I Bend So I Don't Break

One

A/N: we are so back, y'all!! femlock ryusae round 2, and they're acrobats this time!! and strippers. so, you know. keep that in mind. 

(I miss being an acrobat in case you cant tell lmao)

Ego didn't come around the acrobatics gym all that much once the business was well established. Between Oliver and Sae, they kept the place running rather smoothly. All of the coaches could be left to their own devices, planned their own curriculum, and ran their own classes. Still, she liked to have a once a month staff meeting, from wherever she happened to find herself when it happened, mostly to show off her most recent travel spot, and every so often, to make an executive business decision. Which she was still entirely entitled to do, even from halfway around the world.

As they usually were when these meetings occured, the coaches were crammed into the office and huddled around the desktop computer. They had three chairs, which the six of them made work. Meguru took a seat on Rin's lap, which she hardly minded, despite the fact that she spent most of the meetings swatting her pigtails out of her face. Hyoma and Jyubei, who were thin enough to share one chair, did. Sae got her own chair right smack in the middle. This was partially because, as acting manager, she'd earned the right. It was just as much because she wanted to share a chair about as much as anyone else would have wanted to share with her. Oliver had no qualms standing behind her, hands resting on the back of the chair.

"Good afternoon, my diamonds in the rough," Ego greeted them when the call connected. She pushed her sunglasses back up on her nose. She was on a beach somewhere, and she had a bright blue drink with a yellow umbrella in her free hand. "Or is it morning there? I can never remember."

Sae sighed. They all thought this whole façade was stupid, but she was the only one who regularly showed it. Hyoma and Jyubei laughed politely, but it was Meguru who leaned forward and said, "It's the afternoon, Ego-san. What time is it where you're at? Looks fun!"

This was not due to any stupidity nor any fear of job security. Behind Ego's back, Meguru complained as much as they all did. But she found it very amusing to indulge Ego's ego on these calls.

"I'm on a private beach in Thailand right now," Ego told them. "I met a nice man down here. It's right off his personal property. We just got off the boat."

She said this like it was the most boring news imaginable, but of course she didn't mean it, and she was actively waiting for their reactions. Hyoma and Jyubei gasped and were appropriately awestruck. Meguru too, gasped and clapped excitedly.

"Well, ain't that something," Oliver said from behind Sae. "Looks like our hard earned dollars are doing you well, boss."

Sae cracked a smile at the comment. As thin as her patience wore, she didn't hate Oliver.

Oliver was quick to give her run down. As with most months, nothing needed to be upgraded or replaced yet. Supplies needed restocking were minimal. No student injuries. Ego gave her a quick flick of the hand which basically said yes, yes, buy the alcohol spray and the resin and the paper towels you need, this is hardly worth my time. Oliver also ran the studio social media, which was a topic hardly ever touched on, seeing as she did well enough at it, and the studio did well enough whether they were posting or not.

Then, when the silent switchover came, Sae dove into the numbers. It was always something she'd excelled at. She knew how much profit the studio made each week, how much retention each coach had, how many members had joined and left, and how the studio was performing compared to last month, the last half year, and the last year, thanks to a permanent set of graphs in her head. In addition to knowing and reporting on all of that, she also handled in studio student and potential client emails and made the coach schedule.