I owe the company store my soul but the CEO my heart! Part 1

I owe the company store my soul but the CEO my heart! Part 1

=====================================================================

In your world there was four nations, all ruled by Goddesses that were powered by the love and adoration of their citizens. In recent times, however, there was great upheaval in this system. All of the goddesses had disappeared, leaving their younger sisters to run the world who rapidly started a great conflict to get their older sisters back. This war flooded into the streets, destroying factories, villages, homes and lives alike.

This is where your story and how it changed starts. Rebuilding efforts have begun, flooding money into industry from insurance and government coffers.

=====================================================================

It was another day on the job, supervising and managing the workers of Lastation Lumber. A sleek black four door sedan with moderately tinted windows stops right outside the crane bay’s entrance. Your eyes gravitate to the person getting out of the car.

A short effeminate boy with silver hair and an absurdly expensive suit strides into the building; piercing blue eyes darting about the building. He walks up to you and asks-

“Can I speak to the site supervisor?”

That isn’t a boy, its a girl!? At five foot nothing, she’s hardly intimidating or official until she opens her mouth. To be honest, you would have mistaken her for some trust fund kid if it weren’t for the papers she was presenting. It took a while to click, but you had seen that name before. If these were real… this was your new boss and renowned business person Kei Jinguji, known for her previous achievements like the Lastation Store, a highly popular service that sold games through the internet that was boxed with any new consoles.

You adjust your hardhat rapidly and extend a hand, shaking the diminutive girl’s hand. You notice that her shoulders are quite seriously padded.

“You can call me Ms. Jinguji, I’ve heard good things about you. I’ll explain once we’re in a more secure location.” She motions towards your office. Ms. Jinguji’s slip-on black shoes clack loudly on the concrete floors of the warehouse. Your door sweeps open, you expect the obviously rich figure to steal your desk. Rather, she stands by, holding the door open for you and sits in one of the cheap chairs opposite yours.

“I’ll get straight to business. I’m here to evaluate this center for an extended period, and to set up an International Headquarters. I believe that keeping our offices close to production will help keep a good image.”

International? How many companies does this little woman own? Kei notices your intrigue.

“You’re sharper than most, maybe you can give me some insight. Why can I talk with five other site supervisors at my new buildings and only find one that understands business? Most just bat it off as another acquisition.”

“Maybe I want to know why an IT executive is suddenly starting to take over heavy industry. I’d heard something about you buying a steel mill too.”

Kei’s eyes are intense, you don’t even have to try to feel the dedication she emanates. A plotting slight grin emerges on her previously blank face.

“You’re hired.” She says, not breaking her expression.

“I need a right-hand man that isn’t one of these usual- eh, say I’ll call them brawn-over-brain types. To my understanding you’ve been here a while and understand the business.”

Kei slides the chair back while she stands.

“For now, we can use this office, but I’ll get my people in here to renovate and revise the building. We’ll redo your machinery if it needs replacing and such as well.”

That's a surprise, some of your equipment hasn’t been replaced since the old timers started more than a decade ago; this is one of the better warehouses too. It seems that getting bought out isn’t a bad thing. You stand as well, Kei waits for you at the door.

“Can I call you Kei? If we’re going to be working closely together, using first names just seems better.”

“I suppose. Where’s the coffee maker?”

“In the breakroom. Are you gonna drag me around and explain your plan?”

Kei dismissively waves.

“Not until later, I brought my inspector with, I want to take him on a tour around the facility.”

As you two enter the break room, a familiar sight emerges. The cheesy folding table with a variety of second hand chairs, the old yellowing refrigerator and microwave that sit in the corner and to round it all off, a single counter top holds the sink plus a few lunch boxes. Kei strides over to the coffee machine, taking the full pot with her, pouring more black gold into her cup as she wanders through the building, inspecting and observing. She doesn’t seem to care that it’s been there since work started today, or that it’s cheap canned black coffee.
Kei quietly slurps down the last drop of coffee, quietly dismissing herself. She reappears, empty handed.

“That should be it, my people will take care of your equipment troubles, besides that, we have matters to discuss. Come.”

You stand in front of your building with Kei, who is gazing at the front of the structure with her seemingly usual serious, flat expression. While Lastation Lumber was situated in a simple steel building, Kei didn’t seem to mind, if anything she seemed to prefer the brutal efficiency of it. The sun beats down as Kei makes scribbles on a pad, seemingly unphased in her sleek, oil black suit in the middle of the sun. She looks up after what felt like an eternity, pocketing her pen and pad.

“It will work nicely, I’ll get builders and architects in here.” Kei says. She pauses, thumbing her chin, thinking heavily. She whips out keys with a jingle, striding towards the black sedan she arrived in.

“I’ll be back, keep working as usual for the next few days.”

=====================================================================

As Kei said, she returned, this time outfitted with a small army of construction workers. In two weeks, your building had a brand new office complex, with your new office located in the same room as Kei’s. It was a tremendous glass and steel structure, but was a fine addition to the existing building which got a slick new paint job. You stood with the proud CEO in the doorway.

“We’re going to do some great work here.” Kei grins.

Kei slides her desk into the furthest corner, perfectly organizing multiple monitors, dividers and binders all among the hardwood surface. The solid face of the desk supports the many built in filing cabinets. For a final touch, she sets a silver trimmed nameplate on the front of the desk.

“Kei Jinguji - Executive”

Without a blink of hesitation, she adjusts her chair and sets to work, flitting through folders and clicking through graphs on her computer. She walks to the printer and staples a thick stack of paper together, setting it on your much more humble desk. You flick through it, skimming for important numbers.

“So, after you picked up a few highly rated facilities, you specifically hunted out ones that had good buildings but comparatively low earnings?”

Kei smiles.

“I ordered intensive hiring at the better facilities and fired the entire staffs of the lower ones; organized by location of course. I moved the highly paid employees if they allowed and built new crews around them. This one fared surprisingly well, it must’ve fallen victim to poor sales staff given the various other performance indicators.”

You pause, reading the graphs and accompanying explanations.

“Just by bundling similar product types under your brands and replacing staff, productivity and profits increased 83% overall!?” Either Kei is a miracle worker or doing something shady.

“Of course, when I own the entire apparatus required to supply a construction project, I can bid on anything I want, regardless of size. Plus, my “Reliant Materials and Metals” brand has absolutely remarkable reviews like you said. I don’t even advertise, it would be a waste of funding when I can get employees to promote it through my slightly better than average pay rates and benefit programs. I don’t ask them and clients promote Reliant through their connections.”

“Sounds like good business to me, why do you need me if you’ve got all of this organized on your own?”

Kei pulls a chair up at your desk.

“I need, for lack of a better term, an Inquisitor or maybe Enforcer. Someone to keep what I’ve built in check while I work on making the company larger. Someday you’ll probably be the head of a whole department of such figures.”

“-Bigger?” How on earth would Kei make this company even larger and consuming? Kei’s smile returns.

“And this is why I hired you. The answer to your question: Vertical integration. Until Reliant makes the tools that it uses to ship the materials and to process them, as well as the companies to make the buildings themselves, my work isn’t done. We will provide the best quality work for the lowest price, end of story. Once things are rolling, we can blot out the market with size and acquire any company that falls in our shadow.”

“Isn’t that a monopoly?”

“Monopoly would imply that there won’t be competition. Why would we want to run the entire market when we can just be so monolithic that it doesn’t make sense to not contract us? There will always be higher and lower quality services that operate at related prices, but we will operate in a way where even if we don’t run the building operation, we will supply the operation. Plus, Lastation doesn’t have antitrust laws. As long as our physical operations are in Lastation, there isn’t a thing anyone can do to us.”

Kei’s confidence and rocksteady vision sets a target among the stars, the only thing separating her from that dream is enough time for all the hard work that it will require.

=====================================================================

The office is darkened by nightfall, the only light is from your desk lamps and monitors. Kei sets a steaming mug of coffee on your desk and returns to hers without a sound. She checks her watch.

“It’s almost nine, if you want to go home, go right ahead.”

“Staying late again?”

Kei smiles, taking a sip of coffee. The steam plays with the weak illumination of her desk lamp.

“Of course. I’ll see you Monday.”

Your mind is still running full bore, full speed ahead. Just slowing down your own thoughts seems difficult. It’s been five months since Kei took over your company, and no one has stopped working back to back 12+ hour days. Kei herself doesn’t seem to mind at all though. You’re one foot out of the office.

“Hey. You’ve been tired recently, are you going home or what?” Kei doesn’t seem to pay much attention to her own tone.

“Just not used to the workload, that’s all. Usually we would get at least a little reprieve from overtime hell, you know, shuffle schedules around and have people cover for each other for some much needed breaks, even if just a day every few months.”

Kei strides back to her desk, pulling her car keys out with a soft clink. She smiles.

“I remember when I was new to work, there was a point when even I couldn’t stand overtime. I came to love it and learned to relax in short order. Come along.”

As with all of Kei’s scarce possessions, they were clean, almost to a perfect level. This applied to the interior of her car as well. It was a modern but still economic choice with a few creature comforts, like heated adjustable leather seats. Kei’s watch barely slipped on her wrist as she reached for the shifter, having a manual transmission was an unusual choice for a woman, especially when nowadays such options had to be special ordered. Kei doesn’t behave like a civilian driver, she follows the training that she laid out for your delivery drivers to the T. Then again, none of this should surprise you. Kei’s laser blue eyes are always scanning, looking for opportunities and problems alike; a high level of precise control is to be expected.

“Where are we going?”

“I’ll show you how I learned to relax after a long day. Don’t worry, the tab’s on me~”

Kei seems happy, you hesitate to discern the reason. The lights of Lastation at night are beautiful in their own way. Each lonely street lamp has it’s place along the darkened roads. You almost feel yourself dozing off as the reflections of those little white orbs chase each other off the windshield.

You soon find yourself wandering into a small family style restaurant, becoming their last customers for the day before closing. The fluorescent lighting casts long shadows across the parking lot, revealing only two other cars, presumably belonging to the employees. Kei leads the way, choosing to sit at the bar. She wants to drink?

The waitress can’t even hand Kei a menu before she decides both of your orders. Kei asks for two helpings of Yakisoba and barbecue beef with a dessert of chocolate cake and vanilla ice cream plus a pot of hot black tea. The order of tea catches you off guard, Kei seems to consume an abnormal amount of coffee. She turns to you as the waitress departs.

“Now, breathe. You have completed your work to the best of your ability.” She takes a series of rhythmic breaths, deeply exhaling finally before taking a sip of tea.

“The weekend is here. There’s no work to be done, just the things that you live for.” Kei continues. She sets the cup down without the slightest sound and smiles again.

“For all the time we spend working together, we really don’t talk much.” You comment.

Kei leans into the bar surface, gazing into her softly swirling tea.

“Why’d you get into business Kei?”

The smile fades from Kei’s face.

“Well, my dad wanted a boy. I was a proud kid though, I wanted to make him happy.”

That response alone makes you smile. Kei can seem so cold in the moment, whether firing someone, hiring a new person or making a hundred million credit decision. It’s little moments like this where she shows how much she cares.

“I ran little businesses like mowing lawns, or whatever to get some pocket money and quickly learned how much easier it was to have other kids do it for me and to pay them, I must’ve been 7 when I had the entire neighborhood under a contract. It just seemed natural for me to go into business. I learned quickly that if even if I had the appearance of an young boy, I was taken more seriously than as a girl.”

Kei glances at you with a flash of her usual vigor.

“Don’t think I’m going to grandstand, if you want something, you’ll get it, regardless of what others think. I hate anyone that tries to make excuses for why they don’t work their hardest.”

She visibly relaxes, nervously rubbing the back of her head.

“So, what about you?”

“I’m the third man in my family to be a supervisor at this company. My grandfather was one of the cofounders. It was easy money for me, I suppose because I just enjoy it. Everyone said I should’ve gone to college though.”

Kei smiles. It breaks your whole train of thought.

“Doing what you enjoy matters more than money really.” Her speech is interrupted by the clank of heavily laden plates onto the table. The sweet, savory scent of barbecue beef and stir fried vegetables invades your nostrils.

“Ah!” Kei claps her hands together, chopsticks in between her thumbs and index fingers..

“Let’s eat!”

The noodles steam your face as they approach your face. Kei demands your total attention without speaking a word.

Kei holds her upright posture, eyes closed while she blows on her bowl of yakisoba. You get how her relaxation process works. It’s a ritual. You pick up your bowl, blowing the steam away, letting all of the stress of the day out. You can feel the steam start to condense on your eyelids, making them weighty again with the urge to sleep. This hypnogogic aura dissipates as you open your eyes again, eating at a slow, deliberate pace. Either you’re famished or this is the best food you’ve had in years. Kei pauses, looking over at you.

“Uh, I really like the hot mustard here.” She manages out before she dips a portion of beef into the little sauce dish.

You lean back, sipping at your cup of tea.

Kei turns her stool slightly.

“If you would like, we can make this into a routine.”

“Well, I don’t mind.”

Kei’s smile becomes positively radiant, but she seems to subdue herself before speaking.

“Sure, we’ll trade who catches the tab~”

At Kei’s deliberate pacing, the meal takes 45 minutes exactly. It’s enough food to leave you satisfied and comfortable without overeating. The two of you are onto your second pot of tea, the staff tries to urge Kei to leave, your stern coworker slips a five hundred credit bill into their tip jar without a word, leaning on the bar from her seat. Her form matches yours, elbows supporting the body, one hand slack and the other content with a mug of tea.

“I didn’t expect you to be so generous~!” You tease.

Kei shrugs, taking a long draught from her cup.

“Money is a high score for me, some people play games, I play the economy; well, that isn’t exactly right, I follow all the rules and provide great services and products. I-”

Kei gazes into her cup, lazily swirling it and failing to continue her sentence.

“Ready to go?” You ask.

“Yeah, let’s go.” Kei isn’t one to hold her tongue yet the best poker player couldn’t see through her face.
=====================================================================

It felt odd to be in a suit, Kei absolutely made sure that she had the best tailor fit and adjust the garment to your body. Kei rests a hand on her hip and gives a smug grin as you emerge from the changing room.

“Alright, that’s better.”

With negotiations coming up for the acquisition of a “minor” oil company (in Kei’s words), Kei has decided to bring you along so that you can assist in this front of her burgeoning empire.

As you traverse the hollow, vaulted throughways of Associated Petroleum, you notice that you and Kei are nearly matching, save the different tie colors. The deal is called “negotiations” but their representatives act like Kei has already bought them. They wouldn’t suck up so heavily if they knew that there was absolutely no way for any of them to retain the cozy make-work positions that had drowned this company’s earnings. Kei doesn’t mind as you flick a mint into your mouth, she’s busy convincing them that one of their holdings isn’t worth what they claim it is. It seems that your nonchalance is just another layer of the unnerving and almost oppressive feeling that Kei had barricaded them into. Compared to her physique, Kei’s personality leaves a long shadow.

The diminutive executive cracks her fingers into a fist, slowly releasing each digit.

“Sign.” Is all she says.

The pudgy, sweating man fumbles his pen into action, jotting his mark unto the paper. Kei immediately flips out her phone, making calls to begin the process of her takeover. Kei looks slightly disgusted as she strides out, you two make it nearly to the elevator before speaking a word.

Kei closes her phone and sighs, looking up at you.

“Got time for coffee?”

“Sure.”

Both of your shoes clack loudly on the pavement sidewalks of Lastation. The thick aroma of roasted coffee and fresh breads guides Kei like a hound. You find yourself in a comfortingly lit cafe, a friendly orange ambiance showing the smiling face of a barista and their assortment of pastries. Kei leans onto their well worn hardwood counter, professionally demanding two drinks. With a steaming beverage in her hand, Kei chooses a window seat, leaning against the chilled glass. Her eyes blankly stare out of the corner of their sockets into the overcast skies. There is a growing peace in her flat expression, a smile creeps into the corner of her lips as she focuses on you again.

“No matter how many times I buy a company out, I always feel so strange once the deal is sealed.”

“The coffee break is for a bit of recovery before you drive?”

“Yeah, well-” Kei freezes. An unsatisfied gremlin hides in her laser blue eyes.

“W… Would you like to have a pastry too?” Kei asks. Her voice cracked.

You had never figured Kei to have a sweet tooth, but she snatches up an apple-cinnamon Danish, nibbling at the buttered, fluffy crust. She sets it down for a gulp of coffee, resting for a moment, seemingly ready to ask you something.

“You haven’t been around this area much- uh, would you like to trade a slice of your pastry for part of mine?”

Is this some kind- what is this? Even Kei could see your shock.

“AAH!, No!, this is solely for taste and culinary purposes! This is considered one of the best coffee/ pastry shops in Lastation!”

You take the piece, it is delicious, but Kei’s flushed face is stuck in your mind until the next morning.

=====================================================================

Like clockwork another week comes and Kei is over your desk, setting a piping hot mug of pitch black coffee down plus a fattened binder of paperwork. Another day, another dollar, and another slew of issues to be dealt with.

You can’t complain too much though, things seem to running smoothly and Kei has started to pay more attention to your work. Recognition feels good, especially from the workaholic herself.

So coffee and papers in hand, you leave the office for the warehouse that you formerly ran. Orders have come in, there are reviews to hand out and safety documentation for supervisors, these make up your files; all to be issued to the workforce. Usually, Kei distributes work orders to the supervisors.

The former coworker gives a smug grin as you walk up.

“You got in good with the boss pretty quick.” He says.

“What?”

You spent a week off to recover from sickness, did something happen?

“Well, Ms. Jinguji didn’t smile once at us when you were gone. The guys had a tally board next to the safe work day counter for how many consecutive days she smiled as she gave us work orders. We were up to a solid month there.”

You wrap up business on the floor as quick as possible. For some reason, you’re racing to just sit down and think for a moment. What do you even want to think about?!

Kei?

Is she of all people- of course, you expected a girl you dated to be more, well, like a girl. The way your mind is running- it’s surely just a phase. You can be back to business as usual in no time. Not if she feels the same… maybe it would be best if you just talked to her yourself?

You can’t tell if the atmosphere of the office changed or it was just you, but you feel yourself running out the door of the office that Friday. You can barely relax, and you slouch back in your sofa, trying your best to clear your mind. You paw at your pockets, trying to remember where you put your phone. Shit. The only place it could be is back at the office.

It feels odd to almost be sneaking into your own office, you can’t explain the tension in your whole being. Every microscopic noise concerns you as you quietly walk up the stairs. The final stretch. Night turns the office’s many desks, cubicles and walls into a horror of shadows with light from the street lamps. In the dim, you reach for the handle of your usual double doors to an office blanketed with darkness. You flick the light on and rummage through your desk.

CLUNK! “Ouuch~” The sound of a skull impacting a hardwood desk rings out. You turn to look at Kei’s desk. Your heart races. You can feel every single thump, you can hardly focus until you see her.

However, when you see her, your heart doesn’t calm, it goes into overdrive and melts. Just because of Kei.

Kei is wearing her usual white blouse, wrinkled and ruffled, unbuttoned down to her unbound perky breasts with some boxer underwear. Her drowsy, pained expression is antithesis to the stuffed sheep that she has trapped in her arms. Kei’s pale legs, her thin, rounded body with slightly generous hips… you were wrong to think poorly of her features. In fact, you hardly recognize her without a binder to reduce her nearly C cup chest and giant shoulder pads.The happy tiny smile of a stuffed sheep gazes at you while Kei gains her bearings and begins to notice you.

Kei’s eyes grow into saucers spontaneously.

“W-W-WHA!? N-AAAAAAA-”

=====================================================================