Two Can Play That Game
Rio was twenty-two. At such a ripe young age, she had better places to be than this crap presentation night.
She could be abseiling, skydiving, egging someone's house, or stalking her friends.
Instead, she was stuck in a tight, itchy, overly expensive navy blue evening gown, listening to Gakushuu Asano's stupid speech about his stupid role as the stupid CEO of the stupid company that she had to work in.
Nakamura huffed. Karma looked equally pissed, if not more.
"I shouldn't be here," Rio whispered to Karma.
Manami Okuda, who was sitting between them (and was there as a 'chaperone' for the two devils), shushed him quickly, and continued to fiddle with whatever she was fiddling with.
"No one should come within twenty metres of that carrot-haired bastard," he replied.
The young chemist nudged him and shot him a look.
"Agreed. His dickishness might be contagious," agreed the blonde.
Manami shushed her again, looking exasperated. After all, she had probably been shushing them for twenty minutes now.
The idiotic, bastard strawberry blonde continued his speech. "I'd like to thank my long-time best friend, Akabane Karma, for encouraging me to reach such a high position. Unfortunately, he wasn't qualified to be the CEO," Gakushuu said, hiding his snicker under a hood of bravado.
"Bullshit," the redhead muttered under his breath.
"Sssshhhhh!"
"I'm sure he will agree that I deserve this role," Asano added.
At this, Nakamura snapped.
"A good kick in the nuts, that's what you deserve!" she hollered, shaking her fist madly.
"Hear hear!" Karma shouted.
Then Rio and Karma screamed when Okuda lost her temper.
"OH, FOR GOODNESS SAKE, I'M JUST TRYING TO SECRETLY MAKE CHLOROFORM AND YOU GUYS ARE MESSING THE WHOLE PROCEDURE UP!" the petite scientist borderline screeched.
Then they all seemed to finally realise where they were.
That is, a silent hall full of government officials and their colleagues.
Gakushuu stared at them. And so did everyone else. They were shot dirty looks. Rio and Karma returned the glares, while Manami sunk down into her seat, covering her face with her hands.
Wordlessly, one of the government officials gave a snap of their fingers. Manami, Karma, and Rio gulped as three security guards stepped near them threateningly, holding their arms out.
—
"Hey, hey, look, I got connections! You like Gucchi? I can get you a discount!" Nakamura blabbered.
The security guards ignored her. The enormous double doors opened and the three were shoved out.
"Gee, thanks!" Karma yelled, face full of grass.
"Ohnonononononono…what if my boss hears about this? I'm going to get sacked…no money…die homeless on the streets…" Okuda moaned.
Rio picked leaves out of the nervous chemist's bun. "Don't worry Manami, you'll be fine." She rubbed her back comfortingly.
"O-Okay," the chemist murmured, calming down reasonably well.
"What should we do? The next train isn't until…forty minutes," Karma said, checking his watch. They had arrived using public transport instead so their cars wouldn't stick out like sore thumbs in the carpark stuffed full of limousines.
"Maybe we can steal one of the limos," Rio pondered. Waiting outside in the dark for forty minutes didn't sound like what she should be doing.
"I have glass-melting chemicals," Manami said eagerly, looking inside her lab coat.
"You're not serious," Karma said.
"We are," the two women replied.
Unfortunately, they were.
(Being ex-assassins can do that to you.)
Ten minutes later, Manami had crawled in the small hole in the window (she was the only one who could fit) and unlocked the doors for the other two.
"I can probably go back and steal the keys," Rio mused as she studied the keyhole. She wondered if one of Okuda's bobby pins could be used. As she was thinking, someone tapped her on the shoulder.
From outside the limo.
Gakushuu Asano's annoyingly handsome face displayed an annoyingly handsome smirk.
"Excuse me Miss Nakamura, may I ask why you are stealing my limousine?" he smirked.
"Oh, this is yours? How convinient!" the blonde grinned back. "Now, don't mind us. We'll just—"
Wordlessly, Gakushuu reached in the hole in the window and gave Rio's left arm an impressively painful Chinese burn.
"Augh! Fuck you!" she cursed.
"The feeling is mutual," the newly appointed CEO said. He opened the car door and pulled Nakamura out. "Here, let me kiss it better."
To Manami, Karma and mostly Rio's surprise, Asano raised her arm and delivered a kiss to her forearm.
"There you are. I look forward to being your boss," he said, before tossing her the keys to the limo and walking off.
"Suave…" Karma whistled from the back seat.
Rio just stood there blinking in shock. Once she had regained her senses, she shook her head and climbed in the driver's seat.
—
"Ah, Miss Nakamura," Gakushuu greeted when he saw her. "How was the limo ride?"
For once in her life, Rio was unsure what to say. Part of her was ashamed. Then again, she also felt smug, grateful, and…flustered?
Since when was the great she-devil Rio Nakamura FLUSTERED!?
"Um…thank you," she finally said. "Do you want it back?"
Immediately, she almost slapped herself for making such a stupid comment.
"No, it's fine, Miss Nakamura," he answered, amused. "However, I believe I need to kiss better your shattered self esteem."
Something suddenly clicked in Rio's brain as he kissed her hand. She was familiar with this.
A game.
Very well, she thought, inwardly smirking. Two can play.
"Yes, it was very kind of you, Mr Asano," Rio smiled, leaning in so her hair almost draped over his shoulders. "You know what I said that night? About how you needed a kick in the nuts?"
"Yes?"
"Well, I would do that…but I couldn't kiss that better, could I?" she smirked.
Gakushuu almost seemed shocked by this.
"Isn't that right?" Nakamura continued, leaning even closer so she was staring awfully close into his violet eyes.
Damn, his eyes are so frickin' sexy.
Snap out of it, Nakamura!
"See you around work then, Miss Nakamura," Asano responded, before bending down and…
Frickin'.
Kissing.
Her.
Neck.
Then he walked away, as if their little conversation never happened.
Rio was so caught off guard by this that she stumbled and almost would have landed hard on her ass if she hadn't been caught by her partner-in-crime.
"Oh man, that was priceless!" exclaimed the redhead.
"How much did you see?!" Nakamura demanded, struggling out of his grasp.
"Well, I just walked in normally to greet my favourite colleague, right? And oh ho ho, I saw Mr. Boss-Pants kissing her on the neck! Suave indeed!"
"It's not what it looks like," Nakamura protested.
"Sure it's not," Karma grinned.
"If you tell anyone about this, Manami's knowing about the shrine you have of her in your room!" Rio threatened, pointing an accusing finger at his face.
Karma paled. "You wouldn't!"
"I so would!"
"That's blackmail!"
Rio laughed almost evilly. "And I am Rio Nakamura, after all."
—
"So, Asano's not angry?" asked Okuda over coffee.
"Quite the opposite," Karma smirked. Rio elbowed him in the ribs, shooting him a look.
"That's good," the chemist smiled.
They sipped at their drinks.
"Hey, does Asano have a girlfriend?" Rio asked suddenly. He most likely didn't, but if he did…things would be awkward.
The redhead grinned devilishly. "Do you want to fill that position, Mrs Rio Asano?"
The blonde gave a cry of frustration before turning to Okuda. "Manami, do you want to know about a shrine—"
Karma slapped his hand over Nakamura's mouth.
"Shrine? What shrine?" asked Manami innocently.
"Nothing! Nothing! You know, Rio and Asano really hate each other and they aren't attracted?" Karma responded quickly, giving a nervous smile.
"That's better," Rio nodded, forcefully removing his hand.
"If I didn't know better, I'd think he was attracted to you," Okuda observed. "But then again, you do hate each other. Like Karma said."
She didn't know why, but Nakamura felt a blush creep up to her cheeks. She almost slapped herself.
The demon-spawn next to her opened his mouth, most likely to retort about her blush, but Rio quickly shot him a look.
"Shrine…" she whispered.
He shut up.
—
"Gakushuu!"
Rio looked up from her laptop as a handsome brunette waltzed in after her boss.
"Morning, Ren," Asano greeted. "What are you doing here?"
"I'm here to talk to…ah, Nakamura! What a coincidence! Just who I wanted!" Ren cried a little too loudly.
"You know my name?" she asked, raising an eyebrow.
"How could I possibly forget the name of a lovely lady like you?" the brunette grinned.
Rio was unimpressed. "You just read my nametag, didn't you?"
"Oh, your nametag! Ah! Hadn't noticed it!" Ren responded unconvincingly. He reached out to kiss her hand, but then backed off for no apparent reason. Rio looked behind her to see Asano standing assertively over her, as if protective. And awfully close, she noticed. At least she was grateful that Sakakibara pervert didn't come any closer.
"Anyway!" Sakakibara yelled, clearing his throat. "Nakamura, I was just wondering if you had the phone number of the woman whose eyes rival the stars, whose heart thrums with love and compassion…"
"Can you cut to the chase?" Rio sighed, already feeling fatigue from talking to this man.
"The one and only…Yukiko Kanzaki."
"Oh boy," Nakamura muttered. Did Ren know the definition of 'rejection'? She considered giving it to him straight ("Kanzaki doesn't have a hateful bone in her body but she sure has common sense! And anyone with common sense knows you're a bastard!") but then a familiar devilish feeling took over her.
"Ah, yes, in fact I do," she smirked, hiding a giggle. She scribbled down Terasaka's number on a sticky note. "Did I tell you that Kanzaki loves poems via messages? I suggest you proclaim your love for her by sending her a text first, before calling."
Rio handed the sticky note to a triumphant Ren. She almost burst out laughing right there and then.
"Thank you, my golden-haired angel! My sapphire-eyed blessing, my—"
"That's enough, Ren," Asano said, sounding…annoyed? Then again, who wasn't annoyed with Sakakibara?
The flirty brunette beamed and waltzed out.
When he left, Rio erupted into a fit of giggles.
"Could I ask what's so funny?" Gakushuu questioned, leaning down so their eyes met. Again.
Dammit, Rio thought (his eyes were her weakness).
"It doesn't have to do with you writing down the wrong number, does it?" he continued.
Nakamura's laughter subsided. "Woah, what are you? Psychic?"
"Just observant," Asano responded. "After all, the great Rio Nakamura is an evil genius, after all."
Rio refused to get turned on by his voice. Instead, she replied in the same tone of voice he used.
"Really? I'm flattered. I would say the same about you…maybe replace 'genius' with 'dickbag', though."
Instead of admitting defeat like Nakamura would have wanted, Gakushuu just laughed. Then he leaned down towards her neck again. She sucked in a breath as he…
Blew a blast of cold air on her throat.
"Augh!" she yelled.
It was COLD.
Asano laughed again. "Evil dickbag it is, then."
Rio mentally shook her fist at him as he walked off. Why did he always have to win the upper hand just before he left? It was…it was plain unfair!
"Ohhhh, this is better than Okajima's hentai!" crowed a familiar voice.
"Shut UP, Akabane!" Nakamura groaned, tossing a dictionary at his face. Karma caught it before he smashed into his handsome features.
"Stop spying on me!" she cried.
"I'm not! I just randomly saw your ever-saucy exchange!" he protested.
The blonde narrowed her eyes at him. For some reason he seemed to be sincere.
"Wouldn't Okuda love to know you read Okajima's hentai, then?"
"I-I don't actually!" Karma said, suddenly flustered.
"Sure you don't," she teased. Rio knew he never had, but it was always fun to poke at the redhead's weakness (that is, Manami).
—
When Nakamura woke up the next morning, she had gotten three emails.
The first was from Ren, which was a poem filled with words such as 'betrayal' and 'agony'. It was extremely corny.
The second was a lengthy message from Terasaka demanding an explaination, filled with an unnecessary amount of foul langauge. And when she meant foul, she meant FOUL. There was even a graphic and detailed description of how he was going to torture her and Ren.
The last was from Gakushuu, which caught her attention immediately. She scowled as she read out the four words:
"Asano - 6; Nakamura - 2."
She glared at the email before releasing her anger.
"TWO! TWO! How could I possibly GET TWO!?"
Following this was a string of unintelligible gibberish that sounded very menacing for some reason.
Pissed, she got dressed, ate breakfast, and brushed her teeth in a very aggressive fashion.
Other than Karma, no one out-devilled Rio. Especially not Mr Smartass-Smugass-Dickass (was that even a thing? Dickass?)-Bossass!
Rio's mind was filled with very competitive thoughts. By the time she got to work, her devillish brain was brimming with devillish ideas.
"My, my, Nakamura, you're looking particularly devillish today!" Karma commented.
"Don't I always look devillish?" she grinned in a very devillish way.
"Hmm, fair enough…" he responded lazily. "Don't worry, I fully support whatever the fuck you're doing…the more chaotic the better, yes?"
"Noted," she smiled, patting him on the shoulder.
When Rio set her things down (laptop, files, coffee mug, pencil case), the first thing she did was to go to Asano's office.
"Is he in?" she asked his secretary.
The secretary shook her head.
"I can work with that," Nakamura said. Ignoring the secretary's protests, the blonde pushed open the door and locked it behind her.
She surveyed her surroundings. To no one's surprise, Asano's office was meticulously tidy. Everything was fitted in monochromatic binders, folders, or drawers.
"What are you doing?"
"HOLY SHIT!"
Gakushuu stood behind her looking…well, actually angry at her for once.
"How did you get in here?" she asked.
"The window."
What. The. Hell. How ridiculous was this man?
"Now answer my question. What are you doing here? Or what are you planning to do?"
Rio felt shivers up her spine. When Asano was imposing, boy could he be imposing. And he was also standing in front of the door. Should she jump out of the window?
"I…I…" She thought of the email she had gotten from him and suddenly a wave of determination washed over her. "I'm here to do this."
Without any warning, she strode across the room so she was standing directly in front of him. Then she grabbed his collar, yanked him down and kissed him.
Nakamura felt him stiffen, but she didn't really care.
When she finally broke off the kiss, she grinned. "Asano - 6; Nakamura - 4."
She didn't look back as she walked out of the room.
—
Asano avoided her all day. If he was admitting defeat, good. Nakamura won at everything anyway.
Unfortunately, he did not admit defeat.
"Hello, Nakamura."
She shivered. His breath left tingling feelings on her ear.
"Yes, Asano?" she said, swivelling around. She gulped when his eyes came in contact with her's.
"How are you feeling?" he asked.
Rio felt surprised at this. What was he trying to do? Make small talk?
"I'm fine. Why so worried all of a sudden? Developing feelings for your lowly employee?" She mentally gave herself another point. She was almost catching up.
To her surprise, he didn't say anything. But he actually looked…embarrassed. Her inner sadist immediately jumped out.
"You look tongue tied," Rio remarked. "Have I earnt myself an admirer?"
Aha! Now they had tied.
"Not at all. Just preparing you, that's all," he replied with a sadistic smirk.
"Preparing me for wh—"
She didn't finish her sentence as he swooped in and kissed her.
Dammit! That's my move! she thought.
Then again, she could get used to this.
Honestly speaking, Rio was enjoying it. (So was Gakushuu.)
Then Asano broke the kiss and stood back up, looking at her with some sort of confidence. "Asano - 7; Nakamura - 6."
She silently cursed him and herself as he exited the room.
—
"He's in love with you, Rio," said Manami.
The blonde hadn't even processed what she said. "What?"
"Gakushuu Asano is in love with you."
Nakamura narrowed her eyes. "And why do you say this?"
"Science. Common sense. And evidence," Okuda answered shortly. "He wouldn't continue that game if he wasn't in love with you. And he wouldn't kiss you either."
"Kiss me? How would you know—" Nakamura turned to glare at a very guilty-looking Karma Akabane. "AKABANE, YOU DICK!"
"I'm sorry!" he yelled as she slapped him with a rolled-up magazine. "It was just so juicy!"
"JUICY!? HOW COULD YOU DESCRIBE IT AS JUICY!? WHY DO YOU SOUND LIKE OKAJIMA!?"
"Rio, calm down!" the chemist soothed, patting her back. "I think it's best that he told me. Then it wouldn't be secret."
A devious thought creeped into Rio's mind. "Speaking of secrets, did you know Karma has a shrine dedicated to you in his closet?"
It was silent for a good few minutes as Okuda's eyes widened. "W-What?"
Nakamura stuck her tongue out at the furiously blushing redhead and walked off, leaving Karma to his own problems.
"Karma! How could you?! That is so…inappropriate and immoral! How long have you had it?! Why me?!"
—
When Rio went to work the next day, Karma was ignoring her. That she could live with. They exchanged looks every now and then. She had no idea what had happened between him and Okuda, but they'd make up, and hopefully make out (unashamedly, she'd shipped 'Karmanami' for years).
Nakamura was typing up some paperwork on her laptop when he heard the door open.
"It's time you begged for forgiveness, Akabane," she smiled, not looking up from her work. "Does Karmanami exist now?"
"Strange saying that, Miss Nakamura."
Rio's head snapped up and she chuckled nervously. "O-oh! Asano! Didn't know it was you…"
Gakushuu shrugged and sat down in the seat next to her. Usually, she'd leap right into action. But today she felt…uncomfortable and embarrassed.
"You look uncomfortable and embarrassed," he observed.
She mentally facepalmed, cheeks burning.
"Did I cross a line yesterday? When…"
When you kissed me, she thought. "No," she voiced aloud. "I was just talking to Manami yesterday. She…told me her opinion on…well, us."
He leaned forward, trying to make eye contact. Rio stubbornly refused. And failed.
"So…what did Miss Okuda say about us?"
The blonde swore her face was on fire at this point. "She…she's convinced you're in love with me. Pretty dumb, right? I mean, we hate each other, after all."
Asano started laughing, and she relaxed. Good! They were frenemies (borrowing a term from teenage girls' dictionaries), nothing more, nothing less.
"You really are more oblivious than your chemist friend, Rio."
This startled her. Firstly, when was she more oblivious than - than Okuda, out of all people, who was the very queen of obliviousness? Secondly, when did he ever call her by her first name? It was always 'Miss Nakamura'!
"Do you really think I just kiss my employees on a daily basis for no apparent reason?"
"Um," said Rio.
Good fucking question.
She paused and reality hit her in the face like a flying ice bucket. "Wait! Does that mean you're…um…" The words were too cliche to be said. Then again, so was this situation.
He didn't reply in a straightforward way, just leaned forward so he was whispering into her ear. "Saturday. Two o'clock. Bowling. No excuses."
—
"I knew it!" Manami smiled, nodding. "He's in love with you!"
"Haha, yeah…" Rio said sheepishly. "How about this one?" She held up a floral print dress.
"Pink isn't really your colour, Rio," her friend instructed. Who knew Okuda was good at fashion? (The chemist had stated it was "just like chemistry - whatever worked together worked, whatever didn't exploded and melted your face off".)
Nakamura agreed as she slotted the dress back in its place on the rack. "I do like navy blue."
"Yes! Navy!" Okuda agreed.
"Hey, speaking of love…how are you and Karma?"
Manami shrugged. "I think I overreacted about the shrine. Well, actually…maybe I didn't. I don't know. It's embarrassing." She sighed. "I haven't talked to him since. Hopefully we'll still be friends."
For once, Rio sobered up. "He really likes you, 'Nami."
"I know."
"Would you give him a chance?"
The bespectacled woman was silent for some time. "I'll think about it. I guess…I probably like him too. I just don't know what romance feels like so maybe I'd just mistaken it for friendship."
"You don't know what romance feels like? Yeesh." Rio twirled around experimentally in her sleeveless accordian dress. "How do I look?"
"Like a very beautiful Rio Nakamura," Okuda answered, giving her a hug. "Thanks for sticking with me, Rio."
"No problem," Nakamura answered, hugging her back. "Now come on! I can't be late for my date!"
Date. Date.
Date.
It was such a casual word, yet she couldn't help but feel strange when she heard it.
Manami had offered to drive her there. Rio didn't resist. They sat there in silence, each thinking their own thoughts. It was a comfortable sort of quietness.
When they arrived at the bowling rink, Asano was waiting outside for them.
"So, are we official?" was the first thing Rio said to him.
"Good to see you too," he remarked. "Miss Okuda. Thank you for opening Rio's eyes. And for melting a hole in my limo's window."
"Those chemicals can melt one's face off, if provoked," Manami replied. "So keep that in mind when you're dating my friend."
Okuda was small and innocent-looking, but the threat of chemicals making contact with one's features was terrifying no matter the situation or person talking. So Asano kept that in mind, as asked.
"So, why bowling?" Nakamura asked as they walked in. "Isn't that a little informal for your tastes, Mr. Fancypants?"
"Informal? I'd have to lower my status to be with my lowly peasant girlfriend," he grinned.
Rio laughed. It was surprising how easily he could make her laugh.
"Besides," he added. "I'm actually pretty good at bowling."
"How good?" she questioned.
Asano shrugged as he bought the admission for both of them. "Let's just say I get strikes way too often than a normal person should."
"Well, you're not normal," Nakamura replied as they tugged on their bowling shoes.
As the game started, she realised that he was right - Gakushuu had gotten an inordinate amount of strikes.
"Your turn," he said. "Are you good?"
Rio gave a sadistic, malicious giggle fit for a horror movie. For once, Asano actually felt…scared? Did the lights suddenly just dim? Was that ominous music he heard in the background?
His girlfriend cracked her knuckles. "I've had training in 3E. We put those daggers to excellent use."
"We'll see. I think I still have a chance of winning."
Nakamura smirked, grabbing a bowling ball and swinging it experimentally. "Winning? Two can play that game."