Act 2 Chapter 7 Unexpectedly, you can be a NEET and a professional according to Akari.

Tuesday, 8:47 AM - Kuroshima Industries Tower

There are exactly 47 floors between the street and the corporate hell where I “work” (it still makes me panic to think about it) now.

The elevator goes up. My mood goes down.

I'm wearing black jeans, a gray shirt, and the hoodie Haruka picked out. In my room, I looked “presentable.” Here, surrounded by expensive business suits, I look like a kid who got lost on his way to the video game store.

Ding. Floor 44.

The doors open.

The Kuroshima Industries logo greets me: silver, minimalist, probably designed by someone who charges more for a logo than I've earned in my entire life. The floor is marble. The air smells of money and ambition. So boring.

A receptionist looks at me.

Assessment complete in 0.3 seconds: you don't belong here.

“Can I help you?” Her smile is professional. Her eyes say calling security in 10.

“Shon. Appointment with Kuroshima-san.”

“Huh? Kuro...?” She checks her tablet. Her expression changes from ‘intruder’ to “confusion.”

“Ah. The... consultant.” She pronounces ‘consultant’ with obvious contempt. “47th floor. Executive elevator.”

She points to another elevator. Glass, gold. How humble.

47th floor - 8:55 AM

The executive elevator plays classical music. Probably something I should recognize.

I don't recognize it.

Ding.

The doors open to another world.

Floor-to-ceiling windows. The city spreads out below like a game board. The sun enters horizontally, turning everything into corporate gold.

And there's Akari. My sister. But not MY sister.

This is Akari, Vice President of Strategic Operations.

Black suit, perfect cut. Tablet in one hand, phone in the other. She talks to three people simultaneously as she walks as if the building moves for her and not the other way around.

"Tanaka-san, the Q3 (Quarter 3) numbers don't lie. Either they adjust projections or we adjust personnel—“ Pause. She sees someone. ”Yano-san, the report I requested two hours ago is not a suggestion—" She sees me. Her expression doesn't change.

She gestures: wait there, don't touch anything. She returns to her calls.

I stand by the elevator. A human piece of furniture.

Two minutes later, she's done. She approaches.

“You're early.” It's not a compliment. It's an observation.

“The train—”

“Our last name? But Reina calls you Akari, and I'm also—”

She shoots me a sharp look. “Hoshino-san, repeat.”

“Hoshino...san?” I tried to intonate my own surname in such a foreign way. It sounded ridiculous to call Akari that.

“Good,” says Akari with clear intonation.

“Just to clarify the boundaries: What if they force me to drink coffee to increase my zero productivity and, with my bad luck, I start having a heart attack, are you still ‘Hoshino-san’ or can I scream your name?”

“In that case, don't just not say my name, just die quietly.” She doesn't even blink. “Two: What you see here does not exist outside of here.”

“From the elevator, I want to forget everything.”

Akari looks at me. “Ah, if your answers are eloquent, that brings me to rule three: When Reina-san speaks, you listen to her. No ‘eloquent’ answers, no—”

“No being myself?”

“No being the annoying version of yourself.” She studies me. “Can you do this?”

“Exist without being annoying? Probably not. Do the job? No idea.”

“You'll do it, don't worry.”

“Four: The suitor arrives at 10. There are NO clear guidelines, so make it up as you go. Your work starts after that.”

Capichi?

I nod. I don't want any more trouble, to be honest.

For the first time, she almost smiles.

“Enough. Come.”

Hallway to Head Office - 9:05 AM

We walk through glass corridors. Employees greet Akari with the reverence of those who know she decides budgets.

I am evaluated as a statistical anomaly.

Who is he?
New employee?
He's dressed very... casually.
Why is Hoshino-san escorting him?
Is it corporate community service?

We pass the conference room. Ten people in identical suits are discussing something on the screen. They all look stressed.

“What are they doing?” I ask.

“Deciding whether to lay off 300 people or 400.”

“Which will they choose?”

“350. Compromise.” He says this without irony.

“Capitalism is beautiful in its brutal honesty.”

“It's not capitalism. It's survival.” Akari stops in front of a dark wooden door. “Reina-san is inside. Ready?”

“Behave yourself.” She opens the door. “Go in.”

Reina's Office - 9:07 AM

Reina Kuroshima stands in front of the window, phone to her ear, gesturing to someone who cannot see her.

“—I don't care if Suzuki-san is ‘uncomfortable’ with my terms. Accept them or I'll find another partner. You have until tomorrow—” She hangs up.

She turns around.

And there is the transformation.

In my apartment, she was Reina, kind of weird.

This is Reina Kuroshima, CEO, owner of this floor and probably the souls of 3,000 employees.

Navy blue suit that probably has an Italian name. Makeup that transformed “pretty” into “Forbes cover girl.” Heels that add height and authority.

Our eyes meet.

She evaluates me.

I evaluate her back.

“Shon.”

She says my name as if she were saying “recently acquired corporate asset.”

“Reina.”

I say her name without honorifics. She's technically my boss, but I'm also technically doing my sister a paid favor. This is weird.

“Uhmm... brave. Only Akari and my father dare to call me by my name.” Something crosses her face. Recognition. “That would be reason enough to fire anyone.”

“Please, Reina, fire me without...” Before I can finish my sentence, Akari closes the door behind me, her eyes ablaze.

“It's a pleasure to work with you, Reina-sama.”

Reina looks a little worried but also happy about the situation between the two siblings.

“You seem kinda sleepy, coffee?” Reina asks.

“Coffee? Maybe...” Something hits my head, a memory. I panic. ‘...What if they force me to drink coffee...(...)...with my bad luck, I start having a heart attack(...)’ and then ‘just die quietly’ from Akari.

“Actually, I'm aller...”

Smack! A sharp pain. Akari just stabbed me in the instep with her stiletto heel, all while maintaining an “employee of the month” smile directed at Reina.

“...I'd love to, thank you,” I finish.

Reina tilts her head, her expression a mixture of confusion at my sudden change of attitude. “That's great.”

Akari serves. Three cups. Precise movements with a nature that indicates many cups of coffee served.

Reina sits behind the desk. Akari stands to her right. Battle formation.

I sit across from them with my killer coffee.

“Itinerary,” says Akari, passing the tablet to Reina.

“Tanaka is moving forward with the legal dispute, although he has issues with clause 47-B.”

“Nothing out of the ordinary. Get the rhythm right and let's finalize the lawyers' response.”

“Conference call 2 PM.”

“Confirmed.”

I watch them work. It's choreography. Years of synchronization. Every word has purpose, zero waste.

My younger sister is a general commanding an empire.

It's... impressive.

It's also terrifying that this is normal for her.

Reina finally looks at me.

“Your job today is simple. The suitor arrives at 10. Takeshi Nakamura. 26 years old. Pharmaceutical heir. His father wants a merger; he believes marriage facilitates business.”

“Classic. Combining love and capitalism. What could go wrong? Aside from a marriage without love or mutual respect?”

“Apart from that, everything will go wrong,” says Reina without changing her expression. “That's why you're here.”

Akari slides the tablet toward me. “The questions they designed, refined. You have 40 minutes to memorize them.”

I review the list.

My raw questions transformed into elegant corporate language. As if they had taken my cynicism and dressed it up in a suit.

“I'm flattered. When we talked, I thought you were just typing out of respect, but look, these are my questions with some nice editing. I almost don't recognize them.”

“It's amazing what a good format can do. It's like putting a tuxedo on a raccoon. It's still a raccoon, but now they'd let it into the gala,” says Reina.

I blink. “Did you just make a joke about my dark circles?”

“No.” But something in her eyes says yes.

“Stay in the adjoining room,” Akari points out. “Memorize. We'll let you know when Nakamura arrives, Akari will take you to conference room B then. Don't be scared, little kitty.”

Shon yawns as he reviews the script. “And don't destroy too many careers, big shark.”

I stand up, grab the tablet.

I leave.

Adjunct Room - 9:20 AM

The questions are good.

My ideas, polished. As if they had taken my verbal daggers and sharpened them professionally. They are so absurdly good that I don't know if I can use them, their abstraction is such that having visible logical lines might not be possible. Anyway, I'll just adjust to what I need, to scare him away.

As I read, I process.

Reina is different here. She's not “worse” or “better.” Just... different.

In my apartment, without her battle makeup, trying to seduce me with robotic rigidity, she was... clumsy but real.

Here she is a CEO. Perfect mask. Controlled. Even so, she leaves nuances visible.

The two Reinas exist in parallel but are not completely fragmented, curious.

The people who are the Z in my equation are proving to be a variable.

Speaking of variables, what the hell is going on with Akari... that girl really scares me.

Meeting Room B - 9:58 AM

Minimalist table. Glass and silent judgments.

A camera focuses on the room so that Reina and her team can later evaluate my performance. This is tragicomic, evaluating the performance of a NEET.

Akari, to my right, begins to get up.

“Everything will be fine, Shon.” I don't know if she was saying it to reassure me or herself.

To be honest, I did feel a little pressure, but when I remembered that I would be dealing with a rich kid, my concern quickly turned to exhaustion. I would say that seeing Akari worried worries me more than this whole situation.

An empty chair awaits its victim—I mean, suitor.

“Wait a minute, you really don't want me to go with you, Shon?” says Akari.

“You have a camera there, right? Don't worry, Akari.”

Smack! A sharp pain... “Hey, why are you stepping on my foot?”

“Rule number one.”

“Uhg?” says Shon as he rubs his foot.

“I'M HOSHINO-SAN HERE!”

“Oh, sorry, Hoshino-san... this is still weird.”

“Okay, good luck, nii-san.” Akari seemed to have composed herself.

In a strange way, this calmed her down, and now the tense atmosphere disappeared. Akari walked away.

I feel like I'm at home, practically sprawled out in my chair. The tranquility overwhelms me. I hope the god of NEETs turns a blind eye to this forbidden activity: working. But I wouldn't say it's conventional either.

This day is just weird.

Nakamura arrived, someone shouted from the other side of the office.

The door opened.

Somewhere in the world

XxDarknessMaster2003xX (25+ New messages) (Shon, you damn slug, answer me!....)