“How did you figure out how to make money off of this?”

 

Toshi leaned back in his chair as he watched the screen on his rebuilt laptop. He was having a three way conversation with his business partners. Things had settled down the past few months and Toshi had taken that time to investigate his old life. What he found was that old Toshi wasn’t to be found. What new Toshi found was about half of his old business associates. They had different personalities, but they were in the same jobs as when he was working in his old world. More importantly, reverse world seemed to be lagging behind the original. There were so many business opportunities that Toshi knew would be coming up, both in Japan and abroad. All Toshi had to do was invest.

 

Toshi felt bad when he scammed his father into unlocking access to his insurance money, but he needed it for seed money. It was around 35 million yen, or about 350k in dollars, a much more common unit of exchange on the international market. After he had the funds, he needed to find a way to invest it without it being traced back to a sixteen year old kid. That’s where his lover Naora came in. With her help, they managed to get a trustworthy, yet shady lawyer who helped in setting up the necessary overseas shell corporations. Naora actually didn’t understand what Toshi wanted the lawyer for and when he tried to explain things, her eyes just glazed over. Most likely for the best, as she had her own problems to worry about. With that issue solved, Toshi just needed help in sifting through all the possibilities to make sure he maximized his profits.

 

That is where Ruri came in.

 

Ruri’s ability to remember massive amounts of information and find patterns in said data was absolutely essential for Toshi’s plans to become ludicrously wealthy. At first, Ruri was absolutely against the idea and tried to talk Toshi out of it, but over time he wore her down. After Toshi doubled his initial investment, she became sold on the idea and even added in some of her own savings. Mostly the money Toshi was paying her to help him.

 

After that, Toshi brought on four more partners. All of them were the mirror duplicates of his old world friends and associates. Toshi actually liked talking with them. Every once in a while Toshi would forget he was in a new body and slip back into his old habits. It felt comfortable, and yet, better. In his old life, working was a slow, monotonous, grinding experience. Now that he has several years of potential investment opportunities, it was exhilarating. He was working for himself, making himself tons of money, not making money for some boss who didn't even know his name.

 

Toshi sat up and looked from Egawa Baki, his shipping contact in Japan, to Adam Orlando, his California contact. He thought about Adam’s question then said, “Family contacts. That’s what it boils down to.” He thought for a bit, “And having good people who work for me.” Baki sighed, “We’re not making as much as we could. We lost that one investment opportunity last week because you were in school.” Adam nodded, “Not to complain, but yeah. I’ve been watching the stocks and we really would have made a killing.” Toshi leaned back and rolled his eyes, “Well I have to keep a low profile. People aren’t as likely to trust a sixteen year old boy.”

 

The other two nodded in unison. Baki touched his nose, “Yeah. It’s hard being a man in business. Sometimes it helps when you can just smile your way through a problem, but you’d be surprised how often I get looked over just because I'm a man.” Adan rolled his eyes, “Tell me about it. Not much easier on this side of the Pacific. In fact, I got the opposite problem, in a way. Because California has enforced quotas here, whenever I get a promotion or put in charge of a project, nobody takes me seriously. They think I’m a diversity hire and I’m not actually qualified for the job.”

 

Baki snapped his fingers, “That reminds me. Why don’t you hire a full time fund manager?” Toshi squinted with one eye, “You think I’m doing a bad job?” Baki shook his head, “Oh no. I’m talking about a front man. Someone who you can give the general plan to and someone who looks older and can be taken seriously. Plus it should be someone who is trustworthy and won’t overstep their authority.”

 

Toshi took a deep breath, “I take it you have someone in mind.” Baki nodded, “I do indeed. I have an old friend I knew from college. Great guy. Hard working. Very talented, but he got married and quit his job. Well, turns out that bitch he was so in love with started cheating on him. He got divorced and now he’s looking for work. He’s a good fit, and cheap since he’s just getting back into the job market after being a house husband for ten years.”

 

Toshi looked off to the side, “I dunno. Shouldn’t we hire a woman, if they’re going to be the face of this enterprise?” Adam scowled, “Oh please. Don’t women get enough opportunities in this business? If you are going to hire based on gender, hire a man. We gotta stick together.” Toshi opened his mouth to say he wanted to hire someone based on qualifications, but realized that would make him a hypocrite. Instead he just ran his fingers through his hair and thought about it., “Alright. I’ll give him a shot. Tell me about him.”

 

Baki smiled, “He’s about thirty three. Average looking guy.  Well mannered, quite the organizer, and back in the day, quite the go getter. I think he’s changing his name. He doesn’t want to keep his wife’s name. His name is… what was his name in college?” He snapped his finger, “Oh yeah!”

 

“Sato Toshi.”

 

Toshi went white, “What?”

 

Adam frowned, “Wait, they’re going to have the same name? Won’t that be confusing?” Baki shrugged, “Maybe, but it will have the advantage that we can tell other people the name ‘Toshi’ and make people think we’re talking about one when we were talking about the other.”

 

Toshi took a few moments to comprehend what he heard, “Send me his number. I’ll think about it.” He ran his fingers through his hair, “It’s getting late. I have to take care of some things. We’ll talk later.” And without waiting for a reply, he ended the call.

 

Sato Toshi, his original name in his old world.

 

Toshi had given up on finding his opposite. He just assumed he didn’t have a duplicate to find. Now here it was staring him in the face and he wasn’t sure what to do. His opposite was having problems. Was he under any obligation to help him? Shouldn’t he be dead? What exactly are the rules? Obviously things aren’t a perfect match. This was a stress he didn’t want.

 

When Toshi had to deal with stress, there’s only one go-to solution.

 

Toshi changed into his jogging outfit while he texted

 

Toshi: Bzy?

Naora: N

Toshi: BC?

Naora: K

Toshi: 10

 

Toshi went downstairs taking two steps at a time, “Going for a jog!” His father shouted from the kitchen, “Take the trash on your way out.” Toshi paused at the front door, mildly cursed to himself, then turned around to go into the kitchen. His father was at the kitchen table, working on the family finances. Toshi grabbed a replacement bag and took the kitchen trash. He paused to look over the paperwork on the table, “Hey, dad. You know we could use some-”

 

Hirofumi cut him off, “We’re doing just fine as a family and you don’t need to give us any of your insurance money to cover any expenses.” He looked up, “You need to save that for college.” Toshi gave his father his phony grin of steel, “Sure thing, dad.” While he thought to himself, ~Not a chance.~

 

After heading out back to pull all the trash cans to the curb, he started jogging off. It took about ten minutes to get to the prearranged corner where Naora was waiting to pick him up. He hopped in and they immediately took off. Naora’s hair was rather disheveled and her clothing didn’t quite match. She looked like she had just rolled out of bed. Toshi looked her up and down, “I didn’t wake you, did I?” She shrugged, “Was just taking a nap. Usual hotel?” Toshi looked out the window, “Yeah.”

 

—

 

Naora rubbed her wrists as they lay together.

 

They were red from where Toshi had tied her to the bed posts. Toshi noticed and frowned, “I’m sorry. Is it going to leave a mark?” Naora stretched her arms over her head as she took a deep yawning breath. Toshi couldn’t help but admire her naked body, barely covered by the thin bed sheet. Her breasts were slowly exposed as she stretched. He couldn’t help but stare.

 

Naora noticed Toshi’s eyes and pulled up the sheet to cover herself, “It’ll be fine.” Toshi let out a soft, disappointed whimper and kept staring at her. She covered her chest with an arm as she settled down next to him, “This breast fetish of yours is bordering on insanity. You know that, right?”

 

Toshi’s gaze flickered up to look her in the eyes and an old line from a movie popped into his head, “There is a shortage of perfect breasts. It would be a great loss to the world if anything happened to yours.” Naora blushed furiously and dropped her gaze to look at Toshi’s chest. She reached out to caress him, “Goddamn, I’m addicted to you.”

 

Toshi moved to put an arm around her and pulled her close. Naora rested her head on his shoulder. It took a while for her to get used to this strange position, but it was just another weird thing Toshi did; reversing how a couple snuggled. Naora listened to his heart for a while before asking, “So what’s wrong?”

 

Toshi tensed up, “What makes you think something is wrong?” She traced a finger along his chest, “Twice in one week is unusual enough, but you only tie me down when you are really worried about something.” Toshi furrowed his eyebrows, “I’m that predictable?” She nodded and quickly added, “Not that I mind. The sex is so much better when you are like this.” She looked up at him through her long eyelashes, “But I worry about you. What’s wrong?”

 

Tosh looked back and took her chin in his hand, ~How can I explain that I found my spiritual doppelganger? I should talk about something.~ He sighed and let his head fall back as he stared at the ceiling, “I can’t keep putting my sister off.”

 

Naora tensed up and pursed her lips. She spoke thoughtfully, “You could just… not date her friends.” She bit her lower lip. Toshi kept looking at the ceiling, “I’ve already put it off several months now. If I turn them down, she will want to know why. I already caught her checking out my phone. I think she suspects I have a girlfriend I’m not talking about. If she finds out about you…” Naora finished the sentence, “She’ll kill me. I know, I know…” A sad expression lingered on her face, “I’m sorry. I know we aren’t really dating and you said I can see other people, but I really want to keep you all to myself.” Toshi looked at her, “Are you willing to risk getting killed by my sister and or mother?” Naora eventually shook her head. Toshi sighed, “I’m not ready to abandon my family and become  a future crimelord’s moll.” Naora looked up, puzzled, “Lord?”

 

Toshi smacked his forehead, “Sorry. Crimelady.” Naora giggled, “You are so crazy.” She caressed his face, “Yeah, if anyone in my family found out about us, I have no idea what they’d do.” Her smile faded, “Still…”

 

Toshi echoed Naora, “Still.” He looked at the ceiling, “So I’m going to go on those dates. At least one for all three. I hate stringing them along, but I need to keep up appearances.” Naora spoke softly, “You might actually like one of them. They all seem to be rather nice girls.” She spoke like she was trying to be encouraging, but clearly wasn’t happy, “Who knows? You might hit it off. Get married… have two point three children… They’re all rather popular.”

 

Toshi snorted, “You mean, they’ll all rather NORMAL. I seriously doubt any of them are compatible with me.” Naora snuggled into Toshi’s shoulder, digging her fingernails into his skin in a rather possessive gesture, “I am trying to figure out a way to get out of the family competition. Maybe there is a way to bow out without dying.” She looked up at Toshi, “I might be able to figure something out before I graduate.”

 

Toshi stared back into Naora’s eyes. It felt like he was being torn apart. In his head, he knew what he was doing was down right stupid. Being with Naora was the wrong choice. This was complicated by the fact that the sex was absolutely amazing. Her submissive side was so seductive he didn’t think he could ever walk away from her. It didn’t hurt that deep down under it all, Naora was actually a nice girl. He couldn’t help but have feelings for her.

 

But the truth was, she wasn’t willing to commit to him. For the two to be together, one of them would have to give up everything. Either she needs to turn her back on her family, which would likely get her killed, or Toshi needs to turn his back on his family, which would likely drive his mother and sister into a murderous rage. It was why they had to be so careful. Maybe his mother would resist killing Naora, but he’d still be disowned.

 

Toshi sat up, “I need to get back.” Naora nodded and sat up as well. They both proceeded to get dressed, ~Good thing nobody’s found out yet.~

 

---

 

As the two sneaked out the side entrance of the hotel, a figure watched from the shadows and took pictures with a high speed camera. Unknown to the figure, a man was watching her, and wondering why she was so interested in Toshi. Unknown to both of them, a third figure was watching at a much further distance, recording and relaying all of this to his master.

 

Outside the city, an old woman would later receive an update as to her granddaughter's activities and contemplate the ramifications.

 

Elsewhere, a detective would receive a report and add it to the growing pile of information he was gathering about Toshi.

 

In a distant penthouse, a man would be updated as to Toshi's activities, as well as the other groups showing interest in him. The man would turn from his butler and contemplate the setting sun, “This is turning out to be much more interesting then I thought it would be.”