New Line von Xanderionas ================================================================================ Kapitel 6: Chapter 6 -------------------- Chapter 6: The sting of Saturday’s dawn only layered over the dull pain that echoed in Yagami’s skull. Groaning, she lifted herself up from the bed and crawled to the window, pulling the curtains closed. At the same time, she fumbled for the wall, trying to maintain an upright position as she headed to the kitchen. Reaching her medicine cabinet, she grabbed a couple of headache pills and downed them with ice-cold water. As she dug in the fridge for anything instant, she heard a knock on the door. Opening it, she wasn’t surprised to find a slightly taken Rin on the other end. She had clearly tried to make herself presentable, but she couldn’t hide the fact that she hadn’t slept a wink. Yagami let her enter, unable to shelve the whistle that left her lips. “You look terrible.” Rin just glared at her with a ‘Don’t ask’ look, something she had learned to follow. She decided to make some coffee for her to alleviate the tension in the air. Rin sat down on a nearby chair and slumped, an extremely unusual pose for her. Yagami prepared the coffee machine and poured the canister of ground beans into the appropriate opening. She never made much use of the machine, it having been a Christmas gift from Rin several years ago. Back then, Rin had unknowingly gained a taste for the Colombian coffee beans she had bought as an expensive side gift. It had become an amusing twist that she would come into Yagami’s apartment simply to have a cup in the morning. Today marked one such day like any other. As the rick brown fluid exited the nozzle and filled the mug underneath, Yagami made sure to add exactly one sugar to it, all too aware how Rin would nag otherwise. Sometimes, she failed to see who was the parent in their friendship. She held the mug out before Rin, who slowly gripped it. As she sat herself down in the chair opposite her, Yagami watched how Rin took a deep sip of the steaming drink. She had always envied Rin for that skill, having a sensitive tongue herself. As the caffeine ran its course through her body, Rin slowly woke from her disheveled appearance, returning to normality while releasing a sigh. “Better?” Yagami asked out of instinct. Rin nodded. “Much better. Thank you Kou.” “No problem. Why were you up so late anyway to look like that? Did the sake keep you up?” A light blush ran across Rin’s cheeks before she turned her head away. “N-no, I just didn’t sleep well.” Yagami stared at her confusedly, not recalling anything that should have kept her up for so long, before relinquishing her curiosity. “Alright then.” Silence overtook them again as the hands of her wall clock ticked unendingly. Yagami stifled a yawn as she looked out through the window. Quiet moments like this were unusual for her, but she welcomed them regardless. She had enough noise and activity when she was at the office. “Hey...Kou…” Yagami blinked at the low volume of Rin’s voice. Her face was turned towards her, yet her eyes were in distant reaches. “What’s up?” “W-would you like to go shopping with me? I wanted to get some new clothes for myself and there’s a new cafe that I’ve been told is really good.” Yagami saw Rin’s lip tremble as she waited for an answer, wondering why that was the case. She knew though that she had no excuse to not go and she genuinely didn’t want to be in the office for once. “Sure, I’ll go.” “Really?” Rin nearly jumped from her seat, surprising Yagami, “You’re not busy or meeting anybody?” She raised an eyebrow. “Just who am I supposed to meet by myself? Plus, I don’t want to go to the office anytime soon after that horrific week. So yeah, I’ll go. Just don’t make me put on any dresses, alright?” Rin underwent a complete transformation before her eyes, her gaze growing brighter as she leaped up and hugged Kou in happiness, startling the latter. “I’m so glad! I’ll go get ready so just wait for me. You better freshen up too, you hear?” Yagami couldn’t answer her fast enough before she spurted out of the apartment, humming a tune to herself. As the door to her apartment closed Yagami shrugged and stretched, willing to do Rin the good favor and put something different on. Half an hour later, Yagami stood outside her apartment block waiting on Rin, having gone for a turquoise shirt and blue jeans jacket, along with white trousers. She felt like she stood out a bit too much, but also knew that Rin would be happy with it as she had selected the outfit herself. Soon enough, Rin’s voice carried down the entrance: “There you are Kou!” Yagami turned to find Rin in an equally unexpected outfit, a green dress with yellow daisies that screamed ‘unprofessionalism’. As she came to a halt before her, Yagami recognised the dress from memory: “Isn’t that the dress you were looking at last year? You bought it?” “You remember?” Rin exclaimed happily, making a very uncharacteristic twirl, “You said it’d suit me so I bought it. How do I look?” Yagami ran her eyes across the full length of the dress, before answering: “You look...good, I guess?” Rin looked admonished and pouted. “What’s with that response?” “I don’t know, what do you expect me to say? I haven’t got a clue about dresses in the first place.” “Well, it’ll do.” Rin said with a resigned sigh, moving ahead and inciting Yagami to follow her, still clueless what that was all about. They took the train into their usual shopping centre, Rin frequenting it with her due to its proximity and regular updates on clothing. As they entered the air-conditioned building, Rin immediately dragged her to a number of places with new spring brands. Yagami’s warning had fallen on deaf ears it seemed as Rin made her go through a list of frilly dresses, even doing her hair in roughly the same style she had worn for her interviews. At the same time, Rin jumped through several outfits herself. Yagami had no idea why she was so enthusiastic about this, yet relief soon came in the form of an audible growl. Remaining silent, a blushing Yagami was led by Rin to the new cafe she spoke of earlier. It truly was a nice cafe, revolving around bright colors like cyan, yellow and lime green. Yagami felt genuinely impressed by the decoration as Rin ordered for them. They dug into the cakes with fervour, remaining in comfortable silence until they finished. It didn’t take long for them to begin sipping at their coffees, only for Rin to sputter slightly and cough. “Rin? What’s wrong?” Rin held up a hand to halt her, clearing her throat before answering: “Isn’t that Fuba over there?” Yagami turned to the direction Rin pointed at, recognising nobody else but Futaba Uchimaki. The brown-haired young girl was seated on a table near to them, busy conversing with someone over the phone while looking deadly serious. Futaba had been their junior in high school by two years back in their hometown, having had trouble interacting with her peers due to her shy nature not unlike Hifumi. She became famous in school for having been the most quiet-voiced person in their year, even the teachers having issues understanding her. Yagami and Rin had befriended her to try and help make her school life less dull. To nobody’s surprise, it had ended with her becoming very attached to the two of them. Right now however, she seemed like a completely different person, her expression clearly conveying frustration with whoever she was talking to. Upon closer inspection, she noticed Futaba being dressed very sharply, a lined purple suit and pants fitting her nicely. “You’re right, it is. But what’s she doing here?” “I don’t know.” Rin answered, “I haven’t heard from her since we graduated. I was worried when she didn’t stay in touch. Though she looks much better than I feared.” As if on cue, Futaba caught sight of them. Almost dropping the phone in shock, she bolted from her chair and bounced towards them. She nearly knocked Rin over her seat with her momentum, yelling: “I don’t believe it! Rin, Yagi, it’s you! What are you doing here? Oh, it’s so good to see you!” “Alright, Fuba, calm down!” Rin called out, though Yagami knew she was just as emotional about the reunion. The two of them had gotten very close over their time in school, Rin teaching the plain Futaba makeup and fashion to help make her stand out more. Yagami had been left mostly out of the girly stuff, never having liked it from the beginning. She herself had also enjoyed the time she spent with Futaba and been saddened to leave her. Said person now gave Yagami a bear hug. “Yagi, you look amazing! How’s work been? Are you still in the Fairies company?” “That’s the name of the game, Fuba. I work in Eagle Jump. And yes, I’m still there with Rin.” Yagami cheerfully returned the hug. “That’s wonderful! Oh, I’m so happy for you!” “Thanks. What are you doing here anyway? I thought you wanted to stay back in our hometown.” Futaba stepped back and took a seat, grinning widely. She truly felt separate from the shy, introverted girl all those years ago. “I was at first for three years. I got a job proposal soon after though to here and I immediately grabbed it.” Rin spoke up, looking slightly saddened: “Three years? Then why did you never call since then? We would have liked to hear from you.” Futaba looked gloomy for a moment, before masking it with a smile: “I didn’t want to tell you two yet until I had achieved my goal.” Yagami recalled what she meant. “You wanted to become a marketing manager, right? Are you still working towards that?” “Yup!” Futaba brightened considerably,”I’m only assistant manager right now, but I’m working hard to take over from my boss. If only he weren’t so stupidly talented!” Rin gave a quiet laugh. “That sounds tough.” she added, “Was that who you were talking to on the phone?” “That’s right. I planned on meeting him here to talk about a project. Have you tried the strawberry shortcake here? It's delicious!” Yagami pointed to her empty plate. “Way ahead of you.” A sharp beep interrupted them, Futaba bringing her phone up and reading something from the screen. Her brow furrowed in what Yagami assumed was anger. “Finally!” she exclaimed,” He’s such a slouch in the morning. Hold on a moment.” She lifted the phone to her mouth and uttered in a dangerous tone: “Boss, you better be here in five or I’m leaving. I’ve met up with some friends from high school, so just come join us.” She sent the message and sighed. Rin shot her a concerned look. “Is he really that bad in the morning? And should you really talk to your boss in that way?” Futaba waved a hand lazily. “It’s fine, it’s fine. He’s the one who asked me to be like that with him in the first place. I’ve been working with him for years now and we've never had problems between us. People in the company think we’re an unofficial couple.” Yagami raised an eyebrow at her, causing Futaba to giggle. “It’s lies, all of it. I’m not interested in somebody like him. Besides, he’d never go out with...” Futaba yelped in pain as a fist struck the back of her head, making her groan as she turned to complain: “Boss, do you really have to be like that? You’re the one who’s late!” Yagami followed the direction while sipping her coffee, only to nearly spit it out dangerously close past Rin. She gaped as she beheld Anders towering above them, himself dressed in a long-sleeved shirt and black jeans, one hand resting on his hip. It was impossible to ignore that under his clothing he showed a more than ample build, his shoulders seemingly wider than the room. He showed no less surprise at Yagami’s presence, before pulling out his phone and typing something quick. Soon enough, Yagami received a notification on her own phone: - Fancy meeting you here. “I’ll say.” she answered, putting her coffee down before anything else shocked her, “What are you doing here? Don’t tell me…” Anders merely grinned as he typed something to Futaba, who scanned it and quickly produced a card from her pocket: “Ah, I nearly forgot! Here, my card.” Yagami accepted it with a tense grip, pulling out Anders’ card and finding them identical. She gave an impressed whistle. “I don’t believe it.” - I’m as surprised as you are. Futaba peeped up, her eyes shifting between Yagami and Anders: “Wait, Boss, you know Yagi and Rin?” “I most certainly do not!” Everybody jumped slightly as Rin slammed the table, causing eyes to turn towards them. Yet Rin didn’t care, giving Yagami a shocked look: “Kou, just who is this person?” Aware that the jig was up, Yagami collected herself for the reveal: “Rin, this is Anders. He helped me to the taxi the day before yesterday.” In a trained, expert manner, Anders pulled out his own card and presented it to Rin, seating himself beside Futaba and her in the meantime. He pulled out a small notepad and opened it at a certain page, revealing a prepared introduction paragraph. Yagami found herself once more impressed by him. Rin’s hands shook slightly as she read the card and page, before glancing up at him with forced neutrality: “Nice to meet you, Anders. I am Rin Toyama. Kou’s childhood friend.” She pronounced the last few words with unusual intensity, Anders seemingly registering something within it and showing another page to her. This time, Yagami was able to glean what stood on it: - I’m mute and that restricts my communication with others to a limited few ways. Should you find any issue with my actions, please consider that I may not have any choice otherwise. Almost as an afterthought, he grabbed a pen and added: - I encountered Miss Yagami at a bar a few nights ago and merely helped her enter a taxi so she could get home safely. We have not seen each other since or before then. We have also exchanged numbers purely to guarantee that Miss Yagami arrived home safely. Rin now looked significantly relieved, for whatever reason Yagami could not discern. Her shoulders sagged slightly as she relaxed in her seat. “I see. I thank you for your help in bringing Kou home. She has trouble containing herself when it relates to drinking.” “Oi!” Yagami complained, “Just what are you saying in front of Fuba?” To her bewilderment, both Futaba and Rin stared at her funnily. “What?” she demanded. “Kou, you don’t remember?” “Well, knowing Yagi, it’s not surprising.” “What are you on about?” Futaba gave a mischievous smile, something Yagami never expected to see on her. “Remember the night of your birthday in your last year, Yagi? We had wanted to celebrate in the abandoned faculty room and found the teacher's hidden stash of alcohol.” Yagami blinked, before a flash of memories assaulted her and caused her to turn pale. Futaba giggled as she saw it. “Looks like she remembered.” “Looks like it.” “Please don’t remind me. I already hate myself for my current mistakes, I don’t need old ones to pile on top.” She hid her face in her hands, only to hear Futaba’s chiding voice: “You stay out of this Boss. This is amongst women!” Peeking through her fingers, Yagami caught Anders looking dejected, the sight enough to drag her out of her misery and giggle. He turned to her with an attempt at offense, but only succeeded in making her laugh: “You can’t do ‘angry’ Anders, forget it. You’re no different to how you were at the bar.” “Bar?” Rin asked with a hint of uncertainty. “Yeah, he tried to make himself look cool by drinking a glass of apple…” Before she could finish, Anders snapped his fingers with a whip-like sound, making her yelp in surprise. She glared at him, but he merely returned the gaze. Futaba broke the moment by adding: “Anyway, Boss, what was it you wanted to talk about? You said there was something about the last project meeting, right?” Evidently thankful for the distraction, Anders pulled out a black keyboard just large enough to hold all the needed letters. Attaching it to his phone so the latter stood at an angle to the table, he began typing rapidly on it with trained precision. As he wrote, Yagami stared in wonder while a small screen became projected on the table through the phone, illuminating his writing in bright letters: - Correct. Specifically, it's about the drawing team. Tachimura and Ukitake both called yesterday to explain that they wouldn’t make it for the deadline. “What?” Futaba exclaimed in a shocked voice, “But we arranged this weeks ago! Why are they suddenly giving up on this?” - Bad timing. Tachimura’s wife is ill and it isn’t looking good for the baby and her. And Ukitake’s arthritis is flaring up again. Futaba slapped herself on the forehead. “I told Ukitake to use that cream I gave him! Now one of our most important projects for the last three years has been jeopardised.” Yagami interrupted the two, sensing their mood growing sour: “What’s so important about this project?” Anders gave her an exasperated look, while Futaba answered: “Boss recently managed to convince the local city council to have us promote their streets with our products solely for the Sakura Festival they’re holding in a few weeks. We were planning on using it as leverage to increase our influence in the regional market. It took Boss over six months of negotiation to get them to agree. Now however, the two in charge of design are out for the count. And with it, my chance to finally get that pay raise.” Yagami couldn’t withhold a smirk as Anders tapped the back of Futaba’s head in retaliation. She noticed though how Anders’ expression was deeply troubled. She could sympathise, wondering if there was anything she could offer as advice. As she mulled over it, an idea lit up in her mind. “Hey, I have a suggestion.” All eyes at the table gathered upon her, all surprised and intrigued. “How about we help out with your project?” Rin’s mouth flopped open as Futaba stared at her in shock. Anders merely raised an eyebrow. - Are you sure? What about your company? “I could go and talk to Hazuki. Who knows, maybe she could find a way to promote our upcoming game along with your products. What are you promoting exactly?” - Cherry-themed drinks and food, along with some merchandise between the local varieties. But are you serious about this? “Yes Kou, that’s right!” Rin exclaimed, appearing more flustered than necessary in Yagami’s eyes, “What exactly are you thinking? Did you forget just how much pressure we have right now to finish our own project? What about your duties as Art Director?” “Did you forget who I am Rin?” Yagami retorted, “I’m more than able to handle the usual workload on a normal day. Plus, if we do manage to work out a plan to group our projects together, then it would only help our own marketing campaign, wouldn’t it?” “Maybe so, but it still involves a crazy amount of paperwork and effort to actually pull off! We need to get in contact with Anders’ company and ask for permission, then comes signing agreements and countless other steps. How should we sort that out within a few weeks and still have time for our own work?” “Boss?” Yagami and Rin turned to find Futaba staring perplexed at Anders, who had begun typing rapidly: - Should you be able to convince your own boss of agreeing to this, then just leave the paperwork to me. I’m well acquainted with handling such negotiations. I’ll leave you with the necessary numbers in case, but I could arrange the agreement until the end of this week. Preliminarily of course. Futaba’s eyes looked ready to pop out. “Are you insane, Boss? Did you forget what…?” Anders silenced her with a harsh stare. He continued typing with a flurry of fingers: - In addition, I would like to come by your office to sort out the most crucial papers with your boss directly. Would that be possible? Yagami scanned the words twice, before grinning. “Only if you bring Fuba with you. Hazuki is crazy about cute girls, so she’d be more responsive if she had somebody to fawn over.” “I-I’m not cute! I’m a grown-up!” Futaba stammered, still as touchy about this topic as she was in school. “Anyway, Kou…” Rin interjected, still upset by something, “We can’t just irresponsibly take up a task like this. How should we tell Aoba and the others in the Character Team?” “They’ll be fine. Especially if I tackle this by myself for the most part.” Now Rin truly lost it, yelling: “Not this again Kou! You just…!” She fell silent as a fist resounded on the table, louder than anything before. Now the whole cafe focused on Anders, who stood up with a stern expression. Yagami quickly read the text he typed: - Miss Toyama, I think we should allow Miss Yagami to pursue this idea on her own. She is after all a grown woman and capable of her own decisions. She has the right to choose whether to pursue her choices. Remaining overly concerned could be regarded as intrusive, if you’ll forgive me ‘speaking’ my mind. Yagami stared at Anders in wonderment, never having seen anybody rebuke Rin in such a way before. Most people left her to her own devices, as if wanting to take care around her. Rin herself was dumbfounded, answering in an outraged tone: “Who are you to decide that for me? I have been with Kou for years now, we don’t need the input of somebody who merely met her once.” Anders didn’t fight back, instead giving a sigh and typing out: - Forgive me for having been so frank. I merely wished to ‘voice’ my opinion on the matter. Ms. Yagami, you can contact me when you find out whether our partnership is possible or not. Futaba, let’s go. - “But Boss…” Futaba fell silent as she sensed the tension in the atmosphere and reluctantly stood up, bowing to Rin and Yagami: “Yagi, Rin, it was good to meet you again. Use my card to contact me anytime.” With that, she and Anders vacated the area, Rin waiting until they were out of earshot to complain: “Just who does he think he is, coming here and telling us what to do? You should just forget about him Kou. He’s nothing but trouble. I feel sorry for Fuba having him as superior.” Yagami slowly sipped her coffee, still contemplating her own offer. Absentmindedly, she commented: “Aren’t you just mad that he shut you up? If he does this with everyone, then it’s no wonder he’s the Branch Manager.” “As if being one gives him the right to talk like that. He met you once Kou and already he starts talking like he’s known you for years!” Yagami leaned back in her seat, aware of the stares they were still receiving from the other customers. “He wasn’t being rude, you know. He just said what he wanted to say. I can at least respect that. Ahagon’s no different with her bluntness.” “She’s a different case!” Now genuinely curious; Yagami asked: “How so?” Rin seemed to lose her trail of thought, attempting to answer but unable to formulate a clear sentence. “It just is! Anyway, don’t go giving people like him false promises. Hazuki would never agree to it anyway.” “You think? Knowing her, she’d actually agree as long as Fuba was there.” “Why are you so incessant on this Kou? What did he ever do for you apart from help you with a taxi?” Now Yagami felt herself becoming irked, gaining a slightly harder edge to her tone: “I owe him quite a bit, Rin. Had it not been for Anders I would have been in a far worse state than now. He helped me overcome the artist block I had been fighting with the whole week.” “You did that yourself Kou by going home for once instead of sleeping in the office all the time.” Yagami shook her head. “No Rin, he did help me. And it’s only fair that I help him in return. I’m going to call Hazuki right after we’re done here and see whether we can meet up.” “So today was just a chance to ‘hang out’ for you?” “Yeah, what else?” she answered honestly, wondering why Rin suddenly looked so hurt. “Rin? What’s wrong?” “Nothing. Kou, you’re an idiot.” She fell into the mother of all pouts, Yagami unable to comprehend why that was the case. Without the means to drag her out of it, she resigned herself with finishing the cup and asking for the bill. As the young waitress slid towards them, she announced: “Your bill has already been paid for, Ma’am.” “It has?” she asked in surprise, Rin still too upset to care. “Yes. The gentleman from earlier paid for it in full. He also wanted me to pass a message to you.” “A message, huh? What did he want to ‘say’?” “He wouldn’t speak, but he left this.” The waitress handed her a small slip of paper, on which stood in Anders’ handwriting: - Don’t forget to tell me how the competition went. Take Miss Toyama out for an ice cream. I’d wager banana flavor. She read the message in full before chuckling innerly. “He truly is a strange one. Come on Rin, let's go grab an ice cream. Banana’s your favorite, right?” The pout before her melted instantly. “You remembered?” “Of course. You always had it back in high school. Now come on.” “Yes!” Rin said with unexpected enthusiasm, as if having found her suggestion highly approvable. She stood up and bounded towards the exit, Yagami coming after with a confused look. It never occurred to her that Rin had ordered a banana split earlier. Hosted by Animexx e.V. (http://www.animexx.de)