When Leandra came to the Empyrean to work her next shift, the Empyrean had a special guest.   The staff was in a bit of an uproar when she arrived, and the usual position assignments had been thrown completely out of the window, because Sidney Knight, the wealthiest middleweight boxer of the era, and one of the Empyrean’s highest spending patrons, was in town and paying a visit. This altered everyone’s priority list, and changed the course of Leandra’s shift; instead of just working in a section of the casino in general, she and several of her coworkers who had been deemed to be exemplary employees would be stationed in the Opal Lounge for the duration of Sidney’s visit, to wait on him hand and foot.   Leandra had never been in the presence of a celebrity before, but she only knew of Sidney Knight from passing conversations and entertainment shows she had caught glimpses of in the past; her excitement was lacking, to say the least, but her coworkers had plenty of excitement to spare – they talked animatedly in the break room, and as they made their way up to the Opal Lounge as a group, only partially joking about being beautiful enough to make the multimillionaire boxer fall in love with them, or at least like them enough to sponsor an exotic trip, or a shopping spree or two. Leandra wasn’t sure of what she or her coworkers had been expecting when they arrived, but what they actually got probably hadn’t been it. They arrived to find an entourage like something out of a movie filling one of the private suites of the Opal Lounge, and at the center of it all, flanked on either side by women, was the boxing champion himself. He was spoiled, arrogant and rude, to say the very least; he snapped his fingers at servers, and dismissed them when he grew tired of them, all the while finding time to bask in the endless attention from his women and friends. Most of this Leandra was able to witness from the sidelines, spending most of her time waiting on his companions, until her time to wait on Sidney himself came.   From the moment she made her presence known to him, she seemed to have his undivided attention. When he wasn’t telling her to bring him this, or open that, he simply watched her, with a look in his eye that Leandra had seen on more than one occasion in the past. It would have been annoying, but tolerable, if his interest had remained at such a level, but he took it a step further, of course, commenting on her body and looks, and asking her questions she didn’t feel comfortable answering on the clock. Her only escape from his incessant and unwanted advances came through her break; as soon as she was given permission she left the Opal Lounge entirely, desperate to get as far away from Sidney Knight as she could for the better part of a half hour.   She was so caught up in her thoughts that she walked right past Atsushi without realizing it; only when he called out to her did she stop walking, turning to find the location of his voice. He was standing a few feet away from her, dressed sharply in a black suit and sapphire blue shirt; one eyebrow was raised as he watched her.   “Oh, Mr. Sato,” she said, shaking her head. “I’m sorry, I didn’t see you there.”   “That’s a relief,” Atsushi commented. “I thought you were ignoring me.”   “Oh, no! Of course not.” After a moment Atsushi moved towards her, closing the space between them.   “Are you alright?” he inquired of her, his dark eyes taking in her features as a frown of concern crossed his.   “I’m fine,” Leandra responded with a shake of her head, though his patron’s face immediately came to mind when he asked. “I’m just a little tired.” They were both quiet for a moment before she excused herself, turning to go again; she paused, surprised, as she felt him grab her wrist, pulling her back around gently.   “Are you sure?” he inquired of her. “You seem bothered by something.”   “I’m okay,” Leandra insisted