Chapter 76 - Fumio Goes Back To Work

Muscle Masters 

"Good morning." Fumio is interrupted from his morning tea by the arrival to Muscle Masters of a good looking young man in his late teens.

"Good morning. Haruto, I presume?" Fumio guesses, as he immediately notices that the young man 's facial features resemble Kotone's.

"Yes, sir. You must be Fumio-san." Haruto greets with a smile. He was already briefed by her sister over the phone about Fumio's identity.

"Yes. Pleasure to finally meet you." Fumio directs Haruto to sit at the common table.

"Tea?" He then offers.

"No,no. I- uh… already had some at home. These are for guests… and you, of course." Haruto refuses.

Fumio is satisfied at how familiar Haruto seems to be with the shop.

"Then, I thank you in advance for your help." He joins Haruto at the table.

"No, no. I should thank you… well, thank the owner-san instead. Not only did he cure me, he also gave nee-san her job. This is something I feel like doing." Haruto is burdened by Fumio's thanks.

Since Kotone was put in charge of the massage clinic, Haruto has been helping her out as a receptionist and tea server for the guests. Red, through Kotone, offered to pay him for his time, but Haruto refused. Even if he accepted, Kotone would have admonished him.

"Hey, I heard from your sister that you turned 6 college girls into returning guests. She said they adore you." Fumio teases Haruto to have the young man loosen up to him.

"Eheheh…" Haruto shyly looks away.

"..." Fumio's face twitches seeing Haruto's unintentionally cute gesture.

'So Kotone wasn't just bragging… And why she is so protective of him'.

He can see that Haruto's pure and adorable impression can naturally pluck women's heartstrings.

"Anyways. Go change to your kimono. The guests will arrive shortly." Fumio orders before draining his teacup.

"Please take care of me." Haruto bows politely to Fumio before heading to the change room.

A few minutes later. 

"Good morning guests. Arina-san. Konno-san." Haruto greets the pop idol and her manager as they enter the door of muscle master. He is already familiar with the guests and the rest of their pary that come regularly every two weeks.

Before the two ladies can fawn on the young Haruto, they freeze on their steps, as they see behind him someone they have not seen in a long time.

"... good morning…" Manager Konno, after confirming, absentmindedly returns Haruto's greeting while staring at Fumio .

"Is it really you?" Arina too recovers and asks Fumio.

"It has been a while, dear guests." Fumio politely bows.

"Wait. Don't give me that!" Arina points at Fumio as if he did something wrong.

"Where have you been?" She asks.

The last time she saw Fumio was more than two months ago when he visited their company to give Shigeo Red's newest compositions for Musume46.

Fumio has made a good impression on her and the other members of Musume46 as Red's receptionist, and then agent. Had he been less busy with his cultivation, he could have cultivated friendship with the girls instead. 

"Well, I had some things to do for boss." Fumio answers vaguely.

"You're here… So does that mean that Kichirou-san is here? Will he do our massage this time?" Arina asks excitedly.

"Hm? Is Kotone's service not satisfactory?" Fumio asks.

"No, no. It's not that. She is very good! But she always say that her skills are nothing compared to Kichirou-san's. That makes me want to try his massage again." Arina avoids being misunderstood.

"Ah. Then, I will extend your compliments to Kichirou-san and Kotone." Fumio nods.

"Wait…" Manager Konno notices something from Fumio's words.

"You mean Kichirou-san is not around?" She asks.

"Yes. It will be me who will do the massage services today, dear guest." Fumio informs them.

"HUHH???" The two ladies exclaim in surprise.

Fumio knows that unlike Red, he has not established trust among the customers of the shop, much less with the female ones. He could have asked for a female disguise from Red but he figures that he will already be breaking the customer's trust before even establishing it, so he decided to simply give service as his real self.

"Yes. On behalf of the shop, I apologize for the last minute changes." He bows in apology, understanding the two's concerns.

"It's fine, Fumio san. But I hope we can trust your skills." Arina can only accept the changes.

"Yes, dear guest. I assure you that my service is in no way inferior to Kotone's. Kichirou-san is confident in substituting Kotone with me after all. '' Fumio assures them.

Fumio is confident with his massage skills. When he gets bored training, also practices his massage through free home visits to the elderly villagers of Hinohara, allowing him to actually practice his massage skills as often as Kotone does.

With how flexible he is, he also gives his own body massages if Red is not available to treat his aching body.

While he admits that his massage skills may be a bit inferior to Kotone's, he is confident that he can provide a quality of service that is better than Kotone's by relying on his spiritual spiritual energy which maximizes the massage solutions' effectiveness.

Another advantage he has over Kotone is his newfound knowledge of how the massage solutions work, providing a logical purpose to every massage maneuver he does.

"Anyways. From the amount you already paid us, it seems that all the members of your group are attending?" Fumio asks.

"Yes. They are on their way." Manager Konno confirms.

"Shall we start then?" Fumio asks, seeing that the clock has already struck 8.

"Then please take care of me." Arina wants to go first.

Half an hour later.

"Zzz zzz… hn?"

Arina wakes up and sees a familiar ceiling.

She then looks around and finds herself lying on the massage table, isolated from the rest of the massage room behind a panel divider and realizes that she has fallen asleep during her massage.

From beyond the panel divider, she can hear Fumio and Manager Konno chatting, with Manager Konno moaning and grunting from time to time. She then removes the linens covering her body, gets up, grabs the bathrobe hanging on the panel divider, and puts it on.

She then steps out from the covers of the divider to join Fumio and Manager Konno.

"Dear guest, you're awake." Fumio acknowledges her before continuing his work on Manager Konno.

"My goodness. You're as good as Kichirou-san." Arina gives Fumio her review. She stayed quiet during her massage as she was very immersed in the soothing feeling the process provided her.

"I never fell asleep from Kotone-san's massages." She adds.

"I noticed the difference too." Manager Konno agrees.

Fumio is satisfied by the two's reviews, but feels bad for Kotone.

He also scoffs in wonder, remembering Red's prediction: 'They won't notice the difference between our skills.'. Red accurately predicted the two ladies' reactions to his first massage to them.

"Thank you, guests." He however does not correct them from their assumption that his skills are as good as Red's.

In addition to Red predicting the clients' reactions, '...But don't tell them that…' Red also asked him not to correct them. As for why Red wanted that, he does not know why.

"By the way… Kotone told me about the linens… I also noticed the new couches... it seems that you all made yourselves home in the shop." He chuckles. 

Before the two guests came in earlier, he noticed that the shop's couches were replaced with new ones that can transform into huge cushioned recliners.

"Kotone-nee was nice enough to let us sleep here the entire day. She also replaced the couches. She said it's Kichirou-san's way of thanking our patronage." Arina says.

"Too bad the lounge is too small to accommodate them all. That's why we divided the group into two, one half for the morning, the other half for the afternoon." Manager Konno explains.

"I see. I hope Boss can expand the shop to the entire floor." Fumio wants the best for Musume46.

"I'll go take a shower, and continue my sleep." Arina excuses herself.

"Uh, Fumio-san?... Not that I'm not satisfied with Kotone-san's massage but… Are you here just for the day? Will Kotone-san be back next time?" Manager Konno asks.

Fumio smirks at the question.

"No. I will take over the shop until further notice from Boss." Fumio's answer makes Manager Konno relieved.

"Where is she, by the way?" Manager Konno asks, worrying about Kotone's sudden absence.

"She's resuming her training under boss. When she's done, she's probably as good as me by then." Fumio answers with a white lie.

In actuality, Kotone has recently accessed her spirit root and meridians, making her spiritual energy training begin.

"I see. Is that why you were gone for so long? You were training under Kichirou-san?" Manager Konno asks.

"That's right." Fumio confirms

…

7 pm soon arrives, and Fumio's last massage for the day concludes. He then steps out to the lounge area to find 8 members of Musume46 still in the shop.

"Thank you guests for coming. I hope my services were satisfactory." He gives them a customer service bow.

"It was great, Fumio-san!"

"You are like Kichirou-san.."

The girls also give him their thanks.

Seeing the guests' satisfied expressions also brings him satisfaction. That satisfaction cannot be seen in his face however. After all, even though he adores the pop idols, the smiles he brings out of the elderly villagers with his free services back in Hinohara, brings him more joy.

After the guests leave, Fumio sighs deeply as he plops himself down in one of the couches in the lounge. Even though he is not tired and that he still has a quarter of his spiritual energy reserves remaining, performing sixteen consecutive massage services in great concentration, in great control of his physical strength, and doing so without breaks for ten hours, exhausted his mind.

He regrets not drinking one of Red's special teas: the one that preserves his physical and mental endurance.

"Nice work today, Fumio-san." Haruto then gives his words of approval as he hands Fumio a warm cup of tea.

"Thank you, Haruto." Fumio gladly takes a sip.

He is also feeling proud of bringing out the same satisfaction from the customers that he saw Red  bring them.

"Oh… did you get a chance to grab lunch by the way?" He asks Haruto, not wanting to dwell too much on the achievement.

"I didn't, but…" Haruto looks away guilty.

"What?" Fumio gets interested in the face Haruto is making.

"The guests uh… I uh... I can't refuse the snacks they keep insisting on me… so… " Haruto scratches his cheek in embarassment.

"..." Fumio gets the urge to flick Haruto's forehead.

"Tsk.  Whatever." He can only click his tongue.

"Good job today too. I'll treat you to dinner." He then offers.

"I didn't do much -" Haruto is taken aback by a free dinner from someone he just met today.

"I can hear adoring giggles towards you from the massage room." Fumio rolls his eyes, embarrassing Haruto. "How about ramen? Man, I miss REAL ramen. Can't have one in the countryside." He insists …

<>

The two young men just finished a huge dinner and are on their way home.

"Hmmm.. we seem to be heading the same way, Fumio-san." Haruto notices.

"Ah. My apartment is in that building." Fumio points at a residential high-rise in the distance. 

"Ah… you live right next to my building?" Haruto is surprised.

"Yes. It was me who recommended your place to Kotone." Fumio reveals.

"I see. I think we'll run into each other often." Haruto is pleased that his new acquaintance is also a neighbor.

"Yeah. Now that I'm back in the shop again, I will spend more time here." Fumio nods.

"By the way. And don't take this the wrong way." He suddenly gets curious.

"What is it Fumio-san?"

"Are you fine with your sister spending more and more time away recently?" He asks. 

"I'm fine. Why?" Haruto is confused at the question.

"It's just... Kotone has been protective of you. But recently, she has been fine leaving you here alone for days." Fumio is worried that the cute and naïve looking Haruto is prone to being picked on.

"Ah… I see." Haruto smiles bitterly.

"I'm actually glad she's spending more time for herself." He feels guilty about Kotone sacrificing her youth just to take care of him.

"I should be the one protecting her now."

"Yeah?" This gets Fumio interested.

"Uhuh. Since Kichirou-san cured me, my superioris ability continued to grow. The last assessment of my abilities put me in mid tier D-Class." Haruto reveals.

"Really?" Fumio is pleasantly surprised.

After all, it puts Fumio in the top 5% of the superiori.

"Yeah. If she didn't tell me that Kichirou-san is a high class superiori and that she is safe in his care, I probably would have gone with her to wherever she is right now." Haruto chuckles.

'If only you knew, buddy…' Fumio smirks.

"She's right. Where she is working right now is one of the safest places I know." He adds on Kotone's cover-up story.

"Then I'm even more assured." Haruto sighs in relief.

"Alright then. I guess, good night, huh. Let's meet again in the shop the day after tomorrow… I'm excited for you to meet the regulars that your sister can't provide service to." Fumio is comfortable parting with Haruto for the night. 

Haruto tilts his head in confusion at Fumio's words, but nods nonetheless. "I will see you then, Fumio-san.. It was nice to meet you."