One month prior, Usabuki Chihaya was on a losing streak in her job search.
After graduating from a technical high school, Chihaya had been narrowing her search to positions in the design field ever since she was still enrolled — and had been getting bounced from interviews across the board.
“Someone who can’t hold a proper conversation is a bit……”
That line, which every single interviewer invariably said to her, was the essence of Chihaya — and the primary reason her job hunt was failing.
Severely socially anxious, timid, with a stutter, and so bad at conversation that even when problems came up she couldn’t bring herself to ask for help — she’d try to solve everything alone.
She’d been this way since childhood, so she did have the ability to handle most things on her own, but asked whether they’d want that in their organization, everyone pulled a face.
Her appearance wasn’t particularly striking either, and she always seemed to be shrinking away. Because of that, just having her in a group would create a weird atmosphere, and over time even relationships that had been perfectly functional would start to get strained.
Usabuki Chihaya, eighteen years old. Hopelessly, constitutionally unfit for social life.
“……u-heh”
Even her laugh — this unsettling snicker. She has a habit of laughing to cover her nerves, but then the laugh itself makes everyone around her recoil, which just makes her more nervous. A vicious cycle.
Chihaya looked away from the rejection email with its “We wish you all the best in your future endeavors” and buried her face in her capybara-shaped cushion.
“I can’t……”
Even enrolling in a technical high school had been a calculated move — no one from her middle school would be there, and with so few girls it meant she naturally wouldn’t have to get involved with people, and if she avoided the boys it seemed like she could get through without issues.
There was no way a social anxiety problem was going to get better in a high school like that.
Group projects in class? She could do those alone. Which meant there was no way someone like Chihaya had any connections for job placement.
Was going back home really her only option. Back to that hometown where she had no one beyond passing acquaintances. Back to that life where every time someone called out long time no see on the street her face would seize up from the nerves.
“I can’t……”
Chihaya desperately wants to find work. Preferably something where she could keep contact with other people to an absolute minimum. Sales was obviously out of the question.
She pulls out her phone and searches for jobs that can be done entirely from home.
That’s when it happens. A quiet thunk from the mailbox by her door.
Another rejection letter probably, Chihaya thinks, casting a vacant look toward it. She brushes the black bangs hanging over her eyes to the side with her fingertips and stands up.
Opening the mailbox, she finds a strangely thick envelope inside. It bears the stamp of the technical high school she’d only just recently graduated from, but next to it was another stamp she didn’t recognize.
“The New Frontier Resource Agency?”
A relatively new government ministry, established back when Chihaya was in elementary school.
A ministry created by governments worldwide after they each succeeded in opening gates to other dimensions — its purpose being to develop and survey the otherworlds, which had been named the New Frontiers.
Tilting her head at why she’d be getting an envelope from a place like that, Chihaya uses her capybara cushion as a makeshift desk and reads through the documents she pulls out.
Apparently sent in bulk to technical high school graduates across the country, the documents were a recruitment notice for operating Actanoids — humanoid construction machines.
The documents include a photo of a humanoid robot she recognizes. A construction machine just under two meters tall, photographed at work in disaster relief situations.
Actanoids can be operated wirelessly or via cable, and thanks to motion capture technology they can be controlled intuitively — making them well-suited for remote locations and hazardous areas.
The New Frontiers — the otherworlds — harbor unknown viruses and dangerous flora and fauna. To prevent biohazards, no humans are permitted to enter the New Frontiers, which is what drove the development and advancement of Actanoids.
The reason the New Frontier Resource Agency is sending these documents to technical high school graduates is probably because they want people with at least a baseline knowledge of machinery.
Chihaya herself had actually tinkered with one in class — an Allrounder, one of the earliest Actanoids ever built.
“Actanoids, huh”
She mutters, tapping the documents against the capybara cushion’s head.
She doesn’t have a job lined up anyway — might as well apply and see what happens.
She flips through the documents to the section on job duties.
Remote robot operation. No need to leave your room as long as you have a stable connection. Performance-based pay, but average annual income of ten million yen. Team assignments are also handled entirely remotely.
— Entirely remotely.
“eep”
She reads it over and over, and lets out a small laugh.
This is it, she thinks. A job where she doesn’t have to see anyone? Perfect. This was literally made for her.
There’s a confidentiality agreement to sign, and residency in the New Frontier development zone is required — but apparently they even cover moving expenses.
They must really be short-staffed.
“……isn’t this too good to be true?”
Good deals usually have a catch. Chihaya sets the documents aside and runs a search.
New Frontier development had surged forward after Actanoids came on the scene. However, surveying an entire world from scratch meant they were perpetually short on manpower.
There are multiple otherworlds, and international conferences have divvied up assignments to each country. Meaning each country is responsible for surveying and managing an entire world on their own — so every nation is understaffed.
Natural resources like petroleum and genetic resources are expected to be found, but there are concerns about bioterrorism from unknown bacteria, gene contamination from bringing unknown flora and fauna back to Earth, and environmental destruction.
To address these concerns, each country has imposed capital controls to keep foreign spies out of their otherworld development. This was only making the staffing shortage worse.
Japan was no exception — the shortage had gotten so bad that apparently there were surplus Actanoids just sitting idle in the New Frontier. It seems there’s also a plan to lease out these surplus units to lower the financial barrier for new recruits.
As far as she can tell from her research, there are no lies in the documents.
“I probably can’t get a job anywhere else anyway……”
Better than sliding into NEET life at this point, Chihaya decides, and starts filling out the application.