Manager at work!

Stretching herself in her office chair Saeko sighed exhausted. Not even her morning coffee had been able to completely erradicate her slumber. Her last days had been extremely tiring and stressing in terms of work, but luckily her new office was finally accomodated for her to start her work as a manager. The AFW had been nice enough to offer Saeko some space in their central building, just ahead to the rest of the facilities like the arena and the gym, but in exchange the amount of time she had to make her workspace actually functional. It had been a stressful couple of days but in the end Saeko’s space was ready and suited for her duties and demands, so now the only thing she needed was to start working in her meetings with her new clients.

This was more than just an opportunity for Saeko. The woman had wanted to develop a career in managing since she very first got out of college, and just a couple of months before that she just found a more than succulent offer for the AFW. It was true that she had set her hopes in some more “vanilla” sectors like acting or idols and that the first time she just thought about pro wrestling the idea seemed foreign and even a little weird, but she had to admit that after some research the show was highly successful around the world and the AFW represented one of the most, if not the most important federation for that sport. With her starting working for AFW as a manager Saeko had achieved the first part of her objectives, but she was an ambitious woman. She wouldn’t settle for being a regular manager, she wanted to represent wrestlers of renown and help them achieve greatness and titles. Her first meeting that morning would be the first step towards that, or at least that was what the fledging manager expected.

But there was still some time until this new girl would arrive at her office, and in the meantime the still drowsy Saeko would reflect on the curious dark side of her deal. In exchange for giving her the chance to be a manager of a full roster, the AFW demanded that she would be ready to partake in any wrestling match they deemed suitable. That scared her in part since her wrestling experience was absolute none, but they couldn’t be expecting her to face the most experienced fighters in the ring, couldn’t they?

Luckily for Saeko, her mind wouldn’t dwell on those thoughts for longer as the knocking on her door burst her bubble. The manager composed herself as she realized that her first client in the AFW had arrived. “Come on in!”

“Oh maaaaan I’m nervous. Please Amber, stop shaking already!” Amber Addison’s thoughts weren’t exagerating at all. As the young woman was walking out of the underground station her legs were comically shaking to the point her balance could get compromised anytime. In a certain way that state of nervousness was due to a feeling of fish out of the water. She had come from America to live in Japan only a week ago, and things were so different in there! Poor Amber was having a hard time with jet lag and also had to get used to all the cultural customs and differences between her country and her new home, not to talk about the language…

And that morning Amber had to face her biggest challenge since she signed her contract for the AFW. Since she couldn’t provide with a manager herself she was getting one of the AFW affiliated managers to work with her, and she was just going to meet her at her office. That was the most prominent source of stress for the young wrestler at the moment. Her father, also a wrestler of relative renown back in the US, had a troubled relationship with his manager to the point it acted as a hindrance to his career. It was also a very popular theme in American wrestling: a nasty or evil intended manager could ruin some wrestler’s aspirations, so Amber was scared to death, so scared she didn’t even realize she had arrived at the AFW building and was knocking at this Saeko Furukawa’s door. A formal, ominous voice called from the inside. “Come on in.”

---

Saeko gazed from behind her desk as the door opened. A small, shaky woman with a terrified expression on her face. Was that really the American wrestler the AFW was sending her? The manager had to repeat herself, politely trying to burst the woman out of her astonishment as she signaled the chair in front of her desk with a hand. “Please, do come in. Have a seat.” That woman, Amber was it? Walked with shaky legs until she sat in front of Saeko without making any eye contact. She looked really nervous, and that was a terrible handicap to the manager’s working conditions. She would need to help her out of her shell.

Putting her best smile, which wasn’t really a very comforting one but a formal one, Saeko greeted her guest. “Good morning Amber. I’m Saeko Furukawa, and beginning today I will act as your manager. Would you like some tea? I boiled some water just a minute ago.”, she said while turning her chair to get a cup and the kettle. Only a timid “W-would like it. Thank you.” escaped from Amber’s mouth, but that was a development. After facing her client again, Saeko set two cups and poured some warm tea in them. She let the woman take the cup and have a sip, then the wrestler took a deep breath. It looked like she was opening.

“So, it is nice to meet you and all. I summoned you to get to know you so we can work well together. You look as nervous as one could be, but I’m with you in this. You are my very first client and I also want this to work. A good wrestler-manager relationship is paramount for both our careers. I just want to say we are together in this, we need to trust each other so there is no reason for you to be nervous around me.” After some instants heavy breathing Amber reopened her eyes and looked much more composed if still a little overwhelmed. “Yeah, I’m sorry. I-I just arrived in Japan and it is a lot to get used to… So, how should we start?”

That looked much better. Saeko could now get into matters as it looked like Amber was functional now. “Well, I summoned you here to have a first meeting, get to know you so I can properly act as your manager. You arrived from America, right? Also, you were the daughter of a wrestler back there?"

“Y-yes. I grew up in America and started wrestling there. When I was growing up...” -Amber blushed as she admitted this.  -“my father was my hero, you know? I just wanted to be like him, and that is how I grew to love wrestling.”

“Good, that’s a very nice background to work with.”, said Saeko who was just taking mental notes of everything Amber said. The manager did it so she wouldn’t scare her by scribbling on her notepad. “So, tell me more about your aspirations here in the AFW. What are you seeking? Do you think you have what it takes to become an all star? Would you just settle for a mid card place? Knowing your expectations on the federation could help me find you suitable rivals.”

“Well, I don’t really know about that. This is one of the world’s most important federations. I want to face strong rivals and measure my strength against them. I wouldn’t be as blindly ambitious to say I want to be the next champion, but I really want to push my limits against the strongest rivals we could get.”

“Nice. You have a very defined mindset. I think we can get to work really well together. I need you to understand something though: I’m not a veteran manager so it is likely that the time comes when the AFW comes and imposes us a rival or certain match. I promise you here and now that as your manager I will always fight in your best interest, but sometimes I wouldn’t be able to help but to book you in more complicated matches...” Saeko thought this would frighten her client, but instead she nodded in understanding. “Is there something else you would like to ask me?”

The rest of the meeting went really well. Amber was slowly opening up to her manager and Saeko was getting more and more information she could work with in Amber’s best interest. They talked about the wrestler’s past in America, about her preferences concerning matches and also about some other mundane stuff because the woman really needed some help getting used to life in Japan. When Amber finally stood up and shook her hand before leaving she looked like a very different person, much more energetic and cheerful. Saeko was left with a very positive note on that one. To be her first client ever she liked Amber. Only time would tell if the woman would be able to surpass her nervousness and shine with bright light in the AFW.