Chapter 26

After breakfast, I followed Kawaguchi for several blocks before we reached her office building. Her company was actually large enough to own the building. I guess they need a lot of space for manufacturing, testing, and development. Her office is on the 6th floor she has an entire workshop complete with a load of power tools and other machinery that I don't recognize. She sees me looking at the machinery.

"Are you interested in working in the support industry?"

"Yes and no. I'm interested in support item design, but not necessarily for a career."

"Alright, how about you hop up on this platform so I can get your measurements

Then we can finalize designs and I can get to work making them."

"Alright, so do I need to take my shirt off or anything"

"NO please keep all of your clothes on. The last thing I need is for one of my co-workers to walk in here with you half-naked."

"So why are you doing this for me?"

" Worst case scenario your designs aren't chosen, but I'll probably get some tailored outfits out of the deal. Or your designs will be selected in which case I have an in to professionally model your clothing line or maybe you'll need an assistant once you get your higher laying promotion. In hoping for the second option, but no real downside for me."

"I guess your right, but the way you're saying it makes it sound kind of bad."

"So you're saying its more altruistic to not mention how I personally benefit from this. I personally don't think a person can be altruistic if they know the actions they're taking will greatly benefit them. I know that this is a no-lose scenario where I stand to benefit meaning no interpretation of my actions can be solely selfless."

"I guess that makes sense, but maybe you should just lie instead of delving into the philosophy behind intent."

"Don't worry if they ask me any questions at the costume contest I'll stick to true answers if they make us look good, or smart-sounding redirections if the answers will make us look bad.

" Great thanks. I'll make sure you field no questions"

She then continues to take my measurements, before shifting her attention to actually making the clothes which she does by altering the digital designs and then printing them using one of the machines in her office. While she is doing that I use one of her extra computers checking my email and looking for places to take of advantage of until I have some money. Takoba Municipal Beach Park despite being covered in trash has a free public changing room with showers. Also, I might be able to find something worthwhile in the dump. Then there are some homeless shelters/soup kitchens but they are further away from the area I'm trying to stay in. For dinner, I was thinking about asking a food cart for a meal in exchange for cleaning up. After a little while, my web searching is interrupted by the sound of printing. I sign out and clear my search history.

"Ok so for my clothing I wanted to use this incredibly resilient and stretchy material we use it in the lower tier hero costumes. I wanted to make a luxury civilian version."

The clothes look nice and are made of two parts, leggings and a long sleeve shirt. The leggings are a little weird for men, but I may be using non-relevant fashion criteria not that I was ever into fashion.

"If it's so stretchy why did you measure me?"

"While it can stretch out a good deal it might distort the proportions of the designs. Plus we want you to look your best which means clothes that fit perfectly."

"Well if you leave the room I'll try these on"

She steps out giving me a moment to change my clothes. Which I can now do extremely quickly probably form Quick Pockets. I then call her back in. She comes in looking me over before yelling out "OH!" And covering her eyes.

"What's wrong?"

"The pants are too tight"

I look down and sure enough, these pants do not leave much to the imagination. I also look behind me and check what I look like from the back.

"If it any consolidation these pants make my ass look fantastic"

"It's not. Please change back"

When she comes back in after I change I also make another suggestion.

"I don't know if you already have this but the shirts should come in a variety of sleeve lengths short sleeve, 3/4, or long."

"That's not a bad idea I'll add that in after I'm done redesigning the pants."

"The pants would be fine for women, but there is a reason men don't usually wear tights."

"That's it. Men don't usually wear tights, but the men who do wear leggings are usually superheroes. I'll incorporate some superhero style pants for the men line or at least aspects of those designs so the pants fit differently."

"Sounds good while you work on that I'm going to take a nap" I'd prefer not to sleep on the streets again so I'll sleep now and get some work done during the night.

She eventually completes her redesign which after trying on again meets our approval. We part ways at the end of the day, and I'll be meeting her back at 10 am to finish testing the rest of her designs. Then the day after that is the costume contest or design showcase whatever. Later time on the internet provided me my solution for food without paying for it. Food challenges. 2 in particular one is a ramen challenge which I will be doing tonight. The other is a curry challenge. Completing either means I don't have to pay for my meal, but there are additional prizes. For the ramen challenge if I eat it all in under 30 minutes I get 50,000 yen. If I complete the curry one 5 times the next month I can eat off the regular menu for free. Two different restaurants but the pocket money is more important right now. It's pretty out of the way, but I can run at speeds comparable to cars so it not truly too far away. When I get to the ramen shop I check just to make sure they offer the challenge. They confirm that they do. There is a wall of failures with hundreds of pictures and a success wall with only 3. The challenge consists of 3 cups of spicy broth, 9 lbs of bean sprouts, 4 servings of noodles, 4 mega pieces of karage fried chicken, and it was delicious. Demolished all of it in under 20 minutes got my picture taken, my meal comped, and paid 50,000 yen.