Chapter Fifteen

The next day I remembered to bring the key that Suki gave to me, and I won’t pretend I wasn’t a little smug about that. ‘I’m responsible!’ I thought, teasing myself over something silly and small, and turned the key with a click to open up the store. I whistled when I walked in, this time I was early. I had something to do after all. I went to the register, took the envelope full of cash, and then after taking a bank statement off the desk in Suki’s office, I left and locked up.

I went to the bank and got there right as they opened, a slender woman in a knee length dress with short black hair met me with a smile. “Can I help you?” She asked, and I slid the envelope across the marble countertop to where she stood.

“I need to make a deposit into this account.” I then slid the statement across to her and waited.

I very much enjoyed her shocked expression, while the amount wasn’t ‘massive’ it was probably more than Suki had deposited at one time in a very long while.

“There was a long term debt that was cleared off her books yesterday.” I explained with a sweet smile spreading over my face, I had to really work not to laugh at the memory of those poor confused Yakuza trying to fight an otherworldly monster.

Part of me still regretted leaving them alive. But I reminded myself that they would almost certainly have gotten police attention to ‘handle’ me if it came down to it, and I didn’t want any official records getting unwelcome attention on my vacations.

The woman brightened up a fair bit and swiftly completed counting out the cash. “It will be available for use within the next hour.” She promised. “Thank you for doing business with us.” She said, and after taking a receipt for the amount I said…

“A pleasure. Have a nice day.” And walked back out.

Setup in the store that morning was easy, a quick laying out of stuff, I had no idea what she wanted to put on sale, so I just didn’t do any. There were a few things that I probably could discount that had a bunch of sales, however I didn’t like the idea of putting something on sale when there wasn’t much inventory in the first place.

So I just… did one more quick wipe down, and then rushed to the bento boxes and began setting out food to cook and putting together as many to-go boxes as I could. ‘I should have just taken the money yesterday, then I could have teleported to the bank and then back again… now I have to rush.’ I huffed.

“No wonder places hire people to do this stuff…” I mumbled under my breath as the first customers came in for the day. “Welcome to Toriyama’s.” I said and went to the register.

The first was a young man, barely of age to hold a job out of high school, obviously wearing a suit belonging to his father, given the ill fit, he looked frankly silly. Gangly and still growing, a sheepish awkward look on his face. I’d been around enough humans to read him, and knew he knew how ridiculous he looked in that shabby gray thing with his hair slick to excess and his face not as well shaved as it should have been.

“I’m ah… a little short.” He mumbled, and for this I knew just what to do. I reached for a clipboard and slid it across to him.

“Write your name and what you got, just come back and pay for it later.” I said. Suki had done the same thing for me when I got to Earth, while I was still figuring out how money worked here and everything. Honestly this place was a big part of the reason I could relax as much as I did after a hard week of painting.

It’s always easiest to relax, even for a swapper, when you’re around people who you just know want you to do well.

His voice cracked a little when he said, “Thank you.” His stomach rumbled again, and he scribbled out some information that I didn’t bother to check. I probably should have, but I wasn’t worried, worst case scenario, I’d cover it. I couldn’t help myself. I smiled as warmly as I could, reached out my hand and said, “Good luck.” while touching his arm. [D’oog kul] I cast the spell very quietly, whispering the words so softly he wouldn’t hear them, and accepted the pen back from his hand as soon as he was done.

I doubted I’d need to cover it. But even so?

The routine had to be kept up, so I waved goodbye and the other young men and women rushing through their morning routines rushed to the counter for whatever last minute things they needed.

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A few women visited to buy their detergent for the common wash, some with small children on their hips and looking relieved to see that the prices hadn’t somehow gone up overnight. I wondered what it was like for them… to be honest I’d never really given that much thought to how everybody else lived their lives.

I was a happy NEET, after all. It didn’t occur to me that the people in Shinjai were struggling. I had to wonder, ‘How much of that was because of the Yakuza coming around here and taking money from these little family businesses?’

I might have inadvertently solved a number of problems by addressing this one. Maybe they’d still be back, but I had my doubts. If they were, then I’d have to deal with them with greater harshness.

The day went by faster than you might think, like… faster than a session binge watching that show about the pharmacist who knew lots of modern stuff that has been on my list of things to watch for… I dunno, at least a month now?

Once I was alone and things began to settle down, I went back to the rear office and began calling up numbers and paying past due bills. I didn’t sit down, it just didn’t feel right… plus her chair was just… awful.

Looking around the mess I could only feel worse, like I’d been taking advantage of the Toriyama kindness for a while now, and not really given anything back.

Okay, I was helping now. But that was just so I wouldn’t be inconvenienced.

“Yes, pay in full. And can you arrange a delivery tomorrow for restocking?” I said to the representative over the phone. “Yes I’ll pay up front this time. Use this account number…” I read it off and moved on to the next one before more customers could appear.

As I began to stack up paid bills in one clean corner of the old work desk, I found something unexpected.

A bin, one of those shallow desk bins made of wood that were just a little larger than paper. It was buried under the incoming bills…and that’s what it was labeled.

It took a while, but I gradually exposed its mate, an ‘outgoing/paid’ labeled bin, and I began to use that instead.

By the time Jin came in, I was nearly done. “Kayobi… what are you doing back there?” He asked, he had a mix of horror and confusion on his face when he saw the phone in my right hand and the letter of lateness in the other.

“Yes, go ahead and pay that now. It’s fine, and up front for the rest, go ahead and charge it.” I then wrote down the confirmation number, hung up the phone, and set the letter and the phone down.

“Just paying the bills, I saw that some were late, so I took care of it.” I said, and the blood drained from his face.

“But… but we don’t… there’s no money… what have you done…” He whispered, and I thought the poor boy was going to faint.

“Of course there was.” I said as I walked past him to go to the register. “There was an envelope full of cash right here.” I replied, and he blinked dumbly for several seconds.

“But that was… that had a special purpose, there’s ah… a cost of business in Shinjai that ah… it isn’t on paper.” He cleared his throat and started to shake from head to toe.

“No, there’s not.” I said and flicked my hair back. “I took care of it.”

Jin’s mouth dropped, “I… what? With… I don’t… what do you mean you took care of it?” He emphasized.

“Oh, a few men came by yesterday morning,” I gave a casual shrug, “I stopped by their building yesterday evening, I had a conversation with their bossman, and now the problem is solved.”

His brow furrowed, “You’re joking, right?” He asked.

“No.” I said and waved to another young customer, “Welcome to Toriyama’s!”

Jin stared at me until the customer was gone, then said, “I need to know what you did.”

“No, you don’t.” I replied. “You had a problem. I did something, and now that problem does not exist. You worry too much. All you need to know is that the debt is cleared and it will not be coming back. So with what used to be paid, I’ve now paid off most of the bills. I also went ahead and reordered the usual goods, that way you’ll stay fully stocked.”

“But-” Jin started to speak, but I cut him off.

“Nope.” I quipped and said, “No buts. The problem is solved, now why are you even here? Go visit your mother, I’ll cover the store for a few more hours, I’ll let you handle the lock up if you really insist.”

“I… you’re the best, Kayobi!” He shouted with glee and all but ran out of the store.

“I know. It’s true. I am the best.” I said to myself, sure that he hadn’t heard me or seen what was probably a goofy grin on my face.

Oddly enough, it felt pretty good to help out.

But I still wanted to watch my favorite shows…

‘I’ll watch some tonight, after a quick call to Celia.’ I promised myself, and went to wipe down the counter again.