New Dawn Chapter: 025

Of course, Tysone didn't really mean those things. But Saya didn't take his words for it, and continued to brood throughout the rest of their time together.

Saya looked pretty adorable when she was mildly distressed.

"Then again, with your personality, it's more likely you'll drive them off." Tysone whistled. "If that happens, we'll need to give you a personality makeover as well as the appearance of one."

She gaped and narrowed her eyes. Then she pinched her nose, exuding so much exasperated stress.

He patted her head. "I'm just messing with you, Saya. You know, I don't quite like the thought of others watching you in a maid outfit. Ain't much to see anyway." She was about to burst in outrage when he waved a hand. She dumbly stood there, staring. "Nah, for real. Besides, you're underage. I ain't promoting that pedo shit." He added; seriously, he didn't want to get canceled by the zombies. 

"..." Saya, naturally, didn't know how to react. Her fists clenched and unclenched.

"Anyway." Tysone continued, as if he had completely forgotten about the veiled insults he's been throwing at her. "With this, all we need to do is to print the fliers and cross our fingers." He pulled out a map, unfolded it, and traced his fingers over the red markings. "And then we'll distribute them in these locations. I've done a bit of r—aaughh—" He yawned, his eyes tearing up a bit. "Research. places that draw in lots of attention and have high traffic. But the main reason I chose them is because…"

"They're likely to be filled with people who are stressed, and stressed people generally have issues bottling up their frustrations, which are practically screaming for them to be unleashed, and—guess what?—this Rage Room is here to aid them in this arduous and grueling task?" Saya finished for him.

Tysone snapped his fingers, nodding proudly at the little pink-haired twerp. "Damn right!" His eyes narrowed dangerously. "Now, I've seen a lot of maids in your house, Saya. We could hire some young hands for the job, but why waste money? They'll listen to you if you tell them to hand out the fliers in our stead, right?"

"Well… right." 

"Select the most beautiful ones. I know it doesn't sound nice, but their looks are a vital factor in the success of this operation." He sighed, shrugging. "The fliers are more likely to be taken if offered by a gorgeous woman instead of an uptight old geezer in a suit. You understand what I'm saying, don't you?"

She did. Her pride was sorely bruised, though. Was he thinking of her as the bitch of the house that bossed the maids around, and used them when it suited her needs?

"I hate to agree with a sleazy creep like you." She said, "But, yes."

"Oof." He laughed disarmingly. "I can always count on you, can I?" 

His soft eyes made Saya turn around, arms crossed. "You're stupid…" She muttered. "And I'm stupid too."

"Did you say something, Saya?"

"No…"

Another beat of silence ensued.

"Alright." He leaned back, exhaling. "Now comes the hard part. We have to create a kick ass flier for our baby. It has to be something striking and to the point. Maybe a not too bright shade of red on a black background, maybe with a vector of shattered glass and an angry eye staring through it?"

"Oh, shut up and give me the mouse. I'll do it!"

Saya scooted closer. 

"Let the genius work."

"Gladly." 

Tysone stared at Saya working for a bit before his eyelids seemed to weigh a ton. The light of the monitor was bothering him. Maybe he should close them for a bit? 

Within a second, his head slammed on the desk, unconscious. 

Saya stopped her clicking for a moment, to openly stare at Tysone's sleeping face. 

His arms were around it, as some sort of pillow.

"He looks so much better when he's not yapping." She remarked to herself, satisfied with how relaxed and vulnerable he appeared.

Her voice trailed off at some point, when she realized what she was doing, and whom she found leaning her lips into. Saya jumped as she noticed, a massive blush breaking on her features. "W-W-Wha-Wha-?! No! Bad! What am I doing?!"

Thankfully she managed to stop herself right before she did the unthinkable.

"Damn it all..."

She held her head in her hands. 

What the heck did that boy do to her...?

…

And so, the next day, Tysone had a stack of beautifully designed fliers wrapped in plastic. He had them printed as soon as Saya gave him the file.

"You did an amazing job, Saya! It's perfect!" The compliment was so genuine and exciting that Saya, on a normal day, would have beamed proudly, but now she was uncharacteristically silent.

In fact, she completely avoided eye-contact with Tysone. 

"Hey, little twerp, you alright?" Naturally, he noticed it. "You didn't stay up late just to do this?"

The trace of concern certainly didn't make things easier for Saya, who groaned and turned around. "It's nothing, you big oaf. Now give me the damn thing! I'll have my maids distribute them."

She turned and swiped the stack right out of his hands.

He smiled and ruffled her hair, blatantly ignoring her indignant whine.

Well, at the very least, her temper hadn't gone flying out the window. Which was kind of weird, in all honesty. "I'll leave it to you. Our grand opening has to be a success."

"Don't you know who I am?" Saya grunted. "Leave it to me." 

"My, my. How reliable. What if I end up falling for you?" Tysone shook his head in dismay. "Ah, it's not good. You're too young. It would be forbidden."

"S-Shut up already!" She ground her teeth, stomping away. "So annoying…"

Despite saying so, a lovely shade of pink completely covered her fair cheeks. 

…

Later on, Saya managed to rally a small team to hand out the fliers and spread the word about the new business. She wanted it to be big, successful. To gain a reputation to pass onto her family and beyond. Make her own mark. 

By now she was already one-hundred percent devoted to it. 

As such, the fliers were distributed and passed around. 

Maybe it was because the idea behind the Rage Room seemed to perfectly encapsulate what the average citizen needed, or maybe it was merely the Takagi family's reputation at play, but news of its opening spread like wildfire. 

Tysone was fretful and distracted. After all, there was a possibility, no matter how small and contained it was, that it could all turn out to be a flop. 

Except that he forgot that his world didn't exactly follow the same logic as his previous one, and people tended to act more impulsively than they otherwise might have.

That's why, on the day of the Rage Room's grand opening, the street adjacent to the store was—

…

"Packed." Mai said with a slight furrow of her brows. "Who'd have thought?"

Maybe it wasn't that unreasonable, after all even she was curious. A place where you could scream and break anything you wanted? A safe outlet for release. An easy way for her to unleash all of her frustrations after she was rescued. And who didn't want that?

It made sense, and as long as you did things while staying within legal boundaries, there was no reason it couldn't be profitable. And that's how a rippling crowd of people had gathered in front of a somewhat plain building. The paint was fresh, and the only eye-catching thing about the store was the glowing sign.

She looked around.

There wasn't an inch of free space anywhere on the road.

Most of them were salarymen dressed in suits or high school students. Though a handful of people from various backgrounds came along as well. There was an office employee and his friend who'd chipped in to enter as a pair, and a bumbling group of college kids. Even the elderly people of the city were there to check out what the hubbub was about.

And Mai found herself right in front of it.

The moment the door opened, she saw Tysone briefly walk out. His eyes widened in almost a comical fashion at the sight of the gathered crowd. He looked at all of them as he licked his lips and coughed awkwardly.

"I'm surprised." He remarked. "Quite a crowd." He muttered, quickly steeling his composure and standing straighter. 

And, naturally, his eyes fell on Mai, who was right at the front of the line.

Her ice blue eyes carefully studied him, as though she found his features almost fascinating. Or perhaps his whole demeanor inexplicably attracted her gaze. 

The mystery that was Tysone drew her in more than she would have cared to admit. After all, how many people were this talented? Or maybe it was merely a by-product of hard work, though it didn't really seem to fit. 

It was as if Tysone saw the world in a way that Mai couldn't comprehend. 

She was about to make a comment, however, her eyes soon made a sudden shift for the left, where a smaller but lithe and youthful figure walked out, placing herself right behind Tysone.

Author Note: More chapters on P@treon.com/LordCampione. [ *Special offer going on right now 50% 0ff till December 28* ]