「An experiment?」 Mieko shook her head, eyes closed as she wracked her mind for some sort of explanation Kazuma could possibly throw her way. 「What kind of experiment?」

Kazuma gently hung his hands behind his back, fingers lacing together as he formulated a simple yet accurate explanation to give Mieko.

「I will be giving him a certain amount of money and advice towards whatever business venture he and I will pursue.」

「How much money?」

Kazuma felt the muscles in his back tense as he felt Mieko's feet tap in place.

「A respectable amount which I will not be disclosing, I'm sorry to say.」

Even though he had become aware of the Hamptons due to Mieko's sob story, he refused to divulge to her the amount of money he had agreed to give to Mister Hampton. The generous amount Kazuma had offered surprised even himself as the numbers fell from his mouth and onto paper; if it was enough to surprise Kazuma, he knew Mieko's father would wring his neck should Mieko ever crack and tell him.

Taking a breath before continuing, Kazuma's eyes fell to the ground, studying the darkened lines in the tatami flooring.

「And in return for the money, combined with my guidance and advice, he is to remunerate me thirty percent of his profits starting on the first day of the second month from when his business opens, or when he finds employment with my help.」

「Thirty percent!?」

Raising his gaze to the ceiling, Kazuma rolled his eyes at Mieko's shrill cry of disbelief. Truly, for such a somber man her father had raised a drama queen.

「Yes, thirty percent. With the amount of risk involved in this investment I should have requested more, really. There’s only so many clients that I’m willing to introduce Alfred to.」 He bobbed his head to the side as he found Mieko right next to him, her mouth bit shut and eyes stormy with anguish.

「Kazuma, he has a family to feed!」

「All the more reason he was wise in accepting my offer.」 A shrug of his shoulders accompanied his collected defense. 「A sliver of a chance at survival is better than none, wouldn't you say?」

Mieko couldn't believe what she was hearing. She peered out the window, trying to collect her own thoughts while a tiny bird flew past her line of sight and onto the branch of a nearby tree.

With every second of feeling Kazuma's steely gaze, she quickly found herself wishing to grow some wings of her own.

Her voice came as a shallow murmur, practically inaudible to Kazuma's ears only inches away. 「But how is this an experiment?」

He had to admit to himself, the tiny quiver in Mieko's voice was almost enough to make Kazuma call off the whole ordeal completely. The tears or whimpers of others were never enough to sway him one way or the other, but Mieko had always been the exception.

But he couldn't call it off. Quite honestly, he didn't want to, and he knew that no matter the outcome between him and Mister Hampton, Mieko would never want to either so long as having an outlet to speak English and meeting Lucy and Yuko were in the picture.

「Hm.」 Kazuma lightly nudged her fidgeting hand beside him, a faint gesture of comfort she would hopefully accept. 「Have you ever heard of the investor having full control of the business?」

He held his breath, surprised to see her jaw slackened and eyes glazed instead of her usual intrigue.

「No. Let me guess, you gave him a 'respectable amount' of money in exchange for total control?」

Again, Mieko couldn't believe her ears. Heck, it was her own words that were numbing her!

A hard slap on her hunched shoulder lured her out of her apathetic daze, her eyes again finding their way up to Kazuma's beaming face.

「You guessed it! I knew there was always a noggin for money underneath that girlish exterior!」

「Gee, thanks.」 She shoved her shoulder away from his hand; one that provided her comfort so many times before now felt like an unwelcome patronizing weight. 「I'll forever hold your words of encouragement close to my heart, Kazuma. I’ll be sure to mention them at your funeral.」

「Despite your unfounded worries about tobacco, Micchan, I refuse to kick the bucket until I see the end of this little game.」

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Something didn't feel right about this. Mieko should be happy, she was happy originally, that Kazuma and Alfred were able to sign off on a deal they both agreed upon.

But now being presented with all of the information in private sans any rose-colored hues, she found her initial joy and glee steadily and completely falling towards unease and agitation.

「You say you'll have total control over them, but does Al have any ideas about what he wants to do?」

An ominous chuckle slithered up Mieko's spine as Kazuma shook his head.

「Me taking control was actually his idea. You see, after one conversation with me, my guess is that he was able to come to his senses.」

Mieko's hands began to scratch at her chest.

「Come to his senses about what, exactly?」

A scoff rumbled from his throat.

「About needing another man to step in and help his family. One who actually has money and a brain to make more, to be specific.」

「Hm.」

Mieko knew Kazuma was a confident man, but he seemed to be on some kind of pompous, conceit-induced high – something she had never been witness to before. And now that he was again staring right at her, she wondered, was this how Lucy - and anyone who did business with Kazuma - felt when he came around? Anxious and irked and-

A little frightened?

「Oh, come now." Kazuma groaned as his elbow weaseled its way to jab at her side once more. 「Why the long face, Micchan? You haven't even heard the best part yet!」

Oh no.

「You mean there's more?」

「Oh-ho, we've barely scratched the surface.」

Oh no.

「Thanks to you, Mieko.」 A tiny squeak could be heard from Mieko as Kazuma used two fingers to pinch the tender flesh of her cheek. 「I've discovered a venture where I cannot lose. Say Mister Hampton isn’t successful, he still willingly agreed to pay me back three times what I gave him originally. With interest, no less.」

The slight sting from his fingers numbed the impact of his words.

Was he going insane?

「Kazuma.」 Mieko muffled through a lopsided mouth. 「If he doesn't have a business or job, that means he has no means of making money.」

「Smart girl!」 He allowed himself a laugh as Mieko visibly grew increasingly confused and agitated, his guilty pleasure of teasing her overtaking his better sense to be straightforward rather than cryptic.

That was the last straw for her. Nobody, especially not him, was going to keep patronizing her with surface-level compliments.

She staggered backwards as she flung his wrist away, her own hand shooting up to ease the dull ache on her cheek. 「So how do you expect him to pay you back if he has nothing to pay you with, genius!?」

「Mieko, it’s me! Surely I can come up with something to keep this bunch afloat! The payback with interest is merely a fallback for a highly unlikely situation.」

He threw his arms up, leaving Mieko at the window as he spun towards the room's entrance.

In a drastic case, money wan't necessarily the only currency Kazuma was open to accepting. But he decided to keep that bit to himself.

「After all, that's why you called on me and not just any old salaryman, right?」

His grin was infectious, and he and Mieko both knew it. Hands now clasped at the sides of her waist, Mieko shook her head as a tiny grin of her own snuck its way up from her frown.

「Yes...I guess so. Just-」 Her head shot down momentarily, the rush of new information and new emotions still taking their toll on her.

「Just try to help them, Kazuma, please. Not run them down, okay?」

The defeated lilt at the end of Mieko's plea caused his chest to tighten, rousing a protective instinct that had been latent ever since he had left her years ago.

Kazuma let out a sigh as he found himself right back at the window with an arm around Mieko's frame.

「I'll do everything in my power to help them, Mieko.」 She nodded her head as his hand lightly squeezed her upper arm. 「But I need you to understand, too, that this is a very large risk for me.」

She didn’t say anything, rather, she wasn’t expected to say anything–her steadied breathing and little nod was all Kazuma needed.

The two of them stood in silence for a moment, their only company the faint reflection beaming from the window in front of them.

「Don't worry. I meant what I said – I'm certain I can drum up something.」 Kazuma searched her face for any sign of reaffirmation from his words.

A blank face.

Another shove to her shoulder. 「Come on, Micchan.」

He knew better than anyone that his confidence could be read as arrogance. And he also knew that he could get ahead of himself more than he cared to admit, "putting the cart before the horse" as some businessmen in America would put it.

But for whatever reason, this new venture excited him – something that few have managed to achieve. This wasn't just throwing yen at some already-reputable small business.

No, this was taking nothing, building from the dirt up and turning nothing into something grand.

This was new for him. This was a challenge.

「Well, I say this whole day calls for a celebration, hm?」

This was a chance.