"They want you to live the lifestyle and you don't have to pay for it. It's great, man. A bigger apartment, better neighborhood, everything gets moved in for you and they just hand you your key. Don't turn it down. That's not a good idea, you know?"

Jay nodded. Tama was probably right, especially about the not turning things down, given that even if neither of them said it, they knew who was doing the offering.

"Whatever you find in there - new furniture, cash...whatever, just accept and show gratitude."

Something about Tama's tone made him want to ask what ground whatever might cover; something else about it made him keep his mouth shut. He returned the call, accepted with appropriate gratitude, and was told a key would be left for him tonight. Everything would be taken care of; he would simply have to go to the address that would also be left for him, and his new home would be ready.

The key and address were in his locker after his match. The neighborhood was indeed nicer, much more so. It was far more expensive than he'd have chosen for himself. He decided to indulge a bit and take a taxi that would drop him at the door instead of the train.

Nicer neighborhood, yes, and a much nicer building. He didn't have any illusions about this being in part a pretty trap, but it was a very pretty one. It was also a sign that he was seen as having value, and that it was increasing.

There was a woman standing in the living room. She didn't look surprised to see him, and immediately bowed deeply.

She saw the confusion that he could feel was all over his face, and she took an envelope from the table by the couch and handed it to him. "I was told to give this to you as soon as you arrived, Mr. White."

"Jay." It was automatic, half-absent. He opened the envelope and found two spare keys, various paperwork relating to the apartment, and a note.

The woman is here to do whatever pleases you. If she does not please you, another will be sent in her place.

They can't be serious. But they were, and he knew it. As far as they were concerned, they'd given him a furnished apartment, and she was part of the furniture.

"Did you have dinner? Would you like something?"

"Can you cook?"

She smiled. "Yes, Mr. White. It's..." She was suddenly very interested in her toes. "It's probably what I'm best at."

"It's Jay. Really. My father is Mr. White."

"Now that you know, I thought you might have had second thoughts about that."

"I haven't. It's still my name. What's yours? Don't tell me it's whatever I want it to be, either. What did your parents call you?"

"April."

"Were you born in April?"

"In May." A flicker of a smile came and went at his expression. "I was a week and a half overdue."

"Fashionably late. What did you have for dinner?"

"Yakisoba."

"Is there any left?"

"A small serving."

"I'll have that. I'll learn more about your cooking from what you made when you weren't trying to impress, won't I?"

She looked nervous, but nodded and went to prepare it.

He mostly sat and looked at his hands and wondered what the hell to do. Lady, you have no idea how glad you should be that I'm not the man out of the ring I am in it. It took that thought for it to occur to him that maybe she did know, the latter at least. And if she did, she was probably pretty close to terrified.

"Would you like to eat at the table?"

"Here is fine."

She came back with a tray - plate of food, napkin, silver that he didn't have to look at hard to know it wasn't the stuff out of his old place, a glass of water. That last he suspected meant she'd been told at least something about him; he rarely drank anything else with a meal, and she hadn't asked. They must not have told you everything, though. You brought me a knife.

She sat in a chair to his left, waiting and visibly tense.

The food was good - very good, in fact. "You made the sauce yourself."

She looked down, suddenly shy again, but nodded. "It's easy, and I can balance it in different ways."

"This is the first thing you can put on your list. I like it."

"Would you like more? There isn't much there, and it won't take long."

It's bloody good, and she's obviously relieved you think so. So, why not? "Yes, I would."

She nearly bolted back to the kitchen.

He ate a good bit of the second batch, too. He was going to have to steer her toward mostly protein-based stuff, or he was going to pay a price for it. Like having to run six hours a day.

Dishes done and time passing, it was time to tackle the things he really didn't want to have to. "Gaaaaah. I can't even work out how to ask things and not sound like an animal." He took a deep breath. "Do you have your own bedroom?"

"Yes. In case..."

And you can't really work out how to answer them, either. "In case I'm the type of class act that kicks you out of bed when I've had enough rape for the evening. April, listen...I'm not going to do either. That's your room. And your bed. All the time. Right?"

He couldn't decide if the look on her face was shock or hope. Both, maybe. But something else clouded it immediately, and she went looking for her shoes again. That's for when she doesn't want me to see her face. She probably didn't ever get good enough at pretending to not have feelings. "Tell me. I need to you tell me the truth about things, because...well, because I don't know what the fuck I'm doing. You're going to have to help me."

She still didn't meet his eyes, but she did speak up. "If you don't want me, they'll send someone you will."

"What would happen to you then?"

"I don't know."

"April..."

"I really don't. Maybe they'd send me somewhere else. Or for more training."

"Which do you think it will be?"

"I think I'm running out of chances."

"What happens when you do?"

She met his gaze again, but she couldn't for long.

"Right. So you're staying here. That means I start needing that help I was talking about right now. What do you do? Besides that, I mean. I know you can cook. What else?"

"Keep the place, do the shopping, keep an eye on your schedule, whatever you need. I've been here for a couple of weeks, so I know the neighborhood a little if you need to know where things are." There was a little smile there, he would have sworn to it. "I'm even more useful with my clothes on than off."

"You're...my involuntary secretary."

He was surprised to hear her laugh, but not at all unhappy about it.

"We'll get it all worked out. Just...don't be afraid, all right?"

She nodded, but something in her eyes said it might be a while of keeping her own counsel before she decided on that either way.

He found Tama the moment he could the next day. "You could have warned me about the girl."

"I wasn't sure there'd be one. Listen, you can do whatever you want with her, no joke, but ah...Don't ship her back to them unless you're really, really not happy with her."

"She seemed like she was more scared of that than of anything I could ever do. They wouldn't be very understanding about it with her, I take it?"

"No, not very."

"She's American."

"Yeah? There's got to be a story there, then. It may not be one for chat over dinner, right? But that means they're going to be even less forgiving than usual with her, would be my guess. She's there because she speaks English, but also because you're a gaijin, too. So if she fucks up, maybe you don't realize it as much, don't make their training look like it's not as good as it should be."

He suddenly decided he didn't want to know what her training might have entailed. Not even a little bit. Or what their not being understanding might mean, either. "She's a good cook. So I guess I have a cook."

"And whatever else you want. Yeah, not just that, so stop looking at me like that. If she tries to help with stuff, let her. She'll feel a lot more secure if you let her do her job." He shot him a teasing wink. "Or just let her do you. Either way."

"Jump off that. Look, I don't know shit about this. Do I pay her? Do they?"

"Don't give her money. She'll get in a hell of a lot of trouble if they find out, and maybe you, too."

"How in hell is she going to be shopping and all that, then?"

"On accounts. You don't have to know about any of it if you don't want to know. Things will just...get done. Including - "

"Just stop. But that answers my next question, too."

"Which is?"

"If she was just supposed to sit there and starve when I'm gone, or what."

"Shit, every other guy would be worried about where to set up a regular rubber delivery, and you wonder if she's eating a balanced lunch when you're not there. You're gonna ruin your shithead image, man."

He'd been thinking it might be nice to have someone around he didn't have to keep that up for all the time, but Tama didn't have to know that. No one did.