Chapter 46 - Promotion

"H-hey~… Kotone." Fumio greets Kotone as he sees her descend the stairs to the dining area. 

"Hey." Kotone immediately notices that something is awkward in Fumio's greeting, but she joins Fumio and Red at the dining table nonetheless.

"Did uh… did you sleep well?" Fumio asks.

The question makes the atmosphere between the trio odd. Red side-eyes Fumio. Fumio almost knocks his own forehead in regret. And Kotone immediately figures that her night terror must have been heard by Fumio and Red.

"Did I disturb you two? I'm sorry." She apologizes.

"What? No… This is uh, a nice place and I slept well. I was just curious if you did too." Fumio hastily comes up with an excuse before starting to set up Kotone's side dishes for her.

Fumio acting awkward and more hospitable than usual however, makes Kotone more apologetic.

"It's fine. Everyone has nightmares. However, I noticed that your nightmare last night was not normal. Must be a recurring one?" Red asks.

"Yes." Kotone, caught off-guard by the accuracy of Red's guess, can only admit.

"From childhood?" Red asks.

"Yes." Kotone nods.

"Then I have to apologize. I know that recurring nightmares are triggered by stressors. Had I known, I should have not let you deal with all the events yesterday all at once, when I could have slowly introduced them to you." Red expresses his regret.

"It's fine, Kichirou-san. Really." Kotone assures.

"It's true that I get nightmares when there are changes in my life. When I moved here to Nerima with my brother, when I started working for you, when I started training. But after I got used to those changes, the nightmares don't appear." She explains.

"Are you sure?" Red asks.

"Yes. In fact, I feel great today. I don't know what happened, but… something was different with my nightmare last night. Usually after a nightmare, I would wake up with a throbbing headache, and I would feel sluggish. But today, I feel light… or should I say… Less burdened." Kotone explains with a subtle smile on her face and her eyes unfocused as she replays in her head the latter part of her dream in her mind.

Has her attention not left Red and Fumio, she would not have missed the questioning stare that Fumio is giving Red.

"Well then. I'm glad you're fine." Red nods as he starts eating, prompting his two students to start eating as well. 

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*Clank* Kotone and Fumio just finished washing the dishes together. As the two wipe their hands on their self-cleaning clothes, "You two, come out.", they hear Red call out to them from outside the door leading to the backyard.

"How does he know we're done? No... don't you think that he can see through walls?" Kotone asks Fumio in amusement.

"Figures. Maybe the same skill he uses when fighting blind in the arena." Fumio shrugs.

"I'd love to watch him fight some time." Kotone gets curious.

"It's a spectacle. You should ask boss." Fumio suggests.

Stepping out to the backyard, they see Red standing with his back against them, facing the woods up the hill. The two can only wait as they feel like Red has orders.

"Kotone. I want you to go back to Nerima." Red instructs. 

"Hm… just me?" She asks, just to be sure.

"Yes." Red turns towards his students.

"Go check on your brother. I know you're worried."

"I already talked to him over the phone earlier." Kotone reports.

"I see. Take a few days off anyway. Adjust to your strength." Red instructs.

"Will that be fine?" Kotone is not confident training without supervision.

"Yes. Why don't you start running from here to the highway down the hill?" Red smirks as he pulls out a black hoody, black sweat pants, and a pair of running shoes from his storage space and offers them to Kotone.

"…" Kotone cannot even come up with anything to say at the ridiculous instruction and can only stare at the clothes.

"Or would you like me to escort you back to Nerima? It cuts down the time." Red suggests.

"N-no… I'll jog to the highway… No, to the village center… and then take the bus from there." Kotone is reminded of the deadly speed at which they traveled yesterday under Red's mercy, so she immediately accept the change of clothes.

Red then pulls out five ten-thousand yen note from his storage space and, "Okay. Take this for you fare and snacks", hands it to Kotone.

Kotone accepts it without hesitation.

"How about you two?" She asks, curious as to why she is going back alone.

"I will start the next step of Fumio's training so we will stay here for a few days." Red says.

Kotone nods in understanding.

"What if we get appointments at the shop?" Kotone asks.

"Don't take them for now until I'm back." Red says.

"Oh… Musume46 reserved Wednesday, by the way. Shall I cancel their appointment too?" Kotone asks

"Yes. I don't know how well Fumio will do, so I'm not sure if I'll be back by Wednesday. In case the other customers don't take the news well, just tell them that I'm busy making massage solutions." Red shrugs.

"Okay." Kotone finds that Red's excuse is perfect.

Red meanwhile is a bit disappointed that Kotone was unable to see an opportunity right in front of her.

"Wait a minute… Correct me if I'm wrong, Kotone, but you seem to have been enjoying performing the massage on the elderly yesterday?" He asks Kotone.

"Yes, Kichirou-san. Especially after you said that I was doing well and that I had potential." Kotone smiles, remembering the gratitude from the villagers who she served with massages.

"Then it won't be a bad idea to have you give the Musume girls their massage, no?" Red suggests.

"Huh… What?" Kotone is taken aback at Red's words.

"Oho… Kotone…" Fumio is interested at Kotone's potential job promotion. He is not jealous at all as during yesterday's massage service with the villagers, he immediately realized that Kotone picks up Red's teaching much easier than he did.

"You heard me." Red smirks.

"W-wh… But, Kichirou-san… BOSS. Correct me also if I'm wrong, but didn't I just start learning yesterday?" While Kotone is flattered at the chance, simply thinking about doing a job that she has come to appreciate after months of Red's massages on her during training, has her feeling very burdened.

"You were doing well with the villagers yesterday. Didn't they thank you? Didn't they walk out of there smiling?" Red reminds her of her achievements.

"S-sure… But I still feel it's too sudden, Kichirou-san." Kotone is not confident at all.

"Hey Kotone." Fumio interrupts.

"I felt like yesterday was supposed to be a test or something. Boss just let me try to massage three people. Keyword. TRY. I didn't finish each of those massages before boss took over. And after that, he made me your assistant instead."

"That happened?" Kotone is surprised.

"Yes. Maybe you didn't see it because you were too focused…" Fumio nods.

"Now. You on the other hand, after a few hiccups, like making that one grandpa scream because you applied too much strength…" He continues. Kotone blushes at this.

"…you were doing a fine job. Boss didn't take over, and just guided you. That means he trusted you. Didn't he also stop looking over your shoulder during the latter part of the night?" Fumio's words give Kotone some confidence.

"He's right." Red nods.

"You might not trust yourself, but you can trust my standards. If I say that you're ready, you're ready."

"O-okay… Okay…" Kotone starts to breathe faster in excitement.

"BUT." Red is not finished, deflating Kotone's excitement.

"I'm only allowing you to service Musume46, the other folks from their agency, and the office buddies. After all, they probably cannot tell how far apart our massage skills are." He adds.

"That's… That's still great, Kichirou-san. That's still like… Over half of our regulars, right?" Kotone gets excited again, but she can control it better this time.

"Good. I'll unlock the storage room for you tonight. If you want to feel more at ease, take some of the solutions from there and practice on the young Haruto at home, or something." Red suggests.

"I-I will." Kotone is glad to share the experience with her brother.

With that, Kotone leaves Red and Fumio alone to change her clothes, and start her travel back to the city.

"Shit… I'm jealous…" Fumio chuckles.

"Well… I'll probably teach you how to mix medicines and solutions in the future. Even if you can't do massages well, you were a natural in telling the massage solutions apart. Your memory is very good too, so I can probably teach you my brand of herbology." Red says.

"Really?" Fumio's jealousy is immediately erased.

"Really. But for now. A more important matter at hand." Red calms Fumio down.

"Boss… uh… Is the next training painful?" Fumio asks nervously.

"Of course. But you can take it." Red shrugs as he starts walking to the woods.

Fumio can only follow. 

"So… Boss…" Fumio, to ease his nervousness about their destination, starts conversation.

"Is Kotone really alright? Like. It was a serious nightmare… She also calls out to her parents and her brother in regular intervals. I felt bad when I saw her eyes wide open in fear, but watching it happen over and over again, it was creepy." He asks.

"She's fine. She said so herself." Red says.

"I know, boss. But… You had something to do with her being fine, right?" Fumio asks, suspicious.

"I don't know what you mean." Red feigns ignorance.

"Come on boss. You kinda just knelt by her, and closed your eyes for a few minutes, you were even frowning. Then when you opened your eyes again, Kotone closed her eyes and she never opened them again 'til she woke up. I know you did something, boss."

Curiosity is nagging at Fumio as he simply found Red's actions during the night mysterious.

"Have you heard of emotional support? Being there is enough. And that's all what I did." Red shrugs.

Fumio is about to ask, but somehow, he feels that he will not get any more answers, so with that, they enter silence.

A few minutes later, Red stops in the middle of a small grass clearing in the middle of the woods. Fumio too, stops and waits in nervousness.

Red then turns to face Fumio, then sits down on the grass, in lotus position. He then gestures Fumio to do the same.

Fumio always had problems in sitting in stairs and public floors and grounds, but remembering that his kimono has automatic cleaning, he sits on the grass without care. The lotus position too is now very easy for him to do after doing the more difficult poses of Red's 16 poses.

"So… You must have realized now why I told you to practice the breathing I taught you until you do it almost subconsciously, correct?" Red breaks the silence.

Fumio takes a few seconds, before shaking his head.

"I don't know boss. But one thing's for sure. After getting comfortable using it in my daily life, somehow, I have more energy to spare in training. And I don't think it's just because of the increase in my body strength because my mind also seems clearer." Fumio describes his experience.

"I noticed that you also have condensed the steps of the breathing, making it look indistinguishable to how you used to breathe." Red observes.

"Oh... I didn't notice…" Fumio realizes. "But yes. Come to think of it, I don't need to think of the steps anymore, I just feel it when I'm not doing it right, especially when I wake up after sleep or a nap." He adds.

"Good." Red nods.

"Now.. You're ready to learn more about spiritual energy."