I take advantage of the situation

Even though you know you can’t use her for sex or anything else currently, you know you’d be able to use this to your advantage still. You put your hands on your hips and exhale. You look at her, thinking of your options. Knowing Kenji just narrowly escaped with his life not long ago, you figure he probably isn’t looking to get into anything intimate with one.

“Well, even though I can’t speak personally for Kenji, I know that men like it when a girl kinda teases him.”

“I tease him constantly.” She replies.

“I mean like, sexually…”

“Sexually?” Sachio inquiries. “No. I’ve never really considered-”

“Well, there’s your problem. You’re one of the cuter girls I’ve ever laid eyes on and you’re not using that to your advantage. You gotta press yourself more towards him and get him to notice you a bit more.”

Sachio blinks and looks away. “Are all guys like that? Kenji just doesn’t-”

“You said you had a plan, didn’t you? Let’s hear it.”

“I’ve been meaning to go out drinking with him. I realize in order to do that, I’m gonna have to bring at least 4 other people with us. You, Mikka, Zuprik...Akiko.”

You perk. “Why Akiko?”

“There’s no way our manager would allow 4 members of our security detail to go along with one person. Not to mention, it might be weird if just 4 guys and 1 girl…” she looks down bashfully, covering herself shyly.

“When are you planning on doing this?”

“Whenever possible,” she shrugs. “We have about a week, maybe more if the weather prevents anymore people from coming in before our next performance.”

Now that she’s dried off and is in some decent lighting, you notice she’s looking a lot younger than you had previously thought. “How old are you?”

Sachio clears her throat and leans into her knees. “I just turned 20. Back in April...why?”

“No reason in particular.”

“Sorry for dragging you into this. I shouldn’t have.” Most of her moxie was replaced with a cocktail of sadness and embarrassment. She truly was in a state of desperation. For her to do most really mean she has strong feelings for Kenji.

You chew on the insides of your mouth, wondering how you are going to use this information to help yourself. “No use worrying. I already agreed to help. But we should probably head back up now, don’t you think?”

When you make it back to the stage, you find Kenji looking like his usual tired self...or maybe not. He looked a little pale. His sleeves were tucked in more securely past his elbow, so it was probably this heat. Now that you're back into it, you wished you just stayed down stairs.

You invite yourself over to Kenji and try talking to him. He opens up at first, happy to talk to someone. Sachio dips into the circle. You think that he’s going to shut her away or try to get out of it, but to your surprise, he almost embraces her entry.

You can’t really tell what Sachio thinks, but she’s smiling a lot. Her smile only straightens when she’s called back on stage. She looks back and apologizes, but Kenji chases back with; “Tanoshinde kite ne!”

As she goes off, you ask what he said. “It’s nothing. Don’t worry about it.”

A song starts. It’s the same one as before. The “first” movement of their routine. The dance is carefully executed by Sachio and the others. You guess she was supposed to up here before. Seeing the dance first hand with the music captivated you. It’s very intriguing! Even Kenji, who was drawing dry on another cigarette, seemed to be drawn by it.

The elegance is all lost in a moment however. Sachio trips at one point, putting not just the dance on hold, but the entire song too. She lays on the stage, flat on her back panting. All the other dancers jokingly collapse on the stage too, panting and fanning. The entire room is then filled with foreign chatter and laughs. Everyone gets some water and they retake their spots to go at it again.

As they restart their rehearsal, you sit next to Kenji and ask him about going out for drinks. His eyes are fixed on the stage. “Just us?” He seems kinda disgusted.

“Uhm. With your friend, Sachio.”

“You can’t plan things with your clients…” he finally looks at you, still sounding disgusted.

“Wasn’t my idea. She asked if we could escort her and Akiko around.”

“I’m not really sure if it’s the best to take either of them out for drinks. They’re all like pampered toddlers.”

“That might be good to take them out then,” a voice you didn’t recognize comes out from behind. It’s Mikka. “Coming this far north, for these girls? This is like a vacation for them, away from some of that strict lifestyle.”

Mikka looked at you and then Kenji. His grin was toothy and crooked. “Sachio is young, let her live a little why don’t you?”

“You’re both wrong,” Kenji adjusts in his chair. “What these girls are doing - it’s a code of honor, an ODE for their parents and family name.”

Mikka looked at Kenji. You could tell he wanted to say something, but didn’t know it was going to get him anywhere. So instead he looked at you. “Well, you should ask her what she wants. I know that as myself, I could use a stiff drink...some company and good friends.” His eyes drift to the stage, no doubt on Sachio.

Kenji seemed to be very work oriented. Unless Sachio invited him out personally, it is a very doubtful scenario to hope for, but perhaps you could convince her to do it somehow?

You have to do something before it is too late. You stand up and go to the bathroom. You tell the others that you’ll be right back. As soon as your back was turn them; the gears in your head started to rapidly turn - how are you going to get this to work? And how? Would Kenji even accept it if Sachio personally asked?

As you are making your way to the restroom, you accidentally bump into someone. Knowing where you are, what this could mean, you shoot out your hand and grab them to make sure they don’t fall or hit anything. Your fingers wrap around the shoulders of someone a little shorter than you, but just as fit. You stumble near a light and trap them against the wall. “Oh, Christ. I’m so sorry!”

Two chocolate eyes stare into yours, just a few inches away. You back up and calmly as you can brush yourself off. “I didn’t see you there…”

“It’s fine,” the person says. “I’m sorry.”

“It wasn’t your…” you trail off, realizing who it is. “Oh, it’s you again!”

The girl pushes away from the wall and brushes back her hair. “Oh, uhmm…Warren?”

“That’s right. Your name is Akiko, isn’t it?” Of course it was, but you had to play it a little more subtly.

She smiles. “Yes.”

You two exchange a few more apologies and awkward laughs as you step away, but you stop yourself. “Oh, wait - Akiko!”

She turns. “Ha…?”

“You know Sachio, don’t you? You’re both friends?”

Akiko looks at you as if she’s processing your words into a translator. Before long, she starts to nod. “Yes. We are friends.”

You step closer. She steps back. “Well, she wants to go out for a few drinks tonight. Well, she wants to go out and talk to Kenji. Would you please do that for her? I just need you to ask him yourself. It’ll translate better if it’s one of you asking. He might get the wrong idea if it’s coming from one of his colleagues.”

She frowns. She looks at the stage and then at you. “She wants that?”

“I- I mean. You should talk to her about it first just so you know what’s going on. Don't take my word for it. Please talk to Sachio first.”

She nods. “I will. I promise.”

The promising part seemed a little unnecessary to you, but you weren’t going to tell her to do anything else otherwise. You just really wanted to talk to Akiko more than anything and this seemed like the only likely chance you were going to get away from the rest of the dancers.

The rest of the hour is spent sweating and watching, and then some random chatter between the pauses. By the time the temperatures normalize, they’re starting to pack it in for the day. One of their managers gives a speech, which you don’t understand. Kenji translates some of it, but he trails off eventually as it pretty much just turns into comments about how to correct some of their errors.

When they disband, you see Akiko stopping Sachio - you’re too far to hear them, but even if you did, you are pretty sure they’d be talking in Japanese. They both start nodding and Akiko starts to smile. That’s a good sign, you think. She bounces off towards the back stage with the others, while Akiko quickly singles you out from your group of 4.

A wolf whistle can be heard from behind you. You look over your shoulder and see both Mikka and Zuprik. They both have their faces casted down, so you aren’t sure which of them did it. You did get a little...disgusting that these guys aren’t taking their jobs more seriously. Suddenly however, you realize you’re not much better….Are you?

“Kenji!” Akiko waves. She comes over and stretches, giving all of you a good look at her features. She carries on a conversation with Kenji, who once again, seems generally unimpressed with the display of flesh. You start to feel a little ashamed for gawking at Akiko, as it seems she isn’t doing anything naughty on purpose. You look away and focus on something else instead; like the toes of your new dress shoes!

“Alright, we’ll see you in just a few moments then,” Kenji says and then breaks his stare away from her. “I hope you guys weren’t booked for the night, because we’re going to escort Akiko and Sachio around the town of a little bit.”

“Ah, well that sounds like fun.” Mikka says matter-a-factly. “Where do the girls want to go?”

He shrugs. “Just a few drinks for the night, so you don’t need to worry about carrying bags around for shopping.”

His own reply made him smile a little bit. But you didn’t exactly like the tone of Mikka’s. However, all in all, this was good news for you. Sachio was getting her wish and you were getting yours. As long as this goes alright, perhaps if things went good tonight this would become a regular ordeal. Kenji opens his mouth to say something, but he stops himself. “I’m going to do a quick check with the rest of the security team.”

You fall into your chair and exhale. “Well, I don’t suppose you guys know of any place to drink, do you?”

You turn to face Mikka and Zuprik, but they’re talking to themselves. They only notice presents again when you start talking. They get silent for a few seconds then lean in to make somewhat of a circle. “You’re Contractor, aren’t you?”

“Seems to be the question of the night. Yes, I am. Why?”

“Zuprik and I have been…” Mikka looks at his friend. “A little pent up this entire time. You know how painful it is to be protecting these assets without getting to touch these asses? I couldn’t believe our luck when Ol’ Officer McNiel sent us not just 1, but 2 Contractors.”

Your stomach twisted. “What are you? A fuckin’ sales rep? Get to the point or fuck off.”

Mikka grins. “I’m talking about money, Warren. If you let Zuprik and I have a little fun tonight, we’ll slide in a few extra hundred dollars your way. And uh, make sure Kenji doesn’t see any of it.”

A few extra hundred dollars? That didn’t sound too bad of a price. “Which one do you want?” You felt almost bad for asking them the question.

“Akiko isn’t really…” Mikka begins. “My type, A little too mature. Sachio is so young and full of energy, you know?”

Your skin crawls. “Ok, ok, ok! Ok...Listen, here’s a hundred now. We get a little drunk and tipsy. You distract Kenji, we have a little bit of fun and no one hears about it.”

“What the hell? You talking about killing her?!”

“No! Of course! Shit, rookie. Nonono...When I say a little drunk, I mean shit-faced blacked out. Maybe push the limits a little and get her extra drunk she’s just...you know, passed out.”

“So you wanna fucking **** Sachio and let me turn the other cheek?”

Mikka grins wider. He brushes back his receding hairline and adjusts his glasses. “Everyone of you contractor's got a price. I’m...We’re willing to pay big bucks for this.”

You start to say something, but Kenji returns with both of the girls. Mikka looks at him and then at you, mouthing the words: Think about it.

You stand up and bow your head. Akiko and Sachio have dressed up in short black dresses, which are cute, but not fit for the weather.

Luckily, they have prepared for colder weather too, they have coats hanging over their arms. Akiko looks at you and smiles, shooting you a quick wink before tilting over at Sachio, who is doing her best to keep Kenji focused on her...If Mikka and Zuprik kept to themselves, this would’ve been an almost heart-warming moment, but now it’s dirtied.

Mikka steps up and gives an annoyingly deep bow. “M’ladies and good men, I will lead us to the finest of all bars.”

You, along with the rest of the gang, move outside. It’s still a little bright out, and it isn’t as cold as you thought it was going to be. You stroll for a while as the morning and night life clash peacefully together. Guards wave at you, a few kids run by - Deadwood was luckier than most of the other places you’ve been to, that was for sure…

…

…

It doesn’t take long to reach the bar Mikka had suggested. He steps in and announces your entry. You expected a full bar, so you weren’t all that surprised to find one. Akiko steps a little closer to you as you circle around her and Sachio. There are few glances in your direction, mostly surprise to see than the Japanese dancers are out. Sachio gets quiet, but Akiko nudges you for conversation.

“Have you been here before?” She asks.

“No. First time. I haven’t been here for too long, honestly.”

She knits her brows. “That’s strange. I was hoping you could tell me a little more of the area.”

“I still have stories to tell if that’s what you are after. Loads of them.” You cross your arms. “I’m sure you might get a kick out of at least one of them.”

Her smile stretches as she steps closer. “Hey, listen...I’m gonna try to let Sachio talk to Kenji as much as she wants, so I’m going to be pestering you all night.” Her eyes dart to the others.

“I’ll let those two drink themselves silly. I don’t think they even want to be here with us.” She’s clueless to their plans. She’s probably seen them just hangout and talk all the time, she has no idea that she’s been probably mentally undressed and fucked by them a dozen times over.

“I don’t mind. Thanks for doing this by the way, I appreciate it.”

She opens her arms. “I don’t mind helping, especially my friends. Even though I don’t usually do things like that, I must admit it’s kinda nice getting out of the theater. Uhm, museum-thing after all this time.”

“Don’t be nervous to ask me if you ever want to leave or something. I’m sure Kenji would be happy to help out.” You look at the others, half-reluctantly adding them too.

Mikka comes back, looking cheering as all could be. “I got us a private room, no need to be in the main bar! Follow me!”

Kenji trails behind, making sure that the two “tasks” are in front of him so he can keep tabs on where they are until you arrive. The room is warm. There’s a table and a TV. Sachio gasps when she sees the set up. “Karaoke?!”

You file in and drop in the couch. Sachio scrambles for a menu and reads the list. “Oh, wow! I...I don’t know any of these songs!!”

Akiko points at you and tells her something. You don’t understand it, but you can tell it’s a question. Kenji points at another and says something too. Again, you don’t understand it. Ruprik sits silent next to Akiko, his eyes leering at their closed legs. Mikka laughs and steps out, asking you to follow him. With Kenji there, completely sober and aware, you trust that they’ll be safe.

Mikka leans in and says you’re getting drinks and that you’ll be right back before he steps back out into the hall with you. His smile straightens, but he’s obviously ready to bust a nut. “Well, Warren, have you considered my offer yet? It’ll all be done in about 4 hours.”

“Look, Mi-” he hands you 200 dollars.

“I can make it go up to 1000 tonight if you let me…”

The money is real...