1 Chapter 1: I'm the store manager?
It was supposed to be the greatest day of my life.
I was at a Kendo tournament, facing off in the championship match. If I were to win, I'd be granted the title of Japan's kendo champion. My opponent was 25, a full 8 years older than me, as well as last year's champion. His movements were fast and strong, but I was confident I could defeat him. As the match began, our attacks lined up perfectly. I was much faster than him, but he was much stronger. Halfway through the match I suddenly spotted an opening, I struck it and I got a point.
The next match began, he lost his footing and once again I gained a point. The crowd cheered violently, one more point and the win was mine. The third match began, this time he was going all out, I got caught off guard and he took the point from me. The crowd cheered for him. The fourth match began. We fought each other violently. He swiped at my fee, but I jumped back and he missed. I then proceeded with a powerful downwards strike and he blocked it with his sword. I continued striking, but he refused to give me any openings. That's when I saw it, the perfect opening. I struck fast and hard, and with my unmatched speed, I successfully struck him directly in the chest. The whistle blew and the crowd cheered. I stood there with a smile on my face.
This didn't last long. As I exited the building I received a call from the doctor. My sister Emi had just been diagnosed with cancer. Fortunately, it was curable with simple chemotherapy. Unfortunately for us, the money we had was nowhere near enough to pay for it. I was forced to take up odd jobs in order to pay for the therapy, working 18 hours a day as well as having to starve myself regularly, but even with all the work, I could still just barely keep up with the payments. After a month had passed, I finally gave into the fact that what I was doing wasn't working, and that at the rate I was going, she would die, and I'd lose the only family I had left.
As I walked home from my job, with all confidence lost, a strange woman suddenly appeared in front of me. She had long black hair, and wore a business suit.
"Hello, You are Hasegawa Kenta-kun, right?"
"Yeah, that's me,"I said.
"How would you like to not only make more than enough money for your sister's treatment, but enough money to last the rest of your life as well?"
"I have to admit, that sounds pretty nice, but I'll have to pass. I may be desperate for cash right now, but I'm not willing to break any laws for it. If my sister found out that I did that, she'd hate me for the rest of my life."
As I attempted to pass her, her arm suddenly blocked me.
"What if I told you that it was completely legal, would you do it then?"The woman asked.
"I'd say you were lying,"I replied.
"Oh, but it's true, I'm only offering this once, so you either take the deal now, or pass up the chance of a lifetime. Your choice."
I thought about Emi in the hospital.
"What would I be doing?"I asked.
"Just a little store work. Running the cash register, restocking shelves, dealing with customers. You know, the usual stuff."
"Wait, that's it?"
"Yup, that's it."
"Why would you pay me so much just for working at a store? There's gotta be a reason. There's something you're not telling me, isn't there? There's gotta be a catch.
She chuckled.
"Maybe so, but if you really think about it, does it really matter? As I said before, the job is perfectly legal. Plus, with your talents, you won't have any trouble working there."
"My talents?"
I remained silent contemplating her words. I wanted to turn it down more than anything. However, the thought of Emi lying in the hospital clouded my mind as I made my decision. I let out a long sigh.
"Alright, I'll do it,"I said.
***
November 22, 5:30am. Akihabara District, Tokyo, Japan:
I stood outside a large building. I looked at the text on my phone then looked at the sign on the building. The words "BATTLEFRONT MALL" were written in big large letters with a large sign that read "GRAND OPENING' in bright red letters hanging under it. I stared back at my phone.
"Well this is definitely the place,"I said.
I put the phone in my pocket and stared at the large building in amazement. It exceeded the size of a football stadium, and stood at 5 stories talll. I had never been to Akihabara before, but some friends of mine had told me that this store had bought out a very large portion of the district to be built. I walked towards the door and opened it. I walked in to see a large line of 10 registers. Behind them lay an almost endless amount of aisles.
'Only ten registers? This place must really get backed up.' I thought.
I looked at the text the woman had sent me.
"WHEN YOU GET TO THE STORE, SEARCH FOR KOZAKA, HE'LL BE IN THE EMPLOYEE WORKROOM. IT'S LOCATED IN THE BASEMENT. HEAD RIGHT FROM THE ENTRANCE UNTIL YOU SEE THE ELEVATOR WITH THE EMPLOYEES ONLY SIGN. TAKE IT DOWN AND THE EMPLOYEE WORKROOM WILL BE RIGHT THROUGH THE DOUBLE DOORS AT THE END OF THE HALL."
I followed the phone's instructions and walked into the elevator. I pushed the down button and the elevator began to descend. The doors opened and I appeared in a long hallway. The hallway resembled that of an apartment building. On my right were five doors, there were five doors on my left as well. On the far side of the hallway, there was a pair of double doors. I walked through them and entered a large room.
"This is an employee workroom?"I asked myself.
The place looked more like a man cave than a workroom. It contained a huge flat screen television, a pool table, a pinball machine, a poker table, and a small bar. Sitting at the bar was a large, muscular man with black hair. I walked up to him.
"Are you Kozaka-san?"I asked.
He set a glass down on the table.
"Yeah, but you can call me Naru. You must be the new guy right?"He asked.
"Yeah, that's me,"I said.
He turned around and looked me up and down. He suddenly burst out laughing.
"What?"I asked.
"It's nothing,"He said.
"What's so funny?"I asked.
"Nothing, it's just that when the boss told me about you, she made you sound like you were as buff as me,"He said still laughing.
He took a deep breath and stood up.
"So, what's your name kid?"He asked.
"Kenta, Kenta Hasegawa,"I said.
"Well Kenta, let me be the first to welcome you to the battlefront,"He said.
He shook my hand.
"Thanks,"I said.
"Alright, first thing's first is to show you around. Let's start with the store,"He said.
As I followed him around the store, he showed me all the different shops it contained. The place had basically everything you could imagine up for sale. You could get manga, movies, food, furniture, and even cars.
"Wow, so you can buy pretty much anything here,"I said.
"Pretty much,"He replied.
I suddenly spotted a sign on the wall next to some stairs. "TO BATTLEFRONT ARENA -->".
"Wait, this store has its own arena?"I asked.
"Oh, yeah, don't worry about that right now, you'll get to see it soon enough,"He replied.
He looked at his watch.
"Wow, look at the time, the store will be opening in 5 minutes. We'd better head back to the workroom stat,"He said.
"Right."
We headed back to the employee workroom. When we walked in we came in to see 9 others standing in front of the large Flat Screen.
"We late for the briefing?"Kozaka asked.
The T.V. turned on and a woman with black hair appeared on the t.v. She had black hair and was wearing a black leather jacket over a grey tanktop that really acentuated her breasts.
"Hey, I know you!"I said.
"Ah, Hasegawa-kun! Nice to see you made it. The name's Nadia. Now without further ado, let's get started with the rest of the introductions,"She said.
A picture of Kozaka appeared on the screen.
"You've already met Naru Kozaka, he run's register 3."She said.
"Try not to give me too much trouble,"He replied.
A picture of a girl with blond ponytails appeared on the screen. She was about my age
"Hitome Malacoda, register 10,"She said.
A picture of a girl with short pink hair appeared on the screen. She was around my age as well.
"Hina Kazuya. Register 9,"
A picture of a girl with black hair appeared on the screen, She too was along my age.
"Kurome Seto, Register 8,"
A picture of a girl with short brown hair appeared on screen, she was much younger than me, about 15. She reminded me of Emi in a way.
"Mei Casanova, register 7,"She said.
A man with green hair appeared on screen. He was somewhere around 20.
"Shun Takanawa, register 6,"
A picture of a girl with short red hair appeared on screen, she was around Shun's age
"Kassandra Yurina, register 5,"
A picture of a guy with spiky black hair appeared on screen. He was about my age..
"Tsubasa Malacoda, He runs register 4. He's also Hitomi's twin brother."
Tsubasa suddenly appeared at my side. He put his arm around my neck and pulled me close.
"Yeah, so don't go getting any ideas about my sister, you hear? I'd hate for something to happen to your frail little body,"He stated.
"Got it,"I replied.
A picture of a man with blond hair appeared on screen. He was about Naru's age.
"Minato Furukawa. Register 2,"Nadia said.
A picture of a girl with long, silver hair appeared on the screen. She was around my age. My eyes widened. She was the most beautiful girl I'd ever seen.
"Last but not least, we have Ran Chiaki. She runs register one."
A picture of me appeared on the screen. My black hair was spiked in this photo, now it was a total mess.
"Our newcomer here is Kenta Hasegawa, he'll be working as the acting manager,"
""Wait, what?""Everyone asked simultaneously.
"All due respect ma'am, but are you sure it's alright to give the position to some random kid? I mean, he doesn't even know a thing about this store, wouldn't it be better to give it to someone with a bit more experience?"
"I understand your concerns, but I have already made my decision. Hasegawa will act as the manager of the battlefront mall. Now, the store will be opening any moment now, so get to your positions. Since it's the grand opening, there should be a pretty good turnout, so you should get plenty of action. Since it's the first day, registers 6-10 will have there secondary functions disabled. Good luck to you all, and try not to get yourself killed,"She said.
The screen went black.
'Wait, killed?'
"Alright, you heard the lady, to your stations people!"Tsubasa said.
Everybody began to move out.
"Kenta, your with me. I'll show you what you've gotta do,"Naru said.
"Right,"I replied.
I followed closely behind him.
