Let’s See What We Are Working With

John felt a pit in his stomach as several emotions cascaded over him. Frustrated, he punched the wooden door hard, causing his knuckle to bleed, and cried out, “Fuck!” loudly, venting his anger and pain.

Ellie walked over and placed a hand on his shoulder. “John, calm down! You are getting too worked up over this. It isn’t your fault at all, and surely you’ll be able to do something legally if they try claiming that you tried to skip out on your loan.”

John shrugged off Ellie’s grip, turning and slumping back against the door. He nursed his knuckle, then rubbed his face in an attempt to clear his head. “I was already late paying though and it’s not a normal loan. It’s a magic loan, so I’m sure there are a bunch of things in it that make my excuses void or something,” John complained.

She stepped closer and placed her hand on his forearm. “Well, what did the contract say? Did anything in it seem off to you?” Ellie asked, rubbing his arm with her thumb.

He cleared his throat then mumbled, “I, uh… didn’t get the chance to read it.”

Ellie huffed through her nose. “What do you mean you didn’t get the chance to read it? Didn’t they give you the contract to look over?”

“I... uh… yeah… but I wasn’t really thinking about it and I was in a rush.” John winced.

Ellie retracted her hand from John in order to massage her temples letting out a long drawn out groan, “Fuuck, I thought you were supposed to be smart? You should check normal terms and conditions of contracts. One that’s magic you should go over like three times, to make sure you definitely know what’s up with it.”

John swung his arm down, pounding the wooden door. “I know! I’m an idiot! I should have looked at it! I should have learned from the deal with Lani! Despite my intelligence and wisdom score, my head’s been running non-stop trying to digest everything I come across and it’s hard to think things through clearly all the time!” John snapped, then **** his hands into his pockets.

Ellie began pacing back and forth. “Why didn’t you talk to me sooner!? I don’t want you to be stressed and stuff. I’m supposed to be your girlfriend so you should be able to talk to me whenever, it wouldn’t have even mattered to me if you called me at like four in the morning!” Ellie yelled back.

John felt his blood boil a little and just as he was about to push off the door, it opened. He stumbled back and tried to yank his hands-free, resulting in him flailing as he lost his footing. For the second time today, time seemed to slow as he turned his head to see a small step ladder getting closer and closer. He could hear someone yell but it was as if he was hearing it underwater. Red began to enter his vision. ’NO! Not now!’ he screamed internally.

“JOHN!” Ellie cried as she lunged forward seeing John falling. She tried to reach him before a loud CRACK rang out. “Nonononononono,” she repeated, dropping to the floor and flipping him over to rest on her lap. Looking down, John’s face was a bloody mess and she physically cringed as she heard and watched his broken nose snap back into place.

Primrose effectively appeared from nowhere, and effortlessly scooped John up. “Come, that was a nasty fall. Grab the blue jar on the counter and follow me,” she said, hurrying past the shelves and the front counter before vanishing through an archway.

Ellie stayed kneeling on the ground for a moment, caught completely off guard. She bolted up onto her feet and moved to follow Prim, grabbing a small ornate blue glass jar and heading upstairs.

She passed through a small kitchenette, into a traditional-Japanese-looking living area, then moved into a bedroom where Primrose had set John down. When Ellie arrived, Primrose was cleaning John’s face with a damp towel to get rid of the blood.

When Primrose noticed Ellie’s arrival, she extended her hand towards her. “I’ll need the jar, thank you.”

Prim gave a polite smile in appreciation before her expression turned serious again. She opened the jar and began applying it to John’s nose where the majority of the blood had been, though it seemed futile as there were no physical injuries anymore.

“Is he going to be alright?” Ellie asked, her voice shaking as she lowered herself to the floor next to Primrose, looking down at John.

Primrose took a deep breath. “He should be awake by now. It seems his fall wasn’t as serious as we thought, he just got a bloody nose; it must have just knocked him out. Don’t worry, he’ll be fine. I think he might just need to rest.”

Ellie’s tight posture relaxed slightly, and she moved further up John’s body before lifting his head and resting it in his lap. “John said he has a loan from you and didn’t look at the contract, can I please take a look at it?”

“Oh, it’s kind of a confidential thing, John and my eyes only,” Prim said shifting uncomfortably.

Ellie narrowed her eyes slightly as she began stroking John’s hair. “Listen, I just want to help John and he did something stupid by signing a magic contract without even looking at it. He’d tell you that it was fine that I took a look but right now he’s not able to…”

Prim’s eyes flashed with recognition. “Oh… so you know about the abyss then?” Ellie nodded, so Prim continued, “Okay fine, let me get it for you.”

Primrose stood, and walked out of the bedroom before bringing a small book and handing it over to Ellie. “Thanks, I’ll just read over everything if you don’t mind.”

Prim nodded. “While you do that, I’m going to make sure everything is closed up downstairs. We came up in a rush and I don’t want anyone to take advantage of the empty shop. Not only that, but I think some of John’s blood dripped onto the floor and I should clean that up.”

Ellie opened the book and began to read while Primrose exited the room. She used one hand to hold the book and the other to flick the page, and between page turns she’d use that hand to stroke John’s hair.

“Hmm, I actually expected this to be way shadier than it is… like, this is more in favour of you than I would have guessed,” Ellie said looking down at John. She continued reading. “Oh shit, that’s not good…” she muttered looking at the missed payment repercussions.

She continued before freezing after reading what would happen if the contract was broken. “Oh my gosh, that’s complete bullshit!”

“Are you okay?” Primrose asked as she finally returned, entered the bedroom and knelt by the futon.

Ellie did a double-take at Primrose as she finally tore her eyes from the contract. “Wh-what the fuck is that?” She pointed at Primrose’s tail.

In reaction to the outburst, Primrose’s tail seemed to curl up slightly, until it vanished completely behind her. Her ears flattened down to her head before blending in with her hair until they were no longer there, and she held her arms to her chest. “I’m sorry, I thought since John told you about the Abyss he might have mentioned me already… I’ll, uhm, I’ll keep them hidden, sorry. What has John actually told you?”

“Shit, sorry. That was kind of rude; I just didn’t expect it, is all. Please, if you are more comfortable, don’t let me stop you from showing them. As for what John told me, not a lot…” Ellie said, pinching the bridge of her nose.

Primrose’s ears perked up again, twitching slightly as they came back out. Her tail puffed up, unfurling before being pulled in front of her so the tanuki girl could hug and stroke it in a comforting way.

“Are they part of your powers? Or are you like a magical creature or something? Sorry, I don’t know if that’s rude or not, I’m kind of new to all this Abyss stuff,” Ellie asked. She closed the contract then placed it onto the floor next to her.

Prim cleared her throat. “I’m a Gyo Danuki, we’re a type of demi-human. And don’t worry, your question was much less rude than John’s way of asking.”

Ellie threw her head back groaning. “God damn, this boy is hopeless. What did he do?”

Primrose let out a quiet giggle. “Well, he called me a kitsune, and though we are cousins, neither of us appreciate being mistaken for the other. Especially us Danuki, because it happens way more often than the other way around.”

Ellie nodded before flicking John’s forehead. “I bet he was smug because he thought he knew something he obviously didn’t.”

After smoothing out her clothing, Ellie looked back up, trying to give off an aura of professionalism. “Now, I think we need to talk about this loan, you can’t expect him to pay the late fee when he attempted to pay you yesterday. You weren’t around so how could he be expected to pay? He couldn’t exactly put that much money through the door because it’s half glass and people would have seen the money, even if it was in an envelope. He also tried calling but only got your voicemail. It says in the contract that he had until yesterday to give you the money so the fee should be waived for today since he’s here to give you the money. In fact, it kind of seems like an underhanded thing to do.”

As Primrose continued to stroke her tail, she nodded. “I can see how it could seem that way… Since he’d sought out my shop specifically, I assumed he had looked at my opening times. Not only is it on my door, but it’s on the window, and on my website… it’s even on search engines.”

Primrose let out a sigh before continuing, “The problem is that he confidently agreed that he’d have gotten it before yesterday, so I had no reason to worry about it. I couldn’t be around because Sunday is a religious day for me and I have to turn off my phone. Now, I would say that I could waive the late fee and that would be within the contract… But the problem is that I visited John’s home last night in an attempt to give him a chance to pay. I assumed that he couldn’t get the cash before yesterday and might have made the trip to my shop, so as soon as my duties had been fulfilled, I walked to his home, but after knocking multiple times there was no answer.”

Ellie quirked an eyebrow. “Okay… I’m pretty sure he spent some time with his mom last night, but why does you going to his house make a difference?”

Primrose let out a small sigh. “Well he didn’t leave a note or anything saying he’d even attempted to pay, and since I had visited his house with no answer that comes under the payment avoidance clause… The problem is that the contract is magically binding, meaning even if I wanted to just waive the fee, I couldn’t, and because there was no proof that he had tried to pay, it means that he’s charged an avoidance fee as well as the late fee.”

“But that isn’t fair! That means he’s essentially paying two months at once,” Ellie complained.

“I know, and I can’t do anything about it. John assured me he’d have the money, so I didn’t worry about it. Until today that is, I spent all day wondering if John was thinking of running or something. I knew he hadn’t because the contract hadn't been broken. I also assumed John wouldn’t have been able to pay the fees, so I’ve been thinking of how I can help without breaking my side of the contract,” Primrose stressed.

Ellie used her thumb and forefinger to rub her brow. “Well, what if I gave back the key to the lab? Could we not just call the contract off?”

“Is there something wrong with the lab?” Prim asked, concerned.

“No, it’s beyond perfect, but if I’d have known John had paid that much for it, I wouldn’t have accepted it in the first place,” Ellie complained.

Primrose sighed. “I’m sorry, I can’t take it back unless there is a problem with it.”

Ellie groaned again. “Okay then, did you think of a way to help?”

Prim winced a little. “Well, I did… But I’m not sure you’re going to like it. You will have to hear me out, I can’t just waive the fees, nor could I just give John the money to give back. The only way I can do this is using another contract where part of the contract is paying off the late fee. It would have to be specific, so we’d set a day and time that the work is started on as well as finished by and there would have to be quite a steep penalty for breaking the contract.”

“That sounds like a bad idea, fix a contract by getting another contract? And why does it have to be so specific like you said or have a harsh penalty for breaking it? Isn’t the penalty for breaking the current contract bad enough? Like, seriously, taking his financial independence seems ****, not like I can do anything since the idiot signed the contract already,” Ellie almost spat.

Prim nodded. “I’m sure it seems excessive, but these contracts are made to be mutually beneficial. When the deal is more in favour of one side than the other, to outweigh that you have to add more conditions. I offered John finance for the lab you have, which is worth at least double my asking price, that means that the contract is in his favour, and even with the clauses and policies in place that benefit me, John still has a great deal of the contract in his favour, so a harsher punishment for breaking the contract is needed.”

Primrose took a deep breath. “Same with this work contract, I am likely not going to be getting my money's worth from the work I’ll have John help me with and that puts John at an **** advantage over me, more so than the previous contract. The only way to bring balance to the contract is by having specific terms. I can offer some level of flexibility to it, but the more flexibility the harsher the penalty for breaking the contract has to be.”

“This all still sounds shady as shit to me, especially using a contract to get out of shit that you caused when you were being vague,” Ellie complained.

“Again, I went out of my way last night to give John the chance to meet his deadline, and I’m not at fault for ensuring that he was aware of my opening times. A lot of the other family-owned businesses around this area have odd hours on Sundays, I’d have at least expected John to have checked to see what time I might be open,” Prim defended herself.

’It’s hard to argue when she has a good point. John, you dummy,’ she thought before flicking his forehead once more.

“Fine, but a contract for a contract is still a bad idea, I think,” Ellie sighed, stroking John’s hair and trying to think of other options. ’I can’t exactly help with the money either, I’m basically living off my savings, and even if I paid John the same amount of money I was spending on the hotel room, it wouldn’t put a dent in it…’

“Would you like some tea? I think I might need to at least run the idea past John before you turn down my offer completely.” Prim smiled warmly.

“Okay, yeah… Maybe it would be better to let John hear you out, and with me here, I’ll make sure he doesn’t do anything stupid, or at least not anything more stupid than he’s already done,” Ellie accepted.

Primrose stood and walked out of the bedroom. Ellie looked down half smiling at John. “You really know how to cause problems, don’t you? I bet last time you were here you were distracted with how cute she is, weren’t you?”

Silence overtook the room and she continued to stroke John’s hair again, comforting herself more than anything.

I hope you enjoyed this chapter, please leave a like it's only the click of a button and helps not only give me a little extra motivation but it also lets me see which chapters are enjoyed over others.

I'd also love to hear back from you all, even if you think what you'd have to say is insignificant, just saying you liked the chapter or pointing something out you think might be better done a different way everything is welcome so please make use of the comment section, message me directly or head to my branch discussion channel on our Discord.

If you have been enjoying the branch enough you'd like to support me in other ways I have a buy me a coffee account, you can leave a single tip or become a member and gain several benefits. The money I get will be going back into the story in the form of artwork, I currently have a single character with commissioned artwork that you will all get to see in the future and I hope to get a few more characters commissioned too. Becoming a member grants you access to my private discord, seeing the process of the artwork I commission, as well as being able to read chapters early (I currently have 10+ in my chapter buffer).

Finally, a special thanks to my Members:

HungrySkate
GhostReaper
Atreides
And the other members that prefer not to be mentioned