You Are In Over Your Head

The house that the kennel is based out o has a property about the size of a small farm. Now, perhaps this wouldn't be some shocking in some parts of the country, but this happens to be right in the middle of a well to do suburb. You couldn't buy an outhouse in this neighborhood, much less an estate.

On the surface nothing appears out of place about you. Thankfully, you have a very nice car. Or at least it looks very nice. If someone took a close look inside, they'd realize that it's a duct tape and E-40 miracle that it even still runs, much less can be handled with your poor driving skills. You also are wearing a nice business suit. You borrowed it from a friend whose family has money.

The gate opens for you when you reach the house. As per the instructions you got over the phone, rather then pooling up to the house, you drive past the driveway and instead pull into a small parking lot for a four story building behind the house. In the entrance way to the building, you see a tall Japanese man waiting for you. He walks over to you as you get out of your car.

"My name is Micah Takao," he has a firm handshake. "Can you remind me what your name is again?Haha. I wasn't hired for my short term memory."

"Sam Rockwell, a pleasure to meet you, Micah," you somehow doubt that he doesn't remember the name you gave when you made the appointment. He has sharp eyes.

"Ah, that was it!" He gives you a pat on the back. "Woah. It's hot out. Let's talk about this in the lobby."

"You just got out here," You joke. You follow him inside none the less. "No tolerance for the heat?"

"I am quite content living in office buildings." He uses a keycard around his neck to open the sliding glass doors. What kind of dogs do they sell here? "So, I don't think our reception asked this over the phone, but how did you hear about us? Our group normally is friends with most of our customers before they ever buy from us."

"I'm just looking today," you correct.

"Before they look too, Mr. Rockwell," Micah's smile doesn't waver.

"Well my father was friends with a frequent customer of yours, Isao Hanzo…” Isao Hanzo was in numerous pictures of donors and customers from the website. You found his name through a reverse google image search. He was convenient, because it’s not likely he’ll deny your story. “Mr. Hanzo had mentioned your group on a few occasions, and I was curious so I decided I’d come down and have a look myself.”

“My condolences,” Micah lowered his head. “Mr. Hanzo was a generous and friendly man. I’m sure you family lost a great friend with his passing.”

“Thank you, I will extend your group’s condolences to my father.” You look around the lobby. It’s all sleek and stylized, with dog designs. The receptionist is a blond co-ed, who gives off an equally plastic smile. You can’t help but stir over how much cleavage her low cut blouse offers. “Speaking of which, can you tell me a bit more about the Akechi group? I must admit all of my knowledge about you is second hand.”

“Of course,” Micah sits down at an oak table in the middle of the lobby. You take the opposite seat. “When the Japanese economic boom hit it’s full swing in the 80s, it created a market for puppy girls here in America. Puppy girls had been a status simple at home for generations, especially during the years of military rule, but the opening of the US market meant there was a demand for American puppy girls, as well as for puppy girls that could be supplied to Japanese business men abroad and their American friends.”

At this point it comes clear to you finally that “puppy girls” mean something distinct from dogs. But, what exactly it means is still a mystery.

“Four such groups came about, but over the past thirty years we’ve come to dominate the market,” he continued. “You can examine our competitors if you want, but our product is simply the best. We’ve spent more money on R&D to create the most advance puppy collar. We have prime west coast placement, giving us control over the shipments to and from Japan. We were the first to make strategic headway in Hong Kong and Taiwan, so we had Chinese infrastructure in place when the mainland became a major market.”

“And, our previous major competitor suffered a prestige hit in recent years.”

“What was the cause of that?” You raise an eyebrow, for the first time considering that perhaps going to the kennel wasn’t just ill advised, but possibly even dangerous.

“Their own mistakes. Their own mistakes” Micah says, making an innocent gesture. “We were barely involved.”