Page 84 of Pandion

This shutdown meant that the whole credit-based banking system had been obliterated into nothingness in one blow. With no forewarning, there had been no time to arrange for any asset transfers, and some of the wealthiest families in the country had been rendered practically penniless. This was causing even more chaos and discontent. However, after it was done, it couldn’t be undone.

With the EA service infrastructure destroyed, there were no account records left to restore nor employees to do the work. A small batch of volunteers were working on an emergency solution, but no one was holding their breath that it would amount to something.

The government was issuing small sums of compensation, but had their hands full with the flood of applicants, even when most people refused the hand-out fearing that accepting it would be used as leverage to deny compensation for the full amount they had lost.

“This is bad.” Harumine felt cold. He hadn’t had much money to begin with, and now all of it was gone. Yajima came out of his room, looking more panicked than Harumine had assumed was possible.

“Did you see the news? Is this really happening?” He followed his questions with a few choice expletives.

“Is the EA going to do something about this?” someone asked.

“Wake up; there is no EA left! We’re on our own,” another one responded. It was the short truth of it.

“What do we do?” Harumine felt a bit of that desperation creeping in.

“Fuck!” Yajima looked ready to explode. Maybe he’d been rich? This would then be a worse blow for him and for Kagesawa.

At least the EA-issued credit chips were now equally worthless, so Harumine didn’t have to feel guilty about pushing Kagesawa to hand them in. It was a slim comfort.

“Payment issues?” Kagesawa asked Yajima, who was sizzling with frustration.

“I made the request before going to bed but didn’t think to transfer the money right away. I’m such an idiot!”

“How much?”

“Three million yen.”

“What do you have left?”

“About a half of that in an offshore account.”

“I can foot the other half, I guess.”

“You have that?”

That was also what Harumine had wanted to ask.

“I made some investments recently. It’s yet to bring any significant profit, but I had some beginner’s luck.” Kagesawa showed Harumine his banking app and investment portfolio.I also put some aside to various other places, but this is most of it.

“When did you…?” It was not a modest sum. It was also significantly more than the chips Harumine had forced him to turn in. Yajima’s one-point-five was a fraction of what was there.

Beginner’s luck.Kagesawa shrugged but did look pleased with himself. As well he should be. He’d saved their asses.

“It’s not going to be enough, though.” Kagesawa was looking up the enrollment numbers for the SEU.9541 times the average ticket price or 27.6k, assuming they all need one, that’s… 263331600 yen. I’m a bit short.

“Please tell me that wasn’t a mental calculation.”

“The ticket price was a very rough estimate because the hometown listed in the student records isn’t necessarily where everyone’s headed. I didn’t see the need to try to map all of that out in detail. Instead, I collected the twenty-five most common places and calculated the average fare. Also, not everyone’s going to need the help. Since the accuracy isn’t great, I didn’t think I needed a calculator to figure out the exact numbers. If it’s a bit off, forgive me.”

“I didn’t mean to critique your methods. I was wondering how the hell you whipped that out of your arse so quickly.” Harumine didn’t even want to know how he’d gotten a hold of the student records.

“Oh. Habit maybe?”I’d need a filter to determine who to donate to, to keep it fair. Or more money. Or rely on most of them beingresourceful enough to figure it out themselves or make do with less.He seemed to be considering it in earnest. “Anyway, I think we should have a chat with the faculty in case they already have a plan.”

“I’m surprised you’re so keen to help.”

“What else is there to do? I can’t save everybody, but I have some resources. I can maybe try to do something about what’s right in front of my face.”

The rest of the campus was in similar disarray, with people trying to figure out what to do with zero finances. There was an announcement through the SEU notification system that there would be emergency assemblies in the auditorium from nine o’clock until noon.

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