Wine Money and the Pursuit of Men
Disclaimer:
All characters contained within this piece of writing belong to Ken Akamatsu, and this piece is written purely for personal enjoyment. No gains financial or otherwise have been made through the publishing of this fanfic.
Author's Personal Note:
Okay, we are back in Canada. Mom is doing better, but will be on meds for at-least six(6) more months. At-least here she can get her needed meds without the hospital trying to bankrupt her.
PS. If you get a chance, please try out some Ice Wine.
Author's Story Note:
From this point on the story starts to diverge from my previous published story versions.
Prologue:
Naru tries to meditate on the roof with Motoko's guidance.
The girls consider what they know about Keitaro and Naru's date.
Keitaro takes out Mitsune on a date next, again the date does not go quite as Keitaro had planned, and instead it goes better than planned!
Sunday-February 14, 2000: On the roof:
Arriving on the roof deck, Motoko was surprised to find Naru had already changed her clothing and was on the deck starting her breathing exercises before her teacher (Motoko) had finished preparations.
"Not so hard, and try to slow down your breathing rate.", Motoko advised, seeing the tension in Naru face and body. Hyperventilating was a sure way for a beginner student to end up dizzy, falling over and maybe even fainting.
After couple of minutes passed as Naru struggled to get her anger under control, Motoko continued.
"That's right Naru-san, deep, slow breathes, relax your mind, better … better … good. Now let's do some stretching exercises.", Motoko encouraged her student with voice and deed as she too started doing the basic forms to serve as an example and to help guide her wayward disciple.
Finally, after a time, Motoko could see the tension and anger starting to drain out of Naru's face.
She waited as they continued the workouts until she thought the time was right.
"What happened on the date Naru-san? Did Urashima-san do something to hurt you?", Motoko inquired.
"I don't want to talk about it!", Naru stated firmly as lines of tension returned to her face.
Motoko kept her silence and continued with the exercise forms.
"That Baka ruined everything, everything!", Naru blurted out suddenly.
Motoko decided to wait her out. Then as time continued to pass by, she added a question, "How?"
Naru hesitated, and then said, "Things would be going alright, and then he would just have to do something to ruin it all."
Another pause, Naru continued, "He made some stupid mistakes, then try to cover it up with an old movie. Then finally he started to do everything great."
In almost a whisper, "It was going so good, he was so wonderful.", a smile tried to creep onto Naru's face.
Then Naru's voice harden, "Then he had to try and take advantage of me. Baka, pervert.", Naru stopped talking.
Motoko waited some more. To her surprise, Naru stopped exercising and stood up. She gave a deep but quick bow to Motoko.
"I don't want to talk about it anymore right now. Maybe I can talk about it a little later.", Naru said, and headed off to her room.
Motoko hesitated on whether to follow her; she decided that might push Naru too far emotionally and thus went on to continue her exercises as she thought over the few clues that Naru hinted at.
Sunday-February 14, 2000: Late at night:
As Motoko lay on her mattress that night, she found her thoughts turning to Keitaro and Naru's date.
She had gotten no real details out of Naru, and she could not even be sure that Naru's interpretation pointing out that it was all Keitaro's fault was a true accounting.
In the past just the mention by Naru of one of her complaints would had sent her seeking the manager to punish him for his perverted actions. Motoko had now started to notice how often there were missing key points and time gaps in Naru's statements.
"I should have been asking questions first. Or at-least listened when he tried to explain what had happened.", Motoko admonished herself.
Motoko drifted off into a troubled sleep.
As Naru lay on her mattress that night, she found her thoughts also turning to her date with Keitaro.
Most importantly how their date together ended. She was still anger at him for surprising her with a secret kiss. The kiss had been interesting, and Naru wondered what it would had been like if they had continued with it.
"Still he stole that kiss! I will never forgive him for doing that.", Naru started off saying forcefully to herself, but her voice drifted off towards the end.
Naru drifted off into a troubled sleep. Of interest, good or bad, somehow Keitaro kissing her kept popping up in her dreams.
As Mitsune lay on her mattress that night, she found her thoughts turning to Keitaro.
"Now that was easy.", Mitsune said to herself as she sipped on some sake.
"I wonder where he will take me. I hope Naru realizes how much I am sacrificing for her happiness?", Mitsune thought as she continued sipping her drink.
Mitsune mulled over her long friendship with Naru, and Naru's actions to reject boys whom had showed interest in her. Boys Mitsune had been interested in too, but she had stood aside to give Naru a choice, a chance.
In the back of her mind, Mitsune was considering that this would be the last time she would bow out if Naru did not kept her side of the friendship bargain, if not all bets were off.
"Keitaro, I wonder what sort of date you will be?", she muttered to herself, still sipping at the sake.
Mitsune drifted off into a drunken sleep. Still not sure what would happen on her date with Keitaro, Mitsune entered a series of disjointed and confusing dreams.
As Su lay on her mattress that night, she found her thoughts turning to Keitaro.
"Tomorrow I start some more tests. Big brother and I will have so much fun!", she planned.
Soon Su drifted off into a happy sleep with some very violent dreams involving Keitaro and her toys.
As Sara lay on her mattress that night, she found her thoughts turning to Keitaro and Naru's date.
"Good! At-least Naru-sempai can see what a dork he is!", she thought to herself.
"Now if only Dad could see what a dork Keitaro really is, maybe he would start taking me with him again.", Sara hoped.
Sara also drifted off into a disturbed sleep with some violent dreams.
As Shinobu lay on her mattress that night, she found her thoughts turning to Keitaro and Naru's date.
"That date went very wrong.", Shinobu thought happily to herself.
Meanwhile she was trying her best to hold down her glee at the thought and was failing badly.
"That means I still have a chance, there is no way that Mistune can win him. She has got the body, but once she drinks a little she will do something as a joke that will ruin the date.", Shinobu theorized.
Shinobu drifted off into a happy sleep with some dreams that sort-of involved Keitaro.
As Mutsumi lay on her mattress that night, she found her thoughts turning to Keitaro and Naru's date.
"Ara, what a shame! I am sure Kei-kun must be very unhappy now. I must think of something to cheer him up.", Mutsumi decided.
She fell rapidly into a blissful sleep dreaming of feeding melons to a happy Keitaro.
As Keitaro lay on his mattress that night, he found his thoughts to be just a mess of conflicting emotions and regrets.
The 'ups and downs' of his date with Naru plagued his mind. How could something going so right go so wrong!
Add in Mitsune latching onto him like that to go on a date. Worse was the look in Naru's eyes when Mitsune did that little claim of dating him next.
Keitaro knew it would be a lot of work to get back into Naru's good grace, especially because he did plan to do his duty as the dorm's manager and take Mitsune out.
Now he had an additional worry, 'Where was safe to take Mitsune?'
This thought bothered Keitaro into the night. In time, his thoughts also drifted off into what the dates with the other girls were like in hope to find a clue of what to do.
He drifted off into some very messed up dreams of dating the different girls of the Hinata-Sou.
Sunday-February 14, 2000: Late night: Downtown Tokyo:
Richard Stallman was a very worried man, an angry man and a very confused man. The Valentine Event had turned out to be a complete bust.
Using the theme 'Wine is for lovers', Stallman had expected their presentation tent to be completely packed with romantic couples taking advantage of free wine and snacks. Instead, the tent had been mostly empty for the whole day and night.
"What are we doing wrong?", Stallman asked himself for the hundredth time.
Sales in Japan were a mixed bag with great sales of a single product in one area, and virtually no sales elsewhere. Other products were selling, but nowhere near expectations and some products were not selling at-all.
Worse was the list of names of respected Japanese wine critics in front of him. Most of the names were crossed out indicating that they would not be coming to the party on Saturday, the handful of names left would not look good in a huge empty tent when you were trying to impress people to recommend your product to be imported.
Just then, his assistant arrived. "I think I found out what is going on.", She offered.
"What happened?", Stallman asked.
The assistant dropped a stack of newspapers onto his desk. The headlines were in big, bold characters.
"You know I can't read Japanese. That is why we hire translators.", Stallman pointed out.
"It says the 'Wine Rapist strikes again'.", The Assistant explained. Stallman looked at the newspapers in shock.
"There is someone out there offering free drinks of wine to young girls. You would not expect many to fall for it but the ones that do usually wake-up in a 'love hotel' minus their clothes and innocence.
Stallman looked up to his assistant in horror. "But we advertised our Valentine event mostly by having people on the streets of Tokyo hand out flyers and offers of free wine samples! No wonder no-one showed up at the tent.", Stallman's voice rising in pitch as realized what had happened.
"Why didn't any of our people tell us this, how could they just go along with this disaster?", he asked.
"I think they did try to tell us.", The assistant said, "They however were being so polite that their warnings just did not sound like ones to us."
"But they went out on the streets even after knowing about this rapist?", Stallman had to ask.
"You are the boss, and they do what the boss says they have to do!", the assistant pointed out.
"Well, pull them off for the rest of the week. What are we going to do now? We need a new approach if we are going to pull this weekend off.", Stallman stated.
"Well, the newspapers are the cause of our failure, maybe with the right ad in them we can save the day.", The assistant suggested.
"I am thinking of a half page or full page advert that looks like a real newspaper article?", Stallman suggested. The assistant nodded her head, she was use to her boss taking all the credit.
"And if we did it the right way, we can even add in a few details to clearly show we have nothing to do with the rapist.", The assistant also offered.
"Well then, get us a translator right away, I will get writing and hopeful we can get something in tomorrow's paper, quarter page will do for now, more later.", Stallman ordered.
Monday-February 15, 2000:
Keitaro was a very worried man. All the places he knew that Mitsune would like to go to were places you would never find him going to at-all, or worse places where she would get so drunk he might end up having to carry her home.
He did not really understand his good luck with Motoko and Shinobu. Nevertheless, compared to the disaster that was his date with Naru, he was sure that arriving back at the Hinata-Sou with Mitsune in an intoxicated state where she could barely walk would not look good.
Naru would be sure to accuse him of getting Mitsune drunk to make it easy to take advantage of her to carry out perverted actions that he would never in real life consider doing with Mitsune.
"Where, and what can I take her to that would be safe for both her and me?", he asked himself repeatedly while once again scanning the latest newspaper ads in hope for an answer to stand out for him.
And once again he found what might be his answer in the papers, but this time not in the ads but rather in what appeared to be an article about a North American business venture trying to break into the Japanese market.
This time was a little different; the article made it clear that details about attending the event would only be released in follow-up articles in the newspaper.
Carefully, Keitaro reread the article while wondering what all the mystery was about that he needed tomorrow's paper. The event sounded perfect as-is for Mitsune.
"Well, I take note of this one. But let's see if there is anything else worthwhile.", Keitaro said to himself as he continued to leaf thru the ads.
Tuesday-February 16, 2000:
Today's paper was opened to the follow-up article. The added details made it sound like a sure-fire winner to Keitaro. It almost sounded too good to be true.
A quick phone call confirmed the event was open to the public like the paper had suggested and he was welcome anytime during business hours to come in for a visit and extra guests were no problem.
Keitaro was now a happy man.
Wednesday-February 17, 2000:
The stats from Tuesday's traffic to the event phone number were in front of him, and the numbers looked good. By Saturday they would have a full tent, maybe even a line of people waiting to get in. But the critics' list was the highlight. Whether it was the newspaper article or something else a number of the no-show critics had changed their minds and now would be coming to the weekend event.
Richard Stallman was now a happy man.
Monday-Friday February 15-18, 2000:
For once Naru was not spying on Keitaro's plans. She found it was bad enough what she had to go through on her date with Keitaro (that pervert!). But now Mitsune (the one she considered her best friend!) had latched onto him like a leech. That bothered she almost as much as the idea that their date would be like Motoko's and Shinobu's, or worse like some of Mitsune's other wilder dates. In that case would Mitsune start falling for him? The idea started to make Naru worried.
She sat in her room rolling different thoughts about in her mind about how her date with Keitaro should had gone, while at the same time squeezing her Liddo-kun doll so hard to her chest that it was a very good thing that it was just a doll and not a living person or pet. Meanwhile, sometimes touching her lips, sometimes not, at random times the word 'Baka.' drifted from her mouth, but it was not clear even to herself if she was applying the word's meaning to Keitaro, or herself.
Kitsune carefully sorted through her clothes trying to decide on what to wear. Her first impulse was to go for something 'oh, so sexy' and very revealing. But now she thought about it that was the wrong idea. First, poor Keitaro may not be able to handle the pressure if she did such a thing. But also he so far had taken all the girls (except of Naru's according to her expression) on very nice dates. Why not dress-up for once and she may end up pleasantly surprised by Keitaro's choices. Besides she had seen the look in Naru's eyes when she had snagged Keitaro and it was a fear that suggested that the only weapon Kitsune had was sex. Now she wanted to make Keitaro notice her while blowing away all those assumptions of the other girls that she was nothing but a sexy body, and last but not least put Naru on notice that there were other possibilities out there for Keitaro's attention.
"Ah, the perfect dress.", Kitsune said with a big grin as she found a gown fit to wear to a royal ball.
"Let's see if Naru will come to her senses after seeing Keitaro walking arm in arm with me dressed like this.", she planned out aloud. "Now where did I leave the matching shoes?", she said digging deeper into the closet.
Keitaro spent the week studying, making repairs and dodging Su little 'but oh so painful' toys.
Since Mitsune stated her request for a date she had not played any of her usual tricks on him or hit him up for any money to gamble on the horses.
Even Motoko was forced to notice how few incidents happened around the girls once Kitsune was not pushing things along. In addition, with Naru spending almost all her time in her room studying or mopping around the number of 'pervert' accidents fell almost to zero.
What few remained could easily be explained from Su's explosions pushing Keitaro into the 'wrong' locations or with a growing suspicion on Motoko's part that Shinobu was not as innocent as Motoko and the other girls wanted to believe.
Saturday-February 19, 2000:
As Keitaro stood inside the front door of Hinata-Sou, he found himself stunned speechless by Mitsune's appearance. He had expected/feared that she would dress in manner that would lead people to judge her wrongly, as she tended to wearing very revealing clothes. But this, this was a Mitsune he had only seen hints at from whenever she had dressed up for different festivals in town or parties at Hinata-Sou. This was not his household drunk, his rent skipper or his local teaser and mischief-maker. Approaching was a well-dressed woman walking with the style and grace you expect to see someone associative with from the royal family, or world-class ballerina, in other words a lady!
As she drew near, "Do you like my dress?", Mitsune asked without her usual coyness that could fill such a statement with all sorts of sexual sub-text. She turned slowly so that he could see the complete fit/cut of article in question as well as her. In its own way, it still was a revealing dress, with a low but not too low cut-out back. It in no way hid the fact that a mature woman was wearing it, but at the same time the dress and her posture screamed that this person had social class. Coming to a stop when she had finished turning to face him again, the bottom skirt of the dress waved playfully around her ankles.
Keitaro still was too stunned to reply. Luckily, he was also too stunned to have his usual nosebleed in the presence of a beautiful woman, as he was not the only one staring at her.
"What do you think you are doing? Where did that dress come from? Why are you walking and talking that way? That just is not you Mitsune.", Naru demanded, stated and blurted out all at the same time. All this was more of an attempt to hide her own confusion over the Mitsune she saw in front of her. While she had always known there was more to her best friend than what most people saw - she had never seen her friend so transformed, and such an active threat too.
Kitsune looked at her friend for a moment before replying in a refined voice, "Keitaro-san seems to always find the best place to take each of us lately. I see no reason to wear clothing that could spoil what could be a very memorable date. As he seems to be able to arrange the perfect date for anyone, I can't wait to see where he will take me dressed like this."
Kitsune meanwhile presented her arm for Keitaro to take, which he did automatically as he was in a complete daze (i.e. No working brain cells) at the moment. And as they walked to the front door Naru just stood where she was with a stunned expression on her face.
"She expects him to succeed! At dating!", the still quiet Naru thought, "How can she not realize that baka will mess up the date with his perverted ways, he always messes up.", and then continued faintly, "With me.", Naru ran off to her room in further confusion of her own feelings.
Motoko also watched the couple, but most of her attention was directed inside herself where to her own surprise she found some of her dislike was directed at Mitsune, still she found that she had to voice a warning to the manager.
"Urashima-san, if anything happens to Mitsune-san don't even think of returning here.", she said touching her sword, while at the same time finding herself holding back (but wanting to voice) the same words to Mitsune.
"How did you change so much to become like this! You are so beautiful now!", Shinobu exclaimed to herself softly, her heart breaking at the idea that Mitsune could win Sempai's heart and love. She knew what little chance she had against the likes of Naru and Mutsumi, but now Mitsune! Still remembering her time with Keitaro at the restaurant and how he treated her as an adult, she could not break down in front of him now. She held on to that feeling of being an adult that Keitaro's date with her had given, and painfully watched as Mitsune and Keitaro walked away arm in arm.
Still the pain in her chest was too much, and Shinobu found a single tear running down her face. As she reached up to wipe it away, another strong hand beat her to it.
"Don't worry Shinobu-chan; it will be fine in the end.", Motoko comforted Shinobu, wiping her face. But Shinobu thought she too could see a hint of tears in Motoko's eyes as well.
"Well, right now I better go and see if Naru-san is all right.", Motoko added as she let go of Shinobu and turned to the stairs.
Once more, the train system ensured that while the trip was a long one, that it did not take too long to get to their destination. Keitaro guided them for the rest of the way on foot to an address using a newspaper clipping he carried with him.
Happily, Mitsune knew she had made the right choice in clothes as soon as Keitaro directed her to a red carpet that was roped off on the sides. A quick word to the attendant at the entrance was all that was needed to enter.
As Keitaro and Mitsune entered the largest tent either of them had ever been in, they looked around. Inside tables covered with light snacks, glasses of water and wine bottles with carefully worded pamphlets abounded. The style of clothing both Western and Japanese made it clear that this was not to be some wild drunken party.
As the couple moved over to the nearest table, they found it not only well stocked with light snacks, but also a waiter/bar-tender serving drinks.
"It's a wine tasting party.", Keitaro explained to Mitsune. "Some western producers want to know what wines Japanese really like and what markets they are missing due to bad labeling, advertisements, or just trying to sell the wrong type of wine in the wrong location.", "They would like our opinions on the wines here, so they are all free for the sampling.", he finished.
"Free drinks! Keitaro-san, you are a genius.", Mitsune remarked happily while dragging him the rest of the way to the nearest table.
Keitaro avoided the wine himself, knowing the trouble he could get in if he got drunk, taking only a glass of water and some food as he followed Mitsune around the tables.
Mitsune was more open. "What do you have?", she almost demanded of the first bar-tender.
The gentleman gave her a quick rundown on the six different vintages and blends available at his table.
"I'll think I start with the Late Harvest Blend.", Mitsune requested.
The barman filled a flute glass about a quarter full before handing it to her. Just before Mitsune was about to demand he fill her glass properly, she noticed that no-one else in sight had a full glass either.
Another quick glance around the tent to get an idea of the number of tables serving samples and Mitsune realized even just a few sips of each and every wine present would still add up to a major binge. She then quickly took a sip of the wine to be surprised at the sweet taste that hid a hint of apricots and apples, followed by a wave of brandy vapours swirling in the back of her throat.
"And what would you like me say on the card?", she asked. Then she carefully sipped the rest of the glass of wine and thought about what she tasted while the man behind the bar explained the details.
"Just your full honest opinion. Who do you think in Japan would enjoy this type of wine, where you think it would sell well and what foods do you think it would serve best with.", he answered.
"Now this is my idea of how to run a written test.", Mitsune thought as she filled out the card. She however found there was not enough space on the front of the card for all her comments and so she was forced to write on the back of the card as well.
As she sampled each wine one after another, she kept finding herself having to use both sides of most cards to give the details each wine deserved. And the range was fantastic - everything from deep Ports, Strong Reds, Light Blushes, Sweet Ice-wines, to Whites so dry you wanted to drink water after every sip.
When she found one that was really good she insisted that Keitaro also have a taste from her glass, sharing it with him like they were dates/lovers. Kitsune could not help herself; Keitaro's shyness just made it too much fun to trick him into doing this with her.
Meanwhile unnoticed by Mitsune or Keitaro, a number of tenders had drawn to the attention of the sponsors of the party/show just how detailed Mitsune's answers were. Additionally, a quick check of sales figures recorded on their PDAs vs. Mitsune's prediction of how well some products would do in selling or not selling in different locations around Japan appeared to be spot on.
Talking among themselves they rapidly came to an agreement that they should try to hire this genius of wine in Japan and see how much help she could really be in increasing sales or at-least reducing losses from failure to sell some wines in Japan.
As soon as they reach an agreement, they approached their boss (Richard Stallman) for permission to hire her.
His reply was simple and to the point, "Hire her now, or clear out your desk tomorrow!"
A representative quickly approached to couple, and with a deep bow introduced himself. Keitaro returned the introductions, and in turn asked the rep if there was anything he wanted of them (meanwhile being very nervous that he missed something important.).
"We have found your comments about our wines most interesting,", the rep said facing Mitsune, "and we would like to employ your services to see what you think of some other wines that we do not have here in Japan at present.", he started to explain.
"We would really like you to supply our marketing department the same type of honest opinions you gave here, it would make a world of difference. If only Japanese people were willing to stop worrying about offending us and just tell us that no-one in Japan wants a particular type of wine or that this or that type of wine will only sell in certain regions of Japan and where those regions were. But that is not happening. Everyone is trying so hard to be polite to us and not offend us about our products that we are getting very little useful data. Your comments are equal to or even more to all the usable data we have collected since we first tried selling wine directly in Japan.", he ended.
"I am not sure.", Mitsune replied, "I am not one to tie myself down to a desk.", She said.
"A desk! Oh no, there is no need for you to come to us. As long as we keep getting reviews as insightful as the comments you have already written today, we will be willing to pay ourselves to send you for free a crate of each wine we are trying to introduce to Japan so you can review the wine anywhere you want, just give us an address to send it to. You do live in Japan, don't you?", the rep was on the verge of begging. A nod from her cleared up that fear.
"I still don't know.", Mitsune said slowly, while already inside warming up to the idea of free booze. "But ...", she did not get to finish.
"Oh, the money, of-course I have not made it clear what the payment schedule will be.", the rep added. "How does 75 thousand yen a month sound for a start."
"75 thousand yen.", burst out Keitaro, "That's ... that's too..."
"Yes, I know what you are going say that is not enough. But remember that is just the retainer to lock down her advice so she cannot give it to any of our competitors.", interrupted the wine rep too quickly to find out that the offer could had been lower.
"As long as her advice pans out and is of the same high analogical quality that she has already supplied there are sure to be addition bonuses. In-fact, as a show of good faith we are willing to cut you a check tonight if you will just finish rating the wines left.", the rep said again with a slight begging tone in his voice.
"How much money are we talking about here?", Mitsune's money nose was itching.
"We were thinking of 75 thousand a month as a retainer that will require you to not supply your services to any competitor in the month paid for and to always give us a chance to match any other outside offers before you can switch to someone else. We also pay you 100 thousand yen for every month we use your services. We can have a 60 day contract ready for you in just a few minutes.", The rep offered.
Mitsune who after many drinking/poker contests had already noticed the sweat around his collar and the tension lines around the eyes gave her counter-offer.
"The 75 thousand yen a month retainer is ok, but I want 150 thousand for each month I work for you, plus I want a 90 day contract. And don't think you can dump twenty crates of wine on me in one month to get the most out of me for the least money. I do not mind a couple of cases of wine a month, but I am not killing myself for you.", Mitsune laid down the law.
Keitaro blanched at her words, "What are you doing?", he hissed into her left ear.
Mitsune brushed him off, "Just watch an old hand at work.", She said.
The rep who knew the first offer was a low-ball one quickly agreed to her terms, "Far better to have to explain a little cost overrun than tell the boss why we could not hire her.", He thought.
"I agree, just give me a few minutes to get the contract ready.", The rep stated, "Please continue sampling our wines.", He requested.
"Well, I don't mind if I do then.", Mitsune replied, and dived into trying out and commenting on the remaining wines. As she continued her taste tests, she kept sharing ideas with Keitaro about the different things she could buy with the money. Meanwhile, Keitaro was busy mentally trying to come up with a polite way to suggest that she just pay her back rent for starters.
Later Mitsune and Keitaro found themselves surrounded by people (the sponsors and some wine critics) trying to find out how she knew so much. Telling them the truth that Mitsune just liked to drink a lot was just seen as an attempt to hide the truth instead. Still since everyone was being polite about it, Mitsune was finding herself enjoying the game of matching wits against people who not realize that they were fooling themselves, thinking Mitsune had to have deep contacts inside the Japanese Sake/Wine industry.
Finally, the same rep arrived with some papers in a folder he was carrying.
"Here is a basic contract to review. Give it to your lawyer and have him contact ours. We also have a check for 675,000 Yen here, and just need you to sign this receipt to show it is for services rendered the next 90 days starting from today. Notice the receipt also says you cannot supply these services to any other group for the next 90 days.", rep said while handing her some papers.
Mitsune being no fool, carefully checked over the receipts and contracts to ensure that is all they said. Confirming it and the lovely check were ok, she signed and stamped the receipt and handed it back. The unsigned contract and signed check went into her purse.
By now, it had gotten quite late, and the two agreed to head home. Keitaro still with his head buzzing around the idea that Mitsune now had money and a job. Mitsune's head also buzzing but in her case from the wine. She was not drunk, she had drunk lots more in the past. However, the effects of the wine, plus the knowledge of the check in her purse gave the entire world a pleasant glow. Still they had no problem catching the train back. Both sat together silently as they thought over the events that just happened.
As Keitaro and Mitsune climbed the stairs on their return to the Hinata-Sou, they could see that in every window of the building that all the lights were on. As well as they continued and approached the front doors, they could see inside, as the doors were already open. It was clear that everyone was inside waiting on them to arrive back for questioning. Knowing Naru was waiting inside Keitaro was very nervous as they entered the front door. Mitsune whose head had cleared up from the walk in the night air prepared herself for she had to do for Naru's sake.
"How did it go? The date I meant, did Keitaro behave himself?", asked Naru, while carefully looking Mitsune over for any clues to what had really happened on said date. What she saw did not bode well in her mind. A smiling Mitsune seemed to always be leaning towards Keitaro and it was clear that being in a state of drunkenness was not the cause. Keitaro was well looking like Keitaro (Nervously scratching his head while wearing a silly grin). But the fact that he was standing there without a nose-bleed meant he was probably starting to feel comfortable enough in being around Mitsune's presence, and the way she was dressed and looked right now Keitaro should have been in need of a major blood transfusion.
Naru was very worried indeed, but she just could not admit that, even to herself.
Kitsune hesitated while looking at Naru, with just slight smile. It did in fact hurt her to treat Naru this way, but she knew that Naru needed to face reality and besides the contract and the check in her purse was more than enough to boost Kitsune's spirits.
"You still are so beautiful!", Shinobu breathed softly to herself again, holding onto her new found adulthood to prevent herself from wailing out in front of everyone else. "Why did you not go as you normally dress?", she added to herself.
Kitsune turned to fully face Naru, "Keitaro-chan took me on just about the very best date ever!", She smiled brightly, knowing she was hurting Naru, but hoping to force Naru's feelings out. What more to her own surprise she found herself meaning what she said. It was such a relief to go on a date while not having to slap away roving hands. That had not happened for a very long time.
"Did you get anything good to eat?", asked Su. "Or did the dork just take you to a love hotel?", interjected Sara, trying to cause trouble without the awareness of the full meaning of what she said, or how badly her words could hurt someone.
"No, really all we had were some drinks and light snacks, but it all worked out for the best.", Kitsune answered lightly.
"Well, so where did you go?", asked Motoko, who presently did not know what she was feeling but still she wanted to know what happened too.
"To an American type party, a Wine & Cheese party.", Kitsune replied. Most of the girls were at a loss to imagine what type things happened at such an event, having never being to anything like it before.
"So Keitaro-san, you were trying to get her drunk!", Naru said, while hearing only the word "Wine", and so she jumped to the worse conclusion possible. She could feel her temper starting to flare up as she glared towards Keitaro.
Keitaro sweat-dropped a little. Motoko kept her silence, waiting for more information first.
"Don't be silly, Naru-san. Don't you know what a wine and cheese party is like?", interjected Mitsune, distracting Naru and relieving Motoko's worry.
"Well, it sounds like a place to drink a lot of wine to get you drunk, we know how much you enjoy drinking.", Naru replied. "And what perverts do once they get a girl drunk.", she continued while still glaring at Keitaro, who sweat-dropped a little more.
"What do they do?", interrupted Su, "Does it taste good?", All the older girls blushed, and avoided the question completely.
"Don't be silly Naru-san, the purpose is to taste the wine, then use the water, cheese and crackers to clean your taste buds. The idea is to compare the different wines - to see what wines work best where with what. And it turns out that I am very good at doing that. So good in-fact they want to pay me just to taste wine and tell them where to sell it.", Kitsune replied while at the same time pulling out the contract and check to show the girls.
"Isn't my Keitaro-chan great! Not only is he a great date, but also he gets me this great job where I am paid to drink.", continued Kitsune, while hugging Keitaro to herself so hard that his face was buried into her chest before she let him go. Then she gave him a quick kiss on the cheek to make sure of Naru's attention. She may have reconsidered that action if she had noticed the Motoko was also rubbing her hand against the handle of her sword but all her attention was on Naru.
After looking over the check and the contract the girls started asking Mitsune questions faster than she could answer them.
"Wait, wait.", Mitsune said waving her hands to fend off the barrage of questions. "Let me explain from the start.", she said as she snagged a chair and a bottle of sake.
Mitsune started over at the beginning and a blow by blow description of why an American trade group was throwing a party, how she had explained to them where to sell the different wines and the job offer that followed, including to Mitsune the best part, that they would be sending free wine in the future for her to evaluate.
Even Motoko was impressed. All her own efforts to get Mitsune to get a job had failed, and Mitsune's way of life really grated on Motoko's warrior spirit. And here Keitaro in a single day not only got her working at something she would love doing, but also he had not done anything wrong towards her either that she could tell so far.
Naru found her temper vanishing as she came to the realization that once again Keitaro had won over another member of Hinata-Sou. That another girl again had a fun time, and even more while going out with him that no disasters, or perverse actions had occurs as it always seemed to happen to her dates.
"I think we have delayed enough for today, Naru.", Motoko said firmly, "Time for our studies.".
"But I wanted to ask that Baka more about what he was doing with Mitsune.", Naru pleaded.
"Sorry Naru, we have already delayed waiting for those two to return. And in case you have not noticed, you are still jumping to conclusions without asking questions. You have a long path ahead of you.", Motoko stated. "Meet me on the roof.", she finished.
Mitsune also watched as Naru climb the stairs following Motoko and hoped her gamble with Naru's feelings and friendship would pay off.
As Motoko lay on her mattress that night she found her thoughts turning to Keitaro. As she reviewed today's couple's return she realized that for some reason the sight of him so close to Mitsune (And where did she learn to dress like that anyway?) had bothered her, and when Mitsune had hugged Keitaro and kissed him on the cheek, that she had to fight herself from separating them with a blast from her sword.
"What is happening to me?", she wondered, "Am I trying to protect Mitsune from Keitaro or Keitaro from Mitsune? Since when did I get so interested in protecting Keitaro? And why? Am I really interested in him?"
After a moment's more thought, "Who am I kidding, with Mitsune calling him 'Keitaro-chan' she clearly knows what she is doing, if I had known she knew how to dress that way maybe I would have asked her for advice too."
An image of Mitsune in her bareback gown crossed Motoko's mind. "No, I don't think that would do at all, but there is more to Mitsune than the person we have all considered her to be that is for sure. And for that matter the same can be said about Keitaro. Why did we spend so much time listening to Naru instead of looking for ourselves?"
Motoko already knew her own personal answer; it was because she had already prejudged all males, now she had to face the truth that she had judged all sorts of people; male and female before knowing if she was right or wrong. Keitaro was one of the people who had paid the price of that judgement.
"I guess I should try to spend some more time with him and maybe talk things out. After the exams when the pressure is off seems like a good time to me.", she decided.
Motoko drifted off into troubled sleep, still not sure where her feelings lay or what she wanted to do.
As Naru lay on her mattress that night she found her thoughts also turning to Mitsune, Keitaro and her later talk with Motoko. While talking to Motoko earlier on the roof she had found her emotions swing back and forth between which one she wanted to hit first. Naru restlessly turned over in her bed.
"How could she hug and kiss him so? Why call him '-chan'? Why can't she see he is a pervert?", she had demanded of Motoko.
"How do you know he is?", Motoko asked back, "Nothing I have seen lately supports that claim. And the other girls seem to agree with that view too."
"Not Sara-chan.", replied Naru even as she realized how weak a support for her side that was.
Naru changed positions in bed again as she considered other parts of the earlier conversation with Motoko.
"Well look at my date with him, and the perverted things he did there.", Naru offered as proof.
"Like what? You never told us anything about how your date went, and we still don't know anything about it except it did not go well.", Motoko replied. "Remember when you came back, you refused to tell me anything and insisted that we concentrate on relaxation exercises instead? I went along with you because you were in such a state that pushing you would not have helped.", she finished.
Naru had then proceeded to tell Motoko about the clothing store and the girls on stage, and how later in the date, Keitaro had revealed his mistake of not double-checking the event.
Still lying on her bed reviewing that part of the date and the retelling to Motoko about it once again, Naru in replaying the events in her mind got a flash of Keitaro's face. Was that shock and surprise on his face as he turned towards her?
"No, it can't be!", Naru exclaimed sitting up, "I am sure he was grinning.". But already a seed of doubt was forming, already she knew that when she saw the girls on stage that she had already imagined Keitaro grinning at the sight of them, but when he had turned his head she had not looked properly to see if he was doing so, she had just hit! Now a tease of her memory said she had done the wrong thing from the very start.
It did not matter that Keitaro had explained his mistake later on, if she had been paying attention then she would had realized something was wrong and not hit him in the first place.
"No, no, I am sure I am right.", she encouraged herself aloud. "Look at the movie he wanted to take me too!", she searched as proof of her beliefs. However, she had not talked about the movie to Motoko, it would have brought up the point of how closely she had been spying on Motoko's date.
But now the doubts were working their way into her heart. Her memories reminded her that Keitaro showed no signs of realizing that she had followed them for his entire date with Motoko. He also knew that she liked martial art movies, and so what if he saw it already? If he liked it, he would not mind seeing it again. And for that matter her own attention was not on the movie when she had spied on him and she would have liked to see the movie again herself when she thought about it.
"But I just blew up on him without giving a reason. I could not tell Motoko about it or why I acted that way either.", she realized, "What must he think about me? No wonder the other girls are having so much fun with him."
"And still after all that, Keitaro had still tried to make dinner such fun for me. And he was so sweet when he tasted the chocolate I had made for him. So then, how could he act that way on the train, forcing himself on me like that!", Naru puzzled, as she had not noticed the train jerking at the time.
Even for the stolen kiss, Naru found she could not work up a real anger. Instead after wasting too long a time (almost an hour sitting up when she needed her sleep) trying to build up a righteous anger she would find the memory of the taste and feel of his lips kept coming back and muddling up her thoughts about his action. In the end, she took the simplest course and lied to herself. "I will forgive him just this last time, after this no more chances.", she vowed to herself firmly.
All the same, she started to feel a little depressed again about the date. As she once again reviewed the events of the date she realized any of the other girls would had gone to see the movie. And in the case of the stage show Mitsune would have been all for it and even Motoko with her excellent emotional control would have probably walked away without causing a scene (well, maybe, 50/50 chance). Still thinking about it. It seemed to her likely that all the other girls on the same date would have had a better time than she did.
"Could it really be my fault that all my dates with him are always failing because I expect them to fail?", Naru whispered to herself as if to say it aloud would make it true. Again, the memory of the fun they had in Kyoto when they did not know it was each other surfaced.
"I will have to give him one more chance to prove himself, but I guess I have to wait till after exams. He better pass too, I have gone through too much for him to fail now.", decided Naru with no worries about herself passing the exams.
As Mitsune lay on her mattress that night she found her thoughts turning to Keitaro.
"Damn it all. That was the most fun I have had in a while going out with a man. Humm, Keitaro a man? I guess he is even if I like them a little older and loaded with tons of money. But he was so polite (a gentleman) the whole time, and he talked to me instead of trying to feel me up or staring at my breasts. And that is a major improvement over most of the losers I have been going out with lately. Most of them think they can get me drunk (as if I can't drink any of them under the table) and have their fun with me, but not Keitaro - he can't even think that way. And as for the party he took us to, it was clearly different from the drunken parties most men drag me to. The booze was very good, the food not bad, and it was just plain fun. Plus it looks like he is on a fast track for Toudai. What is wrong with Naru? Her dates with him always end up a mess. Probably because she will not face her own feelings. But it is not fair to him, look at how much pain Keitaro goes through because of her hiding from the truth about herself.", she thought to herself.
Like careful probing a gap in the teeth with one's tongue, Mitsune compared her loyalty to Naru as a long-time friend, to the fact she was getting older and Naru's dumping of interested boyfriends in the past when it started to look they were getting serious.
"That's it.", Mitsune decided. "I will still give Naru a chance, but if she insists on continuing this way maybe I should make a committed play for Keitaro myself. It would be such a shame if some outside girl just came along and grabbed him from right under our noses. After exams should be a good time to try for another date."
She then continued sip on her drink until she fell asleep.
As Su lay on her mattress that night, she found her thoughts turning to Keitaro.
"I wish he would bring back some of that food from when he goes out. I bet I am missing out on some really good stuff.", she thought just before drifting off into sleep, there to dream of making a machine that would force Keitaro to bring back food, and lots of it.
As Sara lay on her mattress that night, she found her thoughts turning to Keitaro.
"Why are those girls going out with that dork anyway? He is still as he always was, an idiot King of the Dorks. Still, they are acting as if he is someone worthwhile to be with like my Dad. I sure miss Dad, and that is that dork's fault too! If he had not agreed to let me stay here Dad would have had to take me with him everywhere. I hate you Keitaro! And I am going to continue kicking you for what you have done.", Sara fiercely thought as she dug under the sheets.
Still Sara felt uneasy; there was something in how the rest of the girls were changing around Keitaro.
She did not get the same smiles she used to get when she kicked him or pointed out anything perverted about him. "Why is it all changing?", she wondered as she fell off into a troubled sleep.
As Shinobu lay on her mattress that night, she found her thoughts turning to Keitaro.
"Do I have any chance at all?", she asked herself as a vision of Kitsune appeared in her mind. Once again, she grabbed at that fleeting feeling of being an adult that her date with Keitaro had given her. "I will not give up! After Sempai's exams I will try and go out with him again.", she decided. "After-all who knows what could happen to the others in the future?", she theorized as an image of a powerful gust of wind caused all her other rivals to fall down the stairs leading to the Hinata-Sou and ending up in the local hospital with broken legs.
It is a major point is Shinobu's favour as the dorm's cook that she never thought of poisoning the girls' food as a solution.
As Mutsumi lay on her mattress that night, she found her thoughts turning to Keitaro.
"It's my turn next! First exams, then fun, fun, fun.", was all she thought as she fell rapidly into a blissful sleep to dream of melons and the man she loved.
As Keitaro lay on his mattress that night, he found his thoughts to be just a mess of conflicting impressions and ideas.
He was proud that he not only was able to take Mitsune out (Wow! Was she hot when she wanted to be) on a date, but also because it turned out to be the perfect type of party to preventing her getting drunk, and that she got a good paying job out of it too.
Still he was sorry that Naru still seemed angry with him and that her date had turned out the way that it did. However, with exams so close there was no time to fix things up with her, it was just depressing to think about all the lost opportunities.
"If only my dates with Naru would go as well as the other girls' had.", he wished.
"Why do I always mess up? I am such a baka.", he finished, and drifted off into dreams of the different girls of the Hinata-Sou.