Tensei Skill Shop Chapter 9

Tensei Skill Shop

Disclaimer: I own nothing

Chapter 9:

“Raise your head, Rick.”

I blinked, then did so. Sano was looking at me approvingly. 

“I’m not so cruel as to force you to discard someone you’ve already bonded with.” Seeing the question in my eyes, he continued, “Yes, I can see the bond between you and these two.”

“Then…”

“While this one,” He pointed at Matsu, who pouted at being referred to as such, “Has an ability I can see being useful to my job here, I don’t see the same for her.”

I felt a hand grab onto mine, and knew without looking it was Uzume. I squeezed back, trying to comfort her.

“What about a trade?” I proposed, “A skill to let her stay here with us?”

“I can accept that, but as usual, that depends on the skill.” Sano intertwined his fingers together in the Gendo pose again.

“Would this be enough?” I took out the item within my pocket.

“Eh!? That’s- when did you?!” Matsu gasped, recognizing what I held in my hand.

It was the Jinki that Matsu stole from MBI. A clear crystal in the shape of a long crystal, with a spherical bead in its center along with the number 8. The two Sekireis weren’t expecting it to be in my possession instead of in Matsu’s.

“Sorry, Matsu,” I quickly apologized, “But I took it from the start, in case I needed leverage to make you hear me out. I ended up forgetting about it because of what happened- Ow ow owwww, Uzume!”

My hand was currently getting crushed in a very powerful grip, but I didn’t try to break free of it, choosing to suffer Uzume’s anger instead. After a few more seconds of it, she relented and let up on the pressure, though she didn’t let go of my hand.

“Even if you’re my Ashikabi, I don’t appreciate being tricked like that,” She rebuked me.

“That’s right, Rick-tan!” Matsu complained as well, already assigning me a nickname.

“As amusing as this is, what sort of skill do you expect to be trading to me in the form of that crystal?”

I looked at the two Sekireis, a silent question in my eyes, and they nodded in response; the emotional bond between us was enough to convey our respective meanings, and they gave their permission for the idea I had. Now that they were in another world and out of the reach of MBI, the Jinki’s importance wasn’t the same.

Turning back to Sano, I began to explain.

The Jinki were associated with the Sekirei themselves, because they were linked to the core that existed within every Sekirei. That meant it had a connection with the [Sekirei] skill, which in turn meant that Sano could create adaptations of the skill. As for what it could do, there was the obvious physical boost and a chance of a random superpower, but I was thinking more of the empowering bond effect, and I proposed the idea of making a Tamer-related skill that could make use of it. 

I could see the idea interested him, and apparently my hope carried over to Uzume as well, because I winced when she squeezed my already bruised hand.

“I’ve worked with the Jinki before,” Matsu volunteered, “So I can help with deciphering the system.”

Sano looked at her curiously, making her shrink back a little, but she continued to speak.

“That’s what Rick came to recruit me for, right? My computer skills with programming systems? And if it’s the Jinki we’re talking about, then I’m the best person to handle it,” The Sekirei said with forced confidence.

“If it’s not enough, I can-” I began to add.

The god held up a hand, making us go silent. “I’m thinking about it.”

After an uncomfortable minute, with me not daring to look away in case it detracted from my negotiating position, Sano finally announced his decision.

“I’m willing to let her stay with you in exchange for this Jinki and the skill it contains, though there will be conditions.”

Then again, I didn’t have a good position to begin with… so much for it being a test of character.  “What sort of conditions?” I asked cautiously, placing the Jinki on his desk.

He closed his fingers into a fist, then began raising them one by one as he named the conditions.

“FIrst, Matsu will have to go through a proper interview with me, as well as a skill assessment test,” He said, and I saw Matsu nod in acceptance out of the corner of my eyes. “Second, both you and her will have a clause added to your employment contracts.”

“What sort of clause?” The nervousness in my voice was evident, and Uzume squeezed my hand again. Hope it’s not something too bad.

“Proper work behavior while in the store, and a minimum standard of performance,” Sano answered. “And third, you will be going out on another dispatch job for me, but not to deliver. Instead, you will be retrieving skills.”

Whew, not a black company type contract change. “What does that entail, exactly?” I asked for clarification on the third condition.

According to Sano, sometimes when the holder of the skill passed away, it didn’t go back into the system because of some error in synchronicity. In such an event, the skill would usually just stay there until the god in charge noticed and retrieved it to return to Sano, but on a rare occasion, the skill would either degrade or go out of control. For cases like that, it often necessitated divine intervention, but if the native gods couldn’t handle it, then it became a bigger problem, especially since having a foreign god like Sano take care of it resulted in… complications.

Not exactly an easy task, but I believed I could handle it.

“And fourth…” Sano raised a fourth finger, then folded his hand back into a fist that he perched his chin on, “Well, it’s not really a condition, but a warning.”

“What is this warning?”

“As Uzume is not one of my employees, she’s not under my protection.”

It took a moment for the meaning of his words to sink in for me, and it caused the emotion of worry to spike within my chest. “Right…”

“Those are the three conditions I have. Do you accept them?” Sano asked.

“Rick-tan, what does that warning mean?” Matsu asked me quietly.

“I’ll explain later.”

Uzume tried to speak up, but Sano just silenced her once more. The choice lay solely with me. 

I took a quick look at Uzume, who grabbed onto my wrist with her other hand while looking at me pleadingly. Turning the other way, Matsu’s face was tinged with worry, but was mostly encouraging.

As unintended as it was, I was now an Ashikabi to these two Sekirei, and that meant I ought to act like one and take care of them.

Meeting Sano’s gaze, I gave a quick, definite nod. “I accept.”

Despite the whole intensity of that meeting in his office, Matsu’s interview with Sano went by so easily that I couldn’t help thinking the whole confrontation was just a test of character. I had been so worried about it that I practically forced her to watch some Youtube videos on how to act when facing a job interview, but it hadn’t been anything like that. 

What did you do before, how do the skills you have enabled you to do that, and how well do you think you can get on with your coworker, those were the questions he asked Matsu. As for the skill assessment test, Sano granted her a bit of knowledge in analyzing and manipulating skills, and had her handle the ones I collected from the Harem Labyrinth world. She managed to figure them out in less than a minute, and that was that.

In terms of her work responsibilities, Matsu would be working with the data pertaining to other worlds and their respective systems, which included stuff like analyzing the nuances of their functions and integration with the skills in the shop. With enough experience, she could even progress to modifying them, which was the purpose of the job training included in her employment contract. There was also the living accommodations and other benefits like I had included too, so I didn’t have to squeeze them into my room. Finally, since she was working behind the scenes, Matsu’s salary wasn’t as high as mine, but it was still relatively well off. 

Enough so that the two of us could theoretically support Uzume, though the expression the younger Sekirei wore made it clear that she had no intention of being a freeloader.

Speaking of employment contracts, I checked the clause about proper workplace behavior that Sano wanted to include for Matsu and I. Lewd behavior was forbidden outside of the living space; that included kissing and petting, no need to mention anything beyond that. Breaking this rule would see us penalized, which could go all the way up to termination of employment, and that was something I really didn’t want to see happen. 

It’s going to be tough enduring the temptation of these two… I used my mental exhaustion as an excuse to cover my eyes and tilt my head back. They’re way too hot to look at.

“Rick-tan, you said you would explain what that warning meant,” Matsu inquired.

“Ah, that… you know that this shop sells skills to gods, right?”

“Yes, you said that before,” Uzume answered affirmatively.

“Some of them tried to kidnap or lure me away from the shop to their worlds before, but Sano’s protection kept me from falling to those.” I uncovered my eyes to gaze at the white-clad girl. “So if you aren’t under his protection, then you could be taken away.”

“That’s not good, Uzume-tan… We couldn’t do anything when faced with that,” Matsu reminded her. 

“So the best thing to do for now is for you to just stay out of the main shop floor during working hours.”

Uzume nodded. “I can do that. But I want to do what I can to help you all too, instead of just hiding away.”

“Then the best thing would be to find some way to get Uzume-tan hired here too,” The glasses-wearing Sekirei suggested.

“That’s what I thought of too,” I agreed, “It’ll take some time, but I believe we can do it.”

“I’ll wait patiently then.” Uzume looked down at my hand, which was turning a rather distinct shade of purple. “Is your hand going to be okay? I’m sorry I hurt you.”

“No need to worry, I kind of deserved it by taking away and offering up the Jinki in the first place. Besides…” I held it up for both of them to see. “[Cure].”

Green sparkles appeared momentarily around the injured appendage, leaving it completely healed afterwards.

“Amazing! Just how many skills do you have, Rick-tan?” 

“I’ve got quite a few,” I said modestly.

“Hold on a moment… Rick-kun, what’s this job persona thing that’s in your contract?” Uzume demanded, holding up the new version of the contract.

I explained it to them, and they didn’t like it much. However, I was able to convince them to withhold their objections, mainly because it was tied to too many benefits to give up.

The three of us were currently sitting in the room granted to Matsu, which was quite similar to mine, except that it had a workstation instead of a door to a training room. She could access the shop’s stock of skills from the pad there, to carry out her work with them. There was an additional bed meant for Uzume too, but I could see that we needed to get a lot of stuff required for daily living. Namely toiletries and clothes.

Guess I should abandon my plan for visiting another world tomorrow while Sano’s still here for this week. There’s a lot to do to get these two up to date with living in this world.

“Rick-tan, don’t make that face, okay?” Matsu said to me, smiling softly.

“That’s right, you should smile more,” Uzume chimed in.

I looked at the pair of earnest eyes staring at me, and let out a snort of amusement. “Alright, I’ll try to cheer up. Also, same to you, Uzume.”

“What?”

Feeling a bit bold, I reached out and grabbed both of her hands with mine. “I prefer you to be smiling too.”

Her brown eyes looked back at mine, dropping to rest for a moment on our joined hands, then back up at my face. A light blush spread across her cheeks, and she looked away, though she didn’t pull her hands out of my hold.

Matsu was watching with a very wide grin. “Ufufufu~ I didn’t expect our Ashikabi to be such a flirt!” 

“You shush!”

“Matsu. Uzume.” I called their names.

“Yes, Rick-tan?”

“What is it?”

“I look forward to getting along with the two of you. My Sekireis.” I thought it would be cringe to say that, but it’s surprisingly not.

“Likewise, my Ashikabi.”

“Same here, Rick-tan!”

…

‘How’s work over there? Meet any girls?’ My brother messaged me.

I don’t really like to chat with him much because of how pushy he can be, but I guess I should do it now. ‘Actually, I did. Two new workers.’

‘Older or younger than you?’

‘Younger’

It took several minutes before his response came. ‘Thinking of dating them?’

I sensed her approach moments before a pair of arms wrapped themselves around my shoulders, and a head leaned against the side of mine. Her long hair tickled against my skin, and I could smell the scent of her shampoo.

“Who are you messaging?” Uzume asked me. “A friend?”

“My brother.”

“So I’m a fellow worker? What would Sano say if he knew you were claiming that?” She teased.

“It’s just a convenient excuse. He doesn’t know the truth about this shop, not that I’m allowed to say it.”

Uzume released her hold on me and came around to sit down next to me. “Then how were you able to tell the two of us?”

I didn’t answer, being too busy staring at her appearance. Her clothing… or lack of it.

“Uzume…?”

“Yes?”

“Where are your clothes?”

“They’re in the wash right now, and besides, it’s okay since it’s you.”

Damn, they’re big… and so nicely shaped. Plus the tips… they’re actually pink. And the way her hair hangs down over her body just makes her look even more sexier.

[9200 LP]

My Life Power… it’s over NINE THOUSAAAAAND! I made the reference in my head.

“Look all you like, Rick-kun,” Uzume told me with a grin. 

My brain rebooted at that moment. 

“I was able to tell you and Matsu because I got permission from Sano when I told him I wanted to recruit her,” I answered her earlier question. It’s a good thing that this place has good temperature control, because I recall freezing in my previous sharehouse. I wouldn’t want her to go through that.

“Heh~ I see.”

As expected, living with these two Sekirei was a rather stimulating experience for me. I was pretty sure they were doing it on purpose, especially after they found out about the relation between LP and the skills I gained from Olivia, and how I could gain more LP.

Plus the fact that Matsu managed to find my poorly hidden porn folder on my laptop and figured out my kinks from that, but that was on me. I was too focused on buying toiletries and other daily necessities for them and didn’t realize until it was too late.

In the few days since they arrived, both of them had managed to acclimate themselves quite well. Matsu took to her work pretty quickly, and came up with some interesting modifications to skills that she used to help earn a lot of DP by reselling them to Sano. Meanwhile, Uzume didn’t let her lack of employment hold her back; by loading herself with the basic skills and with a bit of help from her fellow Sekirei, she had already started a small online business of crafting costumes on commission. And when she wasn’t doing that, she would help us out by taking on the housekeeper tasks of cooking and cleaning.

As for how they achieved so much so quickly? That tied back to my Olivia-granted skills.

I couldn’t use [‘Creation’] any more until I returned to that world, but I could still use [Editing] well enough. Since I still held a bunch of minor skills, plus the weapons and equipment from Ivalice that I could relearn skills from, Matsu came up with some ingenious ideas about modifications. I went along with her plan, and we gained quite a few valuable ones that Sano was willing to shell out a lot of DP for.

While the god was technically away from the shop, Matsu’s job allowed her to make contact with him more often, so she had no trouble conveying the news and sealing the deal. Uzume and I had been so surprised when the glasses-wearing girl came out of her room to show us how much our balance of DP had increased by. Then just like an investment scheme, she suggested channeling those gains back into purchasing more skills for us to work with, to which we agreed.

But there was a limit to how much I could use [Editing], and that limit was my LP. For more powerful skills, [Editing] would cost even more, so the two Sekireis volunteered to help increase my stock of LP however they could.

The rule about no lewd behavior didn’t apply within the living space, after all.

We still had yet to go all the way, but just like Noir Stardia as his harem began expanding, every day included hugs and kisses. It did quite a lot to heal my spirit after a day of work.

“Say, Rick, can we continue watching the Sekirei anime tonight?” Uzume asked.

“Sure, but where’s Matsu?” I looked in the direction of the door, and spotted a pile of abandoned clothes there. “Uzume?”

“Yes?”

“Are those your clothes there?”

“They could be.”

Despite her playful answer, I already knew the answer that I hadn’t realized from the start. Sano’s rule included stuff like indecent exposure, so there was no way Uzume could have come here from the washing room naked, since it would mean passing through the main corridor in that state. She had entered my room quietly, then stripped down so she could show off her body like this.

“Did you get a lot of LP from it?” Uzume inquired, cuddling up against me.

“Yes, but I think that’s enough stimulation for me for now.” I turned my head and pecked on her temple. “Thanks.”

The twinge of joy from her made my LP go up even more. “Anything for you. I’ll go call Matsu-chan, so we can watch the next few episodes together!” 

“Alright. I’ll queue up the episodes first.”

Uzume sashayed over to her clothes, the curves of her pert butt swaying behind the locks of her long hair. “You can watch me get dressed too, if that’s what you want.”

“Just go already,” I shooed her.

I looked at my phone again, still on my brother’s last message. After a while more, I finally entered my reply and sent it.

‘Maybe.’

As the weekdays passed, I continued to learn more about my version of Matsu and Uzume, who continued to act differently from the ones that appeared in the canon series. I didn’t just show them the anime series of Sekirei and Sekirei: Pure Engagement, but also had them read through the manga as well, since that went all the way to the end of the story. I enjoyed experiencing the whole story once more alongside them, and it made it easier to understand how their personalities were shaped by their surroundings.

Uzume was quite similar to her canon self in her teasing and cheerful nature, but she was also more responsible and relaxed due to taking on a caretaker role, rather than the one who only cared about seeing her Ashikabi Chiho smile happily despite facing pursuit from MBI and being blackmailed into doing dirty deeds. If I had to name the biggest difference, it was that my Uzume was more open about herself, happily sharing about the small things she did during the day while Matsu and I were working in the shop. 

The opposite could be said of Matsu, who didn’t have to hide in a secret room to avoid MBI’s hunters, constantly keeping track of them to stay beneath their radar. In addition to working with skills, she also gained a fascination for exploring the Internet further afield, especially with the multiversal access granted to her by Sano’s shop. We had to remind her not to get too engrossed a few times, but Matsu never bore bad feelings towards us for it. She had a tendency to ask for ‘payment’ in affection in return instead.

Likewise, they learned more about me in return. I wasn’t anything like Sahashi Minato or Hidaka Chiho, but my willingness to lower my head to Sano for them had earned me quite a number of points, and they appreciated the small things I tried to do for them.

Despite all the small differences, they were still Sekirei, and their emotional bond with me as their Ashikabi was very deep indeed.

“So what sort of customers did you see this time, Rick-tan? Which one stood out to you the most?” Matsu asked me over dinner on Friday night.

“Hmm… I would say it’s the god that came for a single skill upgrade.”

“Huh, why’s that?”

“It’s the first god I’ve seen as a repeat customer.”

Uzume made a sound of curious interest. “Tell us more, Rick-kun.”

“Well, the world the god is from is one of those medieval ones, and the skill was for a reincarnator. I think I saw it back on my first or second day, actually.” I took a sip of the soup Uzume made, which tasted amazing. “It only bought… [Talent Appraisal], I believe.”

“And this time?”

“An upgrade that allowed the skill holder to perceive the history of the appraised subject in bigger detail.”

“Oh, that’s a good idea!” Matsu spoke up, “Skill upgrades for sale, just like DLC for games!”

“Finish your food first before you go experimenting with those ideas,” Uzume said firmly, her smile hardening a little.

“Of course, Uzume-tan! I wouldn’t want to miss your delicious food!”

Nodding, the Sekirei turned back to me. “Go on, Rick-kun, tell us more about your day?”

The [Sekirei] skill was still being worked on by Sano, and just this morning he had given me permission to tell some of the gods to look forward to a new range of products based on it, which he expected to have done by next week.

Skill-loaded equipment was starting to catch on a little, with how customizable it was to just pull up some weapon, and load it with the right mix of skills through the pad. The main moving product was still the skills in their raw form though. I also tried to interest some goddesses in purchasing fancy costumes made by Uzume based on some fashion designs she found online, but it was difficult coming up with the right skills to fit them. According to Matsu, we were lacking something in the system to tie it all together in a single outfit.

“By the way, what are your plans for this weekend, Rick-tan?” She asked me after we were done eating.

Uzume was washing the dishes, but I could tell she was paying attention as well.

“Firstly, I’ll be going back to see Olivia, to refresh the number of uses for [‘Creation’]. After that, I might have to handle the retrieval task Sano has for me, but I don’t have anything else planned after that.”

While Sekireis would deactivate if their Ashikabi died, we didn’t have to worry about that happening to these two if I went to another world, thanks to Matsu’s work.

“I see…” She nodded to herself, one hand rubbing her chin thoughtfully.

“What are you planning, Matsu?”

“Ufufufu… just look forward to it!”

A chime from my phone drew my attention, and I saw it was a message from Sano, saying that he had just arrived in his office, waiting for me to see him at my own convenience. I informed the two of them about that, and once Uzume was done with the washing, we headed off to see the god.

“You all look like you’ve settled in well. Glad to see no one tried to break the rules,” Sano greeted us in a slightly curt manner.

I noticed he didn’t object to Uzume’s presence despite her not being actually employed. 

“First of all, good job this past week, especially you, Matsu,” He praised her with an appreciative smile. “You’ve improved my job’s reputation by a very noticeable amount with all the reworking done. So I’ve included a small bonus in your paycheck this week. Same for you, Rick. The compliment from the customers has earned you a small tip as well.”

That was mainly due to the job persona, but I wasn’t going to say no. While my payslip was the usual bank transfer notification, the employed Sekirei didn’t have a bank account available, so her payment came in the form of a thick envelope, the sort an employee would use to carry a week’s whole takings to the bank for depositing.

“Glad to hear that!” Matsu replied cheerfully, taking the envelope of money from him. “Oh, regarding the identification papers?”

“I was expecting you to ask that, and I have them prepared as you requested.” Sano took out two large envelopes meant for containing identity documents. 

It was a surprise to the two of us who were out of the loop.

“Matsu-chan, you did that already?”

“As expected of Matsu… beating me to it.” 

Matsu took out enough ten thousand yen notes to pay the price he asked for the documents, and they quickly looked through them. They now held full names and Japan citizenships, arranged through Sano’s divine connections.

Hire Uzume and Chie Matsu… straight up using the words for Veil and Wisdom respectively, but I wasn’t going to voice any objections. 

“Thank you, Sano-san,” Uzume said, smiling at the god.

“I will fulfill any deals I made, that’s all.” 

From the look he was giving me, he was expecting me to do the same. 

“Do you need me to do this retrieval task right now?” I asked politely.

“No, but I would advise you to do it sooner before the skill starts to degrade.”

“Then can I revisit Olivia first? I think I need to make use of [‘Creation’] a bit more.” I turned to the two girls, who were watching me patiently. “Will you be okay for a bit?”

“Don’t worry so much, Rick-tan! Just go and do what you have to!” Matsu encouraged me.

Uzume nodded with a smile of her own. “We’ll be fine. Have some faith in your Sekirei!”

“Alright. I’ll be back soon.” I looked back at Sano. “I’m ready.”

“Don’t take too long.”

I found myself standing outside the cave entrance once more, in the middle of the day. Quickly making my way inside, I soon arrived back in front of Olivia, who looked like she always did.

<You’re back! I was so lonely waiting for you~!> Her telepathic voice sounded in my head.

“Yup, I’m back to visit,” I confirmed, petting on the head again.

<That’s not enough.>

“What isn’t?”

<Petting me on the head isn’t enough to make up for making me wait for so long. Pet me elsewhere too.> 

Don’t fall for her trap. Give her an inch, and she’ll take a mile. I just continued to smile and pet her head, despite the temptation to touch elsewhere. I’ve got two pairs waiting for me back in my world.

<Tch.> Olivia pouted, telepathically. <So, what have you been doing with the skills I gave you?>

I told her about the two worlds I visited after receiving the skills from her, getting a bunch of skills that didn’t work too well because of the system differences, and recruiting a pair of hot beautiful alien girls. Olivia definitely liked hearing about the latter one, and I could see her getting along very well with Matsu if they ever met each other. 

I also told her about how I earned a bunch of LP and spent it on modifying skills since I had limited uses of [‘Creation’], which she approved wholeheartedly. With the amount of LP I had saved up, it was now time to start using [‘Creation’] to the fullest.

I didn’t know what sort of danger lay waiting for me on Sano’s task, but it was best to be overprepared for it.

Afterword: This chapter fought me quite a bit, as though balancing out the ease with which I wrote the last one. As it is, I wrote like 2.5k words at first, then decided to delete 2k just to start over when I felt like I was struggling too much. Thankfully, the second try proved a lot easier to flow, though I had to adjust and tweak some parts when my muse pointed out places that needed it. Look forward to the next world, because I’ve got an interesting one.