I’ll Take On The Modern World—And Dominate It—Relying On No One But Myself.

The Genius Engineer.

“I’m Nitta Yuka.”

The sharp-eyed woman who introduced herself as Nitta spoke in a flat, emotionless voice.

(She’s incredibly beautiful—but… she’s really hard to approach.)

In preparation for developing the LMS, Hiiragi had brought in Nitta as a specialist, and they had booked a meeting room to go over the details with her.

“Don’t worry about being too formal—Nitta’s not big on honorifics,” Hiiragi said casually.

Kagetaka, however, felt like Hiiragi had just thrown him under the bus.

Nitta gave off an intimidating presence. Relaxing and having a casual conversation with her seemed nearly impossible.

“Can I just call you Isurugi? You can call me Nitta.”

“Ah, uh… sure. Nice to meet you.”

Kagetaka forced a strained smile as he responded.

“Isurugi, I’ve already given her a brief overview, but I want you to explain the LMS we’re building.”

Although Hiiragi had more detailed knowledge of the LMS, it seemed he wanted Kagetaka to handle the explanation—for the sake of the future.

“Nitta, feel free to decide whether you want to join the project after hearing what Isurugi has to say.”

“Alright, that works for me.”

(Wait, what?! I wasn’t told about this!)

The weight of sudden responsibility made Kagetaka stiffen with tension.

It was clear now that Hiiragi had deliberately withheld that part. This was probably going to be a recurring pattern going forward.

Nitta was an employee at a tech company called CyberFusion, and Hiiragi had approached her to join this project as a side gig.

“LMS stands for Learning Management System, and—”

The moment Kagetaka began discussing the technical aspects, Nitta’s expression shifted—her eyes lit up with keen interest.

She fired off a series of complex, rapid-fire questions, and Kagetaka, though flustered, did his best to respond. Hiiragi stepped in to fill the gaps when necessary.

(I’d heard she was sharp, but this is on another level…)

Kagetaka was stunned by Nitta’s breadth of knowledge and how fast she processed information.

Within Delta Five, Kagetaka had earned a solid reputation—but Nitta’s expertise made it hard to believe she was the same age.

***

“Thanks. The functionality is simple, but the underlying tech is really fascinating.”

Hearing her feedback, Kagetaka finally let out a long breath, relieved.

He’d certainly faced his share of pressure dealing with senior colleagues and clients, but this was the first time he’d been this nervous with someone his own age.

Now, however, Nitta’s face had softened. She looked more like a child who’d just gotten the toy she’d wanted—completely different from her earlier stoic demeanor.

“Most of all, I love the design. You did the framework architecture, right, Hiiragi?”

“Y-yeah…”

Hiiragi’s reply was awkward.

Strictly speaking, the framework was something Hiiragi had reconstructed based on memories of a system from the future—but that wasn’t something he could mention here.

“So? Think she’ll take the job? I’m prepared to pay whatever she asks.”

“I’m in. Honestly, no matter how much money you offered, I wouldn’t have accepted if the work didn’t interest me.”

Kagetaka was beginning to get a read on her personality— She was someone who cared only about the tech.

“From here on, we’re getting into confidential territory—”

Hiiragi handed over an NDA (Non-Disclosure Agreement), and Nitta signed it on the spot without hesitation after hearing the explanation.

***

“Wait a minute! If you’ve got something this interesting, you should’ve told me upfront!”

When Hiiragi started explaining the machine learning model, Nitta lit up more than she had all day.

“I told you—it’s confidential!”

“What if I’d turned the offer down after Isurugi’s explanation?!”

“Exactly!” Kagetaka chimed in, siding with Nitta.

“For the model training, we need fast processing, so—”