If you guys haven't noticed already, Mio and Ritsu are a bit out of character with their canon anime/manga personality. Ritsu is an adult now, along with Mio, they've never met before, but you'll still see their traditional quirks that make them, you know, them. For now I'm just building up the story and themselves but we'll get to see our Mitsu interact with each other more in chapter 3 and so on the way the Mitsu gods intended. Also, read Ebisu-san and Hotei-san if you want to know how things will progress in my story. Things will be changed around a bit though and will have my own twists to it.
Disclaimer: See chapter 1 disclaimer
"Man, Aki-chan is really cool. Don't you think so, Tainaka-san?" Said a coworker named Okita.
It was lunch break and everyone had finally caught up on work so for once we all were able to sit down together to eat.
"Aki-chan?" I said, raising an eyebrow. Well, that's not going to last long. "You mean Akiyama-san?"
"Yes! She's like an idol. Everything she does is so perfect!"
I nearly choked on my chopsticks at the sparkling expression on his face.
"And she's not so bad looking either. If she styled herself differently, maybe more feminine-like, she'd be more attractive to us men. Right guys?"
A few of the men gave out some whistles and murmurs of approval. I suddenly felt annoyed by this.
"Well, I won't deny that she is attractive looking." I said as I chewed on my chopsticks stubbornly. Nobody noticed that my mood had turned sour.
"What do they call women like her these days?" Said Shizuka, who sat next to me. "A cool beauty?"
"Yes, she may be a cool beauty, but I don't think her personality is all that nice. I think she's too serious. She rejected my offer of lunch with her, saying she rather not be sidetracked with things that might make her do overtime." A man named Kazuya said, frowning. "I still find it strange that she requested to be transferred here, instead of continuing at her higher paid position back at the main office."
"She must be hiding something. Maybe she got into a fight with a lover there and wanted to create some distance between them." Said Shizuka. "Though I don't know how anyone could love her when I've yet to see her smile once!"
Everyone but me laughed. I could feel myself getting angry now. I needed to end this positive atmosphere about that woman. I took a deep breath and plastered my most perfect smile on my face.
"Well either way, she's quite admirable. It'd be nice to be like her and make it so the higher ups would be fawning all over us."
"Oh yeah, Tainaka-san. You've met her before this, haven't you? Back at the main branch office for that meeting. What was she like?"
I started sniffling as tears came up to my eyes.
"The meeting could've gone better if hadn't made so many mistakes in the first place…"
"What happened?" said Okita.
"I just got her mad, that's all. And then the other board members laughed at me. She just basically said that my work was sloppy and that she expected things better from someone in my position. Especially since I'm supposed to be helping her out from now on. But she was right. I've always made mistakes even after all these years and-"
"That's still no excuse to embarrass you right in front of the higher ups! Any decent person would know that!" Kazuya said angrily. "If she'd known how it was back here, she'd know that the work here is not that simple. And if she's better at us with our type of work, then why does she need our help?"
"Exactly! I mean, who does she think make it so that the higher ups don't have too much hassle when dealing with their work in the company? It's us!" Said Shizuka, hitting her desk.
Gotcha Akiyama-san!
"But I'm sure if we give her time…" I weakly attempted to speak.
"Oh, we'll give her time alright. Time to learn that you don't mess with people from our sales department!"
"Please don't mention this to her you guys." I said, feigning worry.
"We know Tainaka-san. We don't want her to pick on you more. We'll figure something out though. I know she seems pretty aloof but I didn't think she was that cruel." Said Okita.
"You know, now that you mentioned it earlier, Kazuya-san, I heard her tell one of the other workers that she doesn't do overtime ever. Can you believe her? We all have to do it at some point. We've got too much work. She can't just avoid it. She must think she can get away with it because she's such a good worker! She's probably looking down on us all."
"That's how it is with women like her. Having brains can get you anywhere. If you need help Tainaka-san, don't hesitate to let us know. We'll be doing things our way but don't mind going along with you too.
"Thank you guys. I appreciate it." I said, sniffling.
A few people smiled at me and with that, lunch was over and everyone went back to their working stations. Akiyama-san and I shared the same cubicle and I saw she was already there, going through some documents. She seemed to be searching for the document I hid before she arrived at work today. I smiled.
And now it begins, Akiyama-san. I snickered inwardly. Let's see how you handle the next few weeks with the whole office hating you and me interfering with your work.