Establishing a Base

Miya showed him through to the main room of the inn, and directed him to sit down at a large table that was set in the centre of it. He did so, but the hostess didn't join him immediately, and instead moved through the room and into the adjoining kitchen area. He wasn't waiting long though before she returned to him but now with a pot of tea and two cups already steaming with the hot beverage.

"So, you are interested in renting one of my rooms Mr?" She pointedly trailed off and quirked an eyebrow up at him questioningly.

"Sato. Taka Sato. I understand it isn't the most interesting name in the world." He joked to her as he took a sip of the tea she had offered him. It was a very nice brew, but a little too hot right now, and he could feel his taste buds recoiling from the heat as it ran down his throat. He set it down to allow it to cool, and smiled at the hostess as she gave him a polite giggle in response to his terrible attempt at humour.

"Well then Mr Sato, I would like to ask how you found this place. I only run a very small place here."

"Oh I just heard about you from a friend at work, and once I spotted the sign you've got out front I thought it might be a good option for me."

"A friend at work? I do hope it wasn't a too bit piece of human trash freelancer who spends far too much time mooching off of others thanks to possessing absolutely no skill or capability in taking care of himself without offerings of charity." The entire thing was said with the voice of an angel and not a hint of hostility in her voice, just as if she was talking about nothing more than the weather. That just made it even scarier.

"No. I don't think she was anything like that." When in doubt, Mrs Sahashi was the go to woman to do with the Sekirei plan at MBI, and he had learned about this place from her so it wasn't a lie exactly. She hadn't specifically been talking to him at the time but what did one little detail like that matter?

"Ah. Then I am more than happy to welcome you to the Izumo Inn so long as you can make rent and agree to the rules." She drained her cup of scolding hot tea without a flinch and stood, once again she vanished into the kitchen for barely a minute before returning, now with a small whiteboard and pen for it, as well as what he assumed was the rental contract. "We shall start simply. The rent is 50,000 yen a month, this includes breakfast and dinner every day should you desire it, as well as laundry. I accept most every form of payment besides certain business cards. Does this seem reasonable to you sir?"

With everything she was willing to do for him while he was lodging here, that price was surprisingly cheap all things considered. Definitely worth paying since he didn't have place of his own available anymore. That was what happened when your home was owned by the company. Lose your job, lose your place. It was a good thing there was nothing there worth grabbing besides clothes then, and an MBI card would let him replace clothes with ease. "Yep. Sounds fine to me."

"Good. Then this is the agreement here." She said as she passed it over. "If you will kindly read it and sign it if you are satisfied with the terms. While you do, I would like to take you over the few special rules that we have here at the Izumo Inn. The first of them is that as I provide meals for everyone within the inn, all residents agree to rotate grocery duty as a small contribution towards the inn's upkeep. I am of course more than willing to reimburse you for the cost of groceries with money off of your rent." As she spoke, she wrote the rule onto the white board in front of her, a surprisingly difficult feat since she was writing upside down so that he could read what she was writing.

That might be a little annoying, but it was fine. He could run down the shops everyone now and then so long as she was as good at cooking as she was at making tea. Now that it was a little cooler he was able to drink more of what she'd brewed and it was definitely amazingly cleansing to drink. Miya herself was already on her second cup.

And then the darkened aura of hell returned from out of nowhere, and he could almost swear that he could see the creeping features of a hannya mask beginning to peak out from behind the Hostess as she opened her mouth and began to speak. "The second and most important rule, is that there shall be no illicit relations on the grounds of the Izumo Inn."

What? You mean even if he did get a super hot Sekirei, she was saying he couldn't fuck her? That was absurd!!! But this was the fearsome Hannya of the North. This was a woman that fucking Karasuba was... scared didn't fit. Neither did wary. It was more like she got Horny and Bloodthirsty at once. But that was the head of the Discipline Squad for you. If it was possible to get off to disembowelling someone and showering in their blood, then she could definitely do [so.

I](http://so.Ir)t was still a massive hint that this woman was not someone to mess with. If all else failed, he could just take his Sekirei somewhere else for the night. It wasn't like he would be lacking in funds to pay for a hotel room once he had an MBI card to use. So it was that he reluctantly nodded along to her rule.

Immediately the oppressive feeling vanished and the room returned to being all bright and pleasant. Miya took another sip of her tea. He drained his own cup, and his eyes fell down to the contract before him. He quickly skimmed it, but right now wasn't really up for sitting around sniffing through legalese, so it wasn't long before he was writing his name down on the paper and handing it back to the woman.

She looked down at the sheet of paper for a moment, and then her eyes widened. "Hmm. I am sorry Mr Sato. I believe I have made some sort of mistake. I seem to have taken your contract."

What? "I just gave it to you though." That made... no sense.

"Oh yes, but I didn't realise that it was yours to begin with. After all, your name is right there." She said, turning it around and pointing right at his signature dotted on the line.

Was she messing with him right now? This had to be some strange prank she was playing on him as a new resident didn't it? Well if she thought she could have a laugh at his expense so easily, lets see how far she was willing to go with it. "Alright Miss. If my signature means that contract is mine, then surely my name on this will also count." And he swiftly snatched up the whiteboard of rules and then pen to go with it, and scrawled out his name along the top above where she had written her rules.

She looked at him a bit like one might look at a child they were indulging but would rather not be, before he turned and presented her with the whiteboard, now crested with his name at the top. Then she changed again. "Those are indeed your rules for the residents of the Izumo Inn, thought I hope you will remember that it is not your inn. As the owner, your rules only hold as much weight as I am willing to allow them."

Alright. Maybe he had underestimated how serious she was willing to play this little joke of hers. Or just maybe... it wasn't one at all. "Miss, is there any problems with the contract, or do I have a room here?"

"Oh no, if you are willing to overlook that I used your contract then I can overlook the legal strangeness of it all." She stood up from the table and he followed her as she lead him up the stairs and along a corridor to the very last room on the left. "Room 204 here will be yours."

"Great." He said, and decided it was time to see if joke really was a joke or was truly serious as he was beginning to suspect. He'd kept the whiteboard marker when they came up stairs, and now that he knew what room he was going to be in, he stepped forwards and scribbled 'Sato Taka's Room" on the door right above the 204 sign. "So... will I be paying rent to live in my own room?" He said, gesturing to his newest little bit of graffiti.

The landlady squinted for a moment as if she was trying to figure out something that was bugging her. But a sigh left her mouth as she turned to him with a smile. "I honestly do not know how this came about Mr Sato. But given that this is your room, I can hardly charge you rent for staying here. You will only be charged for your meals and laundry, and I promise I will look into this with you at a later date. If you decide to move out, I hope we can come to some arrangement to do with me renting it out to others."

Yeah. That confirmed it more than enough for him. This was something weird. Was this the Jinki messing with things in his favour? It wasn't like he really understood what it did besides doing something with Sekirei and then somehow turning into a magic compass thing. Whatever the case though, he was now dead certain that losing his job at MBI might turn out to be one of the best things that could have happened to him. Because with this strange power as the result... this was going to be fun.

"So Miya, are any of my fellow borders around to introduce myself to?"

"Kagari is likely asleep, but Uzume should be back soon. She is out on a grocery run like in your rules. I'm sure she will be glad to meet you when she gets back. We have a few others every now and then, but for now it is just the two of them."

"Oh yes. I'm sure we'll get one just fine." He replied, a glint in his eye.