《City Management》


 Chapter 1: For Hire

    Walking down the long city street, heading back to the residential district, I hang my head in defeat. What started as a day full of hope ended in disappointment. Disappointment stemming from the series of tries and fails at job interviews for various companies, in various managerial positions. Small insurance firm business manager? Rejected. I know I was getting my hopes up for that one, but with the years I put into university to get my degree it was discouraging to say the least. Manager of finance at a small private practice? Rejected. Building manager at a local school? Rejected. Store manager at a super market? Not even considered. Shift manager at the corner convenience store? Laughed at for having a degree and applying to a job that did not even require a secondary school diploma. Those past few aren¡¯t even counting the ones I applied to online, or called from adds in the newspapers.


    I was trying to convince myself it was the economy. Or maybe I just wasn¡¯t looking into the right sector. Maybe it was my hair, or the way I dressed. Maybe it was even the way I spoke. I tried to optimize anything and everything about myself just to get my foot in the door somewhere. But nobody wants to hire somebody with a one year gap in their resume after finishing their degree.


    To back up and explain briefly: I took time off to take care of the aging members of my extended family. And in that time, the world seems to have left me behind.


    After walking for about 30 minutes I got back to my closet of an apartment that I had just moved into with the last bit of money I had saved up over the years before my one year of unemployment. It was gloomy. One light in the main room; one light in the hallway/kitchen leading to it. Just barely enough space for a human to live in comfortably. As long as there was not a bed in the room as well. I dropped my new suit coat onto the floor and sunk down against the wall at the far end of the room.


    Another day, gone and without any improvement. I was slowly extending the reach of my job search. First 10 miles, then 20, 30, 40 50, 60¡­. Anything past that and it would begin to be difficult to make it to and from whatever place I ended up getting a job at with the train schedule.


    My stomach began to ache as the third meal time I missed in a row slowly ticked by. I was about to go to sleep. It was only 8 o¡¯clock, but the hunger pains would at least be ignored while I was sleeping. I looked around and noticed a faint glow coming from the phone in my coat pocket that I had dropped on the opposite side of the dingy little room.


    That reminds me¡­ my phone was only paid until the end of the month¡­ Two more days of cell service and then that its¡­ I will be completely on foot then¡­


    Wait¡­ its lighting up¡­ LIGHTING UP!?!?!?


    I scrambled to my phone and ended up rolling into the wall in the process, almost going right through it. I ripped the phone out of my pocket and flipped it open. An unknown number! I smashed the call receive button like my life depended on it and put the mic to my ear.


    ¡°Hi, yes, th,this is Tatsuo Kei! May I ask who I am speaking to?¡±


    ¡°Hi Mr. Tatsuo! This is City Management, calling you to inform you that we have received your application, and would like to invite you in for an interview! Please come toxxxxx, xxxxxat 1:00 P.M. tomorrow and we can talk more about the position.¡±


    ¡°Y-yes, sir!¡±


    As I could feel the phone call drawing to a close, I realized I hadn¡¯t even asked who I was meeting.


    ¡°Could I please get your name, sir?¡±


    ¡°Oh!... Um¡­ You may call me Mr. A¡­¡±


    I couldn¡¯t help but notice the slight hesitation in his voice as he told me his name.


    ¡°¡­ Yes sir, Mr. A. I look forward to meeting with you tomorrow!¡±


    By the time I had said my last word he had already ended the call. As an employer he seemed a little brunt. But honestly at this point I don¡¯t even care about what the employer is like. I would be fine with the worst boss in the world, demanding late nights and heavy over time. I just wanted a job.


    I quickly took off the rest of my clothes and carefully laid them out along with my suit coat, next to me while I slept. It didn¡¯t even take me 5 minutes to fall asleep despite the prospect of a new job tomorrow because I was so exhausted from poor eating habits over the past few days.


    The next day, 12:00 P.M. came faster than expected. If anybody out there has ever had to go without food for a while, you know that when your body sleeps, it becomes increasingly hard for you to wake up and get yourself out of the house. So when I woke up late at 12:00 I got prepared for my interview as quickly as possible, and ran to the train station. I was just barely able to catch my train, somehow all the while keeping the last resume I had on hand safe in a plastic colored folder I found in a trash can a few days ago.


    I arrived at the previously specified location of the interview with 5 minutes to spare after running as fast as my nutrition deprived legs could take me. When I got there I was sweaty, cramping, and out of breath. My head was dizzy and my vision was foggy. But I still made it. I walked inside the plain air-conditioned building, sheltering myself from the heat of the summer sun. Inside was a small drink fountain, which I promptly used as a support to keep myself from collapsing. While I drank water for almost a minute straight.


    Only after I finished drinking did I look up to see the rest of the room. It was just a simple square room, with a door the led to the rest of the building on the left side of the wall facing the entry door. Seats were to the right of the entry, and there was a small window that had a middle-aged woman sitting behind it with what looked to be a sign-in sheet.


    I walked to the receptionist behind the glass and without even looking up from her PC screen she said:


    ¡°Sign in on the sheet, wait to be called.¡±


    I gave her an appreciative okay, and looked at the sign in sheet. Not good. Ten other people had been here today. All signed in before me. All with the reason being ¡°Interview with Mr. A¡±. None of them left a sign out time though¡­ maybe they left through another exit?


    I can¡¯t get myself down now. Not before the fight has even begun.


    I sit down in the chair, enjoying the comfort of the A/C as I try to dry some of the sweat I have dripping off of me.


    ¡°Mr. Tatsuo, you will be seen now.¡±


    Is this what all interviews are like? I feel like I am at the doctor¡¯s office. There is even a slight smell of cleaning supplies in the air as I walk down the hallway all the way to the back. I stop in front of the last door with a golden placard that reads ¡°Mr. A¡±.


    This is it¡­ one.. tw-..


    The door opens suddenly.


    ¡°Ah, there you are Mr. Tatsuo. I am happy you could make it. Quickly, come in and take a seat. This shouldn¡¯t be long.¡±


    ¡°Hello Mr. A, it¡¯s nice to meet you in person!¡±


    ¡°Ah¡­ that name¡­ you can go ahead and just refer to me as Director. That¡¯s just what everyone around here calls me.¡±


    ¡°..Yes sir¡­ Mr. Director.¡±


    He looks at me with a slightly annoyed face.


    ¡°¡­Just Director is fine.¡±


    ¡°Yes, Director.¡±


    ¡°First thing¡¯s first. This won¡¯t be your average interview. In a sense, you already have the job.¡±


    My heartbeat after hearing those words skyrockets.Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.


    ¡°What this interview is mainly about is if you want the jo-¡°


    ¡°I want it.¡±


    ¡°Just¡­ let me explain it first. What you will be doing is not on the scale of small business or corporation management.¡±


    ¡°So are we talking international?¡±


    ¡°No¡­ well¡­ it could get to that point, yes.¡±


    Wow¡­. After so long¡­ I will finally be able to use my abilities to their full potential!


    I almost began crying after hearing the general job description.


    ¡°What this job really requires is somebody who will be efficient in micromanaging, as well as macro managing. I need somebody who is able to direct every part of the operation to produce the best results. I need somebody who is willing to give their life to the company. To give all their time, all their being, everything that they are, to this company. And one of the reasons I called you in today is because I believe that you not only have the skills you need to do this, but you also have no real ties to your life right now. No real family members, no close friends or associates. I have looked into your background extensively and I really think that you could be one of the chosen few for this particular job.¡±


    They looked into me¡­ could it be¡­ that I am actually that interesting? To the point a company like this researched me?


    ¡°I can fully accept all of those conditions, Director!¡±


    ¡°Wait, I am glad you have accepted it this far. However, we haven¡¯t even talked about what the job actually is¡­ This job¡­ This company ¡°City Management¡± does exactly what the name suggests. We manage cities. Everything about them. From the people to the businesses. Every aspect of human life, every aspect of life in general. We manage it. Coming into this company would mean taking on the responsibility of an entire city. By yourself. The people we want to hire see it as an opportunity. The people that normally do not succeed in this company see this more of a burden¡­ Which one are you?¡±


    ¡°I will do it. I have trained many years for this day and I promise not to let the company down! So, will I be responsible for city policy? Like city government, law and regulations, stuff like that?¡±


    ¡°Yes¡­ but deeper. You will shape the very essence of human life in your city. You see¡­ The thing is, by taking this job you basically gain total control over an entire city and it¡¯s entire population¡­ Every last thing that goes on in the city can be controlled by you. Because you will be the deciding factor in the people¡¯s thoughts, feeling, and actions¡­¡±


    What¡­. Ok now this has to be a joke¡­


    ¡°Ah..haha¡­ I see¡­ I think I will head out now¡­.¡±


    I should have never gotten my hopes up¡­ Of course nobody was going to hire me¡­


    I walk to the door quickly and as I open it:


    ¡°Watch your step¡­¡±


    The hallway is no longer there. The building is gone. It is just the room. Floating high above a lush green forest in what looks like a mountain valley. Far below, I can see signs of civilization. Some fields, some houses, a store or two, a school. There are even some cars moving around like tiny ants. I slam the door shut before I fall out.


    ¡°It¡¯s beautiful isn¡¯t it? That is Haila. The town you would be managing. Population 3,000, just beginning to blossom. We prepare little seeds like this all across the world and this one is in desperate need of a permanent manager. Somebody that can take it and mold it into a thriving metropolis.¡±


    ¡°¡­Who¡­ are you?¡±


    ¡°Me¡­. Well¡­. Just refer to me as Director.¡±


    ¡°So¡­. Just to get this straight¡­ I am basically the deity of the city if I take the job?¡±


    ¡°¡­ahh¡­ no¡­. That is a few rungs above your pay grade. You are what we call a ¡°City Manager¡±. Tokyo, Shang Hai, London, Washington, Rio; all thriving cities in their own way now. But they all used to be just like that little city down there, Haila. And they all have their respective city managers. Your most powerful tool as a city manager is the ability to impact the thoughts, feelings, emotions, and actions of the people in your city. You can change every aspect of the way they view life. Use this ability to build. This company is about raising small cities up to become thriving centers of civilization. You would be hired to do exactly that. You have no other power besides the power of the city and the people that live in it. If your city thrives, then you thrive. If it fails, then you are fired, and are returned to your old life without any memoires of this company and your time here.¡±


    Okay¡­ this¡­ If I chose this¡­ I will basically begin anew at the ripe age of 23¡­ This is essentially a reset button¡­


    ¡°I¡­ accept your offer¡­¡±


    ¡°I am glad to hear it. Walking out that door will put you in the city itself, and it will also be the moment your new abilities are gifted to you. You can always contact the company by coming back to the building you walk out of when you get there. Just sign in like you did before, but next time¡­ call me Director.¡±


    ¡°Yes, sir¡­ Just wondering but¡­ what would have happened if I didn¡¯t accept?¡±


    ¡°Well¡­. You would have gone home thinking you failed another interview. Also¡­ I am not great in predicting the future¡­ but I imagine you would have resorted to some drastic measures to fix your food problem sooner or later¡­¡±


    I laugh dryly.


    ¡°Haha¡­ That¡¯s true¡­. Well, I promise to make this city great! Oh! Are there any tips you have for me in city managing?¡±


    ¡°Here we like to give you free reign of everything that happens in your city. So do what you feel like doing, and create something unique.¡±


    I give Director one last smile as I walk out the door, right into the scoring heat of summer once again. The door closes behind me, and the last bit of air conditioning rushes past me as it escapes into the atmosphere. I look at the building I came out of. It¡¯s just a run-down strip center. Only two stores really. The City Management office, and an old convenience store. Probably the only one in this little town.


    I walk into the store and noticed a poorly stocked selection of snacks and instant meals. An old drink cooler holds some soft drinks and waters in it against the wall to my right just as I walk inside, and a small ice cream cooler sits next to that. Both sound like they could use some serious maintenance.


    An unenthusiastic old man stands at the counter and barely raises an eye to me as I walk in.


    I was sure with the town being so small that people could recognize a new face but¡­ maybe this old man just doesn¡¯t care?


    I walk up to him and smile.


    ¡°Hello sir, how has your day been?¡±


    I receive a grunt and the old man goes back to ignoring me by reading the paper on the store counter.


    Well¡­ Director said I could alter people¡¯s thoughts and feelings¡­ Could I make it so that people are more willing to talk with me and share information?


    As I thought that the man looks up at me. Visibly more interested and with light in his once dead fish eyes.


    ¡°Well! If it isn¡¯t a new face in town! We hardly get any of those all the way out here!¡±


    Wow, ok, that was a big change in reaction.


    ¡°Yes sir! I am from a little ways out of town, and just wanted to know a little bit more about the city in general. Could you help me out a bit?¡±


    ¡°Sure! Sure! I have been living here for almost 40 years so I have been here for almost every big landmark! Just like when I opened up the first convenience store here 10 years ago!¡±


    Wow so I was right¡­ just how far behind is this place?


    ¡°Since then more people have moved in, and we even have a school for the kids in town now. Wow¡­ life really passes by quickly doesn¡¯t it. If only my wife were here to see all of this with me¡­¡±


    ¡°Oh, I am sorry to make you bring up such a sad subject.¡±


    ¡°No, no, it¡¯s really alright. She would just be so happy about how we have an entire school building of our own now. She wanted to be a teacher so bad but there wasn¡¯t ever school for her to teach in here. When the first kids started showing up she took it upon herself to teach them the basics until they could get transportation worked out to get to a school a few miles away. She ended up passing on a year before the school building was built.¡±


    ¡°Well I am sorry to hear about that¡­ I am sure she was a lovely lady.¡±


    ¡°Yes, she was mister¡­ Come to think of it I haven¡¯t gotten your name yet.¡±


    ¡°Tatsuo Kei, but you can just call me Kei.¡±


    ¡°Oh no! I couldn¡¯t! You look like a business man in your prime! At least let me call you Kei san.¡±


    Since I am taking care of the city I feel like I should address everybody familiarly, almost as if they were my family. I wonder¡­.


    ¡°No, I insist gramps! Just Kei is fine!¡±


    ¡°¡­ Sounds good to me, Kei!¡±


    Ah¡­ there it is again. All I did was think about changing his thoughts and it worked. Easy as that. I guess to apply this to the whole city all I would need to do is think about it in terms of the entire population instead of just this gramps here¡­ I guess I just need to meet somebody else to test it out.


    For the next 30 minutes the old gramps and I talked about the layout of the town. The school, the small but growing residential area, the acres of farm land stretching out for miles all around the town. We also talked about the geography itself. This city was built in a valley, in between two mountains. Everywhere you looked, nature could be seen. Small rivers composed of the runoff rain water made their way down to a lake near edge of the town, and a larger river flowed right out of the valley. In its own way this valley was almost like its own fertile crescent. The soil was rich in nutrients, and the crops produced good yield continually, provided drastic flooding or drought didn¡¯t occur.


    If possible¡­. I want to preserve the nature around the city as it is now¡­


    I said goodbye to the old gramps and left the store in the direction of the residential area he pointed me to. I walked along an old dirt road that ran alongside a paved one that clearly had years of use on it. To my left was a forest that went up at a slant, and to my right were fields likely used for farming.


    If I¡¯m not mistaken the school should be behind these trees to my left here¡­ He said I might be able to see the tops of the buildings if I looked at a certain angle¡­ And right past that should be the resident-¡­


    At that moment the world began to spin. My stomach was screaming, by breathing became ragged. I felt as if the ground was moving underneath me.


    I hav-.. I haven¡¯t eaten¡­


    How long was it since I had eaten? Almost a full day and I was already getting close to blacking out? Forget what the director said about me doing something bad if I couldn¡¯t get food soon. I would probably have been run over by a car long before then with all the swaying I am doing. Or I might have gotten arrested for public drunkenness.


    This is bad¡­. I need to.. need to find food¡­ I need to get away from this road¡­


    As I swayed towards the forest to my left, my vision began to blur. I felt my feet leave the dirt path behind me. The soft top layer of leaves and soil greeted me along with the fresh scent of nature as I unsteadily continued moving forward. I could feel myself moving uphill. However where I was going was completely unbeknownst to me. My vision had completely gone dark, and shortly after that my consciousness followed as well.

 Chapter 2: An Angel has Descended (Literally)

    I regained consciousness slowly. The pain in my stomach and the splitting headache I woke up to are both reminding me that I am still alive. Slightly opening me eyes, I noticed the sun light shining through the leaves was a brighter yellow color than the orange sun light of the afternoon that I last remembered. The cool Earth underneath me felt nice on my hot and aching body. I must have slept right where I blacked out all throughout the night. It¡¯s laughable really. My first full day in a city I was supposed to manage and yet here I am, a few steps away from death by starvation. I have only spoken to one person here besides the Director.


    If you can even call that ¡°here¡±, that is. We were way above the city so I¡¯m not really sure. I don¡¯t really care either. All I want is some food and water. At least just enough to help with this headache.


    Where am I, even? I remember yesterday I was on the path to the residential area¡­ Did I make a wrong turn?


    I lay there on the ground contemplating the situation, while trying and failing to get up and start moving again.


    After a full five minutes of struggling I heard voices coming from somewhere above me.


    I¡¯m on a slope¡­ What is up there? I was on the path last night, and if I remember correctly the old gramps at the corner store said that I might see a school¡­ Is that where those voices are coming from?


    ¡°..ure..lu¡­un¡­ha¡­ou¡­run away¡­lut¡­¡±


    I can¡¯t really make out what they are saying¡­ I wonder who it is¡­ It¡¯s summer right now so it couldn¡¯t be the students¡­


    Shortly after the I stop hearing the voices, I hear footsteps running down the slope. The rustle of leaves, and the soft whimpers of somebody tripping over things reaches my ears. The steps are getting closer and closer until:


    ¡°Iyaaaa!!¡±


    I hear a short scream followed by the sound of what seems to be a body rolling and sliding down the incline.


    Suddenly that body slides through my field of vision and stops by hitting a tree about 3 meters behind where I am laying.


    ¡­¡­¡­


    I look down to the body which I can now see is that of a girl.  She is wearing a blue school uniform that is tattered in several places from her sudden descent. She is covered in dirt, and has leaves in her disheveled hair. We both lay there for another minute. She likely got the air knocked out her and needs a moment to catch her breath.


    Slowly she begins to move, rolling away from the tree to face me. She opens her eyes slowly and we make eye contact. Her eyes are red, and it looks like there are lines of tears running down her dirt covered face.


    ¡°¡­.Hello?¡±


    I can understand her confusion. I mean, it¡¯s not every day you roll down a hill and find a man in a business suit laying down in the middle of the forest.


    ¡°¡­Hi¡­¡±


    She slowly sits herself upright against the tree, and pulls a grey colored cooler out from between her body and the tree. My eyes lock onto the cooler. Never have I seen a more beautiful box. What wonders lay inside, only time would tell.


    The girl is looking at me hesitantly. Well of course she is. Again, it¡¯s not every day you find a man in a business suit laying down in the middle of the forest, staring intensely at you as if he was going to pounce on you right then and there.


    She pauses for a moment and moves the box to the right. My eyes follow it. She moves it to the left. My eyes are locked on. She raises it above her head. My eyes are that of a hawk looking at its prey from afar. She moves it back behind her. No, please don¡¯t do that. I¡¯ll cry right here you know.


    ¡°¡­Do you want some?¡±


    My stomach answers for me with a loud rumbling sound. The sound itself was impressive, but the pain it brought along with it was even more intense. I shook my head quickly, accepting her offer.


    ¡°It¡¯s probably smashed now¡­ are you sure?¡±


    I weakly reach my left hand out to the side of my body. I don¡¯t actually get any closer to her, but the meaning is clear. She opens the box and pulls out three pieces of bread in a bag, as well as a small plastic bottle with clear liquid in it.


    While remaining seating in front of the tree, she lightly tosses the bag to me. I feel it brush my hand and land closer to my head. Reaching my arm up I grab the bag and¡­ rip it to pieces. Desperately trying to get the bread out.


    The first touch of my hand to the bread results in a flurry of emotion. Never has a piece of bread looked to good. Never has it felt so soft. Never have I ever been able to actually smell the grains in the bread like this before. I bring it to my mouth once dry mouth, now partially wet with saliva.


    The first taste¡­. Unlike anything I have ever eaten before. I lay on the ground and tears come to my eyes while eating the three pieces of bread. The girl sees my reaction and gives me a concerned look.


    ¡°Do you want some of this¡­?¡±


    She hold out the small plastic bottle to me.


    ¡°Yes¡­¡±


    I weakly push out a response to her ever flowing kindness. An angel. An angel has fallen from heaven.


    ¡°It¡¯s kind of special though¡­. It has sugar in it¡­ that¡¯s the way I like it¡­¡±


    The young girl speaks softly to me as if she doesn¡¯t want to give up her precious bottle, but seeing me in this state has prompted her to do so.


    ¡°I¡­it¡¯s ok¡­¡±


    I let out weak words of consent and she lightly tosses the bottle to me. She overshoots my body and the bottle lands above my head.


    It slowly topples back down the slope towards be and nestles itself in between my shoulder and neck. I reach my right hand up this time, open the bottle, and drink.


    This is heaven. This is life. This is the pinnacle of modern cuisine. Why have I never put sugar in my water. Why is this the best drink I have ever had.


    No. I have never had a drink until now. Everything else was simply liquefied trash. I finish the bottle in a matter of seconds and we both remain silent for a few minutes after that. She sits with her back against the tree, looking at me who has my eyes closed.


    I am slowly waiting for my head ache to subside. I feel alive again. I feel as if there is hope; a future. After what seems to be an eternity of silence she speaks to me quietly. Her voice is almost at the volume of a whisper, but the gently breeze in the forest, and the quiet serenity of nature carries her voice to my ears.


    ¡°¡­Did you like it?¡±


    ¡°It was¡­ the best¡­.¡±


    I look at her and see a small smile spread across her dirty face. Good. My benefactor is happy. I am happy.


    We stay in the same positions for another 30 minutes. Just listening to the sounds of the forest. Waiting for one of us to break the silence. As my head ache begins to fade away, I shift my gaze to meet her eyes. Slowly, very slowly, I roll onto my back and bring myself to a sitting position. Minding my sensitive head and body.


    We don¡¯t break eye contact the entire time. After bringing myself to a sitting position we continue to look at each other. Probing each other with our eyes in an effort to learn even a little more before we begin speaking.


    My business suit is likely ruined.


    Ahh¡­ And to think I just got this too¡­


    From laying on the forest floor all night, the entire front is moist. Dirt and the tiny insects that live there are plastered onto it. One half of my face has a thin layer crusted onto it, and im my hair are the same leaves the girl is currently wearing in her hair.


    As for the girl, now that I look at her sitting up I can see her better. She is wearing a dark blue uniform that is almost black with what was once white, and is now mostly brown, trim. Her skirt goes to just above her knees. She is wearing standard black school shoes with socks that likely received the same treatment the trim on her uniform did. Her facial features are difficult to make out with the scratches, dirt, and small patches of blood mixed in, but it looks like if she was cleaned up she might actually be kind of cute. Her straight, shoulder length, dark brown hair would likely frame her face rather well if it wasn¡¯t matted with dirt, twigs, and a few leaves. As for her womanly features, she seemed modestly endowed with a good figure. Perhaps C cup? A standard high school figure if you were to ask me. I bet she¡¯s had her fair share of love confessions. However that just begs the question¡­ what is she doing at the bottom of an incline densely covered in forest?This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.


    ¡°¡­.Hi¡­.¡±


    I guess I should be the one to break the silence. If anything, I am probably the more threating person in this situation.


    The girl looks back at me with far away eyes and nods her head gently.


    ¡°Well I bet you didn¡¯t plan on this happening today¡­¡±


    ¡°un¡­¡±


    Another brunt response¡­ I could change her thoughts¡­ but let¡¯s just wait this out a little. And¡­ didn¡¯t I change everybody so that they would talk to me more readily? Did it not work?


    ¡°¡­You were hungry¡­¡±


    ¡°Ya¡­ I hadn¡¯t eaten in a little over a day and it looks like I passed out here¡­¡±


    Silence¡­. Perpetual silence that lasted what seemed like an eternity.


    I am awkward. Why, why am I so awkward!? Aghhh¡­ what the heck! I mean, what am I supposed to say to a high school girl in this situation? Is there a book for this? A step by step guide? I don¡¯t know! ¡°101 Ways to Break the Ice After Meeting a Strange Business Man in the Forest¡± Ya, right! Like there would be a book like that!


    ¡°Oh¡­¡±


    ¡°¡­ Are you ok from your fall?¡±


    ¡°I think so¡­ the cooler ended up being a cushion between the tree and my body¡­.¡±


    ¡°Well, that¡¯s good. Isn¡¯t it?¡±


    ¡°Ya¡­¡±


    ¡°So¡­ what made you want to come into the forest in the first place?¡±


    The girl looks down and whispers something:


    ¡°-i¡­-they¡­-threat.. I was- ¡­ -ing.. get away¡­¡±


    ¡°Sorry, what was that?¡±


    ¡°I just tripped and fell down here.¡±


    It doesn¡¯t look like whatever brought the girl down here is easy to talk about¡­. Then again what brought me to this place also isn¡¯t easy to talk about.


    ¡°¡­.Wow¡­ that was quite a fall¡­¡±


    ¡°..un¡­¡±


    ¡°¡­ Are you alright to move now?¡±


    ¡°Yes¡­¡±


    Throughout our entire conversation I was looking into the girl¡¯s eyes, and she was looking into mine. But what was reflected in her eyes¡­ was nothing¡­ There was nothing there. No light. No happiness. No high school girl who was going to get a confession behind the school building. Just nothing¡­ Her dark eyes that were almost black reflected the tattered image of my current state like black ice. No emotion came from those eyes.


    The girl slowly got up and began to brush her uniform off. Starting from her hair and making her way down her skirt. I followed her example and slowly stood up, careful not to fall back over from the dizziness that made the world around me swim. I slowly brushed off my suit. Not that it was going to help at all. It would have to be cared for by a real professional. Not a pair of hands that were equally as dirty as the cloth themselves.


    Slowly, the girl turned around and limped her way down the slope. I followed after her. Because, what else would somebody do in that situation. She obviously knew where she was going, and I had no clue. We arrived at the old dirt road that ran alongside the even older looking paved road after a short walk down the slope. It was impressive really, that I walked as far as I did yesterday half blind and staggering like a drunk.


    As soon as she got to the dirt road she turned left and started walking the direction I was heading towards yesterday.


    ¡°..W..Wait please¡­¡±


    The girl turned around to me, looking at me with her eyes that showed no real interest in me or anything else in this world for that matter.


    ¡°¡­Yes?¡±


    ¡°Could you please guide me to the residential area? I was trying to get there yesterday¡­ but I obviously lost my way¡­¡±


    The girl paused for a moment.


    ¡°¡­Follow me.¡±


    Without another word to each other, we walked silently along the dirt road. The sun had sunk to the position it was in yesterday, and its golden rays were shining deep into the valley the city of Haila resided in. The air was clear, the sky was blue, white clouds were spread across the sky and almost seemed to take on the golden color of the light of the sun. And the two of us were walking. Just a dirt covered high school girl, and a dirt covered man in a business suit.


    Come to think of it, if anybody saw us like this the situation could seriously be misunderstood. I need the people here to ignore us as if the situation we were in was perfectly normal. That should do the trick¡­


    We continued to walk down the abandoned dirt road, and after ten minutes or so of walking we could see houses concentrated in a small area, and as you looked out from that area the houses became more spread apart, with even some apartment complexes visible in some locations. There wasn¡¯t anything too fancy. Just traditional housing with a max height of two stories. Electric lines stretched above the streets like the strands young spiders use to float to new locations.


    The dirt road ended as we neared what I presumed was the residential area, and we began walking on the street. Normally it would be unsafe to walk there. However, I guess this city isn¡¯t really the kind to see much traffic, as we didn¡¯t see a single car the entire way.


    ¡°That¡¯s the residential area.¡±


    The girl stopped for the first time since we began walking, and she looked back at me to tell me we had arrived.


    ¡°If you follow this street you¡¯ll go right through the entire thing. I don¡¯t know where you¡¯re going, but it should be really easy to find seeing as there really isn¡¯t much here to begin with.¡±


    I made up the short distance the girl and I had slowly built up over the walk and spoke to her from about 2 meters away.


    ¡°I see¡­ thank you for taking me here. Also, thank you for sharing your food with me. I don¡¯t know what I would have done if we hadn¡¯t met like that¡­¡±


    ¡°..un¡­¡±


    I look at the girl¡¯s eyes one last time as I pass her by. This shouldn¡¯t be the last time we meet considering I am supposed to be managing the city. But a good manager always divides up their time wisely, thus I can¡¯t spend too much time on just one citizen. I have to maximize my effective range of services to maximize my results!


    Or at least that¡¯s what I learned in university¡­


    I walk another two steps and hear a familiar noise. The sound of a stomach crying out in pain. I should know this sound well by now. I have heard it enough the past few days. Except it¡¯s not my stomach that is crying out. Of course, I am still hungry. Man cannot survive on bread and sugar water alone!


    If it isn¡¯t me¡­


    I turn around and look at the girl. She looks at me with emotionless black eyes. I ate her lunch. Which means all she has left in the box she¡¯s carrying is an empty bag, and an empty water bottle.


    Ahhh¡­. This is not good¡­ I am supposed to be the one providing a better life for the people of this city. ¡°To grow the city¡± was my goal, wasn¡¯t it? This poor girl is going to be in the same situation I was because of my selfish actions¡­.


    I look down the street quickly and notice a small stall on the roadside right after you enter the residential district.


    ¡°¡­.Follow me.¡±


    Without another word I leave the girl behind.


    Ahh¡­ Of course she¡¯s not going to follow you! What high school girl would follow a dirt guy in a suit they just met!?!?


    I hear small footsteps behind me and realize she is walking behind me. We quickly walk to the small stall with a light on. It¡¯s a very simple set up. A wood counter with a stove top behind in. An old lady behind that stove top smiling obliviously at two people who should never be seen together looking like one just finished struggling against the other on the ground of a dense forest.


    She is selling Taiyaki. A cheap, quick snack. Definitely not to be used in place of a meal for every other responsibly functioning human being, however for us, it seemed like a meal for kings. I look over to the girl and see her swallowing the saliva accumulating in her mouth after smelling the unique scent of the food stall.


    I have no money to my name.


    In fact, I don¡¯t even know how I am supposed to get paid¡­.. That¡¯s something I am going to have to go back to the office and talk about¡­ Ah¡­ that was so dumb of me¡­ I got so excited over getting a job I didn¡¯t even ask what the pay was¡­ or even worse¡­ DO I EVEN GET PAID?!


    The panic begins to set in as I wonder where my livelihood is going to come from.


    Okay¡­ calm down¡­ If I can control the hearts and thoughts of people¡­ then can I¡­


    ¡°Could I get an order to two taiyaki filled with chocolate please, grandma?¡±


    ¡°Ei, ei¡­ coming right!¡±


    Two suspense filled minutes passed as I waited for the grandma to fill my order. I was about to just cancel the order, when the grandma handed me the taiyaki.


    ¡°Here you go, careful when you eat it! Come again!¡±


    It worked¡­ Oh my goodness¡­.. I JUST GOT FOOD FOR FREE!


    I handed the extra taiyaki to the girl and she looked at me with a confused look that said:


    ¡°Aren¡¯t you going to pay?¡±


    I ignored it and just continued to walk down the road, trying desperately to hide the excitement inside of me because of the realization that I wouldn¡¯t be starving anymore.


    Small footsteps echoed on the street behind me as we walked down the road into the setting sun. Silence continued to blanket the atmosphere we created between us, with only the occasional crumpling of the paper the taiyaki came in as the girl slowly ate it all. Eventually I heard her open her box up again to ever so neatly store the wrapping paper. As I turned around I noticed her glance at the taiyaki I hadn¡¯t touched yet due to trying to contain my excitement. Her black emotionless eyes locked onto the snack in my hands.


    ¡°Take it, it¡¯s yours.¡±


    She hesitated at first, but then walked closer to me to grab it. Our bodies were only a meter apart as she took the taiyaki delicately from my hands. Almost as if I had just presented a precious jewel to her.


    ¡°¡­Thank you.¡±


    ¡°¡­un..¡±


    This time it was my turn to be curt. I REALLY had wanted that taiyaki. But seeing her face just then, and remembering when she gave me her lunch compelled me to give up my meal to her.


    We walked for another ten minutes straight until we walked right out of the residential district. There were still houses scattered around the area. Farmers houses, likely. With plenty of land in between each of them. Slightly farther down the road stood an old abandoned apartment building. Looking as if the minor development of the town had made people completely forget about it.


    I could still hear the small footsteps behind me, and I hadn¡¯t heard her finish the second taiyaki yet, so I continued to walk.


    As I continued down the road I was surrounded by crop fields on the left side, and the apartment building coming up on the right. Getting closer allowed me to really get a good look at it. It was a two-story building with four rooms on each floor. A few of the windows were broken through and some of the doors were never going to shut completely again. The entire building looked as if the paint had been bleached by countless years of sun, then subsequently exposed to rainfall for another ten years. The weeds in front of the building looked almost as if they were going to overtake the first floor rooms at any time. There were pieces of trash laying around the property, and traces of old spray paint could be seen on various places of the building.


    As I was walking past the building the small footsteps behind me stopped.


    Did she finish her taiyaki already?


    I turned around to look at the girl. She still has her taiyaki safely tucked into the store sourced wrapping paper, held by her slender white hands.


    ¡°¡­Thank you¡­ for the taiyaki¡­¡±


    ¡°Ya¡­ thank you for sharing your lunch with me. It seriously saved me.¡±


    ¡°un¡­ I¡¯m glad¡­ If you don¡¯t mind me asking¡­ what is your name?¡±


    ¡°Ahh¡­ Tatsuo Kei, but everyone just calls me Kei. Also, sorry for dragging you all the way out here with me. I just kept walking and you were only following me to be kind. I really am grateful for that. Could I get your name by chance? Also, do you need me to walk you home? It¡¯s getting kind of late¡­ It will be dark soon¡­¡±


    ¡°Kei¡­ un¡­ I will remember that¡­ Its ok I don¡¯t need to be walked home.¡±


    ¡°Are you sure? It¡¯s really no trouble to me at all. You¡¯ve already done so much for me today.¡±


    ¡° nnn¡­ No, Kei¡­ You asked me for my name so I¡¯ll give it to you. My name is Nakamura Akira¡­¡±


    She takes one slender white hand off of her precious treasure and points to the run down apartment building with a single finger.


    ¡°¡­and this is where I live.¡±

 Chapter 3: The Light that Filters Through the Leaves

    I made my way back through the residential area as the sun fades away into the valley stretching out behind me. Thinking back to when I parted with Akira, I should have noticed sooner that she might be wrapped up in that sort of situation. Three pieces of bread for lunch and sugar water to wash it down. For a normal girl it might just be dieting. But no normal girl has eyes like hers. Eyes that seem to reflect the world around her without actually absorbing any of it into her mind. Almost as if she is rejecting the world she was born in and the life she lives.


    I watched her climb up a flight of rusted metal stairs to the second story of the apartment building. She stopped in front of the third door to the right and turned to look at me briefly before entering.


    The world is cruel to those who least deserve it. If my education taught me nothing else, it was that where there are very rich people there will always be very poor people. Such is the way of the economy that that majority of the countries on this planet thrive in. Capitalists, socialists, communists, the free market believers. They each have their strong points but at the end of the day there are always winners and losers. The high school girl, Akira, has already started off on the losing side at such a young point in her life.


    It may be idealistic of me¡­ but if I were to grow this city¡­ I would want to grow it in such a way that would benefit the losers and the winners. Ahhh¡­ the law of the world¡­. I will work to reject it.


    With that thought in mind I continued my walk back down the main street. The old granny who sold us taiyaki had already gone home for the night, and her stall was locked up tight from the front with a short, thick chain.


    I really did want to try that taiyaki¡­ But it went to the right person in the end.


    My stomach apparently did not agree with me. The pain I had become friends with recently was slowly creeping back into my body. A slight headache was coming on and my body grew hotter by the minute.


    Ah¡­ I can¡¯t fall asleep again¡­ I need food¡­


    It was getting late, and nobody was out walking around that I could talk to. Or rather, bum a meal off of.


    The convenience store is probably still open¡­ the old gramps¡­ I¡¯m sure he would give me something without much prompting¡­


    So continued to walk down the road as it was getting dark. Had I not been deprived of food, and on the brink of collapsing, I might have noticed a shadow lurking behind me. Coming out of the residential district, I made my way back to the dirt path I walked on with Akira earlier today. The street lights that once lighted the way for me were now a thing of the past. It was now dark. The shadows my stumbling figure cast on the ground in front of me from the street lights no behind me slowly stretched endlessly into the abyss.


    If I had only eaten that snack instead of giving it to the girl¡­ I would have noticed just the slightest bit of movement from a shadow that at some points of my stride did not overlap mine perfectly. Had I found a place to eat earlier, had I taken some food from the old gramps when I had the chance, had I just turned around to admire the faint electric glow of the residential area fading into the distance behind me. I would have been able to see a strange dark figure slowly making its way closer to me.


    If you have ever truly been in nature, you would know that the light pollution from the city really does make a difference at night. Because when I reached the point I had come out of the forest earlier today, all I could see was a black abyss. An abyss to my left. Any abyss to my right. The only thing that told me what was forest and what was field were the sounds of various animals from my right side scampering away into the forest at the sound of my footsteps.


    My head grew dizzier, the black night in front of me got darker. My feet stopped listening to my commands.


    I was desperately trying to reach the convenience store. I thought I could even see a faint glow in the distance from the lights that were no doubt beckoning me towards them. Suddenly I felt a sharp heat coming from the back of my head and then¡­ total darkness.


    ¡­¡­..


    Waking up from a hangover is an¡­ enlightening experience. There were many days during my time at university that I went out late at night with friends to celebrate passing a test, or maybe for a friends birthday. The next morning, without a memory of what had transpired the night before, I would wake up to the morning sun streaming through the curtains on my window. With just a flash of heat and a clumsy walk to the bathroom later, I would be off to class again.


    Waking up today¡­ today was very different. The sunlight was filtering through a thin layer of cover up above me. My back felt as if it was laying on a cooled mattress. I could hear the sounds of small birds faintly. And above all else, I was hot. Burning. Moving was not an option. Opening my eyes revealed only that I was back in a forest somewhere once again, and that it was painful to look directly into the light.


    Ahggg¡­ Everything aches¡­ What happened to me? Where am I? Why am I¡­


    My clothes. My business suit. It was gone. The precious suit I had spent too much money on to get people to hire me. It is gone along with my phone that was in the pocket. Not that it was going to be of use to me for much longer anyways.


    All I wore as I lay face up on the forest floor was a plain white shirt that went under everything, and my underwear fashioned like shorts. I tried to move my head to look at my surroundings but the instant throbbing kept me stationary.If you encounter this tale on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it.


    This is where I am going to stay I guess¡­ There¡¯s no use in moving with this pain.


    I close my eyes again as I listen to the sounds of the forest. Ever so slowly, the pain fades away, and I give in to the dark abyss once again.


    ¡­¡­.


    As I drift slowly back up to the land of the living, I can tell that the time is around evening. The golden rays of the sun shining into the valley are actually rather pleasant to look at when fading in and out of consciousness. Only somebody as experienced as I am in the matter could tell you this.


    The first thing I notice out of the ordinary is a cool, damp feeling resting against my forehead and stretching over my eyes. Slowly I move my hand to my face to peel back a damp towel. Uncovering my eyes and lifting my head a little reveals a girl sitting against a tree. Shoulder length brown hair, dark uniform with white trim, and eyes staring black at me, black as night.


    ¡°Akira¡­¡±


    I weakly say her name. It seems in the time I was sleeping my voice has deteriorated quite a bit.


    ¡°¡­.Fever.¡±


    ¡°What?¡±


    ¡°¡­.You have a fever.¡±


    Was she the one that put the cold compress on me?


    ¡°Ah¡­ I definitely feel that way. How did you find me?¡±


    ¡°Just by chance¡­ Do you normally sleep outside?¡±


    ¡°No¡­ instead of sleeping really, it¡¯s more of just passing out¡±


    ¡°¡­.. ¡°


    No answer. I can¡¯t imagine what is going through her head right now. A man she only met yesterday has suddenly for the second day in a row, been found sleeping on the forest floor.


    ¡°You wouldn¡¯t happen to know where my clothes are, would you?¡±


    ¡°No. You were like this when I got here.¡±


    ¡°I see. I can¡¯t imagine an animal taking them. It must have been somebody from the town last night. I remember it being very dark and hard to see. They must have followed me back out here.¡±


    ¡°There have been a few recent cases of people being robbed within the residential area¡­ maybe it was by the same person?¡±


    I guess no city comes without its dark corners.


    ¡°Maybe¡­ those were my only clothes.¡±


    My stomach cries out in pain as I finish my sentence. The girl looks at me and reaches behind her to pull out the same small box she had yesterday.


    ¡°All I have is the sugar water today. Want some?¡±


    She pulls out the sugar water and shows it to me. If I¡¯m not mistaken it¡¯s in the same disposable bottle it was in yesterday.


    ¡°Thanks¡­¡±


    I make a weak gesture with my hand and instead of throwing it to me this time, she gently sets it down into the palm of my right hand.


    ¡°Where do you live here? Or is the forest really your home?¡±


    ¡°Ah¡­ You could say I just moved here. I don¡¯t have a place yet. Actually at the moment I don¡¯t really have anything except the clothes I am wearing.¡±


    Akira looks at me while I greedily drink the sugar water she gave me. When I finish the bottle she hold out her hand and I slowly sit up to give her the empty bottle. She puts it back into her cooler and begins to turn around.


    ¡°Come with me¡­ I know a place you can stay.¡±


    Just like yesterday, she begins to walk to the dirt path without another word. I struggle to get up and begin to limp down the slope behind her. Whoever put me there must have dragged me a little ways up the slope into the forest. If I remember correctly, I was properly on the path heading back to the convenience store.


    Without shoes and socks on the walk down was slightly painful, and the small pieces of worn down gravel on the dirt road were not much of an improvement from the sticks and twigs of the forest.


    That reminds me¡­ I need people to recognize this appearance as normal to not attract too much attention. It seems all I have done so far is try to hide from the city.


    We walk down the same path from yesterday. Eventually switching from gravel to concrete and then making our way into the residential area once again. As we walk I see that the old granny has her stall open again today. I quickly walk up to it.


    ¡°I¡¯m back, granny.¡±


    ¡°Ah! The boy from yesterday! You liked my cooking so much you came back for more!¡±


    ¡°umu! I¡¯ll take 6 orders of the chocolate taiyaki today grandma.¡±


    ¡°Coming right up!¡±


    Akira had stopped a few meters past the taiyaki stand and was sending a message even I could read with her dead eyes.


    ¡°I want one¡­¡±


    Yes, yes, you¡¯ll get one. I haven¡¯t forgotten about you.


    ¡°Here you go!¡±


    The granny holds out a bag filled with a bountiful harvest of chocolate taiyaki.


    ¡°Thank you for coming!¡±


    ¡°I¡¯ll be coming again, granny!¡±


    We both said our farewells and I began walking back towards Akira. I wordlessly handed her a taiyaki and reached back into the bag to grab one for me.


    The first bite was heaven. If Akira¡¯s bread from yesterday was fine cuisine cooked by a master chef, this taiyaki was a weapon of mass destruction to the taste buds in my mouth. For almost two full days I had eaten nothing with real flavor. Now that I had a full bite of delicious chocolate and making a river in my mouth and flowing down my throat the stimulation was almost too much. I immediately felt energy coming back to me as I walked behind Akira and quickly ate all three taiyaki that I had bought for myself.


    By the time I had finished my three, Akira had eaten her one and we were once again in front of the worn down apartment building she called home. I handed the other two in the bag over to her.


    ¡°Here. Your share. Thank you for everything you have done for me so far.¡±


    ¡°un¡­ follow me¡­¡±


    Akira takes the bag and walks up the stairs in front of the apartment building to the second story. She stops at the second door to the right. It is slightly ajar, and the window looking towards the outside is cracked.


    ¡°It¡¯s not secure, and its not in the best of shape. But nobody has used this room in years. You can stay here for a small amount of time until you feel better.¡±


    She opens the door with a loud creak and walks me to the back of the apartment. It is slightly bigger than the one I rented in the previous city I was trying to find a job in.


    The apartment smelled. There were dead insects and spider webs in the corners. The ceiling had black mold splotched on it as if an artist had come in and done it himself. The tatami were falling to pieces underneath our feet. But it was a place to stay.


    I slowly got down on my knees and laid down.


    ¡°I am in the next room over. If you need anything just knock on the wall and I will come.¡±


    ¡°Akira¡­ thank you. For everything you have done for me until now, thank you.¡±


    ¡°un¡­ thanks for the taiyaki.¡±


    With those final words Akira left and walked to her own room.


    Even when thanking me her eyes remained cold like ice. Never feeling, always reflecting. Never absorbing, always rejecting. I thought about those emotionless black eyes as I lay there on the ground.


    My previous apartment and this one have many things in common. Age, the smell, the run down feeling. I disliked every night I spent in it because it only reminded me of the defeat I was facing in my professional life.


    But right now, right now in this little room lent to me by a girl with a pair of eyes that have nothing in them, I feel like I will sleep like a king.

 Chapter 4: A New Goal

    Waking up in an actual room with for the first time in two days is a refreshing feeling. While the beauty of nature is great be in for a short amount of time, I can personally guarantee that a room of any size is better to sleep in.


    Sometime before I woke up, Akira had come into my room and given me a new cold compress. I brought my hands up to my eyes and removed the still damp rag groggily as I slowly woke up.


    Wow¡­ I barely even know this girl and yet she has done all of this for me¡­ Maybe this is when my life finally turns around¡­


    My first task of the day was to get some new clothes. I still want to find my suit, and the person who took it from me for that matter. Before that a replacement set is necessary though.


    I guess I could just alter everybody¡¯s thoughts on my outfit to make it seem normal¡­ For that matter I could just make everybody walk around naked. Huh¡­ The world¡¯s first rapidly developing nudist community¡­ NO. Rejected. Stay away from the evil thoughts, brain! Even if I did alter the thoughts and feelings of everybody here to be accepting of that, what would the rest of the world think? I have to remember that I actually work for a company. I¡¯m not just here to play around!


    As I make a mental vow to myself, I walk out the already slightly open door to the apartment and look out at the farm land. Green shoots come out of the ground all the way until the foot of the mountain that borders this valley. The sun is shining and the day is new¡­


    Time to actually start some city management!


    Before leaving I knock on Akira¡¯s door.


    ¡­No answer. She must be at school now? Compared to her I¡¯m basically a bum on the side of the road. Actually. I was on the side of the road. And in these clothes I definitely look like a bum. I FINALLY GET A JOB AND YET I¡¯M STILL A LOSER!


    I slap my face with my palms and refresh my head. This isn¡¯t this time to focus on that, my employment has just begun!


    Thinking back, I realize I really only know the residential district of the city. That, and the old man at the convenience store.


    New goal for the day! Assess the town economy!


    With that thought in mind I went out to find the local businesses, while also altering people¡¯s perception of what I was wearing. Just until I found a suit of course.


    ¡°My years as a university student has prepared me for this. Tens of classes and seminars, multiple internships, hundreds of hours spent studying trends and models. This is it! Time to finally put my skills to use!¡±


    At least¡­ that¡¯s what I would say if there was any economy to asses.


    After about 2 hours of walking around the town I have come to two conclusions.


    First, this ¡°city¡± was much smaller than I thought it was. I had walked the entire scope of it at least three times. Looking at small buildings, houses, and farmland. Lots and lots of farmland. At the rate of normal city development, it would take a life time to grow this 3,000 person city into anything remotely similar to the city I grew up in.


    In fact, it wouldn¡¯t be inaccurate to say that the school here is the largest single building in the entire area. And even that looked more like an abandoned wooden school building used in tests of courage by wealthy schools than an actual building with a decent structural layout.


    The second thing I realized is that the taiyaki stand Akira and I went to in the residential area accounts for twenty percent of the actual businesses in this town. Meaning there are only four other businesses here. Everything else is strictly agriculturally based. From speaking to a few elderly townspeople in the fields, I was able to find out where the crops were taken and sold to be sent to market in a different city. It seems like almost all of the food here is grown by local residents, including all livestock. I saw a farm farther down the river that any of the other plots of land that held some livestock. It was likely placed there to keep the upstream water free of waste coming from the farm.


    Ah¡­ just another thing to do¡­ I have to move this city from mainly producer to consumer. Doing that will require a complete overhaul of the city infrastructure and local economy. In the real world this would push people out and leave many without jobs. But in this city¡­ maybe you could even call it my world¡­ I am sure that I can keep that from happening in some way. Humans take time to change. It¡¯s a fact of life. Especially as they age and become set in their habits. I however have the ability to change their habits in any way I like. So, in truth it¡¯s not the people I need to worry about as much in regard to change¡­


    It¡¯s the money. Money makes the world go round. The people in power have it, the people who serve them want it. And now I need to find a way to make it. Not our own currency of course. I need to find a way to produce a lucrative item out of this little city.


    As to what that item is¡­. I have no idea.


    Mentally adding that to the list of things I needed to do, I continued walking down the main residential road towards the convenience store on the opposite side of the city from where I started.


    Lost in thought, I found myself at the store after a short span of time. Looking to the left I see the City Management building that is a part of this worn-down shopping center.


    Well, I would go in but if they saw me like this on only my third day here¡­ I might actually get fired.


    Dodging a bullet, I instead walk into the convenience store to give the old man a visit. A small bell above me rings as I push the door open, and I look around at the store that was exactly as I had left it. Complete with the old man reading his paper.


    ¡°Hey gramps, I¡¯m back.¡±


    ¡°Ouu! If it isn¡¯t the business man! Still looking like you¡¯re from the city I see!¡±


    I laughed dryly to myself in my head.


    If only he could see what I really look like right now¡­ It¡¯s amazing how he can¡¯t even smell me and I am right across the counter from him.


    ¡°You should be careful looking like that, there have been a few robberies reported around the neighborhood recently. Not like there¡¯s really any real police to report them to though.¡±


    ¡°Really? This town is so small though?¡±


    You couldn¡¯t have told me that when I first arrived old man!?


    ¡°It¡¯s a shame¡­ probably just some of the kids in town playing pranks on people. Nothing important has been taken really.¡±


    Nothing important!? They literally took the clothes off my back! Come back! The last bit of my saved up cash!


    ¡°Ah¡­ That¡¯s a relief¡­¡±


    Now that I am here¡­ maybe just a little payback for not giving me a warning when I got here.


    ¡°Hey gramps, you wouldn¡¯t happen to have an old suit laying around would you?¡±


    The old man gave me a strange look at first but then slowly relaxed his face.


    Yes! It worked!


    ¡°Well, I do actually. Haven¡¯t really worn it in a while. I¡¯ve probably changed in size compared to what I used to be. Around the waist at least. Believe it or not, when I was young a had a physique that would make you cry!¡±


    ¡°Perfect! I was counting on that. Let me use it for the time being.¡±


    Again, another moment of silence. The changes in these thoughts can almost be visibly seen as his face changes from a frown into a smile.


    ¡°Sure! Let me go get it for you. You can try it on in the back room.¡±


    ¡°Perfect! Thanks a lot gramps!¡±


    I walk out of the store feeling refreshed. The old man really took great care of this suit. Business black, neatly pressed. He even gave me a fresh white undershirt, some gently used underwear, and a pair of dress shoes. Before that he even offered his shower to me. I have no clue why though. I never asked him to or made him think I needed one. It may still be some time before I really understand the full extent of my powers.If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. Please report it.


    I look up at the sun that is now making its way down from its noon position with a refreshed feeling.


    Thanks, old man. Three cheers for the old man. Even if I forced him he still gave me a lot of extra service. You will be remembered old man.


    With a few hours left in the day I decided to head to the one place I had not visited today; the school.


    With all three levels of education there, this was the one place in the entire city for students to learn. Understanding that this building could be a center for economic growth is essential to bringing this city to power. There are two types of students. The kind that stay and contribute to the local economy, or the kind that go off and contribute to another city¡¯s economy. In a city like this, the kind that stay are normally not the kind that will contribute to much economic growth. They will maintain the status quo of the city and become farmers, or whatever else their parents might do here. The students that I want to stay are the ones that go to the larger cities to continue their education or find better employment opportunities. These students want change. That is exactly the kind that I want to stay in the city. In a real-world scenario, this would normally be achieved by providing an incentive for them to stay. A new company, a rising market; some source of lucrative income.


    Looking at the city today, I realize I am working with very little in the terms of ¡°lucrative income¡±. So, if I let the city go on like this it will consistently lose talent. However, there are two ways to overcome this.


    One is to find a lucrative market in this tiny city. This will be much easier said than done, and it will take some time in the span of year for me to do so and grow it large enough to attract talent.


    The second way, the way only I can go down, is by making them stay here. By making them want to stay and start their ideas here. As long as we have people in the city that want to change this city itself, it will grow at a rate not typically seen by rural cities.


    As I walk to the school, I realize that this will be the first time that I approach it without walking up the forested slope and passing out.


    Go to school! Achievement: Get!


    I walk down the road the leads back towards the residential area but instead take a left along the path and follow that road as it slowly winds up the hill to the front of the school.


    The school building stands on the side of the mountain, overlooking the residential area and some of the farm lands.


    The entrance is just a wide dirt space that encircles the entire building and complements the brown wood it is made of. Glass windows run along the entire front facing side, and a second story identical to the first from the outside is topped by a triangle roof. A simple layout, but likely effective for the population size.


    As I walk to the front entrance, I get nervous.


    Wait, what am I doing? A strange man in a business suit walking around outside¡­ Don¡¯t I totally look like somebody suspicious?! They aren¡¯t even going to let me inside!


    I open the front doors and expect to be spotted by somebody patrolling, however¡­


    Nobody¡­ Where is everybody? I know that it¡¯s summer right now but there were students here just yesterday! I don¡¯t have my days mixed up do I? It¡¯s not an off day, right?!


    I stop walking briefly and take off my shoes, then slip on a pair of inside shoes from somebody¡¯s opened locker.


    I hope they won¡¯t be needing these soon¡­ Thank you whoever you are!


    After offering my silent thanks I walk down the hall on the right side of the school and hear muffled voices slowly getting louder.


    I can¡¯t be seen walking around like this so¡­ let¡¯s hope this works¡­


    All I can do is continue walking and rely on the effect of the abilities I have been given.


    I make it to the sliding wooden door and open it, shutting my eyes tightly and waiting¡­


    For¡­ nothing! They completely don¡¯t see me! At all! They aren¡¯t hearing me, they don¡¯t pick up on anything I am doing¡­ My entire existence in this is being overlooked!


    Walking slowly into the room, I gently close the door behind me. The teacher pauses for a moment:


    Oh no! This is it! Good bye new life. I promise mister police man, I¡¯m not anybody suspicious!


    And he continues on with his lecture. Clearing his throat to annunciate a particularly precise vowel.


    Hahhh¡­ This stress will be the end of me¡­ I wish I was given at least an employee manual for all of this¡­


    I turn around and begin to really look at the room. The class is a standard square room with windows on the far side looking out into a sea of trees on a steep uphill slope. There are 5 rows of desks, 4 seats deep, but there are only about 15 students in the room, leaving some of the back desks open.


    The teacher is a writing on a chalk board with the words ¡°Remedial Summer Lessons¡± written in the far-right upper corner.


    The math that is being reviewed is pretty basic material, but I remember that when I first learned it, I had a hard time staying awake. As far as the consensus of the room goes¡­ Yep, there are at least 4 people sleeping.


    Sleep well my fellow companions, maybe one day you too can find yourself on the side of a mountain with only your underwear and a new city management job.


    I gave them a quick thumbs up sign and started making my way towards the teacher.


    I stood next to him. I stood behind him. I stood in front of him. Nothing.


    I gave an introduction. I sang a song. I wrote my name on the board. Nothing.


    Every last thing I did was completely ignored by all of the students and the teacher. Not even the writing on the board was noticed.


    That means that any physical change caused by me is also ignored.


    Looking closely at the faces of the students from the front of the room to try to see if any of them showed a reaction, I recognized a familiar one; Akira.


    She was sitting in the farthest row to the right against the window. There was a girl in front of her and behind her. As well as one to the side of her.


    Ah, those must be some of her friends¡­ Girls do tend to stay together.


    I walked over to Akira and looked at the three girls positioned around her.


    Well she is clearly the queen of the group. Better features, more confident appearance, and from her notes it looks like she actually understands the lessons.


    I lean over and get closer to her face. Breathing in allows me to smell the slightly sweet scent coming off her. I unconsciously reach out my hand with an outstretched finger and¡­


    *squish*


    Ahhhhhh its so soft! Her skin is so soft!


    Her flawless, white cheeks made a *squish* again as I poked her one more time. Nothing at all.


    Not even a blink.


    With this I could¡­


    I looked down to her chest. Her summer uniform outlined her figure well, and the dark color of the uniform made her white skin stand out even more. The contrast between the two was stunning. Acting as an example of perfect posture, her thin legs stretching to her feet reached down to touch the floor lightly. Her straight back emphasized her modest chest. Thin white arms came out of her sleeves to rest on the desk, crossed over each other underneath the raised portion of her uniform. Her neck was turned slightly to the left and her hair just barely touched her shoulder as she looked into the sea of trees with abyssal black eyes.


    The desire to test my ability further was pressing on my mind.


    No, I will endure, I will endure. That¡¯s it! If I can endure, I promise to get myself an extra taiyaki today! You can do this, brain! Good thoughts! Pure thoughts! You are technically in work right now!


    I was able to abstain.


    Way to go, me! You did it. You are a master of the craft. An unbreakable wall. An unbendable will!


    There is a management technique when handling conflict that I learned in my time during university. ¡®Remove yourself from the situation¡¯. That is exactly what I did.


    To abstain I pulled away. Good job, me! I have used my management skills well today!


    For the remainder of the class, partially because I really had nowhere else to go and partially because I hadn¡¯t revived my regular eating schedule, I sat in one of the seats in the back of the class and enjoyed the lesson.


    I really do enjoy school. In fact, if I didn¡¯t get this job, my fall back was to go teach in the city my late relatives lived in. Of course, that is assuming I lived long enough without food to do so.


    At the end of the lesson the teacher dismissed the students, and everyone began packing to leave. Everyone began to file out of the room until there were only a few people left, including Akira and her friends. The three girls packed their bags and left the room quickly, while Akira was slowly packing her things.


    Oi, come back guys, the queen hasn¡¯t finished packing yet. Have you not realized?


    Akira finishes and walks out of the room carrying her bag and the small cooler she had when we first met.


    Oi, where did the friends go? Are they waiting outside for her?


    I follow her to the entrance and watch her put her back down to open her shoe locker.


    Oi, where is everybody? Did the-


    Farther down the hall I can see the three girls standing and talking with each other quietly. They obviously don¡¯t see me, so they can¡¯t know that I am able to see them or hear some of what they are saying.


    ¡°¡ªa- f-- -akira---k¡ª¡±


    Ah, they are probably waiting to walk home together. Is there an exit on that side of the school?


    Just as I think that, a small gasp and the sound of something falling on the ground fills the air and the girls down the hall get quiet.


    I look at Akira and watch her take her shoes out from her shoe locker. As she pulls them out, things continue to fall to the ground. I move close to her and look at what fell.


    Trash. Wet papers with various shades of staining. Small pieces of metal. Shards of glass. I move closer to look into her locker. It is filled with more trash, and juices are slowly dripping out. The summer heat has caused the trash to begin smelling as well. Her black shoes have some of the foul-smelling material stuck on them, and she turns them over to try to get it out of them. Along with her shoes she pulled out a small piece of paper, ripped off of a larger piece of paper. She reads it with black eyes that reflect nothing.


    Acting as if the note is nothing as well, she tosses it aside and begins to clean the mess up.


    Stop.


    She stops.


    Go home.


    She puts on her dirtied shoes, and leaves.


    I bend down to pick up the note. I take it in my hands and smooth it out to read. I hear something from behind me and look to the noise.


    The three girls have walked from the far side of the hallway to the shoe lockers. They have sneers on their faces as they watch Akira walk home.


    ¡°Ah, look, she didn¡¯t even clean it up today. Useless as usual.¡±


    ¡°We can tell teacher it was her fault!¡±


    ¡°Hah, she deserves it, after all she isn¡¯t good for anything else besides picking up trash and she can¡¯t even do that right anymore.¡±


    I look back down at the note. Emotions I haven¡¯t felt in a long time stir inside me as I look at the contents.


    ¡®Trash. Raised by trash to clean trash. You should just die already and become trash.¡¯


    I rip the note into pieces and look back to the three girls. Anger, hurt, sadness; these feelings whirl around inside me.


    The one person who has cared for me. Who picked up trash like me. This should not be her reality.


    The eyes that reflect nothing. Perhaps they are like that because at one point, they reflected too much. At one point, they stopped reflecting.


    If I am to do anything in this city, I will make sure that her eyes can one day reflect something beautiful.

 Chapter 5: The Power of Perception

    Shortly after Akira had left, I began to walk home. What I felt like doing to the girls who had done this to her was something that I was honestly frightened of. The ability I had been given by the management company could allow me to kill them off by just making them think they should jump in front of the nearest car. That is what I wanted to do. However right before I made the decision to do so I realized that with this new ability, resorting to that option would mean to give up on the situation. If I had done something like that this time, there would be a next time. Then a time after that. Soon enough I would resort to solving issues by just killing people off rather than solving the base problem.


    This is a skill that many leaders have tried and failed to master. One that if I neglected, could easily lead to the downfall of this city.


    So I chose to wait for now and follow a lonely girl back to her aging home. Walking up the metal stairway in front of the apartments, I saw her soaked shoes put out to dry by her door. The trash that had stuck to them had been cleaned away, so she had likely washed them in water somewhere on her way home.


    I walked towards the partially open door that led to the room she allowed me to stay in, and as I reached for the handle, I heard the sound of a door being unlocked and opened.


    I turned my head towards the sound of the opening door and saw Akira, still in her school uniform.


    ¡°I thought you had left¡­ you got a new suit?¡±


    ¡°Wha-? Un, ya. An old friend lent it to me for the time being.¡±


    Not exactly a lie. He is old. I could also argue that he is my oldest friend here as well.


    ¡°Ah¡­ That¡¯s good. Will you be leaving again soon?¡±


    ¡°No, if it¡¯s alright with you, I would like to stay here in this room for a few days longer.¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s ok with me, it¡¯s not like anybody cared about that room anyways.¡±


    An awkward silence formed between us as she continues to stare out her doorway at me. I was unsure as to how I should address the situation. On one hand, I had witnessed first-hand how she was treated unfairly by her classmates and I wanted to help her. On the other hand, she had no idea I was there or that I knew about what had happened to her.


    How would you even start that conversation?


    ¡°Hey, I went to your school today and poked your cheeks while I was invisible to everybody present.¡±


    ¡°¡ªHello, police?¡±


    I could already see how something like that would play out.


    ¡°..H-how was school today? Did you step in a puddle on the way home?¡±


    ¡°Ya, something like that.¡±


    Giving her a quick out in the conversation seemed to be the best choice after all. She looked down at the shoes that were drying on the ground and then back up at me.


    ¡°This morning, thanks for the cold compress. It really helped me feel better.¡±


    ¡°Ya, no problem¡­ You didn¡¯t look so good last night so I just wanted to make sure you would be ok.¡±


    ¡°Thanks Akira, that really means a lot. You didn¡¯t have to offer me a home but you still did, and you even made sure I was ok. I feel like I am really indebted to you for your kindness.¡±


    Akira looked down slightly and gave a small smile. Something I rarely saw from her.


    Another awkward silence fell between us as I stood outside my door and she stood right inside hers. I felt like if there was any time to touch on what happened today, this might be it.


    ¡°You go to class of some sort during the day, don¡¯t you? How was it?¡±


    ¡°¡­ah.. ya, I am doing remedial classes at the high school section of the school here. It was fine¡­¡±


    As she spoke those words her black eyes looked even deeper than normal to me. She made it look as if there really wasn¡¯t anything special going on. Just another day of school. How long had she been treated in the way those girls had treated her today?


    ¡°Really? ¡­That¡¯s good to hear. By the way, I haven¡¯t asked what year you are yet. While I¡¯m at it, how old are you anyways?¡±


    ¡°I am a second-year student, 17 years old. And you? You look like you¡¯re too old to be in school, do you even have a job?¡±


    Somehow that last comment hurt my heart a little.


    ¡°Haha.. ou.. I graduated from university a little over a year ago, and now I am working for¡ª¡°


    I paused slightly as I was unsure what to tell her. How would you normally introduce an occupation that involved everything that I am supposed to do here. Is there even a ¡°normal way¡± for that?


    I guess I can give her at least the job title¡­ That shouldn¡¯t be hard to explain¡­


    ¡°Well, I am working for the city in a management position.¡±


    ¡°Hou¡­ really? Are you sure you¡¯re not lying to me?¡±


    ¡°Well, despite the image created by the way we met, I do have a proper job. I just started actually.¡±


    ¡°Ah, well congratulations. You will be able to get your own apartment soon then?¡±


    ¡°Yes, I am very thankful for your help so far, and I will be in your care until then.¡±


    ¡°Un¡­ don¡¯t mention it.¡±


    Not knowing what to say next, I thought it would be good to get to know her a little bit better.


    ¡°So, when do your parents get home? I feel like I should meet them to at least let them know I will be taking advantage of the hospitality you have shown for a little longer.¡±


    Akira¡¯s face that had recently been showing more emotion than normal immediately returned to her usual cold expression.


    ¡°Parent¡­ And I live here alone.¡±


    Akira quickly ended our conversation by closing the door on me. Her eyes again showing me their true nature as a black hole of immeasurable depth, not letting a single emotion escape from them.


    I said something I shouldn¡¯t have there. That was pretty unthoughtful of me to bring up a bad memory like that.


    The day was beginning to stretch into the late afternoon, and it was at this point that I had again began to realize I had gone a considerable amount of time without food.


    I should make it up to her by bringing something to eat.


    I decided to go to a house that belonged to one of the people I spoke with today. A husband and wife combo come to live out their later days in the country side. I had caught the wife earlier as she was out gathering locally grown ingredients, during my survey of the city¡¯s economic infrastructure. I knew from speaking with her that she was making some sukiyaki for her husband this evening. A meal consisting of beef, vegetables, and tofu cooked in a soy sauce broth.


    A quick trip to their house and a few kind words was all it took to get the leftovers of their dinner, as well as two bowls to eat them in. I carried the food back to the apartment and knocked on Akira¡¯s door. Not surprisingly there was no answer.


    ¡°Akira, I have some food if you want some. I¡¯ll just leave it out here for you.¡±


    I turned away from the door and went to sit on the stairway, looking out over the expanse of farm land dyed in a slightly red hue due to the now setting sun. I placed Akira¡¯s bowl beside me, and divided some of the sukiyaki into my bowl as well as hers.


    Wow¡­ the random grandma is a REALLY good cook. With just these skills she could open up a restaurant here.


    The food was amazing. The beef was tender, the vegetables were perfectly cooked to the perfect texture, and the tofu soaked up the broth like sponges. The feeling of a warm meal like this after the past few days was something that almost brought tears to my eyes. Reminding me of the times I was able to sit with my family and enjoy this same meal.


    I heard the small creak of a door and I looked behind me to see Akira looking at the bowl of food sitting on the stairs next to me.


    ¡°Come out to eat, it¡¯s still warm.¡±


    ¡°That sounds like something that somebody suspicious might say.¡±


    ¡°Well, I can¡¯t deny that I have shown you some pretty suspicious appearances, so I guess you¡¯re right. Anyways, come and eat before it gets cold.¡±


    ¡°Hmmm¡­ Sukiyaki?¡±


    ¡°Yep, I got it from a friend I have here.¡±


    ¡°You seem to have quite a few friends for just getting here a few days ago.¡±Love what you''re reading? Discover and support the author on the platform they originally published on.


    Ah¡­ She¡¯s catching on¡­ This girl is pretty smart¡­


    ¡°Haha¡­ ya, the company sets us up with a few locals so that we aren¡¯t completely on our own out here.¡±


    For now, I passed it off with a lie. I don¡¯t think it would be a good idea to tell her how exactly I have been getting food for us.


    ¡°mmmmhhh¡­ The company couldn¡¯t set you up with housing then?¡±


    Rrrgg¡­ she is really quick at catching on. If I am not careful, I am going to have a lot of explaining to do.


    ¡°No, the company allows us to choose our own housing. It just so happens that before I took this job I was already struggling financially. Just getting out here used up the last of my funds until I get paid.¡±


    A reasonable response to her reply¡­ now will she accept it?


    ¡°Hmm¡­ So you were a suspicious person before this then as well. Just who have I let live next to me?¡±


    Akira seemed to have accepted my explanation and was now just trying to be difficult. She opened her door all the way came outside to retrieve her meal. Taking it and sitting with her back against the metal railing of the balcony, facing back towards the walls of her apartment.


    We ate in silence for a while. Just enjoying the company and the good food.


    Seriously, this is probably the best sukiyaki I¡¯ve ever eaten.


    ¡°Thank you for bringing me food today. It was good.¡±


    ¡°Don¡¯t mention it. You¡¯ve already given me so much so it¡¯s the least I could do.¡±


    ¡°un¡­ And also¡­¡­ I am sorry for shutting the door on you earlier today.¡±


    ¡°No, I am sorry. I overstepped my bounds. That was my fault.¡±


    We sat looking in opposite directions. I was looking out at the fields and it looked like she was simply looking at the faded paint on the wall. Silence enveloped us again as the day was ending in the valley. The feeling of a full stomach along with the companionship of just being close to somebody created a healing atmosphere.


    After about half an hour had passed, and the last rays of light were yielding to the night, I turned around and spoke.


    ¡°Thank you for eating with me, Akira. It has been a very long time since I could share an enjoyable meal with somebody like this. If you would like we can eat together like this more in the future.¡±


    ¡°I think¡­ that would be enjoyable. Thank you, Kei.¡±


    With those few words of gratitude we parted ways, and both retreated to our separate rooms.


    Now then, I have had dinner, and feel very tired from walking for most of the day. However¡­


    A little bit about me. I consider myself clean man. I like clean things. I appreciate the smell of cleaning chemicals in the air as you enter a house. The same goes for the way I take care of my body. I prefer to take showers before I go to sleep, and often times after I wake up in the morning. Yes, the past few days have really not done a great job at demonstrating that, however that is that and this is this.


    ¡­I need to take a shower. Or at least clean myself off somewhere.


    I had been able to finally clean myself earlier in the day at the old man¡¯s place. However, from walking around and sitting outside I had started to sweat just enough to give me the uncomfortable feeling of being unclean. The room I was staying in was fitted with a small shower, just one glance at it though told me the shower had not been used in many years and would likely never be able to be used again.


    I could always persuade one of the local residents to lend me theirs, however¡­ That just seems a little too far. Even if I have been using these abilities mainly to get myself free food.


    I remembered the river that ran through the valley and decided to head there to look for a place I might be able to use.


    The sunset reflecting off the river created a beautiful scenery as I walked down its banks, hoping to find some place secluded enough to rinse myself off. It didn¡¯t take long to find a small, shallow area just at the edge of one of the bends that was relatively unseen from the outside. I quickly undressed, rinsed myself off, and then air dried myself as I watched the sun setting.


    After drying I put my suit back on, then began to make my way back to the old apartment building. The proximity to the old building and the place I used to bathe was relatively close, so I may end up going back there in the future if I really can¡¯t find another place without ¡°asking¡± to use somebody else¡¯s.


    As I made the way up the stairs to my room for the second time that day, I could hear voices coming from Akira¡¯s room.


    ¡­Does she have a friend over? Maybe it¡¯s one that doesn¡¯t go to the supplementary lessons like she does?


    Walking into my apartment I realized something. From the outside, the conversation being held in Akira¡¯s room was reduced to a low mumble. However, my room and Akira¡¯s room were divided by walls that were paper thin. Meaning they could likely hear every movement I make across this worn tatami flooring. I could also of course hear everything they were saying.


    Listening to another person¡¯s conversation is bad, however, being forced to listen is a completely different scenario. On this particular occasion it was one I really was not sure how to deal with; considering the contents of the conversation.


    ¡°What are you doing back here?¡±


    ¡°Akira¡­ Don¡¯t be so cold to me. I just came back from working and I don¡¯t even get a welcome home?¡±


    Could she be talking to a family member?


    ¡°This isn¡¯t your home any more than whatever place you stayed at last night.¡±


    ¡°Akira, nobody is going to want to talk with you if you always act like that. To not even welcome your own mother home. I raised you better than that.¡±


    ¡°Ah, yes. Of course, it was you who raised me. Always being there for important things, making sure I was well taken care of. You really did a great job.¡±


    ¡°Akira, listen, I work day and nights to make sure you live well enough here. Why don¡¯t you quit speaking about things you don¡¯t understand and get your own job. Your far old enough to work. If you ask me you should have been working two years ago but I was a kind mother and I let you live a school life for a while longer. You¡¯re pretty much done with that now. You aren¡¯t going to make anything of yourself from going to the school here, and you couldn¡¯t make it in any other schools. Why don¡¯t you just drop out and start working already? I have plenty of friends I could get you connected to, you would already have a strong recommendation coming from me! It would be far easier than when I started. It took months to get a decent client base and you could just skip all of the hassle!¡±


    ¡°NO! I want to finish school. I want to make something of my life! I don¡¯t want to sell myself like you do! I know that I can be more than that. I know I can be more than just a red-light worker like you.¡±


    *ssslapp*


    ¡°Do NOT talk to me like that! I raised you. I fed you. I made sure you had what you needed-¡°


    ¡°Oh, so coming home once a month when you feel like it is raising a child? Leaving and not telling anybody when you will be back is caring for them!?¡±


    Something that sounded like glass hit the wall dividing the rooms and shattered.


    ¡°AKIRA! You will work! I came back to tell you I will no longer be supporting you. You will live on your own and work for a living, whether you like it or not! I don¡¯t care what you do. If you are going to throw away the chances I am giving you that is fine by me! Just don¡¯t come back to me when you fail and end up the same as I was!¡±


    The door opened and slammed shut shortly after. Akira¡¯s mom had left the apartment and I heard her footsteps pound down the metal stairs.


    Akira stayed in her room and I heard the sound of a girl lightly crying.


    Ahh¡­ how should I handle this situation? I shouldn¡¯t get involved with her personal business¡­ But maybe I could just check on her somehow?


    I reached a fist of and lightly tapped against the wall. The crying stopped. I tapped again. Silence. There were no more sounds coming from the room for the next hour. Because it had been some time with no response or sounds of movement, I guessed she had fallen asleep. And following her example I also closed by eyes and went to sleep.


    Or so I thought. A few hours into my sleep I was awoken by more glass breaking. I heard the sound of heavy footsteps crushing worn tatami flooring.


    Something large hit the wall with a force that made it seem like the whole thing would cave it.


    Strange voices came through the wall. Men¡¯s voices, followed by a women¡¯s voice, and a single scream that was cut short.


    The metal stairs rattled as I heard the people leave. Something was wrong. Something was very wrong. Quickly, I ran out of the room and masked my presence similar to how I did it in the classroom the day before. I made it out in time to see a black car drive away very fast. I looked towards Akira¡¯s room and saw the door open. I ran to the door and looked inside to see one more man and a woman both with cigarettes in their mouths. They were carrying flashlights and were searching the apartment. Akira was gone.


    ¡°Ah, look at this dumb girl. She didn¡¯t have a single coin left in the whole room. Really, she should have been working and then maybe this wouldn¡¯t have happened.¡±


    I heard the woman¡¯s voice and recognized it immediately. It was the voice from earlier today, Akira¡¯s mom.


    ¡°Hah, pathetic. If she was even a little bit like you, she would have been a lot more fun to deal with. I probably got a bruise on my shoulder thanks to her pushing me against the wall. So, what is it I owe you, three, four, five¡­ hundred right? But with this bruise I¡¯ll have to deduct some¡­¡±


    ¡°Wait! That¡¯s not what we agreed on! I said she could be yours for five hundred! We didn¡¯t discuss any damage fees!¡±


    ¡°Exactly, we didn¡¯t discuss any¡­ So it is assumed that there are. Or, do you need some help to get you to see what I¡¯m saying?¡±


    The man steps closer to Akira¡¯s mom and she backs away, realizing she couldn¡¯t hope to overpower him.


    ¡°Ah¡­ no, that won¡¯t be necessary, but maybe I could¡­ repay the damages in some other way¡­?¡±


    The man¡¯s eyes began to show the gleam of lust as he stepped slightly closer to her and began to reach out to touch her side.


    At that point though, I had had enough. My feelings from earlier in the day resurfaced. The rage, the sadness, the hatred; all directed at the people that hurt a girl with eyes that reflected nothing.


    The three girls at school who looked down on her. The men who took her. A mothe-, a woman who had just sold her for five hundred and a side service. These people had hurt her. These people had taken away from her when life had already taken so much. These people would come to regret it. I would make sure of that.


    I revealed my presence at the door way and slammed my first against the door frame.


    The two in the room jumped slightly, disrupting the sexual tension that had built up between them.


    ¡°Ah¡­ a neighbor?¡±


    ¡°What? Woman, you said there weren¡¯t any neighbors!¡±


    The man, almost yelling at the woman, reached for his waist to pull out a knife.


    ¡°Ah¡­ Instead of a neighbor¡­ I am more of the building manager working for the city¡­¡±


    ¡°Who cares, you¡¯re going to be dead anyways. Go manage some more in the afterlife!¡±


    The man lunged at me with the knife in his hands. He had likely assumed that I had heard the commotion and was coming to investigate.


    However¡­.


    FEAR.


    Fear: An unpleasant emotion caused by the belief that someone or something is dangerous, likely to cause pain, or a threat.


    The dictionary definition of the word fear is not something that will suffice for what I meant for the man and woman to feel what I thought that. I have come to find that my power works in whatever way I believe something is. For example, if I refer to happiness as sadness, then the person affected will become happy. In this case I am altering the definition a little bit from the standard to:


    Fear: An sense of dread and despair caused by the belief that someone or something death itself.


    The man trips and falls to the floor, scrambling backwards to hide his face against the back of the apartment. The woman freezes immediately and faints.


    I walk toward the man and firmly grasp the back of his neck.


    ¡°Where did you take her. You will tell me everything about who you work for, where you are located, and why you took her.¡±


    The man didn¡¯t say a word. His neck was sweating, his breathing was ragged, and the smell of urine had begun to fill the room.


    ¡°You will tell me now no matter what or you will die.¡±


    Again, more whimpers. Through it all though, he managed to get out the information I needed.


    They were located on the far side of the city where the distribution center that served as a gateway to outside markets for this city was. They had taken Akira based on a deal they had made with her mom who had sold her to them. Their purpose¡­ they planned to toy with her, eventually putting her into a life on the corner, perpetually making money for them until she outgrew her use or died, whichever came first.


    As I reflected on those things in my head my thoughts became jumbled. More range than ever before filled inside of me as I thought of the people who had taken Akira. I wanted them gone. I wanted them to disappear. I would find them, and make sure they never existed.


    After thinking that the man whose neck I had my hand grasped around went limp. I let him fall to the floor and saw blood trickling out of his nose and mouth. I reached down and put my fingers on his neck briefly.


    Nothing. He is dead¡­ I killed a man.


    A few days ago killing a man would have seemed a taboo for me. Something I would never even think of doing. However now¡­ now I am not sure¡­. Because instead of feeling disgusted with myself and in disbelief I just feel¡­ ¡°Unfinished.¡±


    I came to realize, that the only way I could feel ¡°finished¡± is by taking back Akira, and righting the wrongs that had been done. As I ran out the apartment door and down the stairs, I realized that I knew exactly what I needed to do now to feel ¡°finished¡±.

 Chapter 6: Red on White

    Crossing the city seemed to only take a matter of seconds for me. My mind was solely focused on one thing; finding Akira. Whether or not my mental state had any effect on the city itself was unknown to me, however while I was making my way to the distribution center, I noticed that the city was quiet¡­ and dark.


    Houses that normally had their lights on were now blending in with the night. I could not see a single person, or hear sound coming from anywhere but the forest life. It was almost as if the citizens of Haila were purposely concealing themselves. As if they had an internal desire to cover themselves with darkness in an attempt to hide until the morning¡¯s light. To hide specifically from one thing- one person.


    I could differentiate the distribution center from the rest of the surroundings by a specific characteristic. It was the only building I had seen with its lights on. There was light coming from the window on the side of the building, illuminating the forest it bordered before eventually getting swallowed up by a black abyss.


    I slowed down my run to a quick walk before eventually positioning myself right below the lit-up window on the side of the building. I masked my presence and looked through the window.


    Two men sat at an old fold-table table underneath aged lights that shone down from above. There were two doors leading to other rooms. One directly across from the window, and one on the right side of the square room. The men were drinking and carrying on a conversation.


    ¡°Ahh¡­ did you hear? We got another one tonight. The boss said we were the ones who were going to break it in.¡±


    The other man laughed and replied:


    ¡°Oh hoho, the boss must really have a problem with the seller. He never lets us prepare the products beforehand¡­ Remember the last one? Couldn¡¯t even talk right afterwards.  Is that guy here tonight? He loves these kinds of things.¡±


    ¡°Ah¡­ the boss¡¯s right-hand man¡­ ya, he¡¯s in town today. The product is right in his strike zone too.¡±


    ¡°Hahaha! This will be a night to remember! Here¡¯s to a¡ªOi! Who are you?! When did you get in--!¡±


    I looked over at one of the men at the table.


    This is disgusting¡­ Silence.


    Looking at yourself in the mirror is a common place occurrence for most people. However, looking at yourself from behind¡­ that is something that most people don¡¯t get to experience. Which is the exact thing I am doing right now.


    Listening to the men speak about Akira like that¡­ about a human like that. As if they were an object to be sold. That is something that I could never forgive. I wanted to be in the room with them. I wanted to wrap my hands around them until they spoke their last pathetic words. However, a convenient ability like that doesn¡¯t exist.


    At least not exactly. If I could erase my presence and keep people from seeing me¡­ I reasoned that I should be able to also make people see me. Furthermore, if I could do that to other people, I should be able to do it to myself, a human, as well.


    The me that I see in the room right now is just a construction of my mind. Made for the sole purpose of directly interacting with the men in the room. And while I could not physically interact with anything using the ¡°fake me¡± I could make any human think that I could.


    Essentially creating a clone of myself widened the options I had ten-fold. The only down-side currently is that I wouldn¡¯t know how to change the target¡¯s perception of the clone unless I could visibly see them.


    ¡°You, who were you just talking about?!¡±(Kei)


    ¡°Wha-?! Who are you? Take, who is this guy!?... Take?!¡±


    Take was looking at his friend frantically. He still couldn¡¯t speak and looked like he was on the verge of panic.


    ¡°Answer my question, NOW!¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s the product we brought in today. Wha- why did I tell you that?¡±


    ¡°Product, product¡­¡±


    I muttered silently. The rage inside me from hearing him say that again; from hearing speak about a human that way again; from hearing him speak about Akira that way again. It was boiling up to the point that I didn¡¯t think I would be able to control myself. There was going to be another death in this city tonight.


    ¡°Where¡­ is the girl you brought in earlier¡­ I know you have her here. Just tell me where she is. Now.¡±


    ¡°S-she is with the rest of the group. Through the door right ahead in the main distribution room.¡±


    I am done with you now.


    Before ending their perception of my clone in the room, I left the two with one last task.


    ¡°I am done with you now so¡­ hold your breath.¡±


    Running around the building to the nearest entrance, I could hear some loud voices coming through the metal walls of the building. I reached another side door and found it unlocked.


    I opened the door quickly and froze. Red. It¡¯s red. The walls are red, the people in the room are red. The ground was red. And in the middle of it all; white, covered in red.


    A girl laying on the ground with shoulder length dark hair, now damp in areas with something giving it a dark maroon color. White skin stained with red in various areas. Tattered clothing that allows you to see areas that are normally hidden. Finally, black eyes that are looking back at me¡­ not with nothing in them this time. This time¡­ her eyes show hopelessness.


    The red is turning to black. Everything is turning dark. The voices are becoming clouded. I can¡¯t see anything but the red on white in front of me. Silhouettes come towards me, I can¡¯t tell if they are moving slowly or quickly. Voices are echoing in the distance. I don¡¯t care, they are keeping me from the white.


    Why is there so much red here? What is normally white has become red?


    A silhouette reaches out to touch me.


    ¡°Die.¡±


    The silhouette stops. It falls to the ground and red begins to spill out.


    Oh, the red is coming from the faint black blurs¡­ I need to get them away from the white¡­


    The black silhouettes freeze for a moment after the first one falls, and I continue forward. As they shout and begin to come towards me, I tell them to leave one after another. Leave this world I mean. It should just be the world with myself and the white.


    The more the silhouettes fall, the more red flows out. It is attacking the white and I. I can¡¯t tell it to go away. It just keeps flowing.You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.


    I get closer to the white figure, still stained with red, now weakly standing in a sea of red.


    It reaches out a hand to me and I reach mine to it.


    Our hands touch and the white fades away. What¡¯s left is Akira, weakly standing and grasping my hand. She is looking at me and I see in her eyes not the usual abyss of nothingness, or the hopelessness of moments ago. I see that she is looking at me with¡­ concern?


    Why is she concerned? Why does Akira look at me like this? She is looking at me as if I am the one who needs saving? As if I am the one that was taken away. As if I am the one with red running down their face.


    She takes her hand away from mine and brings it to my face. I feel something sticky and warm as she cups my face. I take her hand away and look at it.


    More red. But I realize this color isn¡¯t from her¡­ As I look at her hands in mine, my eyes trace my hands to my arms, and my arms to my body.


    It¡¯s me¡­ I am covered in red from my head down. I steadily grow aware of the surroundings. The red I saw upon entering the building. It is still here. But this time it isn¡¯t me just seeing things. There is blood everywhere. So much blood. It is resting in pools on the floor, dripping down the walls; the stench of iron is so strong I can hardly bear it.


    I look back to Akira and emotions well up inside me. The relief that I found her, the subsiding anger, the realization of what I had done.


    ¡°Akira- I¡­¡±


    She looks at me and simply shakes her head. She takes my hand and we walk out the door together.


    We don¡¯t speak with each other while walking. I am simply being taken along by her hand in hand. For now, that is enough. For now, I am content.


    If anyone were to see us in daylight, what would they think? A man covered in red paint being dragged along by a girl with torn up clothing?


    However, nobody is awake to see us. The city of Haila is still hiding under the cover of night. Hiding from a person, a thing.


    The moon was the only source of light as we walked. She led me past the main part of the city, towards the river that ran all the way through the valley.


    After half an hour of walking we ended up where I had bathed earlier that day. The night time atmosphere and the moonlight bouncing off the calm waters of the small inlet made for a peaceful scene backed by the rise of the other side of the valley.


    Akira led me to the edge and let go of my hand as she walked further in.


    ¡°Come here and sit down.¡±


    I followed her into the water and sat down. The water came up to my chest, and just below her knees. A dark cloud started to form around me from the moment I submerged myself in the water.


    After walking for so long all of the blood had dried and coming into contact with water made it feel slimy and fresh all over again. The smell of iron was still strongly plastered all over me, as Akira cupped her hands and began to pour water over my head from behind me.


    The moonlight, a man sitting, and a girl washing him.


    ¡°Take off your suit and undershirt.¡±


    I took them off and she continued to silently wash me with her hands.


    Her hands on my back wiping away the remnants of what I had done felt refreshing. It was as if she were washing away the entire past hour itself.


    I turned my head slightly back towards her to ask her a question and she placed her palm on my head, firmly grasping it to turn my eyes forward. But not before I saw what she was trying to take my attention away from.


    Her face was slightly flushed, and in the moonlight, I could see her torn pieces of clothing were exposing a lot more than what they were supposed to. A white neck led down to a shirt with a modified ¡°V¡± in it from being torn, which was hanging down as she was slightly bent over from washing me. The light bouncing off the water let me see two white areas underneath covered by more fabric.


    I remained facing forward and enjoyed the feeling of her soothing hands rinsing me with refreshing water.


    About ten minutes had passed when I felt her take her hands off me.


    ¡°Ok¡­ done.¡±


    I turned around to see a slightly happy and satisfied look on Akira¡¯s face despite the battered condition of the rest of her body.


    ¡°Thank you, Akira. That felt refreshing.¡±


    A small smile escaped my lips and I rose onto my feet only to stumble slightly and grab onto Akira¡¯s shoulder.


    So small¡­


    ¡°Un. be careful.¡±


    She is like this after everything that has happened.


    ¡°You¡¯re right, I guess I am still a little disoriented. Should we walk to the apartment now¡­ Or maybe not?¡±


    I was worried we might run into the woman who was responsible for tonight if we headed back to the old apartment building.


    ¡°It¡¯s fine. That woman has never stayed there more than an hour, there¡¯s no reason to change that now.¡±


    ¡°Okay then¡­¡±


    It had been bothering me since we left the distribution center that nothing was said about what happened there. Even if she did ask a question, I wouldn¡¯t really know what to say to her.


    For now, though¡­


    ¡°Akira¡­ Thanks for the bath¡­ and for bringing me back¡­¡±


    Silence followed that comment as we left the river banks and began walking back. However, as Akira moved to get in front of me, almost as if protecting me from the night itself, I could have sworn that I saw a slight smile on the corner of her lips and heard a soft:


    ¡°Thank you¡­¡±


    After arriving at the apartments, we parted ways and I returned to the tiny box of a room once again to lay down.


    I could hear Akira shuffling through the wreckage in the room beside mine and I had to wonder how many other times in her life she had to return to home to pick up the pieces like tonight.


    What would she do after this? Where would she go? Would she have to move to a new city?


    More questions joined those swirling around in my head.


    What happened tonight? What did I do¡­? How did I¡­


    Nothing could have prepared me for what happened tonight. No amount of ¡°workplace orientation¡± would ever be able to accurately describe the feelings I experienced and what happened because of them.


    To wrap it all up, my suit had become a disaster. The entire set was likely ruined and would smell like iron for the remainder of their use.


    Right after I got a new one from the old man too¡­


    Thinking I may need to find a new way to get personal suits in this city, I slowly began to fall asleep.


    ¡­¡­..


    I wake up to the sound of my door clicking open.


    This is¡­ them again? Akira! They came back for her!


    Thinking so, I rushed to the door. My blood started boiling as I moved faster than I thought possible towards the entrance of the room.


    If they do anything to her, I¡¯ll¡­


    I stopped mid-thought as I pushed the door open and was greeted by a sight I did not expect to see.


    ¡°Akira¡­¡±


    Under the moonlight I could see that the small girl was wrapped in a blanket, protecting herself from the night air.


    ¡°Kei¡­. Boxers.¡±


    Surprised, I wonder what she is talking about. She makes a small cough and I see her trying to keep her eyes from looking down.


    I look downwards and notice that, in a rush, I forgot to put on any sort of pants, and right now I am in only a shirt and my underwear.


    I quickly move to hide myself and look out at Akira behind the safety of the old wooden door.


    ¡°I¡¯m sorry, Akira. I just thought¡­¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s ok.¡±


    Akira pushes through the door and shuffles into the room.


    ¡°Ah¡­ and you¡¯re coming in I see¡­¡±


    The girl looks back at me.


    ¡°I¡¯m coming in.¡±


    ¡°Tche! Say that before you come in!¡±


    ¡°Un¡­ will do in the future.¡±


    ¡°Uh huh¡­ So, what did you need?¡±


    My eyes begin to adjust to the low lighting of the room, and I see that Akira looks¡­ different. It¡¯s not the blanket wrapped around her small body dressed in clothes for bed, but her eyes. Her eyes that are normally filled with nothing are now filled with something I have never seen in them. Something that makes them look deeper than usual, more lonely than usual.


    I shut the door and the moonlight that once filled the room disappears, leaving the room much darker than it was and erasing the sight of her eyes from my vision.


    ¡°One second, let me find a light or something. If only I had my phone we could use-..¡±


    I was cut off again, this time by a small hand that I could feel grabbing my shirt.


    Akira tugged on my shirt twice, pulling me over to the wall that bordered her room.


    ¡°If you just give me a second, I think I can let some more light in for us through the window.¡±


    Akira didn¡¯t give me that chance though. Instead I heard the sound of fabric sliding against a wall, and I felt my shirt being tugged down.


    ¡°Akira, if you don¡¯t let go of my shirt, I am going to¡­¡±


    I stopped mid-sentence again. My hand that was trying to take her hand off my shirt felt for the first time her smooth skin, cold and shaking.


    I cupped her one hand in both of mine to try to warm it and could still feel the small girl shaking despite the fact my hands were rather warm.


    I held her hand and slid down the wall to sit next to her. We sat in silence for some time until she leaned towards me and rested against my shoulder. She was still shaking despite the blanket wrapped around her.


    Her shaking seemed to keep going for quite some time as I held her hand in mine and let her rest against me.


    We sat side by side in the dark room silently. I felt the need to say something, or rather, I have felt that need but only now have the courage to say it.


    ¡°Akira¡­¡±


    I had trouble phrasing my words in a way that would convey everything I wanted to tell her. How could I make her understand my feelings? How could I let her know my desire from the moment I met her?  The feeling of that moment summed into one thought.


    ¡°¡­ Akira, it is ok now. I will be here for you.¡±


    And with those words, the young girl¡¯s head fell into my lap and the shaking continued as warm tears poured onto my legs.


    I caressed the hair on her head as her silent sorrow continued through the night, ceasing at some point as we both drifted off to sleep.

 Chapter 7: Partner

    When the morning sunlight broke through the window and into my room, I woke up to a bright ray of sunlight shining right into my eye. Even more painful though was the ache in my back that was likely due to sitting up while sleeping all night.


    As I began to move to stretch my back out, I stopped and looked down to see what the strange weight was on my lap.


    A small girl with shoulder length dark hair, snow white skin, and pajama clothes had at some point during the night taken up residency on my lap.


    The events of the previous night went through my head quickly and I remembered why I was greeted with such a morning sight. A confusing feeling of grief washed over me as I remembered what had happened with Akira last night, but the feeling was quickly interrupted as the person in question shifted positions on my lap.


    Uh oh¡­ oh no oh no oh no¡­ I can hear the sirens already.


    Akira¡¯s sudden movement in my lap had caused her pajama shirt to come open at the top due to the first three buttons being undone. Something dangerous came into view and my face got hot.


    I thought she had begun to wake up so I tried to keep my eyes away from the crevice that was forming between the soft blue fabric of her pajama shirt.


    Ano¡­ She isn¡¯t moving again¡­ Is she still asleep?


    I was finding it harder and harder to resist looking so I carefully moved my hand to fix her shirt. In the process I moved my arm over her face and just before my hand reached the fabric of her shirt, my arm moved past her eyes to reveal two dark pools looking up at me.


    Ah¡­ Good bye new job. Good bye new life. Hello police, I promise I didn¡¯t do it.


    We locked gazes for a while longer. My face started getting more and more red as I realized what the situation looked like.


    ¡°Umm¡­ Akira-san¡­. About this, you know¡­¡±


    ¡°-diot¡­¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m sorry, what was that?¡±


    I smiled at her as innocently as possible.


    Akira placed her hand up next to her ear like a phone:


    ¡°Hello hello- Police?¡±


    She got up and quickly retreated to the door.


    ¡°Wait, Akira! It was a misunderstanding!¡±


    Akira looked at me with a sour face and continued to stare at me coldly as she slowly walked out of the door to the apartment and closed it.


    Now I¡¯ve really done it¡­


    I waited for a few moments without moving while I was listening to rustling sounds coming from Akira¡¯s room behind the other side of the wall.


    As I faced the reality she might never talk to me again, I got up and started stretching the ache out of my back.


    Iyaa¡­ Man¡­ I really slept in the wrong position las-


    A knock sounded at the door.


    I walked over to it and opened it too see Akira standing there in every day clothes of a skirt and a girly shirt. It¡¯s something every high school girl probably wears, but I had never seen her wearing it so it was a bit of a surprise.


    She looked up at me with a look as if she was demanding something and said one word.


    ¡°Food.¡±


    Ah, so food builds bridges and heals wounds once again.


    I stood at the door and awkwardly responded to her with my hands clasped in the praying position in front of me.


    ¡°Of course, what ever you want! And Akira¡­ it really wasn¡¯t what it looked like.¡±


    Akira still looked a little mad, but she seemed content that now that she knew she was going to get some breakfast.


    Thinking I was safe, she began to reach her hand out to me in which contained a small envelope.


    ¡°I found this outside your door.¡±


    I took it from her and looked at it. The letter was addressed to me, and the sender was¡­ City Management?!


    ¡°Uhh¡­ It¡¯s from my job¡­¡±


    ¡°Amazing¡­ a bum like you has a job¡­¡±


    Akira whispered something incoherent.


    ¡°What was that?!¡±


    ¡°Nothing, nothing. I¡¯m just surprised that a lowly pervert like yourself with the confidence to walk around in only your boxers and an undershirt has a job.¡±


    ¡°What kind of person do you take me for?! And, I see you¡¯re still mad. I really am sorry, won¡¯t you forgive me?¡±


    ¡°Mah¡­ If you feed me I will think about it.¡±


    I better find some good food or I may really be looking at some jail time in the future¡­


    I pause to read the contents of the letter and then look at Akira apologetically.


    ¡°Akira¡­san.¡±


    ¡°Yes, Kei-san?¡±


    ¡°We¡¯ve gone back to honorifics at this point?!¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m sorry Kei-san, I wouldn¡¯t associate with perverts so I don¡¯t know how I could have come to know you.¡±


    ¡°Hah¡­ Well you see Akira-san¡­ We may have to wait on that food¡­¡±


    ¡°Hi-- is this the police?¡±


    After talking Akira down, and moving to our destination, we are both standing in front of an old strip center. Haila¡¯s own branch of the City Management Office. Before coming here I put on the worn out suit I got from the old man at the convenience store, and now as we stood in front about to walk in, Akira was looking at me strangely.


    ¡°What¡­ do you have to go to the bathroom or something?¡±


    Akira quickly stomped on my foot.


    ¡°Uuuahh¡­ No! Now I see what kind of company might hire somebody like you if they can¡¯t even maintain a good store front.¡±


    ¡°Oi! What¡¯s that supposed to mean?!¡±


    We continued to send sarcastic remarks towards each other as we walked into the building.


    The entrance room was the same as the first time I saw it when I met with Director. Including the woman sitting behind the small glass window. I walked up to it and Akira sat in one of the chairs placed around the rim of the room.The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.


    ¡°Hi¡­ I got this letter today about a meeting with¡­ Director. It told me to come to meet with him and to bring my¡­ partner.¡±


    I look back at Akira who is occupied with looking around the small white room.


    ¡°Do you remember me from last time we met? Tatsuo Kei?¡±


    The woman looked up at me with a business-like expression on her face.


    ¡°I¡¯m sorry, you must have met with somebody else last time. I don¡¯t recall ever seeing your face.¡±


    The woman brushed me off as if I was a fly on the wall.


    Ahh¡­ Well I look like I just rose from the dead so I am sure she isn¡¯t able to recognize me.


    ¡°If you are meeting with somebody, please sign in and wait in the lobby.¡±


    I signed in my name as well as Akira¡¯s name and went to go sit back down.


    ¡°Um¡­ Kei¡­ why are we here again? Or rather, why did I have to come too?¡±


    ¡°Well, I received a letter this morning from my superior and it specifically said to bring you as well. How they knew about you, I have no idea. However, they may be asking some questions about last night¡­.¡±


    At the mention of the previous night Akira¡¯s eyes got a little darker.


    I looked at her with a smile.


    ¡°Just let me do all the explaining and we¡¯ll be fine.¡±


    ¡°But Kei¡­. What exactly are you going to explain? I mean¡­ in the first place¡­ what did you even do?¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t really know myself, Akira. But I think we might find something out if we can talk with Director.¡±


    ¡°Who is¡­ Director?¡±


    ¡°Ah, that¡¯s my superior. He is the one that offered me this job in the first place.¡±


    ¡°And just what is your job?¡±


    ¡°I work for City Management.¡±


    ¡°So¡­ like road cleaning and sewage?¡±


    ¡°Um, Well¡­ I guess you could say that, but it¡¯s on a bit of a larger scale than that. Honestly, I¡¯m not really even sure how big of a scale it is. I think we both might learn something from this meeting.¡±


    Akira was looking at me as if she was looking at a shady street vendor selling week old food.


    Ahh¡­ It hurts Akira, the cold stare hurts. I promise I have a real, paying job!


    As I was thinking that the receptionist called my name.


    ¡°Is there a Tatusya Kei-san here?¡±


    I looked around the empty room.


    Who ELSE would be here besides the one person who wrote his name down?!


    I rose to my feet with Akira next to me.


    ¡°Director is ready to see you now, go through the door, down the hall.¡±


    I walk through the door and continue down the hall. It seems like the same hallway I walked through before. This time however, at the end of the hall there is a door with a golden placard that says ¡°Director¡± instead of ¡°Mr. A¡± like it did the first time.


    I go into the room first and Akira trails behind me. The same man from before is sitting behind a large, wooden desk decorated with excessive wood finishings.


    ¡°Tatsuo-kun! So good to see you! And this must be the lovely Nakamura-chan.¡±


    At the mention of Akira¡¯s name using ¡°-chan¡± I could see a look of annoyance from Akira as if she was saying ¡°Who is this?¡±


    ¡°Excuse my late introduction Nakamura-chan, I am Director. You may refer to me as¡­. Director! I work here at City Management as Tatsuo-kun¡¯s superior. And now, I also get to work as yours, Nakamura-chan!¡±


    ¡°¡±What?¡±¡±


    At that last piece of information both Akira and I let out some disbelief.


    ¡°Sorry Director, I must not have heard that right. Did you say that Akira was now working for you as well?¡±


    ¡°No! Forgive my lack of clarity!¡±


    Both Akira and I let out a little sigh and we look at each other while laughing.


    ¡°-she is working for you.¡±


    There was a pause in the conversation.


    ¡°¡±WHAT?!¡±¡±


    ¡°Yes! Didn¡¯t my letter inform you of this? I told you to bring over your partner so that we could move through the necessary paperwork.¡±


    ¡°Well, it mentioned bringing Akira here but I thought the paperwork was going to be for me¡­.¡±


    ¡°Nakamura-chan, you knew about the employment, right?¡±


    Director is looking at Akira with a questioning expression.


    Akira shook her head.


    ¡°I don¡¯t even know what kind of job Kei has.¡±


    ¡°Kehehe¡­ they¡¯re already on a first name basis¡­ What else could they be hiding?¡±


    ¡°¡°Sorry, what was that??¡±¡±


    Akira and I both look at Director intently.


    ¡°Nothing! Nothing¡­ but this really does put me in a bind¡­ You see, the fact that you used some of your management abilities in front of Akira. That is a problem. The other citizens that you used them in front of are fine, because well, they¡¯re dead. But to openly use an ability in front of a citizen of your city is a big problem. Especially when using the particular ability you ended up using without killing them.¡±


    ¡°What? Why? I¡¯m supposed to be helping the city with these abilities, right?¡±


    At this point Akira is looking back and forth between us as if we are speaking in another language.


    ¡°Yes, that¡¯s fine. But before starting this job, have you ever heard of any instances like this? No. Because we keep our interference in the shadows. All for the sake of changing a city for the better and making the people believe they did it themselves. Taking pride in one¡¯s city is a big reason for it¡¯s success, thus if all the credit is placed on one person, it takes away from the self-sustainability of the city as a whole.¡±


    I sat back in my seat with a sigh.


    ¡°So¡­ then what happens now¡­ I just wanted to keep her safe¡­¡±


    ¡°Oi.. Kei..¡±


    ¡°Well, we have two options. You can change her memories, or make her believe this never happened. But that sometimes doesn¡¯t work very well. Especially for something as memorable as this¡­ I mean, the clean up for your little rescue operation last night took forever. That reminds me, it¡¯s being charged to your account.¡±


    ¡°Hey¡­ Keiiiii!¡±


    ¡°What?! I haven¡¯t made anything as is! At this rate I¡¯ll be in the red for months!¡±


    ¡°Keiiiii!¡±


    ¡°The best option would just be to kill her right here really¡­¡±


    ¡°-huuuhhhh¡± *Sucking in air*


    ¡°No! I could never do that! There-¡°


    ¡°HEY! KEI! LISTEN WHEN SOMEONE IS SPEAKING TO YOU!¡±


    My ears are ringing as Director and I look over at Akira with a frustrated look on her face.


    ¡°Finally! I¡¯ve been trying to get your attention but you two just kept on talking! I didn¡¯t ever say that I was against being employed. I just didn¡¯t know about it! If you just ask me, I¡¯ll tell you that I¡¯m fine with it-¡±


    ¡°Akira, you really shouldn¡¯t¡ª¡±


    ¡°NO! Let me finish. Kei, you were the only one to ever treat me kindly. Before today, I had nobody I considered close to me. Not even my mom. You even saw how she treated me. Going as far as selling me! I have nothing. No life to go back to. If I had died, or been sold, I still would have been doing more than I was if I kept living my same old life. But you came for me. You cared about me. You took me back from the people who my mother sold me to and now I don¡¯t want to go back to living life the way I was. Now I know there is a new path in life I can take and I want to take it.


    So please, allow me to say something:¡±


    Akira stands up and bows at a 90 degree angle, with her hands pointed towards me, holding her student ID card.


    ¡°My name is Nakamura Akira, Second Year, Class 2-1! I have no work experience, and no real talents! But please, Tatsuo Kei, consider my application for employment!¡±


    The room is silent for a moment.


    I take Akira¡¯s hand and she looks up at me from her bowed position with wet eyes.


    I was truly moved by what Akira said. Over the past few days she had grown closer and more important to me. And now, after hearing all that, I couldn¡¯t imagine working without her.


    ¡°Akira¡­ If you will take this worthless, and almost jobless man as your superior, then I promise to allow you to work for me for as long as you would like!¡±


    We looked at each other for a short amount of time, smiling while holding hands still.


    ¡°PHEW! I really thought I was going to have to kill another minor there for a second¡­ It always makes dinner taste bad when that happens¡­¡±


    ¡°Ehemmm, read the situation please.¡±


    Akira looks at Director and coughs.


    ¡°Ah, pardon me. I am happy that no disciplinary action needs to be taken at this time for either party. And Tatsuo-kun, I am glad that you were able to make your first partner. Now that we have that out of the way, let¡¯s review your¡­ underwhelming¡­ performance.¡±


    And for the next hour I was lectured by director about how in the first week of my residency in this city nothing has changed except for the total amount of wearable suits, which now stands at a number two less than nine hundred and thirty seven.


    During that time Akira also learned exactly what it was that I did as a City Manager, and how she would operate from her position as well.


    Basically, her ability to act upon the lives of the people in the city and the city itself stemmed from a combination of practice and my ability level. And my ability level and ability to manipulate the world around me stemmed from a combination of things but was mostly determined by the size and success of the city I managed as a whole.


    One decent piece of advice that Director gave me was something he mentioned as Akira and I were getting up to leave.


    ¡°Tatsuo-Kun, the ability you used previously. That is something that is not¡­ normally found in city managers. While I don¡¯t care what path you take as long as your city thrives, you should know that use of your particular ability has not always benefited my employees for the better. Also¡­ because you have piqued my interest slightly, I¡¯ll give you some advice. Watch out for people from other cities¡­ I have found that different people raise different types of cities, and not all of those people can be considered ¡°good¡± in the sense of modern society.¡±


    I was thinking about that piece of advice as I was walking back into the city with Akira.


    We had walked in silence almost the entire way there. We both had a lot to think about, and it wasn¡¯t long before we made it to the middle of the long road that ran right through the city. The point just after where we had taiyaki the first time we met.


    We both subconsciously stopped there and looked at the city around us. Small buildings and houses, fields and streams, with the backdrop of tall mountains brimming with life. We turn to each other and I smile at Akira, knowing that this was the first time in this city when I wasn¡¯t alone. This is the first time I had a real friend with me.


    Maybe we had been friends long before that though¡­ Either way, we were here together as friends, work partners, and two people who had nothing else in the world besides the person standing in front of them, and that was enough.


    I looked out at the city one more time.


    ¡°Akira¡­ lets make a great city together!¡±


    ¡°Ou! Let¡¯s do it, Kei!

 Side Story 1: Where the Angel Descended From

    Seventeen years is a long time to live a life if every day brings a new sadness. Just like how people say that time moves faster when you enjoy what you are doing, perhaps time moves slower when things just aren¡¯t worth enjoying. When thinking about the impact that things leave on our lives though, perhaps the people that become accustomed to depravity and an unfortunate way of life are the luckiest. Because unlike the people that are exposed to kindness every day and think nothing of it, one small act of kindness from somebody else can change an entire world for somebody who rarely experiences it.


    My life seemed to be full of long moments. Times when I would lay and just wait for the day to pass by. I was used to the things that I did to cause me pain. Going outside, interacting with the neighbors, making friends¡­ Those were things that every person should enjoy doing normally, but for me, it was different.


    I never had a father. I didn¡¯t even have the idea of one. From a young age I just came to accept that I only had a mother. At a certain point, of course I knew that I had to have some sort of father to be born, but an existence like that was just never in my life. Maybe that is one of the things that distanced me from the people around me? From the beginning I can remember people staring. Speaking behind my back, thinking I wasn¡¯t listening.


    ¡°Uahh.. That¡¯s her.. The one¡­-¡°


    ¡°Ya¡­ I heard¡­ mother¡­¡±


    My early memories in this valley were filled with memories like that. People from school that I would meet would be nice to me one day, then stop speaking to me altogether the next. At first it hurt. It hurt to be alone. I wanted so badly to be able to play with everybody else. To have somebody to call a friend. But it never happened. I turned to my mother for answers. Why were people like this? Was it me? Was I the problem?


    ¡°Ehh? Akire? Wait- Akira¡­ Isn¡¯t it just you? All the other kids have friends. Go on and move away from me, you smell and I don¡¯t want to get dirty before tonight.¡±


    Comments like that were the only thing I can remember from my mother during the time she was with me at our apartment.


    Our apartment was special¡­ Not because of the people that lived there, but for the location it was in. I could see the sun setting over the valley, and watch the light shine off the river, twinkling like a million stars. I wished that I could look like that. Then maybe I could make friends. Maybe if I could be as captivating as the river twinkling under the setting sun, my mother would love me.


    I remember looking in a piece of mirror I found one day laying on the ground. I desperately hoped the sun¡¯s setting rays would illuminate the image I saw just like it did with the river¡­ But by that time, it was too late. What I saw in the mirror was a girl with the deepest, darkest eyes I had ever seen in a human. Eyes that formed pools of black that didn¡¯t seem to have a bottom to them.


    Ah¡­ these eyes of mine¡­ maybe they are another reason my life is like this?


    I continued through many years of pointless schooling. I was never going to leave this valley, why did I need to know any of these things. I could easily make enough to live here by working in one of the surrounding fields. Surprisingly though I didn¡¯t hate it. I made decent grades, but I was never good enough to ever deserve any merit. What was the point of it anyways for somebody like me?


    The only thing I ever actively tried to avoid becoming was¡­ my mother. As I grew older, I came to know how she made her money. Why the women of the town I lived in looked at me as an enemy. And why the men, as I grew older, only seemed to look at me when they thought I wasn¡¯t looking.


    I was sleeping one night in my eighth year of education. I awoke to the door opening and I could hear my mother coming inside. I knew where she had been. What she had been doing. But never before this night had she ever brought her¡­ work¡­ home with her. I pretended to be sleeping in the corner of the room. I could hear whispers coming from the other side of the small room, my mom was lightly laughing and joking with whoever else was there. I heard her refer to me and then a silence filled the air. I thought that they had decided to leave it at that until I felt a hand touch my arm. One much larger than what I was used to. One that I was sure was not my mother¡¯s.


    I quickly got up and pushed the man away from me. I ran outside with tears falling down my face. Replaying the sound of laughter coming from my drunk mother and the man she brought home as he fell over. I sat by the river crying and watching the moonlight hit the water. The reflected light was shining again like the stars in the sky.


    I waited until morning to go back home, a few hours after the sun rose. I returned and met my mother laying with her back against the wall still drunk, her clothes and hair were a mess.


    ¡°Ehh.. Akira huh¡­¡±


    I looked at her in disgust. Asking her with my eyes why. Why would she let that happen. Why would she laugh like that. Why¡­ when I was her daughter¡­


    ¡°Ahh don¡¯t look at me like that. It was your own fault for being here while I was working to keep a roof over your head. You should have let him play a little, we could have gotten some extra cash off him.¡±


    That was the last time I ever wanted to speak with my mother. I would never want to be around her from that day forward. Over the next few years we really didn¡¯t see each other much. She was never at the house anymore. It was fine with me. I was fine with being alone. And with each passing day of being alone, my already dark eyes felt like they only got darker.The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.


    It was the summer of my second year when I went to summer school for the first time. I was never a bad student, so I never had a reason to be forced to attend. The past semester however, ended with my final paper being stolen by a classmate. In the end I found that they never even turned it in to get credit for it. They just tore it up and threw it into the forest. But that was why I was here. I had to take remedial classes or I wouldn¡¯t move on.


    This was fine for me except for that the people who normally were responsible for the things that happened in my life all seemed to be concentrated in one class. Not a big problem. Or rather¡­ that¡¯s what I thought. The girls in my class called me out to the back of the school during lunch one day. More precisely, they called me out because they stole my lunch.


    I may be a lot of things, but I am definitely not one to waste food. So I went to meet them to take back the remainder of my food for the next few days. By this time I had experienced this routine multiple times before. I go, they do what they feel like is the worst thing they can do to me, and in the end I get my lunch back. Rarely does the food ever end up as the victim in these scenarios.


    I went to the back of the school and saw three girls there. They were the ones that sat themselves around me in class, likely to be in close proximity to their target.


    I don¡¯t care, as long as the food isn¡¯t hurt. They laugh and sneer at me.


    ¡°Ah, look! She actually came!¡±


    ¡°Ha! Hilarious!¡±


    ¡°Hey Akira! You want your food back, right?¡±


    I nod my head and they throw my small grey cooler to me.


    Strange¡­ NO! The food inside!


    I quickly check the contents of the box. All food is accounted for and undamaged. Which isn¡¯t much really, just a few slices of bread and water with some sugar in it for taste.


    But then¡­ what are they going to do now? They gave me back my reason for coming here¡­ Isn¡¯t this backwards?


    ¡°OK! She¡¯s here!¡±


    It was then that I understood what was happening. Four of the boy students from the remedial classes came out from behind a corner and from the forest. They were all third year students.


    ¡°Nehhh..! We helped you get her here, now give us our reward!¡±


    ¡°Ya, ya, here¡¯s the money we promised you.¡±


    One of the boys gave some money to the leader of the girl trio.


    ¡°Thank you for your business! Enjoy!¡±


    The girl trio walked away while laughing.


    ¡°Now then¡­ Let¡¯s see¡­ Akira, you have such a nice body despite being from such a dirty mother. Maybe you know some tricks from her?¡±


    ¡°Ya! Maybe you could show them to us? Hmm?¡±


    The boys start surrounding me and backing me up to the wall of the school. The teacher won¡¯t hear me if I scream, and the girls are likely giving their friends here time¡­.


    I see hands reaching out to me¡­ I remember that night long ago¡­ Tears start flowing down my face.


    ¡°Come on! Don¡¯t be like that! Give us a smile! It will feel better soon!¡±


    No¡­ no no no no no please no¡­ I want to cry for help but there is nobody¡­ Nobody¡­ If only there was somebody, just one person I could call for help, maybe my life wouldn¡¯t be this way. Maybe it wouldn¡¯t always turn out like this.


    Tears are rolling down my face as I hold my cooler to my chest. I close my eyes and kick off the back of the building with everything I have. I keep my eyes closed tightly so I don¡¯t have to see them. So I don¡¯t have to see their hands reaching towards me. I run without stopping as fast as I can until I feel the ground fall away beneath me.


    Ah. come to think of it this school was at the top of a slope. At least I didn¡¯t let them touch me...


    And with that thought I began to roll my way down the slope, letting out small screams as I hit various things on the way down. My foot caught on something and it ended up slowing me down considerably. I slid over leaves and dirt and see a tree right in my path. I quickly put my slightly soft cooler in between myself and the tree before I hit it.


    Uhhhgg¡­. Ahh¡­ I¡¯m alive I guess.


    It takes some time to become fully aware of my surroundings. But when I do finally catch my breath and get a look around, I notice something that does not belong in this forest.


    A man in a business suit, a very dirty business suit, is currently laying in front of me. I have been in many forests before considering this city is in the middle of a valley. But this is the first time I have ever met a man in a business suit laying in one of the forests.


    ¡°¡­Hello?¡±


    I look at him, and he looks at me. It is hard to tell who is more confused. The one seeing a man in a business suit laying on the forest floor, or the one who just saw a high school girl slide into a tree.


    ¡°¡­Hi¡­¡±


    Oh! My food!


    I move the cooler out from behind me and immediately the man looks at me intently. Or rather, not at me, but at the cooler.


    Between a man in a business suit laying on the forest floor, or a high school girl laying against a tree, it is hard to tell who is the least fortunate between the two of us.


    I move the cooler around a bit and his eyes continually follow it.


    Ah¡­ I have been in his place before¡­ In that case¡­


    I gave him some of my food and special water.


    He really seemed to enjoy it. At a certain point it almost looked as if he was crying as he ate my meal for the next few days. That is good. It seems I made the right decision. He appreciated it more than I would have.


    We both work on standing up and cleaning ourselves off, and he asks to be shown where the residential area of the city is.


    I lead him to where he wants to go, and he looks at me hesitantly.


    Oi, I don¡¯t have any more food you know.


    He tells me to wait for a moment and he leaves to go do something. When he comes back he has a small bag in his hand. From the smell I already know what it is. It is the old grandma¡¯s taiyaki filled with chocolate. She¡¯s made them on this street for years. I never have the money to buy one, and even if I did, the grandma always gives me bad looks so I am hesitant to speak with her.


    The man looks hesitantly at the bag, then back to me.


    Ah¡­ he wants them. I guess he should have them then.


    But the man instead gave me the bag and all of its contents. I looked inside and saw two chocolate filled taiyaki.


    He let me eat both of them and walked with me all the way back home.


    While this may sound rather pathetic, this was the first time in my life somebody had given me something that could have benefited them. The first time in my life that somebody had thought of me before themselves. Even if it was repayment for the bread and water I gave him earlier, I could tell he wanted it initially. Yet he gave them both to me.


    Tatsuo Kei¡­ Kei¡­ The name of the first person to put me before their self¡­


    Thinking back on it all¡­ Ah¡­ I don¡¯t know¡­ Perhaps, if you were to compare my life to somebody in a different situation, you could say that I have truly lived an unfortunate life. But maybe, just maybe, you could say I have lived the most fortunate life of all. Because nobody who has even grown accustomed to love and kindness will ever be able to taste simple chocolate filled taiyaki as delicious as the two that were given to me that day¡­

 Chapter 8: Tachiko

    The night is dark and the moon in the sky illuminates a large room with a single person in it. They look out onto their city with eyes of greed. Eyes of ambition. Eyes that will never take in enough. Different colored lights can be seen as far as can be seen advertising for only the best of what nightlife has to offer. Cars are busily pushing through streets, people are moving about, and money is being made. Money is always being made. Farther out, near the edge of the city, there is an industrial district which emits plumes of smoke into the sky. Looking another direction reveals a vast expanse of open water. Ships passing in the night are only illuminated by the lights they have on deck and the moon.


    Black smoke rises from the man¡¯s nostrils as he breathes out a long sigh.


    ¡°So, the feeler team was taken out the other day¡­ They say if you want things done right you have to do it yourself. That reminds me though, I still have another option. Maybe I¡¯ll have her help me out a bit this time¡­¡±


    ***


    It¡¯s been several days since we met with Director and Akira officially came to work under me. In that time, we resolved a few things regarding her future and how she would go about living life now.


    Our first point of business was resolving her schedule now that she had a job. It wasn¡¯t like her school didn¡¯t allow jobs. In fact, most of the students there worked around the city in some way or another.


    The issue came with the nature of her job. Working for City Management basically meant giving all your time and effort to the city you worked for. I wanted to leave the decision up to her. In the end, she personally decided that it would be best for her to leave school for now. She reasoned that if she felt like she needed to learn something later, she could always go back.


    The second issue revolved around our living situation. Now that we had decided to work together, and she knew that I didn¡¯t have a room to stay in permanently, Akira suggested that I continue using the room I was currently in under the condition that we knock down the wall between our two rooms to make one large room. At first I opposed this due to¡­. obvious privacy issues, but over the past few days I really have come to enjoy having somebody to come home to and talk with. I suggested moving out once and finding a new place, but she insisted on staying in this particular location. I have no idea why, but when I asked her all she did was smile and look into a mirror for a bit before shooting the idea down.


    Due to us living in the same place as we had been, I had been keeping an eye out for people who might be linked to the people who took Akira. Unfortunately, there weren¡¯t any leads. Even asking around town and probing and using some of my abilities to make the citizens more willing to speak with me, I still couldn¡¯t find anything out. It seemed like the people around town didn¡¯t even recognize descriptions of the people I saw that night.


    Another person I was keeping an eye out for was Akira¡¯s mother. I felt like this subject just remained unspoken of between Akira and me. I didn¡¯t know what I was going to do when I found her, if I ever did find her. I just knew that somewhere inside me, emotions from that night still lingered. The feelings I felt gnawed at me in my dreams as if they were still searching for a loose end. I knew that one day I would have to face them again to tie up those loose ends. All in time though¡­


    For now, it was time for Akira¡¯s ¡°daily lessons¡±.


    From the moment we got out of the office, Akira had jumped into trying to flesh out the extent of her new found abilities. After seeing me that night when I came to save her, and recognizing some of the other times I had used my ability to manipulate people in front of her, she really seemed to be excited about what she could possibly do¡­. Which after a few attempts starting from the old man at the convenience store and ending at the old grandma¡¯s taiyaki stand, we found out was actually nothing.


    Akira tried multiple times, by of course having me ¡°adjust¡± the memory of the taiyaki grandma, but she just couldn¡¯t do the things that seemed to be standard for me.


    Today after another attempt at the taiyaki stand, she walked up to me with nothing to show for it and we began walking around the streets of the city.


    ¡°Kei¡­ I don¡¯t know what it is! I¡¯ve tried and tried. I thought about getting free taiyaki. I asked for free taiyaki. I commanded the old lady to give me some taiyaki. I even started to beg her at the end, Kei. How do you do it¡­?¡±


    ¡°Akira, it¡¯s fine. I¡¯m sure you¡¯ll get the hang of it soon enough. For all we know it could be me that is the bottle neck to your progress.¡±


    Though when I say that, I don¡¯t believe in it firmly. After watching Akira attempt the taiyaki hurdle multiple times, I get the feeling that what she is lacking isn¡¯t desire¡­ but instead, maybe it¡¯s confidence? While looking at her trying to get the taiyaki, the first thing I notice that differs from myself is the way the taiyaki grandma receives her.


    Or rather, how most of the people in the town act when they see her. They seem put off by her almost from the very beginning for some reason. Much unlike me whom they greet and treat normally. Due to that cold, initial greeting from people, Akira also seems to lose confidence in the way she talks and acts.


    But even when I first got here, I had no idea what I was doing and had no confidence in myself or my abilities so I¡¯m not sure if this is really the issue.


    ¡°I just wish that I could at least get some taiyaki for us. Then I feel like I could be of some use.¡±


    ¡°You are being ¡®of use¡¯ to me though. You are helping me solve our number one problem!¡±


    I strike a ¡°guts¡± pose and smile.


    ¡°We have to figure out how to stimulate the economy of this town. I¡¯ve looked around and found that we are surrounded by a lot of mediocrity in terms of production here. The crops grow just enough for people to live on. The towns people produce enough every day necessities to live. Anything else is normally bought at the corner store which receives it¡¯s shipments from another city. Basically¡­ this town as a whole has no real profit.¡±


    ¡°So it¡¯s really just a cycle of money going round and round then¡­¡±


    ¡°Exactly. What we need is to bring money in from other places. We need a specialty. Something that is going to attract people. I¡¯ve thought of digging for oil, or turning this city into an industrial region, but that takes away from the number one item that our city has going for it. It¡¯s nature.¡±


    ¡°Ya¡­ but do we even have something like that here? I mean, I¡¯ve lived here my whole life but I really haven¡¯t seen anything special being produced here.¡±


    If that was the case, then the special product idea to boost our economy was going to have to wait a while. We needed something that could only be found here to attract people from outside areas. Then we needed to publicize that one thing by word of mouth and other outlets to really get some cash flow going.


    ¡°Uwaaaa¡­ This is just a bit harder than I thought it would be. I mean, looking around, everything looks beautiful here. There has to be something that we are missing that can generate some revenue for us. Do you know of any attractions people might be interested in? Maybe a haunted shrine? Or a mythical creature sighting?¡±


    ¡°Hmm.. oh! What about the seven legends of Haila Academy?¡±


    ¡°OK! Now we¡¯re getting somewhere! Tell me about those!¡±


    ¡°Well, the first one is about the taiyaki grandma. I heard that she¡¯s always been on that street selling the same thing every day. Even if nobody comes by for days!¡±


    ¡°That sounds more like a health hazard concerning expired food to me¡­ What¡¯s the next one?


    ¡°The second one involves the crops here! They say that there is always a little more yield than they expect each harvest time.¡±


    ¡°ehh¡­ That sounds like a good thing, lets skip that for now.¡±Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.


    ¡°To tell you the truth, that¡¯s really all I know¡­¡±


    ¡°What happened to the other five!?¡±


    I give her a quick retort.


    ¡°Well, nobody wanted to talk about them with me around so I only ever got to hear about the first two so¡­¡±


    ¡°Ah¡­ you had it hard too, huh¡­¡±


    Let¡¯s move on from this topic for Akira¡¯s sake.


    ¡°So what we have so far is no real resources to speak of, no real markets to feasibly move into, and no real attractions to bring people to this town besides it¡¯s great scenery. This is leading me to one other option.¡±


    ¡°What is that?¡±


    ¡°Let¡¯s go bring some economic stimulation from somewhere else!¡±


    A few hours later, Akira and I are rocking around in the back of a small truck. I looked at Akira, now dressed in different clothes.


    As it turns out, the convenience store old man¡¯s wife had a matching suit to the one he had given me that she of course no longer needed, and that he (after some ¡°convincing¡±) let Akira wear. Though it didn¡¯t fit perfectly, she looked happy to be able to wear something that made her feel like she was working for a company. Her pencil skirt on top of black leggings with a black blazer that covered a white shirt with the top button undone gave Akira a more mature feeling than the normal high school girl look I was used to seeing. On the other hand, my suit was still in dismal condition, but I wore it because I had no other option at the moment.


    The man driving the truck was somebody who had passed by us on the road and I waved to the side. He was a nice farmer who was just driving back from his field when he happened to pass by, and I asked him to take us to our next destination.


    The place we were going was called Tachiko. I had heard about it from some of the people around Haila as I was digging for information on the whereabouts of the people who had taken Akira. It was the closest ¡°modern¡± city to our little piece of nature at about a four hour drive away from Haila. From what I could gather, it was basically the place where people went if they wanted a night out, or a day trip.


    ¡°We¡¯re just about there!¡±


    The old man said that and I could see the city coming into view down the road.


    Akira was eagerly looking over the top of the truck with her hair blowing in the wind as the new city got closer and closer to us. Apparently, she never had the opportunity to come here before, so she was very excited about coming here now.


    We passed a sign reading ¡°Welcome to Tachiko¡±. A cold feeling passed over me quickly, followed by one of isolation. It was as if I was completely alone in a world that was bright, open, and warm only a few seconds ago.


    I felt my breathing get faster and my heart start pounding. I put my head into my knees and started to curl into a ball. I felt like I needed to make myself smaller, unnoticeable. I needed to hide. Something was coming. Something was looking at me.


    Someone knows I am here.


    ¡°Kei? Kei! Are you ok?¡±


    When I look up Akira is next to me, her hand is on my knee and she is looking at me with concern.


    She breathes a sigh of relief as I look at her, and right about then the small truck begins to slow down and stop.


    ¡°Ehh¡­ Honestly I don¡¯t know why I came out here¡­ But you both should go now, this is where you wanted, right?¡±


    What¡­? He doesn¡¯t know? I should have already told him when we were still in the city though.


    Akira and I get out of back and the driver gives a small nod then drives off back to Haila.


    ¡°Well that was rude! He didn¡¯t even take us into the city yet!¡±


    Looking around I noticed that he really didn¡¯t. We were still within walking distance of actually going into what I could see was a small residential area, with a few larger buildings behind them.


    ¡°He didn¡¯t¡­ Akira, watch for anything out of the ordinary as we move into this city. I don¡¯t know what about it I don¡¯t like, but we should assume that this won¡¯t play out like it would in Haila.¡±


    ¡°Un.. I¡¯ll do that¡±


    Akira answers me with a serious look and we move into the city.


    Walking down the streets, and going deeper in, it¡¯s almost a culture shock for me as I have grown accustomed to the quiet life of Haila. A few cars are passing by, and there are many more people outside than I ever saw walking the streets in Haila. There were areas of densely packed people walking side by side, and some streets that looked like the might offer us an alternate path around the pack.


    I looked back at Akira and saw her staring around in wonder. If I thought this felt weird and I had only been in Haila for less than a month, I can¡¯t even begin to imagine what Akira must be feeling right now.


    ¡°Akira, we can look around a bit more later. For now, lets try to avoid the crowds, something doesn¡¯t feel right to me.¡±


    ¡°Ok, Kei. All I can really say about all this is ¡®Wow¡­¡¯ I never thought so many people could be walking on the street at the same time before¡­¡±


    ¡°Ya, it¡¯s pretty amazing isn¡¯t it. One day Haila might have this many people walking around it.¡±


    I look at her with a smile and think about how happy I am to have Akira with me to make that dream a reality.


    We continue down the less populated streets, trying to not get too close to populated areas as much as possible.


    The feeling from before is still present, however. It is making me want to hide. To find a small dark space and curl up in it to avoid being so exposed.


    After a few more turns we make our way onto a large street with buildings lining each side. The sky was blue, the streets were clean, the sidewalk on either side was decorated with trees and various store fronts. But as we walked down this street there was one thing missing.


    Where are all the people¡­ It¡¯s the middle of the day, there should be some people on this street but there¡¯s nobody!


    I am fully alert at this point. Akira can see that I am tense and that only makes her more wary of our surroundings. We are both looking around trying to find any forms of life.


    I can¡¯t even see any birds or other animals on the street. It is completely empty. Completely devoid of everything.


    As I was thinking that thought I see movement. From behind every corner, coming out of every shop. In a matter of seconds we are surrounded completely.


    People, both male and female, all dressed in fine black business attire. They stood at the ready and their circle closed in on us.


    ¡°Akira, don¡¯t worry, we are going to be ok.¡±


    I give Akira a reassuring look and a small smile.


    She responds by grasping my hand and squeezing it.


    What do you mean ¡®We¡¯ll be ok.¡¯?! What will be ok!? These people obviously are bad news no matter how much you look at it. I need to find a way to buy some time¡­. Or find a way to make sure they don¡¯t take care of us right here!


    A representative steps forward from the group. A tall, muscular man with sunglasses on addresses us.


    Akira and I both look at each other and nod knowingly.


    ¡°¡±He¡¯s so bald!!!¡±¡±


    The baldy speaks:


    ¡°Both of you: state your business here. Let it be known that a less than favorable answer will have dire consequences.¡±


    The man moves his clothes around slightly along with the others in the group. They are armed. All of them. Some have guns, some have knives. Some don¡¯t seem to have anything, but they appear confidant that they don¡¯t need anything.


    I take a breath and begin to speak.


    ¡°I.. We, just came from a neighboring city, Hai-¡°


    ¡°We know you¡¯re from another city! The question is, why are you in this one!¡±


    ¡°We were looking for something to help our city thrive. We thought we might be able to find something here.¡±


    I can gather from the feel I am getting from these people that they are in some way related to my ¡°line of work¡±. So telling them the truth might be a way to get them to understand what we are here for.


    ¡°So, you think you can just come in and take it from us then?! You think you have the right to come and deprive us of the things we have worked so hard for just because you don¡¯t have them?!¡±


    ¡°No, I-¡°


    ¡°I don¡¯t want to hear it! In fact, I¡¯ve heard enough! Those that come to take from Tachiko, that come and take from our boss, they end up dead! At the ready!!¡±


    On baldy¡¯s signal the people around us raise their weapons.


    ¡°Aim true, we don¡¯t know what this one is capable of! Don¡¯t let them off lightly!¡±


    ¡°Wait, I really think that-¡°


    ¡°Take your marks! Read-!¡±


    ¡°WAIT!¡±


    Akira screams as loud as she can to grab the baldy¡¯s attention.


    ¡°Wait! You have it wrong! We didn¡¯t come here to take anything! We just want to establish some sort of mutual relationship!¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s right! We obviously can¡¯t expect a one-sided relationship! We never had the intention of harming this city or your boss!¡±


    The man paused for a moment and considered it.


    Akira and I let loose some of the tension we were holding in.


    ¡°You¡­ you thought I would fall for such a lame excuse! An excuse like that has already been used once before, and there is no way I¡¯ll ever make that mistake again! Ready!!¡±


    ¡°WAIT! You can take me but let her go. She doesn¡¯t deserve this! Please!¡±


    ¡°NO! Please let him go! I promise that taking me will be much better for you! I¡¯ll do anything so please let Kei go!¡±


    ¡°¡­ Kei, huh¡­ At least I know the name of the man I am about to kill! Ready! Fi-¡°


    Akira and I squeeze our hands together one last time, and I move my body to try to shield hers as best as possible.


    But the sound we are both waiting for doesn¡¯t come.


    I can feel Akira¡¯s small body shaking in my arms, and she looks up at me with tears in her eyes. I look down at her with a confused expression, and then out towards our assailants.


    I can see baldy standing still in front of us. Nobody is moving. And then suddenly¡­


    ¡°Follow me. The boss would like to see you both.¡±


    Akira and I both look at each other hesitantly.


    ¡°You have no choice, you come, or you die here.¡±


    We began to follow the group down the street to a tall building. From seeing the city once from a distance, I notice that this is the tallest building in the city.


    They take us into the building and up an elevator to the top floor. Finally they bring us in front of two large oak doors and the baldy and another suit open the doors for us.


    ¡°Go in, the boss will see you now.¡±


    We go into the room and the baldy and extra suit follow us in.


    The room is large. It seems like it takes up the entire top floor. There is a window that wraps around on all sides so you can see the entire city.


    A woman is standing with her back towards us as she is looking out on the city. She is wearing a long purple dress, and has dark black hair that is curled slightly at the ends and extends down to her waist. If I were to describe her figure, I would say it is a ¡°mature sexy¡± more than anything else.


    She turns to us. Her purple dress moves like water over her body and the front exposes most of her upper chest.


    She gives Akira and I a small smile and says one thing in a clear voice:


    ¡°Welcome to Tachiko.¡±