Fat. Beautiful. Tasty. Ravenous.

Chapter 2

"I know you don't usually do these things but I thought you might be interested this time," my manager Tomoyo says over the phone as I sit with my weekly planner open, going over my schedule for the following week.

I make a tsking sound and roll my eyes. Every time she says something like this it's for something I have absolutely no intention of doing. Things like commercials or full nude shoots.

"I know, I know," she placates me. We've done this dance a thousand times, "But this time I really think you will."

"Okay, I'm listening," urging her to continue.

"The actress for a commercial just had to cancel on a shoot last minute-" but I've already stopped listening. A commercial. She knows I don't do commercials.

I tilt my head and stare off into the distance, letting her finish her spiel.

"-and I know you were looking for more information about the Fat Gum Agency so-"

"Waitwaitwait," I stop her, "What's that about the Fat Gum Agency?"

"You're a brat," she admonishes, "If you'd been listening instead of ignoring me because I said the word commercial, you would know."

I swear this woman thinks she's my mom sometimes...

"Okay, whatever, I'm sorry. Now tell me about the commercial," I push her, falling into the bratty role she so likes to place me in.

"Like I was saying," she goes on, "The actress for this commercial had to cancel and they're looking for last minute replacements for tomorrow. It's for an energy drink and the Fat Gum Agency is going to have representatives there. I know you were looking for information on them, so I figured you'd want the part."

"Well, do you know who all is going to be there?" I ask hurriedly.

"No, I don't know that kind of information, Aiko. The director isn't going to care if you want to meet one hero or another," she says with annoyance.

I'd asked her a few days ago if she knew anything about the agency and she hadn't known much either. None too surprising considering she's located in Tokyo.

"Does that mean I would have to head to Tokyo in the morning?" I wonder, already feeling weary just at the thought of such a long unplanned trip.

"No, actually," she replies chirpily, "It means I would be taking the train to you in the morning because it's over in Osaka."

Well, that's a relief at least.

I rub at my forehead, considering my options. I don't like to do commercials because I hate the fake voice and bouncy attitude they want every woman in every commercial to have. But this is an important opportunity.

I've spent the past three days, after essentially getting booted from the Fat Gum Agency, doing as much research as I possibly could. Turns out that heroes' real names are confidential information. You have to have a certain security clearance to see them or have been following the hero from their school days back when they didn't go by their hero names all the time. That or they can give you their name.

It warms my heart to think that Taishiro offered me his so freely. I just wish he'd also stopped to give me his hero name too.

It's also impossible to get a roster of employees at hero agencies for obvious reasons. The last thing any agency needs is for a full list of the employees to be readily available to the public.

So finding out more about Taishiro through those means has been a complete bust and finding out anything about the Fat Gum Agency hasn't been much easier. Heroes like their privacy just like everyone else, I suppose.