Yakusoku (Avara Stadium Book 1)

Summer Flowers

Akiko was bleary-eyed when she let Himawari in. She opened the door and didn't say a word, and he didn't say a word, either, just took off his shoes and came in. He set a bottle down on the kitchen counter in a plastic bag, and she boiled.

"Did you seriously bring me more alcohol to appease me?"

He shook his head. "Sparkling apple cider. I hear it's great for recovering alcoholics. Makes you feel kind of like you're drinking, but you're not."

That took some of the fire out of her. "Oh. Well... thanks. But I don't want anything you bought with your money."

He arched an eyebrow at her. "With my money, or my brother's?"

She put her hands on her hips. "Isn't he financing you?"

"Not anymore." He opened her glasses cabinet and took out a wine glass, and opened the sparkling apple cider. "Aki... thank you."

"What?" She pinched the bridge of her nose. "I slept one hour between the past two nights, so don't say anything confusing. My mental state is zero."

"I thought if I just didn't think about the fact that all my money was illegally-backed, then it would be okay." He poured a glass and handed it to her, and then took another. "Thanks for... forcing me to face it. I'm not accepting money from Kazuo anymore."

She pursed her lips, and looked back at the bottle. "How are you going to... get by, then? You can't stand getting cheap things. This is pretty expensive stuff, too, isn't it? Aren't these like two thousand each?"

"Hey, I've got skills, too," he laughed, and raised his glass to toast her. "I might have honed them in illegal business, but I've still got them. I formed a corporation and I'm running money through it from a bunch of sources, some web courses, a book, and my coaching fees. I'm kind of a robotics consultant now. It's not a tenth as much as my brother gets, but I'm still pretty comfy."

She looked between him and the cider as he went and sat at the dining table, pulling out a chair for her too. Finally, the sleepiness having worn off her anger, she collapsed into the chair and took a sip.

It was good. Kind of made her feel like she was drinking, but she wasn't.

"So is this a peace offering?"

"Sure," he said. "That and a big high-five. I saw what you did at the Sakamoto building. You're all over the robotics news. I'm just watching like, yeah, that's my Aki."

"Shut up." She rolled her eyes. "I'm lucky I'm not in jail, you know."

"You really did embrace that demon aesthetic. I like it." He drank the cider and leaned his head back, looking like he was at peace with the world. "And I want to team up again. Your skills, my finances. Maybe not as much finances as before, but my business acumen, too. I've got the accounting down. You can be the performer."

She snorted. "I'm the one getting the accounting degree."

"And I'm the one who dreamed of being a performer. Trust me, I see the irony. But we've both got our hands in both sides of it. Plus, can't you tell your mom then that you are an accountant? Once we register this thing as a real business unit."

She blinked. She could, technically, form a corporation and officially hire herself as an accountant to it.

He grinned. "Gotcha. Bet you never thought of that."

"Shut up. She wouldn't accept it anyway."

"But it's better than nothing, right?"

She looked down at her cider. "It's better than nothing. It's worth a try."