On Astral Tides: From Humble Freelancer To Astral Emperor

After making a suitable reservation, I started tidying up her room, all the while trying not to be distracted by the sounds of Karen-chan washing up in her bath. I bagged up all her empty beer cans and other trash, and folded her discarded clothing, the bits of it that were safe to touch at least. Those other items I carefully picked up and placed in one corner for her to sort later.

Once she was done I settled down to wait, finishing off my glass of whiskey. I couldn’t help but glance at my watch too. It was around about the time my sister and Eri would be making it back to Nishimorioka. I think Eri would want to talk to her parents before she talks to mine, but still… could be any time now…

My palms were sweaty, and I was starting to feel a little bilious. I’d always had great respect, and no little fear of my father. He was a hard man, stern yet fair. I’d had my share of scolding from him, which continued even to this day. And he had specifically asked me not to… well, exactly what I did with Eri. Still, I would face what came of my choice with my head held high, to do anything else would be to trample on Eri’s feelings. Still, that didn’t make the wait any easier…

As I was lost in thought the door to the bathroom area slid open, and Karen-chan was there. Seeing her tidied state I gave her a thumbs-up of approval. “Not bad. You pass.”

“Cheeky little sod.” Karen-chan said, but at least she was smiling now, even if there was still a shadow of worry in her eyes. “I can still look good when I try.”

She was wearing a black skirt and white floaty top, coupled with stockings and matching white high heels. Her hair had been untangled and washed, and her nails… well, I guess she can’t fix everything. Like a gentleman I pretended not to see that her nails were merely filed flat, still showing signs of damage, and that she was wearing only minimal make-up. Still, she appeared decent enough to go out.

“Yeah, a very professional look.” I approved. “Well then, shall we go?”

“We can, but where?” she asked, still a touch hesitant.

“I booked us a table in one of the restaurants down in Niku Yokocho in Shibuya. I have a craving for meat, and I think you could use the energy… oh, there is one more thing while I remember. I will probably have to take a phone call during the meal, sorry about being rude, but…” my facial expression must have been funny, as she started snickering.

“Not one you want to take? I get that, I do.”

“Well, my father is a very strict man. Don’t get me wrong, I love and respect him, but… he has quite the temper when angered, and I did just go and get engaged, despite him telling me not to do anything hasty.”

As we walked towards the station in the cooling evening, she looked at me slyly. “I don’t see why getting engaged is such a big deal. Unless… hmm, if you did that, I’m surprised that you didn’t just go for a shotgun marriage. I hear Las Vegas is famous for those, right?”

“That, huh…” my stats failed me as my face started burning up.

“You did, didn’t you? Oh god, that’s the funniest thing I’ve heard in weeks… well, congratulations again. There’ll be no escape for you now, will there?”

“I wasn’t planning to escape anyway…” I protested, and her laughter continued for quite some time, her haunted expression slowly starting to relax a little…

********

“So, what are you going to do now?” I asked Karen-chan as she stuffed steak into her mouth, barely even pausing to chew.

“I don’t know, I really don’t. but I’m not going to think about it tonight anymore.” She said when her mouth was empty. She washed the meat down with a mouthful of a fancy red wine I’d ordered, before deftly cutting another chunk of the marbled steak.

At least she’s eating now. I guess her body has realised how hungry she is. Looking down I used my knife and fork to dexterously cut my own slab of rare meat, dipping it in the sauce on the side of my plate before bringing it to my lips. Yeah, not bad. Still, I think I prefer the meat leaner, like in America…

“So you said you were a secretary, right?” I asked, an idea forming in my mind of a mutually beneficial solution.

“I did, but do you have to spoil my mood, making me think of that… that bastard? I thought you were trying to cheer me up?”

“Oh I am, so please humour me. Besides, consider it my ‘last request’, before my father talks me to death on the phone.”

“Poor baby.” Karen-chan sniffed, polishing off more steak and some of the sides, a leafy salad and Japanese mushrooms. “In that case… let’s see. Yeah, I was a secretary in our accountancy firm. We had a few moderate-sized clients, but most of our work came from… less reputable industries. A black company in both meanings of the word. Still, I’m not the first to take the wrong job after University, and I won’t be the last.”

“I see. So your degree, that was in a related field I’m guessing?”

“It’s nothing special, or else I’d not have ended up there. Finance and Asset Management. My University was hardly a top one, either. To be honest, I spent too much time partying, since I was away from home for the first time. I expect you can relate, Akio-kun? By the way, I get seconds, right, since you are my shoulder to cry on?”

I hardly partied that much, I was mostly working part-time to pay for my lodgings and tuition, since my parents couldn’t cover a lot of it. Still… “Sure, order away. I’m pretty hungry myself so I’ll probably join you.” I had noticed that with stronger statistics, came stronger appetites. Whether that was due to increased muscle mass or other factors, I wasn’t sure.

As I waved over at the staff, who scurried across to take our orders, I rolled an idea around in my head. Perhaps I’m too soft, but I would need this sooner or later…

“So, Karen-chan. And do excuse me if this comes across as rather…  invasive… of me, but… would you like to work for me?”

Her hands paused, meat falling from her fork to the plate below, scattering sauce across the table we were sitting at. She looked at me, eyes wide, before her expression turned tight, defensive. I can’t blame her, after her last boss…

“Wait, what? Work for you?” she seemed confused, which was understandable. “I know you said you have a lot of projects coming up, and you are working with Shaeula, but…”

“I’m moving up in the world. My trip to Las Vegas wasn’t just a holiday, despite what all the pictures Shaeula no doubt sent you would make you think.” I pulled out my wallet and revealed my new sleek black bank card from Midas Gold. Placing it on the table I grinned. “I’m a client of a very major bank now, and while I don’t claim to be one of the super-rich elite, I’ve the capital to operate some very lucrative long term projects. A lot of them aren’t even in IT, ironically enough.”

Being in finance, she had probably heard of Midas Gold, and if not, Chase Bank would definitely ring some bells. Indeed, she was looking at it pensively, food forgotten. She then turned her gaze back to me, suspicion warring with maybe just a trace of hope. “This all seems rather unbelievable. And if it isn’t… shouldn’t you be going through a proper hiring process? After all, if you are handling large projects, can you trust someone like me, who’s quit her job and was living in filth, just waiting to starve?” her self-deprecating humour was biting.

Taking a sip of wine to focus my thoughts, I nodded. “You’d think so, wouldn’t you? But, and here’s the thing. Well, two things really. Firstly, anyone I hire will be working with Shaeula, and she’s really picky about the company she keeps.” Actually, she seems to get on surprisingly well with most people she meets, considering how prickly and proud she was when I first met her… still, Karen-chan doesn’t know that.

“Secondly, and more importantly, while the job is mainly a mix between secretary, personal assistant, accountant and researcher… there will be some… unexpected… requests, and I’d appreciate my staff not to pry too deeply. I figured someone I knew, who would also be grateful for the job, well, they’d be more likely to be accommodating, right? Loyalty is the key value for this job, so normally I wouldn’t be interested in a ‘quitter’, as you put it, but you trusted me enough to say why you quit, and so fuck him. I’d love to put his company out of business… maybe we’ll get our chance to do just that one day…”

Karen-chan looked down for a long time, and we sat there in silence, our food cooling. She then looked up at me, dark eyes serious. “I don’t know, I’m… I want to trust you Akio-kun, but if I ended up in the same position again… and these unexpected requests worry me… my old boss, he was fond of …” she stopped as I put my hand up to halt her.

“Look, your food is getting cold. Eat, and I’ll explain. Firstly…” I slid my phone across, the picture of Eri once more displayed. “You can have my fiancée’s phone number as insurance. Hell, my father’s too if it would make you feel better. If I tried anything unpleasant, you could ruin me in return. Sound fair?”

At that she nodded, and her hands resumed, eating once more. I ordered another bottle of wine, and after that was done, I resumed my sales pitch.

“Secondly, by unexpected requests, I mean things along the lines of… oh, for example… I might ask you to research if it was possible to somehow gain token ownership of a park near our apartments. As long as we had ownership of it legally and technically, it wouldn’t matter if we were unable to make any changes, sell it, or even had to pay fully for its upkeep, freeing up taxpayer yen. See what I mean? Odd I know, but things like that might crop up a lot.”

“Yeah, that is a strange one. How would anyone benefit if you can’t do anything with the land, even paying your own money out? I think you’d go bankrupt quickly, and then I’d just be fired again, back where I started.”

“A fair point, but at least I’d launder your employment history and give you an awesome reference.” I joked. “Still, it won’t come to that, a lot of other ventures are likely to be wildly profitable. In fact, I have a deal with Shirohebizumi shrine. I’m moving out to a place there this week. In fact, that’s where head office will be, so you’d have a sweet commute!” I grinned at her as she ate, still unconvinced.

“Seriously, what have you got to lose? I can pay you what you were getting before, in fact, ten percent more for the extra responsibility. I can also throw in bonuses for completed unexpected requests. Overtime would be in crisis situations only, and it’d be fully paid, and no pressure to drink after work with the boss, unless you fancy some relaxation with Shaeula and I. I won’t claim my offer isn’t entirely unmotivated by the fact I know you and you are down on your luck, but this is a chance to prove yourself, and more importantly, to stick it to your bastard boss and ex-colleagues.” I let that sink in, and I could finally see the spark of life in her eyes again. She hastily devoured her food, and finished her wine with a gulp.

“I don’t know if I’ll be good enough. I mean, our company was shady as hell and I was just a secretary, though I did do some overtime in accounting occasionally. Unpaid, of course…” she spat bitterly. “… to be honest, I’d love a job, I thought my life was over. Normally, if it was someone else, I’d snatch their hand off, but…” she looked me right in the eyes, deadly serious. “… despite only being neighbours, this last month has been fun, I consider you a friend now. I’m worried I’ll let you down, and if you are really doing big things, well…” she trailed off, her voice becoming almost inaudible. “… I’ve seen what happens to those who fail important, powerful people…”

“I get that, I do, and I want you to succeed, because then I succeed. But seriously, if you do your best, I’m sure you can do it. If you say yes, then your first task will be to head to Shirohebizumi shrine tomorrow and make sure everything is going smoothly with the refurbishment of my new home and office buildings, as well as make sure there are no problems with the contractors coming out to start on a major building project there.”

“That shrine is notorious for not selling land. People have been after it for years… so, how…” she asked, but I cut her off with a wave.

“You haven’t accepted my offer yet.” I winked at her. “So it’s a trade secret until then. But if you accept, then tomorrow is your first day on the clock. Hell, I don’t mind having you start today, since this could count as a business dinner.”

Karen-chan grabbed the bottle of wine and poured herself a glass. Taking a big swig, she nodded. “All right, I get it, I do.” Reaching out one hand she held it out to me, and I took it, giving her a firm handshake, pretending I didn’t feel how she was trembling. Poor woman, she’s had it rough. But seriously, I have a ton of tasks I can delegate, giving me more time to help Shaeula in the Boundary, and even when this is resolved, I can still use her…

“Welcome aboard.” I said, and she returned my greeting, bowing in a polite business fashion.

“I’m glad to be here. I won’t let you down. Thanks. For having faith in me.”

I was going to answer when my phone, which I had left out on the table, started to ring. Looking at it I could see the caller ID was ‘Father’. Well, shit.

“I’ve got to take this. Sorry.” I sighed. “Why don’t you order some pudding or something, and a whiskey to wash it down? My treat still, to celebrate.”

“Sure thing boss.” She waved over at the waiting staff. Turning back to me she smiled, the brightest one I’d seen from her so far this evening, her eyes finally looking resolute and back to her old self. “You sure have it tough, Akio-kun. Still, she’s really cute, so just think she’s worth it, all right?”

At that I could only nod. With that I picked up my phone and answered. “Oh, good evening, father. I was expecting a call…”