Tsubaki and Anon pt. 3

>Work goes as expected, come home pretty much drained.
>Entering the apartment complex I'm stopped the landlady.
>An aged orcess whose brownish-red skin sags a bit from age, her hair long since grayed was combed back and tied into a single braid.
>Her rust coloured skin stands in contrast to the light gray hair on her head tied back in a bun.
>Even with her age and walking stick she still covered ground with a swiftness.
>Her voiced cracked from years of strain as she spoke.
>"Hello Anon, hard day at work I take it?"
>"I'm just glad I've stopped working the night shift, less chance of being jumped by desperate mamono."
>Her reply starts with a raspy laugh.
>"Speaking of, how is Tsubaki doing? Last night it sounded like you two got into a fight over something."
>"No fight, just she wanted to help out with the finances and put her business skills to use for me." I said shaking my head.
>"That's awfully sweet of her to do so don't you think."
>"I just don't know Mrs. Orgil, but she asked for two thousand bucks to start trading. "
>The orcess scowls as she hears her surname.
>"Anon, I told you not to call me that, it makes me feel old."
>"OK Lahlah." I said with a amused snort.
>Start to head upstairs when I hear a Lahlah behind me tapping her cane on the floor of the lobby.
>"Oh Anon, before I forget can I ask a favor of you?"
>"What is it?" I asked turning back around.
>"My computer has been acting up lately. You're good with them, could you take a look at it when you have the time?"
>"Of course."
>"Thank you Anon, you're a real sweetie, both you and Tsubaki. She's been helping me with organizing my financial records you know. I don't know how you can keep your hands off a woman of her caliber Anon, our time on this planet is short and I'm sure you two would make a lovely couple."
>"I dunno, I don't want to make it awkward for Tsubaki if she doesn't like me." I say looking off to the side.
>"You never know Anon she might feel the same way. You just have to take a chance and see."
>"I guess you're right..."
>"Have confidence in yourself Anon." Lahlah finishes before shuffling towards the staircase.
>"Now if you'll excuse me I have to see a lazy tenant about overdue rent."
>End up passing Lahlah on the way up to my own floor.
>She's arguing with the landwhale that took up residence on the ground floor.
>Before leaving earshot manage to hear Lahlah telling the landwhale she doesn't care about her preferred pronoun shit.
>By the time I get to the landing of my room I hear a door slam.
>"I'm home."
>Only silence met me as I came inside.
>cocked an eyebrow and looked around.
>"Tsuba? You here?"
>Can't find anything out of the ordinary.
>Hear a tapping and some noises coming from my...Tsubaki's room.
>The tapping seemed to be methodical and paced, like someone was drumming their fingers.
>or typing.
>Poked my head in the doorway and saw Tsubaki at my computer doing something.
>Walk up behind her and watching her working in fervor.
>she's tabbing between some sort of spread sheet and some website.
>The entire time she's oblivious to my presence
>That is until I put a hand on her shoulder and she jumps a bit letting out a surprised yelp.
>"Anon?! Don't scare me like that."
>Her reaction made me smile, I felt proud of my little 'achievement'.
>Realize why she hadn't noticed me.
>She's got a pair of my earbuds blasting music, music I recognize.
>"That's...Reborn Mechanics from Rockman Zero Three, why are you listening to that Tsu?"
>"Well, I was starting the initial investments and I got a bit bored, so I rummaged through your music playlists."
>Feel a bit betrayed hearing Tsubaki went through my files.
>"Whats with that face Anon?"
>"I kinda asked you not to look through my stuff..."
>"Well it's on your desktop, not like you hid your music folder."
>"Still what if I hid like hardcore snuff porn on my desktop and labeled it music to keep people from looking into it?"
>"Anon, I highly doubt you're the kind of person who would be into that, and I doubt you'd be dumb enough to leave porn on your desktop."
>"You never know."
>Tsubaki gave me a exaggerated eye roll before turning back to the computer.
>"If you're done Anon. I'd like to show you what I've done so far." she said in a formal manner.
>"So what HAVE you been doing Tsuba?"
>A few key strokes and the trading site I saw earlier popped back up.
>"Before my company went under we were doing a fair bit of investment in some businesses that deal with QoL or Quality of Life items that help Mamono with non-human appendages, like Ushi-oni or even merfolk. It was difficult though without at least a 2nd screen and the proper tools I had to improvise."
>"Sorry..." I said dipping my head.
>"No need to apologize Anon, not like you foresaw any of this."
>"Life is full of surprises like this."
>After scrolling through text and numbers that made sense only to Tsubaki, she pulled up something that I could only really identify as a spread sheet of some kind.
>"I won't bore you Anon with things that really make no sense to you, but here's what we've achieved today."
>"You mean what YOU achieved? Right?"
>"Don't be silly Anon, this is a team effort. Your resources are what allowed this to happen I just made the best use of them as I could."
>As she scrolled down she pointed out the column on the far right, an indicator of whether something was a loss or a profit.
>"So did we make any money?" I asked trying to make sense of everything.
>"Nothing noteworthy yet. Hopefully tomorrow's trading is a bit more fruitful. I would have made more but the market closed before I could finalize some things."
>Nodded, not really understanding anything Tsubaki said ,but taking her word for it.
>"Alright, I'm gonna head to the bathroom, then I've got something else to do and then I'll make supper tonight, we got any beef? I feel like making Hamburgers on the stove."
>"Whats the 'something else' Anon?" Tsubaki asked looking over her shoulder at me.
>"Oh, Ms. Org...Lahlah asked me to help her with her computer, she says it's acting up."
>"You should be relaxing Anon, you've probably had a tough day at work."
>"Hmph...I'm sturdier than I look Tsuba, it's just computer repair anyways."
>Those words seemed to gain Tsubaki's full attention as she spun the chair to face me this time.
>"Just don't push yourself too hard Anon."
>"I could say the same to you." I teased.
>"All I did was sit at the computer today in pajamas."
>"You still worked hard," I said offering a shrug in return. "In any case I gotta pee, see ya in a bit Tsu."
>"That last bit of information wasn't really needed Anon."
>"Can't hear you, bathroom." I shouted as I left.