"What an idiot I've been!" Taichi shot up from his chair, clutching his forehead with an expression of "why didn't I think of this before?"
"What's going on, kid? Are you finally losing your mind?" Mordred was as sarcastic as ever.
"Mental data is normal. Oh, adrenal hormones are elevated," X said, monitoring Taichi's body closely.
Maybe because of Mordred, X could now communicate with Taichi telepathically without a phone.
"X, let's transform!" Taichi took out his phone, ready to go.
"Wait, wait! I don't see any monsters in the area! Why are we transforming?" X asked, flustered.
"My thinking was too narrow," Taichi said, throwing an empty punch in frustration. "I was so focused on how a warrior of light can't steal from regular people or randomly add digits to his bank account to mess with the market. But I forgot about all the ownerless wealth in this world!"
"Oh! Kid, are you trying to make money now?" Mordred was delighted. "I told you that power would be valuable, didn't I?"
"Ownerless wealth? Taichi, explain. I'll see if it's feasible," X said. As long as it didn't violate the Ultraman moral code, he didn't mind helping Taichi get some money. After all, the kid's life was pretty miserable.
"The bottom of the ocean!" Taichi shouted excitedly. "All the sunken ships in the deep sea have ownerless treasure!" This wasn't just about medieval pirates. Recent warships had also been sunk. Who knows, they might even contain a nation's lost treasure.
"That's true!" X was also pleasantly surprised. "I completely forgot about that way to make money... But there's a problem. Even if we salvage the treasure, how do we sell it? What's the channel?"
"Treasure at the bottom of the sea? Dammit, why didn't we have that in my time?" Mordred, who lived in the early AD period, was frustrated.
Taichi gradually calmed down. He was right. How would he sell the treasure?
"I guess I'll just have to sell it cheap to some rich merchant," Taichi said. It was a no-cost business, so he shouldn't mind selling it cheap... but he did! Damn those capitalists! He thought of the Yukinoshita sisters he saw in the Palace yesterday, but quickly dismissed the idea. The Yukinoshita family's base was in Chiba, which had recently become a restricted zone due to radiation. And their family's business was in construction, so they must have suffered huge losses and might even have to sell off their assets to recover. They probably couldn't afford sunken treasure.
"X, can you connect to the internet? I want to look up the wealthiest financial groups." Taichi couldn't afford an internet plan, so he had to rely on X to help him. His pitiful situation made even Mordred feel a little sad.
As for why he could still communicate with Mordred even though they were out of the Palace... Taichi didn't want to think about it because the implications were terrifying. He already had a huge schedule with a bunch of monsters and a pseudo-god to fight. He didn't want to get involved with enemies from the Fate universe. He just hoped that this version of Ultraman wasn't a TV series with a final boss to fight, or he might not survive. Also, why did he keep getting powers from idealistic series like Ultraman and Persona? Taichi, who considered himself a materialist, was very unhappy.
"I found a few financially powerful groups, but their reputations vary," X said, sending the information he had gathered to Taichi.
Shinomya Group... huh?
Shijo Group... oh...
Suzuki Financial Group... hiss—
...
As Taichi read the long list, more and more sweat beaded on his forehead. Finally, he put his phone face down on the table, speechless, and massaged his temples.
"Is there something wrong with this list?" X asked, confused.
"It's more than just a problem," Taichi sighed. "I'm seeing a lot of names of financial groups that only appear in 'scripts.' The most unbelievable thing is that even the Suzuki Financial Group is on the list..."
"X, can you search the internet for the names 'Kogoro Mouri' and 'Shinichi Kudo'?"
"Found them. They're famous detectives who have recently become very well known. However, the latter hasn't been seen online or in newspapers for a while. What's wrong with them?" X asked, puzzled.
"That's the most ridiculous part!" Taichi ruffled his hair. "The world of that famous detective should have a broken timeline, but why is it so smooth? Not a single day is skipped!"
"I don't understand what you mean," X said, his voice full of pity.
X knew this kind of loneliness—a secret that only you know, that no one else can understand no matter how you explain it.
"That world's timeline is extremely chaotic. Over twenty years can happen in just half a year. And after spring, it's often winter, and the four seasons can cycle through in a month."
"Am I hearing things, or have you gone crazy? Even fairies wouldn't dare mess with time like that!" Mordred couldn't help but complain.
"...No, it might actually be possible," X said, his tone strange. "When I was investigating the records of the past, I found that before Taichi and I arrived in this world, the timeline was a bit off. I couldn't pinpoint what the problem was, but now that Taichi has brought it up, it seems like it was a chaotic timeline."
"I was affected, too," X said, his voice solemn, a final word on the matter.
"...Forget it, I've given up on trying to understand this world," Taichi said, shaking his head. "After all, something that exists won't become non-existent no matter how much I think about it. If I can't fight it, I'll just enjoy it."
"But this way, I have someone to sell my underwater treasure to," Taichi said with a smile. The Suzuki Financial Group was very wealthy. If he found some famous treasure at the bottom of the sea, he might even be able to sell it to Jirokichi Suzuki for a higher price.
"I don't need this lousy job anymore. I'm just going to skip work," Taichi said, changing out of his uniform. He carefully checked his surroundings to make sure no one would see him before pressing the call button on his phone to transform.
From today on, he would be Naruto X Taichi, the underwater treasure hunter.