Yakuzaverse/Who's The Boss?

"She what?" yelled the Director, drawing a surprisingly low amount of eyes in the process.

The cameraman timidly bowed his head. "N-Nami-chan got hired by another studio, sir, I thought--"

"This is the first I've heard of it, and we're supposed to start shooting a scene with her in an hour! Tell me she's still showing up!"

"N-no, sir, they made her a better offer...they're paying her almost twice as much! She said she had no reason to work with us now..."

"Damn it! She knows we can't afford any more than we were paying..." The director turned away from his cowering underling and kicked an errant pebble into the street. "How are we supposed to do this scene now?"

"Well," the cameraman suggested, "We could...find a replace...ment..." He trailed off, as if assuming his advice was going to be shouted down.

"But Nami-chan is irreplaceable! Where else are we going to find someone as commanding as her? Someone as powerful, as domineering? The fans loved her attitude, her force, her perpetually grumpy expression...just who else could fill in that gap in our cast?"

The cameraman pointed with care, trying not to be noticed. "Um...how about her?"

• Title drop.

The director's gaze fixed on me immediately. "Kenji-kun, you've done it! That's her! That powerful poise, that perpetually grumpy expression, that mane of red hair that dares you to look at it!"

"...Can I help you?" I asked.

The director and his lackey bowed at me in perfect unison. "Please be in our film!"

"You're gonna have to slow down, guys."

The director straightened up. "My greatest apologies! We haven't introduced ourselves. My name is Director Iwata, and this is my faithful cameraman, Kenji-kun."

Kenji was still bowing, so he bowed deeper, in a sort of double bow. "It is my unending pleasure to have met you!" he yelled so fast that I barely heard it.

"Oh. Uh, I'm Ruby." I gave them a little bow myself, trying not to let my hat fall off, like it tended to do when bowing. "Now, what film is this you're needing to shoot?"

Iwata snapped upright. "We work for Morning Dew Sunrise Productions. Have you heard of us?"

"I, uh, haven't. I don't know a lot about Japanese movies, honestly."

Kenji whispered something to Iwata. "Maybe she hasn't heard of us because of..." I didn't catch the rest of it.

"Oh. Oh, that's fair, that's understandable," Iwata replied. "I always fail to consider that maybe someone doesn't watch movies like...ours." He perked up again. "Let's go have a talk on the set, though. I won't make you choose before you've met the rest of the crew!"

"Yeah, sure, I got time, I'll humor you."

Moments later, at Morning Dew Sunrise Productions...

We took an elevator up to the fourth floor of a building tucked away in the southeast corner of Shofukucho. It looked more like a production office than a movie set, but maybe it served a double role. I was slightly worried about the lack of any other staff members, until we stopped in front of a single other person. Iwata greeted her with a deep bow. "Yuka-chan, we're sorry to keep you waiting. This is your new co-star, Ruby!"

Yuka's head tilted sideways a bit, barely affecting the well-tied, silky-smooth black hair. "Um...wasn't Nami-sama supposed to be in this scene?" She caught herself and snapped quickly to a deep bowing pose. "I'm sorry! I mean, it's a great honor to meet you, Ruby-sama!"

My turn to be confused. "Uh...I'm not famous...am I?"

....

"And...action, please!"

I step into the shot, airing as much bitchy self-importance as I can (which isn't that much more than usual, really). I pretend to look over the papers in my hand, then slap my other hand on the desk. Yuka jumps a bit, then turns and tries to make eye contact with me, looking back down after a second. "Miss Yamagishi, a moment, if you please."

"Y-yes?" She stammers so cutely that I almost don't realize it's not authentic.

CHOICE A1: "Your numbers are slipping."

"I've been going over the performance ratings for this week. Your submitted files, your verifications, your keyboarding. Your numbers are slipping, Miss Yamagishi."

"They are? I'm sorry!"

"I wonder if you could explain to me why this is happening, Miss Yamagishi. I can't have my people slowing down, you see. THis firm has expectations of its people. I know you're better than this, you've done better before, but my superiors are telling me I should fire you and bring in some on e who can do the job faster than you."

"Please, Chief, I can do better! It's...just..." She trails off. It takes me a moment before I realize I'm supposed to interrupt her here.

"Explain yourself, then. Tell me where the problm is, and why I shouldn't listen to my superiors."

CHOICE A3: "Your panties are showing."

This page is pretty unfinished. Weasel plans to get to it eventually. Probably.