ceo | bokuaka

[14] business trips

"your reminder that there's a meeting in 10 minutes," akaashi said poking his head through the doorway.

"got it, thanks keiji."

the other nodded, closing the door. bokuto went back to his computer but he quickly ended up shutting it as he found him self not being able to do any work. ever since that night of the launch party he couldn't get akaashi's story out of his head.

he didn't think he'd remember anything from that night considering how much he drank, but when he woke up with a pounding headache and a missing akaashi, he immediately remembered everything the younger told him. he would've never guessed that akaashi was someone who came from a troubled past, at least not based on his personality. in bokuto's eyes, akaashi was nothing less than perfect.

though something about akaashi's story rung a bell in his head. he swore he remembered his dad telling him that one of their competitors suddenly dropped out of the market, but no one knew as to why. bokuto couldn't help it, he was nosey so he looked into online but nothing that bokuto was looking for came up.

he stood up grabbing his computer, walking out of the room. bokuto had a brief idea of what the meeting was about. with the launch doing the numbers as it was, the company branches outside of tokyo were having difficulties keeping up with the demand.

he walked into the conference room. it looked like every other one in the building with a large, dark wooden table with a projector at the front of the room. bokuto sat at the head of the table, akaashi sitting on his left and komi on his right.

"alright," bokuto started. "let me hear it."

sarukui spoke first, "the outside branches are having some difficulties keeping up with the recent sales. they claim it's because they simply don't have the man power to cover all the necessary bases."

"not enough manpower? there's at least 1,000 employees in all of our side branches," bokuto quirked an eyebrow.

"that's what i've been trying to tell them but they're insistent that's the problem," sarukui sighed.

"i doubt lack of labor is actually the reason," kaori interjected. "i've been keeping reports on some of the head personnel over there and they just simply aren't putting in the effort. their monthly quotas come up short every single time."

"i can't say im suprised by that," bokuto admitted.

when his dad retired, many of the higher-ups in the company retired alongside him. they all figured it was time to pass on the company. not that bokuto minded, he quickly found others to fill their positions who were more his speed anyways and shared similar ideology. however, there were still a large portion of employees from his father's time who refused to retire.

these were mainly the ones who made up the higher executives of the outer branches. they figured since they were the seniors of the company and weren't part of the main branch that they could just slack off. bokuto had tried multiple times before to get them to retire, but they refused.

"well we have to do something about it," sarukui muttered. "they're going to run this launch into the ground over there if we don't do something."

"i agree, but how? we've been trying to get those rag and bones to retire for the two years now to no avail," komi complained.

"why can't we just force them into retirement?" kaori asked.

"they're too high up in the company to do that and they have too much stock put into the company as well. they're not going to retire willingly at least," bokuto stated.

"god, this is stupid," sarukui muttered.

"well, let's see what we can do. kaori, which branches are the ones that are consistently missing quota?"

"okinawa, shizuoka, and osaka, with osaka being the worst of the three," she said grimly.

"okay, how about i personally visit the three branches and talk with the executives myself? maybe talking them into retiring isn't the best, but paying them off to leave the company would be for the best," he suggested.

"pay them off?" sarukui squinted. "you said it yourself, those guys have thousands in stocks, it'd take hundreds of thousands, even millions to pay them off!"

"well if they're already managing to drop the ball this bad on just the first launch god knows how bad they'll affect future launches. i think it'd be worth it. washio, i want you to run the numbers for me as soon as you can and get back to me and let me know if it'd be worth it or not, okay?"

"already running the numbers."

"perfect. anyone else have any disagreements with this idea?" bokuto offered to the table.

everyone shook their heads no.

"perfect. in the meantime, keiji, please get in touch with the other branch managers and let them know i'll be paying them a visit. osaka will be first on the list."

"osaka first?" he repeated.

"yes, then okinawa and shizuoka."

akaashi nodded stiffly and began typing on his computer.

"i'll call you all back in a meeting once every thing gets confirmed and we'll come up with a proper plan from then. for now you're free to go," bokuto ended standing up.

there was discussion as he left the room, akaashi trailing behind him.

"these executives are going to be the death of me, even my dad wanted to get rid of them when he was still in office but instead the burden's been shoved off on me," bokuto grumbled.

akaashi hummed but didn't say anything back. they entered his office and sat down at the desk.

"now i'm going to have to go to all these places and talk with these guys. that'll take at least a week to get sorted out when i could be doing much better things here," he sighed.

akaashi didn't say anything back prompting bokuto to spare a glance at him. a look of concern quickly came over his face. akaashi was gnawing at his bottom lip so hard bokuto was sure he was going to draw blood and his hand's shook as he typed.

"keiji."

no response.

"keiji!" bokuto repeated waving an arm.

akaashi's head snapped up, an out of it look on his face. "yes?"

"are you okay?"

"what do you mean? i'm perfectly fine."

bokuto gave him a look, "not buying it. what's wrong?"

akaashi didn't say anything for a moment before speaking, "how much do you remember from the other night?"

bokuto's face softened, "i'm not going to lie, i remember all of if," he said quietly. "but that doesn't make me look at you any different if that's what your wondering."

"no it's not that...it's just- did you want me to come on this trip with you?"

bokuto's eyebrows furrowed, confused as to what that had to do with the matter. "i mean, i was planning on you going since you've always come on all the previous trips but i'm not going to force you. it's you decision after all."

akaashi slowly nodded, "it's not that i don't want to come, i want to be there to help you out and stuff, it's just that...osaka is my hometown and stuff," he shifted in his seat.

"oh..." bokuto spoke, the dots connecting in his head.

"yeah, i don't really know what to do here," he admitted.

bokuto shook his head, "don't come if you don't feel comfortable keiji. i can take someone else with me, don't worry about it. do what's best for you."

"let me think about it, okay?"

"of course, take your time."