Upside Down

[Tuesday, June 2nd]

When I ask Akari where the bathroom is, she tells me there"s one in the office. When I gave her a blank look, she follows me back into the office. She walks over to what I thought was a wall and presses on it, opening a hidden door. Looking inside after thanking her, I find it has a small bedroom with a full bath attached. The grin on Chinatsu"s face tells me everything I need to know about what she is thinking. I also find a non-networked drive tower in the room.

"Mr. Daniels, would you come here please." I call out.

A moment later he comes in. "Do you need me, Ms. Kobayashi?"

"I do, would you please carry this out to my desk for me?" I ask. I would have done it myself, but it looks to weigh as much, or more, than I do.

"I"d be happy to Ms. Kobayashi." He walks over, and as large as he is, he grunts when he picks it up and carries it out. I follow him out and after he sets it down beside my desk, I plug it into an outlet and connect it to the computer.

"Hestia, would you please go through the drive I just connected and let me know what you find please."

"Certainly Sora… Sora, the drive is encrypted. It"ll take me some time to decrypt it. What priority would you like me to place on doing so?"

"I would like the background and financial checks to take priority over that. Whatever spare capacity you have can be devoted to decrypting it."

"Sora, running the background and financial checks is utilizing 12.6% of my overall capacity. 4.3% to maintain the network here and another 1.7% is dedicated to self-defense with 5% set aside as an emergency reserve."

"You aren"t even using a fifth of your capacity?" I ask incredulously. I knew she was a level two, but I never expected her to have these kinds of resources.

"That"s correct Sora. Not counting emergency reserve, I"m currently using 18.6% of my processing capacity and 27.9% of available memory."

"Hestia, use your own judgement on how much you dedicate to decrypting it, but I don"t want you to exceed 75% capacity unless you"re defending yourself."

"Certainly Sora."

"Nee-chan, Chinatsu, what do you say we go home? I"m getting tired." They nod to me. "Oh, yes, Hestia. No one, other than me, my mother, or my father, is to be able to enter my office without my explicit permission. If someone tries to break in, please inform me, my father, and the police immediately."

"Certainly Sora."

"Thank you Hestia."

As we leave the office, Akari calls to me, "Ms. Kobayashi?"

"Yes, Akari? What can I do for you?"

She smiles. "I have your access card. Security brought it up a few minutes ago. It"ll open any door in the building."

"Mr. Daniels, if you would please? Thank you Akari."

Once he retrieves my card and hands it to me. "Akari, I"m heading home. It"ll probably be Tuesday before I"m able to come back in. If something happens, call me. I"ll deal with it. By the way, I don"t know how the power structure is set up here, but as of now you have no other boss than me, my mother or father, or a person I"ll be sending over to keep an eye on things when I can"t be here. If anyone tries to tell you differently or gives you any problem about it, call one of us, okay?"

All three of them smile. "Thank you Ms. Kobayashi, I was hesitant to bring that up."

"Akari, Mai, Sanae, I"d appreciate it if you would call me Sora. We"ll be working closely together."

"Hestia?"

"Yes Sora?"

"Please inform Human Resources of my decision here. Oh, that reminds me, knowing Akiyama"s predilections my a.s.sistants aren"t being paid what they should be. Check on their hire dates, current salaries for this position at that time, factor in cost of living increase plus 2.5% for each year they"ve been here and inform Payroll of their new salaries."

"Certainly Sora."

I look at them. "Fair enough?"

Mai and Sanae look stunned, but Akari smiles. "Sora, you do know that"s an increase of about ¥80,000 per month each?"

"Are you trying to tell me you aren"t worth it?" I ask with a smile.

She chuckles. "I"d like to think we are."

"Akari, well paid employees are happy. Happy employees are far more loyal and productive. Money is not an end unto itself. Money is a means to an end, nothing more, nothing less. People like Akiyama don"t grasp this simple fact and you see where it"s gotten him."

Sanae shakes her head and says, "Sora, are you sure you"re thirteen?" which makes me giggle.

"I"m certain Sanae. I"m just not your typical thirteen year old. Now with that said, you three are not to stay past 5 unless one of us is in the office. I"ll see you again when I get a chance."

All three of them tell me goodbye and we head for home.

◇ ◆ ◇ ◆ ◇ ◆ ◇

Back home, we go check on Mama, give her a hug, and then tell her we"re going to take a nap. However, in my room things take a turn I didn"t really expect when Chinatsu pushes me onto the bed and crawls on top of me.

"Sora, you were so cool today. I know I"ve been needy since the party, but before we take a nap..."

I giggle and pull her down to me to kiss her. She breaks our kiss and sits up to look at me. "Sora, I truly do love you, but how you put up with my b.i.t.c.hiness is beyond me."

"That"s an easy answer. I don"t see you as a b.i.t.c.h or being b.i.t.c.hy. You"re the girl I love, the girl I plan to marry, the girl that wants my babies, and the girl I want to spend the rest of my life with. Now, do me a favor and let me up. I"d like to get undressed so we can take a nap."

"Only if you let me undress you."

◇ ◆ ◇ ◆ ◇ ◆ ◇

Honoka wakes us up at 5, so we can dress and begin making dinner. I give Chinatsu a kiss, arise from bed yawning and stretching, and begin to dress while Chinatsu does the same.

I"m still tired since I didn"t get much of a nap. I suppose that"s to be expected. Chinatsu, as said already, has been very needy and insecure since the party. Saying this isn"t my normal Chinatsu is like saying a firecracker is an antimatter bomb since they both explode. I"ve been doing my best to rea.s.sure her, but if I"m honest, I"m making very little progress. I"m at a loss for what to do at this point.

We spent a half an hour making out before our nap and it wasn"t enough. She simply keeps demanding more. I would"ve happily continued except for this morning took a lot out of me. I"m thinking of skipping the walk this evening so the two of us can be alone. I have no idea if it"ll help, but it"s worth a shot.

After we dress and head down to the kitchen so I can help Mama make dinner, I shoo Chinatsu into the living room to watch the news with Honoka.

I never mentioned it, but Mama has finally begun to show. It"s small, but it"s there.

"Hi Mama," I gently rub her baby b.u.mp, "h.e.l.lo little sisters," I add, making Mama chuckle. In case you can"t tell, I"m really looking forward to seeing them.

Mama hugs me. "Hi Sora. How was your first day as CEO?"

I shrug. "Not too bad I suppose. I had to fire two department heads. Hestia started the background and financial checks on all of the employees, we found an encrypted drive tower which Hestia is decrypting, and I"m seriously thinking of dissolving the board. I simply don"t trust them. Oh, I also asked Dad to find someone to fill in when I couldn"t be there. I could"ve chosen someone from TGR, but I don"t know who I can trust yet. How were you today?"

"Fine I suppose. I rested and ate a light lunch."

"Good. Mama, I need your help."

"Okay, what with?"

I glanced at the living room to make sure Chinatsu is still watching the news. "Ever since the party when I met Ryu, Chinatsu has been needy and insecure. She thinks I"m going to leave her for Ryu. No matter how much I tell her I love her and that I"m not going to leave her for him, it doesn"t help. I don"t like seeing her like this."

"You don"t like seeing her like that or you"re tired of dealing with it?"

I sigh. "Mama, you already know the answer to that. I"d do anything for Chinatsu. I don"t like seeing her worried and upset. There"s nothing for her to fret over. I"ve told her over and over that even if something happens with Ryu that I"ll never leave her."

Mama looks me in the eye with a serious expression. "Sora, I know you love Chinatsu and I know you mean what you say, but life is too unpredictable and chaotic. You both know that already. The only thing that might rea.s.sure her is for you to give up on him. The question that begs to be answered now is can you do that?"

I rest my head against her shoulder. "Mama, is it possible for me to want and have both? I feel drawn to Ryu. I"ve no idea why, but I am. Everything disappeared at the party when I was with him. At the same time, I want Chinatsu. Not as support either, I want her in my life because I truly love her. I want her to be happy and right now she isn"t and it"s all my fault. If I didn"t feel this way about him this wouldn"t be happening."

Mama sighs and hugs me tighter. "Sora, sweetheart, not everything is your fault. You"re right, Chinatsu"s this way because of Ryu, but it isn"t your fault. I believe your, and Chinatsu"s, heart is big enough to allow for other people to be included. However, she"s used to having you all to herself. You"re no longer that frightened little boy that desperately needs her and that"s scary for her, even as much as it makes her happy. You"re taking steps on your own for the first time without her having to hold your hand while you do. She"s afraid you"ll get to a point where you no longer need her."

"That"ll never happen. I"ll always love and need her. My world could grow to be as big as the universe and I"ll still need her. She"s my heart, I"d die without her. Mama, did she tell you she wants to have babies with me?"

"She did."

"When she asked me if I would have them with her it made me so happy I almost couldn"t breathe. I felt like my heart would burst. I want to be with her, to share my life with her, to have a family with her, and I mean forever. I can imagine including Ryu in that, but when I think about the future, she"s always beside me in it. I have no future I can see without her in it. I want to make her happy because being with her makes me happy."

She pushes me back to look at me. "Have you told her all of that?"

I shake my head. "No, not like that I haven"t."

She smiles gently at me. "Then don"t you think you should?"

I lay my head back on her shoulder. "Thank you Mama. I"m glad I talked to you about this. I was going nowhere trying to solve this on my own."

She gently rubs my back and kisses the crown of my head. "I hope it helps. I want to see you both happy. If it doesn"t help, let me know, I"ll have a talk with her."

I nod. "Okay. Thank you Mama."

It"s really nice to have parents that"ll do anything to help you like this. I"m not saying other parents don"t love their children either, since I"m sure that most of them do. It"s simply that I don"t believe most of them would go to the lengths our parents will.

When we return to cooking dinner a thought occurs to me. "Mama, did you ever bring up the subject about a new house with Dad?" I ask while making croissants. Yes, we make our own breads. I"m getting pretty good at making them too. By the way, it"s American style beef stew tonight.

"No, it keeps slipping my mind. I did talk to him about your little sisters" names, though." She tells me with a smile. "He likes them too. Eri and Kaede it is."

"Really?! That"s so awesome!" I"m almost bouncing because I"m so excited.

"What"s so awesome Sornee?" Chinatsu inquires while looking over the back of the couch.

"Mama and Dad decided on our little sisters" names. It"s Eri and Kaede." I reply with a huge smile.

She smiles back. "Those are cute names. I like them."

I continue what what I"m doing with a smile that wouldn"t go away to save my life. I admit it, it makes me extremely happy that they chose the names I recommended.

A few minutes later, I hear the door open and close and Dad announces, "I"m home!"

He walks into the dining room followed by a woman.

"Hi honey. Welcome back." Mama tells him while stirring the stew.

"h.e.l.lo Dad, welcome home." Chinatsu and Honoka say from the living room.

"Hi Dad." I say while looking curiously at the woman with him, wondering who she is.

"Everyone, this is Mirai Kuroki." He looks at her. "Mirai, this is Haruka, my wife and our daughters, Sora, Chinatsu, and Honoka." He tells her while gesturing to each of us as he says our names.

"Sora, Mirai is the person I found to help you at TGR. She"s an attorney, and she also used to work in the finance ministry."

"h.e.l.lo Ms. Kuroki. Thank you for your help."

"My pleasure Ms. Kobayashi." She says with a smile. "Please, call me Mirai. After all, I"m your subordinate and it sounds like this will be interesting. Corporate law can be a bit dull."

"I"d appreciate it if you call me Sora, and I"d more say a.s.sociate rather than subordinate. You"ll be running the place in my name when I can"t be there, which will be most of the time since I"m going to be really busy for the foreseeable future."

"Mirai, if you"ll meet me at 7 tomorrow, I"ll take you in to get you an access card, tell Hestia to listen to you and introduce you to the department heads."

"Who"s Hestia?" She asks with a puzzled expression.

"She"s our AI at TGR. I have her running background and financial checks on all the employees currently. She"s also decrypting a drive tower I found there. Oh, yes, if the board members try anything with you, ignore them. If they keep it up call me."

I look at Dad. "Dad, I think I want to dissolve the board. I don"t trust them. They were too close to Akiyama."

He nods. "I wasn"t going to say anything, but I was hoping you would say that."

"I already had an issue with one of them, Banri Maeda. The other one was kind of begrudgingly helpful. That we can do without."

Dad and Mirai both nod agreement. Suffice it to say, I don"t trust them, and happily, Dad agrees, so I"ll probably be dissolving the board tomorrow morning when I take in Mirai.

Mirai is invited to eat dinner with us and we talk throughout dinner and afterwards as well. I find out she"s unmarried and a quite young looking thirty-two year old. She"s about Mama"s height, and is slender and cute, with medium length black hair and brown eyes. We are talking about what she used to do at one point and she really impresses me when she told me what she did in the Finance Ministry. Her job was to help track down and prosecute corruption.

When I ask if she has a problem working with a thirteen year old. She laughs and tells me, "Nope, you"re far more likable and seem more intelligent than a lot of the people I"ve worked with over the years."

I really think I"m going to like her.