CHAP 43: Interview

I fabricated information and put it inside the man's interface, i made it seem like the netrunner had betrayed them, apparently an american mafia had started making movies on the city, so i put the blame on them. I left the building, and used {Bamboozle} to make people forget my face, leveling up let me fine-tune it's memory-erasing capabilities, i tried it out before, but since it was very rough and non-delicate, i didn't use it. Anyways, this would make it so that the Yakuza wouldn't be able to track me. I still had time before my interview, so i decided i would pick up some new clothes, since the ones i was using weren't exactly much presentable.

So i headed for an clothing store, looking to but some high-end clothes. I picked some white formal clothes, nothing too extraordinarily different from the clothes i entered this world in, sadly those had been painted with blood and ripped apart in some places. I payed for it, and left the shop. It is about time for lunch, so i headed for some random restaurant. The food wasn't great, but i eat more for the sustenance than anything. I stayed there for some time, since my interview would happen in about 3 hours, i could take my time.

I left the restaurant, heading towards the metro once again. This little break let me clear my mind and refine my plans. Unlike before, i'm taking this interview seriously now, i expect there to be some sons and daughters of big-shots of the Yakuza in this school, that means more information. Having someone on the inside is always good, and i expect those kids to be gullible, even if they are part of an criminal family.

I went to the district the school was in, Ochanomizu. This is where most of the schools and universities are here, there are an hundreds of bookstores here because of that fact. The school i'm going to work in is an branch of the Tokyo University, the biggest university on the city. I entered one of the bookstores, and looked for some interesting books. This world's and my old one histories starts to differ in the 90s, where shit happens and nuclear weapons start being sold on the black market. This leads to general terrorism, and the loss of military monopoly by the governments of the world, so basically the world enters an chaotic state, and the corporations interfere, becoming even more powerful, people rebel against the megacorps, shit happens, people die. It's not that complex, really. Night city is one of many cities controlled by corporations, and the USA, now NUSA, is basically fucked from all sides.

Japan is the only place on the world that's not so fucked, but that doesn't mean much, this country is living what is basically an multi-faceted dictatorship, essentially an symbiosis of crime, industry, economy and State. But my time of reflecting about the world's state is up, since my interview will happen shortly. I headed to the school, it was an big building, as expected of something for the rich and talented, it was very elegant, very technological. The local server wasn't so protected, invading it was kinda easy, in fact. Maybe i've simply became better at hacking, or "netrunning". I didn't have time to look over the student's profiles, since i was almost running late. When i arrived at the lobby, i was stopped by some security personnel.

"Speak your purpose of coming to the school."

"I'm here for the job interview."

His eyes glowed, scanning my face.

"Hmm, follow me, i'll lead you to the director's office.."

I nodded, and followed the man. We arrived at an door, he opened it for me. Inside there were some other people, some female, some male.

"You're Jacob Greyston, right? Wait until the director calls you.

The person behind the desk, who i assumed was the director's secretary, said to me. I sat, and analyzed the people around me. I'm surprised the director of the school does the interviews himself. In such an place and time, i didn't expect people to really care so much about education, but i guess those kids are important enough for it. The others were nothing much, i looked for them in the government archives, and they are not as qualified as i am, but i guess they do have more experience. I doubt they have as much charisma as i do. I pulled out my pocket clock, and looked at the time.

"Jacob Greyston, you may enter."

I got up, and the director opened the door for me. Once again surprising. He closed the door and sat down on his big chair.

"Please, mr. Greyston, you can sit."

I sat and offered him my hand.

"It's an pleasure to meet you, mister?"

"Akihiko, and the pleasure is mine, to meet an genius like you, and so young as well."

"You don't need to flatter me, Mr. Akihiko."

"It isn't flattering, young man. I've read your articles, and your takes on Plato's texts are revolutionary, the ones about psychology as well, such an vision on human's instinctual responses is nothing short of brilliant."

"Interestingly, i myself find them lacking."

"Why is that?"

"Their ideas, while interesting, haven't been analyzed enough yet. I think i lack the time, the experience."

"Is that what you are looking for in this job? Experience?"

"It comes as part of it, but i think teaching is my vocation. Teaching is passing on the torch, since our time is limited, we can only hope that the ones we taught can complete our ideas, or make new ones."

"Such an profound view. If that's the case, i have to ask, what are your expectations about the salary?"

"Considering my qualifications, i would say about 450,000 new yens, i think that much is nothing more than what i deserve."

"Hmm, and what would you say are your weaknesses?"

"I would say i'm too much inexperienced, as i stated before. Other than that, i think my age could be an problem, maybe the students wouldn't respect me as much, but i'm sure i could deal with that."

"And what about your strengths?"

"My age could help me get closer to students, make them open up, allowing me to help them on an more fundamental level. I consider myself a fast learner. And once again, i'm very qualified, and am prepared to deal with any problems that comes up."

"I'm curious about something, Mr. Greyston. I'm not sure about your past, our last philosophy teacher had an problematic past, that was one of the reasons why he was fired."

"I'm an foreigner, as you may have guessed. My parents died when i was 16, so i went on to do odd jobs for corporations, when i accumulated enough money, i left the NUSA and moved to the EEC. When there, i arrived at Berlin, where i graduated on psychology, i worked as an psychologist while i did my master's, and decided i wanted to do philosophy as well, i finished it, and moved to Japan, but i did all my degrees with the University of Berlin. I worked as an teacher on Osaka for two years, but moved to Tokyo six months ago, and have been unemployed ever since."

"Hmm, i understand. You've lived an hard live, Mr. Greyston."

"My life was certainly not easy, but i wouldn't call it hard, there are people out there much worse than me."

"That's an fact, sadly. To be quite frank, if i could, i would hire you right now. You're exactly what i wanted for in an teacher. I'll proceed with the interviews because of bureaucracy, but you can consider yourself unofficially contracted. You can expect me to contact you soon. You are free to go now."

I got up and exited the office, and the building as an whole. That was easier than i expected, and while i was talking with Mr Akihiko, i managed to look at the student's archives. Sadly i couldn't use {observe} on them, but i did find some people who seemed to be protagonists, and i recognized some of the surnames on there.