(MC POV)
The darkness faded and Tsuki and I watched the scene of the younger me standing in the middle of a group of wicked looking men, all of them sneering at me with disdain.
Right in front of younger me was a large sized man wearing an unbuttoned suit that showed off his chest muscles, an even larger sneer on that big man's face.
"So… Boy… I hear your parents sold you and your little sister to us. Shit life huh?" He mocked with a smirk.
The other me stayed silent, not even showing any fear in front of the grown men.
"Now… You said you wanted to meet me, yes? So what do you want, boy? If you think I'm going to show some compassion to you just because you're a bunch of kids, you'll be disappointed."
The younger me shook his head, "Not at all. If you were a compassionate bunch, you wouldn't be in this line of business."
The man's eyebrow twitched, "Oh? Got a mouth on this one huh? You're not afraid that we would just beat you up right here and now?"
"No, that would bring no benefit to you. Those two leeches already took your money and ran off with it so you're in deficit in this case. Hurt me and the most you'll get is some emotional satisfaction; work me to death and you could recover your loss; let me work with you as an associate and I can help you earn back triple what you loaned them."
A few of the men whistled and even I was surprised at what the other me said.
"Auuu… Aniue is so cool…" Tsuki swooned, her arm wrapping around mine.
The boss grinned at me, "Ho? Interesting. How old are you?"
"Five."
"Hahahaha! Damn kids these days! So, you're really confident of your skills eh?"
The younger me sucked in a breath and lifted up a finger, "Your main customer base are middle aged people that have trouble managing their finances, most of them with gambling problems. Yet you have no operation in place to encourage the people in this area to gamble more."
The large sized man's lips curled downwards slightly, an indication that what the other me said was true and something he didn't think about.
The younger me raised up his second finger, "Then, you have the people who are in need of money urgently and are unable to get it through normal means. Obviously you charge them an absurd amount of interest and make them end up with a debt they can never pay back in their life. At the end of that, you would still end up in deficit so why not have them pay back in favors? There are some things that can't be obtained with money alone and you did not capitalize on that."
I could tell that the younger me had everyone's attention at this point, even the boss was sitting at the edge of his seat, intently listening to the younger me.
"Thirdly…"
The boss leaned forward a little bit more, frowning when he realised that the younger me had no intention of continuing further.
"You… Are you really five years old?"
"I have my birth certificate if you want to see it."
The boss rolled his eyes, "That won't be necessary. Fine, you can be our associate. Now what else can we work on?"
The other me shook his finger, "Not good enough. I want it written in black and white and the rates of my services clearly stated on the contract. Then we will sign it in the presence of an attorney and I will start my work as stated in the contract. If you have trouble drafting a contract, I can offer my services for that as well. I charge by the hour, just so you know."
Everyone in the room was staring at me in bewilderment, even myself.
Only Tsuki was clasping her hands together with hearts floating out of her muttering, "Aniue… So cool…"
The scene went dark again before changing to a scene of another me seated in what seems to be an office, going through several documents laid out in front of me.
If I had to guess, I was probably a year or two older than the me in the previous scene.
Seeing that this me was still alive with all his limbs intact, those crooks must have actually accepted my terms, surprisingly.
A clock chimed and the younger me looked up to see it was one in the afternoon.
The other me immediately collected the papers and filed them into a cabinet nearby, the words 'Most Exploitable Clients' taped to the handle of said cabinet.
The door to the office pushed open and the same man who had came into my house in the previous memory walked in.
"Yo brat, going to pick up your sister?" He asked.
"Yeah, I'm mostly done with the next list of potential clients. I'll come back after my sister goes to bed to finish them."
"Right, right. Better be fast or we're gonna show up at your house again, you hear me? We're already being really nice to you already, ok?"
The younger me nodded wordlessly and left the office after putting on a coat. The fact that a seven or eight year old was doing all of this so naturally kind of looked a little surreal.
There were other men within the warehouse looking building, no one even batting an eye at my presence.
I did notice that there were also a few other children around the same age as the other me hanging around as well, presumably in the same situation as I was.
We followed him down the path until we reached a kindergarten where several parents were already waiting outside. No prizes as to why the other me is here.
"Oh hello!" One of the woman greeted me with a warm smile. "Here to pick up your sister again?"
I gave her a bright smile, the feeling around me changing from the cold, indifferent one I had been exuding with the crooks into a cheerful and innocent one befitting of a child.
Basically he looked like a normal kid would instead of someone working with yakuza.
"Yes! We're going to make curry for dinner today!"
"Ufufufu~ You sure care about your sister a lot," She chuckled.
I wonder what kind of explanation I gave such that no one thought it was strange for me to come pick up my kindergarten sister without any adult supervision? The fact that these housewives were all friendly to me means I have been doing this for quite a while already.
Right then, the doors to the school opened and a throng of preschoolers rushed out, all of them looking for their parents to bring them home.
Tsuki was one of them and immediately ran up to me and into my embrace.
"Onii-tama! Onii-tama! I drew a 'pwicture' in class today! Lookie! Lookie!" Younger Tsuki giggled, showing me a drawing of herself and me within a cartoon house with hearts decorating the sides.
Honestly, that was so cute.
The other me started patting her head and she let out a cute squeal, reminding me of Cai Hong.
I turned to look at Tsuki and she had her face buried in her hands, her ears red from embarrassment.
"Please don't say anything, Aniue… I was young..." She begged.
Well, no reason for me to make her feel more embarrassed so I kept my mouth shut. But still… I can't imagine she actually called me 'Onii-tama'.
Thankfully the scene faded to black again after the other me and Tsuki started walking home so it wasn't that bad.
Now I have to wonder if it's possible to get the current Tsuki to call me 'Onii-tama' once?
