AN1: I do not own the themes, characters or companies mentioned in this story. It's FAN-fiction.
AN2: Post-Battlecity!
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KaibaCorp's newest addition
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It's been almost a month. A month goes by very slowly when half of its spent wading through mountains of paperwork and an endless chain of emails. With several company deals waiting to be closed and his latest duel disk launch on the horizon, one member of the Kaiba family was starting to feel the stress.
After the latest secretary, Miss. Anderson, left KaibaCorp for good it all went bad. With no calls being screened or emails being filtered, communications quickly started to crumble. Kaiba wasn't exactly talkative on the phone, didn't respond to emails unless it was of the utmost importance and certainly didn't do well with dealing with the Japanese postal service.
Mokuba was quite a life-saver though. He was in senior year of highschool, but he seemed to practically live at the office for the past month. He took over calls and helped get KaibaCorp's correspondence back in action. He basically played his brother's personal assistant. He enjoyed spending time with his brother, but they both knew it couldn't carry on like that.
"Seto, maybe it's time to find a replacement…"
"I spent six years training the last one, I'd rather not waste my time like that again," Seto answered his brother and sighed as he signed another licencing agreement.
"You can't keep working like this, you'll burn yourself out completely," Mokuba said and gave Seto an imploring look. "You can fool anyone but me, big bro."
"If I hold an interview, will you stop bugging me about it?" Seto said and rolled his aching wrist.
"You have to at least put some effort into looking for a new secretary… or assistant at least," Mokuba said and paused in his typing to look at his brother.
"Fine."
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And that's how, two days later…
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"Mr. Kaiba, your next interview is ready for you, sir."
"Whatever," Seto sighed internally. This entire recruiting deal was a disaster. So far each candidate had issues. Too loud, too nosy, no self-esteem, disorganized, too soft…
"Should I send her in, sir?" Roland said, uneasy and uncomfortable under Seto's annoyed gaze.
"I've already been through ten candidates, I don't have time to waste another five minutes on another useless brain-dead typewriting monkey," Seto snapped and flips open the resume Roland had dropped at the top of the stacked pile, "Besides, her qualifications sub-standard, not even close to comparing to the previous morons. So, no."
"Sir, they've been waiting-"
"I don't care."
Roland nodded and headed out the door to where a dozen other women and men were sitting, waiting to be interviewed for the coveted position of THE Seto Kaiba's assistant. But as soon as he entered, he could see they knew what was coming, "I'm sorry, ladies and gentlemen… but Mr. Kaiba has cancelled all further interviews."
A chorus of disagreement resounded through the room. Questions started but Roland simply directed everyone to the elevators. "I'm sorry. We'll contact you if anything changes…"
When Roland finally returned to the lobby, one woman was still seated there. A twenty-something, French-plait, pressed purple suit and cross-over butterfly tie. The only papers she had on her seemed to be in her hand, no briefcase or handbag.
"Excuse me, miss," Roland said and cleared his throat to get her attention.
"Yes?"
"All interviewees are dismissed for today," Roland said.
"That's good, less competition for me," she said and stood up, walked up to the KaibaCorp CEO's door and knocked twice before Roland could even speak up.
"Excuse me," she said and waited until Kaiba looked up.
"Who're you?" Seto asked, annoyed.
"I'm Clover Maki, I came for today's interview," the young woman, standing in the doorway said, a confident look on her face.
"I cancelled all interviews. Besides, I don't have time for undergraduates."
"I might not have an MBA or a secretarial degree from Harvard, but I'm the fastest typist you'll find out of all the other brain-dead typewriting monkeys… I'm smart, I don't beat around the bush, I'm efficient and I don't play well with others," she smiled and crossed her arms in front of her chest, "If you want a subordinate who'll follow your orders to the letter or a girl-Friday that'll do your laundry, then you'd better find someone else."
"I never said I wanted a maid."
Clover smirked, "Good, then we agree. I'll start off with 150 000 yen, but I'll be expecting my first raise within the fortnight."
"You don't get to make demands while you're in my company," Seto snapped, a slight look mesmerisation on his face, "You make one mistake, you're out -no questions asked."
"Done. Do we have a deal?"
"For now."
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A few days later...
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"No, Mr. Kaiba's not available at the moment. Shall I take a message?" Clover said, as easy as breathing. She doesn't even check the monitor of her laptop to check the schedule as she answered the phone.
"Who is this?"
"Miss. Maki, I'm Mr. Kaiba's newest secretary," she answered and never paused her Angry Birds game on her phone.
"Where is he! Why hasn't he signed the deal yet?"
Clover smiled to herself, "I'm not sure, Mr. Kitamura, do you want to leave him a message?"
"Why the hell do I want to leave him a message!? I need to speak to him as soon as possible!"
"Well, Mr. Kitamura, if you need him urgently, then I suggest you leave your message immediately."
Oh, Kaiba's in his office alright. He isn't previously occupied or even busy. He's actually just lying on the couch, trying to relax. It's Mokuba's mandatory 'Meditation Hour' that Seto apparently had to follow, because of some strange brotherly code that only the two of them are privy to. But, to Clover, that's fine and she complies with it all the same. Kaiba's been lying on the couch, just out of view, but still in earshot.
"I'm not joking around, if he doesn't close the deal within the hour, KaibaCorp can kiss this deal goodbye!"
"I understand. Sir, I'd just like to ask, what is your favourite flower?"
What the hell do flowers have to do with anything?
"Well, Mr. Kaiba would like to send a dozen of your favourites along with our deepest condolences," she said and laughed when the phone was swiftly hung up in her ear.
She shook her head in amusement and huffed, "Silly little man…". She dropped the phone on the hook and finished typing up the company memo.
"Miss. Maki?"
"Coming," she answered and forwarded the email before walking over.
"You were on the phone with Ichimura Industries…"
"Yes, sirree… " she answered chirpily, all smiles.
"They might actually cancel the deal. You know that deal will cost this company two million yen."
"Don't worry. They'll call back within the hour. Kitamura doesn't have the authority to cancel a deal like this and Ichimura Industries can't afford to lose a partnership with a powerhouse like KaibaCorp at this point. Considering your company is the only one of his deals that's in its final stages, they can't just drop everything. Especially because Ichimura Industries stock dropped by twelve points last night at ten, they can't afford to wait. The longer they wait, the greater the possibility becomes that someone will buy up their majority shares before they can secure fixed capital for their company through a deal like this."
"How did you find about their stock price-drop?"
"I have an app that tracks all the shares within KaibaCorp and all the companies you trade with, and those whom you're currently negotiating with."
"I think I know the reason you didn't get into Harvard. You're a smartass…"
"I try," she smiled and looked up to the ceiling for a second, "Would you like me to switch off the lights for you before I leave? You'll sleep better."
"No, and I won't be 'meditating' for much longer," Seto grumbled and quickly called her back, "Hey, if you see Mokuba…"
"I know," Clover said and nodded, "Mokuba always enters, no matter who you're in a meeting with or what you're busy with…. I've been here for a week now, I know the drill."
"Not bad..."
She grinned.
"Not exactly good, either."
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Hmm... seems to be working out so far, ne?