Hello there, Takumi-kun fandom! I've been a fan of the series for several years, but this is my first foray into writing fanfiction for it (although not my first time writing fanfiction at all).

This fic will mostly take place in New York, a place which I am not familiar at all. I'm not even American. Nor do I know a great deal about Japan. Or how business of this kind works. So really I'm completely in over my head here, so if you spot anything I get wrong, feel free to point it out, I'll be very grateful.

I don't know for sure how long this fic will be - I've got 10 chapters outlined so far, and that's probably only about half of it. The chapters after this one will probably be a bit longer than this... I have a habit of going overboard sometimes.

With that said, I don't know when I'll update, I have an exam next week that I should have been revising for instead of writing this *sobs*


Gii ran a stressed hand through his hair. Picking up the phone from his desk again, he continued the conversation. "Yes, I understand that you can't make it, sir. I'm sorry about your wife, of course you need to take care of her. My condolences."

Damnit. He hung up the phone, feeling the stress creep up his throat. "What to do, what to do..." he muttered to himself, beginning to pace around the room.

He didn't even realise that his hand had made its way back into his hair until a gentle cough from behind him brought him out of his musings. Whipping his hand off his head and spinning around, Gii did his best to pretend like he wasn't totally stressing out.

"Are you okay, Mr Saki?" One of the company's employees, one assigned to help Gii to plan this function, was stood looking concernedly at him from the doorway. Cringing internally, Gii did his best to appear as calm as possible, drawing on years of practice.

Nodding, he affirmed that he was okay, and the staff member took his leave. Once he was gone, Gii walked around his desk to shut the door, which had been left open before, and then flopped into his desk chair. He glared at the phone, wishing with all his might that it hadn't rung with that particular message.

How was he supposed to show his dad he could successfully organise a business function if people kept pulling out? Last week it had been the caterers – he had only been lucky that he had had enough time that he could easily organise something with another company. Now the man he had employed to play the piano for the event had had to cancel due to his wife being hospitalised. Gii couldn't even hate him for that, it was a good reason.

Still though, he would need to think of someone to replace him. He ran through his mental list of people it could be... and remembered exactly why he hadn't asked any of them – each of them was busy on the night for one reason or another. Letting out a groan, he realised that he was going to have to ask one of the other staff to find someone that could do it, since he wouldn't have the time to figure it out for himself.

After spending a good minute trying to tame his hair (after all, he always had to appear presentable) he gave up and called through his assistant.

He waited anxiously for her to arrive. It really wasn't what he wanted to do; he had had everything figured out by this point, and it really was a let down that a spanner had been thrown into the works this late in the planning.

Despite having already deduced that there was no musician that he could think of to fill in, he found himself mulling over the situation still.

"Sir?" Gii jumped when Jessica, the assistant he had asked for, knocked on the office door. Taking a second to compose himself, he called for her to come in.

Gii steeled himself to break the bad news to her. "Mr Jeffords can no longer play at the function, his wife's unwell. I need you to book someone else."

Jessica looked at him with an expression of horror. "But we already told your father that everything was signed off and organised. How will we tell him about this?"

Gii shook his head. "It's okay, I'll talk to him. My only concern is that we might not be able to find a replacement in time; I suggest asking around for someone unknown in order to make such a last minute arrangement more favourable."

Nodding her head in agreement, Jessica looked relieved. "Thank you sir. I'll make it my priority, I'll try to have someone lined up by tomorrow."

She left quickly, and Gii was left alone again. Every instinct inside him was screaming at him to just relax for a bit, to do work... to do whatever he needed to in order to put off explaining why the function, once again, wasn't completely sorted.

Only a great amount of practising of self control managed to force him to stand up from his chair, walk over to the door and went out into the corridor.

It always felt slightly surreal, finally working in this place after so long of coming here with his parents.

Something about being able to stride around the building in the knowledge that he would be running it all one day... well, it was terrifying. A good prospect, sure, one day, but at the moment it was the most terrifying thing he could imagine.

Part of him didn't like the idea that he was running to his dad for help, especially given what the planning of the part was meant to represent, but it couldn't be helped just yet. Gii thought himself smart enough to admit where he needed help, or guidance.

Smiling at his dad's receptionist, sat at her desk outside the CEO's office, he knocked on the door, hoping that his dad wasn't busy. He usually wasn't at this time of day, but there was no way of telling.

After a short silence, Gii heard the sound of shuffling feet before the door opened. His dad stood there, looking happy to see him. "Son!" He exclaimed, motioning for him to come into the room.

Gii walked into the familiar office. It had been decorated the same way ever since he could remember, despite how hard his mom had tried to convince him to redecorate over the years. It was always mildly comforting to come in here, and memories of a childhood full of sitting quietly in the corner of the room reading came flooding into his head. It jarred with his current situation, one where there was unequivocally more responsibility resting on his shoulders than seeing how many books he could read in one sitting.

"So, what can I help you with, Giichi?" His dad asked, and Gii cringed internally a little. His dad always insisted on calling him Giichi instead of Gii while they were at work, and it still felt strange. He sat down in the chair behind his desk, and Gii sat gingerly on the chair on the other side of it.

He took a minute to think of how to phrase it in a way that wouldn't make him seem incompetent. "Well, I know that I told you last week that all the details for next week's function were finalised?Though a circumstance completely out of my control, that's... not longer the case." Seeing his dad begin to look disappointed, Gii hastened to add, "don't worry though, it's nothing disastrous, it's only the musician we hired dropped out. I've got Jessica on the case to get a replacement though, so don't worry."

His dad nodded. "Ah, I see. Well, so long as you find someone – and I'm sure you will – that's totally fine. I have every faith in you that this function will turn out great." He smiled at Gii, and it made him feel a little better.

If it didn't work, it would look so bad for him, as his dad then went on to remind him. "Don't forget that this is a test, Giichi. I need to know that when you take over the company, you will be competent in all areas. One of those is being able to network effectively, and functions are a crucial element of that."

Gii nodded along, trying not to act too bored. Sure, it was important, Gii would absolutely, but... he knew all that already? They had gone over this several times already.

Either way, thank goodness it had gone okay. There had been the slight possibility that his dad may have been in one of his stricter, less forgiving moods, and if that had been the case... well, this meeting might not have gone down so well.

He was so caught up in the relief that things were going well that he nearly didn't catch what his dad said to him next. "Are you sure you don't want us to find you a date for it, son?" Gii stayed silent, reeling a little, trying to process it. "Because we just found out that the daughter of -"

"No!" Gii interjected, finding his voice at last. His dad looked a little shocked at his outburst, and Gii rushed to follow it up. "I don't want a date. I mean, I'm going to have enough on my plate with planning this whole thing, never mind having to worry that someone else is having a good time, right?" He put a forced laugh in there to make it seem real.

Fortunately his dad seemed to buy it, laughing along and nodding. "Alright, I just thought I'd check. If you change your mind though, just say, I'm sure we could work something out." He ended the sentence with a wink, and Gii wasn't entirely sure what he was implying there.

Nevertheless, he nodded like he did understand. "Well, I think that's everything. Thanks for understanding, dad." He stood up to leave.

His dad stood up too, and walked him over to the door of the office. "I'm proud of you for handling this so well, son," he said, clapping Gii on the shoulder. "And it's been nice to be able to take the back seat for once." He laughed, and Gii laughed too – if it was this stressful he couldn't blame his dad for not wanting to organise it himself.

With a parting handshake, Gii left the office and headed back to his own. He felt lighter now, thankful that the parts he had had to handle were done with. It wouldn't stop him worrying about it until he knew that they had a replacement, but for now there was nothing he could do to effect the outcome.

He simply had to trust that Jessica could find someone just as talented to play the music at the function. He was fairly certain that she would, but it was still an important component of the whole piece. He had known plenty of similar functions where the music had been so awful as to affect the business relations between people for years to come. That would be the worst possible outcome of this, especially since this was really a test to see if he was up to it.

Gii finally relaxed as he closed the door of his office behind him. Slumping against the wall for a second, he took a minute to catch his breath and release the tension that had crept into his muscles towards the end of the meeting.

There was very little he had left to do today – a little paperwork, but nothing that would take a huge amount of time. It meant that he could take a little while to himself – and allowed him to take a while to enjoy his favourite part of this office.

Pushing himself off the wall, he walked over to the other side of the room, to the window that took up an entire wall of the room. It gave great views of the New York city skyline, and particularly at times like this, when the sun was beginning to set, it was almost magical. He could look at it for hours, just taking it in, and he often found himself doing just that.

His earlier mild annoyance at his dad came trickling back the more he thought over the conversation he had just had.

It hadn't just been the asking if he wanted a date for this function, although it did seem to have been a catalyst for his parents asking more than usual. It had been something his parents did regularly for... well, for as long as it had been acceptable for them to ask him if he had a girlfriend.

The problem wasn't so much that he didn't want to date... more that he didn't have any interest in girls.

Being well aware that at some point he would be expected to marry as part of the company, Gii knew that at some point he would have to figure out what to do about the situation. But that could be put off for as long as possible, left for future-Gii to sort out.

For now though he would simply have to resign himself to being dateless at functions like this one, but that was okay with him.

He stayed looking outside for as long as he could get away with. After today's worry, he needed some time to slow down and enjoy life.

Gii was working on his computer the next day when another knock on the door interrupted him. Calling out for them to come in, he was glad to take a break from spreadsheets for a bit.

Jessica poked her head around the door. She didn't look like she was going to deliver bad news, and Gii became hopeful.

"Well it took a while, and lots of phone calls, but I think I found someone," she began.

Gii grinned. "You did? And they're okay with being hired on such short notice?"

"Um..." Jessica hesitated, and Gii's hopes fell a little. " It's fine!" Jessica blurted out, presumably seeing his expression darken. "I mean, I hope you don't mind, but I couldn't find anyone local. I tried asking around some of the other people that have organised these sorts of things, and there were a bunch of musicians that were still busy. But then I got a stroke of luck, and I talked to the manager of a violinist that would be willing to do it."

Gii frowned. "That's great, but how not-local is he? What are you not telling me?"

"Ah..." Jessica fidgeted a little. "The man who recommended him said that he was really really good, but he lives in Japan, and I thought that you might like that because I know that you're Japanese and all, and the manager said that it would be fine so long as you paid for the travel expenses, and -"

"Jessica." Gii cut her off firmly. "Calm down. I don't mind that he needs flying in, it's not like we haven't had to fly people in before. All I really care about is that we have someone to fill the part. You did well."

Jessica finally stopped hyperventilating, and breathed a sigh of relief. "Thank goodness. I'll go right away and call them to let them know he's hired. Shall I book the plane tickets, sir?"

"Yes, please do. The sooner we we get this whole thing finalised, the sooner I can relax," Gii chuckled.

Jessica laughed politely, and turned around to leave.

Then Gii's curiosity caught up with him, and he absently wondered if he'd heard of this violin genius before. "Wait," he called out. Jessica paused with the door open, half turning to face him. "What's his name?"

"Takumi," Jessica replied. "Takumi Hayama."


Thoughts? Did you like it? Did it make sense? Please leave me a comment and let me know.

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Thanks for reading ^_^