Within a humble-looking spa somewhere in Tokyo was a tall and attractive woman casually sweeping the floor as her staff prepared for another day of work. It was just before opening and the newest employee, Hiro, found himself nestled within the front pocket of her apron as she got ready to open. He may have been pressed up against her very well-endowed chest, but there was another thing making him nervous. The little guy wasn't averse to his new job there but he still wasn't used to it either. As she tied her hair up into a ponytail and flipped the close sign to open, Hiro got a bad feeling about what customers would be coming in.
"Look, kid. I get that it's a scary job but you shivering like a freak against my tit is startin' to get pretty annoying." Brash and tomboyish, as always she had no problem airing out such personal details to her newest (and only) male employee.
"Sorry, I'm just super nervous for today, Boss. I've got a super bad feeling." Hiro yelled up to her, peeking his head over the edge of her apron pocket, only to be picked up soon after.
"Kid..." Bringing Hiro up to her face, she stared at him with a look of confidence. Her massive dark brown eyes intimidated the hell out of him, but they were oddly comforting at the same time. "You've got nothin' to be nervous about. You're a natural at this shit, so stop being such a scaredy-cat."
Overhearing their conversation, one of the spa's pedicurists, a "seemingly" sweet girl by the name of Kyoko Kaname, Decided to also give the little guy some words of encouragement.
"Yeah! You got this Hiro!" She cheered, her smile filling him with a bit of confidence. "And once our shift’s over I’ll take you to dinner to reward you for your hard work, hehe~"
Winking, she placed him back into Boss’s apron and went back to her station. While it was a pretty shallow reason, just thinking about dating such a cute girl was more than enough to motivate Hiro. Taking a deep breath, the tiny boy calmed himself down and stared at the door with confidence flowing through his veins. However, as the door swung open and a familiar face walked through the door that confidence quickly evaporated into thin air.
"Heya!!" Walking into the spa was a girl with pink twin tails. Wearing her track and field jacket, the girl that had completely erased his confidence was a returning customer that Hiro had a particularly scary experience with. Smiling smugly towards Boss and her tiny passenger, she waved at the two of them while walking closer.
“It’s so awesome to see ya again little guy.” She giggled, watching Hiro sink back into the apron pocket. Unlike the first time she handed him over to the girl, Boss actually put her foot down. While it was indeed Hiro’s job to satisfy a customer’s stress relief needs, it was clear that the girl had gone way too far during her last visit and it was the Boss’s responsibility to stand up for her employees.
“Look here girly, if you think you show your face here again after what you did to the kid, you’ve got another thing coming.” Cracking her knuckles she shot the smug teen with a very intense and menacing glare. Backing up, with a nervous laugh, the pink-haired girl very quickly pleaded her case with the Boss.
“This is a seriously important issue though, I swear!” She exclaimed, getting on her knees. “If you don’t help us out then our team’s not gonna make it to nationals!”
“Us?” Kyoko asked, peeking into the waiting room.
“Yeah… as much as I hate it, I’m very aware that I’m banned from this spa, but our captain isn’t.” She said, impatiently looking at her watch. “She had this real nasty break up and she keeps saying that it doesn’t bother her, but everyone on the team can tell that it definitely does. She’s been seriously underperforming and worst of all, she won’t even hang out or, like, talk to us. As rough as I may have been, that little guy seriously helped out last time I was here, and even if we don’t make it to nationals… I at least want her to be able to move it.” The girl said, tearing up slightly.
“Look, I’m sorry to hear that but if all the girl’s in your little clique are as bad as you then there ain’t a chance in hell I’ll let him—” Before Boss could finish her sentence, Hiro poked his head up from her apron pocket and very boldly accepted the girl’s request.
“I’ll do it!” He yelled very hesitantly. He knew full well that it was a dumb decision, but his nature just wouldn’t let something potentially serious pass him by, even if he ended up regretting it later. Hearing his compliance, the girl couldn’t seem happier. Wiping her tears, she practically jumped with joy before peeking her head out of the shop.
“Oh crap, she’s almost here. Please give her the usual spiel, I really don’t want her to know that I gossiped about her to complete strangers.” Pausing to remember what she did to Hiro last time, the girl quickly smirked. “Well, not complete strangers but that’s beside the point! Either way, just some words of advice, Ryuuki’s a little…” By the time the girl could finish struggling to find the right words, the door had already flung open and their new client stepped inside.
“Scary! That’s the right word, yep.” Nodding her head, she failed to notice the almost 6’5” monster of a high school student. Short dark brown hair and piercing green eyes, the tall track captain strode into the spa almost hitting her head in the door frame. Pretty much everyone who saw her was almost speechless. Boss was already super tall to most of the staff, but seeing this random high school girl stand a head taller than her was pretty intimidating. Despite all the earlier theatrics, Hiro was way more terrified than he thought was possible. After some standard greetings and some peer pressure from her friend, Ryuuki eventually agreed to a 2-hour "stress relief session."
Leaving her beat-up running shoes by the door, Boss led Ryuuki into one of the private rooms before dropping her tiny employee off so the two of them could enjoy some "alone time." Shivering with fear, Hiro stood on the soft floor of the recently refurbished "massage room #1." While he had treated guests many times before within the room, or rather while guests treated themselves with him, Hiro had never felt more intimidated. He had dealt with stressed-out college and high school students before but despite the girl in front of him being yet another one of them, it was clear that this would be the most difficult customer.
"God, what a waste of my damn time." She snarled, her voice bouncing off the walls of the small room as she stomped menacingly towards the cowering little guy. Backing away, Hiro couldn’t explain why but something felt wrong about this whole situation. "Is beating up on some masochistic little shrimp supposed to make me feel better or somethin?!" From a glance, it was easy to see how much rage had been building up inside her, and in almost an instant, Hiro felt the full force of that rage as Ryuuki kicked him as hard as she could. It felt like a missile had hit him dead on, and its “explosion” had sent the poor guy flying.
After almost a month of working as the spa's living stress toy, Ryuuki's kick was by far the most painful experience. It was a miracle that he survived even the first day of this job, not to mention the countless life-threatening situations that followed after. Whether it was being stepped on by the high heel of a stressed-out office lady or stuffed inside the shoe of a college girl during exam season, Hiro always found a way to get back up uninjured, Ryuuki’s kick was no exception. Every experience still hurt like hell though so it wasn’t exactly a blessing, but despite all the pain, Hiro always felt happy knowing that he was helping people out. While thinking about all the past customers, Hiro finally understood why it felt so wrong. Writhing in pain near the corner of the room, Hiro stared at the girl with blurred vision. Even if he spent a year as her personal stress toy, it wasn’t going to help. Stress wasn’t the problem and letting her vent out all her anger was not going to help either. If Hiro wanted to actually help, he needed to handle her delicately, but given how violent Ryuuki was, it was going to be quite the uphill battle, to say the least…