2
As Komiya made his way down the hill, he kept his eyes on her, hoping to maybe discern some clue about her that they could talk about. He watched as she began turning in a circle, looking in every direction. She seemed to be lost. Komiya smiled to himself: maybe he could help her.
By the time he had finally made his way down to the canteen, the doe had her back turned to him with her phone out, apparently trying to use her location app to figure out what direction she wanted to go.
He gently tapped her on the shoulder.
"Excuse me, miss?"
She jumped and turned on him, a scowl on her pretty face.
"Buta, I told you-"
Komiya managed a nervous grin.
"Oh," she said, the scowl melting,"it's just you."
She looked down at her phone again, then looked up at him.
"Can you please help me find the parking lot?? I've gone and got myself turned around in this place."
Komiya grinned stupidly and nodded again, transfixed.
She waved a hand in front of his face to get his attention.
"Hello?"
Komiya blinked at the sudden motion and came back to the world.
"Ah, um, sure, I'll help you, Miss...?"
The doe stuck her hand out.
"Tsunoda."
Tsunoda. What a pretty name.
Komiya was dying to say that but judging by the way she'd reacted to whatever Buta did he thought that wasn't wise.
He put his own hand out and shook her extended one, secretly thanking the gods to be able to actually touch her. Her grip was firm and steady.
"Komi...Komiya..." he stammered out.
"Komiya, I like that name."
Tsunoda grinned.
"Can I just call you Komi for short?"
"O-of course, Miss."
"Just Tsunoda, if you please."
"Yes Ma'am."
The little doe rolled her eyes at that and looked at him hopefully again.
"Parking lot?"
Komiya realized where he was again and began stammering once more.
"Uhm, ah, its...its this way..."
As Komiya led their way through the ins and outs of the site, Tsunoda began to talk to him, which strangely seemed to put him at ease.
"Yeah, Shika's my twin brother, in case you haven't figured that out. He runs the site for our father, who owns the company that's building here. That's one reason why Shika's so young, because this is his first really big job in the company."
"So, your dad owns the construction company?"
"Yep. It's kind of embarrassing because everyone bows and scrapes at me because they're afraid of me. I don't want you to be afraid of me, Komi, you seem like a nice guy."
Komiya stood a little straighter as he walked and blushed at the complement, especially since it came from her.
"So, where do you work, if you don't mind my asking?"
Tsunoda looked over at him as they walked, and Komiya realized she was the first female he'd ever been around that he could look directly in the face.
"I work for a big paper company in the City, up near Eastern District, in accounting."
"Wow, you must be smart."
Tsunoda laughed a little, a tiny titter that made Komiya blush again. So cute.
"Hardly. I'm still trying to figure out how to read spreadsheets properly. Math has never really been my strong suit."
Komiya looked over at her, giving her a strange look as they made their way their way past the chain-link security fence that surrounded the parking lot.
"You're not good at math, but you work in accounting?"
She smiled a little, embarrassed.
"I'm not really an 'accountant' so to speak, I'm more of a secretary. I maintain the paperwork for my boss, Director Ton. He's a jerk."
By now they had found their way into the parking lot, Tsunoda flashing her parking permit at the guard as they passed her booth.
"Can't be any worse than Buta. He's my boss."
"Oh, you poor thing..."
Tsunoda shook her head sympathetically, and led him around a corner to a small red sportscar.
Komiya raised his eyebrows in surprise at the sight.
Tsunoda grinned and patted the hood.
"My baby."
Komiya smiled back uncertainly, trying to think of something, anything, to get her to stay a little longer.
"Well," she said, after standing for a minute of silence, "it was nice meeting you, Komi.Thank you for walking me out here. Buta makes me nervous."
Komiya put his hand out and she shook it, looking at him levelly. It was an odd feeling for him to be able to look at her full in the face.
"Me too, Miss Tsunoda, he's an asshole."
They both started laughing at the statement, feeling vindicated.
She stopped laughing and just stared at him for a long moment, then seemed to realize something, clutching at her purse.
"Oh, I almost forgot!" She reached into to her bag and pulled put a business card.
"Here's my company's HR number. I wanted to ask if you wanted to come work for us? No offense, but a small guy like yourself has no place here at a construction site, you'll be a perfect target for bullies.
Our chief accountant has flown the coop, thanks to Ton, and we DESPERATELY need a new one. If you try for it, there'll be a math test, and if you pass and get the job, you'll get paid alot more and get to work inside instead of out here. Wouldn't that be great?"
Komiya simply nodded furiously, holding one end of the card as long as was acceptable as she held the other end.
Tsunoda released it into his hand and pulled out her car keys, beginning to turn away, getting ready to leave.
He quickly spoke a word before he stopped himself.
"Wait..."
Tsunoda stopped and looked at him.
"What's wrong?"
The meerkat took an awkward step forward and took his hardhat off, rubbing his ear nervously.
"What...what did Buta do to make you so mad, if you don't mind my asking?"
Tsunoda's eyes got hard for a moment and she turned back to her car, putting her key in the lock. She leaned on the window, putting a hand out to support herself, as if what she was telling him made her weak.
"He got too close to me-he does it every time I'm out here, he approaches and gets right up on top of me and towers over me like he's trying to intimidate me. At first it frightened me but then I realized that he likes that, that's why he does it. So I fought back this time, and it frightened him off."
Komiya took a step back, trying not to frighten her again. Tsunoda caught this, and quickly corrected herself.
"Oh, dont worry, you don't bother me, Komi. Part of why is your height. No offense."
Komiya looked down, feeling pensive and a little mad at the thought of Buta doing that to Tsunoda.
"None taken..."
He smiled at her to lighten the mood.
"On a lighter note, Miss, I just want to say thanks, and it was nice to meet you."
She turned the lock and opened her car door, getting in and rolling down her window to continue speaking to him.
"No problem, Komi, and I hope we get to talk again some time."
She smiled and gave a little wave as she rolled her window up in an air of finality.
Komiya stepped away as she drove off, sadly returning the small wave at her back windshield, hoping she caught it as she went away.