They needed to talk a bit more business before they had some fun tonight, so Sayoko moved to finish up before they arrived at their destination. “There are a few details about your wealth to discuss.” Sayoko blinked, realizing she hadn’t figured out how to deal with honorifics. “Oh, how do I refer to you? Should I be pretending I’m hiring you or act like you’re my boss?”
The sudden shift to business mood caught Ranma’s attention, although he had an easy answer for her question. “For now, lets act like we don’t have a business relationship, so how about Ranma-kun and Sayoko-san?”
Sayoko nodded, knowing that eventually he would have to decide on how this all worked out, but not right now. At least he seemed to understand that. “Right then, so Ranma-kun, the particulars are a bit strange, so that genie thing doesn’t sound so far fetched.”
“First there are some peculiar guidelines for me. You can’t give away your wealth and there are limits on how much you can donate to charity, guidelines that seem intent on making sure you stay wealthy. That said, there are no real limits on your spending, so it seems more about ensuring you enjoy your wealth more than safeguarding it.”
Ranma grunted in amusement at the news, finding the way the wish was granted somewhat interesting. “So I’m stuck with it or gotta flaunt it. Huh. Guess they’ve had people just up and give it away after getting it.”
Sayoko had never thought about it from the perspective of the genie, but briefly supposed they’d think of things like this. There were more odd conditions to reveal, so she’d think about it later. “Also you’re required to own a home of some sort and to have at least one maid. There are extra conditions, like the home can be a secret, you don’t have to stay there, and as a specific example, if someone else lives there it has to remain your home, with you in charge. There are also a bunch of recommendations for the maid interviews, I have no idea what the criteria are, but one bunch are mature women my age and the rest are schoolgirls your age.”
Ranma stared since that was a rather specific set of conditions. “I guess a maid and a household are a requirement for being rich? So what else is there?”
Sayoko was surprised to realize he had a point, those were status symbols for wealth in a way. “Nah, that’s mostly it. We’ll go over the details later, but that’s most of it.”
The sexy executive secretary pulled out a little notebook. “In regards to your wealth, you have about thirty million US dollars in cash and other liquids; one-point-two billion in Yen, seven million in actual US dollars, and the rest in a variety of other currencies. You have a range of treasures on the books that can be converted quickly into cash, including art, gold coins and jewelry. I don’t know the real value, but an early estimate of the total is eighty-seven million dollars. The rest consists of a few hundred properties and businesses, mostly in Japan but spanning the world, which I can only estimate at between two-hundred million to two billion dollars in value. It will take me some time before I confirm everything and have it all in order. ”
Ranma continued thinking about it for a moment after she finished. “Don’t sell anything unique until we check it out, it might have some hidden significance.”
Sayoko considered the numbers. The danger was that she didn’t know the condition of the properties and if they would bring any hidden costs that might require a cash injection. There were a lot of liquid assets on hand, but there was also a lot of value tied up in those properties. “Hopefully we won’t need to do something like that, but I won’t know until I finish my assessment.”
They traveled in silence for a moment after that, until Sayoko hesitantly spoke up. “If I’m going to straighten out my life, that’s going to take most of my pay for a while to clear my debts. There is an apartment you can claim for your home for now and the maid auditions will have to wait... so how about I fill in as your maid until then and take care of your apartment? It would cut down my living expenses if I live there with you and I could just set up my work office there... not that I’m any good with things like cooking or cleaning.”
Ranma took a quiet moment to consider the offer, noting with a glance the normally confident woman was a little embarrassed and vulnerable. It was about like Nabiki offering to be his maid because she was in a tight spot. “As long as you have a separate bedroom, that’s fine. I haven’t decided if I’ll take this chance to move out or not. Living together might be a good idea though.”
Sayoko relaxed in the silence that followed, her trust having been quietly rewarded already. Ranma broke the silence this time, calmly voicing his thoughts. “I was thinking, you could be a woman that inherited a lot of money, but wanted a bodyguard while you dealt with your past. To hide the fact you’ve got money now, you’re pretending I’m the rich one and you’re just working for me to manage my money.”
The sexy young woman stared at him for a bit, pleasantly surprised by the simple elegance of his plan. It was a powerful method of obscuring a vital piece of information that was also incredibly simple to implement. If someone who knew Ranma saw him acting like the rich young man he now was, he could just say it was an act if he needed to deflect suspicion. She would be able to do the same thing as well, creating doubt as to who actually had the money. Hell, if someone dug close enough, she could let slip that she was actually just a front for a third party and send them on a wild goose chase.
It wouldn’t hide the fact they had money, but it would obscure which one of them had the money. It would be enough to prevent personally targeted attempts on the money, like a girl marrying Ranma for his money. A bodyguard protecting another woman was an entirely different matter after all. Likewise she could go from wealthy bitch to sexy secretary in a flash. “Mhmm, well then, I’d like you to live at my apartment with me.”
Ranma grinned, glad she was getting into the mood. “Yeah, as long as it doesn’t interfere in my school and I get some time to take care of my personal life, family and friends and all that.”
Sayoko practically purred as she started to get into the mood. It was perfect for her since she preferred to be a spoiled but in-charge woman. This could be fun. “Well, those clothes just won’t do. How about I get you a new look before we do dinner?”
“Well, as long as I can fight in them and it’s not too much. I don’t want to get a new wardrobe just yet.” Ranma grinned, rather enjoying this little game. “Besides, aren’t you supposed to be my personal secretary?” He paused for a moment in confusion, not really knowing the titles. “Is that the right title?”
“Executive secretary was my last decent job.” Sayoko grinned and leaned over towards him, suggestively showing off some cleavage. “If you want to me to be your personal secretary, then I’ll offer you all the services of a personal maid.”
Ranma wasn’t unaware of what she meant, he simply ignored such things as much as he could. “Well, which would you rather be?”
Sayoko relaxed a bit, noting that he seemed to have a pretty tight lid on his libido. “Mhmmm... personal secretary. I can behave myself a bit, do the sexy older woman showing the healthy young man how to satisfy women kind of thing.” Sayoko seemed to realize something. “Actually I know someone from junior high, halfblood French girl, sexy blond model. She wants to come back to Japan and be a model over here but doesn’t have the money. She’s a good girl and could be an actual French maid. She’d probably go for being your personal maid too, but she could help me with my work too.”
Sex was a complicated issue for Ranma. He’d grown up traveling with little privacy, even in the Tendo home he didn’t have enough privacy to sneak a kiss with a girl. There was the modern western influenced sex conflicting with the more traditional style of Japan with which he was more familiar. Then there was the need to firmly say no so often to keep anything improper from happening with the girls he knew, yet he did want to learn about it so he could actually be fantastic in bed when he did do it. “I’ll think about it.” Ranma realized he’d gotten a little side-tracked and hadn’t properly answered. ”The personal secretary part that is. As long as she can pull her own weight, you can invite your friend. You can have some fun, just don’t go crazy.”
She’d wait until she got to know him better to pry about why he was shy about sex, so Sayoko focused on something else. “So, I can invite Nina to fly over for a maid interview?” Thinking about it more seriously, she took a best guess at the blonde’s likely desires. “She wants to be a star and has the looks, if she works part time as a maid and lives in the apartment she should be able to take off on her own.”
Ranma was thinking of slightly different things. “You said she could help you. All those assets seem like too much for one person to handle.”
Sayoko stared, belated realizing his mind was nowhere near the gutter if he was still thinking about business. He wasn’t supposed to be worrying about stuff like that with her on the job. “Yeah, I’ll need some help, especially at the beginning to sort it all out. Nina would make a good assistant and I know how much I can trust her.”
Ranma simply gave a content grunt, leaning back in the seat and watching the cityscape of Tokyo go by.
Curiosity getting the better of her, Sayoko pulled out one of Nina’s mug shots, showing it to Ranma. “This is Nina.”
The young man merely hummed a bit in acknowledgement, obviously not very interested in the busty blonde.
Sayoko frowned, becoming annoyed. While a nice guy that wasn’t groping her like an octopus with a found jar, she also took a lot of pride in her sexiness. “C’mon, she’s sexy isn’t she? Aren’t you a horny teenager?”
Staring at her for a moment, Ranma snorted in amusement and pulled out something of his own. Unfurling a folded set of four pictures, he held them up for Sayoko to see. Ranma started at the top, where a very happy purple-haired girl had her arms wrapped around the neck of a less thrilled Ranma, the curvy girl firmly planted in his lap. “Shanpu, tribal Chinese martial arts expert. Can casually punch a hole through a concrete wall to make an entrance. Can also make ramen bowls explode inside of delivery boxes using internal strike techniques. Decided we were married because I defeated her, she’s very casual about killing other girls.”
Ranma went down to the next picture, a girl in a black rose decorated leotard happily snuggling into his side while Ranma looked even less thrilled. “Kodachi Kuno, crazy rich girl. Poisons her brother and others as her main hobby, grows her own poisons in her greenhouse and keeps a pet alligator. She uses combat rhythmic gymnastics but prefers to ambush opponents instead. Actually seems to be in love with me and the only girl after me not stringing along another guy.”
The third picture was of a cute girl sitting beside Ranma, both smiling comfortably for the camera. “Ukyou Kounji, childhood friend and fiancee apparently. Runs her own okonomiyaki restaurant and practices her own style of martial arts, mainly using her giant spatula to fight. Not likely to seriously attack a normal person.”
The fourth and final picture was of Ranma and the short haired girl from the Tendo house she had visited earlier, both looking uncomfortable about being in the booth together. “Akane Tendo, official fiancee via an arranged marriage by my parents. Swims like a hammer, cooks like a five year old with finger paints, clueless tomboy. Straight kempo fighter, when she’s angry she can throw boulders using her gorilla strength. She’s unlikely to attack normal people, but she does have a temper and can wreck a place. She mostly just likes to hit me instead.”
Satisfied he’d made his point, Ranma closed up the pictures and put them away. “That might have been the first time all four met. They were about to have a fight over who got to take pictures with me when I pointed out the picture booth would do four pictures anyways. Then after that I suggested they take a group picture together and escaped while they were distracted.”
The little show and tell made it very clear to Sayoko why she didn’t need to seduce the young man right now. The crazy rich girl alone seemed to be bad enough, particularly since that was a kind of girl she was somewhat familiar with. She could read between the lines and it said the bodies would never be found. “...so, violent possessive girlfriends?”
Ranma shrugged in a noncommittal way. “Yeah, it’s kind of annoying. Shortly after I moved to my home, the girls came by and wrecked the place. It wasn’t as bad as I expected when I heard, more like they messed the place up bad enough the landlady kicked my mom out. So we’re back to living with the Tendos.”
Sayoko was sort of impressed. She’d seen guys show her pictures of their girlfriend or wife as part of turning her down. Guy showing off his multiple girlfriends and explaining which ones would kill her? That was new, although it was more like warning her. Also she probably shouldn’t allow them over from what she was hearing. Actually, if they would be living in the same place, they probably shouldn’t come over at all.
---
Soon they were in a mens clothing shop in the same shopping district as their restaurant.
Sayoko discovered some interesting things.
For one, Ranma looked really good in a casual suit; a blue button-up shirt that brought out the blue of his eyes, a charcoal black blazer worn unbuttoned and black slacks. She’d even got him to undo his braid and switch to a ponytail to try the look.
It wasn’t that surprising that he cleaned up well, it was more interesting that he was handling it so well as she combed out his bangs with her fingers. Stepping back, she eyed him like the attractive young man he was. “Now that looks good.”
Ranma was fairly pleased by what he saw in the mirror, but he was more interested in the fit and finish of the suit so it wouldn’t explode if he moved around. Ranma stretched a bit, in slow wide movements to test the pull of the fabric. “Ah, this has a good fit to it. Do you have something with more expansion in the crotch? It’s a little tight around the thighs.”
To his credit, the salesman wasn’t visibly bothered in the least by Ranma asking this question while casually standing in a high off-center crane pose. “Not in that style, although perhaps it can be fitted a bit better and that might allow a little more flexibility.”
Sayoko found it amusing as she’d never seen a guy test his clothing for whether he could do the splits in the pants or not. “So, you’ve gone suit shopping before?”
Ranma settled back into a standing position, tugging his clothes in place to see how they settled again after a bit of stretching. “Well I read up on it one time I rented a suit for a date. Also went shopping with some friends today and we played around in a cheap suit shop. That reminds me, I wanna get a tie too, there’s a technique I want to figure out.”
The idea of a technique requiring a tie boggled Sayoko’s mind, so the sultry woman chalked it up to the oddity of martial arts and let it slide. “Sure. A black one would work well with that outfit.”
Ranma glanced back towards the mirror. “Black is good, but what about a white one for some pop?”
The salesman nodded agreeably. “A fine choice for a casual suit of those colors.”
Sayoko was surprised that she’d have to stop him from shopping for dress clothes so they could make supper in time. From her first impression she rather expected he’d act like a bratty delinquent and cop major attitude about wearing such clothes. “We just need a quick suit for now before we eat supper. We can do your wardrobe later, a shopping trip will help me relax from all the work I’m about to do.”
Ranma nodded, not wanting to spend too much time on clothes. “Well let’s make this quick then. Some gloves, a handkerchief and some candy are the other things we should grab.”
Sayoko allowed her curiosity to bubble up this time. “Candy?”
The young man nodded as he swiftly checked the goods. “Hard candy, the stuff that won’t melt in your pocket. Maybe a few lollipops.”
The shopkeeper tilted his head to the side even as he displayed a few chosen ties for the young man’s perusal. “There is a shop nearby that sells candy.”
Ranma did some mental math and shrugged it off. “That can wait for another day I guess. Let’s finish up this suit up for now, we can do the rest later.”
A little later, Sayoko found herself doing the knot on Ranma’s necktie, a white and silver one he’d picked out. “So you don’t know how to tie one of these on? Why not get a clip-on?”
Ranma glanced at her hands in the mirror, noting what she was doing for later. “I just need to learn to tie it the normal way is all. I’m surprised you can do it.”
The platinum blonde smirked at his observation. “You’d be surprised how much work a secretary has to do, most men are useless.”
Ranma smiled at her words, having a peculiar view on the battle of the sexes himself. “Well this will be the only time, I learn new things quickly.”
Sayoko smiled to herself as she gently cinched his tie into place and made sure it was neat. “Oh, for a cute young man, I don’t mind doing this at all. I have to make sure the boss looks sharp.”
As she stepped back, Ranma adjusted his coat one last time, pulling the slack out of his sleeves by tugging the cuffs. “So what are we doing tonight?”
A delinquent girl herself, Sayoko’s stress levels had dropped quite a lot after meeting her new boss, allowing her to act almost fully professional now as she became the dutiful secretary. “Dinner was for talk, but we’ve mostly finished our talks so that can be enjoyed instead. I have a property nearby to show you where you initial home will be until you choose a new one. There are also a few urgent business purchases I need to make that we could do tonight.”
Ranma considered the possibilities, considering what he needed to do so everything worked out well. “Alright, I’ll need to make a phone call home to take care of that.”
Sayoko brightened up. “We can get mobile phones next, then you can make the call during dinner.”
Still thinking, Ranma had other ideas. “I assume I’ll be sleeping in my new place tonight? Then I’ll want to see that first.”
Sayoko glanced around, the sun not having set just yet as it was still late in the afternoon. “Alright then, I suppose we could do a little shopping for things we need for there as well. I need to get a workable office set up for one.”
Ranma nodded, knowing managing that many assets would take a lot of effort. There wasn’t much he could do other than keep a level head and be presentable. Satisfied with their gameplan, Ranma calculated the total in his head, pulling out a few bills from the envelope containing his initial ‘allowance’. “I’ll take the suit.”
Bemused, Sayoko put her hand over the money he was offering. “Let me put it on the business card.”
As the clerk moved to the register to ring the purchase up, Sayoko leaned in closer so she could talk quietly with him. “No need to flash your cash or pay for anything business related while I’m here.”
Ranma hummed in acknowledgement, pondering things still. The suit seemed to be a decent deal, so the cash was to be generous this time so he could broker a better deal if he came back here to buy more of a wardrobe. Well, that would probably work out anyways.
Tucking the money away, Ranma approached the register with an easy smile. “If this wears nicely, I’ll be back to fill out my wardrobe.”
As Sayoko triumphantly ran her new high-limit business card, the shopkeeper smiled in return. “Of course sir, we look forward to your business. Enjoy your evening.”
With that, Sayoko walked out on the arm of a sharply dressed young man. It was time to see where they would be sleeping.
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(Posted Wed, 11 Sep 2013 01:13)
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