The intimidating office chair spun, revealing the face I had so long aspired to see. His office was large, spacious, and very, very, dark. The walls were black, as well as the carpet and the ceiling, and his desk was no exception. The secretary nodded quickly, and shut the door, leaving me alone with the man.

"Miss Ia, was it?" The man looked up at me from under his lopsided fedora, "what concerns you," he smirked, "with humble, old, me?"

"Mister Kamui, I-"

"Shush." He cut me off midsentence, pressing his finger to my lips, "I didn't want you to speak yet." He whipped off his hat and skimmed it across the desk, "You seem like a sweet little girl."

I shifted uncomfortably in the oversized chair, unsure of whether to reply or not.

"Why would you tarnish your reputation by working with us?" His smile grew wider, revealing perfectly white teeth.

"I-I-I wish to work for you." I remembered to pull out a document from my purse, "Here, my resume."

"Now wait right there sweetie. You still haven't answered me." He placed his forefinger under my chin and lifted my head, forcing my eyes to meet his, "Don't get me wrong, young ladies like you are always a pleasure." He tilted his head, "But you're not just here for fun are you?"

I gulped, "N-no. I'm here to work." I fiddled with my finger as I struggled to find my accomplishments, "See here, I can work with computers, I can hack, I can…"

"And like we don't already have someone who can do that." He leaned over the desk, his lavender hair falling over his shoulders, "Hon, you gotta realize," Suddenly he fell back onto his chair, opening his arms, "We've got it all."

"H-how-"

"You think I don't know about you? I know everything." He chuckled, "absolutely everything."

"JUST GIVE ME A JOB." I slammed my hands against the desk, "Please!" I implored.

"Aren't you just the cutest? I like them like that, spirited."

"What did you say?"

"Nevermind. I'll give you a job. Pity about that spirit though." Ripping a cigar out of a nearby box, he pushed a bright red button by his desk, "Send in Galaco."

A put together women strolled in through the door, "Good afternoon, Mr. Kamui." She bowed.

"Gorgeous as always Galaco." He winked, "Would you please escort this lady towards the employment office?"

"But Mr. Kamui, we don't have-"

"Let's just say something about her, convinced me." He lit the cigarette and took a long inhale, "Why are you two girls still standing here? Go." The scent of smoke drifted out the room as I stepped out the door. "She's going to be a fun one."

"Ahh Galaco darling, what do we have here?" A young blond adjusted his glasses as he stood up to greet me. "Hey you're pretty. I see why the boss let you in." He scanned my body, and I quickly decided to change the subject,

"I'm Ia!" My eyes fell to his nametag, "And you are Len Kag-a-mine?"

"No, you're mistaken; you're the one who's going to be a- mine."

Blushing I looked down at my heels, luckily Galaco defended me, "You will refrain from flirting with the new workers. That's the boss's job." She muttered under her breath.

"Hey I can have some fun too!" he pouted. "Well I guess I gotta get you a job." Returning to his post, he grinned as his large monitor began to glow, "Let's see here. We don't really have any openings currently. I mean, Mr. Kamui could always need another secretary, but I don't think you deserve that kind of abuse." I glanced over at Galaco, who was humming absently, ignoring the conversation.

"Here I got it." Pressing the keyboard faster than I thought was possible, he shoved the enter key with a satisfying click, "Ok. You're going to be, Mr. Utatane's assistant." He stifled a chuckle, "back at the surveillance wing." He rose his arms to stretch and knocked over a cup of coffee that splattered over his khakis, "Darn."

To my surprise, Galaco allowed herself a poised giggle.

"Hey! It's not my fault!" Len raised his arms up defensively, "I woke up at 4 a.m. today!"

"What were you doing that early in the morning?" I asked, fixing my straw blond hair.

"Umm…well…I'd rather not say." He hugged his arms around his chest and shifted his weight from foot to foot, "The surveillance wing is not too far away, so I can show you the way, I guess."

Hmm…talk about mood swings…"Alright. That sounds great."

Galaco smiled and stepped out, "Ok! Len don't try anything funny with her! She's a good one!"

"I can tell already!" Len replied.

Was that supposed to be assuring…?

"So how did a pretty smart girl like you get stuck at a place like this?" I snapped back to attention as Len dragged me down the hall, "This isn't exactly, a place someone like you would aim for."

"I-I would rather not talk about it."

"Oh, I see." An awkward silence fell for a few moments, "You know, Mr. Utatane is really good with computers."

"Really!" I clasped my hands together, " do you think he'd be willing to teach me something?"

"Well" Len scratched the back of his head, "He's not one to…"

"Oh, I hope he's nice, then maybe I can get even better, or get promoted or,"

"IA!"

"huh?"

"He's not exactly, a good guy."

"What do you mean?"

"What was your impression of Mr. Kamui?"

"A perverted middle aged man who terrorizes job applicants."

"Oh, you weren't that far off."

"Well, like you're that much better." I can't believe I'm talking so freely to this guy, I looked up at his round cerulean eyes, he's so open, I feel like I could talk to him forever.

"What is that supposed to mean?"

I playfully punched him in the shoulder, "Tell me what you were doing at 4 a.m."

"What! No." He coughed.

"Len! Are you okay?"

"Oh yeah fine, just choked on my own drool." He pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose and pulled his sweater down.

"Alright." Okay, maybe not that open…

"I thought you were shy, but look who's pouring everything out." He tossed his hair, "I like that."

"Please don't say that."

"Why not? I thought you were the one that said I was a perv."

"Well you are. But Mr. Kamui just said something similar and…"

"Oh I understand. I don't want to be like that mutant eggplant." He gagged mockingly.

The walls in the halls were a dull gray, like the clouds right before a heavy rainfall. It was quite a calming color actually, but got quite plain after seeing wall after wall the same shade. The floor was tiled in black, and my heels echoed every step I took. I was dressed in a plain outfit, a white button down tucked into a black pencil skirt. I bumped into Len as he made an abrupt stop.

"Hey what was that for?"

"We're here." He sighed, and knocked on the door. "Mr. Utatane! New employee! Come and get it!"

"Huh? Len? What are you do-" A silver haired man poked his head out the door. "Oh. You must be Miss Ia."

"Yes." Len shoved me towards the man, "Just for you."

"Good" He rubbed his hands together, "I'm sure I can find some work for you."

Len tapped my shoulder as he turned to leave, "Have fun darling"

"So," The short man offered me his hand, "Piko Utatane, at your service."

"Well, you already know me I presume." I bowed slightly, "Ia."

"Ia, hmm? What can you do?" He brought himself uncomfortably close, inspecting my features, "You seem normal enough."

"Ah. Um. I don't mean to brag, but" I gripped my purse tightly, "I can hack, pretty well."

"I see." He wrapped his arms around my shoulder and pulled me inside, "You'll be here, next to Kaito and" he rolled his eyes, "Yohioloid."

I gasped as I entered the room. Monitors lined every inch of the wall, and computers of every model were placed perfectly on an array of organized desks. The only open seat was between a tall blue haired man and a medium sized blond one, so I took the seat there. Not forgetting to take a deep inhale, I turned to the screen. It took a few seconds before I realized I had no idea what to do. I nudged the blond with my elbow,

"Psst…"

"Hmm? Who are you?"

Did he seriously miss that conversation I had 5 seconds ago?, " Um I'm Ia."

"Oh!"

"Is there a problem?"

"No," he chuckled awkwardly, "not at all…"

"So what's your name?" I ignored the strangeness.

"Yohioloid, but I like to be called Yohi."

"Yohi? That's cute!"

"You think so?"

"Okay, Yohi," I put on my best charming smile, "What are we supposed to do here?"

He had already turned away and was whispering to the brunet on his right. He wasn't too good at it, I could clearly make out what he was saying,

"Kiyo?"

"Yes." The responder was looking over a pair of thick glasses. He wasn't trying to conceal his voice even one bit.

"That's a girl…"

"Yup, good observation."

"I've never been so close to one before." He hissed.

Kiyo patted Yohi's back, "You're a lost cause my friend."

I tapped the confused programmer on the shoulder, "Excuse me…"

"Oh right! Hi um, err…"

"Ia."

"Hola Ia!"

"Now tell me, what are we supposed to do?"

"I don't know."

"Wait, you don't know?"

The person he was talking to earlier leaned back in his swivel chair, "Yohioloid's an idiot. That's all there is to it."

"Aww man, this is going to be hard."