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Last Embryo Volume 1 Chapter 1 Part 1

Translator: DarkHeartedAlchemist

Editor: Weasalopes

On a fine day during the rainy season.

Even though the sweet smell of spring was beginning to fade along with the cherry blossom petals as they were falling onto the ground, it was still the time for the fresh green sprouts to pop out from the earth and begin their climb towards the skies.

The warm rays of the sun were shining through the windows in the orphanage’s lobby, creating an environment that simply begged one to cast everything one was doing at the moment aside and just take a long, relaxing nap. In the middle of this serene scenery, Saigo Homura, with dark bags under his eyes, clenched his fists hard and thrown them high into the air in a triumphant gesture.

「Ahh… it’s over…. It’s finally over, Suzuka……!!!」

「Thank you for your hard work, Homura. Now that you’re done, I think it’s safe to say that we will be able to have ourselves an enjoyable Golden Week.」

A cheerful-looking girl – Ayazato Suzuka – congratulated Homura with a comforting nod of her head as she assembled the rest of the documents together and placed them on the desk. Both of them were at that age where they have just entered the prime of their youth, but Homura, having just finished an all-nighter’s worth of paperwork, looked more like a zombie than an actual human being. He then took off his hand-made cat-eared headphones, which he was typically wearing on his neck and proceeded to unbutton the two topmost buttons of his oversized shirt. As to why it was so oversized, it was a miscalculation on his part. When he was buying it, he tried to include his possible future growth as one of the factors, but regrettably, said growth was not as prominent as he expected.

On the contrary, Ayazato Suzuka was dressed more fashionably than usual, with her long hair tied neatly with a flower-patterned hairband and a pair of shorts which looked easy to move around in. The simple casual jacket she was wearing was nothing special, when coupled with the rest of her clothes it somehow still managed to accentuate her youthful vitality, strong will and charm. She must have been that type of girl whom other women, especially the ones who always had difficulties picking what to wear, hated with a burning passion.

Satisfied with the results of his hard work, a smile flashed on Saigo Homura’s tired face.

「I don’t want to be that guy, but if anyone asked me I would have to say that I really gave my all into the creation of this thesis. If we present it to them as it is, I have no doubt the big shots at Everything Company will not be able to find anything to criticize it for.」

「Nihahaha, you can say that again. The clinical trial has also passed the verification phase, right?」

「Yes, it did. Moreover, it also passed through the second phase exceptionally fast. However, if we want it to pass through the third phase without any major difficulties, then it looks like we will have to get our hands just a little bit dirty.」

After doing some light stretches to kick their stiffened muscles awake, the two of them lifelessly fell onto the sofa as if they were a pair of deflated tires. But to be honest, who could blame them? The weather outside was truly brutal and unforgiving, especially for the two young people who just finished pulling an all-nighter: the brightness of the sun shining through the windows was just right, the temperature was warm, but not unbearably hot, and the occasional gusts of gentle wind were shaking the curtains. On top of that, they were in the safety of their home, where no harm could possibly come upon them. That is why forbidding them from taking even a short rest now that they were done would be cruel, barbaric even.

However, with the noon slowly turning into the afternoon, the orphanage grounds were unusually silent, considering the time and date. It was a middle of the day on a holiday, which meant that the halls of the orphanage should by all means be filled with the hustle and bustle of young boys and girls running around the limited space of the small building, not to mention that their living room’s 55 inch plasma TV – which was spurt of the moment purchase  by the way – should be besieged by the younglings craving to watch it. And yet, on this particular day, the silence was so eerily, ear-piercingly loud as if the entire place has been deserted.

For just a brief moment, a thought that maybe something had happened came across Homura’s mind, but due to the ever-increasing feeling of sleepiness slowly taking him over, he decided that for now catching some z’s should be his number one priority.

As he was scratching his messy hair, his gaze wondered off towards Suzuka, which prompted him to ask a question that was on his mind for quite some time.

「That reminds me, Suzuka, you going out somewhere later? With the way you are dressed and all?」

「I sure am! I am going to Shinjuku with Aya. Could it be that you ask because you want to tag along, Homura?」

「Nope, but thanks for the offer. Just go ahead and have a good time together with Ayato.」

He waved his hand, rejecting Suzuka’s offer. Using every last bit of energy he had in his body to finish writing the thesis for his patron, so now he wished for nothing more but the opportunity to spend the first day of his Golden Week in relative peace. Sleeping during the daytime on the day off was not very student-like, but it was all that he wanted and could possibly think of.

But, as if wanting to deny him that one small happiness he earned for himself, a voice of his guardian – Tokuteru Mikado – bellowed from the hallway outside the room.

「HOMURAAAAAAAA!!!! The report for the laboratory management! Where?! Is?! IT?!」

「……………………… ah.」

「………………………. Eh?」

Well, shit, Homura thought, smacking his lips.

「…… Oi, Bro, what is that all about? I promise I won’t get angry, but only if you spill the beans right now, okay? What is he talking about?」

Suzuka’s voice sounded just a little bit hysterical.

「Sorry, Sis, but if I don’t write that report, then I’m afraid the continued existence of this very orphanage is going to be in jeopardy.」

The research thesis alone was not the only thing they were supposed to the patron of their research laboratory. In addition to the equipment expenses of the Third Research Center, they also had to include a report of the 「Canaria Family Home」 orphanage’s operating expenses. And since Homura was the one responsible for that, the task of requesting a new Cryo-Electron Microscope to expand on the facility’s equipment and coming up with a way to cover up the fact that they bought a high-end 55-inch TV on a whim automatically fell onto him. And the solution he came up with? An overexaggerated thesis and a ply to increase their funding and general budget in the report.

To be blunt, what he did was clearly a falsification of information coupled with the forgery of documents, but the fact that the research they were conducting was already pretty darn expensive was still a fact, so as long as they could still gain a profit out of it in the end, the rest was just a matter of writing both documents in such a way that it would conveniently deceive the higher-ups in the Company.

Due to all those malversations and the need for the employment of some creative accounting, the report has yet to be written as of this moment.

Suzuka’s face turned deep-blue as every hair on her body stood on end.

「What do we do, Homura? What do we do?! When exactly is the deadline for the report’s submission?」

「It is supposed to be handed over to the management along with the thesis at 1:00 PM.」

「Uwaaaaah, doesn’t that mean that you have only an hour left to write it?! My God, how are we going to explain it to Aya?!」

Suzuka held her head with her hands and let out a troubled scream.

The patron’s daughter wanted both the report and the thesis to be handed over today at noon. Are they going to make it if they start working on it now? No, there was definitely too late to be pulling stunts like that. But if they won’t be able to think of some way to do it, both the orphanage and their research are going to be endangered.

As Suzuka frantically ran around the room, Saigo Homura racked his brain in search of the best way out of their current quandary. Seeing him acting so calm, Suzuka regained a bit of her own composure.

「Okay, for real this time Bro: is there anything we can do?」

「Nope, it’s Game Over for us, Sis.」

「That was fast! Why are you giving up so fast without even trying!? Is there really nothing we can do?!」

「Amu Namida Butsu, Amen.」

「Oh, so now you’re praying to the Gods for help?! You’re just going to let the game and here and now?!  Who knows, if we start now, we might just be able to make it!!!」

With that said, Suzuka ran towards one of the drawers and took out some documents. Her words and actions might have suggested that she was in a state of utter disarray, but she was able to get her act together when the situation called for it.

Rolling up the sleeves of his shirt, Homura picked up his pen with a heavy sigh.

「Still… Lady Ayato going to Shinjuku? I just can’t picture it. I always thought placed like Ginza or Roppongi are a much better suit for someone like her.」

「And that is what we call a bias. Even someone like Aya goes to the cinemas and bookstores with us from time to time… b-but now is not the time to be talking about stuff like that! You just focus on writing this thing down quickly! Chop chop! I know that as long as you put your mind into it, you will be able to get it done in less than an hour!」

「Yeah, yeah, sure」 Homura answered half-heartedly while picking up the pile of documents. Now that he decided to go for it, he had no choice but to finish it. Ayato has always been a 「actions speak louder than words」 type of person, so once she would learn that their report was going to be submitted even the slightest bit late, she would undoubtedly make her way to them immediately. That is why finishing it as soon as possible was in their best interest if they wanted to avoid that particular scenario from happening. But just as he was thinking what kind of underhanded tricks he should result to – PIPIPI~~ PIPIPI~~ – a sound of a simple ringtone sounded across the room, breaking his concentration. Taking a look at the name of the caller displayed on the LCD screen of his phone, Homura frowned with a grimace.

「…..Crap. Speak of the devil.」