Chapter Two: Greetings
Frigid river of winter,
Please take your hand off my heart.
Hello, my name is Liam Bailey, it's very nice to meet you! I am twenty two years old, one hundred and eighty-six centimeters tall, my blood type is B negative, and my hair is blond. I enjoy karaoke and dancing, and my favorite food is Japanese beef pots. When last you left me, I was busy fearing for my life in the office of my employer, the U.S. ambassador plenipotentiary to Japan.
"The two of you will be working quite closely for the interim, so I hope you will get along well."
Ambassador Robertson's voice seemed to come from very far away. Scrabbling for some semblance of equilibrium, I tried to duck my head as I bowed, but pure fascination kept me from doing so. Chin resting on one hand, the CO of Shirahadori gazed back at me as I craned my neck up to observe him. Then he stood up. And up. He bowed, but that only served to emphasize the fact that he loomed over me like a tree over a sapling. How had the man gotten so large? His eyes were like a pair of fresh coals, gray and cold. His hair was as I remembered it from the plane, black and spiky, and though he still wore the tailored suit, it bore none of the wrinkles that marked my own off-the-rack number.
"So Commander," came Robertson's surreal voice, "does Mr. Bailey pass muster?"
Morinozuka unbent, allowing me to follow suit. If the obscure American idiom bothered him in any way, his neutral expression did not show it.
"This man poses no danger to you or any other among your staff," he concluded in a clinical tone. Not the most polite or flattering description, but it was true enough. The ambassador clapped his hands gently, and his usual affable self returned.
"I am sure you have a full schedule, and I appreciate your taking time away from it to assist me. Please, don't let me keep you from your business any longer."
I dredged my voice up from somewhere in my stomach. "I'll set up a meeting to discuss embassy events, if that would be agreeable."
The big man nodded and left the room, and my breathing returned to normal.
"The commander has quite a presence, wouldn't you say?" Robertson queried as I sat back down.
"He's a little frightening at first glance," I admitted.
"I apologize for springing him on you like that, but if you had known he would be here ahead of time, you might have altered your behavior, and that would not have suited my purposes. Now, about that lunch meeting with Kawamura, I believe he enjoys French cuisine. Find a suitable place, will you?"
The next few days continued pretty much in this vein (minus the heart-stopping terror). My job as the ambassador's personal assistant was not onerous, but it did have a few hurdles I had never prepared for. Men and women who had treated me like a favorite pet when I was just a junior aide whispered behind my back when I passed and glared at me when they thought I couldn't see them.
"They're just mad because they think you'll try to order them around," Minoru assured me over tea one chilly October afternoon, when I had mentioned my fears on this subject. Evidently she had forgotten her promise to discuss her marriage plans, because she had been avoiding the subject through the entire conversation up to this point. Holding her cup with both delicate hands, she took a sip of her beverage before continuing. "It's a little different here at home, but back in the States it seemed like personal assistants stood outside of the normal hierarchy. In one sense, you've hardly gained any status at all, since pretty much everyone in the embassy still outranks you officially."
"Thanks so much."
"Just trying to be realistic. Anyway, like I was saying, they outrank you officially. You have control of the ambassador's schedule, access to a lot of his inner thoughts. These people are envious, and do you really blame them? You landed an incredible opportunity, so just act properly humble and grateful and everything will be fine."
"Everything will not be fine!" I protested. "The man I told you about, the tall one from the plane, he's the CO for one of the private military companies Ambassador Robertson hired."
Something flickered in Minoru's eyes, but whatever it was, it was gone before I could place the emotion. "Yes, Commander Morinozuka. I met him a few times at Ouran Academy."
There seemed to be more, so I waited. This time embarrassment was obvious from the way she flushed. "At the Host Club."
I managed not to snort my tea out through my nose, but only barely. "The real-life Rentboy! Yeah, you mentioned it, but I thought you never went."
"Don't look at me like that! Megumi made me go a few times, to seeānever mind. Mori's quiet, but the members of his family have been bodyguards for generations. He'll keep your ambassador's head on his shoulders, or no one can."
Wondering what had made her cut off mid-sentence, I steered the conversation toward lighter topics.
A/N: If you happen to have read this story in its previous format, you can now find the part that precedes this one at the end of Chapter One. Thanks for reading!
