Here's chapter 59. This chapter focuses on characters from Aggretsuko. Featuring an brief appearance of Beastars characters.
After having seen the report in Carrier Man Trading Co., Ltd, and having received a message from Washimi by cell phone; Retsuko, Fenneko, and Ookami would meet her and Gori at her office. Luckily the CEO wasn't around at the time as Washimi took care of him, intimidating him and sending him away from the office until she was done with her little meeting, which the CEO was a bit annoyed by, since he was supposed to her boss, and in his view she had no respect for him. But it would not be an option to fire her, because if she did, the company would decline, and that was not something he could allow, he knew that he needed her, that's why he had kept her in the company despite the fact that she rejected all his ideas or destroyed his desks. As he thought about that he didn't notice the red panda, the fennec fox and the red maned wolf walking past his and heading to her secretary's office.
Once they knocked on the door, the voice of the eagle told them to enter. The three quickly entered and closed the door. The office was with all the curtains closed just in case, since they didn't want them to be spied on, since despite being on one of the highest floors of the company, they didn't want to take any kind of risk. More taking into account the current events in which they are indirectly involved.
"I'm glad you could come quickly," said Washimi.
"But where is Haida?" Gori asked noticing the absence of the hyena.
"He stayed home for today. He is recovering from yoga classes. My mother and grandmother are taking care of him," Retsuko answered.
"Oh, I hope he gets better," said the gorilla.
"Me too," said the eagle.
They both knew that Haida had done poorly last night. But they didn't wait until it was so long that they didn't come to work.
"Don't worry. My mother and grandmother would give him something that they said would be in good shape by the time I got home. And that she will be able to come to work next week" said the red panda to reassure them, which worked.
"And then why did they ask us to come?" Fenneko asked.
"Well, we guess you guys watched the news a few minutes ago and saw who showed up there," Washimi replied.
"Yes we saw it. But fortunately due to the prohibition to mention anything on the subject in question about what happened on Saturday, no one approached us to ask us anything. At least not Anai and Kabae who were close to us at the time" said Ookami.
"Neither did anyone we met on the way here. Though I suspect they wanted to bombard us with questions," Retsuko said.
"Well, it seems that for fear of losing their jobs, and how difficult it would be to get a new one while the country is going through a situation like this, they have had to put up with it. At least that's beneficial to us. At least during work hours," Gori said.
"So, at the moment everything is fine here at the company. Although we still have to take care of ourselves on the way from home to work, and from work to home. Since the people on the street don't work here, and what's worse, if the same reporters who saw us on Saturday afternoon or any other find out where we live or work, we won't have a moment of peace," said Fenneko.
"Well, apparently we don't have to worry about this anymore. Because that's why I called all of you to gather here," said Washimi.
The gorilla, the red panda, the fennec fox and the red maned wolf stared at him for a few seconds without saying anything.
"Before I called you I got a call from Agent Savage. He informed me that we will receive protection from the government and that there will be some undercover agents who will be close to us and give us protection in case something happens. That was one of the things the prime minister did to ensure our well-being after Sonic and the others revealed their identity. He even said that possibly today or tomorrow some agents will visit our respective homes" said the eagle.
"Oh, and did he tell you why Sonic and the others revealed their identities to the public?" Ookami asked.
"Well, he said something that had to do with the citizens feeling safe that they would be protected from another attack on Eggman," Washimi replied.
"Oh, so I guess we should let Haida know," Gori said.
"I don't think it's the right time right now. If she's with my mother and grandmother and they suspect something they won't stop asking her questions, and if he still hasn't fully recovered he won't have any way of escaping from them" Retsuko said.
"And I'm sure that if Haida is pressed he will say everything," Fenneko said.
"Oh come on, don't you think you're exaggerating?" Retsuko said.
"I know Haida. I know he will," Fenneko said.
"I think Fenneko has a point about that," Ookami said.
They averted their gazes, they had no intention of responding to that. But Retsuko for some reason felt what they were thinking at that moment. But she didn't say anything.
Retsuko could see where that little mistrust was coming from and yes, Haida had done silly and exaggerated things in the past. And on occasion he commits a fairly serious crime, but he reconsider in time. She knew that Haida could still make mistakes, but not one of the magnitude that he almost did in the past, and since then he hadn't been through anything like it again. It had happened when they were both still 25 years old. And even after that he became more and more responsible, that he has even been a loving husband to her and a good father to Koka.
Retsuko decided instead to leave that part of the topic behind, because she didn't want to stress herself anymore. Even though she still had death metal, it wouldn't be a good idea to sing that at a time when even though no one mentioned anything, a lot of eyes were directed at her and she didn't want to draw more attention to it. Now the important thing was to act completely normal as if nothing was happening. And at least with what they had been told at least by the time they got off work, they wouldn't be harassed by reporters or others who happened to be near them on their way home. At least she had some relief that her mother and her grandmother, her father (when he got back to town the next day), her husband, her friends, the kids, and herself, too. They would be safe from any danger.
"Well, I think it's time for you to leave, it's almost time for lunch to end, because it's better that you go back to the break room" said the gorilla when she saw the time on the clock on the wall.
"Apart from the fact that it would be very suspicious if they stayed away from the others for so long," said the eagle.
"It's okay. We will see you at departure time" said the red panda.
After that, Retsuko, Fenneko and Ookami left the office. Arriving in the break room (although they hadn't realized that he had left after them) Anai had returned and was showing the cookbooks he had written to Collot, Durham, Miguno and Voss. These made their mouths water, since the food looked exquisite. Anai suggested that if they wanted, he could prepare a meal for them one day, they would surely like it. When they listened, they were happy and began to wag their tails involuntarily. Meanwhile, on the other hand, Kabae was still sitting next to Louis, showing him several photographs and describing what was in each one, it could be said that the poor deer was already fed up, but due to the education he received since his childhood, he could not be rude telling him to stop talking, especially considering that the hippopotamus was older than him. So he had to put up with it, at least it wouldn't be long before this suffering would end. Retsuko felt a bit sorry to see him like that, since she knew how he felt.
Once they got to their seats there was Legoshi and Jack waiting for them.
"Everything's okay," Jack asked.
"Oh yeah. Everything is as good as it could be," Retsuko replied.
"It was just a call from our relatives asking if everything was alright with us" Fenneko said in a monotone voice.
"Exactly. There is no problem at the moment" said Ookami.
"Well, if you say so, that's fine," Legoshi said.
After that, they continued to talk about different topics until the end of the lunch hour, so when the time came, everyone got up from the work area. Obviously and as expected on the way to the work area, obviously the red panda, the fennec fox and the red maned wolf couldn't help but receive several curious glances from many of the company's workers who wanted to know more about what happened. at the end of the week, and it took almost a week for them to show up again. Although they wouldn't ask any questions, at least not during working hours. When the group finally reached the accounting area, they settled into their seats, and began their second working day.
…
Haida was at home at the time, having ended the previous call, he hoped that her mother in law and her grandmother in law would not start asking questions. Although they didn't bring it up at first, he couldn't be sure if they were saving it for the moment he least expected or if they had no intention of asking. He hoped it was the latter. Although with Haida's luck sometimes she wouldn't be surprised if she was first and more so because her mother in law could sometimes be unpredictable, her grandmother in law wasn't so much in that sense, but if she was with her daughter, she would probably join her to see what information they could get from him about what had happened. He was sure that it would happen.
At the moment Haida was with his son Koka, and his friends: Hana, Izumi and Daisuke. Retsuko's mother and grandmother had gone out to do some shopping a few moments ago. Although Haida, being the man of the house, had gone, both red pandas told him to rest a little longer, since in his own words, they were feeling better. So it was better not to strain himrself by making long journeys and to be relaxed at all times. It was for that reason that he decided to stay with the children. Anyway, he wasn't boring, moreover, he was entertained watching them play.
Several memories from when he was a child came to his mind. Although he didn't play the same games as children of this time, the fun he had was exactly similar. That made him feel nostalgic, when life was calmer and simpler in his childhood, nothing to worry about but going to school and getting good grades. He had very good grades so there was nothing for them to worry about. He even remembered how he and the friends they had at that time juba for several hours until nightfall. And although they could no longer be together as they had in the past, he still had contact with them and called them on the phone from time to time. Even after what happened over the weekend, there were some of the people who called him after seeing him in the report.
Just then he hear the door open and close. He guessed it was the two red pandas. Which was true. They had several shopping bags.
"Wow, they bought a lot" said the hyena.
"I told my daughter the same thing" said the oldest red panda.
"Well, since my husband is coming back to the city tomorrow, I decided to buy food for 6 since he will be staying here with us too," said the middle-aged red panda.
"Wait a minute, what?" Haida said.
"We cannot be separated with the things that have been happening these days, the family must be united. So apart from my husband, I also called my father, my husband's parents, Aunt Yoshi, and your parents to come stay with all of us. They will come next week" said Retsuko's mother.
That took Haida, Retsuko's grandmother, and Koka by surprise (the latter heard it while he was still playing with his friends). Haida because he hadn't asked his opinion on the matter, and he was sure he hadn't asked Retsuko either. While Retsuko's grandmother and Koka took it happily as they liked family gatherings. Fortunately, the house was large and spacious enough to house them all at the same time.
Haida now wonders how Retsuko would take it when she found out. But he was sure death metal would get involved in this.
So far the chapter. I hope you liked it.