Profit ~TodoBaku~

Chapter 3: let's groove

Katsuki Bakugo

"Well Katsuki, I only have a few more things I want to confirm with you and then we can stop this boring stuff and do something fun, ok?"

"Uhh...yeah, sure"

"Ok, so first I'd like to discuss your availability for working hours. I don't like fixed schedules, so I usually sort of operate on the basis that when I need you, you are here, but I want to know if there are any specific times where you are not available?"

What a...strange question that is. Nothing about this 'interview' has been anything close to professional, and this most recent inquiry is no different. I mean, surely the employer sets the hours, not the employee! It would be a lie to say that the question didn't catch me off guard, but then again, most of them had. I hadn't expected to have been questioned on my favourite flavour of ice cream (his is chocolate), whether I preferred dogs or cats (he prefers cats) or how I realised my sexuality (he realised that it wasn't just the female MMA fighters he liked looking at). It was all very casual, something I both appreciated and loathed at the same time.

"Uhhh...not really, no. I guess...yeah, I'm sorta free all the time, I don't really have any consistent engagements with people"

"Ok, thanks for that! And just one final thing...we're going to talk about pay. Now, I know what this society is like: the expectations of people rise everyday, and so does minimum wage. It's the vicious cycle of unhappiness and poverty that can never be escaped as long as one has no assistance. Katsuki, I don't know your financial situation, but given your previous employment, I can make assumptions. Which is why I want to offer you ¥2000 per hour. I trust that is a reasonable amount?"

...it didn't dawn on me in that moment that I could say no and ask for more. My mouth was practically watering at the thought of ¥2000 per hour, which was almost double what I'd earned at that shitty restaurant last year!

I have to say though...I didn't like what he'd said. How dare he make assumptions about how rich I was?! The way he'd worded it made it sound like he was some Good Samaritan sent from heaven to prevent me starving to death, and it didn't sit right with me. Independence was something I prided myself on, and forcibly removing it from me simply wasn't an option. However...

"Absolutely! ¥2000 it is! So...does that mean the job is mine?"

"Hmmm...I haven't interviewed everyone I'd intended to yet, but....yeah, it's all yours!"

"Wow...I look forward to starting! When do you want me to, by the way?"

"Well...if we get your stuff in here tomorrow...how about Monday?"

"Woah...you want me to move in?!"

"Yeah, I mean, how else can you do what I ask?"

"I guess...sorry, not thinking. I've got some friends who can help out with that, so don't worry about that"

"That's good. Well...I look forward to seeing you tomorrow then, Katsuki"

"And you, Shoto"

"Hmmm...I prefer Mr Todoroki~"

I couldn't help but crack a slightly amused smirk at that, and he seemed really happy that I had. It was such a strange comment, but I was slowly becoming more accustomed to them, their effect wearing off a little. Shoto was...strange. He seemed refined, but also unrefined. Mature, yet also immature. It felt a little bit like what I had called an act before I met him may have been completely wrong. Maybe he was just...like this?

Either way, he was my boss now, so I had to treat him respectfully. There was no room for me to question his slightly insensitive comments about my social class, simply because this job might stop that horrid nightmare coming true! It was in two days time I start, and I can always get Kirishima to do the heavy lifting tomorrow.

I managed to escape the manor not too long after, excusing myself from Shoto's strange behaviour. I wasn't really sure exactly what my job was going to entail, but of one thing I was certain...he's going to get on my nerves. It wasn't that I didn't like him, more that I knew I wouldn't like him. It was glaringly obvious that I'd end up performing strange tasks with little meaning, and seemingly to no end goal, all for the sake of his amusement.

But...does it really matter? I need the money, right? It's all profit at the end of the day, and if I'm working 24 hours by living there, I'll end up with...well, it'd be ¥48,000 a day, so ¥336,000 a week, ¥1,334,000 a month....it'd be about ¥16,000,000 a year! That's more than your average brain surgeon gets! All for the sake of sacrificing a little dignity to a single person? I think anybody else I know would jump at that offer, so really it's totally worth it, no matter what he's like!

I made the decision when I got home to pack a sole suitcase that would be my "travel wear", seeing as I figured I'd be hopping around the country with him to one of his many homes and estates. Despite my reservations, it was undeniably exciting, the thought of visiting many grandiose houses, even if his nonchalance over them pissed me off.
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Shoto Todoroki

"Ha! I can't wait until Monday! It'll be so fun!"
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First chapter I've written since my 5 day break, and it shows. God I forgot how hard this is 😅

Fact of the Day: the title is a song by Earth, Wind and Fire