11 Chapter one, 2016, school start: 7 (1/2)
Yukio looked up when he saw his friend enter the café. Their café in their mall. Somewhere on the street a floor below them Urufu-kun's bike was safely locked to a stand, and they had a couple of hours available. Club hours for most of Himekaizen's student body, and he was meeting Urufu-kun to plan how that would become reality for them as well.
”Over here,” Yukio mouthed and waved his friend over, palm down.
Urufu-kun nodded in affirmation, took his usual wide half circle in the direction of the counter before he shook his head and walked to Yukio's table.
”Sorry. Never learn.”
Yukio grinned. ”Half a year and you still try to order at the counter.”
At that moment a waitress arrived to further accentuate how wrong Urufu-kun had been. As she, or one of her colleagues, had done last time they were here, and the time before that, and… By now Urufu-kun's navigational mishap was part of the weekly routine, and the girls just waited for him to see his errors before they went to their table.
Urufu-kun smiled sheepishly in response. As he had done last time, etc., etc. Yukio wasn't certain that their weekly game really was a matter of bad memory from Urufu-kun's part, or if it was a joke that he allowed to be played out on him.
It was time for the standard excuse.
”They don't wait tables at cafés back home.”
And there it was delivered. It was as if Urufu-kun just had to point out minor differences between Sweden and Japan. That habit of his had been first interesting, then irritating but by now Yukio felt a strange gratitude. He was being made aware of how what looked like obvious truths weren't truths for everyone. How others played things differently. Not better, or worse. Just differently. 'Palm down, dammit!' he thought, and laughed.
Urufu-kun stared at him from the other side of the table and shrugged his shoulders in incomprehension.
The waitress returned with Urufu-kun's order. One coffee, one awful piece of strawberry cake and one bottle of French mineral water. The same order as last week, and, and…
”Can you funnel some funds?” Urufu-kun asked after the waitress had left their table.
Yukio nodded and accepted the two 500 yen coins he was offered. It would take less than an hour to spread the money across the accounts he had set up, so 1000 yen was a rather stiff fee. Still, Urufu-kun insisted that a job well done should be rewarded in kind. ”Keep friendship and business apart,” he used to say. Yukio wasn't entirely clear what was meant by that, but he had accepted that when they made the money transactions they were partners and not friends. It was important to Urufu-kun, and thus it was important to Yukio.
”How much?” Yukio asked when the coins were followed by a 5000 yen bill. That was a first.
”I need a bit over a million yen moved.”
Yukio coughed up the tea he had just started sipping. ”You what?” He stared at his friend. Where had he come up with that kind of money?
”And I'll need plastic. In your name I'm afraid.”
Yukio looked around them to make sure none of the waitresses could hear what they were talking about. He tried to remember what Urufu-kun had taught him the last half a year. ”I want security.”
Urufu-kun smiled. ”Good laddie. How about a hundred thousand deposit and a monthly five thousand rental fee?”
”OK? Yes. Is that good?” Yukio added as an afterthought.
The smile turned into a grin. ”You're really not supposed to ask that question to the other end of the transaction, but yes, it's good. In fact 60 thousand yen a year is highway robbery, but I'll expect your maintaining the accounts as part of the service, so it evens out.”
Five hours a month then. Yukio could do this as a part time job just as well as something else, and he felt a whole lot more confident that Urufu-kun would pay up than some of the employers he had been in contact with earlier.
”Eh, just shady, or outright...”
”Neither,” Urufu-kun said. ”Apart from the plastic at least. The money is mine. I just dislike having that kind of money in cash.”
Yukio nodded. Somewhere in his mind he knew that it was a lot of money, but not more than his parents were paid over a couple of months. It was however a disturbingly large amount for a fifteen year old kid. Then again Urufu-kun wasn't really fifteen, was he?
”How?” Yukio wondered. Urufu-kun still looked fifteen, so where had he gotten that kind of money?
”Part time job.”
”You made a million yen from your part time job?”
”No, I made five million yen from my part time job.”
That was… unexpected.
Yukio found himself gaping in astonishment. ”What kind of job makes you that kind of money?”
”Corporate management consulting kind of job makes that kind of money. If you look fifteen, and are alone. Really should have been ten times as much, but then you need a high profile company backing you.”
Even though Yukio understood the words he heard he still didn't understand what Urufu-kun was saying. ”Grown up thing?”
”Grown up thing,” Urufu-kun affirmed. ”But you're too old to fail understanding all of it.”
”Eh?” Yukio fished up the papers on their planned club while he waited for Urufu-kun to explain.
”You pay more for brand name products.”
”Yes?” Yukio admitted. ”Because they're better.” He placed the papers on their table.
”No,” Urufu-kun shook his head. ”Because they're branded. You just believe they're better. Sometimes they are, but that's not part of the question.”
What his friend said did make sense in a way. Now Yukio was supposed to prove he had a brain of his own. ”And this consulting of yours can have a brand name?” he tried.
”Good. Correct.” Urufu-kun smiled. ”There's a whole lot more to it as well, but you've understood the important basics. The perceived truth is the only truth. Now, let's have a look at our baby.”
Yukio pulled out the suggested charter, the official one, and then he placed the real one beside it. ”This one takes into account that teaching staff and parent organisation will be an active part of the Swedish club and,” he moved his hand to the official charter, ”this one keeps up the illusion that the club is independently run by the club members, with only a minor influence from student council and teaching staff.”
”Good. School doesn't need to know that there's no way in hell the student council would be given the kind of power where they can pull the plug on a club in Sweden.”
”And that students aren't entrusted to run their own club,” Yukio retorted.
”Not really true, but if they're going to hoist the name of their school on a flag, yes you're correct,” Urufu-kun admitted. ”World champions in non-profit clubs. That's Sweden for you, but the vast bulk of those clubs are independent, or members of some kind of national umbrella.”
”Huh?”
”Nothing important. Just saying if there are twenty clubs for watching butterflies in summer, chances are there's a national central organisation for butterfly viewing. We're kind of funny that way.”
Yukio shook off the strange impression of a people who felt the need to organise everything up to a national level. ”And this is the charter for our own club. We only need one.”
Urufu-kun finished the last of his coffee. He had long since downed both mineral water and cake, and looked up to order his usual extra cup of coffee. The waitress was already at their table. She had seen Urufu-kun empty his cup. The usual way, as he had done last time, etc., etc.
”Agreed. That account, by the way,” he added and pointed at one item on the list of accounts he had asked Yukio to set up, ”will be used for the club.”
Yukio took the chance to get himself an extra soda while he looked at the numbers. He had more cash on himself than usual anyway, and with the planning ahead of them they were likely to remain here for longer than normal. Unless Urufu-kun wanted to cut down on the time they spent studying, something he had never done before.