Studies

“Eh? Oh!” The young schoolgirl widened her eyes when she saw the young man standing just behind her. Then, she grew shocked. She slowly stepped back, looking up at the tall 'monster' whose face looked impassively at hers. “Y- you… are you the… you are really the person I was to meet, right?”

“I am,” Fox let the young girl have a breather, understanding where her fear came from. Anyone who saw those videos, even if not in the Sargonde’s building, in his previous actions. Even though she was scared the hell out of, she extended her small right hand, pulling her cute, fashionable yellow-brown backpack tighter with her left hand.

“This is the place?” Fox looked at the store. It had a double glass door, with yellow crystal at the sides, before solid walls took over. The insides weren’t lighted, but it was illuminated inside by the gate, with only the sunlight showering inside.

“Mhm…” The young schoolgirl felt a bit safer without those weird, unique eyes staring at her. After revising the inside, Fox felt a bit contented. The aspect was good, even a bit better than in the photos and video. He returned his gaze to her, looking mostly at her face and eyes, ensuring she wouldn’t feel too pressured. He knew his eyes were truly unique, after all.

“I… you are that guy, aren’t you?” The schoolgirl accumulated enough courage to ask. Fox nodded, shaking her hand, which she forgot she hung in the air, briefly. “I am. Call me Fox, that’s all it’s needed for this matter.”

Fox passed a document to the schoolgirl, who gripped it with pale fingertips and read it. She nodded, signed it after resting it on a little notebook, and returned it. She looked up, still feeling startled and a little fearful of his eyes, “I’m Fabiola. I have received your info, but I’d like to talk more before coming to a conclusion…?”

She had white skin, black hair, big black eyes, and looked rather ordinary yet cute. Quite a neighborhood gal everyone talked about nicely, even if attracted to.

Her eyes looked up at him, showing some brightness as she gulped yet again. Fox looked at the big eyes with his blinking ones. Then, he nodded slightly, cocking his head to the entrance, “Shall we begin inside?”

The schoolgirl, Fabiola, nodded, blushing a little. Of course, they had to discuss. They wouldn’t just sign up an important decision out of just meeting. Fox waited as the lass opened the glass door, using a set of keys with a cute bear and a flower hanging from it.

Fox walked inside with her, closing the doors for her and locking it. This made Fabiola a little jumpy, but she relaxed and went to the large counter. It reminded Fox of the reception at HQ. it was pretty long, but enough for only 2 people to walk shoulder to shoulder.

It led to a backroom that only stored some documentation and computers, perhaps. Fox watched Fabiola pick a large, rich-looking bottle of liquor before grabbing a couple of glasses. Then, she walked to a standing table at the side, where she waited for Fox.

Fox could smell her sweat, even though it was just a bit. She smiled a little forcefully before opening the bottle and serving the glasses after Fox walked towards her.

“My family is a bit rich, I know. I wanted this shop for myself, because I’m studying for these matters, haha.” Fabiola formed some chatter as she drank a bit. Fox wasn’t a hero to stop her. Taking a sip of his glass, he waited for her to continue.

“But I don’t have time for it. I wish I had, but my studies are hard. I’m looking to sell this boutique for a high price because it has been well-founded. I believe you’ve seen the records of its gains in such a short time, right?”

“I’d like to talk about it in detail, but a little faster, if you don’t mind?” Fox nodded before commenting. Fabiola parted her lips. She mustered more courage and asked instead, “Why would you, M… Mr. Fox, want to buy this boutique?”

“Make money?” Fox looked at her and smiled a bit. Fabiola blinked. Then, he further stated, “When I was still at Riverlye, I could only live off a few small, odd jobs but mostly from the ‘jobs’ ‘they’ gave me. Right now, all I need is to start somewhere. I chose yours.”

“Riverlye! Ah, I see. I don’t know what a life like that could be. So, what would you like to speak of, Mr. Fox?” Fabiola’s words were simple, perhaps, but she very well ‘took’ the chance to begin business talks before Fox could continue.

Fox just smiled and listened before commenting, “Mn, but let’s not talk more of other things that do not matter in our talks. Just Fox is fine.”

“Mhm,” Fabiola nodded a little, still looking up at Fox. She started to feel a small pain in her neck. Fox took a folder from his bag and began, showing her documents, numbers, images, and his information. “Fabiola, knowing the main reason you can’t successfully sell this boutique is its 350,000 credits price, can you tell me why is it so high?”

“Yes,” Fabiola’s good girl behavior started coming out, attracting Fox’s good side, as she was brief. “It’s a small shop, but it isn’t anything ‘small’ regarding its height in the district. Its price is well-earned, and I can promise you it’ll be returned to you in just 3 to 6 months at the very least.”

“No promises, just tell me something solid I’d like to hear,” Fox interrupted. Fabiola stopped abruptly, but she understood, although she felt wronged for this small obstruction. She nodded again, with more vigor, and went, “I had to focus on my studies, but even then, I worked 162,000 credits off a small portion of my boutique in just a few days.”

“That came from a single week, and it didn’t repeat, only maintaining a profit of about forty to forty-five thousand per month for the past 7-8 months?” Fox interjected. Expecting it a little, but still a bit afflicted from another obstruction, the schoolgirl elaborated, “That time… it was a reputable woman who bought some pieces. She isn’t a bigshot, but around these districts in the capital, she is well-known.”

“But it was only that time that my schedule allowed me to let her take a look at my shop. I haven’t been able to do so otherwise. It isn’t just because we’ve met before. My boutique is good enough to attract someone like her. While she must have grown displeased with my absence, even 2 days ago, I received another call from her to take a look around.”

“Indeed,” Fox quietly commented and said nothing more. Fabiola took a breather, relaxing her eyebrows but feeling the tension again. She didn’t want to fail another possible sale of her shop, especially since this was the first that bothered to come in person and not just gave her one miserable call.

She even had better luck with men trying to buy it, while women simply stomped her pride before rapidly hanging their calls. Fabiola had to at least maybe share the boutique if she couldn’t sell it. Yet, Fox’s next words made her feel incredulous and silly.

“Your boutique has exquisite pieces, but also ‘humble’ ones that fit well for even those who want to gift themselves something good if they can. You’ve always managed to follow the professional standards and acquire a price that was even better for the boutique and not too unfair for the buyers. Otherwise, even 20,000 credits profit would’ve been difficult in a month.”

“For things like these, and with your promise, I’d like to buy your boutique for 400,000 credits.” Fox paused there. Fabiola wore a stupefied expression, feeling dumber than dumb. Slamming her fair hands on the table, she shockingly asked, “Really?!”

“Wait, why 400,000? Wait, why would you really want to buy it?” She continued asking, but Fox kinda ignored her as he added, “I opt to buy this boutique and change all of its rights to mine, as intended in your requirements, but I don’t want to see you gone.”

“Those 350,000 credits you ask for are the reason nobody wants to buy it. Not even I am this drawn to it, but with the professionalism showed, the connections it has, and the suppliers you’ve made contracts with thanks to your family; I’d like to keep all these, too.”

“…?” Fabiola tilted her head and frowned, but before she could word anything, Fox looked at her with those polycoria impenetrable black eyes. “You said I could make up for those in several months. I don’t want to. I must make money quickly. This is also a small one-story shop, but the building is much larger than that. All I ask is those 50,000 for your stay.”

“Woah, seriously?” The schoolgirl looked at Fox with yet more incredulity. Fox nodded, “I can do with the boutique, but it will only benefit me if I have the help you boast of so much. Those 50,000 are only for now. If you, for some reason, like it and decide to stay more, I promise you a 10% share.”

The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

“A 10 percentage?!” Fabiola widened her eyes like a madwoman. Fox nodded again, “That’s only for now. It would seem a little a little when I begin expanding. Summing it up to 15% would only be the beginning. I promise that if we do this well and ‘conquer’ this entire building, you will earn 25% of it shares. But that’s… quite a bit far from now. You would have to work hard, still. But I will be attending it mostly.”

“…” Fabiola was speechless. There was nothing stopping her from hugging Fox, not even her fear. Only her longing for such a promising future, and her rationale her parents taught her, kept her at bay. “Well then… gulp… If that’s all-”

“It’s not. You see,” Fox interrupted her and grabbed her duckbill cap without her feeling a single whoosh. She looked at her cap in his hand as he spoke, “This is a very cheap piece of clothing for how much you like wearing it, even now. Isn’t it?”

“I found it at a cheap one, yeah, hehe…” Fabiola responded, feeling a bit silly at the end. Fox nodded with a slow blink of his eyes. He took a scarf from his backpack. The colors didn’t match, but she could imagine them doing so as he elaborated. “With ‘bundles’ like these, not only can we rise the price of both added together a bit, we can also find more of these ‘healthy’ garments without using too much of our earnings.”

“Also, your suppliers are really good, but I’ve seen these other pieces lately, and I searched for a bit, so I’ve found these new models from Dawn… Additionally, there are these new ones from Twilight. It’s a bit old-fashioned, but it seems that it’s gaining more reputation with ‘safe’ bions turning into the hands of teenagers and young adults.”

Slowly, the pair of business partners chatted. Fabiola lost her fear to Fox, which she had all the right to feel. That Fox didn’t care and only saw her as a bag of bones and flesh to convince to work with him ended up helping him.

She also presented an adaptiveness that impressed Fox, at least for a civilian, and such a young pearl even. Fox felt the time of the day pass by faster than he hoped. He struck a lot of ideas into the boutique, even going out to see the tall building and machinate the overtaking of the whole thing.

… At last, Fox and Fabiola were met with a complete document where the boutique’s ownership would become his. They walked out of the counter leading to the backroom and returned to the standing table. Looking down at it, Fox smirked a bit. His first step into riches?

For a price of 400,000 credits, Fox would buy this boutique, small but with high potential, and will have Fabiola as a permanent worker for the following 5 months. If the boutique could progress and rise astronomically, and they expanded it, they could discuss her shares and further stay.

Walking out of the boutique, previously known as Pinkrose, now as Blackflower, Fox and Fabiola seemed relaxed. Thinking of something, he asked Fabiola, “How did you pay your debts?”

“Mn, my father?” Fabiola still felt a bit impacted by walking with the known ‘martyr’, but she felt relaxed, even when talking of her personal matters with him. Fox jumped his eyebrows at her. Fabiola further elaborated, “My father is a daughter-based daddy. Can you blame him?”

“Sigh,” Fox looked at her more focused before shaking his head, “I can’t. I’d also be the same.”

“Eh? You’re married?” Fabiola suddenly asked, her eyes becoming interested, but also like a puppy’s. Fox twisted his eyebrows, looking at her with a funny face, “I’m just a year older than you.”

“Ah, right…” Fabiola was taken aback. She smiled and giggled. Both stood before the boutique, looked back, and could see the future of this little project. Then, she looked at him with narrowed eyes, asking, “Can I give you like a small kiss? On the cheek!”

“…” Fox blinked several times. He spread his arms and just stiffened his neck. He was all but a lonely soul. Fabiola smiled before hugging his shoulders, near his neck, and planted her lips on his left cheek. Fox blinked again before Fabiola flurried away with quick steps.

“Byeeee! Cuídate!”

Fox watched the lass leave, safely crossing the street, looking to the sides a few times, and disappear around a corner. Only now did Fox begin to see the area around the boutique, it was quite filled at noon, although being in between a few streets, the massive flow of people was a half a block away. Fox liked it, a bit lonely yet an obvious sight from the distance.

With that, he turned around and left for the HQ. He took a bus first, as they were mostly empty at these hours, and couldn’t afford to take a helitaxi every time to move around the city. Not yet.

… Arriving at the HQ, Fox walked to Mena. She just greeted him with a shake of her head upwards, but he didn’t go in immediately. Setting her eyes on him, she saw a smiley face. Fox directly asked her, “Your people free to work in a small boutique?”

“Mhm!” Mena sat up at once, “When do you need them? Don’t worry about the payment, you can cover that with a cheap bion if you want. They sell too high in the market, just don’t give them any secret world bion.”

“Tomorrow, you know the address. I’ll show them around. There’s a co-founder who will work with us, an ordinary kid. She knows only about the ordinary world,” Fox pressed on. Mena smiled, “Yes, yes. I got it. Repeat it some more, and I’ll become a regular gal out there.”

“Hey, some people inside will be glad to know you’re progressing. Have you given a thought to which Blood to join?” Mena bent over the counter, asking him in whispers. Fox smiled at her antics, casually replying, “That’s why I’m here. I want Red. Can I?”

“Haha, ‘can I’, he says. You dummy, you can join any. Here, let me bring you to swear,” Mena did not give a fuck as she brought Fox through the double doors. Fox gestured to her seat, but she just turned her head to him and said, still uncaring, “Ah, don’t worry about it. Most don’t come to the reception because they don’t want to wear the factory’s uniform. Those who do just rush inside. Too few stop by the reception.”

With that, Fox was brought into the HQ. He walked 3 short minutes before entering a seemingly small room. It had ordinary metal doors, which Mena pushed him into before walking away. Fox didn’t fight it, crediting Mena to want to impulse him and not get cold feet, as he tripped forth.

The door entered the room as the metal doors opened, sliding into the sides to reveal a long space inside. Everything was obscure, but Fox didn’t doubt a moment when stepping forth. And as the entrance closed behind him, it all became black.

Only a slightly red light glowed from far into the distance. It scarcely illuminated at the extreme of a platform extending from the wider floor he stood on. Fox walked to it after barely catching sight of anything else in this space.

When he arrived before it, he crouched and lowered his hands to the thing glowing red. But it stopped glowing, and everything turned dark. Fox didn’t move, and in the next moment, everything lighted up.

A blinding, beige-ish white struck everywhere, illuminating even below his crouching position. Fox’s eyes instantly grew used to the light. The first thing he did was look at the thing he grabbed. It was a small, metallic ball with a few slits on its sides at the center, all separated and about 2 inches long.

Pft- pft- pft- pft! Its slits suddenly stabbed Fox’s palms, bathing the ball with his blood before flowing down inside a mechanism. Fox looked at it for a bit before standing up. He glanced at the wall before him, which didn’t seem much like a wall anymore.

Like a screen, it showed digital footage. Before him were only green, white, and red. They were all murky and a bit obscure. Whenever his eyes focused on one of the sides, they fluttered and flashed a bit, like a banner. Fox knew this was directed to his mind, not his eyes alone.

After looking at them for a while, with shadowy smokes flashing in between, he concentrated his sight in the red one. Little by little, as his eyes remained there, a disfigured facial expression showed before his personal window sounded a tolling bell in his mind.

Taking it out, the lights went out as he lifted it to his eye level. Now, it was red instead of its previous simple, transparent aspect. Furthermore, it had a touch of blood, too.

‘I guess that’s it.’ Fox thought, keeping his WID under his clothes and turning around. Everything was black again, but Fox could see a little better this time. Without further ado, he headed to the metal door. Fox still had some time to do some crafting and prepare for the first day of managing his new boutique, and his first business, per se.

Walking out of the small room, or rather, the small door, Fox could swear he felt a semi familiar presence move around, but it went away as soon as he felt it. He didn’t give much thought to it before heading on his way to the workshop area.

… The next morning, early morning, Fox went to the Blackflower boutique. Fabiola had been quick to change things. When he arrived there, its sign went from a beautiful yet simple pink ‘Pinkrose Boutique’ to a humble, comfy, yet half-imposing ‘Blackflower Boutique’ white lettered.

The only good thing about Fox’s acquisition of the boutique was that, with Fabiola remaining in the business, none of her contacts, suppliers, or customers saw the change as untrustable. It hadn’t opened yet, but Fabiola, the center of the boutique’s future potential, was waiting for Fox in a thick jacket and skirt.

“You’re quick to work,” Fox politely praised. Fabiola hugged her arms, wearing an ordinary black cap this time, with her hair tied. She looked up at him before questioning with trembling teeth, “Where’s those you talked about?”

“It’s still a bit early, they should be around in 15 minutes.” Fox replied. It was still dark outside, and a strangely cold day, which he enjoyed. But not everyone was like him, such as ordinary people, like Fabiola. She pouted a bit, “They… are they like you? Brrr… Special agents?”

“Special workers, I’d say. They are more or less your age, and I’m paying them outside the boutique, so the money will all move towards my wallet.” Fox explained in a simple manner. Thoughtful, Fabiola nodded her head a few extra times to fabricate heat in her body before asking, somewhat worried. “Isn’t that troublesome?”

“No. They are both trustable and like… civilian bions. Mn, they are serious in their tasks, or I wouldn’t even think of them. I can take care of their pay easily.” Fox straight out responded. Fabiola nodded again, “So, you make bions? For civilians, I suppose. I’ve heard but never seen those you ‘guys’ use. How much for a TE phone? The temple-ear phone, if I’m not mistaken.”

“For you? I can sell it for 10,000 credits.” Fox shrugged, feeling nice. Fabiola widened her mouth. Something worth 35-40,000 credits would cost her 10,000?! She looked at Fox favorably. It was impossible for him not to know the price of these things, right?

Of course, Fox knew it. But with how unimportant those ‘c bions’ were, he couldn’t be bothered to make money with them. Besides, PSD didn’t allow their special agents to do so. Maybe aid a known or two, but no business with these. It was a very obvious, rather noble, motive.

…