Classical Work

The party had lasted past midnight. We all had fun, and I really enjoyed the time. In the end, we staggered and carried to my sister’s home, which was relatively close by. As I had lived here before, and still had access to my old room, I had already prepared clothes and such for cases like these. With Seiko, it had already been a regular occurrence, so she had no problems either. So, we spent the night over.
Still, we had managed to get up on time and headed to work, albeit a bit sleep deprived. Seiko had given me a ride, since we both headed the same way, and she had parked her car on site. At work, Takeshi and the others were lenient that day with me. Although I heard Seiko got a scolding. But that is another story…

The following week passed along as usual. The girls had renewed their effort for the upcoming performance. While they already had a few, it was nice to see them being so passionate about it.

One day, I was recalled from my current post, to do regular work. Essentially, they just needed someone to help out at an event. Either no one else was available, or it was to make sure I didn’t lose my edge, but I was called in for the day.

I arrived to the company office early in the morning. We met up in the parking lot next to it. Seiko stood there, and handing out orders. ‘Looks like she will be in charge today.’
Greetings were passed around, with some small talk about the gig today, or how it was too early to get up. Normally, I would talk a bit with Seiko, but it was work right now, so I stayed professional, and looked around me, looking for familiar faces. And lo and behold, I found a few. I joined them, and we exchanged some small talk.
Once we got orders to roll out, I entered one of the large vans parked nearby. Seiko entered too, and several people from the talking group too. Including me, there were eight people inside. I wondered which event would need so many of us. Everyone wore the same outfit as always. By appearance alone they would look like strict bodyguards, but the atmosphere clashed with that image as they were happily talking with each other.
“Finally coming back to us?” The person seated next to me spoke. A senior coworker whom I didn’t know that well.
“I never left. The boss decided to put me to other duty.”
“Sure it wasn’t the influence of someone else?” The allegation hang in the air, obviously pointed at the highest ranking person in here. Sitting in the passenger seat next to the driver, Smith, Seiko gave her answer in a nonchalant voice.
“Even for a joke that is going far. You know I wouldn’t misuse my influence, even if I know Shuuichi privately.”
“Sorry, didn’t mean it like that.”
“As long as you understand.” She crossed her arms, signaling for this part to end. To dispel the rocky mood, I turned to someone I knew.

“But I wasn’t the only one who changed positions after the first year, no?”
The person in question shirked together. Hanami, who was already on the smaller side, now trying to get even smaller, seemed like a scared animal. It did not help that she was seated next to Steve — as she was one of the few people that didn’t clash with his massive bulk while sitting together — making her seem tiny in comparison.
“Yeah, I had heard Smith picked her up under her wing. Have you officially transfered to her department?” The senior was thankful for the chance to change the topic, and jumped onto it. Probably a bit too forcefully for her, who was not that good at talking with strangers.
“Well…” Still shrinking into her seat, Smith took over for Hanami, but making sure to keep her eyes on the road.
“Yes, I did. It might only be after a year, but it fits her. Getting specialized training as early as possible will allow her to develop her skills properly.”
“Heh. Looks like your year is full of potential. And here I am still stuck in normal guard service.”
“There is nothing wrong with it. It simply means that’s where you fit in the best.” Smith dismissed him.
“Easy for you to say. Steve, you are with me, no?” Despite their difference in appearance and seniority, they shared the same rank and position.
“The fundamentals are important.” A man of few words as usual, Steve gave his stance in the matter. One man a good intimidation, the other more of a smooth talker, used to defusing situations. They might not seem like it, but they made a good combi.
“He is right. Have more confidence into your skills.” Another coworker called in.
Seiko didn’t overlook the chance to get back at him. “But not too much. If you aren’t careful, he might overtake you in rank soon.”
“Come on, you can’t be serious.”
“I can be serious about it you want to. It is within my power to do so.” Seiko’s smirk could be heard in her voice.
“What was that before about not abusing your rank?” His voice actually showed a hint of panic.
“Never said I wouldn’t do it to spite someone…” But we could all tell she was just joking.
Our banter continued for a while, until we arrived at the scene.

It was a large shopping mall. We parked not at the normal parking lot, but at a separate place reserved for staff. Everyone left their vans, and we formed up on some empty space. Seiko took center stage in front of us, giving out instructions. Smith stood to her right.
“We will momentarily be going around the venue, so use it to familiarize yourself with the layout. For work, we will go with standard procedure, acting in groups of two. And remember, this is still a mall, and there will be normal customers walking around. Take care not to interrupt them, and make sure that no one who might pose a threat mingles in them. Everyone understood?”
“YES!” Resounded loudly from all of us.
“Good. Well, this is only a small scale concert compared to our usual work. The band already had a few live concerts, but they are probably a bit tense as it is their largest yet. And actually their first one organized by a company. Don’t take it too hard if they act a bit difficult. Though your interaction with them might be limited for some of you. They are all girls, so female staff will look after them. The men will focus on patrolling the outer perimeter of the concert.”
The general gist was repeated for everyone. With not much else to discuss, we went inside, ready for our job.

The broad central area of the mall that was usually empty or filled with vendor stalls, was now occupied by a stage. It must have been build up in the early morning hours or maybe the day before. It filled out the area nicely, and still left enough room for the benches stretched out before it, giving enough space for potential listeners.
The support beams on the sides were allowed to reach up high, as the entire central column of the building had been left empty to provide a view of the inner part. Probably a design choice of the mall for artistic reasons, or they had always planned with hosting some events in here. No matter what, it proved one more point of challenge for us: verticality. Problems could now not only occur at ground level, we would need to check each level for potential dangers. With this, the amount of people send today made sense.

On our way to the stage, I noticed some of the posters lined in the mall.
“Is the concert today for an idol band?”
“Oh yeah. Did no one tell you?” Smith was nearby, giving me some info.
“No.”
“That’s Himura for you.” Likely the others had already gotten their meetings, but as I was called in rather late, some details had missed me. “It’s just a band of five girl that got a small gathering by now. They contacted us asking for the chance of a small concert. Oh, not us, but the management devision of the company.”
“Their fans are loyal you know! And they care about them. Did you know, that-” A coworker nearby started to join the conversation on their own.
“Alright, keep it down. We know you are a fan, but don’t let it interfere with work.”
“I would never! I’m gonna keep those girls safe!”
“Anyway, where was I? Ah, so, they contacted us, got the green light, and this here was organized. And we have been called on to check that things go swimmingly.”
“…Why would the company just do this for a relatively unknown band?”
“They are not-!”
“Yes yes. We know.”
“Grrr.” One of the staff, who appeared to be an avid fan, was quite displeased with my wording. Nonetheless, Smith continued.
“They probably see it as an investment. Let’s say everything goes alright. They get even the more well known, have more influence and reach. So, they can do even larger concerts. But, organizing them on your own and getting venues to agree is tricky. Since we were the ones who agreed to help them when they were smaller, and already did a good job with it, they might just turn to us again. And, in the end, maybe even join our musical devision. There is no guarantee that it will happen, but the chances must have seemed good enough, so here we are.”
Having obtained a bit more background to the work today, I left it at that. It was good to know why we were here, but it didn’t change much of what I would be doing.

We finished our tour, and grouped up behind the stage, and waited for a moment while Seiko greeted the upcoming idols. They were then joined by someone who looked like a stage worker, likely the lead person among them. They exchanged some words, and a few moments later, she returned.
“So, everything is going according to plan. We will split up as discussed. Alright everyone, get to work!” Steve walked over to me. I guessed he had been assigned to work with me. “Glad to be working with you again.” He quiet giant gave me a nod.
‘Maybe others had a bit of a problem coordinating themselves with him?’ That didn’t really matter to me, as we were quite capable of working together, as we had done plenty in the past. Maybe it was because we bonded over our fight during my aptitude test at the time I got hired.
Being dismissed with Seiko’s announcement, everyone went on their way. Many split off and dispersed in the area. Some of the female staff went to where the band was.
“Follow me.”
With this prompt, I did as asked, and moved with Steve. He likely had been told which position we would be assigned to.

Getting to our place, we did the usual: Slowly patrolling our assigned area, taking in details of our position, everything that might potentially help us stop someone meaning harm. And during this, I became more aware of something that already buzzed me when we were making our tour: the customers.
Naturally, in a mall, you would have normal customers, only here for shopping. Now, there was a group of bodyguards walking around the area. Of course we would draw their stares! And quite excessively so. To be honest, it was a slight bother. Before, I had mostly exclusively worked at concerts with their own venues, where the guests expected security personal, therefore not really caring about them. Now, a lot of attention was flowing to us, which caused me to not being able to fully focus on the task at hand. I hoped it would turn better when the concert stared. Idols were there to draw stares to them. ‘Surely it would work itself out by then. Surely!’
With these thoughts, I resumed work. Now, there was one part a few people were mistaken about. While the concert was our main focus, it didn’t mean we do not pay attention to our general surroundings. Others might use our draw of attention as a distraction to commit their crimes. And so, it wasn’t long until we grabbed the first person trying to take advantage of our presence.

“Hey. Let me go!” A young man, fairly inconspicuous looking, was complaining as Steve was holding his arm in a manner that could under no circumstance be described as gentle.
“Taking creep shots. Scum.” His voice had taken a sharp, threatening edge.
On this claim, the captive’s face paled slightly. “S-so what, you saw me do it or something? You’ve got no evidence to prove it!”
I took it as my part to enter “It’s on your phone. Just gotta make sure you don’t have a chance to delete it.” So I snapped it from his hand.
“Unhand me! You have no right to do this!”
“Sure sure. Tell that the police.”
I gave a quick notice to Smith, our usual personal organizer, via comms, and we both walked him to the police box. It might have been better for one of us to remain, but the concert wasn’t underway yet. Steve already had him secured, but handing him over to the police like this was probably not the best idea. In this case, his appearance worked against him. I wasn’t one to talk about appearances, but it was even more serious in his case. So, I went with him to handle the talking. I could take the punk, sure, but then I had to secure him and make sure his struggling didn’t make me drop the phone. And I didn’t trust him enough to return it to him. Plus, Steve’s presence, once he had amplified his grip power, made him behave rather docile.
We quickly handed him in. Done with the offender, we returned to our post. We simply moved along, until the concert began. The mood around us turned pretty festive, the people enjoyed themselves.

Back to the venue. Some people gathered early, likely their fans. However, once the music started, many more came by, and the ranks filled. Interested onlookers stayed a while.
Having worked next to an idol group for a several weeks now, I had learned a few things about their work and performances. And I had to say, they weren’t half bad. Sure, they still had room for improvement left, but that was a given. They had moved to this point by themselves, without outside help. ‘With drive like that, they might have a good future ahead of them. Now I can see why we the higher-ups agreed to this deal.’
These sidetracked thoughts aside, I kept my eyes on the area around me, occasionally glancing down to the stage.

Until the end of the concert, not much happened on our end. The incident in the beginning was the only real work we had. While it was only my feeling, it seemed that a few people turned and walked away when they saw us move about. Just with the right presence, one can scare people off.
There was an old war story, where someone scared off an army from their fort by opening the doors wide and having the few people present start drumming up, as if preparing to march out in full force. They had no soldiers with them, but simply by putting the thought into the enemies’ head, they made them reconsider and withdraw.
‘One really should learn from history. Maybe I should have payed more attention in the past.’ Not that these thoughts could change anything. But I could and should pay more attention in the future. Looked like there actually was a point to some of the things we learned in school.

Once the girls were finished with their concert, they came to us. Or rather, the squad that was looking after them, and expressed their thanks for today. Afterwards, they went their way, and we met up behind stage again.
“Alright, job well done everyone, that’s it for today. Grab some water if you want, then it’s time to go back.”
Some went away, to drink or heading to a restroom. Staying here, I was approached by Seiko.
“So, what did you think of today?”
“Well, in the beginning we had a bit of a commotion, if you can even call it that. But otherwise, nothing really happened.”
“No, not that.” She shook her head. “I mean compared to your other duty. You know, stuck in the building.”
I thought about it a few seconds before answering. “To be honest, I can’t really form an opinion o it. Everything has its up- and downsides. For me, I just want to be put where I can help the best.”
“You…” My answer was met with dissatisfaction. She had wanted a clear cut answer, something I could not provide at this point of time. To be perfectly honest, I might enjoy my time in HQ more. Not due to the type of duty, but due to the people around me. If I had to work with a different group, my opinion might be different, so I couldn’t give an objective answer to the question.
Our talk ended as we headed out.

Everyone met up in the parking lot. Boarding the vans the same as we came, the trip back passed by relatively quietly. …Aside from one particular member, who looked overjoyed, clutching an autograph to their chest.
Back at the office, we then split our way. Seiko headed in to give a report, and excused herself. I exchanged some more small-talk, and then headed off too. Some coworkers tried to roped me into joining them for a trip to a nearby izakaya, but I refused. I was checking in on my sister today, and would be meeting up with her.
Since work had started early today, we ended early too. Which was why I intended for it to be today, and was actually the reason why my coworkers wanted me to join in. Promising them I would join them the next time was what finally let them give up for good.