Chapter 26 - A New Employee

Kotone slowly stands straight, nervous at what will happen from now on.

"You look worried." Red says as he gestures Kotone to sit back down.

"Please. Sit. My actions so far seem to not warrant such caution, no?" He says in a more commanding tone, seeing that Kotone seems to be thinking of storming out of the shop.

Kotone, reminded that the man in front of him saved his brother's life, feels embarrassed at what she is thinking, so she sits back down on the sofa.

"I understand what you're feeling. I also know that free things are rare in this world and at some point, people have to pay for the graces they receive." Red says.

Kotone looks at the ground in embarrassment, having what she is thinking pointed out.

"S-so… How much do I owe you, mister?" She asks, swallowing her saliva in nervousness.

"Hmmm.. Let's see… We barely have any customers in the shop… So, I think I need some help." Red says.

"…" Kotone looks around and she notices that the shop is indeed deserted aside from Fumio in the reception desk stealing glances at her and Red.

"I'll get you customers. I don't know how, but I will." Kotone says, while having no confidence in doing so, promises and decides to fulfill it.

"I don't need you to do that." Red shakes his head.

"FUMIO!" He then gestures Fumio to join them.

"Yes, boss?" Fumio asks as he stands near Red, while eyeing Kotone.

"huh… Buddy. Why are you looking at her like she's going to steal something? Hm? I thought you'd be happy to see a pretty lady?" Red asks in amusement, knowing Fumio's apprehension of Kotone's presence and the reason why.

Kotone gets embarrassed at the unintended compliment.

Fumio on the other hand clears his throat and, "Aherm. Boss. I thought you were going to give me a head start?" he complains.

"Ah. Don't worry buddy. While she has a bit more potential than you, you're far ahead." Red says.

"Really…" Fumio smirks at Kotone, feeling proud of himself.

"I'm sorry. I'm lost. I'm missing something here." Kotone says, feeling that she is somehow involved in what the two are talking about.

"I'll explain later." Red says to her.

Two nights ago, after leaving the exhausted Fumio to his herbal bath, Red ended up in Toshima City after aimlessly wandering around, looking for people with normal spirit roots.

He could not however randomly scan strangers because he feels that blindly doing so is inefficient and his spiritual sense will be exhausted before finding a potential cultivator. He also could not simply ask random strangers if they are a superioris or not before scanning them with his spiritual sense.

What he did instead was to wander around eavesdropping for discriminatory remarks against non-superioris. And whoever the non-superioris that received that discriminatory remark, Red will scan.

His method was rewarded when he overheard the commotion in Kotone's workplace. He was about to simply just walk away and go on his way but he overheard Isamu, the disgruntled hostess bar customer, utter 'F*ckin unevolved b*tch'.

This made Red interested in Kotone so he scanned her.

He found out that Kotone indeed is non-superioris, and to his pleasant surprise, he also found out that Kotone has a spirit root which seems to be a bit better than Fumio's.

He then followed Kotone home, hoping that Kotone would have a non-superioris family member who also has a spirit root. Instead of a non-superioris, Red found Kotone's superioris brother, Haruto, who despite being a Class-D superioris, is weakened due to his weak kidneys.

He then decided to make use of Haruto to establish Kotone's trust.

"Anyways. Young lady. I am offering you a job as the new receptionist of my shop." Red says.

"M-me?" Kotone is unsure if she heard it right. After all, she did not expect to be offered something she is much in need for.

"Yes. Because we do not have much customers, this kid here…" Red points at Fumio, "… is wasting his time. I want you to take over his job." He says.

Fumio wants to protest but stops himself, realizing that Red will not do such a thing without a good reason.

"You want me to work here until I pay off my debt to you?" Kotone asks.

"Yes." Red nods.

"Wait a minute, mister. How much do I owe you? Maybe I can find a better paying job, and I'll be able to pay you back quicker." Kotone says.

"Oho… 500,000 yen a month for a non-superioris. Where else can you find such a good salary?" Fumio is almost offended at Kotone's words.

Kotone snaps her head to Fumio's direction, "5-500,000 yen?..." her eyes wide in shock at the figure she just heard.

"Yes. I'll be fighting you right now if I didn't have a lot of savings." Fumio nods proudly.

"I-I'll take the job…" Kotone utters without much thought and her mind already starts calculating.

"Good…" Red nods, snapping Kotone out of her mental arithmetic.

"But… How much of that 500,000 will I really take home?" Kotone asks.

"Hmmm… You'll still take home 500,000." Red says.

"T-then… Wouldn't that mean I can just work here forever?" Kotone starts calculating again. "But… doesn't that mean I'll be simply working a regular high-paying job…" She is not making sense of the offer, "So, I take back what I said earlier. I have to know what's really the catch here?" and is uneasy about it.

"Oh. Nothing unlawful or untoward." Fumio scoffs, offended on behalf of Red and the shop.

"Yes." Red nods as if affirming Fumio's words. "What I want from you is your time and you manning this store. All you need to do is to work here, devote yourself here for a year." He says.

"All I have to do is to watch over the shop, right?" Kotone rephrases her question just to be sure one last time.

"Boss. It looks like she's not interested. Maybe she really can get a better job somewhere. Besides, I don't trust her." Fumio says, as he himself is unsure what else he will do if Kotone takes over his job.

"Excuse me. I get that you don't like me replacing you, but isn't this too much? Did I somehow wrong you?" Kotone is now bothered by Fumio.

"Yeah. This shop is good and boss is a legit expert. You're talking as if our shop is 'THAT' kind of establishment." Fumio scoffs.

"…" Kotone almost winces at the slight relation of Fumio's words to her previous workplace.

"Alright. Stop it, you two." While Red is amused to see the two start out bickering, he simply wants the two to be potential rivals and not hate each other.

"Young lady. If you don't want to, then that's fine. You don't have to work for me, if you want. I treated your brother out of my own volition, so you don't have to worry about any debt." He says to Kotone.

"And you." He addresses Fumio. "I will still look for your replacement. I'd want you to focus full-time on completing your first cycle. I'm guessing you're still at 22 repetitions."

"Oh… Okay boss." Fumio finally realizes why Red wants him replaced.

"Mr. Iwai… N-no… BOSS! That's not what I'm saying. I'll take the job." Kotone meanwhile is quick to scare, thinking that an opportunity will slip away.

"Well then. That's settled." Red nods.

He then stretches his palms out in front of him and a 50cm x 50cm x 10Ccm box appears on his grasp. On top of the box also appears a few pieces of paper.

Kotone has no time to process what she had just seen as Red hands her the papers.

"This is your contract, young lady. Although I don't bother to put any fine print in it, you still read it, before signing."

Red then hands the box to Fumio. "And this, is the young lady's uniform. Give it to her after she signed. Also, orient here about what to do, yeah?"

"Boss. There's nothing much to orient her… And… how do I explain some stuff." Fumio asks, scratching his head.

"Just tell her what you've been doing. And… I'll be the one to tell her the stuff in the future."

With that, "I'm going out for a stroll." Red leaves the shop to allow the two get acquainted by themselves alone.

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A few minutes later.

*Knock* *Knock*

"Kotone-san. Are you decent?" Fumio knocks on the closed door of the dress room.

"Yes. Come in." Kotone says from inside.

As soon as Fumio steps in, he is almost stunned looking at Kotone.

"Hmm… It doesn't look bad on you at all." He nods, but inside, he is trying his best to get over how beautiful Kotone looks wearing the kimono Red provided.

"I do? … Well, everyone looks good in an expensive set of kimono." Kotone says as she inspects herself in the mirror.

The dark-blue colored kimono, with its glossy fabric embroidered with white flowers and white swans designs, Fumio cannot help but compare her to the dainty and beautiful second young miss of the Hasegawa family.

She also cannot help but feel odd looking at Fumio through the mirror, also looking sharp in his similarly-colored kimono matching hers, standing behind her.

'It's like we're wearing a couple attire', she thinks.

"A-anyways. Is this really my uniform?" She shakes off her thoughts and asks instead, finding what she is wearing a waste to wear at work.

"Yeah. But you're not allowed to bring it home. Let's go back to the reception area." Fumio says as he leads Kotone out.

"Good… But who washes it?" Kotone asks as they walk.

"Hmmm…" Fumio does not know how to answer it until they arrive at the lounge area.

He noticed however that his kimono is always clean and odorless after leaving it overnight in his locker. He guesses that it is an effect of 'cleaning formation' which Red once spoke about which keeps the shop clean from stains and dust.

"There's this lady who does deep cleaning and laundry every night." Fumio can only lie.

"Fancy…" Kotone has no other words.

"Anyways. Before I tell you about your responsibilities, you have to know some basic rules." Fumio starts, taking Kotone's attention immediately.

"First. There are things in this shop that cannot be explained. You shouldn't ask about them until boss decides to tell you."

"What things?" Kotone asks.

"You'll see them soon enough. Even if you ask boss, he'll probably give you bogus answers." Fumio shrugs as it took a while for him to be told by Red what keeps the shop clean and what allows him to control the ambient music.

Kotone wrinkles her eyebrows at Fumio's vague words, but she decides not to ask.

"Moving on. To the things you should do…" Fumio moves on to telling Kotone about her responsibilities.

An hour later.

"Boss." Fumio greets Red.

"Uhn. Making tea?" Red just returned to the shop to find Fumio teaching Kotone how to make tea at the common table.

"By the way, did you teach her about the shop's background music?" He asks as he joins the two, noticing the background music playing.

"Yes boss." Fumio points at Kotone who is fiddling with her wrist, which are now wearing the bracelet that control the background music and scents.

"Good. Kotone-san, can you handle the tea?" Red asks.

"Yes, Kichirou-san." Kotone says. Red seeing the eager sparkle in Kotone's eyes, nods.

"Good. Fumio. Let's talk." Red this time, invites Fumio to the lounge area.

"This about what I'll do from now on?" Fumio asks as they sit down.

"Yes."