Chapter 10: How To Get A Job

It had been a week since Sora's attempted kidnapping and the police had yet to find out the cause of the fires that happened that day.

Sora sat on the floor of his apartment, a layer of sweat rolled off his bare torso as he focused on his task. Tools of different sizes and types lay scattered around him as he screwed the last piece back onto the microwave.

[Engineering Mastery has leveled up!]

He let out a breath of satisfaction as he finished up. He had been grinding this skill with a clear purpose in mind for the past week. At this point there wasn't anything in the apartment that he hadn't dismantled and reassembled to get to where he was. This lead to the skill sitting at a decent level.

[Template Name: Sasuke Uchiha]

[Template Progress: 9.4%]

[Skills]:[Engineering Mastery Lvl 31]

He wanted to smile in satisfaction but it didn't seem enough. He had started practicing the kata that resided in his memory. Muscle memory helped with it but if he wanted to master it and progress with the template, this was a necessary step.

He had a basic schedule for each day which consisted of practicing katas from morning till noon and then having a quick meal during which he would read the books he borrowed from the library. After that, he would then pick out an appliance or device that he could use to grind his skill.

Even the TV wasn't spared.

With the microwave, he had leveled up only once in the past three hours, meaning that continuing would not be efficient at all. Just to be sure, he tested all the things he had worked on and true enough, they worked perfectly fine.

Convinced that there wasn't any efficient method of taking his only skill further, he began to think of his plan.

'That repair shop I spotted last week…' He thought, recalling the 'Help Wanted' sign at their entrance.

'Time to get a job.' He thought as he returned the microwave to where it was supposed to be and headed to his bathroom for a shower.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Children getting jobs wasn't illegal in Tokyo as long as they weren't forced into it and didn't involve anything illegal. It was actually common to see children working but none of them did the kind of job he was about to apply for.

With that in mind, he walked into the garage-like shop. The sounds of metal work and the smell of engine oil and diesel hit him hard but he shrugged it off.

Many eyes were on him as he entered but they made no move to approach him, opting to continue their work. Just when he thought nobody was going to approach, a loud voice called out.

"Hey kid! What are you doing here? This isn't a playground." The person said as they approached him. It was a young woman who had brown hair and green eyes. She looked down at him with a bored stare.

Sora pushed down his irritation at being referred to as a kid once again and spoke calmly.

"The sign outside said that this place was looking for people to hire. I want to apply for the job." He said bluntly, causing the workshop to go silent.

The woman's face turned from boredom to amusement in an instant as she burst into laughter.

"You're joking right?" She managed to say in between laughs. Sora's face changed from calm to slight irritation. He couldn't blame anyone for laughing but her reaction was too exaggerated.

Seeing Sora's serous expression with a hint of annoyance in it, she controlled her laugher for a moment before it came back stronger than before.

"You're serious!" She said, her laughter echoing in the now silent workshop. The others who were previously working, let out chuckles of amusement and mockery. Just as Sora opened his mouth to speak, a deep voice rang out from the back of the shop.

"What's with all the laughter?" The voice said in a normal tone but it carried itself around the room easily as the laughter immediately died down.

The source of the voice was a middle aged man with gray hair and coal colored eyes. The muscles added with the goatee he sported made him look more intimidating. He had stepped out of the office to find the reason for the loud laughs.

"Boss!" Gathering her composure, the woman walked to the man, who seemed to be in charge and explained it to him.

"Is that it?" The man said as he let out a laugh. The previous laughs were filled with mockery but this one was filled with genuine amusement.

"You're quite an amusing child." The man started, looking straight at Sora.

"We were indeed looking for someone to hire but we already have a candidate waiting." He said, bringing attention to the younger man behind him. This one had black hair and gray eyes. His frame was much leaner than the boss in charge and so was his presence.

He had a smug smile on his face as the man said that. Sora looked at him as if he was an idiot.

'Is he really throwing that smug smile at a child. How stupid and insecure can you be?' He thought before taking his attention back to the man in charge.

"Is there any way I can prove that I am more capable for the job?" Sora asked the man, ignoring the silent chuckles around him, including the woman and the other man.

"Sorry to disappoint you kid but the job's taken. Now go back to the playground you ran away from. Your parents are probably waiting for you." The woman spoke condescendingly before anyone else could speak.

Sora's now long hair shadowed his face in such a way that it hid his eyes. The calmness in them had been replace with cold anger.

"What…did you just say?" He asked slowly and deliberately as his voice went an octave lower which the man spotted.

"I said-" Not noticing the change, she was about to continue when she was interrupted by the boss.

"On the contrary, I have an idea." He said before the matter could escalate any further. He wiped the little amount of sweat that formed on his forehead and continued at their confusion.

"I haven't approved Ren's application for the job yet." He said, gesturing to the young man behind him now identified as Ren before continuing.

"The matter of who gets the job is still in the air. So why don't we have a little contest to see who gets the job." He finished with a mysterious smile on his face as everybody present, Sora included, looked at him in shock.