Kiru stretched a bit, as she slipped out of bed. A glance at the other bed revealed Qelu to still be fast asleep. Last night had definitely been interesting. Quietly she made for the door, while sending a more detailed update to her friends. She had no doubt that May and Qei would be a little worried about her.  She wasn’t looking forward to them finding out about her new job though. Especially with how Qelu had presented it. She turned red just thinking about what they would do.

Reaching the bathroom, she went inside to take care of morning business. At the same moment, she opened a hail to the ship. She had something to talk about with Megumi.

Her holographic face soon appeared in her hud. Megumi smiled, “I was waiting for you to call. You are one very lucky girl, you know that?”

“That’s one way to call it.”

“So I’ve read your reports. Enjoy the sleepover?”

“It was interesting,” Kiru replied.

“That’s good. You know this situation with Qelu represents a unique opportunity if we play our cards right. I’ll let you know when I am ready, but at a future date I would like you to have another sleepover.”

“I see. I suspect she might propose one on her own though. I’ll let you know when she does.”

“That works. Anyway, I wish you luck with the new job.”

With that, Megumi closed the channel. Kiru turned slightly red as she thought about it. She couldn’t believe she actually agreed to a job that requires her to be naked. Qelu thought she was doing her a favor there too. Kiru turned on the shower. Trying to distract herself with the act of cleaning her body.

After her shower, Qelu woke up and took care of her own morning business. When Qelu was done she asked her, “So what are the morning plans, and what about breakfast?”

She smiled, “The maid will take care of that, she’ll let herself in and cook it for me in a bit. Join me in the office. I have a couple of calls to make. We need to make sure the residents I’ll be inspecting today followed instructions.”

Kiru replied, “Hmm? Followed instructions?”

Qelu nodded, “Yep. For inspection, they were asked to make sure all members stay home. That way we can get everyone inspected at once. Doesn’t work well if they aren’t all there, now does it?”

She had to admit they seemed to rely on that. In fact, this little bit merely confirmed one of her previous suspicions. As she had been a little suspicious of everyone being present at all the houses they visited yesterday. “That actually makes sense. I kind of suspected that might be the case.”

Qelu smiled, “Well, it is the best way to get things done. Anyway, when the maid gets here, I’ll ask her to get you a courier belt.”

She nodded and followed Qelu to the office. Where she immediately settled behind the desk and started making calls. Each call was short and to the point. So it only took her a few minutes to work through her list of people to make a call on.

When she was done, she stretched. “Looks like we are all good. Now we can go over today’s schedule.”

Kiru nodded. It seemed Qelu was back in business mode.

“First on the order of the day is breakfast, of course,” she said while tapping on her terminal. “Inspections don’t start till noon, so we will have some time to kill. I plan to hit the local mall today. See if I can’t find any young Neku with potential.”

Kiru tried not to let her feelings on that show. She told herself that this was only temporary. That taking this job was a great way to learn what they were up to. What exactly they were doing. Already it was answering questions, and confirming suspicions. She had no doubt a lot more questions would be answered by the end of the day.

Qelu continued, “If we find anyone, we will take them to the clinic. While we are there, I ask that you stay close to me, and try to act normal. I don’t want the others to try and poach you from me.

Kiru didn’t need her to tell her that. Although she was pretty sure that Qelu’s idea of normal and hers were a little different. She nodded, “Yeah, I figured.”

Qelu smiled, “We’ll be stopping at the vehicle yard to get my truck, and a little before noon. We can grab a second courier while we are there or do you think you will be okay on your own?”

Kiru had seen them do their work before. “I think I can manage. I was watching yesterday...”

She nodded, and said, “I thought so.” Just then there was a knock on the office door. A second later, a young Neku walked in. She smiled. Kiru guessed this must be the maid. Although she was completely naked.  “What would you like for breakfast today mistress?”

Qelu quickly gave out an order, and the girl nodded. Heading off to go cook for her, and to get a courier belt as Qelu wanted her to. While Qelu turned back to her terminal. Kiru was curious, “So uh, Qelu what are you doing on the terminal anyway?”

She sighed, “My bills. I am very busy most days so I like to do them in the morning.” then her expression shifted, “Maybe you would like to do them for me?”

“I don’t really know anything about your financials though.”

Qelu nodded, “Yeah that is a problem, and we have a busy day ahead of us. Maybe another time then.”

Before she knew it Kiru was at the mall with Qelu. There was a large one not too far from the apartment. Despite the early hour it was already fairly busy with many Neku prowling the various shops.

As they entered the mall, Qelu watched people filter into a clothing store. She then commented, “I’ll never understand you Neku and your tendency to waste good credits on stupid clothes.”

Kiru replied, “It’s not a waste to them.”

“Yes, it is. Especially with those Neku who buy an outfit to only wear it once.”

Kiru giggled, “Well yeah, that is a waste.  I’ll give you that.”

Qiru replied, “At least you are sensible enough to see that.”

Kiru was silent after that, as she considered a reply. While Qelu led them to the clothing shop. As they entered Kiru decided no reply was best. Mainly since she just had no idea how to explain the need for clothes to a girl that has never worn them and doesn’t understand them. So instead she looked around the store.

There were a number of young girls and women around from varying age groups. It was the middle of the week no less, and yet she saw girls of school age, and their mothers around. If you thought about it, that wasn’t too surprising. The school age girls would likely disappear over the next couple of hours as the time for school drew near. As for the older women, they likely had free time now, but wouldn’t later. It really depended on their schedules.

Qelu was surveying the crowd and approached a younger girl with her mother. Mom was holding up a pink dress next to her. Clearly trying to see how she might look in it. Kiru came up nearby. Qelu simply watched the girl for a moment, and then smiled.

She commented to Kiru, “I think we got lucky. First shop and already some potential.”

Qelu approached the girl, with a smile. Then she said, “You have a lovely daughter here. I think she has potential.”

The woman nearby put the dress back, and said “thank you.”

“I’m going to take her. Help her get her clothes off.”

The woman nodded, and the daughter cooperated as she was soon stripped naked. Kiru sighed. It seemed she was witnessing another bold kidnapping. Although this time she was actually close enough to hear what was being said. It was kind of odd to see the disconnect between what they were doing, and saying. Along with the expressions.

As Qelu took the younger girl's hand, she turned to the mother, “Take the outfit with you and finish your business here. When you get home you are to start packing your daughter's things. Split them into for sale, for storage, and for donation. I want anything that would remind you of her be it a photo, school project or decoration packed for storage. Go ahead and pack her bedding in for storage as well, you won’t be needing it for a while. As for her clothes pack them for either sale or donation, preferably for sale. Pack her toys for donation unless you think they will sell well in which case you pack them in for sale. When you are done I want you to contact us, and a courier will be dispatched to collect the stuff.”

Qelu pushed the girl’s hand into Kiru’s then, and said, “since you are here, lead her for me. Let’s keep looking before we go back to the clinic.”

Kiru nodded. Following Qelu deeper into the shop. It seemed Qelu was back in hunter mode. She did have a question though. “So what exactly are we collecting these girls for?”

Qelu smiled, “Many reasons actually. Neku with potential are very valuable. They can be put to a number of uses once they have been properly trained and conditioned that is. We also need to carefully nurture and awaken that potential. A process that can usually take months or, sometimes years. It depends on the girl.”

Kiru frowned, “Does that mean that this girl might not see her mother for several months?”

“At the minimum, yes. She will be fine though, and much better off for it. It really depends on what we decide she would be best at.”

“About that, what uses might she be put towards?”

  Qelu didn’t answer as she got distracted by another girl. She rushed over to her. This one was older and seemed to be on her own. She looked the teenager over for a moment then asked her, “You here alone or something?”

“Yeah, I am, what about it?” was her reply.

Qelu gave her a bit of a glare. “You’re a bit rude. Let me guess you came here to skip school?”

The girl’s mood shifted, “I did.”

Qelu turned to Kiru, “This girl here is a perfect example of that. Good girls would attend school like they are supposed to. Not go galavanting at the mall. It’s usually the mother’s own inadequacy at disciplining her kids. You Neku can be too soft with your kids.”

Kiru sighed. She disagreed. This girl was likely just in her rebellious phase. Then there was the whole fact that the Iniri had done something with the men. That was part of the parenting process, and they removed that whole option. “Some children, especially teens, tend to rebel against their parents. It’s a phase. She will grow out of it.”

Qelu just shook her head, “that is no excuse for this.”

Then she focused on the girl looking her over thoroughly before saying, “Take those off, and go sell them to the shop. Then come back to me.”

The teenager nodded, and did just that. She stripped and then sold her own clothes at the counter before coming back over. Kiru was surprised at that. When the girl came back, Qelu told her, “You are coming with me. I think you have some potential, and you are in dire need of training.”

The girl nodded. Joining their odd group. Qelu led the way out of the clothing shop. Heading into a nearby toy shop for her next stop.