Art Gallery~

After a tough day at school on a Tuesday afternoon, I was sitting inside my room, creating my own guest list for the Christmas party ahead, Kazutora was chilling inside my room, occupying the bed, making sure I wouldn't forget anyone.

However because he was keeping such a close eye on the paper, I decided to prank him.

"I'm thinking about excluding Keisuke, what are your thoughts about it?" Of course, I didn't mean it, just wanted to mess with my older brother who gasped so loudly, you would think I dared to speak blasphemy in his presence.

"How dare you Michi?! I thought I raised you better." I laughed, he sure wasn't my parents and it's not like he changed little Michi's diapers.

"Kazutora, that never happened." Once he realized I was only joking he relaxed his body. But suddenly decided to relay his thoughts to me.

"You know it's really strange to have been told some of my memories are indeed fake. I still vividly remember a little snotty Michi following me around."

"Can't say I know how that feels, but it was certainly a shock to find out there was a force strong enough that could mess with people's brains." For once I was questioned about my previous life in more detail, which lead to a more deep and insightful conversation between us siblings, it remained ongoing until I received an unexpected call from an unknown number.

"Should I pick it up?" Kazutora nodded his head, maybe he wasn't one to be bothered by salespeople.

"Michi, I have great news!" I could tell it was South's voice, did it mean he was phoning from a booth from the juvenile, that's why I didn't recognize the number.

"Yea what is it?" That was my simple reply.

"I will be out pretty soon, the day before Christmas Eve. At least that's what I was promised, so I was thinking... let's spend the Christmas celebration together." I was speechless for two reasons, first wasn't he supposed to remain behind the bars for at least a few more months? What about the Tenjiku timeline? He was supposed to be locked inside till they arrive there for sure. That's how they originally met.

Second, wasn't Christmas like a second Valentine's day inside Japanese borders? Was this guy really asking me out?

"Why?" Was the only word that left my mouth.

"There is no way I will be able to make any other arrangements after being released." So again he asked me because I was the only girl that kept in touch with him?

"Sorry, I have already a Christmas party arranged outside the city, you want an invitation tho?" I asked since it was Christmas and all, and it's not like he would be the only fight maniac attending the celebration.

"I'm not sure I will have the expenses for transport." He admitted.

"That, you don't need to worry about, I will have a bus ready that will pick us all up from Shibuya. I can even give you some change for the subway when picking you up the day before."

"Shit are you some super mega-rich person?" South asked but I shook my head.

"Let's call it being an irresponsible spender." But was it really? I bet any other person with a money-spending problem would have already lost their winning money. But all I ever was using it was on was occasionally food, friends, and most importantly missions.

"Wait... you will pick me up?" He asked confused.

"What, you want me to bring flowers as well?"

"Yes please do, to weird out the guard!" I facepalmed, was it all he cared about? To give the poor guy a scare or an odd experience?

"Great, just to let you know, the seatings on the bus will be decided beforehand thru a lottery. So don't try to make a scene once inside."

"Ah, so anyone's chances to sit beside you will be equal. Great idea, so it means I also have one." I rolled my eyes and glanced at the list of friends I was planning on inviting.

"So how many people do we have on the invitation list now?" Kazutora asked me after I finished my call with South.

"Let's see... forty-four with me and you included."

"So it's still under fifty." He pointed out and that's when an unexpected mission came up.

'Warning! Important Mission!' Oh, no would could it possibly be? I clicked on the continue button.

'Would you rather arrange another concert with the band or create your own art gallery show?' Although I would receive another health potion and additional ten points, both seemed like a lot of work. And I only had two weeks max.

"Shit..." I phoned one of the girls I believed would be most occupied with schoolwork at this time of year.

"Hina-chan, you supposedly don't have any time to spare this period before Christmas time right?"

"Since it's time before New Year, the teachers like to cram in a lot of exams." She explained, which basically meant she probably wouldn't have time for any band practice, let alone for any badly planned concert.

"Did a mission pop up?" Kazutora asked as I nodded my head sadly.

"It's time to create an art gallery... will you help me with planning it?" I basically begged him.

"How much time did we get on our hands?" He asked as I expressed.

"Only two weeks..." I needed someone good at arranging and taking care of things, someone good in the business department, and the first person that came to mind was indeed Kokonoi.

"I will visit Koko Crunch and ask him for help!" And so after changing my clothes I was off to get this man on my side.

"You finally decided to visit us." Was the first thing I heard while entering the Black Dragon hideout, coming from no one else than Taiju.

"Yeah, came to see Kokonut guy you know where he is?" I questioned and then decided to mention his invitation to the party just so he wouldn't sulk all day.

"Ah, and I was planning to invite you all to my Christmas party." It looked like Kokonoi wasn't here at the moment, so I spend my time explaining the celebration I myself planned to the big dude in front of me.

"It's going to be just the three of us?" Taiju asked, ha you wish.

"Nope, I will be asking all my friends to tag along, let's see if anyone will refuse." But this guy had other things in mind.

"Is there any church nearby?" So that's what he was worried about? Hearing the church service?

"Lemme check." I gave a quick call to the establishment and asked them a few questions, like what kind of food they were planning to have on the menu and if there was indeed any church nearby for our little Christian boy, after getting a confirmation I turned to him while declaring.

"They have it, I can even go with you to show you the way." I wouldn't want to risk anyone getting lost, and I had the mighty GPS accompanying me. Regardless, then I had a slight panic attack, what if this feature would be taken away from me once I finished gathering all the points? Would my bad direction sense come back? How would that possibly impact my life?

My existential crisis was cut short however when Kokonoi made his appearance.

"So why are you asking of me all of sudden." I ran to his side and grabbing his palm I stated.

"I need you." Let's say the whole lot misunderstood it as a confession.

"No, no, what I meant is I want your talents Kokonoi, let's not get ahead of ourselves." We retreated to a private room, despite Taiju's reluctance to let it occur. But when he came to complain about the arrangement I was quick on giving a half-ass excuse.

"It's not my fault your biceps are so distracting, it would be disrespectful to Kokonoi if I kept spacing out because of them." Once the muscle giant left Kokonut sighted.

"You have him wrapped around your little finger there is no doubt about that."

"Listen that was half a lie? His body language, and especially his angry facial expression would be pretty distracting in fact." I pointed it out, but this guy dismissed my statement and just went right into business mode.

"I will find you a hall and try to make a bargain, but you will pay it out of your own pocket, and I will take fifteen percent of the profit if there is even any... to begin with... do you have the art ready?" I shook my head.

"I do not... but actually you can even take the twenty percent if you want, and how about making a written contract?" I suggested.

"I hardly think we need one for a couple of bucks." So he didn't believe there was any profit to be made here, but I wanted it documented, with my luck stat you never knew what profits we would acquire especially after this guy suggested making some kind of auction for entertainment purposes.

So for the next couple of days every single day I was either giving out invitations when I could or making art, thankfully the system halted any additional missions so I had the time to focus on being an artist. It felt pretty good, there were so many weird ideas that came to mind and I brought them all to life.

The gallery opening was set for the 17th of December, and my enterprise partner decided to ask me to wear a dress.

And once the day arrived Koko must have been really dubious about my ability to take sound advice, because he happened to turn up at my house early in the morning, already rocking a suit himself.

"So what is this about?" I questioned as he just walked upstairs ignoring my question and asking me where my room was.

"Just making sure, you have some fashion sense." He finally replied after he had a peek into my wardrobe. Geez, talk about rude, so I waved my finger around educating this fella.

"Fashion will not win people over, my awesome personality will." He finally seated himself and I could tell he was more on the edge than me.

"Actually I had a weird dream... somehow I feel... that there is a lot of money to be made here." Well, I could accept a couple of thousand yen to celebrate later over dinner with the others. Gotta show gratitude somehow, to my overworked assistant that made this happen, I wasn't so sure this could have been possible without him, to be honest.

Nonetheless, it looked like he really was set on choosing my garderobe today, because as I looked at the dresses, the ones donated by Ran, Kokonut decided to make me wear a white one.

"I'm something of my fortune teller myself." I was shocked by his choice of words.

Another surprise came when we walked out the door, never would have thought this guy would fix us a limo? I considered him to be someone that saved money not spend it carelessly.

So as soon we packed all my canvases into the car and bro joined us, we drove off.

"Oh, suddenly I'm getting anxious, what if those rich obnoxious people appear and keep on asking me about sophisticated paintings I have no clue about?"

"That was highly specific... Just make something up, I'm sure you got it." Why was this guy having more confidence in my art-related topic skills than me?

"I will try." And so my hired staff arrived, which was just Jun and Senju. We quickly set up the paintings, making ourselves ready for the crowd.

I wasn't too sure what I was expecting, but probably not the whole hall being filled with people. So I whispered to Kokonoi.

"What did you do?"

"Just pulled some strings, the rest is up to you, how you will present yourself and your art." And so people started to approach me right off the bat, asking me if I was the artist and what my inspirations were for certain pieces. I was so busy by the end that I failed to notice Taiju walking in with a bouquet of flowers, once he was nearby he cleared his throat chasing away the person I was chatting with.

"For you." He mentioned, handing them over to me.

"Aweeee that's so sweet of you." And my response to the gesture was asking him to bend and giving him a peek on the cheek.

But I had to part with the flowers pretty quickly considering the auction part was about to begin. What prize was I expecting? Maybe something around six thousand yen? Not that it mattered as long I could repay Kokonoi somehow for his efforts in making my dreams come true, but then this guy in a full suit, that was dangling his expensive watch and chain, put up his sign while proudly announcing an outrageous prize.

"One hundredth million." I looked at Koko wondering if this was just a strange prank on spiking up the prizes, but he didn't seem to know who this guy was even, yet it looked like other people in the audience seemed to have known him, since they jumped onto the bandwagon caused by his influence.

So everything got sold off pretty quickly, causing my partner to nearly faint, it was pretty exciting being able to attach sold notes on every single piece available.

"Don't say you are planning on running away after receiving all this money." Taiju didn't seem to like the idea of Kokonoi suddenly leaving his side and gang it seemed.

"I mean if Michi hires me as her manager... I will go where the profit is at." I shook my head.

"You look like the kind of guy that should be a co-owner of a corporation instead." He seemed impressed by my choice of words.

"I will take the flattery." So once the show was over and we managed to make more profit than any of us got to imagine I let out.

"I hope you know how to take care of taxes in this country because I sure don't."

"That will cost you an additional charge." Kokonoi joked, that's when Jun and Senju came running and we started to jump around in celebration.

"Congratulation Michi!" They both yelled while I proclaimed.

"That's why today's dinner is on me." Once we cleaned and settled everything Inui, Kokonoi, Taiju, Senju, Jun, Kazutora, and I headed out to a nearby restaurant to discuss this precise moment in history.