Christina stared in stunned disbelief as business suit after business suit headed for the small reception. A large sign was prominently screwed to the wall. 'Twin Arc Production,' it said. Below it a smaller sign announced workshops for middle management in English and Japanese.

Nakagawa, you bastard! Ulf was in no shape to run any classes for paying customers, and his field of expertise was very, very different from her own.

She ran up the stairs and through the corridor to the room Ulf shared with Ryu and Yukio. When she slid open the doors she could see how daylight gave way to the short dusk offered in Japan. Within a quarter of an hour it would be dark. Nothing like the endless dusks she had grown up with in another world.

Christina threw a guilty look along the corridor before she entered the room. Teenage girls weren't supposed to be this brash in Japan, but it was still long before bedtime and that gave her a bit of leeway should anyone come here.

Ulf lay sleeping on the tatami mats. He hadn't even bothered with pulling out a futon from the alcove where they lay stacked in wait for the night. Not that anyone would come here to make the beds tonight. They were supposed to be out camping.

She sat down beside him and pulled his head onto her lap. Slowly stroking his hair she revelled in the luxury of feeling the man she loved under her hands. Even asleep and riddled by nightmares he was her Ulf, her U-kun. By now she knew he loved two women. Her because she was part of his life, and his wife Maria who was left behind in that other world that was lost to them both.

That knowledge hurt more than she expected. She couldn't compete with a ghost or a memory. In a way she would always remain his second love, because there was no way for him to find closure with his first life. Maria, whoever you are, and whatever you do, I hope you were worth it, because I want him so much to be my own. Christina caressed Ulf's lips with her fingertips. Maria, I'm sorry, but I'll try to take him from you even if you're only a memory to him now.

There were tears in her face. Some of them of her own misery, and some out of concern for him.

I was going to wake you up, but sleep. Just sleep for a while longer. Reluctantly she lowered his head to the tatami mat. She brought a pillow for him and carefully cradled his head to make place for it under him. I can't get enough of you, but I have to take care of the insanity downstairs.

Christina left the room after giving him a long look. Then she made her way down to the entrance floor again. The first person she met was a ridiculously tall, young man, so beautiful she almost started laughing.

If the entrance had called up images of insanity earlier it was nothing compared to the current madness.

“Sir?” she asked a middle aged man standing behind the model. “What's going on?” Why the hell are you here?

“Ah, Ageruman-san, perfect. We'll have the shots by the waterfront tomorrow. Eight sharp fine with you?”

She stared at the producer for her shoots the last week, and then she looked at the crew carrying camera equipment inside the lobby. Nakagawa, I'm going to kick you so hard you have three Adam's apples. Dammit, Ulf's in a walking coma and needs all my help, and now you've dragged the entire set for the Uniclo job here. She wanted to scream. That job wasn't supposed to start until September, but Uniclo was way too big an opportunity for her to decline. It's like he's forcing us to hit the ground running.

But for her situation with Ulf it wouldn't have been a problem. She had managed far worse earlier, but right now. Right now she felt uncertainty and fear building up in her like it had done all those years ago when she was still a teenager trying to make it into the modelling world for the first time.

There's a difference now. Ulf's the difference. Back then I only had to care for myself. And that was a lie, she knew. Her career cost her first love because she hadn't cared about his fears and feelings of loneliness.

Christina took a deep breath and tried to collect her thoughts. She failed miserably.

Will it be the same again? Would you have me chose between you and my work? Ulf, I need you! I need your honesty and humanity. And she knew what he would have said. She choked down the sobs that threatened to build up in her and accepted that she would gamble her love in an unforgiving game.

“Eight sharp will be just fine,” Christina said before her producer started to wonder if she had fallen asleep or not. “I apologise. I didn't expect to see you here so soon.” I didn't expect to see you here at all, and you bloody know that. “Dressed in set, or prepared for make-up?” she asked and immediately regretted her words. I'm not supposed to have lived this life before. Dammit Christina, play a little more stupid!

“In the bus will be just fine,” he said.

Christina nodded and went for the dining hall where the business suit migration had ended up. Then she had to mentally slap herself again. In this world she had never prepared an outdoor shoot with a mobile studio. Just nodding as if the word 'bus' held all the information she needed was way out of character.

When she looked over her shoulder she saw him smiling. Oh well, that cover is blown to hell. He knows I'm pro, and now he knows that I know. She gave him the wave ending with a thumbs up she usually gave her personal crew late in her career before an important shoot. He wouldn't know exactly what it meant, but he would know she had done this far too many times for her to remember.

Right now she had more important matters to take care of. She dressed her face in her billion dollar empress expression and marched in on the unsuspecting business men.

***

That was an ugly stunt you pulled on them. Nakagawa you arse! James brought another cup of espresso to a waiting suit. The resort lacked a professional barista, and given the latest guests sorely needed one. He had taken upon himself to help Christina's grandfather make a good impression, and thus it was that he found himself in a white uniform better suited for a high end Tokyo coffee house than this old fashioned holiday resort.

The business suit took the coffee without as much as giving him a glance. Gotta love my own place. I can talk with my customers there.

James walked to the bar where he could prepare the next order. All over the dining hall waitresses in faux kimonos served beers and stronger beverages, while trying to hide the tired faces that came with waiting on tables for too many years.

The old goat, and in this case it really was an old goat, wasn't traditional enough to force his staff to work in the real deal. A kimono would have been suffocating in August. Thinking of him made James feel like a little kid. He's a hundred, bloody hell! Those were subjective years of course. He looked forty, just like the Wakayama parents he had attended school together with. They were at Himekaizen at the same time I was the first time. But in this world, not the other one where I lived.

James' thoughts were reaching the point where he was about to play the 'what if' game when a young woman strode into the hall. She had the looks of royalty inspecting her subjects, and it took a few seconds before he realised it was Christina who had entered. He heard the collective sigh as faces turned in her direction as if commanded to.

She's out of my league. That's not just ten years more experience of living. Damn, she'll eat the poor bastards alive!

“Gentlemen, I'm here to make certain you've brought your bathing trunks. Tomorrow's sessions will start on the beach.”

Surprised murmurs echoed between the tables until one of the more senior members of the assembly rose to address her. “Young lady, what is the meaning of this?”

She seemed totally unperturbed by his haughty voice and just sent him a condescending glare. “My name is Ageruman Kuritina, and I'm the CEO of Chag, an associate of TAP.”

“TAP?”

“Twin Arc Production, management consulting,” she clarified in a voice that clearly told them all what she thought of anyone in such poor contact with reality that he was unaware of the obvious.

James choked down a laugh and looked at where old Nakagawa sat. The old geezer almost spluttered his coffee over the table and looked like he was about to have a heart attack. Suits you! The kids take care of their own, and they're doing a damn good job at it. Hot damn, she's superb!

“If anyone of you have forgot to bring bathing clothes mister Nakagawa,” she shot a look at the principal, “will be more than willing to rectify the mistake.”

James turned to make a cup of espresso no-one had ordered. He shook with laughter and glee. Sucker! She's got you now! He shook his head in amazement. Well, when she's angry enough her Japanese is almost perfect. Good to know.

When he turned to face the dining hall again Nakagawa had regained his composure and had risen to bow affirmatively.

“Session starts after breakfast at nine hundred hours. Any questions?”

I thought that Ulf guy was bad, but damn she's the bakemono! Billion dollar empress, hell yeah! James loaded his cups onto a tray and made his rounds. He made certain to give Nakagawa the first cup, which had cooled down enough to merit being thrown into the sink.

James watched Nakagawa grimace as he took a sip. It was petty, but James felt like being petty. What the old geezer had put the kids through was awful, and that he had the audacity to pull more surprises on them right now was just that more aggravating. It didn't matter that two of the kids were in their fifties subjectively. They still felt and reacted like the teens they looked like.

“Sir, anything else?” he asked as he watched Christina leave the hall. She was up to something, but exactly what James couldn't guess.

When he received an affirmative followed by the tired wave only someone in middle management used, he nodded and headed for the counter. I hope you pull it off, whatever it is you're trying to do.

While James prepared the next cup he threw a thought to the other kids. They were up somewhere on the mountain playing the Japanese version of outdoors life.