31 Chapter three, 2016, beginnings: 6 (1/2)

”Urufu, that company you set up in my name, it's been bleeding a lot of money lately. Care to explain?”

Ulf looked up. He'd been expecting this.

”Well, you know...” He moved away from his tiny desk in the small living room that doubled as his bedroom during nights. ”… high school is expensive what with new friends and going out, and new clothes and all.” The last part, at least, was true. And Amaya had gotten used to his… selective… taste.

And his books. One, small, bookshelf was hers. The two full height ones were his. One was half filled with books from kindergarten to grade school. He had just recently started to add fiction targeted at middle schoolers to it. The other, well the other was a poor attempt to rebuild his small library from a previous life. All those titles were in English, and most of them would have had a normal middle schooler grasping for their meaning, Brit or American wouldn't have mattered.

”Half a million yen expensive?” Amaya's voice recalled him to reality.

Should he be defensive or tell her, mostly, the truth? He decided on the latter. ”I can't stop dreaming about finding a way back home.” He smiled at her with what he hoped was a suitably guilty look before he lied: ”There are people out there with ways of retrieving data. They cost a lot of money, and I don't want you too involved.”

”Because I'm a police?”

”Yeah.”

”Because I'm a police I know that 'a lot of money' starts at five million yen rather than a half. What are you up to?”

Well, that apparently didn't fly. ”We're starting a school club. I'm feeding it a lot of money. Buying laptops and such,” he answered more truthfully. He conveniently avoided telling her about the surveillance and other security measures he paid for in cash. She would dig further, which was why he had started using Yukio for laundering money that was actually honestly earned. He also kept the fact that he received over half of his earnings in cash to himself.

A new topic seemed in order, and he ransacked his memory for one that would catch her interest.

”Amaya, heard the latest?”

His legal guardian looked back at him. She was sloppily dressed as always with her hair partially tied up in a ponytail. He guessed spending the entire day in a uniform took its toll. Especially as the police probably didn't show as much leeway as high school when it came to innovative changes to the intended design.

”No, dear, you haven't told me. Pass me the Kikkoman, will you?”

Ulf slid a bottle with soy sauce to her and opened up on his own food.

”Christina has promised to show me the city. Next Sunday.”

Amaya arched her brows at him. ”That's the tall one? The Swedish girl?”

Ulf nodded.

”Little one is going on his first date,” Amaya teased. They were back to acting out the illusion that he was merely a high school kid at home.