Story: HHL GS Invasion

And another one too. Continues from here. Needs options suggested.


So they were stuck. The chance of Mikami learning to control her temper when he groped a woman was so close to nil they might as well be rooming together. With the energy fed into the damned thing it would take way, way too long for any reasonable resolution and the client would just give up and fire them. Considering that Mikami was apparently quite eager to fulfill the contract on the basis of an old favour, that couldn't herald anything good for him if things went south.

At which point his life was inevitably going to get a lot worse for a little while as she shifted the blame to him for being such a pervert. No, it wasn’t quite fair to think that. She was clearly trying to think of a solution. She had that expression on her face when she was deep in thought, taking long strides across the room with those incredibly long legs stalking irresistibly across the floor… Back and forth, back and forth…

Yokoshima stuck his hands in his pockets and sighed, trying not to let his gaze linger too long lest she notice and smite him with further righteousness. He didn’t realise it, but she had thought to check just at that very moment whether he was checking her out or not moments after his gaze drifted to the ceiling. Lucky save or something else?

Either way he blinked a little at feeling something he wasn’t expecting to feel. He pulled it out and looked at the card, remembering the bizarre events of a few days previous where he met a man named Jim that was invading from another dimension -

“What’s this?” The card was snatched away by Mikami, who peered at it and read aloud. “Jim D’Addventure’s coaching agency: Specialising in actors, singers, dancers and models.” She snorted. “Seems like a pretty broad specialisation, if you ask me. Why did you have this card, anyway?”

“Oh… He said I should give him a call if I needed anything,” Yokoshima sheepishly and truthfully answered. It didn’t seem like something she’d believe, that this Jim and his friends were trying to take over the world by making people into perverts. Seemed a little out there, seemed a little crazy. He wasn’t even sure he believed it himself.

“Is that so…?” Mikami very slowly said, a smile creeping up her face that honestly had him a little bit worried. “In that case, maybe it’s time we cashed in whatever favour he owes you, right?”

<hr>
A phone call led into a half-hour wait led to Jim standing at the doorway with an entirely different babe standing directly behind him. This was a complete contrast to the one from the other day. This one looked prim, professional, the kind of person that would sooner cast themselves into a volcano than think a dirty thought. Naturally this led Yokoshima into taking up the slack, at least until Mikami elbowed him in the ribs.

“A pleasure to meet you,” Jim said, extending his hand to shake Mikami’s. “I don’t suppose Yokoshima has told you the circumstances under which we met? Ah? Yes, you don’t need to say a word, I can see it in your body language that he did not.”

“Not a word,” Mikami said, eyeing both Jim and Yokoshima suspiciously.

“Such modesty!” Jim said, extending his hand towards the woman, who produced a handkerchief out of thin air and handed it to him. Jim dabbed at his eyes. “One of our former clients - an attractive young woman with high aspirations but not the talent to perform - attempted to abscond with our takings for the day. She was able to leave the building, but managed to get little more than ten yards away before encountering your assistant. He flirted with her relentlessly, as I hear her say it, long enough for us to catch up with her and ensure her arrest.

“I cannot imagine why he didn’t mention this to you!”

“Oh, I can imagine pretty well,” Mikami said, eye twitching a little. Yukina giggled to herself off in the back of the room.

“Still, he didn’t tell me he worked for Reiko Mikami either!” Jim said, returning the handkerchief to the woman, who vanished it just as effectively as she made it appear. “Had I known that, I would have insisted upon meeting you. Before my current profession, I had intended to be a ghost sweeper myself, you see. Alas, my supernatural talent does not lend itself well in that direction…”

Well, that got the attention of everyone in the room.

“Supernatural talent? What sort of -”

Jim smiled and shrugged. “It only works on the living, but I am rather good at reading emotional auras. The patterns, the interactions, how one person feeling something can set off another person feeling something else… Truly, it is a fascinating world that only I can truly perceive.”

“Um… Then how did you wind up as a coach? If you don’t mind my asking,” Yukina said. “I mean, surely that sort of skill would have been useful as a ghost sweeper or in some other career? Like fortune telling?”

“Well, I knew I would never be able to become a ghost sweeper after I encountered my first actual ghost,” Jim admitted. “Ran for the hills, so I did. Such a shameful experience. As for becoming a fortune teller, it hardly seemed like honest work. Even if I could read auras, I would still be dependant on cold readings. So I went for something a great deal more honest and safer. I specialise in teaching people how to project emotions in a deeper manner than merely performing. I teach people how to control their emotional aura, and project it out into the world.”

“That sounds like a dangerous thing to unleash…” Mikami said, watching Jim very carefully. But the man simply shrugged once again.

“Not particularly. Now, you mentioned that you were considering taking some lessons. Was there any particular reason that a famous ghost sweeper would suddenly decide they wanted to learn how to perform?”

“There are certain kinds of spirits that feed upon certain kinds of energy,” Mikami said, showing that cocky smile that should send shivers down anyone not bedazzled by her beauty. “If we can learn how to control our emotions, those spirits wouldn’t be able to feed on us at all.”

“Ah, but there’s more to it than that, isn’t there?” Jim said. “Now, now! I’ll tell you what. I’ll respect your client’s privacy if you’ll respect mine: We should swap NDAs.”

“Non-disclosure agreements?”

“Of course!” Jim said, snapping his fingers and his… secretary? Handed him several piles of papers and a pen. “Trade secrets are hard to keep secret, and the lessons that I give… Well, I wouldn’t want just anyone to be able to teach this, you understand? Think of it as an exchange. You can tell me all about your case, I won’t say a word, and I’ll help you in any way that I can so long as you don’t tell anyone how I did it. A fair exchange, no money changing hands and my debt to your assistant is paid off in full.”

“I suppose that seems reasonable,” Mikami said, no doubt thrilled at the fact that it was all free. “All above board. Just let me have a quick read of it first to make sure there’s nothing weird in there.”

“Naturally,” Jim said. He reached over and spread his arm across the back of Yokoshima’s shoulders. “Gives me a chance to thank this young man again. We’ll step outside so we don’t disturb your reading.”

The three of them went outside the room, while Yukina was peering over Mikami’s shoulder at the contract that she was probably going to sign, he felt. Honestly, it was more like she was putting on a show that she wasn’t an idiot or a rube than checking to see if she was about to be swindled…

He turned his attention back towards the secretary and marvelled at how someone could seem so thoroughly professional and yet so ridiculously hot at the same time. Mikami tended to veer a little bit more towards the latter herself, certainly far more than the former. The door closed.

It was like a switch had been flipped. The secretary’s body language completely altered, her face adopted a more seductive expression. Her gaze softened, her hair seemed to loose itself and even her clothes seemed somehow… sluttier than before.

Jim let out a low whistle. “My goodness,” he said. “I knew she was stunning, but seeing her in the flesh is a whole other experience. I take it you haven’t bent her over the table yet?”

“N-No, she’d kill me if I tried that.”

“Wouldn’t be so sure. That Yukina chick probably wouldn’t mind too much either.”

“What are you up to?” Yokoshima asked. “What are you planning to do to them?”

“To them?” Jim chuckled. The secretary joined in, a sort of sexy titter that made her breasts bounce uncontrollably and in a very distracting manner. “Absolutely nothing. Well. I’ll teach them the things I promise to teach them. No deception there, no misdirection, nothing. The only one that’s gonna do a damned thing to any one of them is gonna be you. What that something is, I couldn’t and wouldn’t be able to tell you. Go with your instincts. The three of you will be so much happier for it.”