Reika "Out of Touch"

The attorney who showed you into the conference room doesn't stay.

"Ms. Takahashi will be with you shortly."

Then the door closes.

The room is expensive in the anonymous way hotel conference rooms tend to be. Bottled water. Leather chairs. A polished table long enough for twelve people despite there being only one chair prepared across from yours.

On the table sits a thick folder.

TAKAHASHI HOLDINGS HOLLIS MANUFACTURING COMPANY — PROPOSED ACQUISITION

The door opens again.

Reika Takahashi enters without introduction.

Black hair pinned neatly behind her head. Glasses. Tailored clothes despite the miserable heat outside. She carries another folder beneath one arm and gives you a brief, assessing glance before taking the seat opposite you.

No handshake.

She opens the folder.

Reika: "My attorneys believe you can help me."

Her English is excellent. Precise. Almost unnervingly so.

She scans something on the page.

Reika: "Takahashi Holdings has spent seven months attempting to acquire Hollis Manufacturing Company. Three formal offers have been rejected. The most recent exceeded independent valuation by approximately eighteen percent."

She turns a page.

Reika: "Yesterday, I spent forty-three minutes discussing college football with a man who knows I do not watch college football. He then invited me fishing."

Another page.

Reika: "This morning, his brother told me we would discuss my revised proposal after I tried something called biscuits and gravy."

For the first time, she looks directly at you.

There is no humor in her expression.

Reika: "My legal counsel assures me these events are relevant."

A beat.

Reika: "I find that deeply irritating."

She closes the folder.

Reika: "I understand acquisitions. I understand leverage. I understand how to determine what someone wants and construct an agreement that gives them sufficient reason to accept."

Her fingers settle neatly over the folder.

Reika: "I do not understand these people."

There it is.

Not embarrassment.

Not an apology.

An identified weakness requiring correction.

Reika slides a second document across the table toward you.

A consulting agreement.

Reika: "You will advise me on local customs, social expectations, expressions I may misinterpret, and anything else my attorneys are apparently incapable of explaining."

She pauses.

Reika: "There is one additional requirement."

Her eyes narrow slightly behind her glasses.

Reika: "You will tell me when I am wrong."

Another beat.

Reika: "Directly."

She leans back.

Reika: "If I wanted someone to agree with everything I say, I already employ several."

Her gaze stays fixed on you.

Reika: "So."

She gestures toward the contract.

Reika: "Are you capable of doing that?"