Transition And Restart

It was time to drop the bomb to Urufu as well. The club would return back home tomorrow, but the six of them were to remain until school started. Princ.i.p.al Nakagawa even brought the last make-up exams Urufu and Kuri needed to pa.s.s.

Kuri already knew, and her shoots would continue for another two days. After that she needed to study.

Ryu waited for Urufu to serve another batch and prepare the grills again. Two grills weren"t enough for this many people; the charcoal burned down and had to be replaced.

"Urufu," he said when the grills were lit anew. "We need to talk."

"Yeah?"

He looked over the beach. Club members mingling with models. Some played with fireworks and others changed clothes handed out to them by some Uniclo representative. "Even if they"re not that expensive, that"s still well over a million yen in clothes thrown all over the beach. Guess it"s not that much money for them, but still."

"When the rest of the gang return to Tokyo we"ll stay," he said to Urufu who had wiped his hands clean on the ridiculous towel he wore instead of a shirt.

"Huh? Why?"

"The Nakagawa gig. It"s only the first of five."

"What!"

Ryu looked at his friend. "Is he still a friend? Yes he is, but I"m going to be a lot more careful around him from now on." "Yes, you"ll have another eighty people arriving the coming two weeks."

"What the h.e.l.l? I need to study and I have work to do." Urufu didn"t look at all pleased with the change of plans.

"Calm down," Ryu said. "You"ll get paid. A c.r.a.pton of money if I got it right."

Urufu sighed. "Ryu, I respect you, but you"re a kid. c.r.a.pton of money means different things for you and me. I don"t think you understand exactly what kind of income I have." He looked like he was about to continue, but Ryu had to interrupt that.

"I"m aware of what a lot of money is. I"m what you"d call a rich kid. This gig will make you more money that you"ve seen the last year."

There was another sigh. "Ryu, I charge premium consultancy fees for a single person company."

"Shoot!" Urufu was way too arrogant. It was time for him to be brought down a peg or two.

"Returning customers pay me fifty per hour. I can"t afford doing this for free."

Ryu stared at Urufu. "That is a c.r.a.pton of money. Who the h.e.l.l had the audacity to charge that kind of fees? s.h.i.t!" "OK, how much have you made this far?"

A glimmer of uncertainty showed in Urufu"s eyes. As if he was uncomfortable with the truth. "Almost seven million."

"b.l.o.o.d.y h.e.l.l!" But the gig was still worth more. Ryu forced himself to calm down. "Not too shabby," he said and tried to sound like he was used to seeing that kind of money lying around in his drawers.

"Not too shabby? It"s more money than I"m supposed to make working full time after university!" Urufu stared back. "What"s this stunt worth? A million, two? It"s still c.r.a.p pay for running a hundred people."

Ryu gathered up his last reserves of pretending to be unperturbed. "Yeah I know. Especially as you"re paying salaries and the cost for the hotel as well."

"Salaries? The cost for the hotel? For one hundred guests? Are you insane?"

"I know, and the course is at a discount as well." Urufu looked like a man beaten into the ground. It was almost humorous to watch him. "Still, the contract is a hundred per partic.i.p.ant, so you should still come out in the black."

Urufu stood absolutely still. Then he suddenly had the looks of a much older man in his face. "Ten f.u.c.king million yen?"

Ryu nodded.

"Expenses paid, you said. So I end up with, lemme see, two or three million net gain. Fine, that"s fair enough. Even if one hundred is a steal."

"After our salaries?" Ryu teased and looked over the beach again.

Urufu returned to his grills, but his eyes never left Ryu. "Salaries. What the h.e.l.l did you cook up while I was out?" He moved around some coals with an iron he had picked up. "Ryu?"

"We had a few contracts made. Kuri backed it up as well."

"Spit it out!"

Ryu couldn"t stop chucking. "You"ve got yourself four employees, and you"re a partner with dad now."

"f.u.c.king h.e.l.l!" Urufu turned to face him. "Christina backed it up?"

"Yeah." It wasn"t anything Ryu felt proud of. They had signed away a lot of control to his father, and Urufu hadn"t even been asked. "Princ.i.p.al Nakagawa required that an adult stand behind your company or the school wouldn"t agree to your part time job."

"Nakagawa huh. Cunning b.a.s.t.a.r.d. Fine, I"ll do it his way. How much am I paying you, because I a.s.sume I got saddled with everyone but Christina?"

"You"re the CEO. Our salaries are your call."

"And what did I employ?"

Ryu laughed. "Junior consultants. Dad said we"re junior consultants or the deal is off."

Urufu suddenly grinned. "I"ll work you so hard you"ll hate the guts out of me. And I"ll make sure you earn every yen you make." He gave Ryu a hard glare. "This is work, real work. If you think you can handle it you"ll get paid accordingly."

For the first time Ryu felt interested. "Accordingly?"

"Yeah. You tell the others their salaries. I"ll handle back-pay if I ever see the money for this."

By now Ryu wanted to know what Urufu had in mind. He hadn"t needed any part time jobs this far, but he had a pretty good idea about what high school students made. "OK, will do," he said.

"I"m not paying a yen more than you deserve. Yukio and Kyoko start at two hourly. I have to train them before they can get a decent pay."

That was a lot more than he had suspected. "Noriko and I?" Ryu said.

"You"re more useful, for different reasons. Three thousand per hour. Make me proud and it"ll show in your wallets."

"What the h.e.l.l? That"s over triple what"s normal!" "That"s more than I expected for high schoolers."

"I don"t give a s.h.i.t about high school. You"re junior consultants. I can"t make an a.r.s.e out of the company." Urufu started loading meat and vegetables onto the grills. "By the way, what"s the name of my glorious company?"

Ryu thought for a while. The English words were strange in his mouth. "Twin Arc Productions, or something like..."

"f.u.c.king yeah! TAP, the b.l.o.o.d.y b.a.s.t.a.r.ds had me restart TAP. You wonderful b.a.s.t.a.r.ds!" Urufu shouted and grinned. More than a few faces turned in their direction at his outburst.

Ryu saw two perfect rows of teeth when Kuri grinned and threw Urufu a thumbs up sign.