Chapter 31 - Red The Artist

"So… What now, Fumio?" Red asks.

Red and Fumio are now back in Nerima. Fumio, having sprinted for 20 minutes to while trying to catch up with Red during their 50km travel, is spent. Red decides to simply take a stroll while Fumio cools down.

"What do you mean, boss?" Fumio raises his brows at the vague question.

"You've had your revenge. What now?" Red asks.

"Oh…" Fumio is stumped. "Never really thought about it." He can only say.

"Do you want to get stronger?" Red asks.

"Uhhh. I don't know, boss. If you can compare my strength to others, how strong am I?" Fumio asks.

"Hmmmm…" Red finds a reference. "Let's say… You probably have a 30% chance of winning against Blade Tornado if he's not using his blades." He compares.

While Fumio is flattered at the assessment, "Oh? Does that include my martial arts?", he asks to have a better idea.

"If you use a sword and utilize Hasegawa swordsmanship in your fight, it won't make much difference. He's just as good at his own fighting style as you are in yours." Red shrugs.

"Huh…" Fumio is still satisfied. "Well. I'm almost as strong as a bottom-level C-Class physical type superioris, and if taken into consideration my martial arts, I should be able to live a better and peaceful life, can't I?"

"Uhuh… You can now defend yourself against 99% of all superiori." Red says to help Fumio have a better idea.

"Huh… I didn't think of it that way." Fumio chuckles. "And if we take out the ones whose powers are not combat oriented, the percentage goes up even more. I'm safer than I've ever been."

"Yes…" Red nods, but inside, he is a bit disappointed that Fumio's desire to grow stronger has considerably reduced.

A few minutes later, the two are now back in Muscle Masters, just a few minutes before business hours.

While the two are having their morning tea at the common table, "Good morning Kichirou-san, Fumio-san.", Kotone who is always early to work, arrives.

"Good morning." Fumio greets back.

"… Huh… Join us, Kotone. I think it's fine if we open a bit later today." Red on the other hand, gestures Kotone to sit as he notices that Kotone seems to be excited about something.

"So, you've completed all 16?" He asks as soon as Kotone sits down with them.

Fumio, knowing what Red is talking about, snaps his head to Kotone's direction in surprise.

"Yes, Kichirou-san. I finished it at home just after midnight." Kotone can barely suppress a smile, feeling proud of her achievement.

"Well, would you look at that. She's faster than you by more than two weeks." Red says to Fumio.

At the same time, he is also hoping that Kotone's accomplishment will replace Fumio's motivation to grow stronger.

"…" Fumio is stunned but soon thinks of an excuse.

"Boss, she's more flexible than me in the first place." He says.

"Nope." Red says in a mocking tone. "Her flexibility only applied to 5 poses. You have a martial background so you have built up muscles that allowed you to have more advantage in more poses than her. ALSO, I'm not as attentive to her as I was with you." He continues to say to rile Fumio up.

"So what, boss? Can she beat me in a fight?" Fumio scoffs.

"I don't know. Given time, maybe?" Red dismisses the argument.

"Wha-?" Fumio is speechless.

"Excuse me, Fumio-san. Why would you fight me?" Kotone on the other hand, is confused at two men's conversation.

Fumio is stunned at Kotone's question before realizing that comparing himself to an untrained person is childish.

"… It's hypothetical, Kotone-san." He manages to save face.

"Oh, that reminds me… the last bonus. When would you like to have it?" Red asks Kotone, talking about the last million yen he promised.

"About that…" Concern appears on Kotone's face. "Can I hold it off? I can't possible explain them in my taxes."

After accumulating more than 15 million yen from Red's 'bonuses' and the excess in her salary, she has realized that exact problem so she held off looking for an apartment to buy which she initially planned.

"Good grief…" Fumio have knowledge of Kotone and Red's deal because Kotone once talked about it and she asked him if Red has the tendency to go back on the promise, which he assured her that Red will not.

"Kotone-san. It's best if you return every bonus you received for now and just ask him anytime if you have the need for them. Keeping cash like that will just stress you out." He suggests, knowing the illicit source of the money.

"Yeah… Even though I bought a safe for them, it still worries me from time to time." Kotone shakes her head. "Kichirou-san, may I? Don't you have that disappearing trick? You can just store them just as easily as you take them out, right?" She asks Red.

"Wow… I can't believe that you two are talking about tax evasion this easily." Red smirks at the two.

"That's rich coming from you, boss." Fumio scoffs.

"What do you mean, Fumio-san?" Kotone's suspicious nature is tickled by Fumio's words.

"What? The money I gave her is legit. She and you are the ones who are planning to cheat the tax man." Red says.

This confuses Fumio immediately and Kotone is lost once again in the conversation.

"Legit? Really, boss?" Fumio gives Red a knowing look.

"Yeah…" Red simply shrugs.

"Kotone. It's around the time Musume46 is coming again, right?" He then asks Kotone.

Fumio cannot help but smirk at the minor feeling of victory at Red changing the subject.

"They reserved the day after tomorrow. They're all coming." Kotone reports.

"Okay." Red nods.

"Fumio, I heard the singles they released last December is doing great?" He then asks Fumio.

"Oh. Two out of their three songs in that single are still topping the charts. I don't think they'll drop in rankings anytime soon." Fumio excitedly reports.

"Well. I hope so. It's their only songs that I actually like. Especially 'Musume Twilight'." Red nods.

"Ooh… Boss. Finally becoming a fan?" Fumio teases.

"Nope." Red simply says as he sips on his tea.

"Really?~" Fumio insists.

"…" Kotone on the other hand is jealous that Fumio can interact with their employer this intimately.

"Buddy. I care more about the piece than the artist." Red counters.

"Psh. Come on, boss. The piece cannot exist without its artist, so I call bull. Why can't you just admit it? I thought you're the type of person who will admit what they like, like a man." Fumio says.

"*gasp*" Kotone gasps in shock that Fumio just attacked Red's manhood out of nowhere.

"Hey. Didn't I just admit that I like the songs?" Red counters.

"Oh…" Fumio is stumped.

Kotone sighs in relief that Red was not offended and even gave a sound answer.

"Look. They didn't write those three songs in their single so those could have ended up to any suitable idol group. If you really want me to be a fan of the artist, then it isn't the Musume girls who I should be a fan of as they're replaceable." Red shrugs.

"*gasp*" This time, Fumio holds his chest in offense.

"*gasp*" Kotone too is shocked at Red's opinion on a good chunk of their regular customers.

"So yeah. I'm never gonna be a fan of the girls. It's the one who wrote their songs that I like. Can you look them up for me?" Red asks.

"Let me…" Kotone, who is the readiest with her phone immediate looks up the songwriter of Musume46's single.

"Here… Oh. It's written in English letters. It says K-… I don't know English that well so I might mispronounce it." She can only stare emptily at the name of the songwriter.

"Let me." Fumio snatches the phone away from Kotone but just a second or two of laying his eyes on the name of the songwriter, "…" he becomes speechless.

He then looks at Red for a second and looks back at the phone, then back at Red, and then back at the phone.

Kotone is curious at the face Fumio is making, while Red is simply amused.

A few seconds later, "K. IWAI." Fumio reads the name aloud.

Seeing Red's smirk is enough for him to confirm the connection in his head.

"You wrote their single, boss?" He cannot believe it.

"You did?" Kotone also looks at Red in surprise.

"What? Is it that surprising?" Red asks the two.

"Y-yeah…" Kotone and Fumio respond with the same look on their faces.

"You two have been here for months now and you two never realized that the music in the shop are all originals?" He asks in fake offense. "My originals at that." He adds.

"Well… I thought they were just some random jazz and classical background music?" Fumio says in defense.

"Or elevator music." Kotone adds.

"Sure. But some of the melodies can be arranged to pop songs. And that's exactly what I did. Writing lyrics is even easier. I was also optimistic that the songs will do well because I already predicted people's taste in music." Red says.

"No wonder. Those songs sound more mature than their other works. Even though they sound novel, they also jazzy and retro…" Fumio is totally convinced.

"Wow… Kichirou-san. Doctor, massage therapist, and now a songwriter too? What else can you do?" Kotone is even more impressed of her boss.

"Herbologist, pharmacologist, and many others." Fumio answers on behalf of Red, absentmindedly.

"Yep. If there's someone who I should be a fan of, then the answer is simple. ME." Red playfully brags.

"Is that why Shigeo-san seems to be the most excited to come here since last month?…" Kotone suddenly makes an inference.

"You did tell me once that he no longer wants the discount for the girls, right? He also leaves tips?" Fumio asks.

"Yeah. He did that too… Wow…" Kotone nods.

The three become quiet as Fumio has no further questions, while Kotone processes her new impression of Red.

After finding out that this world excessively value entertainment and music despite their immaterial contributions to the materialistic mortal world, and that the people who make pieces of these different forms or entertainment earn decent sums of money, he decided to give songwriting a try and will try his hand on making more things that might offer entertainment to people.

In his previous life, he used music and other forms of entertainment to teach young cultivators who are not talented in learning cultivation from plain and boring cultivation scrolls; that experience makes him confident that he can make popular pieces of entertainment one after another.

A few moments later, "Anyways." Red breaks the silence.

"Fumio, that's where Kotone's bonus is coming from. And I can write songs that are just as good as the ones I made for the Musume46 girls, or even better."

Fumio is reassured.

"And you, Kotone, all you have to do is decide whether or not to evade the tax… The government will take 33% after all."

Kotone feels her heart ache imagining that her money will be cut a third off.

"Boss. May I take over for Kotone today? I don't know what else to do today." Fumio changes the subject, taking the two's attention.

"Then what am I gonna do for the day?" Kotone asks, taken aback by Fumio's words.

"Okay. Change of plans." The two is interrupted by Red.

"Starting today, we will temporarily stop taking in walk-in guests." Red begins, surprising the two.

"Temporarily? Until when?" Kotone asks, finding the decision wasteful.

"Until I say so. And during this time, I'll be manning the shop by myself. I will only ask for you two's assistance on the days that are reserved to be full." Red explains.

"So I'll only have to work when Musume46, the office buddies, or those underground fighters come?" Kotone asks.

"Precisely." Red nods.

"Musume only comes every two weeks. The 6 start-up buddies are the same. And the 8 underground fighters reserve once a week.. So… what else am I gonna do?" Kotone asks, worried that her paycheck will be cut from the shortened working hours.