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This dude's excitement is almost contagious, but you're not here for fun- you're here on business. You hold a hand up to refuse the beer he's handing you and shake your head. "Sorry, I'm the designated driver." The guy seems let down, but recovers almost immediately. "THAT'S A SHAME- I'LL DRINK FOR THE BOTH OF US THEN. CHEERS!"

You watch in awe as the monster of a man lets go of you and proceeds to shotgun both cans of beer. Alcohol dribbles down his chin and onto his shirt as he does so. A loud burp interrupts your thoughts as he crushes both of the cans and then throws them into the trash. You're not sure what exactly to make of what you just witnessed besides that this man is probably a party animal. Hopefully he's the good kind.

Hoping to make some conversation while waiting for something to act on, you start chatting. "This is actually my first metal concert. Friends took me along since I wanted to get into the genre. Tell me more about the band, who's your favorite member, that kind of stuff." "It's your first concert?" The man seems confused, but genuinely happy. "You chose a great one to come to! ICCD- er, Imperial Circus Dead Decadence- is great! They have to be one of my favorite death metal groups, Top 3 at least."

The man goes on a surprisingly understandable lecture about the group given the alcohol in his system and your unfamiliarity with the subject. "-that's why I think their most recent EP is the best- you definitely have to check it out after this. After for my favorite member, that's a tough one. Shuhei is an absolute beast of a drummer and has been in a lot of great acts. Despite that I think I'm gonna have to say Yuhki is my favorite. His harsh vox are on another level and along with Shuhei's drumming carry a lot of tracks. He even draws the album covers. Hell, even better, he also draws some great-"

Mid-conversation the man stops, as if realizing something important. He pauses for a moment, looking oddly sober, and doesn't resume his speech. Before you can put much thought into why this is, you spot something you can act on. In fact, you spot a few things! Time to do what Salary Man does best and restore order.
>There's a drinking contest going on between a muscular woman and a fat man at the bar that's getting kind of heated. You'll make sure they understand how to drink responsibly and don't start a scene.
>You see a dude riding on someone else's shoulders trying to get a better view. It looks dangerous, and given the crowd you wouldn't be surprised if he fell and cracked his head open. You need to stop their dangerous behavior immediately.
>Around that circle of people slamming into each other you see someone crowd-surfing. Security doesn't seem to mind, but you do- that's patently unsafe. You better head over and take care of things.
>These are all big deals, but you're wondering why this guy clammed up- maybe it's important? It'll take a minute, but you should inquire further. (Rapport challenge)
>Write-in

>>4613262
>These are all big deals, but you're wondering why this guy clammed up- maybe it's important? It'll take a minute, but you should inquire further. (Rapport challenge)

Welcome back, OP!

>>4613262
>These are all big deals, but you're wondering why this guy clammed up- maybe it's important? It'll take a minute, but you should inquire further. (Rapport challenge)
GIVE ME A FRIEND

>>4613262
>You're not sure what exactly to make of what you just witnessed besides that this man is probably a party animal.
>Hopefully he's the good kind.
He threw away the cans into the garbage. Clearly he's the good kind.

>>4613279
>>4613353
There's plenty of places where you could intervene, but the way the guy stopped talking was downright unnatural. Maybe it's not a big deal, but in case it is something important, you're going to get to the bottom of this. You'll take a moment and see if he's willing to talk before you intervene anywhere else. First you just need to pause for a moment and think about how to best approach this.

Salary Man is attempting to discover why the metal party animal suddenly stopped talking when he was so enthusiastic before.
>Salary Man's Rapport: 3/Great - 8d100
>+10: Salary Man is not acquainted with this man and is essentially a stranger.
>-15: Salary Man has admitted that he's at his very first metal concert, and the man would rather not make a bad impression and scare you off the whole thing.
>-5: Even under a helmet he can sense that you're significantly older, and that makes things a tad more difficult.
Final Rolls: bo8d100-10 vs. Hidden DCs

Rolled 57 (1d100)

>>4613465

Rolled 22, 67 = 89 (2d100)

>>4613465

Rolled 67, 10 - 10 = 67 (2d100 - 10)

>>4613465
Fixed

Rolled 50, 28, 74 + 10 = 162 (3d100 + 10)

Rolling the rest now so that I can drop a short update before I sleep.

>>4613567
I forgot that - is formatted +- again, neat.
Your final roll is 64, writing now.

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>>4613520
>>4613530
"Hey, uh-" Now that you think of it the two of you never exchanged names. That's a rookie mistake- he really did catch you off guard earlier. "What's your name? You can just call me Salary Man." You hold back the desire to give him your card- you still need to get those new ones. The man has to stop laughing at you before he answers. "Call me Takeo." "Takeo, where'd you leave off before? Something about the vocalist, Yuki drawing?"

As you attempt to resume the conversation he seems to deflate again. It seems the problem was with the topic at hand. "Yeah, as I was mentioning, Yuhki draws the album covers. They're all really nice and contain a lot of detail, if you like the band I'd recommend buying a t-shirt." "I'll keep that in mind, I may have seen some of his art around the venue now that you're mentioning it. You were saying he drew something else though? What I saw looked pretty cool so I'm interested."

You're showing interest, you're being accepting, if it's related to this the details should be forthcoming. "I meant the t-shirts. He draws the album covers, which go on some of the shirts, but the rest are original pieces by him. You can see them if you head by the merchandise stand." You have a feeling that this isn't the full story, but that's just your gut talking. There's no justifiable reason to push further, and for all you know he could have just been referring to this in the first place- maybe some of the t-shirts look overly gory or something and he didn't want metal to come off as scary. That seems really plausible now that you think about it.

As much as you'd like to sit here and ponder further, there's more important things to do. The drinking contest is intensifying, there's still that guy riding on his friend's shoulders, and you're pretty sure you've seen two more people crowd surf by that circle of people. You need to attend to one of these problems.
>The drinking contest!
>The man riding on his friend's shoulders.
>The crowd-surfers.
>Write-in

>>4613588
>Write-in
Observe the band

>>4613588
>The drinking contest!

>>4613698
this

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>>4613606
>>4613698
>>4613723
Even if you weren't looking for problems to fix all the cheering surrounding this drinking contest would be bothering you a bit, so you better calm things down before they really get out of control.

You bid Takeo farewell for the time being and head over to the drinking contest. Empty beer cans are scattered across the counter, and the 'bartender' is staring on in awe as an overweight man and a muscular woman go drink for drink, glaring at each other as they do so. Around half a dozen bystanders are on each side, practically screaming as they cheer on their chosen contender.

As you appraise the situation the two begin jeering at each other in between drinks. "I'm coming out on top this time Tubby! Just give up already!" The fat man lets out a massive burp as he replies. "No way- I may not be the life of the party, but I can hold my booze! You're not beating me again!" The cheering only intensifies at these insults- apparently this drinking contest is part of some rivalry you don't know about or understand.
>And that makes it all the more important to inform these two about responsible drinking. Binge drinking, especially repeated binge drinking, is unhealthy (you would know), and they should stop before they suffer any permanent liver damage.
>The bartender should be bothered by all of this, shouldn't he? You're going to talk to him and see if he can't help you keep the situation under control. (Rapport challenge)
>You can't interfere in a duel. For the time being you'll stand by and remind the crowd to be quiet- this is just a side event, and if they're too loud it will ruin the experience for others.
>So, the crowd is all riled up because this is some sort of big final battle. If you stop the drinking contest it'll fix everything. You're going to sit down, chug a can of something, and let them know that this isn't even worth competing over. If there's anyone who knows how to drink, it's a salaryman. (Intimidation challenge)
>Write-in

>>4614196
>Watch
This is young(er) people living out their lives with all the fun and consequences it provides. They won't learn if they don't experience the consequences, but we can ensure that they won't crack their heads on the concrete if they get passed out drunk.

Was gonna update again before I headed to sleep but given that there's only one vote I'll just leave it until I wake up tomorrow. Should be pretty active tomorrow (might even start running after lunch), Thursday and weekends are looking like my least crowded days this semester.

>>4614198
+1

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>>4614198
>>4614945
The onlookers might be getting a little too loud, and you can't really encourage drinking like this, but now that you think about it there's not much you have to do here. They're young, and the best way for them to learn about drinking responsibly is the ensuing hangover. You'll just watch on the side and make sure things don't go out of control.

You silently watch on the side as the two down drink after drink. The alcohol content may be low, but the sheer quantity makes up for it, and you can slowly see the two getting drunk. Despite this, they keep competing. Angry one-liners are thrown at each other as they continue to go drink for drink, although they make increasingly less sense as time goes on. The cheering remains constant, despite the annoyance of those nearby. The duel rages on.

As you're beginning to wonder if this will ever end, it seems that those two begin to have the same thoughts, demanding 'something strong'. The beer is given up and a bottle is brought from behind the counter. The man running the bar doesn't know what exactly it is, but the name is vaguely Russian. A shot is poured for each side, and you can see their faces change as it goes down. You recognize this change of expression from the many drinking parties you've weathered- they're nearing their limits.

You get the attention of the 'bartender' as the two prepare to down another shot. "Get some buckets or something. They're going to vomit." He squints as he examines their expressions. "Doesn't look like it to me." "Trust me, they're going to, find something now." The man, despite his doubts, obliges, and two empty ice buckets are put onto the counter. You snap the ice buckets up from the counter and nudge your way past the surrounding crowd. There are only seconds to spare before the two begin almost simultaneously retching and grab the buckets from you.

The woman says something about a draw, but is cut off mid-word by more vomit. The man hasn't paused. It looks like that shot pushed them over the edge completely.
>Stay here and make sure nothing happens to the drunks, you have nothing better to do.
>Tell their friends to make sure they're alright and head over to that circle of people, there's been a lot of weird activity over there.
>Tell their friends to make sure they're alright and look for Takeo, maybe he's up to something interesting.
>Tell their friends to make sure they're alright and go patrol the crowd, you should make sure people aren't getting too excited.
>Write-in

>>4615391
>Tell their friends to make sure they're alright and check out the art. Buy a shirt and talk about the art with Takeo. It'll be a good conversation starter and maybe might open him up some more.

>>4615391
>Tell their friends to make sure they're alright and look for Takeo, maybe he's up to something interesting.

>>4615391
>Tell their friends to make sure they're alright and look for Takeo, maybe he's up to something interesting.
Hey, OP, you should make a discord for this quest

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They have friends, even if they're a little drunk- oh, they vomited again- er, A LOT drunk, they should be fine. You pick out the onlookers that have been around the longest, figuring they probably know them, and starting going down the list of essentials. Make sure they're on their side when they vomit, make sure they can't hit their head when they pass out, and so on and so forth. After a quick lecture on the important points of caring for drunks you leave the bar and look around for Takeo. There's not a ton around here drawing your interest, so you may as well talk to him for a while. Maybe he found something interesting.

Fortunately for you Takeo is easy to find as he is essentially a massive, brightly-colored landmark. Even among a crowd with foreigners he stands out- he has to be at least 190cm, if not taller. He's currently standing near the front of the crowd, hand in the air, his head rapidly shaking like some sort of spring. You guess he's doing that headbang thing you've heard about. You attempt to navigate through the crowd and reach him.

It's a struggle to make your way through the crowd. People are polite and try to give way for you when they can, but the crowd is densely-packed in places and many people don't notice you until you're already trying to squeeze past them. The going is slow but steady, and after a couple minutes you've almost reached Takeo.

Just as you're hoping your journey is over, you spot something suspect about 10 feet away from you. There's a man and a woman standing next to each other, and the man is, for lack of a better term, fondling the woman's buttocks. This in itself isn't a criminal act, but given that the woman has swatted his hand away several times now, this could be a case of groping. Then again, she hasn't done anything but slap the hand away a couple of times. Maybe you're overreacting and they're dating? You wouldn't want to misunderstand things.
>Everything is really loud, but they can probably hear you from here. Draw attention to the possible crime in progress, hopefully someone nearby will intervene. (Physique challenge)
>Make your way through the crowd and approach the man. Next time he reaches his hand out you'll grab it yourself. If it's a misunderstanding then you'll apologize and leave, and if not it's a job well done.
>Get to Takeo and give him a heads-up on what's going on. With his help you should be able to clear the way to them much more easily. On the flip-side, you think he's going to draw attention to everything, whether you want it or not.
>Ignore the situation and head over to Takeo. You wouldn't want to embarrass them if it's just a misunderstanding- if she does need help there's plenty of people who can provide it.
>Write-in
>>4615939
Is that generally needed? None of the quests I follow have one and if anyone wants to talk about decisions they can do it in thread.

>>4615968
>Ignore the situation and head over to Takeo. You wouldn't want to embarrass them if it's just a misunderstanding- if she does need help there's plenty of people who can provide it.

Its optional

>>4615968
>Make your way through the crowd and approach the man. Next time he reaches his hand out you'll grab it yourself. If it's a misunderstanding then you'll apologize and leave, and if not it's a job well done.
If a fuss is made we can just shout about how he's getting too handsy.

>>4615968
>Make your way through the crowd and approach the man. Next time he reaches his hand out you'll grab it yourself. If it's a misunderstanding then you'll apologize and leave, and if not it's a job well done.

>>4615968
>Make your way through the crowd and approach the man. Next time he reaches his hand out you'll grab it yourself. If it's a misunderstanding then you'll apologize and leave, and if not it's a job well done.

>>4615968
>Make your way through the crowd and approach the man. Next time he reaches his hand out you'll grab it yourself. If it's a misunderstanding then you'll apologize and leave, and if not it's a job well done.

Meant to update earlier but classes happened so couldn't be helped. Will update before I go to sleep. Tomorrow and Sunday I'm mostly free, would like to aim for 3-4 updates a day for those assuming I can get the votes.

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>>4616060
>>4616082
>>4616371
>>4616564
>>4616762
There is a significant chance that there's a crime in progress, so you aren't just going to stand by and ignore it. You push your way through the crowd, watching as the man's hand gets slapped away once more. Just before he reaches out again you manage to get into position just behind the man. As his hand inches forward your hand darts forward and grabs it by the wrist, stopping it from moving further.

He tries to dislodge his hand from your grip, but you hold firm. After a few moments of this he seems to realize that something is wrong and turns around to face you. Upon catching sight of you he has a mixture of guilt, confusion, and anger on his face. Mostly guilt though- you don't think this was a misunderstanding. You should act now so that you can end the situation as easily as possible- giving him time to recover from his confusion will just make things more difficult.

Several awe-inspiring lines and viable courses of action flash through your head all at once. Lacking the time to process them all, you choose what is quite possibly the worst of them. "I'd appreciate it if you stopped fondling me sir." You let his hand go as you say this. The man stares between you and his hand before throwing a short glance at your buttocks. After a few moments of silence the man just walks away, face reddening as he stares at his hand with a look of disgust.

You turn to the woman. "Was I alright to intervene there, or was he not a groper?" The woman is curled over, laughing. In between wheezes you get your answer. "No, no, that was fine. It was a date but it wasn't working out, he was way too handsy. Would've told him off myself but a friend set us up. Thanks for the help dude." "No problem miss, I was just doing my job. Now if you'll excuse me, Salary Man has more justice to spread."
>Go meet up with Takeo, he's not too far away now.
>Silently trail that groper from before, he's a known criminal and you want to make sure he doesn't try anything else.
>Write-in

>>4617615
>Go meet up with Takeo, he's not too far away now.

>>4617615
>"I'd appreciate it if you stopped fondling me sir."
>sides crippled
Find Takeo

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>>4617838
>>4617893
It was a crime of opportunity, and you don't think the groper will find another date to grope tonight. You should be fine leaving him to his own devices. You ignore him and finish navigating your way through the crowd, finally reaching Takeo. He doesn't seem to notice you and stands there, rocking his head back and forth and waving his hand around in mid-air.

You casually greet him as you find a place to stand. He glances at you for a second but doesn't greet you for around 10 seconds, as the band starts to transition between songs. "Sup dude. How're you enjoying your first concert? Meet up with your friends?" Ah, you're supposed to have friends. That's what you get for using the easy 'designated driver' excuse. Time to improvise. "It's alright. I met up with them but they abandoned me for some chicks. It's rough but what'll you do."

Takeo seems offended towards your nonexistent friends on your behalf and firmly pats you on the back as he rages. "Damn, that's cold! Leaving you at your first concert to chase some tail. Normals should explode!" After calming down for a moment he resumes. "Since you got left in the cold feel free to hang out with us, although we'll mostly be listening to the music." As you mull over the word 'us' Takeo taps a couple of men to his left. "Leroy, Ink, meet, uh, salaryman. This is his first metal concert but his friends left him on his own. He might hang with us."

A small black man with oversized glasses and a wealth of facial hair and an extremely average looking fellow wearing a colorful shirt greet you before returning their attention to the stage. You listen to the music for a couple of minutes while looking around for any crimes in progress, before Takeo asks you to step out of the way. "See you guys in a bit, I'm gonna go mosh."
>Stay here and listen to the music, if you're here you may as well enjoy yourself a little.
>Try to talk to Takeo's friends since you kind of got an in and they seem friendly enough. They might not be too eager to chat given that they're a concert though.
>Follow after Takeo, it sounds like there's something else to do here that you missed.
>Focus on finding anywhere else you could be of help, you're currently Salary Man and that means you're on duty.
>Write-in

>>4618439
>Stay here and listen to the music, if you're here you may as well enjoy yourself a little.

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https://youtu.be/ryMdG1bfsUs
There are plenty of things you COULD do, but right now you just want to take a few minutes and listen to the music. You're on superhero duty, but this is your day off and it's not like you get to come to special events like this very often. You should make the most of it.

You stand calmly among the crowd and listen to the music. The guitars and vocals change erratically, with wild time signatures and crazy solos that are unlike almost anything you've heard before. The singing goes back and forth, being somewhat understandable for a little while before devolving into nothing but screaming and growling. As they sing the vocalists clearly go off-key often, although what they lose in perfection they make up for in spirit- there's a lot of energy in their performance. Overall, it is an extremely chaotic musical experience.
>This is really fun to listen to. You're not that familiar with it, but you think you like this kind of music- it's certainly more entertaining than some of the generic pop music that the industry keeps churning out.
>You don't really have any strong feelings about this. It's alright, but almost so loud and crazy that it becomes vaguely angry-sounding white noise. Maybe you need a little longer to make up your mind, or maybe it's just not your thing.
>This is garbage. The lyrics are gibberish, the structure makes no sense, and everything is just too grating and chaotic for you to enjoy. Maybe you're just getting old, but you don't think you can handle anything harder than X-Japan.
>Write-in
third time is the charm

>>4618986
>This is really fun to listen to. You're not that familiar with it, but you think you like this kind of music- it's certainly more entertaining than some of the generic pop music that the industry keeps churning out.

>>4618986
>This is really fun to listen to. You're not that familiar with it, but you think you like this kind of music- it's certainly more entertaining than some of the generic pop music that the industry keeps churning out.

>>4619091
>>4619255
This is... fun. Exciting. You think you really like this kind of wild, heavy stuff- it's a shame you're only being introduced to it now. You allow the other sounds around you to fade out as you focus on the music, raising your hand into the air and shaking your head like everyone else. You're having a fun time, so you might as well show it.

What you initially intended to be a short break stretches out from one song, to two, to three. You rock out in the crowd until your body grows tired from moving around in the metal-plated suit and the band settles into their last song. As they do you feel a tinge of disappointment realizing that you didn't stop nearly as much crime as you'd intended to but, well, you had fun at least. You can't say that you do that very often.

As the last song plays you bid farewell to Takeo's friends and head to the merchandise booth to see if anything peaks your interest. There you find some t-shirts, CDs, and a few other assorted goods branded after the band. You grab one t-shirt (you doubt you'll ever wear it, but it's something to commemorate the night by) and one of each of the albums as you don't think you'll be able to find them easily elsewhere. It's a little overpriced but eh, what your job lacks in enjoyment and leisure time it certainly makes up for in monetary compensation. It's not a problem.

Once you gather your purchases you decide how to finish up the night. Maybe you should track down Takeo and get his number so that you can get more music recommendations later? Or, since things are closing up, you could do a last sweep for any criminal elements lurking about.
>Find Takeo, you need a metal friend.
>Look for any criminal elements lurking about, you feel like you haven't done enough of that tonight.
>Listen to the last song and get ready to leave, you're pretty tired. You had fun, but you can't wait to go to sleep tonight.
>Write-in
Someone roll 1d100, it's a notice challenge

Rolled 45 (1d100)

>>4619714
>Find Takeo, you need a metal friend.
>rolling for friendship

>>4619714

>Find Takeo, you need a metal friend.

Rolled 19 (1d100)

>>4619714

>>4619732
>>4620737
>>4620840
You should go find Takeo before you head back home and sleep- as of now, he is your only path to more metal recommendations. You look around, attempting to spot him among the crowd. As you're doing so, you feel something... off, and instinctively glance at the screen showing what's behind you inside your helmet. You will later realize that this was you trying to find the source of the heavy footsteps coming up behind you, but at the time it was simply a reflex. Behind you is the groper from before, dashing towards you at full-tilt with a fist pulled back. Before you can process what's going on he misses a punch and barrels into you, clumsily falling to the ground along with you.

Your helmet smacks into the dirt and your head slams into it, leaving you with a dull pain in the back of it. As the rest of your body hits the ground you feel a sharp jolt of pain shoot through your lower back, making you involuntarily spasm. As you're seizing up in pain you see the groper regain his balance and sit down on top of you. You try to move upwards but, the pain slows you down. The groper slams a fist into your stomach, and while the attack isn't well executed, pain still shoots throughout your lower chest as you involuntarily swear inside your helmet.

As you recover from the pain the groper yelps out in pain as he shakes his hand. You guess he hit one of the metal plates. After a second he regains his focus and starts pulling his other hand back. You can hear him yelling something at you, but the words are so slurred it's impossible for you to make out. In the half an hour or so since you last met, he must've gotten very drunk.
>Force yourself upwards and try to push him off of you. You're not letting yourself get beaten up by some angry drunk. (Fight challenge)
>Pull yourself up and headbutt the fucker. You have a metal helmet on and while it might hurt a little, it should definitely get him off of you. (Physique challenge)
>Hold your arms up so that you can try to guard any important bits and wait for someone to get this madman off you. (Physique + Will challenge)
>Scream for somebody to help you, there's tons of people around you and while they're currently frozen up if you ask someone should help.
>Write-in

>>4621229
>Pull yourself up and headbutt the fucker. You have a metal helmet on and while it might hurt a little, it should definitely get him off of you. (Physique challenge)

Rolled 32 - 10 (1d100 - 10)

>>4621319
Salary Man is attempting to headbutt a drunk groper off of him.
>Salary Man's Physique: 0/Average - 1d100
>-10: Is currently being sat on top of, which makes it rather difficult to move.
>+20: Fun fact- metal is HARD. Your helmet is made of metal.
>+5: Adrenaline.
>Drunk Groper's Physique: 0/Average - 1d100
>-10: Is drunk and acting purely on rage and instinct.
Final Rolls: 1d100+15 vs. 1d100-10

Aim for his forehead

Rolled 62 + 15 (1d100 + 15)

>>4621614

Rolled 92 + 15 (1d100 + 15)

>>4621578

>>4621616
fuck, did we kill him?

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>>4621319
>>4621616
>>4621632
The pain seems to fade away slightly as you enter fight or flight mode. You muster all the energy you can and forcefully lift yourself off the ground slightly despite the man on top of you. The groper loses his balance as you move, but instead of moving off you just begins re-adjusting his position. This is a major mistake. While he does this you continue to move forward, aiming for a decisive headbutt. Seconds later your helmet slams into the man's face. You hear him cry out in pain moments before you slam your head into the front of your helmet and let out a moan yourself.

The man's weight disappears from your chest as he rolls off of you and onto the ground nearby. Someone lends you a hand as you lift yourself off of the ground. You throw a glance at the man who attacked you. He's trying to hold his face, but you can see his injuries through his hands. There's a nasty bruise on his forehead from where you slammed into him as well as some blood coming from his nose. Probably nothing serious (assuming that his nose is bleeding and not broken), but it's enough to make him stop fighting. Now he's just rolling on the ground, crying and gasping.

As you examine the man further, you see that his clothes are splattered with mud from your tumble on the ground. This prompts you to take a look at your suit- it's also covered in mud. Great. As you let out a sigh a member of the security staff approaches you. He asks if you're alright, and as the adrenaline starts to disappear and the pain flares up again, you wonder... are you alright? You don't think you're injured, but you hit your head (albeit not too hard) a couple of times, got punched, and have some really intense lumbar pain. You're not sure if you'd be able to immediately stand up if you sat down again.

The security guard repeating the question snaps you out of your self-examination. He says there's a small first aid tent in the concert area, and that they can check you there if you'd like.
>No, you don't think you're alright, not at all. Head over there and let whoever they have on staff check you fully while security deals with the drunk.
>You don't think you're alright, but you're on duty here- the helmet stays on. You'll have them check your stomach and back, but nothing else.
>It's just some bruises, you can pull through it. You're just going to go find Takeo and get out of here so you can rest.
>You're fine, you need to deal with this before anything else. [Will move on to a choice to how to deal with your attacker.]
>Write-in

>>4621716
Ask the security guard if we can get some pain killers and maybe some paper towels. Doubt they have one but if they have a changing room we could use really quick to clean up?
It's a given but the groper probably needs to go home. Hes too sauced up.

>>4621716
>You don't think you're alright, but you're on duty here- the helmet stays on. You'll have them check your stomach and back, but nothing else.
We have padding inside the helmet, right?
For better protection we might want to build it around a bicycle helmet (for our eventual upgrade in the future)

>>4622376
You do not, although after tonight that's high up on the list of things to do. You also need to check that camera you strapped onto the back of this thing, you hope smashing against the ground didn't wreck it.

Schedule malarky ahead:
Update within the next few hours (just got out of an afternoon lab and need to shower, grab dinner, and launder some stuff), and one more just before I go to bed if there are votes. Should update a couple times tomorrow, Thursday will be 3-4 if there are enough votes, dunno about the weekend yet but I'll probably disappear for a day or two.

>>4622478
note to self: get reinforced transparent plastic case for the camera, modify helmet for padding, add the voice modulator, research body armor cushions.

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You don't think you're alright, no. It's for the best that you get yourself looked at. ...Although for the time being it will have to just be the back and chest, you're on duty, you're not taking this helmet off. "I could use the help, I'll go there. Do you have any paper towels or painkillers? I need both right now." The guard thinks for a moment. "They should have some basic painkillers at the first aid area, and I can tell someone to bring you paper towels to wipe yourself off with. Sorry about our slow response to the incident sir, we shouldn't have allowed you to get injured." "It's not your fault, if I couldn't even see it coming there's no way you could've. I'm not hurt that badly anyways."

It's a slow, arduous walk to the first aid tent as you attempt to walk in a way which minimizes back pain. Once you're there you're offered a seat, but you decline. Sitting right now is probably still a very bad idea. They give you some over-the-counter painkiller and take a look at your injuries. There's no visible injury on your back, but in the front they can see some light bruising from where your were punched. They assume you'll be fine, but they really don't know- they're just helping out here, they're not a real doctor. If the back pain persists you guess you'll have to head to the hospital- maybe you pulled something bad, maybe you didn't, who knows.

As you stand there, waiting for the painkillers to kick in, the woman who was getting groped earlier approaches you looking extremely guilty. They speak quickly, vomiting out words in rapid succession, but you get most of it. Apparently the guy was her friend's cousin and roommate, and after he left she decided to call her about the groping. Her friend got very angry on her behalf and said that she wasn't helping to pay the rent for someone who groped her friend, family or not, and the guy kind of lost it, saying something about his life being over. The woman apologizes many times about the situation, but you just repeat that it's not their fault and that they weren't the one who attacked you. This seems to calm them down, and after a few minutes you get them to leave.

After the woman is gone a member of the security staff approaches you and hands you a roll of paper towels. As you do your best to wipe some of the mud off of your suit with the help of the paper towels and a nearby water bottle, the man speaks to you. "The man who attacked you is currently in custody. His nose is injured pretty badly, but he seems otherwise ok. How do you want to move along with things?"

>>4622810
...How do you want to move along with things? You guess he's referring to charges and the like?
>Have the cops come over and, when they ask, tell them you're going to press charges. The dude attacked you, you're not just letting him go- if you were unlucky you could've cracked your skull open! If he didn't want to do the crime he shouldn't have done the crime.
> Have the cops come over and take him for the night. You'll decline to press charges later, but you think a brush with the police would be better for him than some lecture from you would be.
>You'll head there and lecture him yourself about what an idiot and an asshole he is. Hopefully that should make him rethink things a bit and... maybe you can make him do some volunteer work or something to atone, you dunno. (Intimidate challenge)
>You can't be bothered dealing with the idiot. Just tell them to wait until he's sobered up a little (and you're gone) and then let him go. He is, hopefully, not going to be a reoffender.
>Write-in

>>4622814
>Ask the Cops if they can fine him into doing community service instead of putting a criminal charge on him. He needs to pay for being so irresponsible today, but he doesn't deserve to have a record on file to haunt him. That won't look good if he applies to certain jobs.
>Talk to the idiot and tell him to quit his bemoaning. It's not the end of the world for him and he can move on. People have been dealt worse cards so he should count himself lucky we're not pressing any serious charges. He's an idiot, but a young idiot. (Rapport Challenge?)

>>4623237
+1

>>4623237
+1 for the first point, but idk if we should do much more than offer him our card regarding direct confrontation.

>>4623625
We haven't changed cards or info yet

>>4623237
>>4623296
>>4623625
The guy needs to learn his lesson, but you're not sure if you're comfortable with that lesson being a permanent criminal record. Maybe he's a piece of shit and maybe it's for the best that he gets charged with something, but there's just as good a chance that he's an ok person who's just making some really, really dumb mistakes tonight. You're gonna give him the benefit of the doubt here and act leniently- you don't want to ruin his life.

"I don't want to press charges against the kid but I would appreciate if you could get the police over here. See if they can make him do some community service for this or something." The guard seems a bit confused. "I'm not sure if the police work like that but you can ask them, we'll have them send someone over." He leaves the tent, leaving you with your back pain.

After a couple minutes it gets a bit better, although it's still rather agonizing. You hope you'll be able to get up in the morning. Figuring that it's not going to get much better immediately and that you've waited long enough, you ask a nearby security guard where your attacker is being kept and have them lead you to him. You should talk to him and try to get him to understand what he's done wrong and what he needs to do to make up for it before the police get here. It would make things easier.

Salary Man is attempting to convince a drunk groper that what he's done is wrong, but that he can and should make amends for it.
>Salary Man's Rapport: 3/Great - 8d100
>-1 Skill Rank: This man is angry, drunk, and injured. He is not in the right state of mind for logical arguments.
>-15: He has been informed that the police will be coming, and is focused on them more than he is you.
>-10: The pain of his (possibly broken) nose is making it kind of hard to focus on words and stuff.
Final Rolls: 4d100-25 vs. Static DCs [50 partial success, 70 full success]

If these rolls fail do you guys want to do an intimidate success on the same topic? It's a little brute force but there's a good chance that he'll appreciate the good intentions once he's sobered up and can think straight. (Assuming he's not just a bad person, extremely stubborn, or both)
>Yes, if we don't get full success go for an intimidate challenge. (Roughly 80% chance)
>Yes, if we don't get a partial success go for an intimidate challenge. (Roughly 20% chance)
>No, do not go for an intimidate challenge no matter what.

Rolled 46 - 25 (1d100 - 25)

>>4624029
70 is gonna be hard to reach. That's a 1 in 20 chance. Fingers crossed I guess?

Rolled 76 - 25 (1d100 - 25)

>>4624029
>Yes, if we don't get a partial success go for an intimidate challenge. (Roughly 20% chance)

Rolled 80, 2 - 25 = 57 (2d100 - 25)

>>4624029

Best roll is a 55, partial success. Writing now.

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>>4624157
>>4624228
Inside a small tent that is effectively security's break room sits a few guards and the man who attacked you. He's sitting down and blankly staring at the small plastic table in front of him with a tissue stuffed up his nose. Occasionally he mutters something in a worried tone of voice, but you can't make out anything he's saying. A security guard sits next to him, watching him closely to make sure he doesn't run away.

"Hey- " You don't know his name, kid would sound kind of patronizing, dude sounds weird, he's not your friend... man will probably work best here- " man, I'm sorry about what happened. My intention wasn't to get you kicked out of your apartment." Draw them in with the niceties first. He turns to you and pays attention- it seems to be working. "Still, it could be worse- trust me, when I was your age I had a couple similar situations." You didn't. "You can get back on your feet and find a new place pretty quickly, and then work on making things right with your cousin, ok?"

His voice shakes as he responds. "It's not alright. My nose is broken." The guard shakes his head and mouths 'Probably not' as he says this. "My family is gonna cut me off. I'm gonna be homeless. The cops are gonna arrest me. I'm gonna go to jail. I'm fucked. Fuckkkkk." He just starts mumbling again after saying this.

Your repeated assurances that the cops aren't going to do anything weird to him and that as long as he promises to do some community service to make up for this and to never do anything like this again you're not going to press charges helps him stop panicking a bit, but he doesn't seem to fully get over the 'woe is me my life is ending stuff'. After a long, drawn-out conversation he begrudgingly agrees to do the volunteer work and says he won't do anything like this again, as well as admitting that he 'did some bad stuff', but you're not sure if his focus is really on what he's agreeing to, or if it's just on all the dramatic hypotheticals he's imagining. Hopefully he thinks things out in the morning and comes to the right conclusion.

A police officer arrives to take a report about everything after you finish talking to the young man.
>By this point you've taken your helmet off and are ready to give a proper report, including name and so on. This will allow you to follow up on the situation and possibly press charges in the case that you need to. (ie he ignores the community service thing completely. commits another crime, etc.)
>You are still wearing your helmet at this point in time and are going to obscure details such as your name so that the incident doesn't involve you on paper. You will have no way to follow up on this incident.
>Write-in

>>4624587
>You are still wearing your helmet at this point in time and are going to obscure details such as your name so that the incident doesn't involve you on paper. You will have no way to follow up on this incident.

>>4624587
>>You are still wearing your helmet at this point in time and are going to obscure details such as your name so that the incident doesn't involve you on paper. You will have no way to follow up on this incident.

Will update after I grab dinner, might take a while to write though, there's a good chance it ends up being a two-poster.

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>>4624597
>>4624964
"And your name sir?"
"Salary Man."
"How can we reach you?"
"For the time being I have no permanent form of contact. It will be fixed in a few days, but not soon enough for me to stay in contact concerning this incident. My apologies."

The police officer is glancing between his notepad and you in confusion. The guards are similarly perplexed since they previously assumed the helmet was something related to the concert, and not a superhero thing. After a few more failed attempts to file a proper report the officer gives up on getting your information and talks to you outside the security tent to make sure you understand everything.

"You understand that if we do not have the correct information, it will be essentially impossible to file a criminal charge later, correct?" "I understand. That's fine." "As you mentioned we can tell him he should do the hours of community service you specified, and that it is the condition for you not pressing charges, but if he refuses, with no contact information provided you will have no actual recourse concerning the issue. Alright?" "That's fine with me."

The officer stills seems slightly confused regarding your approach to things, not to mention the whole 'Salary Man' shtick, but he carries out things as you specified. He wasn't the one assaulted, so whether to press charges or not isn't a decision for him to make. Your attacker is escorted off of the premises and to a nearby police station, where he should be held in detention until he's sobered up a little. With the incident over with you take your leave and look around the venue for Takeo. At this point the music is done with and the crowd is dispersing, but there's still some people lingering around, buying discounted alcohol and food that the concessions people don't want to take with them- there's a decent chance he's still around.

You find Takeo almost immediately, at almost the same spot in the bar as you first met him. He is still drinking, and now that there's no concert for him to be worrying about he's louder than ever. ...Not exactly your thing, but hey, he's in high spirits at least. You approach him with slow, measured footsteps that minimize your lumbar pain. You purposely keep the conversation a short one, just exchanging numbers with him and telling him to have a good one. With that over with your business at the concert is done, and you leave.

You switch out of your costume and back into a normal suit in an empty park bathroom. The process is somewhat painful, but you manage to do it without bending over too much. Once this is done with you catch one of the last trains back to Itabashi. You stand. You are still not willing to risk sitting down. You'll wait until you get home for that. Despite the persistent pain and the awkward position you fall asleep, as is normal. No matter what the situation is, you have to sleep every chance you get. That's just the basics of being a salaryman.

>>4625727
As the train comes to a halt you wake up and exit the train. The streets are dark and almost completely silent. Pretty standard for a Sunday night in the 'suburbs' of Tokyo. ...Or is it a Monday morning now? As you think about this and other unimportant things while walking home, a bad feeling comes over you. You feel like you're forgetting something important. Really important. You have no idea what it could be though.

You mull over this premonition as you draw closer to your home, but come no closer to figuring out what it could be about. You round the corner to your street, and...
Roll 1d100. Notice challenge.
I will roll for this in around 30~ minutes if nobody has and then finish the update, but I feel that you guys should have a chance to roll for yourselves. Good luck.

Rolled 48 (1d100)

>>4625730

Rolled 41 (1d100)

>>4625730
how can we increase our notice skill?

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..let out a sigh of relief as you near your home. You stop focusing on the premonition from earlier, just glad that you're getting home for the night and will finally be able to rest. That's a mistake.

As you near your home you hear a woman yell at you. "DAISUKE!" A deep feeling of dread fills you. You recognize that voice. Your flight or flight instinct flares up as you look at the source of the voice. In front of your house there's a small, thin old woman with a deep tan and a much taller, muscular man with the same dark complexion. They're both clearly showing signs of old age, but they look pretty good given that they're entering their 70s. They're your parents- Sugimoto Ai (your mother) and Sugimoto Hayakawa (your father).

You briefly consider fleeing, but even if you wanted to you REALLY don't think you can do that right now. You'll just have to face your mother. Despite your turbulent feelings on the inside you keep a steady poker face on the outside and approach your mother with a neutral expression. "I didn't expect to see you here mom- you didn't tell me you were coming to Tokyo. If I knew I would've arranged something." Your mother ignores you. "DAISUKE! WHY WERE YOU OUT SO LATE!" As your mother yells your father just rolls his eyes at your mother from behind her. At the same time he strategically widens the distance between him and the two of you, not wanting to get wrapped in the conversation.

"I was taking care of some personal business. It's great to see the two of you, but why are you visiting? Did something happen? Should I arrange a hotel room for your stay?" This line of questioning puts the question about what you were up to to rest and instead opens up a whole new can of worms. "Hotel, no, I- WAIT NO, THAT'S NOT THE ISSUE. THE DATE! What about the date! I came here to meet your girlfriend!" Ah. So your plan to stall her out backfired- when she couldn't reach you she got curious enough to spend half a day traveling to Tokyo. You'd almost be angry, but at this point it's just funny more than anything. ...Although you do feel kind of bad for dad- he didn't do anything to deserve this, unless marrying your mother counts.

"The date? I haven't gone on it yet and I wouldn't say she's my girlfriend. If that's what you came about you may be disappointed." Your mother scowls. "You better not have made it up!" "Of course not mother. I've dated before, I don't need to make up people to get a date." "That's not what this is about, I know that- it's not that you can't get married, no, my Daisuke can get whoever he wants. It's that you never care about me or my feelings and don't want me to be happy and have lots of grandkids."

>>4625790
"Why, if I had it my way-" Your father loudly clears his throat, interrupting your mother's tirade. "It's cold. We should go inside."
>"Of course. Mom, dad, please come in." Looks like you have one more obstacle to overcome tonight.
>"That's right. While you two warm up I'll call someone and find a hotel room for the two of you- I'm sure the two of you need to rest. It's a little late but I'm sure there's somewhere nice available- somewhere with a view even" You love your parents, but you're tired, and you really need to get them out of your house as soon as possible. If not your mother might argue with you all night, unless dad stops her or you put your foot down.
>Write-in

>>4625784
Getting used to the camera facing behind you will be a big help, although it may not necessarily improve all your notice checks as it will so much give you a chance to see things happening behind you before you get blindsided by them. Besides that it's kind of tied into athletics as it's a reflexes thing, so just like athletics/physique it would be pretty difficult for you to raise. I was planning on skills staying mostly static outside of concentrated efforts over long timespans or *maybe* really big feats (and I don't think there will be a ton of those because, while I expect this to go on for [extremely rough estimate at this point in time, it could definitely change] 10-15 threads at this point in time, I have no desire to make this a 50+ thread epic), but I will probably find a chance for you guys to improve a skill eventually. More likely than that is I find a chance to give you guys some permanent bonus that's not as big as a skill increase but that is still situationally useful. Besides that you guys can plan around your weak points and just try to roll for them less, although notice is kind of difficult to cut out given that, well, by definition you don't know when you might need to roll for it.

>"That's right. While you two warm up I'll call someone and find a hotel room for the two of you- I'm sure the two of you need to rest. It's a little late but I'm sure there's somewhere nice available- somewhere with a view even" You love your parents, but you're tired, and you really need to get them out of your house as soon as possible. If not your mother might argue with you all night, unless dad stops her or you put your foot down.

>>4625804
Is there a Character Sheet we can refer to?

>>4625837
I can touch up the one in my notes and link a pastebin with it later tonight or tomorrow afternoon, should've done it before now but I wasn't sure if the dice system was gonna work out or not when I started.

>>4625799
>"Of course. Mom, dad, please come in." Looks like you have one more obstacle to overcome tonight.

>>4625799

>"Of course. Mom, dad, please come in." Looks like you have one more obstacle to overcome tonight.

>>4625799
>"Of course. Mom, dad, please come in." Looks like you have one more obstacle to overcome tonight.
Maybe if we had some kind of back brace/lumbar support we wore regularly our back wouldn't get hurt so easily.

>>4625799
>"Of course. Mom, dad, please come in." Looks like you have one more obstacle to overcome tonight.
Just caught up, I like this quest

Will update (and post that character sheet) after I do some stuff, get something to eat, and get rid of this headache. Today has been extremely busy for me. Saturday will go as normal but I'll disappear for Sunday and maybe Monday, IRL stuff.
>>4627221
Glad to hear it!

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He's right, it is cold. "Of course. Mom, dad, please come in." You unlatch the gate separating your pittance of a yard from the street and head inside. Its been a long time since your parents have been to your house, but you think it looks about the same as they last visited- practical, if a bit bare. You've never really been one for interior design.

Your parents take a seat on your couch, while you go into the kitchen to prepare something to drink. Or at least that's what it looks like- the main reason you're doing this is so that you don't have to sit down with them. You're not letting your mom realize you're hurt, not when all this is happening. That'll just cause her to go on another lecture about how you work too much, possibly leading into something about how you need to settle down and find a wife to take care of you.

You restart the conversation while still in the kitchen. "So you came here just to spy on my love life?" You don't turn around, but you can still feel the fake indignation from here. "Of course not! Am I not allowed to visit my own son? You're being so cold." You sigh internally. You'd be friendlier if it were a normal visit.

The two of you banter back and forth for the next five minutes, all the while slowly circling towards the actual point of her visit. Your father manages to speed this process along greatly with one gruff comment to your mother. "Please stop pussyfooting around and talk about what you want to talk about. I normally go along with whatever you want to do, but this has been a long day. I'm tired. Daisuke, I'm going to go look at your robot things while you two talk. "

Having been forced into frankness, your mother begins debating you in earnest. "Why won't you just settle down? I hate to say this, but you're getting old- you should start your life already." "Having kids isn't the only point to living. I'm enjoying myself in my own way." "You may be enjoying yourself, but what about me? I raise you, and then you run off to Tokyo all by yourself. You were supposed to find a nice woman and start a family." "'All by myself'? Does that mean you want to move here? If you want to you should've just asked- I can buy the two of you a house in Tokyo any time you want." Thankfully she doesn't call your bluff and just ignores your response. You're not sure if you could handle your mother being only minutes away- you love her but she can be a lot sometimes. "That's not the point- Keiichi has a wife and two kids, and look how happy he is? I just want you to be happy."

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>>4628144
This is going nowhere fast, but it always ends up like this. You just need to keep talking until you get a chance to shut her down. "I'm very happy for Keiichi, but I don't think that would make me happy. I found my own path on life, and I'm enjoying it. I appreciate that you worry about me and want me to be happy, but your worries are misguided." The conversation goes back in forth, in circles and circles from here, to the point where you forget about the tea you're brewing and just keep shutting down your mother's assertions about why you NEED to get married and have (or adopt- apparently that's fine too now that you're 'old') a child.

Half an hour passes before your discussion reaches the zenith. Your father is still holed up in the other room, presumably either sleeping or looking at your garage kits- he always liked your garage kits. "Look, I tried my hardest to help you get married, something you never seemed to want to do! I even talked to Yumi, the woman who owns the orange farm down the road, and managed to find a marriage meeting for you." "With the heir to the orange farm?" You're struggling to maintain your composure at this point. "No! Her niece lives out here in Tokyo, is around your age, and does fancy business stuff too. Her aunt said she was struggling to get her to marry, just like me with you. It was hard, but I think I found someone that matches up to you, even if you refuse to. I just want you to go on a marriage meeting and see if you like her. If you're dating someone, that's fine, but I'm not leaving until I know you're at least trying to start a relationship."
>"The date was real. I'll consider the marriage meeting if things fall through." Alright, fine. You can go on a pretend date or two if it means your mother will get off your back for a while longer. At least it'd be with someone you know likes you instead of a burnt-out office lady.
>"Since you went through the effort I'll go to the marriage meeting, fine." If you just go through with it and 'reluctantly' turn the woman down than that should satisfy your mother for the time being. It seems like she put a lot of effort into arranging this, even if it seems like neither side is terribly interested
>"I'm sorry, but you're going to have to leave knowing that I am not trying to start a relationship. I'm not going to lie to placate you mom. I love you, but I'm simply not interested in dating anyone right now." You haven't dated anyone in decades, and you've long since lost the desire. You just wish your mom would understand that, even if she didn't agree with it.
>"I'm not in a relationship yet, but that date WAS real- I wouldn't lie to you. Just tell me when the meeting is and I'll free up my schedule." You are not admitting to anything, lest it lessen the effectiveness of future romantic lies. Plus, maybe this way your mother will think you're actually interested in romance and leave you alone for a year or three.
>Write-in

And here's the promised character sheet.
https://pastebin.com/7bsv4A8y

>>4628146
>>4628146
>"I'm not in a relationship yet, but that date WAS real- I wouldn't lie to you. Just tell me when the meeting is and I'll free up my schedule." You are not admitting to anything, lest it lessen the effectiveness of future romantic lies. Plus, maybe this way your mother will think you're actually interested in romance and leave you alone for a year or three.

>>4628144
>>4628146

>"Since you went through the effort I'll go to the marriage meeting, fine." If you just go through with it and 'reluctantly' turn the woman down than that should satisfy your mother for the time being. It seems like she put a lot of effort into arranging this, even if it seems like neither side is terribly interested
Let's go meet the niece. This option seems like it won't lead to any immediate skill checks

>>4628146
>"I'm not in a relationship yet, but that date WAS real- I wouldn't lie to you. Just tell me when the meeting is and I'll free up my schedule." You are not admitting to anything, lest it lessen the effectiveness of future romantic lies. Plus, maybe this way your mother will think you're actually interested in romance and leave you alone for a year or three.

This one and
>since you went through the effort
both have us going to the "marriage meeting", right?

Maybe we'll make a friend or something who knows. I am interested in at least checking out the one who slipped us the napkin with the phone number though. Just curiosity.

Updates will resume tomorrow.

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It looks like you're not going to win here. You think your best bet is to accept her terms and seem cooperative. It's a lot to deal with now, but it might buy you more time when everything is said and done.

"I'm not in a relationship yet, but that date is real- I wouldn't lie to you. Just tell me when the marriage meeting is and I'll free up my schedule." Your mom changes completely once you accept her proposition. "I knew you'd see the advantages without me having to push it onto you! I heard she's very pretty, I'm sure the two of you will get along great. I'll talk things out with Old Yutaka, I'm sure we can set something up soon since both of you live in Tokyo."

You maintain a slight, false smile as she talks. At least she's happy. "That sounds good. Just run the times past me ahead of time so I can try and free my schedule. If there's nothing else I'm going to sleep now. The guest room is ready upstairs, although it's at the end of the hall now, just across from the stairwell. The two of you are free to stay here while you're in Tokyo or stay elsewhere, just tell me tomorrow and I'll take care of everything."

As you finish speaking your father suddenly appears, having silently left your room full of garage kits (and other such objects) and taken up a position standing behind your mother. You greet him, have an extremely short conversation about your hobby ("They look nice, as always. You can see the work put into them."), and then bid him a good night.

Once you step into your room you lie onto your bed without even taking your suit off. Despite the lingering pain, drowsiness overwhelms you and you fall asleep in seconds. What seems like moments later you're awake. You... feel like shit. More so than usual. You try to lift yourself out of bed and let out a groan as you let yourself fall back down. You can do it. You can definitely do it. It's just going to hurt. You think everything you do is going to hurt today.

You slowly slide your cell phone from your pocket. 5:41. You overslept a little bit. Not much though. You could still make it to work without much trouble.
>Better take a couple painkillers, suck it up, and get to work. You've worked through worse than this, although that was back when you actually cared.
>You'll call the president and inform him that you can't make it in today. You were literally assaulted last night, a day of rest is fine.
>You'll call the owner, Junpei Osamu, and tell him to inform Junpei Hiroshi that you will be indisposed today due to said assault and lingering pain. On paper it will be because you're not sure he's awake yet while you know the owner is, in reality it will be because the owner is somewhat sane, even if he can't bring himself to rein in his little brother. Your boss might not appreciate you going over his head though.
>They can survive one day without you. You're going back to bed. If anyone asks you were too injured to call in.
>Write-in

>>4633617
>You'll call the owner, Junpei Osamu, and tell him to inform Junpei Hiroshi that you will be indisposed today due to said assault and lingering pain. On paper it will be because you're not sure he's awake yet while you know the owner is, in reality it will be because the owner is somewhat sane, even if he can't bring himself to rein in his little brother. Your boss might not appreciate you going over his head though.

If anyone asks, it was a hit and run situation where we couldn't ID the attacker. Can't give anyone at the company hints to our hero identity.

>>4633668
>You'll call the president and inform him that you can't make it in today. You were literally assaulted last night, a day of rest is fine.

>You'll call the owner, Junpei Osamu, and tell him to inform Junpei Hiroshi that you will be indisposed today due to said assault and lingering pain. On paper it will be because you're not sure he's awake yet while you know the owner is, in reality it will be because the owner is somewhat sane, even if he can't bring himself to rein in his little brother. Your boss might not appreciate you going over his head though.

>>4633617
>You'll call the president and inform him that you can't make it in today. You were literally assaulted last night, a day of rest is fine.

>>4633617
>Better take a couple painkillers, suck it up, and get to work. You've worked through worse than this, although that was back when you actually cared.

Can't ruin a good record. We can get what has to be done in like 2 hours then just rest or "go check on a client" for the rest of the day. Worst comes to worst, just take the second half of the day off. But at least show up and get some work done.

>>4633617
>Better take a couple painkillers, suck it up, and get to work. You've worked through worse than this, although that was back when you actually cared.

And if calling in does win, pretend to go to work regardless so we don't have to explain to mom and dad or be around them all day. Rent a room at an internet cafe and maybe work on the voice changer after a bit more rest.

>>4633617
>Better take a couple painkillers, suck it up, and get to work. You've worked through worse than this, although that was back when you actually cared.

>>4634074
We could alternatively call up our IT guy and see how he's going and the progress on the report he's compiling. I really want to see the guy succeed.

>>4633617
>>You'll call the owner, Junpei Osamu, and tell him to inform Junpei Hiroshi that you will be indisposed today due to said assault and lingering pain. On paper it will be because you're not sure he's awake yet while you know the owner is, in reality it will be because the owner is somewhat sane, even if he can't bring himself to rein in his little brother. Your boss might not appreciate you going over his head though.

Wow, that's a lot of votes. Guess I'll tally them up. Voting will close in around 4 hours, that's when my last class for the day ends.
>>4633691
>>4633878
Two for calling the president.
>>4633668
>>4633749
>>4634116
Three for calling the owner.
>>4634070
>>4634073
>>4634076
Three for sucking it up and going into work.

>>4634515
I guess this means no hero buisness today. We really gotta do something about our back.

>>4634515
>5 hours ago
If it's not too late, I'll change >>4633878 from calling the president to sucking it up and going to work to tiebreak

Ah, shit, I fell asleep. Sorry about that, will start writing in a few minutes. Might write late tonight since I'm probably not falling asleep at a decent time.
Vote closed for
>sucking it up and going into work.

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>>4633668
>>4633691
>>4633749
>>4633878
>>4634070
>>4634073
>>4634076
>>4634116

Well, you know what they say- Whatever doesn't kill you isn't worth a sick day. You let out a pained grunt as you push yourself out of bed. You're a couple minutes behind, but you're technically dressed, and if you skip your shower you'll have time to swear. You just need to put something on this back, check your head and stomach in the mirror, and then get something to eat before you leave.

A moment later you're examining yourself in the mirror. Your stomach has a nasty-looking bruise, but it's only hurts when you touch it- that should be fine. As for your head, it looks like the headbutting didn't leave any wound, but there's a small lump on the back of your head. You'll put some ointment on it.

Ointment, painkillers, and one of those back patches that makes it burn in a good way- check. You head down to your kitchen and fill your thermos with matcha tea. It looks like your parents aren't up yet. You'll leave some money on the counter in case they want to order something- the fridge is kind of empty. After writing a quick note and leaving a 10,000 yen note on the counter, you grab a banana and rush out the door. You still have a bit of a bedhead, but you can fix that in the bathroom before you meet anyone, you don't think you have much going on today anyways.

You think there's just enough time to spare. You swing by 7-11 and grab something to go with your banana. No time to spare for anything heated, so what about... sushi, sure. That'll work. You already have the money out before you get to the counter, and you're gone seconds later. After a slightly painful rush to the station you barely make your train and start eating your breakfast standing up.

The painkillers are starting to kick in. You feel a little better, although it still hurts like hell. At least they kicked in in time for work. You let out a pained sigh as you sit down at your desk and start organizing your things. As you do so the president walks in. You exchange greetings, but he seems more... excited than usual.

"Something really big just came up last night!" He grins as he says this. You have a bad feeling about this. "What is it sir?" "I found out that Sony is planning to completely remodel several of their offices, as well as open a new Tokyo office!" And you guess he's going to expect you to get the contract for all that? "That sounds like a big contract. Have they decided who they're planning to give all the work to?" "No! From what I've heard they'll make their decision in about a month. I want you to do your best and make sure we get it- this deal could be 500,000,000 (yen) or more, easy. If we swing it maybe we could finally get a second office for the Tokyo branch. This is our big chance!"

>>4635486
Your boss leaves with a toothy grin still covering his face. Great.
>That's a big deal. You guess you'll put yourself into overdrive, like in the old days. If you can manage to secure this deal that's a lot of extra "Fuck you, no" capital to swing around, and maybe you can actually get that Branch President position you used to dream of... even if those dreams were brutally crushed with the Hokkaido branch's creation.
>You guess you'll be working for the next month or so. You'll try at least, if only to try and spare yourself and your office from the wrath of Junpei Hiroshi after he has his dreams of a second Tokyo office crushed. You feel some responsibility to minimize his tantrums.
>Competing for this contract sounds like it's going to be a royal pain in the ass. You'll make a few shows of effort but bow out. You can't really be bothered.
>Write-in

>>4635488
>You guess you'll be working for the next month or so. You'll try at least, if only to try and spare yourself and your office from the wrath of Junpei Hiroshi after he has his dreams of a second Tokyo office crushed. You feel some responsibility to minimize his tantrums.
We're not young anymore so we can crunch with little repercussions. We gotta pace ourself now. Plus going into overdrive would eat up into our hero time. Work pays the Bill's but it's not our passion.

>>4635623
I agree with this

>>4635623
So we *cant

>>4635623
+1

>>4635488
>You guess you'll be working for the next month or so. You'll try at least, if only to try and spare yourself and your office from the wrath of Junpei Hiroshi after he has his dreams of a second Tokyo office crushed. You feel some responsibility to minimize his tantrums.
Let's atleast test the waters and see if we can swing the contract. If it starts looking like too much work, we'll pull out

>>4635623
>>4635745
>>4635750
>>4635763
Alright, seems unanimous.
Can I get some rolls for how you guys pull through work today:
Sugimoto Daisuke is attempting to work through back pain caused by an extremely rough fall to the ground.
>Sugimoto Daisuke's Physique: 0/Average - 1d100
>+10: Painkillers are helping dull the pain.
>-20: It is a lot of pain. You really shouldn't be working today.
Final Rolls: 1d100-10 vs. Static DCs (30, 70, 85)
>Sugimoto Daisuke's Will: 2/Good - 4d100
>+1 Skill Rank: It's Just Business. You're used to working through the pain like this.
Final Rolls: 8d100 vs. Static DCs (30, 70, 90)
Here's a reminder that there's no need to roll one by one with the high dice amounts compared to the playercount.

Rolled 93 + 10 (1d100 + 10)

>>4635808

Rolled 61, 5, 53 = 119 (3d100)

>>4635808

Rolled 17 - 10 (1d100 - 10)

>>4635818
Gotta roll like this
dice+1d100+-10
Nice rolls by the way

Rolled 73, 1, 60 = 134 (3d100)

>>4635816
>>4635818
64 on the Physique challenge then, and >90 on the will challenge, no more rolls needed but I guess I'll roll up the last few dice for funsies.
Will need a little bit until I'm free to write but should have something up within 1-2 hours.

Rolled 51, 74, 77, 67, 47, 55, 1, 93 = 465 (8d100)

>>4635822
I think I need help understanding what the rest of the rolls are for. The first is powering through the pain, but what's the last eight for?

>1
P A I N

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>>4635816
You cheekie little tart. You gotta take your licks with your kicks.

>>4635824
The first is for how well your body can handle the pain (Physique), the last eight are for powering through the pain (Will).
So the first is the physical side (a weightlifter might not have as much trouble with something like this), and the second is the mental (someone who's used to chronic pain won't feel any less pain, but he'll be able to work through it better).
I was originally wondering if I should combine them somehow but two separate rolls seems like the easiest way to do it.

>>4635830
If there are posative and negative modifiers, then I guess separating them makes sense.

Will buying more heat packs and ice packs help? Would we need another tech check to mod the armor so it has cushions, or belts like the inside of construction hats?

>>4635833
>Will buying more heat packs and ice packs help?
Maybe, you'll put another pack on around lunch and whenever you get home. Hopefully it'll be more bearable by tomorrow.
>Would we need another tech check to mod the armor so it has cushions, or belts like the inside of construction hats?
If it isn't anything electronics related I'd go for some sort of Crafts check instead, which you guys are generally better at. The worst that might happen is you fuck up some sewing or tear it or something, which is pretty much always repairable. If at some point it becomes too hard to modify the existing outfit you might want to find a tailor or someone who works on cosplay or something- you made what you have yourself but it took a really long time.

Leaving for a bit now to do the thing I'm supposed to be doing, will be back when the update is done.

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You'll do solid work, and nothing more. Maybe, once upon a time, you'd be motivated by this opportunity and try your hardest to make sure the company could close the deal. Not anymore. Now you're obligated to do your best during work hours to settle this, and nothing more.

Today's the start of week meeting, which is generally 60% a complete waste of time, 30% discussing extremely minor details at painful length, and 10% productive planning and scheduling. While your boss is especially bad with the start of week and end of week meetings, you guess it could be worse. For a good portion of it you can do whatever you want, and there are way more companies than this one that have problems with meetings and over-attention to detail. This is why you haven't made more of an effort to dismantle them over the years.

During the morning portion of the meeting you go through your binder and narrow down anyone who could be of help in regards to the Sony situation. There are, of course, a couple Sony employees who you should contact first, but that's not all. There are other people in the industry who might be able to help you get in touch with people at Sony or related companies, or who may be able to help you ascertain your contacts likes, dislikes, and other abnormalities. In your opinion 90% of the battle is fought beforehand, and that's why meticulous preparation is important when going into a bat- er, a business meeting.

As you make your preparations you're interrupted by the rare discussion over something productive, and the much more common discussions over things that aren't particularly productive. You still take them seriously, but there's only so much you can say on topics like "What colors should we offer for the new stapler models." and "Should these desks include a trim, and if so should there be a design on the trim?", and the recurring "Should we ask for a new coffee machine?". Data already exists, and there are people who are far more qualified than you to discuss these minor subjects (particularly the coffee machine - you bring your own drink)- you don't see how this really relates to your job.

Besides the normal monotony, around noon you do see your boss blow up at Tadashi, one of your chronic low-performers. Everyone quietly keeps to themselves and avoids eye contact as your boss rages on, screaming and fuming for around five minutes before getting his fill of belittling him. Tadashi merely sits there, not particularly concerned. It can't be fun getting chewed out in front of everyone, but he's been working here nearly as long as you have- for the most part, he stopped caring about these outbursts long, long ago. Still, you do feel bad for him. You interrupt the meeting and say that it's about time for someone to grab lunch- hopefully while everyone's grabbing their food he'll have a moment to recover from that.

>>4635945
Your boss agrees with your suggestion of food, and the meeting turns to the most important debate of all- what's for lunch. After 10 minutes of discussion and another 10 minutes of taking orders, the specifics are ironed-out. Since you're managing the pain well you'll head out along with
>Hiro, you may as well discuss the specifics of your new contact info and his report.
>Tadashi, he could use a breather after being chewed out like that. ...Although at this point he's more than used to it.
>Konda, she's a straight-shooter who only cares about her assigned work while at work. You could schedule that date while grabbing lunch and she wouldn't really care, nor would she try to talk to you.
>Write-in
This will be the last update for the day.

>>4635949
>
>Konda, she's a straight-shooter who only cares about her assigned work while at work. You could schedule that date while grabbing lunch and she wouldn't really care, nor would she try to talk to you.
Wow, new character we know nothing about!

>>4635949
>Konda, she's a straight-shooter who only cares about her assigned work while at work. You could schedule that date while grabbing lunch and she wouldn't really care, nor would she try to talk to you.
Hiro always has our number if he ever needs the help of SALARY MAN!

>>4635949
>Tadashi, he could use a breather after being chewed out like that. ...Although at this point he's more than used to it.

>>4635949
>>Tadashi, he could use a breather after being chewed out like that. ...Although at this point he's more than used to it.

>>4635945
>Konda, she's a straight-shooter who only cares about her assigned work while at work. You could schedule that date while grabbing lunch and she wouldn't really care, nor would she try to talk to you.

>>4635949
>Konda, she's a straight-shooter who only cares about her assigned work while at work. You could schedule that date while grabbing lunch and she wouldn't really care, nor would she try to talk to you.

Rolled 3 (1d7)

Updating after dinner. Probably won't be able to fit this into the story for a while, but before I forget: Rolling for how the thing with the graffiti teenagers turns out.

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>>4636008
>>4636020
>>4636070
>>4636089
>>4636271
>>4636633
If you take along Konda then you can make your call and she won't bother you- She's worked here for over a decade and you don't think she's once been involved in 'drama' of any sort. It's a very pragmatic way of doing things. That part of her almost reminds you of yourself when you were younger, but once you started on the track towards management it couldn't really last.

"Konda-san, could you help me with the food?" "Certainly Vice-President." She stands up immediately and follows you out of the door to the office. Once you're outside you grab your phone. "I need to make a personal call on the way, is that ok?" "Of course Vice-President." "I'll be a moment then."

You grab your phone, take a deep breath, and dial the phone number. You're not exactly looking forward to this, but you guess there are much worse things you could do than have to go out on a date. Sure, it's on your personal time, but plenty of your business meetings are too. If you compare it to meetings it couldn't be that bad, could it?

It rings a few times before she picks up. "Hello?" "Hello. My name is Sugimoto Daisuke. I believe we met at the-" You pause for a split second, wondering how to word it. Your coworker is right next to you after all. ...Eh, she won't care, even if she does misunderstand things. "-Nekomimi Maid Cafe, your place of work. At the time I was with a client of mine, and I lent you my handkerchief. You gave me this number as I left."

Hopefully that's enough to jog her memory. After a moment a surprised, happy voice comes over the line. "Oh! I didn't expect you to actually call me!" You hear her put the phone down and her voice is muffled for a moment. You're not certain what she said, but it sounded happy? And loud. She picks the phone back up. "So, what'd you call me about?"

You called her so that you could pretend to have someone you're going on dates with to stave off your overzealous mother. ...But should you tell her that? That has a good chance of killing things right off the bat.
>Of course you'll tell her. She deserves to know, you aren't toying around with anyone's love life. ...Plus, you need her cooperation with something like this.
>It couldn't hurt to hide the truth. You'll just be going out on one or two dates to distract your mom, so it's not like it's going to be a serious relationship. Once you're done you can just say you don't think the two of you are good fits and end your 'romantic' relationship.
>You'll ask her if she wants to hang out as friends. Things could get complicated if her and your mother meet, but if they do you might be able to get away saying that you're taking things slow, like a gentlemen should or something.
>Write-in
I promised myself I wouldn't use stock images, but this was fitting.
on the bright side I did watch some Gamecenter CX the other day and have some nice screenshots from that to use

>>4636934
>Of course you'll tell her. She deserves to know, you aren't toying around with anyone's love life. ...Plus, you need her cooperation with something like this.

being honest upfront doesn't necessarily mean this can't evolve into something genuine though

>>4636934
>Of course you'll tell her. She deserves to know, you aren't toying around with anyone's love life. ...Plus, you need her cooperation with something like this.

>>4636934
>You'll ask her if she wants to hang out as friends. Things could get complicated if her and your mother meet, but if they do you might be able to get away saying that you're taking things slow, like a gentlemen should or something.
She seems more amiable than the orange lady our mother is trying to set us up with. Friends first, then we see where that leads us? Could be a blooming friendship, or could develop into a relationship.

>>4636934
>Of course you'll tell her. She deserves to know, you aren't toying around with anyone's love life. ...Plus, you need her cooperation with something like this.

>>4636934
>You'll ask her if she wants to hang out as friends. Things could get complicated if her and your mother meet, but if they do you might be able to get away saying that you're taking things slow, like a gentlemen should or something.


I'm think we should call it of. Any of this routes are just to crueal. But firends are the least, or not? I don't know

>>4636934
>Write-in
Ask her out on a date. She sounded so happy over the phone so why not?

>>4637854
That was what you were going to do in the first two options, you guys already voted to take her out on a date earlier as a mother-distraction tactic. This was just to choose the approach.

Want to update but not feeling too hot right now, I think it was what I ate for lunch. Will probably update later tonight. Saturday will update as normal, but I will probably disappear Sunday since I'm playing in a casual vidya tournament and will probably be occupied by that.

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>>4637055
>>4637258
>>4637421
>>4637580
>>4637854
You have to be honest here, even if doing so might scuttle your plan before it leaves port. "I apologize for the odd circumstances, but I'm actually calling you because my mother has been bothering me about my love life. I figured that going on a few dates and pretending to be concerned about getting a girlfriend would help satisfy her, and you had previously seemed interested. I was wondering if you'd be interested in going out sometime, despite the circumstances and my lack of interest in an actual relationship. If not that's understandable, and I thank you for your time."

There's a long sigh followed by silence. Eventually you hear an almost-angry sounding response. "Fuck it! Sure, why not- this is better than nothing, and GOD have I been getting a lot of nothing. We can go out on a date. Does this Saturday work for you?" ...Well, that's one way to say yes. "I have Sunday off and occasionally I'll get off work early, around 7 or 8. Would you prefer Sunday or should I call you when I have a free evening?" "Sunday works." You hear something fall over in the background. "Sorry, we can work out the details later. I need to take my dog out." "Sure. I'll talk to you later then."

You hang up the phone and return your attention to the task at hand. Thankfully Kanda, eternally neutral as ever, makes no snide comments about your phone call. It's not long before you arrive at the restaurant you ordered from. The two of you take a moment to load yourselves up with the bags of food (ordered via phone) and begin returning to the office. As you do so Konda addresses you. "I'm having some problems concerning the office redesign with Cover- particularly the contact they've assigned to me. They're rather difficult to get ahold of. Do you have any ideas regarding the problem?" Ah, that guy. As you recall he actually naps on the job a lot during regular hours, so that would explain it. Fortunately there's way around him...

The rest of the walk is spent advising your junior on their work. As you walk, despite the somewhat heavy load you're both carrying, she manages to sneak a notepad out of her pocket and scribble down everything you say in an unrecognizable chicken-scratch. Once you're both at the office she stashes away the notepad and thanks you for the assistance. The food is handed out and the meeting resumes.

>>4638958
>>4638958
Despite the persistent lumbar pain you're able to maintain focus on your work, and continue making preparations regarding the Sony contract. There are a few approaches you could make. You don't know the employee that should be in charge of handling this, but you do know a couple others at the company who you could approach regarding the contract. The first is an external contractor who works for them on a consistent basis, and the second is a lower-level employee in their sales department.
>You'll contact the contractor and have him mention Junpei Office Supplies' interest in the contract to Sony. The information will hopefully trickle down from the head the contractor works with to the relevant parties from there.
>You'll contact the member of the sales team and have him introduce you to whoever's in charge of the contract.
>You'll contact the member of their sales team and have them get the details of the relevant person for you. You can reach out yourself.
>If you put in enough legwork you should be able to find the official channels yourself, even if this contract is something you just heard about through the so-called grapevine. There's no need to go through your contacts.
>Write-in
Sorry, schedule got switched around because the tournament organizer is bad and switched around dates with almost no warning. Today I'll be occupied, tomorrow I'll be free.

>>4638959
>You'll contact the member of their sales team and have them get the details of the relevant person for you. You can reach out yourself.

>>4638959
>You'll contact the member of their sales team and have them get the details of the relevant person for you. You can reach out yourself.

>>4638959
>You'll contact the member of their sales team and have them get the details of the relevant person for you. You can reach out yourself.

Took a nap, woke up kind of late. Will update in 1-2 hours and probably stop and get ready for bed around in about 8-9 hours. Ideally I should get 2-3 updates in that timeframe.

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>>4639275
>>4639287
>>4639680
You'll think you'll reach out to get the contact information, make your preparations, and introduce yourself to the person in question on your own. Having someone to bridge the gap can be helpful when making introductions, but it's not really necessary for you- you know what you're doing. You can make Junpei Office Supplies seem more appealing than anyone else could, established relationship or not.

As you go over the data, considering what data might be relevant to the task at hand without knowing the specifics of the contract, the meeting drags on. eventually, around 8 PM, it ends. Generally when the start-of-week meeting ends the day does as well. Thankful for the early night you're being blessed with, you begin to pack up your things.

That's when you hear the announcement- to celebrate you getting started on the Sony contract there's another drinking party. Why. That doesn't even make sense. You haven't even contacted Sony yet, you were just told to work on it. This is just an excuse to drag everyone along drinking. Can't the president just make... friends? Friends who want to drink with him? Why?

The president stares at you expectantly and you stare back, an almost undetectable sadness filling your eyes. Your back hurts. You're tired. You want to go home.
>"Well, sir, my parents are visiting me and I really need to get home, so we're going to have to put this off for a little while..." Not tonight. Can this at least be delayed? (Rapport challenge)
>"...I've actually been talking to my doctor recently, and apparently I have some liver problems. I'm not supposed to drink alcohol under any circumstances, and if I go along with you guys I don't think I can hold back." [Will free you from all drinking parties for the foreseeable future. Will cause some strain with boss]
>...There's no easy out of this, huh. You guess you're going drinking tonight. Cheers.
>Write-in

>>4641658
>Write-in
We're still working on that side task that our boss tried to saddle us up with yesturday right? We can say we still need to finish it, but we werent able too because we got blindsided at the grocery store.

>>4641658
If that excuse doesnt work then maybe we can bullshit a bit and say we want to knuckle down hardy on this Sony deal.

>>4641658
>...There's no easy out of this, huh. You guess you're going drinking tonight. Cheers.
We already skipped one drinking party, if we skip too many it may start causing problems.

>>4641658
>>"Well, sir, my parents are visiting me and I really need to get home, so we're going to have to put this off for a little while..." Not tonight. Can this at least be delayed? (Rapport challenge)

>>4641756
>>4642060
>>4642146
Your boss may have made up an excuse for a drinking party with the Sony deal, but at the same time he gave you an out! As he stares at you expectantly you loudly clear your throat. "I'm sorry sir, but I can't come tonight. I was just informed about the Sony contract today, and I'm going to need to put in a lot of work to ensure that we get it. I couldn't in good conscience come when it might jeopardize a half a billion yen contract. You'll all need to celebrate on my behalf."

What you said is complete and utter bullshit, but the boss seems pleased with your veneer of dedication. "Alright then. Everybody, we're drinking for two tonight- drink for yourself and for the Vice-President! Follow me to Moonlight!" The president marches to the stairwell with a visible pep in his step as he attempts to lead your coworkers to his favorite bar. As the employees funnel out after him, you're reminded of the story of the pied piper, and have to struggle not to burst out laughing at the comparison.

Once everyone is gone you finish packing up your things and board the train. You feel bad for not going with them, but, well, you couldn't save everyone. You'll just have to wish them your best and use your free time even more efficiently on their behalf while they're celebrating on yours.

It's a little before nine when you arrive home. Your mother is nowhere to be seen, but your father is sitting on your couch, watching some sort of farming documentary on the TV. As you watch for a moment you can hear him mutter a few remarks about it being inaccurate under his breath.

"Is mom sleeping?" "Mmhm. Tired herself out snooping around I guess. You just get off work?" "Around 8, yeah. The commute takes a while." He just nods.
>"I'm gonna head to bed, good night dad." You're hurt and you need to rest. The best course of action now is to get all the sleep you can get, even if you normally run on the minimum you can operate on.
>You may as well hang out with your dad while your parents are visiting. Sure, you only visited them a month or so ago, but always nice to see them. Well, it's always nice to see your dad- your mother just gets a 'usually nice to see'.
>Maybe you could figure out if your backwards-facing camera is broken and talk about the contact info changing stuff from the other day with Hiro. He's trapped at the drinking party, but if you said something about needing his urgent assistance with something related to the Sony contract you're sure he'd take the hint and bail.
>You could call up that dude from last night, Takeo, and get some music recommendations from him. You'd like to listen to some more of that stuff, and it's something you can do while lying in bed.
>Write-in

>You may as well hang out with your dad while your parents are visiting. Sure, you only visited them a month or so ago, but always nice to see them. Well, it's always nice to see your dad- your mother just gets a 'usually nice to see'.
Ask him if he wants to work on model with us.

>>4642263
We should find the time to discreetly converse with out co-workers tomorrow, or try to remember how going to the bar is like. Can you just throw enough drinks at the president to the point he won't notice you're not drinking nearly as much as him?
Looks like we're on drunkie baby sitting duty again tomorrow.
>Maybe you could figure out if your backwards-facing camera is broken and talk about the contact info changing stuff from the other day with Hiro. He's trapped at the drinking party, but if you said something about needing his urgent assistance with something related to the Sony contract you're sure he'd take the hint and bail.
We got an update on the kids. While we're hanging out with pops, lets check on that update.

>>4642391
this too

>>4642263
>You may as well hang out with your dad while your parents are visiting. Sure, you only visited them a month or so ago, but always nice to see them. Well, it's always nice to see your dad- your mother just gets a 'usually nice to see'.

I've been studying for a few upcoming tests today, probably won't be able to write an update until tomorrow, although I'll think about plot stuff. Fortunately I did a most of it today so I should have a lot free time tomorrow and Thursday, so expect me to be around a lot then.
>We got an update on the kids. While we're hanging out with pops, lets check on that update.
I'll fit this into the next update, it's a good place for it.

>>4643448
Is it illegal to carry around a taser? I've got this idea of trying to install a taser into the knuckles of one of our gloves incase we need to punch someone. It'll Salary Man's special attack: Justice Buster!

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>>4642391
>>4642877
>>4643093
Your parents are visiting, so you should visit with your dad while you have the chance. You don't see him often enough to ignore him, and as the years roll on the uneasiness in the back of your head has grown, little by little. 'What if this is the last time I see him?' 'What if something happens to him?' He always does tend to overexert himself, and he's the kind of stubborn bastard to just keep acting like everything's normal until he suddenly keels over. It's a morbid way of thinking that you try to get away from, but it's also a reminder that you should spend time with him while you can.

"What are you watching?" "Something about small farms in Hokkaido. Whoever made this doesn't know what they're talking about though. Bet they couldn't plant a stick up their own ass, let alone anything else." Yeah, that's same old dad. You sit there for the next half-hour, watching a (somewhat questionable) documentary while your dad sits next to you and occasionally lays into it. The documentary reminds you of your childhood a little. Its been a long time since you helped on the farm. You're glad that your little brother, Keiichi, decided to take over the place- you don't think you'd ever be able to do it, and it'd be a shame to see someone outside the family buy the place. The farm has a lot of memories. Good memories.

Eventually the documentary ends, and your father fires off one last parting insult before beginning to methodically flip through the channels again. As you silently sit there, you try to think of something the two of you can do together. After a minute, an idea comes to mind. "Wanna work on one of the garage kits with me dad? I have a few prepped." He puts down the remote and looks at you. "Sure. Dunno the specifics, but if you show me I can try."

The two of you sit in a bare side room, masks on your face and a mess of plastic parts in front of you. You begin to instruct your dad as you work on the thing. He helps mix extra of a few paint tones using what you have as reference. The two of you initially sit in silence as you do this, but eventually you start to chat. About garage kits. About farming. About life, about the little nothings and the big everythings. It's nice.

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>>4645268
Several hours pass like this, as the garage kit slowly takes shape. You have your dad help with the painting in places, and while the work is clearly questionable, it's not terrible. He's painted his fair share of walls in his 71 years. As the two of you work, he asks a question that catches you off-guard. "Daisuke. Do you enjoy your life?" That's a toughie. You go silent for a few seconds before shrugging. "Enough I suppose." More silence. A long one this time. Then he just sighs. "Enough. There's a lot of times I would've given that answer too."

"I won't tell you that you have to enjoy your life, or that you're doing something wrong, because that would make me a hypocrite. I've spent a lot of years killing myself with the toil, and wasted a lot of time on things I didn't enjoy, but that's fine. I-" He hesitates. "-I did a lot of it for you and Keiichi's sake. To send the two of you off to a good school, and to make sure you could both do whatever you want to do. It was worth it." Both his hands and mouth pause. For a long time this time- a minute or two. When he resumes he keeps things short. "You don't have to enjoy your life, but make sure you live one without regrets. Do what you have to, and live a life you'll be happy looking back on when things are over. Alright?"
This is the frankest your dad has been in a long time. It's weird to see him get... does this count as emotional? A little, you guess.
"Ok dad."
A few more minutes.
"Daisuke. Sorry for getting... weird."
"It's ok dad."

The two of you finish in near-silence, and at some ungodly hour you finish the garage kit. Despite the other emotions swirling around within the two of you, you both examine it with a certain pride. You clean up the tools and then put it up in the display case. It's not the best kit you've worked on, not at all, but it's special. It'll get a nice spot. With the kit done, both of you head to bed. It really is too late.

Morning. Clothes. Bathroom. Tea. Breakfast. Commute. Sleeping. Waking. Arriving in the office. As you walk in, exactly on time, you begin unpacking your things on your desk. As you do, you remember that your business phone is off- you turned all your contacts off last night so they wouldn't disturb you. Hopefully you didn't miss anything.

Personal phone- nothing. The heroics phone has a message from two of those graffiti kids- you'll read that in a few minutes. The business phone has a couple of inquiries by clients and four missed calls from coworkers. Oh boy. You call back the last person to contact you- the 'Acting Head of Sales', your direct subordinate.

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>>4645281
"So you finally picked up. Y'know, if I was Vice-President I'd leave that phone on all the time." "I'm sure you would." You're also sure he'd be entirely unable to cope with the stresses of the position, particularly the president's bullshit, but you leave that out. "I'm sorry for the delay. Did something happen last night?" "Er, yes. The president groped a woman at the izakaya we were at and it turned into an incident. He's not in trouble or anything, but the owner contacted us and told him to make sure he 'got his ass home' before he did anything else. Since the president won't be coming in today, we've been trying to get in contact with you, the 'next in command' so to speak."

He continues droning on, saying some petty office politics bullshit that's not important enough to listen to, while you think. If the boss got sent home he must've caused quite the stir- the president would never really punish him, so he must've thought it was necessary to protect him from himself. You guess the party really got out of hand last night. Well, motivations aside, you're 'in charge' today- although you'd say that doesn't really change things from any other day, it just makes the bullshit easier.
>As you're in charge, you will be taking care of many, many 'important business meetings' today. Even if you just said you were going out, it's not like there's anyone who could stop you. You're sure the acting head of sales will enjoy the chance to strut around, show off his peacock feathers, and be 'in charge' while you're out, doing errands and enjoying your surprise day off.
>Hiro is probably working on the report and that new contact info thing you both talked about. You'll speak with him and see how both of those are going and if he needs help anywhere.
>You'll buckle down and work on the Sega contract. Not like there will be anything distracting you today.
>You guess you'll act bosslike today. Focus on your own work less, make some rounds around the office, make sure everyone else's work is going smoothly. That kind of thing. The president tries to help like that sometimes, although it's always rather insincere and it generally ends badly. Maybe they'd appreciate some competent help.
>Write-in

Sorry for the wait, I wanted to make sure that update was something I was happy with.
>>4643744
From what I've been able to find, article 1-2 of the minor offense act states: "a person who secretly carries around, without justifiable reason, knives, iron rods, or items that are used to harm another person’s life or body” shall be fined or punished by temporary imprisonment.
Since even mace and pepper spray fall into a grayish area where you could definitely get in trouble, you don't have any. Of course you could just ignore the law, and things did kind of escalate back at the concert, so maybe you're starting to feel that the risk is necessary. If there's a lot of support for carrying something like that around, or if things begin to escalate further, I'll put it to a vote.

>>4645285
Check calls for kids and the messages, then check on Hiro.

>Write-in : We'll make our rounds of the office(Hiro included) and take care of our 'important business meetings' in the afternoon.

>>4645285
Sega? Was it not Sony?

>>4645428
You are correct, that's a dumb typo on my part. Should've caught that while proofreading.

>>4645429
Is Sega a high tier corp in Japan?

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>>4645548
They're based in Japan and they're certainly large, while they definitely aren't as big as Sony I assume they'd be fairly important. A cursory search shows that their revenue was ~250billion yen last year, and while that's not nearly the whole picture (I would go off of another statistic but I am lazy and don't want to dig through balance sheets to satisfy my own curiosity) roughly $2.5 billion USD is nothing to scoff at. Sony's net revenue for 2020 appears to be about 8.25 trillion yen though, and that's an entire difference in magnitude. Anyways, typo was just my brain going "four letter Japanese video game company starting with S".
Update in a 1-2 hours, after my next class.

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>>4645322
>>4645427
You guess that while the actual boss is indisposed, you should act a little more bosslike than usual. You'll check around with your subordinates to make sure everything is fine, talk to Hiro, and then go off on your own and leave the Acting Head of Sales to do... whatever he does when he's left in charge. Act important you guess. But first, you should use the time before everyone else arrives to get your affairs in order. You desk still isn't set up for the day ahead of you, and you're curious what those graffiti kids contacted you about.

Apparently the 'Ha' of HaTaKa428 was bitter over the whole 'going legit' thing and tried to 'fuck [their] shit up' by defacing the mostly done piece they were supposed to have finished by the next evening. By a stroke of luck one of the other two was out late, and noticed this. The two of them hurried to get their things together in the middle of night and stayed up until morning to fix it. They did miss school the next day since they pulled an all-nighter, but their art was, for the most part, salvaged. All's well that ends well you guess, and the two of them will keep looking for opportunities to do something that makes use of their skills. ...Although you don't think you approve of the 'imminent asskicking' that their old teammate apparently has coming to him.

After shooting off a quick 'congratulations and don't assault him' message, you get to work. You organize your things and spend some spare time going about the office, making sure everything is in order and getting the coffee brewed a little early. As people filter in you make some amount of effort to make sure their work is going smoothly and that nothing has gone off the rails completely. A lot of the reason you're here is to make sure your boss doesn't make their life miserable, so you should help where you can.

Once you get a chance to talk with Hiro, you get some good news. He set up a secure email server that you can use for your needs, and the site is mostly finished. He shows you a mockup of the design. It is extremely simple, but it's clean and will serve your needs well. It just provides a small description of who you are (Salary Man) and what you do (dispense justice in the greater Tokyo area), and provides a form that will forward inquiries or requests for help to your new email address. Besides this he assures you that the site is secure, and that, in fact, only mere minutes were put into the design itself, and that more than 90% of the work was just making sure it was secure against both any information leaking and being taken down by outside forces. It obviously won't hold up completely against a government-level entity, but against script kiddies or hackers (even those with a lot of spare time), it will do just fine.

>>4645979
With Hiro done going over the website, he asks what exactly he should do with it once it's done. It could be left unlisted on search engines and merely listed as a form of contact on your new business cards, or it could be left available to those who may find it as a way to contact you and ask for help.
>Give it to the people. Finding crime on your own is very, very troublesome, and having people able to contact you without meeting you would be a huge help. Sure, there will probably be some spam you have to sort through, among other issues, but it's worth it for the ability to help people.
>Leave it unlisted. For all you know people could lure you into an ambush by pretending there was a serious crime going on somewhere that you needed to intervene with. It's more trouble than it's worth... although as Hiro has reminded you, for all you know the site could just leak out on its own eventually.
>Give it to the people... and in fact, make an effort to spread it to the people. There was that video from the other day, right? It didn't seem to be particularly popular, but if you link the site there you're sure to get a little bit of traffic to start off with. A lot of it might be spam or dumb questions, but hopefully you'll get something you can help with out of it.
>Write-in

>>4645985
>Leave it unlisted. For all you know people could lure you into an ambush by pretending there was a serious crime going on somewhere that you needed to intervene with. It's more trouble than it's worth... although as Hiro has reminded you, for all you know the site could just leak out on its own eventually.
We can go small for now, then pay Hiro to expand when we feel comfortable. How was last night for him? Hope the drinking party wasn't too much?

>>4645985
>Leave it unlisted. For all you know people could lure you into an ambush by pretending there was a serious crime going on somewhere that you needed to intervene with. It's more trouble than it's worth... although as Hiro has reminded you, for all you know the site could just leak out on its own eventually.

>>4646124
>>4646882
As much as you'd enjoy more crimefighting and less aimless wandering, a possible flood of random people into your email sounds like more trouble than it's worth. "Leave it... uh, unlisted then. What exactly did that mean again? You said that it won't show up on Yahoo?" "Yes. It will be opted out of search engines like Google and Yahoo, and people will generally need to get the link from someone else to access it, and won't just be able to stumble across it randomly. It can't really be reasonably kept hidden beyond that though- it is a somewhat public point of contact, the same as a phone number or email."

Well, that makes sense to you. You give him the go ahead with everything and move onto other matters. How his preparations for the presentation are going, whether the drinking party was rough, that sort of thing. Apparently it was better than usual last night because the boss getting carted off abruptly ended the party and gave everyone a chance to rest, so that's good. Once you wrap up the conversation you finish your rounds around the office

Eventually it's around lunch time, and you decide that you've had enough of work for the day. You're made sure that everything is in order, checked in with everyone, and for the most part everything seems to be going ok May as well leave everything to your subordinate and enjoy a surprise half a day off.

As you pack your things you think about what you could do today. A lot comes to mind, although unfortunately you can't take care of all of it.
>You have some errands you'd like to take care of. None of it is necessary stuff so you've been going without, but it's nice to have a well-stocked fridge and everything taken care of.
>You could hit the town, go have some fun. ...You're not sure exactly how you're going to do that now that you're thinking about but whatever. You'll figure it out once you get started!
>Maybe you could call that woman from the cafe and see if she wants to do that date later today... although now that you think about it you didn't even get her name. Oh boy.
>Its been a couple of days, it still hurts a little bit but you're feeling a lot better. You may as well don your costume and go on patrol, you have the free time.
>Write-in

>Maybe you could call that woman from the cafe and see if she wants to do that date later today... although now that you think about it you didn't even get her name. Oh boy.

>>4647380
>Maybe you could call that woman from the cafe and see if she wants to do that date later today... although now that you think about it you didn't even get her name. Oh boy.
Fake deito time, let's get it over with

>>4647380
COUGAR THIGHS AHOY!

Will update tomorrow morning and tomorrow evening, tonight has been kind of iffy.

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>>4647988
>>4648112
>>4648365
You guess you may as well see if you can get that 'date' over with. If you don't throw your mother some bait soon you may wake up to find out that you've been married in your sleep, the sooner you do this the better.

"Hello, it's Sugimoto. I happened to be able to leave work very early today, are you free?" "You caught me on break, but it'll be a couple hours until my shift is over. I'm free after that though. How does 2:30 sound?" "That sounds fine to me. I'm sorry to interrupt you during your break, and I'll see you then." That gives you a little more than two hours to get ready. If you remember the train schedule correctly that should leave you with about half an hour at home if you head back now. Just enough to change into something casual, drop your briefcase off, that sort of thing. You could plan on the train too. It just occurred to you that while you were full of ideas on how to trick your mother, you were not full of ideas on what to do during a date. You'll need time to figure that out.

Over the course of 50 minutes you put together a short list of activities using your sparse dating experience and many, many badly worded google searches. There's plenty of arcades and karaoke places in Akihabara, and those were your bread and butter back in the 'prime' of your dating career, so that might be a good bet. Besides that you could grab an early dinner since she's just getting off her shift, or maybe go to one of those trendy sweets places that kept showing up? ...Or maybe you could just ask her what she wants to do? It's a bit of a cop out, but it's not like it matters much to you.
>You'll go to an arcade. Hopefully your UFO catcher skills haven't gotten too rusty over the past few decades.
>A karaoke place sounds good. You still have a few songs memorized that can make up a decent set.
>You could go for a meal. A restaurant it is.
>Girls like sweet things, so you'll head to a sweets place.
>Hell if you know, she can decide.
>Write-in

>>4650695
>You'll go to an arcade. Hopefully your UFO catcher skills haven't gotten too rusty over the past few decades.
VIDEO GAMES

>>4650695
She works in a maid cafe, so I'd say no on sweets.
>You'll go to an arcade. Hopefully your UFO catcher skills haven't gotten too rusty over the past few decades.
>A karaoke place sounds good. You still have a few songs memorized that can make up a decent set.
Near-50 year old salaryman playing video games and singing songs like a TEEN time

>>4651027
This

>>4650695
>Write-in Let's ask Takeo if he knows any good dating spots. If we don't like his suggestions, we'll fall back to karaoke

Update in a few hours, after lunch. Ended up being unavailable yesterday because of my own hot date with my other single friends watching Monty Python.
Next update will be the last one of this thread since it's a decent delineating point, there will be no delay between threads.

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>>4650955
>>4651027
>>4651135
>>4653539
You're gonna go with the classics- a stop by the arcade, followed by karaoke. Maybe you could try to be more 'trendy' and come up with a different idea, but now that you're thinking about it it seems fine to just go with your tried and true date strategy. ...Even if the last time you tried it was over 20 years ago. And if it goes badly, no huge loss- your main goal here is to stave off your mom. Having fun and making sure you don't inconvenience this poor woman more than you have already are just secondary goals, albeit important ones.

Once you get home you drop off your briefcase next to your bed and begin sorting through your wardrobe. You are somewhat lacking in terms of casual outfits, but there's a few different styles to choose from. There's what you can only describe as a weird, overly 'stylish' turtleneck that you got as a gift from a much younger client that owned her own clothing store; some generic t-shirts and sweatshirts that you got for lazing around on Sundays; and that the shirt from the metal concert the other day.
>May as well put on the gift, although you think it looks kind of weird on you. You can be a trendsetter.
>You'll throw whatever on, it doesn't matter.
>Well, this might be the only chance you get to wear it. Metal t-shirt time it is.
>Write-in

After deciding on your wardrobe, touching up your appearance, and throwing on some cologne, you are mostly done with your 'preparations'. You stare at yourself in the mirror for a bit before shrugging, instinctively grabbing your briefcase, and walking back downstairs. You get ready to leave for the train station, but then pause. You'd be cutting it close, but the traffic shouldn't be too bad on a Monday afternoon so you can probably risk taking your car. You have the thing, so you may as well use it- it's not like you'll be sleeping on the train anyways, so there's no real reason not to take it.

As you slip into your car you place your briefcase in your lap. It takes several seconds after this for you to realize that you do not, in fact, need your briefcase- an oddity for you. Not wanting to waste the time to head back inside, you throw it in the back. Thus begins your drive to Akihabara.

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>>4653850
Fortunately, despite how rarely you drive, you can still make it through the hustle and bustle of Tokyo without causing an accident. You make it to Akihabara without issue and find your way to a nearby car park a few streets away from your destination. Once you're parked and your car is off, you check your phone. "Running about 10 minutes late, sorry." Guess you have some time to spare then- you'll check your business phone for one last time before your 'date' starts.

There's a couple meeting requests you can sort out later and one message from your coworker asking if you have the info on an account. You have your briefcase with you, guess you'll forward that to them and then leave. You grab the briefcase from the back, open it, and find... your Salary Man implements. You brought a briefcase you didn't even need to bring, AND it's the wrong one. Impressive. When you get a moment maybe you should mark this one to differentiate it. Guess they're going to have to wait until tomorrow to get the info on that account.

With your affairs taken care of (or more accurately, left to future you to take care of), you silence your phones and walk to the maid cafe. You know it doesn't really matter, but despite that you still keep a respectable distance from the door- you really don't want people to think you're going there.. A few minutes after you arrive a familiar-looking face exits- your 'date'. You wave as you approach her. The two of you exchange a few general pleasantries and you finally get her name- Imamura Midori. You go over your plans for the 'date' as the two of you walk back to your car.

"Sounds fun! I haven't done anything like this in a while, so I'm pretty excited! Might be better if there was romance involved, but what'll you do- I can still rub this in that skank's face. That'll teach her to call me an old maid..." Some angry grumbling follows this ominous statement. You'll just smile and nod. At least she's not angry at you for all of... this. "Do you have a specific place in mind? There's tons of arcades around here- it is Akihabara after all."
>You decided to go with the classics, so you're going with the classics. According to a cursory search online, your favorite arcade from back in the day is, surprisingly enough, still in business. You don't know if it'll still have Street Fighter II, but either way you want to go back.
>You're going to an arcade, but it doesn't have to be the same one as always. Apparently there's a huge one around here, three or four floors, tons of machines, supposedly a very cool place. You'll get some directions and head over there, it should be fun.
>She should know more about this than you do. You'll leave the choice of arcade up to her.
>Write-in

>>4653850
>Write-in
If we have any solid-colored long sleeve t-shirts, we can wear that with uhhhh.... some jeans if we have them.

>>4653856
>You decided to go with the classics, so you're going with the classics. According to a cursory search online, your favorite arcade from back in the day is, surprisingly enough, still in business. You don't know if it'll still have Street Fighter II, but either way you want to go back.
The classics!
Also because the tech level of a "classic" arcade should be operable by a boomer such as ourselves, whereas a "trendy, cool" arcade might have something weird.

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>>4653956
The use of boomer made me curious about Japanese generations and heh, I guess we are a boomer.

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>>4653970
>heh, I guess we are a boomer
I'm right, even when I'm wrong!
Also, why do americans have xyz generations when japanese have actual words. I'm kinda jealous.

>>4653856
>>You decided to go with the classics, so you're going with the classics. According to a cursory search online, your favorite arcade from back in the day is, surprisingly enough, still in business. You don't know if it'll still have Street Fighter II, but either way you want to go back.
Yeah, boomer time

>>4653956
Support

>>4653970
What if we text our dad to see if he could find our briefcase and send a picture to us- oh no they probably dont know how to operate a smart phone.

>>4653956
>>4654215
>>4654838

>>4655957
>>4655957
>>4655957
The new thread is up!
>>4653956
also, forgot to address this, you did have one on hand and decided to go with it