Chapter 104: The Second Harness
The morning after the private product inspection, Ren returned to his commercial-district office. He carried the locked luxury case and placed it on Kakuzu’s desk.
Kakuzu unlatched the case. The flawed lingerie and loose feedback harness occupied two compartments, while Kushina’s folded review rested across the velvet lining. Several spaces that had contained the approved products the previous evening were now empty.
His gaze moved slowly across those empty compartments before settling on Ren.
"The tester kept everything she approved," Ren explained.
Kakuzu narrowed his eyes. "How much else did she charge you?"
"A full bottle of capital perfume, dinner during our next trip, the first completed luxury set, and a second, fully corrected feedback harness."
Kakuzu’s jaw tightened. "You gave away inventory, promised custom manufacturing, and still owe her dinner?"
Ren reached into the case and pulled out the flawed feedback harness by one of its drooping straps.
"She discovered that your future wealthiest customer might lose the product around her knees in the middle of using it," Ren said.
Kakuzu’s gaze remained on the loose thigh strap for another second. Then he pulled Kushina’s report closer and uncapped his pen.
"What else failed?"
Kakuzu unfolded Kushina’s report. His mouth tightened as he read the first line.
"’The top tried to strangle my ribs.’"
Ren leaned against the desk. "Accurate."
Kakuzu continued. "’The cheap one moves from useless to startling. The expensive control was designed by someone who has never used buttons in the dark.’" He lowered the page and looked at Ren. "She wrote three lines about the harness feeling wonderful and half a page about the straps being useless."
"Also accurate."
Kakuzu pulled a clean order sheet toward himself.
"Stronger support beneath the chest," Ren said, dropping the lingerie back into the case. "And replace that clasp with something the wearer can reach herself."
Kakuzu wrote it down.
Ren picked up the cheaper vibrator. "Smooth the jump between the first two settings."
Kakuzu ran his thumb over the luxury control. "Different buttons. I cannot tell these two apart without looking."
Ren fitted the harness around the wooden display form and tugged the loose thigh strap. The front plate tilted immediately.
Kakuzu sighed and added another line to the order sheet. "Reinforced waist. Higher straps. Move the dial forward."
"Tell the factory to produce three corrected harnesses," Ren ordered. "One for the Fire Capital demonstration. One to remain at the capital factory as a spare. And the third belongs to Kushina."
Kakuzu wrote product-development expense beside the third harness, pressing hard enough to leave the letters visible through the paper beneath it.
"Your tester has expensive tastes."
Ren dropped the loose harness back into the case. "She also prevented an expensive complaint from the Daimyo’s household."
Kakuzu added another underline beneath the expense and stopped arguing.
Three weeks later, two factory couriers delivered the completed collection shortly after breakfast.
Ren closed his eyes and ran his thumb over the redesigned control. The smooth power button sat alone near the top. Raised ridges marked the increase switch, while the recessed decrease button rested beneath it. A stiff cover protected the strongest setting.
He found every control without looking.
"That one can go to the capital," Ren said.
Kakuzu opened the lingerie case beside him. The factory had abandoned its earlier attempt to stretch one pattern across every body type. Separate cuts now filled the compartments, each with firmer support beneath the breasts and a clasp positioned along the wearer’s side.
Ren opened the largest case last.
Soft black material covered the strengthened waist frame of the rebuilt harness. The thigh straps sat higher, holding the front plate firmly in place, while the feedback dial had been moved within easy reach of the wearer’s hand.
Kakuzu lifted the attached report. "Six hours against the weighted frame. Repeated movement, changes in direction, and every feedback setting. Nothing slipped."
Ren pulled sharply against the attachment.
The front plate barely shifted.
Kakuzu packed the polished model into Ren’s secured travel trunk. The spare went into a separate crate addressed to the capital factory.
He packed the third harness inside a plain locked case, placing Kushina’s corrected lingerie and the redesigned control for her luxury vibrator in the compartments above it.
Kushina arrived with Naruto shortly before the carriage was due at the front entrance. Her eyes went directly to the plain case beside Ren’s travel trunk.
"That one is mine."
Ren handed it over.
Kushina opened the lid. The corrected lingerie lay folded beside the redesigned control, while the rebuilt harness occupied the deeper compartment beneath them.
She pulled at both thigh straps, then reached for the feedback dial without looking. Her fingers found it immediately.
"Much better."
"It has only been tested against the workshop frame," Ren reminded her.
Kushina closed the lid. "Then your capital customers can discover whether the rest works."
Ren leaned one hip against the desk. "Are you ever going to tell me why you wanted your own?"
"No."
Naruto babbled and reached for the shiny latch. Kushina shifted the case behind her before his fingers could close around it, then stepped forward and kissed Ren.
"Do not let those women destroy your entire residence."
"Kakuzu has already added replacement furniture to the demonstration expenses."
Less than an hour later, Ren and Kakuzu left for the Fire Capital. Their carriage carried the demonstration collection, private catalogues, contracts, and enough locked luggage to keep the gate guards staring until it disappeared down the road.
By the time Kushina reached the Uchiha main house, Naruto had fallen asleep against her shoulder, one fist tangled in the front of her dress.
The main door stood open. Mikoto sat near the veranda with an embroidery frame resting across her lap while Sasuke crawled around the padded floor, dragging a wooden tiger behind him.
She looked up at the sound of Kushina’s sandals.
"What brings you here so early?"
Kushina pressed one hand dramatically against her chest. "Ren abandoned me for the capital, my house became unbearably lonely, and I had no choice except to seek comfort from my dearest sister."
Naruto snored softly against her shoulder.
Mikoto looked at him, then back at Kushina. "Your lonely house appears to have followed you."
"You have no sympathy."
Mikoto rose, pinched her waist as she passed, and took Naruto long enough for Kushina to remove her sandals.
"Come inside, drama queen."
They laid Naruto on a folded blanket in the sitting room. Sasuke immediately crawled over and reached for his hair, forcing Mikoto to catch him around the waist.
"He only wants to welcome him," Kushina whispered.
"He wants to pull his hair."
"That is how boys welcome each other."
Mikoto placed Sasuke beside his wooden tiger and brought in the tea. Naruto woke a few minutes later, and she put the toy between the two boys before either could grab the other’s hair.
While they occupied themselves on the padded mat, Kushina poured the tea and helped herself to one of the cakes.
Mikoto guided her needle through the unfinished flower. "Did Ren leave this morning?"
"Yes. He and Kakuzu took enough locked cases to make the gate guards think they were moving the treasury."
Mikoto shook her head. "Another business trip?"
Kushina hid her smile behind her cup. "The first proper presentation for his newest venture."
The embroidery needle stopped halfway through the cloth.
"Newest venture?" Mikoto repeated.
Kushina nodded innocently.
Mikoto set the frame down again. "How many businesses does that boy intend to put his nose into?"
She began counting on her fingers before Kushina could answer.
"He started with one tea shop. Then came the bento deliveries, medicine, cosmetics, factories, property across the capital, and somehow an academy." Mikoto lowered her hand. "What does he even have left to sell?"
"Plenty, apparently."
"That is what worries me." Mikoto picked up her tea but did not drink. "One day, he is going to choose something ridiculous, pour half his money into it, and discover that nobody wants it."
Kushina’s smile escaped before she could hide it.
Mikoto lowered her cup. "Why are you smiling like that?"
"You do not need to worry about this business," Kushina assured her. "I can guarantee it will never lack customers."
Mikoto narrowed her eyes. "What is he selling?"
Kushina leaned across the low table and lowered her voice, "Things for women."
Mikoto waited for her to continue.
Kushina took another sip of tea.
"What kind of things?" Mikoto pressed.
"Things that make women feel good."
Mikoto’s cup struck the table harder than intended, tea rippling close to the rim.
"What exactly does that mean?"
Kushina’s smile widened. "It is difficult to explain over tea."
"Then stop smiling and explain it properly."
"They are for women’s pleasure," Kushina finally said reaching for another cake, taking her time as Mikoto watched her.
"They are for women’s pleasure," she finally said.
Color crept into Mikoto’s cheeks. She glanced toward the padded mat, where Naruto was attempting to crawl over Sasuke to reach the wooden tiger again.
"What has Ren started manufacturing?"
Kushina bit into the cake and hummed thoughtfully.
"Not like this."
Mikoto leaned forward. "What do you mean, not like this?"
"You would understand better if you felt it."
The room went quiet except for Sasuke grunting as Naruto tried to crawl away with the wooden tiger.
Mikoto’s lips parted, but no reply came.
Kushina calmly finished chewing.
Mikoto continued staring at her.
Kushina finished her cake beneath Mikoto’s stare.
"That was not an explanation," Mikoto said.
"It was enough to make you curious."
Mikoto reached across the table and pinched Kushina’s arm.
Kushina jerked away, laughing quietly so she would not startle the children.
"You are impossible."
"And now you are curious."
"I am not."
Kushina’s eyebrows rose.
Mikoto picked up her embroidery again with far more attention than the cloth required. "I am concerned about my son’s business."
"Of course."
"That is all."
"Naturally."
Mikoto fixed the misplaced stitch and bent over the flower again.
"How long will Ren remain in the capital?"
"Several days."
Mikoto pulled the thread through, though her attention clearly remained elsewhere.
"Did he say exactly when he would return?"
Kushina raised her cup. "I thought you were only concerned about his business."
"I am."
"Of course."
Mikoto focused very intently on the embroidery.
By the time Kushina gathered Naruto to leave, the afternoon light had begun stretching long shadows across the entrance hall.
Mikoto carried Naruto while Kushina slipped her sandals back on. Sasuke clung to the hem of Mikoto’s dress, unwilling to let the other child leave with the wooden tiger still in his possession.
Kushina took Naruto back and rescued the toy from his grip, returning it to Sasuke.
"We should have a proper girls’ evening while Ren is away," she said as she settled Naruto against her hip. "Food, wine, and one full night without either of them climbing on us."
Mikoto handed the wooden tiger to Sasuke and looked up.
"Does this girls’ evening involve whatever you refused to explain?"
Kushina stepped out beneath the entrance awning.
"Perhaps."
"That is not an answer."
"It is the answer you are getting today."
Kushina walked away before Mikoto could grab her again.
Mikoto remained near the entrance with Sasuke balanced against her side, watching until Kushina and Naruto passed beyond the estate gates.
When Mikoto returned to the sitting room, the abandoned tea had gone cold.
She sat beside the embroidery frame and pulled the loose thread straight. The unfinished flower still waited beneath her hand.
Her needle descended toward the next petal, then stopped before touching the cloth.
You would understand better if you felt it.
Mikoto remained like that for several seconds before lowering both the needle and the frame into her lap.
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