Heart of a survivor × Chishiya Shuntaro

Chapter Twenty Two

Somehow after their late, drunken night, Takara and Kuina were still able to stick to their plan and train during the morning. They focused on offense attacks this time, Takara nailing almost every move Kuina was teaching her. Kuina was right, she was a natural.

After their session, Takara headed up to her room for a shower when she noticed Hatter's errand girl already waiting at her door. Takara cleared her throat as she got closer to the girl, alerting her that she was there. The slightly startled girl turned to Takara quickly to deliver her message.

"Hatter is waiting in the executive's room for you" the girl softly said.

"Tell him I'll be there as soon as I can," Takara replied.

She wanted a shower first before she went to speak with him, she knew she would stink of sweat if she were to go now. The girl nodded before scurrying off down the hall.

Getting herself dressed after her shower, she put her trainers back on and headed out her door. Taking the escalator down to the ground floor, she made her way towards the executive's room.

She took a deep breath like before, and pushed the doors to the room open. She was quickly greeted with the long table in the almost empty room with Hatter at the head of it. A bulky guy wearing all black had been whispering something into Hatter's ear when she entered, moving away from him as she came nearer to the table. The large man took a few steps back but continued to stay in the room.

"Ah yes hello dear! How are you Takara?" Hatter's voice echoed across the vast room.

"I'm pretty good, thank you Hatter" she replied with a smile on her face.

"Now my Chishiya had a lot to say about you, all good things of course" he said with a chuckle.

"Now after hearing what he said about you, I have no choice but to offer you a permanent place here at the Beach!" He said, clapping his hands with a big grin.

"I appreciate it a lot Hatter" Takara spoke genuinely, after her first reservations about the place she had ended up coming round to the idea of staying.

"I love to hear it Takara! Now, with the cards you had before you came here, and now the new five of diamonds added to our collection, I have to say you're quite a good player. Better than a lot of people here." He paused for a moment.

"I've decided that after you play a few more games I'll consider upping you to an executive!" He roared with excitement, Takara wasn't sure whether he was very fake or all this dramatics was actually just his personality.

"I don't know what to say, thank you" Takara said shocked, the possibility of being an executive so soon was a big deal to her.

"Keep up with the good work my dear, I'll speak with you again soon" he said with a smile.

Takara gave him a nod.

"I won't let you down," she said with a smile before turning to leave.

She slowly closed the door behind her as she left, resting her body against the cold oak. They were thinking of making her an executive? She couldn't believe it.

Takara didn't understand what was so special about her that made Hatter want to have her at his table. She wasn't the brightest or the strongest, she always thought she was mediocre at best. So why her?

In her confused state, she started to walk back up to her room, not wanting to socialise right now. Even though Takara didn't understand why, she felt quite proud of herself for even being offered the spot. She must be doing something right, so she felt her talk with Hatter gave her a confidence boost.