Quest for Tentacles: Management [Episode 131202]

The main room of the Moroboshi strip bar & peep show (which had been poetically named “To Fall Upon a Star”) was abuzz with activity.  However, since it was still the morning, said activity didn’t involve strippers, table dancers and other barely-clad women.  Instead, the various workers where busy preparing the place for the rush of the night.  Cleaning up the tables and bar, sweeping the stage, checking the lights, projectors and video cameras (for Internet broadcasting) was the main work.

“Where do I put this table, Lum-chan?” Shinobu asked.  The young woman was easily carrying a large table that probably weighted more than her on a shoulder, without showing any strain.

Looking up from her checklist, the green-haired wife of the “boss” answered: “In the back, near the emergency exit, to replace the one that was damaged yesterday.”  As her friend nodded and walked away, Lum checked something on her list.

Behind the bar, Ryūnosuke’s gaze followed Shinobu for a short while, and then she leaned forward to catch Lum’s attention.

“Hey, Lum-chan... can I ask you something?” the tomboy whispered.

“Of course, what’cha want to know?”

“I can understand why you would be working here, with Ataru and everything... and I’m doing this mainly to piss off my old man... but I always wondered why a shy chick like Shinobu could have taken such a job...”

Lum turned to face Ryūnosuke, closed her eyes and sighed.  “To keep an eye on Mendō.”

“What?”

“Not long after we opened, Mendō-kun was coming here rather often... to ‘protect all these innocent maidens from Moroboshi’s perversions’, as he put it.  Though we all now better... and Shinobu-chan too.  She quickly got fed up of having to drag him back home.  Finally, she decided that the best way to be certain never to miss Shūtarō if he tried to sneak in, was to work here.  She asked my Darling, and you bet’cha he accepted immediately.”

“Oh... I see.  Figures.” Ryūnosuke deadpanned, eyes rolling.

It should be noted that neither Lum, Shinobu or Ryūnosuke ever climbed on the stage to take off their clothes.  Their jobs consisted in setting things up, cooking, waitressing, and eventually acting as bouncers if the clients got rowdy.  Lum’s electricity, Ryūnosuke’s martial arts and Shinobu’s strength were put to good use whenever the “you can look but you can’t touch” rule wasn’t respected.

Including by the manager.  Lum took great care of that.  Sure, out of love for her Darling, she had accepted he’d start this business, since it was his dream.  But she’d never let him take advantage of the female employees.

If now the trio was wearing simple work clothes, however, at night they still had to done skimpy outfits to stay in tune with the place.  Lum used her usual tiger-stripped bikini, Shinobu wore a very abbreviated sailor fuku (although high school was something of the past for all of them), and Ryūnosuke had a rather risqué “cowgirl” attire (designed by Ataru), mainly constituted of cowboy boots, very short shorts and a sequined bikini top.

This costume was the source of no end of embarrassment for the tomboy, but on the other hand it was also somewhat thrilling... because it was WOMANLY clothes.  Heck, she got quite a kick out of it when she explained this to her a father, even going as far as letting him believe for a while that she was actually dancing and stripping for the club-goers.  The big jerk tried at first to put a stop to this and disrupt Ryū-chan’s work, but Ataru was soon ordering to fire on sight if Fujinami ever showed his ugly face around.  Since then, the deluded father had understood that Ryūnosuke’s job was mostly that of a bartender, and as such similar to restaurant work, so he relented.  He still loathed his daughter’s work-clothes, of course, especially since she was rubbing them in his face at any opportunity (not literally, though).

 

---

 

Ataru walked down the stairs, the office part of the nightclub being on the first floor.  Looking at the preparations for tonight, he took a deep breath, and then zeroed on his Oni wife.

“Lum-chan... I gotta talk to you... about something important....”

“What’cha up, Darling?”

“We’re... scheduling a new floorshow for the day after tomorrow... or the next, I’m not sure yet.”

“No problem.  The spectacle room can be ready in no time.”

Ataru started walking to the backroom, and taking the hint Lum followed.  They pushed the doors to the place where the privileged members could watch, for an added fee, more hardcore shows than in the main room.  It looked a bit like a small theatre, with rows of seats around a circular stage.  The coulisses even included a few modular décors for the playlets.

“Well, the thing is that it’s not the usual floorshow...” Ataru hesitantly said (once he thought they were out of hearing from the others).  “It’s something we never tried before....”

“What’cha so special?  Will we need other décors, or hire new performers?”

“Maybe... I’m not sure yet about the set-up... but for the performers... I’ll need your help.”

Lum frowned, her eyebrows arching menacingly.  “Darling... I already told you, I’m not going to ‘perform’ on stage... not even with you!”

“That’s not what I mean!” Ataru protested.  “I’ll need your help to find performers that are not of this Earth...”

Lum crossed her arms, looking upset.  “Darling, I also told you that I would never ask of Benten or Oyuki or any of my female friends to be part of this show.  I love you, and because of this I agreed to help you mount this club and manage it, even if it meant you could look at plenty other girls dancing and stripping and doing the ecchi all night long... but this is going too far.”

“I’M NOT TALKING ABOUT YOUR FEMALE FRIENDS!” Ataru panicked, feeling an electrical shock coming soon.  “What I need are TENTACLES, do you get it?  Any kind of tentacled alien will do... I don’t care if it’s male, female, both or neither; if I don’t find some creature with tentacles in the next few days, I’m toast!”

“Hu?” Lum commented, mouth agape.

Ataru started telling his wife of the confrontation in his office with a bunch of raving tentacle-lovers, and the threats hanging above his head.  As he lengthily explained, Lum’s expression was getting more and more puzzled by the second.

“You mean...” she started, disbelief in her voice, “that there are actually... Terran women... who like those... shokushu fantasies?”

“Well, yeah... that was rather unexpected for me too.  But now, we have no choice... if we don’t get them what they demand, they’ll ruin the club... and probably do untold things to your poor husband.”  Joining his hands in prayer, Ataru began to beg with large, teary doe-eyes.  “You gotta help me, Lamu-chan.  If you love me... you gotta find some alien guy that can pass for a tentacle monster here... I’m sure you know of some... if only in your former class....”

“Err... maybe... but... it’s not...” she stammered.  “I mean... I certainly know of some races with tentacle-like appendages out there... but they have absolutely no interest in human females... nor in any mammals like that, in fact!”

“That’s not a problem!  We can coach them on how to be the perfect rape-beast.”

“But Darling...” Lum protested, very red-faced.  “That’s a very embarrassing think to ask, even of my former classmates!  That would be like requesting... bestiality for a human!  I can’t do that!”

“Ho, come on, Lamu-chan... I know you can do it... for your Ataru-sweetum...” he pleaded, laying it thick.  Stepping closer to his wife, he hugged her tenderly.  “You wouldn’t let very bad things happen to your Darling, do you?  I swear, one of those crazy women had a katana... she looked ready to cut some... precious part of me with it.  You won’t let that happen, do you?”

“I... hu... no... but... I don’t’cha....” she stuttered, before being silenced by a kiss.