It was always a subtle game of cat and mouse that he could never win. Without fail, the moment he was a hairsbreadth away from what he wanted, it was ripped away from him with great force. It was a cruel game and painful to watch, yet Tohma was graceful at losing, accepting defeat with a smile—accepting everything with a smile.
But who was Sakano kidding? He was playing the very same game. Just as painful as it was to watch, he was tagging along, adding another car to the train of cat and mouse, participating in the awkward, inelegant race to reach what he wanted before it was snatched away.
Because just as hard and fast as Tohma Seguchi chased after Eiri Yuki, Sakano was stumbling behind them, chasing after the recognition of the person he cherished most.
"Sakano-san," he said, his voice laced with thinly veiled ennui. Tohma was sitting in his chair, back straight with his hands folded neatly on the desk. His smile was the one he always wore at the end of a long day.
"Sir!" Sakano was immediately on his feet, arms stiffly at his side, leaning forward in an awkward bow, staring hard at the large desk in front of him. He couldn't see it, but he could feel the president's eyes give him a curious once-over.
It was suddenly silent, the sweltering July heat ruthlessly tearing into the room, the sun furiously glaring through the tall windows. The heat was so intense that Sakano vaguely wondered if he had done something to upset it. He was sweating in his suit, and with the air conditioning broken on the hottest day of the year, he found it embarrassing that his discomfort in the heat was so obvious.
"I think we're finished for today." Tohma picked up the remainder of the paperwork, a rather monstrous stack, and began to fan himself.
Sakano couldn't help but notice that unlike himself, Tohma wasn't particularly sweating, only suffering mild perspiration. It was just like President Seguchi to appear perfect, even in a situation like this. How admirable, Sakano thought dreamily.
"Is there anything else I can do for you today? Should I call a car to come pick you up? I can—"
"There's no need for any of that." It was frustrating, Sakano had to admit, that Tohma rarely had use for him— then Tohma was speaking again and Sakano listened with rapt attention. "However, a second call to maintenance is in order, don't you think?"
"Yes! Definitely! I'll get on that right away, President Seguchi!"
Tohma smiled politely as he pinched the shoulders of his blazer and lifted it up. He shook the blazer to coax cooler air under the heavy material as he stood. "Thank you. Please get the air conditioning fixed before tomorrow, Sakano-san. I'd hate to be unable to finish this paperwork because of this heat."
Sakano nodded frantically, digging through his suit pockets to find his cell phone. He knew Tohma so well, knew just how highly ranked unfinished work was on Tohma's list of pet peeves. It was listed as number two, right under anything negative happening to Eiri Yuki.
Tohma leaned over his desk, his right hand pressed flat against the smooth surface, his left hand—the dominant one—making final adjustments on the spreadsheet document before saving it and shutting down the computer.
He looked so handsome—so professional—and even when doing something as mundane as saving a document and shutting down the computer, the president had a warm, charismatic aura around him. Sakano watched him, bulky cell phone clutched tightly in his hand, his task to call maintenance regretfully forgotten.
Sakano thought back roughly five years ago when he first set foot into NG Productions, hoping to find a job. Back then, he didn't know Tohma as a person; he simply worshiped the older man from afar. Tohma Seguchi, a genius of music, starting a record company? The chances of getting a job working for the president were so slim, but Sakano had landed the job anyway. And, despite the fact Tohma's latest hobby seemed to be getting Sakano as close to having a heart attack without him actually having one, Sakano wouldn't trade working for NG for anything.
Unfortunately, he didn't know why he was so drawn to the president. Maybe he'd gotten too invested with his work or perhaps he was over-identifying with Tohma somehow. If it were the president answering the question, he would surely smile and say something along the lines of the attraction being a gravitational pull—and that those sorts of pulls never ended well.
"Sakano-san?" The president's voice cut through Sakano's reverie.
"Sir!" he shouted, fumbling with the cell phone and nearly dropping it on the polished concrete floor.
"You're spacing out~!" accused Tohma, his voice layered with a hint of a whine and drawn out annoyance. His smile was genuine, his eyes shining with curiosity. "You're supposed to be calling maintenance for me," he teased.
"R—Right!" His fingers hovered over the keypad of his cell phone, but his mind blanked. Just once, Sakano wished he could work well under pressure.
"03," reminded Tohma. "Or did you forget Tokyo's area code?"
"I remember, sir!" he shouted in a panic, his voice shrill. He punched the first six numbers, then felt a wave of trepidation when he couldn't remember the rest. Tohma shook his head, pried the phone out of Sakano's hands and dialed the rest for him. Then with a smile, he wrapped Sakano's hands back around the phone, gave him a pat on the back and walked out of the office, laptop bag looped over his shoulder.
Sakano stood there, completely frozen, until the voice of the maintenance man on the phone drew him back to reality. He cleared his throat and requested that they come in this evening to fix the air conditioning of NG Pro. When his request was denied—it was a Saturday afternoon, after all—he nearly burst into tears and explained that his boss would fire him again if the air conditioning weren't fixed.
His request was still denied. Finally, Sakano said that the request was from Tohma Seguchi himself and that if the air conditioning weren't fixed there was a lot of damage Tohma could and would cause. The maintenance man thought of his distant cousin trying so hard to make it in the music industry. With a disgruntled sigh, he agreed to come in tonight to fix it and Sakano gave a breathless thank you.
With his heart soaring from completing the task the president had given him, Sakano switched off the lights and locked up Tohma's office. He made his rounds through the rest of the building, making sure there were no intruders and that everything was locked up.
Sakano marched outside into the heat of Shibuya, Tokyo, wide smile firmly planted on his face. Absently, he reached into the side pocket of his blazer and ran his fingers over the cell phone there. Tohma had touched that phone just a short while ago—as well as his hands. Being touched by the president was an honor to him. He hoped Mika and Eiri knew how lucky they were to be so close to the president and to be able to touch him freely.
Sakano decided not to take the train home, knowing full well that people would be packed like sardines in those trains and he was hot enough as it was. Even though the heat was intense, he enjoyed the walk home and it gave him time to think about the work he had accomplished today and the work he would hopefully accomplished tomorrow.
When he got home, he decided he would sneak a peek at the three meter high poster of Tohma he kept in his closet, then prepare a small dinner and get ready for the next day of work. The majority of NG Pro had the day off on Sundays, but certainly not him.
It wasn't until he felt himself shiver and a droplet of water land on his cheek that he looked up and saw the overcast skies. It was amazing, how the day had turned from boiling to cool. The weather had said the chance of rain was low, roughly five percent. Of course, it was his fault for not bringing an umbrella in the first place. The president would have said: Five percent is not zero percent, Sakano-san. He would have been right, too!
Sakano picked up his pace to a light jog. He was still nearly ten minutes from home and he would be absolutely soaked.
Then he saw him, standing on the curb, caught in the sudden downpour. Tohma didn't seem to mind, though. He was watching the windows of a café intensely and Sakano was sure that Eiri had caught Tohma's eye.
Quickly and without hesitation, Sakano purchased a newspaper from the nearby newsstand and dashed over to Tohma's side. It wasn't much protection from the rain, but because Sakano had stupidly not brought an umbrella, it was all he could do to shield the president from the rain.
Tohma didn't notice at first, his gaze firmly locked on the foreign-looking blond in the café, eating a meal of sweets and tea with Shuichi Shindou, but suddenly his brows raised and he was peering up at Sakano.
"Oh!" Tohma smiled. This smile, Sakano noted, was surprisingly genuine. "Thank you."
"Sir, I can walk you home until the rain stops!" It was a selfish request and he knew it.
Tohma lightly shrugged his shoulders then reached up to pat Sakano's cheek affectionately. "It isn't necessary to go this far out of your way for me. If you catch a cold, who will be my manager?"
"I'll be fine," he insisted.
Tohma was almost smirking now, but even so, there was distraction in his eyes. Sakano knew exactly what Tohma planned on doing before it even happened.
"So will I. Please go home and rest well, Sakano-san. I'll need you to come in early tomorrow so we can finish reviewing our workload, okay?"
With a smile just as distracted as his eyes, Tohma waved and made his way across the street and into the small café. Sakano watched the president greet the romance novelist Eiri Yuki with a warm smile and he saw Shuichi cling to Eiri's arm as though Tohma might steal the novelist away—and maybe Tohma would.
Who knew?
Because just as hard and fast as Tohma Seguchi chased after Eiri Yuki, Sakano was stumbling behind them, chasing after the recognition of the person he cherished most.