"Is that so?" Vera merely smiled.
She had already brewed up something nasty. Perhaps one day, you'll come begging me...
Sano Arasaka—she had a very large gift prepared for him!
Soon enough, "We're here," Goro Takemura said.
The craft descended, and the cabin door opened. Goro Takemura was the first to get out of the car.
A breeze brushed against her face within the estate. Taking in the rare birdsong and fragrance of flowers, Vera raised a finger to tuck her slightly disheveled hair behind her ear. In that instant, she could feel nearly a hundred cybernetically enhanced bodyguards shift their gazes onto her.
"Please." Goro Takemura stepped aside and extended a hand.
Tap, tap, tap...
Walking across the wooden corridor, they twisted and turned through so many security checkpoints and inspections that Vera had lost count. After a long while, she followed Goro Takemura to a small pavilion.
"Stop." It was Shintaro Takayama, whom she had seen many times before.
Vera stopped, still at least twenty paces away from the pavilion.
She could already see the aged, hunched back seated in a wheelchair beneath the pavilion.
Saburo Arasaka.
It really wasn't easy to get an audience with you, old bastard.
Vera knew that now was the time to sell him her big idea.
Come back tomorrow.
Vera and Saburo—A Mutual Pursuit
"Commander Shintaro Takayama, it has been a long time."
Naturally, Vera saluted with her right hand pressed against her left breast. Her upper body bent slightly forward, her gaze