— Hello, Higashi-san. My name is Nemoto Taro, and I represent the company to Shidotemor," Taro said, sitting down at a table standing close to the bars.
An unremarkable twenty-five-year-old guy was looking at him from the other side. Black tousled hair, short haircut, black eyes and the face of a middle-level clerk who used to bend under everyone. A typical representative of office plankton in Japan, and maybe not only. And you can't say that this man killed his wife and her lover. But he still managed to do it without evidence clearly pointing to him, well, or quickly remove them after the murder.
—Hello,— Higashi replied wearily.
— I won't beat around the bush, I'll tell you straight. I came here to offer you a job according to your profile.
In response, the guy just sighed and said one word:
— Conditions?
— Hmm. The usual ones," Nemoto said carefully. It seemed that the prisoner had been approached with a similar offer ten times. — I think you should be satisfied with the same conditions as in your previous job.
— And what, no restrictions? A meager salary? Passport retention? A shock collar?
— What, excuse me? A collar?
— Here before you came already, and more than once. But their working conditions put me in the position of a slave. Of course, they can also be understood, but I'd rather rot here than go to such a thing.
— However. No, Higashi-san. My suggestions are quite common. I, like my boss, believe that people of your professionalism, and your specialty, what can I say, should work only voluntarily. Otherwise, it will not bring anything good. Us first. In principle, I have only one condition, not even a condition, but ... a wish, a request — an answer must be given at this meeting of ours.
— What's the rush? Higashi asked suspiciously.
— Something is going to happen in the near future that will stir up the stock exchange. And we will have some advantage in time.
— How much… How soon?
— If everything works out, then next night. As you understand, we will have an income from this business, but with a financier of your level it will be ... we will be much calmer.
Closing his eyes tightly for a couple of seconds, Higashi looked at Taro again:
— We will prescribe the working conditions here and now.
- of course. All the papers are with me.
An hour after the meeting, Taro was leaning against the car, waiting for Higashi to be released from prison.
"It's good that I wasn't born in the States. There I would have to wander around the city, punching release documents, paying bail, settling various little things… And here everything is right at the place of residence. True, I had to pay more, but this is a premium for speed. I think the boss will understand everything correctly."
Yeah, boss. Nemoto grew up in a prosperous family. My father managed to get to the position of director of the bank from the very bottom, having nothing at all behind his soul. He managed to acquire connections, earn a name, and accumulate considerable capital. As a child, Taro literally idolized his father, intending to follow in his footsteps and also become the head of the bank. Fortunately, the father's position created all the prerequisites. Time passed, and the attitude towards the head of the family did not change, only added a huge respect for a person who began to understand how difficult it is to break through from below. And every year the respect only grew stronger.
Taro graduated from high school with honors, after which his father seriously engaged in his upbringing, which his mother had previously paid attention to. And he gladly absorbed the worldly wisdom poured out on him by his father. And every year, every month, every day, he realized more and more clearly that he could not rise above his father. The director of the maximum bank, and even that is not a fact. And he wanted more. He wanted to repeat the feat, otherwise you can't say, and from the very bottom to get to the same peaks, and maybe even higher. But this cannot be achieved in banking, because he already has a lot of support there, and a high post is somehow provided for him. To rise above the father... alas, only the aristocracy is higher. Highborn, which he will never become. If everything goes the way it is, the most he will get from his father is respect, and he wanted him
to be proud
of him.
In the second year of high school, there was a case when one of the classmates, looking into Taro's eyes, said that he could not surpass Namoto Sr., our world was not the same. And the guy bit the bit. A conversation took place at home, in which the son expressed his unwillingness to follow his father's path and his determination to leave the institute. Yeah, it was a loud evening. Over the next year and a half, he mastered not only the entire course of high school, but also half of the institute — the fact that he did not want to go there did not mean that he did not understand the importance of knowledge, besides, you can graduate from the institute and external, which, in fact, he was going to do.
He got to the boss... unexpectedly. He came to get a job as a manager in a small company with huge, as he believed, potential. He went without much hope, not expecting to get to the position he wanted, he was too young, and there was no higher education yet. But it was necessary to leave an application, he was quite willing to take a clerk's place, and indeed any one. Therefore, he took the offer to work as a courier quite calmly, but the person who will give orders somewhat puzzled him. Kid. A schoolboy who does not look like a boss at all, and at the same time is not even an aristocrat! And that's how to address him? The respectful suffix "san" from an eighteen-year-old boy somehow did not suit a small kid, but a familiar appeal to the boss… So the neutral "boss" appeared. Now he understands that it was a manifestation of the childishness of a teenager who had just graduated from school, but somehow it just... stuck.
At first, Taro, as expected, performed courier services — to deliver papers, deliver a package. But over time, the tasks became more complicated and expanded. Bring-take a person, order a place in a restaurant, arrange a meeting. More and more often, he began to attend meetings with the boss, as if he was being brought up to date, preparing for something more.
A year later, Taro personally supervised several cases that were not related to the activities of Shidotemoru, but which were easier for an adult to deal with than for a high school student. Every day his respect for this boy grew more and more. And gradually it came to the realization that in fact he did not know anything about his boss and his affairs. And I really wanted to find out, not out of curiosity, but out of a desire to stand next to. He felt with all his being that it was here, together with the guy who in his early years achieved all this without the support of even his parents who had gone somewhere, that Taro would surpass his father. And the more he learned about the boss and his life, the more his faith grew. There is nothing to say about the growing respect. He wanted to be at the right hand of the boss, to become a part of this force growing day by day, he wanted to be a servant of Sakurai Shinji, a loyal samurai of his master. And today he indicated his desire, and the boss, he saw, was not against it. It remains only to prove that he is worthy, and he will prove it. It doesn't matter how long it takes. A huge respect for his father remained, but Namoto Taro began to worship a completely different person.
* * *
Kagami, without paleva so, perched at the very sliding door, sitting on her knees, before spreading out cups of tea and sweets on a low table. I wonder if she always has a reserve for such a case, or did she cook it specially today? Kenta and Akeno fell next to the table, from which Kagami's husband immediately grabbed vagashi in the form of a peach, and Kenta reached for tea. Personally, I aimed at daifuku, they are sweeter than wagashi in every way. The conversation itself took place in a large room furnished in traditional Japanese style, with access to the courtyard, chandeliers similar to Japanese lanterns, and swords in a special niche. Sitting on a special pillow, he put the knife case on the table and pushed it towards Kenta.
— Here, — I nodded, — it doesn't suit me anyway, but I think it won't be superfluous for you. And somehow I don't want to sell this thing.
I specifically chose an informal style of communication: and so the petitioner, and if you also take it seriously ...
— Hmm, — said Kenta, opening the case. Then he took out a knife and twisted it in his hands. —It's... very expensive."
— I have enough of what I have.
"An artifact?" Akeno asked. And, having received an affirmative nod from his father, he continued: "Then you probably just don't fully understand, Shinji,
how
expensive this thing is.
— Well, don't take me for an idiot at all. I understand everything. By the way, I'll say right away that I have no idea what this knife does.
"It doesn't matter, Shinji, it doesn't matter," Kenta said thoughtfully and handed the artifact to his son. "But that's not what you wanted to talk about, is it?"
—Yes," I sighed. — I have a request for you. I wouldn't bother you with it, but, unfortunately, I don't have much time," and fell silent, wondering how to continue. Still, I don't like to ask, especially from such personalities, and even taking into account the limited time…
— Come on, man, don't be shy. The more we can, the more we will help! Akeno said. And he stopped abruptly, noticing Kagami's reproachful look.
Eh, how to get started? Ah, to hell with it!
— I need to get to the Glass Party.
— Where to? Kenta and Akeno asked in unison.
— Um... crystal evening?
— A-a-a ... — again in chorus, the men drawled.
And already one Kenta has finished:
— I see.
"You have interesting desires,— Akeno continued. And he asked cunningly: — Do you like poker?
— Yes, somehow not very. I'm telling you, I
need
to get there.
"Do you know we're going to have to vouch for you?" Kenta asked.
- yes.
— And you know what you can't do, too?
— In general.
- hm.
Apparently, the head of the Koyama clan did not like such an indefinite answer.
— Come on, Father. I'm sure the guy won't let us down. He has brains, and there are not so many rules there. And they are easy to explain.
— It's not just about the rules, but also about his behavior.
But I
really
didn't like that.
— What are you doing, old man? Akeno was surprised by his father's words.