Birthday Bash 2024
Prompt Five: Bodyguard
All right, no big deal. His first assignment after graduating from the academy, he could handle this. Renaldo Moon did all the exercises he was supposed to in order to cover his nerves. He analyzed his surroundings, a long hallway outside a large office.
But this wasn't some measly little office, oh no. This wasn't even an ordinary long hallway. The floor was solid marble, there was an expensive water fountain two doors down, and he was almost certain that the office waiting to admit him would look close to a modern throne room.
He could still hardly believe his luck, but tried once again to suppress it. The research he'd done on his employer was promising, but if his job was going to be guarding the man's daughter, he would be strongly tempted to decline the offer.
But he needed the money. No family, only one friend that got sent to Germany for another rich family, and sent to Japan himself. Sure, he made sure his Japanese was on par with the locals, but the customs still seemed strange to him.
He straightened slightly as the correct door opened, and a file of finely dressed businessmen began filing out.
The secretary he'd been ignoring coughed as her earpiece gave instructions. "Mr. Hashima is ready for your interview, Mr. Moon."
Renaldo waited a few extra seconds for stragglers before marching into the room and closing the door behind him.
The man sitting at the head of the long table was middle aged, light hair sanded with grey, but with a bright smile as he stood up from his seat. "I am so grateful you made it in one piece, Mr. Moon," he greeted in flawless English, even holding out his hand instead of the customary bow.
Although stunned at the familiarity from a man who made more in a day than he would in a decade, Renaldo still shook the offered hand with a polite smile. "Thanks to you, I couldn't make it here any other way. What would you like from me, Hashima-san?" he replied in Japanese to prove that communication would be the least of the man's concerns.
He smiled even brighter as he gestured for Renaldo to take a seat close to his own before rummaging around a briefcase that had been hiding under the table. "I've got a special job for you, I knew you were perfect when I was scanning for candidates!"
'Please don't make me guard your daughter, please don't make me guard your daughter,' he repeated in his head over and over while trying to keep a fixed smile on his face.
"Tell me, did you do any research on me or my daughter?" Hashima-san asked while pulling a thick folder out of the briefcase and bouncing it twice on the table for all the papers within to line up.
'Kill me, not the monster!' "I know your net worth, I have a rough idea of your connections, you don't seem to have any obvious enemies, and… you have one child." 'I'm being generous calling her that!'
Hashima raised an eyebrow, and some of his cheerful mood slipped away. "I have someone else guarding Himeko."
"Oh thank heaven!" Renaldo gasped, realizing after he said it that this was still her father. "Uh, I mean-"
But the man was already waving off apologies with one hand, looking depressed. "Please no platitudes. I tried, but…" he sighed tiredly. "Well, you saw for yourself. But I can't do too much, not when my wife…"
Muta nodded, even though he'd gotten the opposite treatment for 'killing his mother'. "What would you like me to do?"
Hashima managed a slightly brighter smile while setting down the folder and sliding it to him. "There's two pictures on the first page. Tell me what you think of them."
Renaldo obeyed, fighting back a small laugh that he'd been handed the file the wrong side up. He flipped it without comment before staring carefully at two photos he'd actually seen before during his research.
At first glance, both were of Himeko. One was a promotional ad from some years ago, perhaps five. She was dressed in a Lolita princess style for a perfume, riding a carousel like she wasn't a little terror when money wasn't on the line.
It was the second photo that had made him pause, since it didn't aesthetically fit with literally everything else he'd gathered about the little rich girl.
She was in plain jeans and a hoodie at the same age as the ad, and instead of extravagant curls her hair was straight and up in a plain ponytail. There was terror and determination in her fierce eyes as she dragged another girl with white hair away from the street.
The photo didn't have any captions, but he remembered reading the article attached to this picture while on the plane. Rescuing a girl from intentionally hurting herself in traffic didn't seem like Himeko's style, nor did anything that involved not being the center of attention. What on earth could the daughter of one of the richest men in Japan be doing on a common street in common clothes without a bodyguard…
He went slack jawed before slapping himself on the forehead. "There's two of them!" he lamented, ashamed that it had taken him this long to see the obvious explanation.
"Indeed," Hashima agreed, sounding pleased. "Turn the page, please."
Renaldo did so to see a more recent photo.
This time, short red hair was present as well as glasses. Her expression was too practiced, but since she was in a high school uniform, this was clearly a required photo.
"Due to her resemblance with my daughter, it would be my responsibility if anything were to happen to Haru Yoshioka," Hashima stated, his voice turning gentle and warm as he spoke of his daughter's doppelganger.
Renaldo looked up to be sure it wasn't his imagination, and it wasn't. Hashima was staring at the photo with a wistful longing, as if he'd trade his empire if he could exchange the girls without a fuss.
"I know you just graduated, but I need you to pretend to be a few years younger and enroll in her school. I've arranged the papers for your new identity as Tsuki Muta and hired people to act as your family. I specifically chose you because you look younger than you are, but you have an intimidating build. You can cut off fights before they begin if you scowl in the right direction."
That had been proven more than once if he and his best friend weren't the instigators and sole participants, but Renaldo couldn't help feeling nauseated at the idea of more school right after he finally escaped.
But he'd been offered a lot of money to come work for this man.
Hashima pulled what looked like a small jewelry box out of his pocket and slid it across the small table distance to him. "This has a camera and microphone in it as well as a discreet earpiece, so wear it whenever there's a chance you're close to her and I want you to say something to her. One of the reasons I didn't pick a girl is to make sure I don't see anything that is genuinely not my business. I won't be able to constantly watch live, but I will review the footage on my own time. Frankly, you can go protective big brother on all the girls to make sure no one suspects that Haru's the big priority. Her mother hates the resemblance almost as much as Haru, hence the dye job and glasses over contacts or surgery. I just want to make double sure that she's going to be safe for her last few years before I can offer her a generous internship through college."
"Is she yours?" Renaldo asked before his brain caught up with him.
"I wish," he sighed sadly. "I could petition for custody of her and Hiromi if she were mine."
"Hiromi?"
"Her twin sister, fraternal. Her mother plays favorites, and although Hiromi stands up for Haru, she still feels the need to prove herself any way she can." He took in a shaky breath. "She is brilliant, hardworking, and kind, but she never gives herself the credit she deserves because her standards are up in the heavens. I'm worried sick that… she might be her own worst enemy."
A cold chill ran down Renaldo's spine. "Keep an eye on her and keep her safe from herself if necessary?"
"Precisely. The rest of the file is what you need to know about Haru. Her family, her address, likes and dislikes, her crush, anything I could think of as well as common practices in Japanese school I thought you'd find useful. If you can swing becoming her friend, that's fantastic, if not, just keep her safe."
Renaldo still didn't like the idea of going back for more school when he'd spent three days celebrating never needing to go back to boring classrooms and forced to choke down and vomit information on command, but…
He frowned before closing the file and tucking it under one arm. "I don't think I'd want to trust someone else with this if you think it's a real concern." 'I'm garbage at talking to girls or making friends, but a life could be at stake.'
Although the girl wasn't Hashima's, the relief was clearly that of a concerned father regardless.
xxXxx
You know when you have fully fleshed out ideas in your head but no time or juice to actually write it down?
Yeah. This is the prequel to a story I haven't gotten to yet.