Day 12: Managers

Day 12: Managers

"RYAN! RYAN!" Kiara shouted through the phone, causing Ryan to move the phone away.

"You alright, Tenchou?" Ryan asked. "You sound… distressed."

"Distressed?! DISTRESSED?! OF COURSE I'M DISTRESSED!" Kiara shouted. "MY MANAGER IS COMING TODAY! AND EVEN WORSE, HER MANAGER IS COMING!"

"Wait," Ryan sighed. "I thought you were a CEO. How can you have a manager?"

"I told you that this is my side gig," Kiara said, noticeably calmer. "I'm an idol."

"Sure, you are," Ryan rolled his eyes.

"You know what?" Kiara sighed. "You don't need to believe me. All you need to know is that some really powerful people are going to show up and you need to be here 5 minutes ago."

"Yes Tenchou," Ryan sighed. "I'll be there."

-

Ryan ran into through the door to see two people already sitting on the counter, who turned to look at him. One was a girl with glasses, wearing a black T-shirt with "Hololive" written on it, while the other was a woman with a spiky ponytail, a hoodie tied to her waist, and a katana sheathed at her side.

"Good morning," Ryan bowed slightly. He didn't know if these were the esteemed guests that Kiara was talking about, but he did not want to take any chances. "I apologize for being late. I was notified to come at this time at short notice. My name is Ryan Shade, and I am an employee of this establishment."

The woman with the katana glared at Ryan. A couple of tense eye-contact later, she let out a hearty laugh. "Kiara-chan picked someone with actual manners! Color me impressed!" She gave Ryan a wide smile. "Nice to meet you, Ryan. People call me Enma."

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Enma-san," Ryan smiled back.

"People call me A-Chan," the girl in glasses said, offering Ryan a soft, yet professional smile as she pushed her glasses up. "I've heard a lot about you."

"People are talking about me?" Ryan asked, intrigued.

"You've made quite the impression on the people who've walked through these doors," A-Chan replied. "Though some powerful figures have taken an interest in you."

"Huh," Ryan scratched the back of his head. "Maybe that's why I feel like I'm constantly being watched."

"Perhaps," Enma's smile turned feral. "Say, Suisei-chan said you fight well. Want to go a couple rounds?"

"With all due respect, I'm not too much of a fighter," Ryan held up his hands. "I merely know how to defend myself."

"You're too modest!" Enma exclaimed. "I was told you took on three thugs without so much as a scratch."

"I took them by surprise," Ryan said calmly.

"RYAN! WHY HAVEN'T YOU CHANGED YET?!" Kiara's voice could be heard from the back.

"Sorry about Tenchou," Ryan rubbed the back of his head. "She's a bit on edge right now."

The two girls looked at each other before laughing, A-Chan softly giggling while Enma laughed loudly. "We know."

-

Ryan opened the door, fully changed to see Enma and A-Chan casually chatting with Amelia. "Morning, Amelia," Ryan deduced that much like him, Amelia probably didn't like people adding suffixes to her name.

"Sup-," Amelia interrupted herself with a hiccup before sipping on some tea.

"Are you sure you don't want medicine for your excessive hiccupping?" Enma asked.

"Nah, it's fine," Amelia replied before hiccupping again. "It's funny."

"Morning, Ryan!" Kiara walked over from the back with two tubs of fried chicken.

"Morning, Tenchou," Ryan cracked his back. "Are you over your nerves now?"

"I have no idea what you're talking about," Kiara smiled brightly at Ryan before placing the tubs of chicken before Amelia and in between Enma and A-chan.

"So, did you go to the festival?" Amelia turned her attention to Ryan.

"What festival?" Ryan asked.

"He doesn't know," Kiara winked at Amelia, who gave her signature gremlin laugh and nodded.

"Nevermind, then," Amelia sipped her tea.

"Alright, keep you secrets," Ryan sighed. As soon as Amelia took a bite of fried chicken, she screamed, fire jutting out of her mouth.

"What the hell, Kiara!" Amelia tried to ease the spice with her tea, but that only succeeded to burn her tongue more. "I ordered mild!"

"C'mon!" Kiara managed between laughs. "It was funny!"

"I'll get you for that!" Amelia moved her hand towards her clock. Somehow, Ryan knew something bad was going to happen. Suddenly, space started to contort around Ryan. He stumbled over, grabbing his head. When he regained his senses, he saw Kiara on floor face down, what was supposed to be Amelia's tub of chicken scattered on the floor. Amelia was gremlin laughing while A-Chan and Enma ignored them as if this was a common occurrence.

"You okay, Ryan?" A-Chan turned her attention towards him.

"Yeah," Ryan massaged his temples. "What just happened?"

"Well, Kiara-chan tripped over air and spilt Amelia's chicken and then you hunched over in pain," A-Chan explained.

"But-," Ryan stared, but decided not to say anything. "I just got a bad headache. I'm alright."

"Alright," A-Chan nodded, but it was obvious to Ryan that she didn't believe him.

"That's what you get for trying to give Phoenix Fire Wings when I ordered mild!" Amelia shouted victoriously.

"How did you know?!" Kiara whiled as she stood up. "I only thought of that just now!"

"My magic clock told me," Amelia answered, as if that answered everything.

"Stupid omniscient magic clock," Kiara grumbled to herself.

What the hell? Ryan thought to himself. Clearly, something wasn't right, but he decided not to ask questions. Not a lot of things were right at this KFP.

"I'll clean it up," Ryan offered, crouching down to start putting the ruined fried chicken in the tub that Kiara dropped.

-

Meanwhile, somewhere in Britain, a man was sitting in a bar. His black, spiky hair was unruly and tangled, despite not being too long. He wore a blue trench coat over a checkered shirt and an eyepatch rested on his left eye. As space distorted around him, the shot glass disappeared in front of him. He scowled. "Ame, you shouldn't be using that for petty things," he grumbled to himself. He then raised his hand up slightly to hail the bartender. "Hey, old man! Get me a shot of Dragonson Liquor!"

As a shot glass slid across the table, he caught it, downing the alcohol in one go. "Man, I could really use some of that pork stew right about now. I wonder how it would go with smoked tarantula," he rubbed his chin. "Sounds delicious."

-

Ryan sighed as he pulled a batch of fried chicken out of the fryer. He really shouldn't be complaining, considering he kept on demanding to spend more time in the kitchen as he didn't really do much, but why did he have to cook the replacement tub of chicken when Kiara was the one who tried and failed to prank Amelia.

"How is he?" He heard A-Chan ask.

"He's alright," Kiara's voice could be heard responding to her question. "I'm not sure how much of his memory has come back, if any. He hasn't unlocked magic, as you can tell, but Yo-chan went to visit him not too long ago."

"Who are you talking about?" Ryan walked into the room, placing the mild wings in front of Amelia.

"No one," Kiara said, but Ryan knew Kiara well enough to know that she was lying.

"You sure about that?" Ryan narrowed his eyes.

"Well…" Kiara looked at A-Chan nervously.

"A powerful mage is currently going though an… advanced form of therapy," A-Chan replied. "This information could potentially be dangerous. It would be best if you forgot it."

"Nah, we should test if he's strong enough to protect himself!" Enma smiled. "Hey kid! Fight me!"

"I'll have to pass," Ryan sighed. "Forgetting I heard anything is probably less painful."

"You got that *hic* right," Amelia shuddered. "Enma-san is scary."

"I'm not that bad!" Enma protested.

"You decapitated Watame-san!" Amelia shouted, looking horrified at the memory.

"She respawned!" Enma shot back.

"Yeah, I'll pass," Ryan said.

"Sure, whatever," Enma groaned. "But when you get your hands on a sword, I'm totally dueling you!"

"Yeah, yeah," Ryan waived his hand. Where the hell would he get a sword anyways?

Suddenly, something vibrated in A-Chan's pocket. She took out her phone and sighed. "YAGOO did something again. I need to go help him out."

"Ooh! Can I come?!" Enma shot her hand in the air excitedly.

"Of course, Enma-chan," A-Chan smiled calmly as they stood up. "Thank you for the meal."

"No problem," Kiara smiled softly as the two left. As they did, Gura ran into the restaurant and tacked Amelia.

"There you are!" Gura hugged Amelia tightly. "I've been looking everywhere for you!"

"Sorry, I just had to deal with a prankster over here," she shot Kiara a glare, causing Ryan to snicker, patting his boss on the shoulder as she pouted.

"So, when are we going on our date?" Gura asked.

"Well why don't you two have your date here?" Kiara asked, a mischievous glint in her eyes.

"No way!" Amelia looked flabbergasted. "I am not having a date in my co-worker's establishment!"

"I thought you were a CEO," Ryan said to Kiara. "Jeez, now I have two catchphrases."

"Nevermind that!" Kiara chirped.

"Let's go!" Gura dragged Amelia out of the restaurant.

"Well," Ryan said, turning to Kiara. "That was interesting."

-

Sabrina was watching a rerun of Hololive's second festival when YAGOO walked into the room, a small girl at his side. For some reason, the girl's aura felt familiar as her ocean blue eyes met her purple eyes.

"Who's this, YAGOO?" The girl asked. "I feel like I've met her before."

"You may very well have," YAGOO smiled at the small girl. "This is Sabrina Godson. Sabrina, this is Anya Melfissa. An acquaintance of mine asked me to take care of her."

"Nice to meet you, Anya," Sabrina smiled. Anya… wasn't that the name Zero gave to his weapon? She couldn't remember too well. After all, Zero died four years ago.

"Nice to meet you too, Sabrina," Anya said before turning her attention to the screen. "What is that?"

"Oh!" Sabrina turned as Fubuki ran onto the stage. "Come! Shirakami-san is about to sing her original song!"

Curiously, Anya sat next to Sabrina and watched the fox (cat?) girl's performance, her eyes brightening as she watched. "This is amazing!"

"I know, right?" Sabrina smiled at the shorter girl. Anya stared at the screen with wonder. Maybe being a human wasn't so bad after all.

-

Ryan sighed as he entered his apartment. He flopped on his bed, taking out his phone. He dialed up Sabrina's number. For some reason, idol music started playing through the phone. "Hey, Sabrina," Ryan sighed. "I don't know if that music is you, but whatever. I got to meet Tenchou's manager, whatever that means. She's a CEO. How can she have a manager? Anyways, other than that, nothing all too interesting happened today. I mean, I thought I started hallucinating, though. One second, Amelia was burning her tongue on tea and the next, Kiara was on the floor with spilt chicken. I don't know what happened, but something wasn't right then. I might talk to Amelia about it, but I'm not sure I'll see her again any time soon. Gura-san seemed really enthusiastic about that date. Anyways, I have an early day tomorrow. Night, Sabrina."