"Whatever it is, no. Hell no..."
Sunny blinked.
"What do you mean?"
Aiko smiled crookedly.
"I know that look of yours. The last time you looked at me like that, Stev and I almost ended up as the Blood Lord bait. What, do you want me to join your suicide crusade?"
He shook his head.
"No, no. Nothing of the sort. In fact, it's about your job…"
The petite girl raised an eyebrow.
"Oh?"
Sunny nodded.
"Well, since there's a possibility of you losing a part of your income, and Kai tells me that you are really good at managing stuff... how would you like to help me manage a blossoming new business?"
Aiko looked at him with a dubious expression.
"Are you opening an assassination agency?"
He almost choked.
"What? What made you think that? No, I just found a way to move items between the real world and the Dream Realm. My dream, if you need to know, is to become the proprietor of an elite Memory store…."
The petite girl stared at him with wide eyes.
"...Really?"
Sunny frowned.
"Yes, really! Why, can't I have a dream? Just imagine, sitting safely in a fashionably decorated store without having to risk my skin in the Dream Realm, and have tons of money simply flow into my hands. That's the stuff dreams are made of, is it not?"
Aiko shook her head with a bewildered expression on her face.
"I guess?"
Sunny smiled.
"You understand! The others might think that it's silly, but I know you wouldn't, as a former business owner yourself. Anyway, I won't have a large enough arsenal of Memories for a while, but I can start creating a reputation for the store already. A brand name, or whatever it's called. So I just sold four Fallen soul shards on the network, from a devil I killed… and ate.
But for some reason, that bastard's shards did not fetch a really good price…"
Aiko looked at him with a frown.
"Well… what category of the vendor license did you apply for? Who's your appraiser? What's your feature strategy? SEO approach? Pool of endorsements?"
He remained silent for a bit, then said:
"...You see, you said a lot of words, and most of them even sound familiar, but I have no idea what you mean."
'What the hell was she talking about? What's a SEO? Are there different licenses? Wait, do I even need a license? Don't tell me that I need to pay taxes, too...'
The petite girl closed her eyes for a moment.
"None? You did none of these things?"
Sunny nodded.
"It's a miracle that you even managed to sell those shards!"
He smiled.
"That's why I need someone smart and resourceful like you to help me! For te… five percent commission of every sale. Just think about it. How many Awakened out there can bring soul shards to the real world, and bring spices to the Dream Realm? We'll be rich in no time!"
Aiko sighed and remained silent for a bit.
Then, she said:
"That is a high-risk business venture that wholly depends on two unpredictable factors — you staying alive and you continuously hunting down Nightmare Creatures, which are usually in contradiction to each other. So in normal circumstances, I would have said no. But… it is you, I guess.
Plus, you have a good relationship with all three of the newest Named Awakened, as well as a lot of prestige as a member of Changing Star's cohort. And now even some pop culture fame…"
Aiko shrugged, thought for a long while, and then said categorically:
"Ten percent."
Sunny grinned and offered her his hand for a handshake.
"Perfect! Welcome aboard Sunny's Brilliant Emporium!"
The petite girl stared at him in shock.
"Wait… you actually named the store Brilliant Emporium?! Can the naming be changed?!"
He shook his head.
"No. It's non-negotiable. But what's wrong with that name? It's a great name! I think that it's… you know... brilliant…"