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‘It’s fine. A naked man’s nothing I haven’t seen.’ Saeko didn't even bother to lift her head from the laptop in front of her as she researched their next target, the Yokohama Trading Company. Although she had worked at the bar Nonomiya had owned rather than the soapland, she had sometimes been called in on occasion to help at the reception desk and that job had often included having to act as a part time bouncer when a customer got too aggressive with one of the ladies. She smiled to herself at the memory of the last time she had to drag a moronic half naked man out by his ear after he had refused to leave after his allotted time had ended.
Now even without looking, she could sense the shirtless Ichiban cowering behind the curtains of the waiting area entrance of Otohime Land, having presumably finished with his bath. ‘Well, uh, sure. Where’s Adachi-san and Nanba?’ His voice wavered as he stepped into the room.
Saeko had finished cleaning up before him and was sat in her dressing gown on the rather worn but still comfortable pink waiting area sofa, trying to find more about the trading company to aid their goal of establishing who Nonomiya's killer was. ‘Probably still washing up.’ She replied, looking up only briefly before her eyes widened at the sight of a topless Ichiban.
Whoah...he’s kind of...stacked? She thought to herself as she quickly lowered her gaze and went back to tapping away on the keyboard. ‘Anyway, I was looking into today’s price list....’
Just keeping looking at the laptop, she told herself. Don’t look at the hot man standing half naked in front of you. Why was she even thinking that? There was no way she was going to get flustered over some washed up ex yakuza right? She muttered something about ingredients and them being good quality.
‘So they’re actually importing quality stuff, which means they’re not lying?’ Ichiban asked as he moved to sit himself on the sofa, which caused Saeko to mildly panic. He assumed a man spreading position, his legs wide open, less than a foot away from her.
Just keep looking at the laptop Saeko, she repeated to herself. ‘Right. I mean, I’m sure they get a small discount for paying in cash but…’
She lost her train of thought briefly as Ichiban leaned over the laptop to look at her screen, which allowed her a more discreet view of his chest. Look at his face, not at his tits, she screamed at herself. She narrowed her eyes in concentration at Ichiban’s face before continuing her last sentence. ‘I didn’t catch anything shady during the transaction, so that’s out too.’
‘Seriously?’ Ichiban sat backwards suddenly, which caused his torso to appear in her line of vision again. Her eyes glazed over his toned pecs and up close, she noted the small scar that didn’t look that old on his left pectoral. How did he get that? She wondered as she had the sudden urge to touch it.
Realising that Ichiban was waiting for her to answer and that she was getting dangerously close to him noticing she was staring, she went back to the conversation. ‘The only problem is the selling prices.’
Keep cool Saeko, he’s still looking at your screen not at you.
Ichiban continued to stare intently at the laptop, which gave Saeko ample time to carry on observing him. It wouldn’t hurt to look a bit more would it? Despite having accepted it was ok to look, Ichiban seemed to have other ideas and he rather disappointingly leaned forward again.
‘Why’s that?’ He asked.
Ichiban's change in position did give her the opportunity to gape at his back instead, which even that was well defined with a slew of muscles. His dragon fish tattoo seemed to be woven into the glorious tapestry of thew along his back. Before she got too caught up in admiring his back piece, she responded to his question more quickly in an effort to hide her gaze. ‘Take the shark fins. They buy them for 10,000 yen per 100 grams.’ She was starting to feel a sense of achievement at being able to hold a conversation for this long without him noticing her ogling his body. ‘If it were you, how much would you sell them to a restaurant for?’
He shifted his head towards her only briefly before his gaze returned to the laptop. ‘Hm, to make sure I profited...20,000 yen?’
I would definitely pay more than that to touch him., she thought briefly before replying. ‘The Yokohama Trading Company sells them for 10,000 yen.’
Ichiban was confused. ‘Huh? They buy for 10,000 and sell for 10,000? But that would mean they don’t even profit.’
‘You’d think so, but their profits just go up, year after year.’ At that point in the conversation, Saeko noticed something odd about how Ichiban was talking to her. He was staring in her direction but not quite, almost as if he seemed more interested in the box of tissues on the table to her left. ‘I could figure more if I could see the ledger, and not just their invoices.’
‘Like what?’ He looked up at her now directly and she had to discreetly pull her eyes up from his chest area to his face. He didn’t notice me looking right?
‘Personally, I’m leaning toward tax evasion. It’s worth looking into.’ Even as she continued talking about something so completely unrelated, Saeko’s brain began to wonder about what Ichiban had looked like while he was in the bath he had just taken. She started to imagine him relaxing in the tub, covered in bubbles with his legs on the side of the tub, gently washing his upper torso with a soap. Maybe he'd relax a bit more by letting his hands stray further down his body and allow himself a moment of self pleasure by playing with his...
Ichiban interrupted her fantasy. ‘Don’t do anything crazy.' He said with a serious look on his face and for a moment, Saeko was horrified that he could read her mind until he sat up completely straight and looked directly at her face. 'This is the Yokohama Liumang, remember?’
She ordered herself to do the same. Look at his face Saeko...how often do you roll your eyes at guys for talking to your breasts and here you are doing the same to this clueless man. ‘Wow, are you worried about me? I’ll be careful.’
‘Of course I’m worried.’ He replied earnestly.
‘Should you be, though?’ She asked. After all, they hadn’t known each other that long.
‘Yeah we’re buds at this point, right?’ He grinned back at her.
‘Buds...who worry...huh.’ She processed the concept and her mixed emotions, happy that he saw them as friends but disappointed that there wasn’t more to it. Of course he just sees us as buds. I mean why wouldn’t he, we only just met. By the way, buds don’t imagine each other naked in the bath!
‘Why? Is that strange?’ He asked her, oblivious to her internal commentary.
‘To be honest, I’ve never really had anyone I could call a “bud”.’ She explained. ‘I always figured that kind of dynamic only existed in movies and manga. Or at the very least, I knew I’d never have it.’
She chastised herself. The only dynamic she was thinking about right now were ones that existed in dirty movies and doujinshi. The type where Ichiban would just lean over and rip open her bathing robe and start groping her before having ridiculously hot sex with her on the sofa.
‘Don’t you start with that. Besides, you’ve got us now, right?’ Ichiban said, slapping his knees enthusiastically.
‘You’re right.’ She smiled back at him, pushing aside her more romantically inclined thoughts.
‘Exactly! You can’t beat Dragon Quest without having party members!’ He continued excitedly.
She raised an eyebrow at him. ‘Huh? Isn’t that...a video game?’
‘Uh, yeah, but you get what I mean, right?’ He dipped his head sheepishly.
‘Haha you’re weird.’ But not as weird as me for imagining you fucking me, she added silently.
‘I can live with “weird”. It’s true.’ He rubbed the back of his neck looking a little embarrassed.
She immediately went to reassure him. She definitely liked his kind of ‘weird’. ‘Thank you all the same, Ichiban. For letting me be your bud.’ Maybe one day it will be more.
Ichiban looked as if he wanted to say something else before Nanba wandered into the waiting room area.
‘Huh? What happened? Something serious?’
***
Ichiban POV:
DON’T LOOK AT HER TITS
LOOK AT THE SCREEN
OH NO HER DRESSING GOWN IS OPEN SLIGHTLY
DON’T LOOK AT HER TITS
LEAN FORWARD AND LOOK AT THE SCREEN
DON’T LOOK AT HER TITS
ASK QUESTIONS
DON’T LOOK AT HER TITS
OH NO I LOOKED AT HER TITS LEAN FORWARD MORE SO SHE DOESN’T SEE MY BONER
LOOK AT THE TISSUE BOX ON THE TABLE YEAH GO AWAY BONER
OK IT’S GONE I CAN SIT UP
BE COOL SAY WE’RE BUDS YEAH BUDS
THINK ABOUT SOMETHING ELSE OTHER THAN HER TITS...VIDEO GAMES YEAH DRAGON QUEST WOOO
AM I WEIRD?? DID SHE SEE ME LOOKING AT HER TITS??
TELL HER SHE'S PRETTY. NO DON'T THAT'S WEIRD. JUST DON'T LOOK AT HER TITS
OH THANK GOD NANBA IS HERE I’M SAVED.