Trouble at Work

Rin has many jobs and her day starts as early as 5:00 am.

4:45, she wakes up, washes her face, brushes her teeth and puts her work uniform on. An uwagi and a pair of trousers and slippers. Then go to kitchen and drink morning tea, and a small breakfast of mildly-spicy miso soup to get by until ACTUAL employee breakfast after the guests are done with theirs.

5:00, time for work. Her job is mochi and anko production, quite the heavy labor work for a probationary period, had the newbie been an ordinary human. For Anko, she has to make both the smooth(koshian) and coarse(tsubuan) pastes. And these guys use brown sugar for their anko. Salary for the labor-intensive sweets department, is 300.000.

She has free food and room, she can definitely earn money! But the kitchen department earns more...

Once she is told what to do, she began figuring out the perfect flavor ratio for huge tubs of those with subtle use of sorcery, and some guys are in charge of pounding the mochi to ideal levels, while she is in charge of anko entirely, and cleaning the tools and workspace, dealing with the garbage, etc.

It's...labor-intensive.

Breakfast is at 9:00. Light breakfast of half-rice and fried eggs. Because heavy lunch is at 2:00.

Lunch? A set meal of Miso Soup, Rice, Eggs, Fish, Vegetables and Pickles.

The taste?

She choked.

"Bepolitebepolitebepolitebepolitebepolitebepolitebepolitebepolitebepolite..."

IT SUUUUUCKKKSS!

"Curse my sensitive tongue! Why am I Half-Human again?!" she inwardly cried miserably.

xxx

That night...9:00 pm which is her time out...

/Rin you called!/ Fujimoto answered the cellphone. /How's your first day in Toraya?/

'Ahaha, it's an easy job for a probationary period!' said Rin cheerfully in her room. 'I'll have to endure for a bit until I reach the kitchen, OK?'

/By those words.../

'Y-yeah, it's like back to square one!' Rin cried comical tears. 'It's painful to eat!' Fujimoto chuckled at that. His daughter was a great cook caused by her sensitive tongue wanting perfection.

/Hang in there kiddo, at least until you reach the kitchen!/

Yeah, hang in there indeed!

xxx

A week into Rin's job...school began by that point...

'Thank you all for coming.' said Mephisto as the entire All-Boys' Monastery Residents and high-ranking Myoo-Dha Personnel. 'It's now time for the Retrocognitive Film Viewing about Rin-chan.' he said. 'It'll take an hour outside and you won't age...while watching videos that last seven years at most.' he told them. 'How Rin-chan encountered the power of sorcery or these people call it magecraft.' he said with a snap of his fingers, they came to an area centering on Aozaki Aoko.

'Wow! What a hottie!' Kinzo drooled, earning him a smack from his father. The woman looked like a young adult, and beautiful with long red hair, and wearing a turtleneck brown suede shirt and a long pleated skirt giving an oneesama feel to her, and a pair of boots.

'Who is this woman?' Fujimoto asked Mephisto.

'Aozaki Aoko, one of the holders of the Five Great True Magics and the youngest of the five.' Mephisto introduced. 'Seven years ago, she's 31 despite how she looks.' Kinzo passed out in shock.

'What are these Five Great True Magics?' Yaozo asked him, ignoring his son's idiocy.

'The fourth one is forgotten, so there's currently four known true magics.' said Mephisto. 'The first magic of creating something over nothing, the second magic of traveling Parallel Worlds, the third magic of Materialization of the Soul and the fifth one of Time Travel. Only one holder at a time, because in order to obtain these true magics, they must enter Akasha, the Origin of Life and Knowledge itself within this world.'

'The First and Fifth are similar in that a path to the Root, a Gate of Akasha, was created and Magic was gained upon their arrival, while the Second, Third, and Fourth were created as a means to reach that place.' he continued, showing them images of human cut-outs as representation of people. 'It is said that the First and the Fifth are thus of a higher standing than the rest. In the case of the Fifth, the path was discovered and left unentered by Aoko's grandfather, and its mysteries were passed on to her when she turned tail and ran right at the front of the door. The Aozaki's land was the only land where Magic could be achieved in Japan until that point, but the land itself no longer mattered after she inherited it.'

'Magecraft can be classified as human wisdom and the world, while Magic is the solitude outside of that, included in neither. Magecraft focuses on the studying of history, the works of man and the circle of life of the planet, but Magic is considered the providence of a god beyond the skies. It is considered an irrefutable crime against both humanity and the planet, so reaching out to the Root is something that brings about the Counter Force. Those who do achieve newly acquired Magic are killed by a red shadow only they'll see for the last time, if they're not careful. Those who obtained and escaped, become Magicians.'

'Aoko as a mage, is inferior even to her student Rin. Only overpowering Rin if she used Time Travel Magic in combat ways. But as a mage, Rin was 'crazy strong'...in her own words. Now watch, and listen. The questions you'll have, will be answered the further you watch this history, so be quiet until the end.'

And so, they watched how things started for Rin, what made Aoko decide to teach her magecraft...

Rin cried on the lady as to why she was alone in the playground that day...

Rin got mistaken for a 'Phantasmal Being' as only Phantasmal Beings can have Magic Cores, not Magic Circuits, so Rin is aware she's not entirely human to her shock. Humanity can only have Magic Circuits, so she is insanely powerful in regards to power output...while learning Runic Letters and English at the same time, because mages use runic letters in place of english to write their magic books so if humans got ahold of it, they'll be baffled and unable to understand it and merely see it as nonsense. Archaelogists will also find it as nonsense as it will not make sense to them as well as runic letters have their own meanings. Hell, they may even decide, 'It's probably some movie prop or something!' so Rin learned English at a young age. Rin was originally demotivated to learn because she hated school, but for the sake of learning magecraft, she became studious.

...being taught morals and given books about Aesop's Fables for Rin to recognize good and bad and knowing NEVER to do bad as a child also helps, with Aoko explaining what the moral of the story means. She also taught Rin the Value of Honesty and Honest Living instead of living a life of lying.

Learning the Fundamentals took five years, and two years were dedicated to the rest of magical arts Rin knows, as well as learning physical skills and fighting skills from Aoko.

After that, following Aoko to England, to Clock Tower, where Mephisto learned their culture and way of life, with him doing the lecturing this time...

'...so after Rin earns enough money in Toraya for three years as she planned, she will go to England as a Freelancer Agent as security of secrecy is in danger.' said Mephisto. 'Rin will work to hunt down careless magi who risk outing that humans can do magic but not all of humanity can do magic as not all humans are born with Magic Circuits.' he said. 'Out of 100, only 5 have it.'

'So, has everyone understood what you all watched so far?'

'Y-yeah, but can WE do that too?' Yukio choked out.

'All Exorcists can. After all, you can summon and use Aria spells, right? You can even bless objects.' Mephisto pointed out that got them pausing blankly. 'That's sorcery you know or ahem, magecraft.'

'AHHHHH!' they all yelled, wide-eyed.

'Now then, the question is...how many circuits have you got?' Mephisto performed the Diagnostic spells on them...

Fujimoto and Yukio has 20.

Yaozo has 28, Juzo and Kinzo 29. Most likely the other children also have 29. Uwabami and his daughters, the same in numbers since they were of the same generation of lineage.

Suguro Tatsuma has 31.

'Mm, looks like befitting of the Most High Priest...most likely Bon has 32 if we look.' Juzo mused thoughtfully. 'We all had one more circuit than our dads.'

'Mm. Well, with this, you guys learned the Fundamentals and now we'll be working on fully activating your Circuits since using what you studied in Seijuuji Cram School merely uses half...even I didn't know we can get stronger until we found out Rin-chan already belongs in another organization...'

And that, influenced Yukio's Homeroom classes...however, he went as far as awakening and training Circuits, and basic magecraft spells useful in combat. That is it.

Kamiki Izumo, due to her lineage and her family's piousness to the foxes, is understandably the most powerful student in her class by herself, but in terms of familiars, Shima Renzo was stronger.

His students are mostly Arias and Tamers between the three myoo-dha boys and Kamiki, while Paku's full potential is still unknown. There's nary a Knight, Dragoon and Doctor-type, to his exasperation as his class is unbalanced, but he has to improvise.

As a Homeroom Teacher, he decides HOW his students are to be taught and trained. He has to change rules now!

xxx

And so...

Rin lived a rather productive life in Toraya.

With her in the Sweets department, quality of their sweets improved when she 'suggested' a little recipe-tweaking and with magic, persuaded customers to buy two-three boxes as each box was about 10-20 usd equivalent, depending on the boxes, but she would ensure rich customers go for the 20 dollar ones, those who can afford buy the cheap one. She implanted a spell in ALL of the customers' rooms.

By the end of May, her Probation ended that she now joined the kitchens.

'Hey, how come we don't have flowers in the garden inns?' Rin wondered to a senior employee when nighttime clean-up was done. 'Most inns have flowers.'

'Well, the plants we have are useful at least, even if they're not pretty to look at, Rin-chan.' said the employee. 'They're all medicinal plants and we do herbal on the side.'

'Heeee...' that got Rin interested. 'What kind?'

'Antibacterials and anti-inflammatories is our bread and butter!' the employee beamed. 'Most minor to moderate illnesses are afflicted by those and that's our extra service source if tourists fell ill from touring activities but customers in our inn.'

Rin looked at the plants. 'So medicine is better than flowers, huh?'

'Flowers are beautiful but delicate...and hardly of any use unless it's to bear edible fruit.' the employee snorted. 'The only flowers we like are flowers coming from crops because they're eat-able and sell-able!' Rin sweatdropped at that.

'Ahahaha...'

But still, she'll take a sample of all leaves...

xxx

Come summer...

'Uwaaa...not much customers~' Rin moped at having nothing to do. 'It's sooo sloooow...' she complained, while making shaved ice for kakigori as the workers were wailing from the heat.

'Summers in Kyoto are hot, Rin-chan.' said Torako. 'Nobody's going to go out in this heat, and our air-conditioning is no match for this nasty summer! I'm just glad customers the past couple months are generous, we can afford to replace what needs replacing and repairs!'

'We'll take advantage of the slow days to get everything done for autumn customers actually!' an old man chuckled. 'We're packed in Spring, Autumn and Winter, worry not!'

'If you say so...'

But then things went crazy a week later that nearly everyone fell ill!

'H-hey?!'

'Everyone, what's happening?!'

Chaos ensued as the employees fell ill all at the same time and they had no idea what happened.

'No news about an epidemic going on...but why'd everyone get sick?' Rin fretted out as there's no news from television in all news channels she looked into.

'We've already called a doctor, so we'll know what to do soon.' said an elderly man who just came in.

(Said doctor is a Pharmacologist)

The kitchens later...

'...they're infected with a bacterial strain. Our plants are handy but they'll be cut bald soon just to make everyone better.' said Torako. 'Everyone is to make Herbal Tea, the boys will bring cuttings over! Somebody teach Rin-chan how to make it! I have to make rooming arrangements!'

'Yes ma'am!'

Rin was taught how to make the antibacterial herbal tea. But unless she knows how bad it is, she can't Reinforce. But at least she knows how to make quality better by using Structural Analysis to learn how to make the most of the herbs. Then after ladling them into teapots, waitresses who were healthy carried it out for distribution. Rin was forbidden from going to the guest rooms as she was the youngest employee for her safety...and it's also to hide from her the true nature of the people working here.

However, they can't keep the truth for long...because Rin went out for necessities and saw a van parked outside.

'What a time to have customers!' she huffed, annoyed, hoping the inn won't get a bad rep if the newcomers get sick! She went inside to see quite a ruckus.

Madam's annoyed HER SON dyed his hair...

"Oh dear, madam's son and friends came home at a time like this..." she sighed. "Hopefully they won't get sick..."

xxx

'Wow, who's that cutie auntie?' Shima Renzo chimed, seeing Rin. She wore the working kimono and wore her hair in an updo and carried groceries too heavy for a normal person that she does effortlessly. She's pretty strong, they thought.

'She's a new hire of ours this spring, Okumura Rin-chan.' said Torako. 'She cannot go anywhere near the rooms right now for her own good and heavily restricted to the entrance and the kitchens.'

So work continued as usual.

'Oku-san! Bentos are done.' said Rin, having cooked orders for a bunch of salarymen for takeout to some Field Office.

'Good work! Now I'll go call the boys to deliver the take-out...'

'Phew...time to make anti-bacterial soup now...had I known stuff like this exists, we won't have to spend on medicine when I was a kid...' Rin grumbled as she took out necessary goods out of the boxes. Vegetables and medicinal herbs with some chicken she went to pulverize...quite literally, before forming them as bite-sized balls after setting things up to a boil to extract the beneficial components...which she reinforced by the way!

'Eto, Kamiki-san and Paku-san, right?' Rin talked to Kamiki Izumo while cooking. 'I thought you and your friends are under a tourist program until I was told you're hired part-timers...' she said as both girls sweatdropped, '-so before I ask you to do what your next job is, you and your friends should drink the soup first to avoid getting infected. I have no idea what got our other workers and some people the inn took in due to having similar illnesses, we can't take chances OK?'

'Er, right.' Izumo coughed awkwardly. Paku looked sheepish.

'So when the soup is done, call your friends to distribute the rest to the patients.' Rin smiled. 'One can't be too complacent now! And after everyone's gotten their soup, you guys drink last so whatever you contracted will go away.'

Well, the effects on the sick, were astonishing, as the Exwires later found out.

'What the...what super-soup is this?!' Bon squawked as the illness symbolized by creepy-looking reddish-purple blisters rapidly disappeared and recovery was just as quick.

'Erm, Rin-san made it.' said Paku. 'We should drink some too.'

They took bowls for themselves and drank some...

WOW!

Delicious, that they can overlook the medical aftertaste!

xxx

'What?! Fast healing? All of you?!' Kirigakure Shura squawked out as all of Myoo-Dha are fully-recovered when before they can all barely stand!

'Yes, so we're ready to back up everyone any time.' said Yaozo. "It's that soup she made!" he recalled his son saying 'The new intern made it!'

'Our next step is to disinfect HQ next.' said Uwabami. 'To prevent a relapse! We should disinfect our home base before we can even think of tackling the Impure King.'

'Right, we should get to it immediately.' Yaozo agreed. 'We have no way of knowing when they'll strike so I believe we all rested enough!'

'Leave that to the Exwires.' said Shura. 'We should deal with the Main Problem ourselves. Let's move it.'