That Ridiculious Title

That god damn title. It brought out a certain anger that was hard to control. I somehow picked it up after the second school and with private institutions, rumors travel fast.

Okay, I need to go into more detail of what I’m doing here and why I’ve been given this ridiculous moniker. I mentioned earlier that my parents were expats living in Japan but there is more to it. Both work for the Takahashi Group with my father a security consultant providing protection for the senior members and investors while my mother is a forensic accountant. Both jobs requiring attention to detail and watching for patterns. Add on top of it, my parents were among the elite with these skills. I’ve seen first hand how many other companies tried to poach them from Mister Takahashi but they were loyal. This is the family I grew up with.

I, unfortunately, inherited my parents ability to see patterns where others didn’t. To be able to predict with relative accuracy the chain of events from one person’s decision to its resulting conclusion. What I discovered about my self when I had just turned thirteen was that I had a knack to be able to push gently and cause those dominoes to fall.

It first happened when I saw a pattern of stalking of Mister Takahashi’s daughter by a son of an investor. No one else saw it, not even his daughter but I did. I discovered it took only a few well placed comments wrapped up as an innocent child, and using his secretaries computer when she was gone to change the hour of his appointment. Takahashi was coming in the building just as the stalker attempted to corner the daughter right in front of him. I felt such triumph to see Mister Takahashi step off the elevator just as his daughter pushed the stalker away. Suffice to say, he was fired immediately and black listed.

I felt a thrill being able to protect someone and nobody being wiser. I did not want to be the center of anything and to just be left alone to watch but Ren Takahashi was whip smart. He was able to figure out that I was the one who changed the appointment and set up the confrontation. He realized what I was capable of. My parents didn’t resist, they thought it was a badge of honor that their employer took a vested interest in me and took the time to teach me about people.

"Everyone wants something, Remmy," He would say to me in the conference room late at night after everyone had left. I usually was finishing up some sort of assignment he had given me. "The key is finding out what it is and offering it. That’s how it works in business but for you, you can see what they want and nudge things in the direction you wish. That’s a power I wish I had."

Now, business men are greedy, right? Takahashi was no different but there was an altruism about him. He would ruthlessly destroy his competitors but I also saw the pattern of him using an anonymous account to donate and help people in need. He never took credit. I know why. He didn’t want to look weak and he loved the tax benefit.

I am thankful that he did not rope me into taking on his opponents which my parents would have supported and I would have been unable to resist. Instead, he had something else for me.

“There is a lot of corruption in the world,” He told me one day as I was trying to pick a high school to go to. “and the worse is among academics and art.”

I had looked up from my laptop to listen knowing he was starting one of his monologues. God, he loved those.

“The greatest minds like you deserve a chance, whether rich or poor to discover what their talents are but so many don’t get a chance due to ego, greed, or from the power hungry.”

He leaned forward, his gray eyes that matched his thing goatee and hair sparkling. “I want you to help.”

“Help?” I had asked.

He nodded. “It has been brought to my attention that a school that I donate to has been using the funds for the students to fund their lifestyle. I can’t make a move on them without a lot of political and social ramifications but you…”

I knew immediately what he meant.

“You want me to nudge them,” I said, my own eyes sparkling. This was exciting. At the time, I thought I had a super power and I wanted to use it for the greater good.

That was Beaumont-Arden and boy was it a close call. There were so many moving pieces but in the end the leadership was caught gambling, the kick backs to suppliers was discovered and Takahashi swooped in and replaced the staff with genuine people wanting to protect the kids. It was then that I saw the human wreckage left behind of my decisions. So many children were shamed due to their parents actions, the people I nudged were betrayed by my actions even though they never knew I had a hand in it. I saw the devastation my powers brought.

I have grown disillusioned with it all. The next two schools, though much cleaner in execution still brought pain and agony to those caught in the middle. Takahashi called it justice, I called it consequences.

This school was my last. I was graduating and I had no plans to enter into any sort of business that used my abilities like this. I didn’t know what I was going to do but this was going to be my last job. Takahashi understood. He didn’t pressure me otherwise. Maybe he saw the damage in my eyes.

“I’m not going to accept your silence as denial.”

I woke back up from my daydream and looked at the teacher in front of me. Hiyashi had smudged out her cigarette on the table and brushed the ash away. This was the first time someone has seen me coming and that was a problem.