From the Start: Short Stories
Chapter 2 - Popularity Event 1
DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN THE GOD EATER FRANCHISE HOWEVER I DO OWN MY OC.
Winter's POV
About 2 months had passed since the party celebrating the victory of the Nova had occurred and it has been a quiet couple of months. The only things that could be considered as threats would be the large Quadrigas that had wandered too close to the Anti-Aragami Wall for comfort. They were dealt with relatively quickly by the newest of God Eaters. In total, a group of 6 newcomers became God Eaters and that was about 1 week after the celebration night had passed. With hardly any jobs worthy of my attention, at least in Sakaki's eyes, he had arranged for me to teach these new recruits how to battle the Aragami and what to do and what not to do when facing them. They were definitely a mixed bunch of people. Each had their own individual traits. All of them though, had one common trait; their clumsiness. It often showed during battles as well. At one point, I had taken a group of three of them out to defeat a colony of Ogretails. I suppose that the only positive thing about that mission is that they didn't hesitate to attack them but that was also clumsy on their a proper plan, they basically dived head first into the jaws of the Ogretails. Of course, I defeated the Ogretails before they could make any real damage on the new recruits. The teacher-student relationship became stronger with that group and thus I took them out on more missions. For the other three though, they are best defined as brats. I would make sure to only take one of them out on a mission at a time as well as filling the extra party slots with people I can get along with really well. This is because there were several times that I wanted to punish the brats so I needed to have someone there to calm me down. Most of the time it is Kanon but I won't lie in saying that even the former newbies, Annette and Federico, had calmed me down several times. After training the group of brats, the saying "an eye for an eye" became my new motto when dealing with them. Since they didn't listen to me when I tell them about the plans, I didn't listen to their cries for help. Sure it got me into trouble quite a bit but in the end, the brats came to realise my new motto and actually looked like they were paying me attention, even if they weren't listening at all.
Right now though, Sakaki had called me up to his office. I'm not sure what it is about since I no longer carry responsibility for the brats as they had been transferred to other branches whilst the three well behaved new recruits had joined my Unit. Either way, the sooner I get there, the sooner I can leave.
"Ah, good evening, Winter." Sakaki greets me with his usual smile as I walk up to his desk.
"You wanted to see me?" My face remains emotionless despite an increase in the levels of annoyance.
"Yes. You remember what we talked about a while ago? I believe it was the night of the celebrations." He reminds me.
"That was two months ago. I can't even remember the Aragami that I had to hunt two days ago, let alone a conversation from two months ago." I tell him stoically.
"Well, it's a shame you can't remember yet but I'm sure you will soon." He begins an explanation but his words don't leave my head as I ponder on their meaning.
"The truth of the matter is that Fenrir is making cutbacks on the amount of money they are supplying to each branch. This includes the Far East Branch." He explains and I feign interest.
"Therefore, we have had to come up with other ways to make money. We have decided that you will be the best way to make this money." He explains.
"Are you planning on selling me?" I ask him with a horrid look on my face, "I didn't realise that the Branch would try to make me a prostitute; or is it a gigolo? If that is the case then I request to be transferred to another Branch immediately." I'm sure he can hear the disgust in my voice. My comment removes the smile from his face as he slams his hands on the desk in utter surprise at my comment.
"No! That's not what I meant at all! I wouldn't dare think about doing something like that! And definitely not to someone who has defended the world multiple times! Clearly you have forgotten about the main reason why the Far East Branch has had a ton of God Eater applications." Sakaki says with the fear in his voice fading at the thought of losing his favourite and strongest God Eater to another Branch.
"Alright then, enough jokes." I tell him and enjoy his embarrassed look. Now that I think about it, this is the first time I've seen him be embarrassed. I guess he does have a few emotions after all.
"You were saying that I could somehow be of service for raising money for the Branch." I remind him of what he was telling me. He coughs to regain composure before plastering that smile on his face again and resuming his explanation.
"Ah, yes. I'll cut straight to the point. It looks like we will need to arrange the popularity event after all." The words "popularity event" bring back my memories of the conversation we had two months ago.
"Is there no other alternative?" I ask, in the hopes that there was.
"Unfortunately not. With the increase in the number of God Eaters, we will need more funds to pay them regularly. The only way we can do this is by either lowering the pays of everybody in the Den or by holding events that would raise money. Keeping in mind that shops all over the world will be increasing their prices and so, if we lower everyone's pay, they will find it more difficult to get by."
"Fine, fine. I'll do it." I tell him reluctantly. "Is that all?"
"Don't get me wrong, I hate the fact that this is our only option as I know you aren't a fan of people you don't know. How about we give you a partner in crime whilst you're making the money?" He asks me.
"I would much rather prefer having someone with me in this event." I explain to him.
"Events." Sakaki says and it takes me a few seconds to realise what he means.
"How many events do you intend on holding?" I enquire.
"We'll need to hold one event every couple of months or so. Of course, depending on how much you make, we may not need to hold another event for quite some time." He informs me.
"My only condition is that I have someone with me at every event." I tell him with an exasperated sigh.
"Of course. I'll send you the details of when the event will take place." Sakaki then dismisses me and I go back to my room, with the thought of getting some sleep sounding very appealing to me.
Day of the event
The heat was unbearable today, despite the fact that Sakaki had picked out a decently shaded spot just outside of the Den. I kind of feel sorry for my fans though which have accumulated in a long line that I can't see the end of. I've been doing this event for what, 2 hours now? And I'm already sweating from the blistering heat. I bet that most people wish that the line would hurry along just so that they could move into the shade. It won't make too much of a difference though. I have thought numerous times about removing my shirt but I can't bring myself to do it. I'm just that lethargic. I wish I had more appropriate clothing like my popularity partner, Alisa, who is wearing the same clothes she always does but they are a lot more suited to his weather.
"I'm hot." She tells me as she leans back into her chair and I look at her incredulously.
"You're hot? You're attire is more suited to this weather than mine!" I tell her as I move my hand to point at my attire. "You're showing about 50% more skin that I am." I tell her as I refer to my short sleeve shirt. She grunts in response but before she can continue, a cough from the next customer alerts us to the situation in hand.
"Hi, I'm a big fan of both of you. Can I get an autograph from you both?" The girl asks us.
"You'll have to pay the combined total, is that okay?" I tell her but receive an elbow in the ribs from Alisa.
"I know. I have the money for them both." The customer tells us with a smile on her face.
"Okay. Who should we make this out to?" Alisa asks as the customer hands us a notebook.
"Can you put to my number one fan please?" She asks with a wide smile.
"Of course." I answer with a smile of my own and allow Alisa to write her signature first.
"So I've been meaning to ask when I saw you two earlier but... Are you two together?" She asks. If we had been drinking anything then I'm sure we would have spit it out.
"No, it's nothing like that." Alisa speaks up and she hands me the notebook.
"Yeah, I'm in a relationship with a different God Eater anyway." I tell her as I finish my signature.
"Really?! Who is it?!" She asks and her tone tells me she won't leave without an answer but I don't give in.
"You'll see when we get married. Anyway, that'll be 16,000 Fenrir Credits please." I inform her.
"Oh, yeah." She fishes the money out of her bag before giving it to us.
"Thanks very much." Alisa and I say and the customer moves on.
As the customer walks away, Alisa turns to me.
"When are you planning on marrying her?" She pokes me in the ribs playfully.
"Not for a while yet. I'm planning on making it a great ceremony so I'll need a ton of money before that happens." I explain to her.
"Aw, I didn't know you had a sweet side. I guess I have Kanon to thank for that, huh?"
"You guessed right. Anyway, time for the customer." I say in order to drop the conversation. The next customer is an overweight male that is quite shy in asking for an autograph.
"Y-yeah, Hi. Can I-I get an autograph please?" He fidgets with the paper as he says this before handing it to Alisa.
"Of course." She answers with a large smile, "Who should I make it out to?"
"Please put to my future husband." The man says and his words make Alisa visibly shiver.
I lean over and whisper to her, "How many is that now? 4 in the last hour?"
"Shut up." She whispers back to me before fulfilling the customer's request.
"That'll be 5,000 Fenrir Credits please." Alisa gives the paper back and receives the money from the customer before he moves along.
"You should probably charge for fan service as well with customers like that." I say humoured as to the number of perverted fans she has.
"You pervert." She says with embarrassment evident in her voice.
"Why not? You could probably make more than me that way." I tell her as I refer to the price differences for each option of an autograph, photograph or a hug.
"Why are your prices so high anyway?" She asks and I think I can sense a bit of jealously in her voice.
"Don't ask me. Sakaki's the one who set it up." I explain to her.
"Yeah but 11,000FC for an autograph, 20,000FC for a photograph and 50,000FC for a hug?! Who even has the money for anything other than an autograph?" Alisa asks with an incredulous look.
"No idea. I guess Sakaki set his hopes too high." I tell her before turning to the next customer.
"Hi," She begins as she looks at me with a happy gleam in her eye, "I'd like one of everything!" She shouts as she places her hands on the desk and pushes her face about 30 centimetres from mine.
"Um, okay. Do you have the money for it all?" I ask, believing that she didn't have the money.
"Yep!" She reaches into her bag and pulls out so much money that you would have thought that she robbed a bank. Alisa takes the money and counts it as I proceed with an autograph.
"Who should I make it out to?" I ask, slightly unnerved as to the amount of money she is willing to spend on me.
"Please put, Amanda Wells, My future bride." She tells me.
"Sounds like you have your own perverted fans, who are loaded with money." Alisa whispers to me.
"Is it real?" I ask about the legibility of the money and she gives a nod of her head.
"Anyway," I turn my attention back to the customer, "How about I write something else? I am already in a relationship, you see." I explain to her.
"Okay, then how about Amanda Wells, may our futures intertwine?" She asks. I accept this despite the fact that it still sounds creepy but at least it is better than the first one. I write it down and hand it to her.
"Next is a photogr..." Before I can finish, the customer, now known as Amanda, throws Alisa her phone, luckily she catches it, and grabs my face so that we can both look into the phone for the photograph. Although slightly surprised at what's just happened, Alisa takes the photograph and Amanda lets go. I find myself fearing what is going to happen when she hugs me.
"Next is the hug." I say and stand up, walking around the stall out of the stall so that she can hug me. She doesn't hesitate in grabbing me as soon as she can and moves her hands up my back. I push away from her straight away and rush back into the stall.
"Next customer please!" I shout and Amanda gives a large smile before skipping away.
"You definitely have some weird fans." Alisa tells me as she pats me on the shoulder in an attempt at calming me down. She must have noticed how shaken I was from the event. I find myself thinking that this is the only time that I'm glad somebody else knows how I am around people I don't know otherwise I'd have probably flipped out.