Refreshments [Shou/Open]

Thank god - at least the woman didn't question more despite how vague her answer was. It wasn't that she had anything to hide and if there was an option to say the honest truth since lying isn't her forte at all, she would but to her, there wasn't a point to give an answer that the person herself doesn't know at all.

Well, it was time to hit the road. There was 3 options, huh. Walking, driving and.. and..? flying?

Did she say, flying? That boiled her blood full of excitement. Since she has been travelling across Japan, the only options she only had were on land; either by bus, train or taxi, so the option to fly only further excites her as she has never taken a flight.

"Heck yeah we're flyin' through the skies, Miss Grace! What's the fun in life if we aren't soaring up and above like birds!"

Her eyes glittered when she heard of that options, posing as if she is a commander of some ship and pointing towards the sky.

"Let's conquer the skies, m'lady!"

Her attention turned towards Rita, she didn't say anything at all but her excited face says it all, so when is it coming? when is it coming? when is it coming?

Shou seemed lost in the clouds themselves, and she couldn't help but give a slight chuckle.

"Alright, alright. Give me a second."

A gentle chuckle left the woman's lips before she reached into her phone and started texting, and soon a black and gold colored hover vehicle was seen in the clouds above them. It was a smaller craft, around the size of a small sedan, but it was more than fast enough to let the two travel in luxury.

After taking care of a few permissions from Karkaura Central dealing with the flight request, she knew where to drop off this small craft and motioned for Shou to follow her inside it. The vessel would have a spacious interior with wooden panels, cushy brown seats, champion/drinks, and a fantastic view of the outdoors.

"I hope ya like flyin' in style."

With a snort, Rita motioned for Shou to follow.

"Uwah~ You're one heck of a rich lady, aren't you?"

Shou couldn't really contain her excitement and the very moment the vehicle had stopped and touched the ground, she jumped over - to touch it, feel it, rub her cheeks against it to feel the cold steel against her face. It wasn't because she is some sort of vehicle maniac or a mechanic but just drooling over the fact that she has this chance to get on something that can soar high in the sky for the first time.

Even if for most people, something like this would be common or mundane to be excited over but for Shou, any new experience is a fun experience for a traveller like herself.

Before she could further enjoy the exteriors of the vehicle more, she noticed that Rita motioned to follow her inside and of course, she scooted over immediately with a large grin on her face.

"Holy- What is this interior!? So fancy!"

Marvelled at the contrast between the interior and exterior of the hover vehicle, she couldn't help herself but moved further in to check around what's inside. Is.. is this how it feels to be privileged?, that crossed her thought when she compared with her experiences travelling across Japan under a strict budget, so she never had the chance to enjoy this sort of luxury.

But her excitement only lasts for so long.

Shou snapped back into reality and realized that she had practically been rude all this time despite being offered a ride back home out of the forest. Especially towards someone who is called.. well, a boss.

"Ah... um...", breaking out in a cold sweat as she had a sudden 180 turn from her initial excitement and politely sat down in one of the comfy brown seats.

"I won't get.. well..", stopping mid-sentence for a bit and gestured her thumb across the neck, "beheaded for being this rude right?"

She was a kind lady for sure but Shou had almost forgotten that she was also high up on the list of people that she shouldn't mess with. Damn.. she had never expected that she might have to greet her grandparents in heaven that she doesn't even remember meeting so soon.

Rita's teal gaze lingered on Shou before a hard laugh came out of her mouth in response to some of her reactions and questions about the money she had.

"I'm pretty well off. I have what the kids call "fuck you" money."

After a quick snort, she continued speaking.

"And you get fancy tastes when that happens. So I'm glad you like it."

Now resting on one of the seats, she let out a soft sigh as the place she sat on started massaging her and warming the woman's body up as its heated interior brought a great sense of comfort to Rita. And with her starting to unwind, the woman couldn't help but pull out a cold cup of fruit punch and guzzle it down. Usually, she might have a drink, but given she wasn't sure of the person's age ahead of her, that was dicey at best.

Though Rita's eyes narrowed on the subject of Shou before a snarl came out.

"You aren't going to get beheaded. No. You will get waterboarded and tortured for the rest of your days. Never take rides from strangers."

Then, with Rita getting closer, the woman roared with laughter before falling back in her chair.

"C'mon, no need to be so stiff. I couldn't care less what you do here. You seem like an excited kid exploring the world to me."

Now glancing at the window, Rita took note of the changing landscape as she enjoyed viewing the scene switch from nature and woodlands to the gradual sight of more modernized buildings below them.

"Jokes aside, I'll probably have us land near a port for my ship. I'll have someone pick us up when we land. Anywhere in you want to go?"

"Eek! Yes ma'am!"

Even for a joke, Shou still got a little bit frightened out of the mention of waterboarding and torture. She gets that it is a joke since Rita seems to had fun laughing out of it but in her own thoughts, it felt like she could really do those to Shou if she had really meant it and probably there wouldn't be any way out of this for her especially when she has already gone on the ride.

Nevertheless, the girl tried to look around and eventually got herself a can of green tea - popped it open and took a few sips to relax herself.

"Well, it is pretty fun to explore the world. No one telling you what to do, where to go, how to act or dress like. It is an expression of freedom that I love very much.", she said with a gentle smile on her face, somewhat different from her usual excitement.

After awhile, it took her no time to adapt to her atmosphere, lazily leaning against the seat. Seriously, this is some world-class flight that she has never been on and it felt like she would melt right into the chair if she got a little too comfortable. With. heating. too!! Aahh---!!!

"A ship? You also have a ship?", she asked with a dumbfounded face. Just how much money does she have? At this point, she wouldn't be surprised if Rita told her she owned an army of her own in Japan with the money that she has. Yeah.. nothing should surprise her anymore.

"I don't know. I've always been travelling blindly and never been outside of this country before. Anywhere fun you would recommend?"

"I'm not a bad guy; relax ~."

Rita calmed her tone as she blinked and waved her hand around.

"Not my style to beat-up little girls."

With an added laugh, Rita took another swig of her drink and then looked outside the window before seeing they were coming near their stop and ready to get let off the plane as they gradually started to land on the docking station within the city. If nothing else, it was nice to have money to cut past the traffic, noise, and all the bothersome checkpoints to get into the city.

So, with that matter taken care of, she moved her teal eye back to Shou and spoke.

"You are rich in health and wonder. So keep your soul as optimistic and free as you can. That's the best way to live as you are now."

Maybe Shou would understand, but perhaps she wouldn't until ten years later. But the fact of the matter is there is value in keeping your mind clear, open, and able to be content with less and constantly wandering, exploring, and finding new things to stimulate the brain. A lack of stimulation, discovery, and happiness were the keys to death for most of humanity, in the eyes of Rita at least.

Sighing in relief, that joke was a heavy blow for Shou knowing that Rita had the resources to that to her if she somehow offended her. All is well.. all is well..

Listening in to what Rita is saying, Shou only probably understood half of what was being conveyed to her. Maybe that sort of thing might work on aspiring young adventurers or people going on their journey to defeat the demon lord but the meaning of those words held very little power to the current her - a lost traveller with no destination to speak of.

If anything, her optimism towards everything and love for freedom may as well be some form of escapism from her problems.

Her lips parted a bit as if she wanted to say something in response, but.. ah, nevermind. Shou only swallowed her words, deeply inhaled before jumping right back into her usual energy.

Maybe it was the best to not say much for now - they are strangers who just knew each other's name afterall.

"I guess you're right!"

Responding with a smile, she continued on.

"So anywhere you'd recommend going for good ol' me, Miss Grace?"

"And we are here."

With a gentle bump, they would touch down and have a long limo pull up outside them as a small boarding gate opened out of the plane so that the two girls could be escorted to the vehicle.

Hmmm, well, when you are young, you are easily pleased. Without experience living a life of luxury, how can you tell the difference between what is excellent and what isn't great? It was a blessing in disguise as such comforts can corrode, decay, and lure the soul into a state of stagnation when all your needs are met. So because of that, it was nice to see Shou was content for the time being.

With a roll of her shoulders, she would have the door from their craft open up as a black limonene as she kicked back into the darkness of the black and wood-paneled vehicle. Then, after kicking her feet up on a small table, she rolled down the window and let the breeze hit as she mentioned for Shou to follow. And provided she had smarts, she would be in the car at this point and would follow up with the question Shou had before they got off their flight.

"Well, since it's morning, why not have breakfast and talk? I know a place nearby to grab a bite to eat if you want to see the city. I may even have a job or something you can do for me since you seem lost."

Ah~ Ah~ Shou felt like shedding a tear when she realizes that her time on the flight was about to end. All good things ends so swiftly, oh cruel world..

Before leaving the plane, she snuggled her face up against her own seat and sniffed a bit - yes, she is just a weirdo at this point before parting away from her seat and slumping her way out of the plane together with Rita to be escorted out to the limo waiting for them.

"Ahh.. such cruel fate god has given me.. to part away from my baby so soon.."

She enjoyed her flight a little too much. And that plane wasn't even hers to even call it her "baby".

At this point, Shou kind of gotten an idea on how rich Rita was - people calling her boss, escorts, a plane and now a limo; she couldn't afford to be surprised seeing all this and quietly followed Rita into the limo when she was motioned over, still recovering from the shock of having to leave the plane so soon.

Sitting on a seat just across from Rita, she listened into the response from Rita and replied.

"I don't mind having breakfast and talk more with you. I have a feeling we're somehow going to get along."

At the moment when a job was mentioned, Shou regained her energy, crossed her finger and laid her chin on it with a glitter over her eyes.

"A job, you say?"

Her eyes turned towards Rita before continuing.

"I am heckin' poor at this point from my travels. If I have to clean the sewage, sweep the floor or clean shoes, then that's a no problem for me as it suits someone incompetent like me."

Well, Shou was getting quite attached to Rita's lavish lifestyle. The teal eye of the boss lady kept its sight on the younger ones' whines of protest when it came to the short nature of their flight. That made Rita snort. What, did she expect that flight to be all day? Karakura Forest was right next to the city, so it wasn't going to be a long trip.

Regardless, she remained quiet until Shou finally got in the limo, and they started to drive off and drift through the endless city streets after leaving the facility. With the sight of planes, ships, and other vehicles being left in the distance, Rita moved her gaze to observe the passing city buildings, the endless droves of people, and the boundless blue skies ahead, as today was indeed a pleasant, calm morning. It was a morning where you could close your eyes, think, and meditate on the day to figure out how to navigate life's stresses.

So, on that thought, Rita fixed her gaze back on Shou before answering some of her questions.

"Yeah, I've been there. Young, broke, and without anything to my name. It fucking sucks."

Nodding, it was easy to get the gist of where Shou was coming from. She had youth, hunger, and a desire to escape dire circumstances. Well, that's what Rita assumed, anyway. But, she needed something to empathize with here.

"I own multiple businesses that deal with medicine, food, and travel that I bought up during World War 4 to help build up my wealth. Before that, I made a great deal of money through stocks and took it further by buying up real estate while the world was in a state of disrepair. So I constantly have money coming and going, people working under me, and always looking to expand to find the next way to make a buck."

Now taking a swig of her water, she let the cool contents hit her mouth to give a pause, remove the dryness from her throat and continue speaking.

"So I figure if I'm in such a blessed position, why not give back to the world a bit? Looking at you reminds me of that desire to help others, and I feel that's what my fortune was meant for."

Eyes narrowing, she then asked the big question.

"I have a lot to offer you, but what are your skills? What do you bring to the table? Tell me your knowledge, experience, and skills, and I'll see what I can do."