29 Chapter 27 : The Business
A/N: Dang thanks for the stones, more than 200 the day I published.
I'm very thankful! Keep 'em coming!
Next chapter Sunday as always.
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7 am.
Kurai just got back from his daily training.
Except for that day when Nejire was born, 2 years ago already, he never skipped a training session.
Not a single one.
Sometimes he really wondered where he could find the motivation to wake up everyday at 6 am, go out in cold, run drenched in a fucking forest and exercise his body.
Amidst pain and thirst he just wanted to give up. 'I'm not an M like that bunny.' He thought while taking a shower.
Indeed, he didn't particularly love training.
'Actually is there a single person who likes training?'
But he couldn't just not train and laze around all day looking at the TV.
Getting out of the shower, he flexed hard in front of the mirror.
Admiring his chiseled body, he added, 'Discipline is doing what you hate to do, but nonetheless doing it like you love it.'
His 11 year old body wasn't bulky at all, with an over-sized t-shirt he might even look scrawny, no, his muscles were all compacted. 'Must have something to do with this world's genetics.'
His 6 pack was symmetric, same for his pecs, with the water trailing down in the middle, he already started to look sexy, even though he was only 11 years old.
'Add my skin tone to that and mamacitas will come lick it.' He thought, following with his gaze, a droplet of water trailing down his body.
He then ate his meal, rich in vitamins and proteins, he wasn't particularly on a diet. But eating healthy was kind of mandatory to have greater results. He didn't want all his efforts going down the rain just because he ate hamburgers or burritos.
After finishing his plate, he prepared his bag for school and wore his uniform.
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Walking down the streets of Hiroshima, Kurai's mind was wandering everywhere.
Generally after training, he was too tired to focus or think on something, so he just let his mind wander. His muscles felt sore too, but it wasn't a problem.
It just reminded him that whatever he did, wasn't for no reason, and actually brought up some results.
Seeing the school at the end of the road, he shook his head from his idle thoughts and looked around, 'Where's that lil' bunny?'
His day couldn't be complete if he didn't tease her just a little bit.
'Aha, got you!' A bit further a cute bunny eared girl was entering the school's playground.
Her white hair contrasting her dark skin were her best features for Kurai, he sped up his walking pace and crept up behind her.
Circling his arm around her shoulder and neck, he approached his face next to her's.
"Still sulking after your defeat, Rumi-chan~?" Rumi had a small jump-scare but directly calmed down after hearing who's voice startled her like that.
Trying to control the embarrassment she was feeling when everybody was looking at them, she ignored him.
'How can he be so calm when he's the center of attention? Is he that shameless?' She thought.
"Oh I see… You're ignoring your best friend now, huh?"
This time, she quickly looked at him and silently mouthed, "Stupid bastard." But she didn't shake off his arm around her shoulder.
Even she didn't know if she swore at him for embarrassing her, for reminding her of yesterday's defeat or because he called her 'best-friend'.
In the end, she shrugged her shoulders, deciding not to bother with complicated stuff for now.
"Don't worry, you'll have your revenge today, after school." Taking his arm back now that they've reached the class, Kurai grinned at her. Igniting her competitive side.
When both were seated, Rumi turned back at him, having now gained control of her emotions.
"Bet." She reciprocated his smile.
*Clap Clap*
Ms. Ishikawa directly entered her class and asked for silence.
"As you probably know, the school trip is in 4 weeks. So in a month."
She continued to say, "The school decided to help those that haven't accumulated enough money through the diverse fundraising activities by organising a school festival in 2 weeks."
"We'll invite people and advertise it to the town, that way we expect a big crowd to come and see our school. By doing that, we'll shoot 2 birds with one stone."
She raised one finger up, "First, people will come and see how great our school is, so we'll increase our chances of future students coming here."
Raising another finger up, she added, "Second, you'll have the opportunity to make stands and sell whatever you want, food, goodies, services or you can make games with your club… The possibilities are endless." She ended, looking at them.
And the class was hyped up! Everyone didn't already collect all the money like Kurai.
Even Rumi was smiling.
She was roughly pulling on Kurai's sleeve because of the excitement. This way, her mother wouldn't need to give her anything.
Rumi then looked at him, putting her slender dark skinned finger on her lips, "Say Rai-kun, you'll help me, right?" She also gave him an upturned eye look.
'Dang, where did she learn to tease people like this now?'
'Wait, it might be me…' Kurai blinked.
He then chuckled, "If you beat me after school, no problem, heh."
"Tsk, bastard!" She crossed her arms on her chest and looked the other way.
Kurai wasn't perturbed by this, he knew that she didn't mean it, still he approached her, "Oho! I get it, you wanted this handsome one's help for advertising?" He blew on her ear to get her attention.
"Oi! What?! No way!" She pushed him back on his chair.
"Ahaha! See don't try to tease more than you can chew! Learn from your mom first." He winked at her.
Rumi was blushing but Kurai continued to speak, "Still, since you're my friend, I'll generously decide to help you since I have free time."
"Hmph! I'll still smash that smug face of yours later!"
In the middle of this uproar caused by her announcement, Ms. Ishikawa was slowly losing patience.
Growing her nails out, she clawed the blackboard with her hands.
*Screeeeeeeech*
It made a screeching sound worthy of the greatest scary movies, and successfully stopped the uproar of the pupils.
"Please, tone it down, it'll be soon time for dinner, and I don't want to sanction any of you for chatting."
This seemed to calm everyone, because until the dinner alarm rang, no one even uttered a single sound and let Ms. Ishikawa speak. She ended her speech about the school festival and talked about the formalities.
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Now that school ended, Rumi and Kurai were going back to the abandoned factory, which had become a sort of HQ for their fights. They were walking next to each other on the sidewalk.
"Hey, Kurai? Do you have any idea about our stand?" While they were walking, Rumi turned to look at him.
"Ummm, maybe... "
She then started to fidget, "Won't I be a bother tho?"
It startled Kurai, "Huh, why do you think that?"
"You know how people talk behin' my back, right?" She scratched her head.
He nodded, signalling her to continue.
"And how people don't really like me? … So I thought that I might make it harder, or even repel customers." After ending her sentence, she had her head down.
'Fucking dreams, I thought she was in a good way to cure them!' Kurai lamented, though, on the outside he kept a gentle smile.
Slowly he patted her head, which made Rumi's ears twitch cutely.
Even though she was embarrassed after feeling his hand on top of her head, the warmness comforted her a lot… Although, she wasn't aware of her ears, since their actions were involuntary, or even instinctual.
"I already told you once, it's because you're stronger than them that they're tryin' to put you down, don't start and feel all insecure about this. Remember the rules? Have fun! Stop caring 'bout others." He told her.
"Umu." Rumi nodded at his comforting words, still, she kept her head down, wanting to relish in this feeling for a bit more.
"Lemme tell you something." Unfortunately for Rumi, Kurai stopped patting her head.
"If they talk behind your back it just means that you are 2 steps ahead of them." He winked at her, increasing his pace.
Rumi pondered his words before getting interrupted in her thoughts by Kurai, who wanted to change her mind, not wanting to let it despair or think about useless stuff.
"Come, the factory isn't far! If you manage to beat me, I'll buy you an ice cream!"
That was another trick he learned about Rumi; Food was one of her favourite things, second after fighting.
'Well, I guess I'm the same.' He thought, waiting for Rumi at the factory.
Even though the rabbit obviously like carrot over anything else, Kurai was more of a meat guy, nothing was better to him.
When Rumi finally reached the factory, they had a small spar where Kurai was going easy on her, and even if she knew it, Rumi didn't say anything, because she knew that he did that for her.
She also really wanted that ice cream…
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One week later.
"Soooo? When are you gonna tell me our stand's food idea?" Rumi inquired, pulling on Kurai's caramel toned cheeks.
They finished school a few hours ago, and were now sitting on the ground after a nice fight at the factory, as always Kurai tried to spend her energy the best he could.
"A'ght, S'tp dis!" He said with difficulty, and then flicked the bunny girl's forehead.
"Kyaa! Why did you hit me bastard? Wanna fight again?!"
"You were being a brat again…" Kurai shrugged.
He quickly added with a menacing grin, "Tho, you can try me if you can."
Now incensed, Rumi rolled up her sleeves and tried to stand up, but ultimately fell on her butt again, her legs muscles were too sore.
"Hmph! Consider yourself lucky!" She crossed her arms above her non-existent chest.
Kurai deadpanned at her haughty attitude, "...Yes, of course."
"..."
"..."
"..."
Rumi, seeing that he wasn't speaking anymore, relented, "Please tell me, we are a team after all." She knew that he wouldn't bulge, so she had to swallow her pride.
'Humph! I'll get you another time!' She thought.
"See, that's better." Kurai smiled, provoking further the bunny, who only clenched her teeth.
"Just like you said, we are a team. So one of us will make it, while the other one will sell and take care of the customer."
"Got it?" He added.
"Yes, but what are we gonna sell??" She asked, even though she was almost sure that he was playing with her.
"You know what products street food vendors are selling, right?"
"I don't wanna know, just tell me about our product!"
Totally ignoring the little rabbit in front of him, Kurai put on some imaginary glasses and started to explain, "Generally, the food they sell are traditional Japanese snacks."
"I know that, so what about our product?" Rumi interrupted him.
"Ush, ush, I didn't finish talking." Kurai shushed her with a finger on her soft lips.
Glaring at Kurai, Rumi didn't have any more force to argue with him, and just let him be in his 'serious' persona.
"Japanese snacks such as; Takoyaki, Yakisoba, Yakitori or Ikawaki… The list goes on and on…"
"Now why are they so popular?" Kurai rhetorically asked.
"Because they are easy and fast to make. They also don't require a lot of skills. That's why we'll imitate street vendors for our stand."
"What. About. Our. Product." Biting on his finger to make Kurai retract it, Rumi repeated her previous question.
Kurai feigned pain, "Ouch, are you a dog or what, lil' bunny? I was about to tell you about it…"
"Anyway, that's all good, but I think we won't be the only ones doing this. So I opted for something better: Cotton Candies! Because it's fast, easy, cheap to make and sweet!" Kurai let out a smug smile.
Rumi had stars in her eyes after hearing him, she even started drooling.
*Slap Salp*
Kurai gently gave her 2 slaps on her cheek to make Rumi come out of her daze. "Oi! You were drooling Rumi-chan~!"
The bunny girl hurriedly wiped off her drool and acted like nothing happened, but Kurai could see a small blush tinting her cheeks.
Deciding to ignore it, he pursued, "We only need a machine to make it and flavoured sugar. So whatever the price we decide to sell it later, our margin would always be good enough."
"And we won't have to fear the lack of clients nor will you 'repel' them, no, on the contrary they'll come like fucking Mosquitoes attracted by blood after smelling the sweet smell coming off of our stand, hehe!" Kurai rubbed his hand diabolically.
Rumi shared his grin, although she found it weird, in the end it'll be free money, she thought.
Standing up, Kurai offered his hand to Rumi, "Anway, here."
They started going out of the factory, while Kurai was busy thinking, "Oh! Yes, wear something cute for next week, I'll do something for the machine and the sugar don't worry."
Indeed, the festival will already start in a week.
"Something cute?" Rumi looked at him confusedly, tilting her head on the side.
"Look, I know you're cute enough but let's do something extra and take the first place as the best sellers from the whole school, right?"
'How can you say c-cute so nonchalantly, you bastard?!' Rumi fumed in her head.
She then hit him, "Ya'r totally right! I'm cute enough! Ah ah ah!" Her laugh sounded a bit forced but Kurai nonetheless nodded at her words.
"Exactly, I couldn't say it better." He rubbed his shoulder and smiled sweetly at her.
Looking at his dazzling smile, Rumi was stunned for a second.
His golden irises were gently glancing at her, his skin without any blemish looked even better in the late shade of the sun, and his swaying royal purple hair was as amazing to her.
Coming out of her daze she shook her head and reddened. Then, quickly turning her head to the other side to hide it.
"Shameless!" She couldn't help but swear at him one last time before running off to her house now that they've reached it.
Meanwhile, Kurai was looking at her the whole time, not even taking his gaze back for a second.
Chuckling, he saw her off, running away, "Ahaha!"
Then he started to go too, though he couldn't help but look back at her house one last time.
'Yep, totally cute!'
