On her way down to the legal office, Mai slipped into the ladies' loos and locked herself in a cubicle. The confined space allowed her to breathe. Safe from the outside world, Mai took a few moments to compose herself before peeing. Then she let herself and washed her hands, oblivious to the presence of another person in the room.

"Ayako let you wear that?"

Mai spun around, tripping over her own ankles in the process. She saved herself from facepalming the floor by grabbing the nearest sink.

"Are you okay? Not used to heels?"

"No, not really."

Mai looked up to see the most beautiful young woman she had ever seen in her life. Skin like porcelain and a figure to die for. Mai's jealousy was so palpable that an audible groan escaped her lips.

"So I'm guessing it's your first day? I'm Masako, head of PR."

Masako held out her hand and Mai shook it.

"I'm Mai, Dr Davis' new PA."

"Which Dr Davis?" Masako asked with a slight frown. "CEO or the actual doctor?"

"The CEO? There's another one?" Mai asked, confused.

"Yeah, his brother."

"Oh…" Mai mentally cursed herself for not doing more research on the company.

"You do have some smarter clothing than that, right?" Masako grimaced, glancing down at Mai's attire.

"Not really, no. I graduated last July and been living off of the rest of my student loan and the part time job I had but… Well, let's just say I'm really looking forward to my first real paycheck."

"Did you not get a relocation package?"

"Should I have?" Mai asked.

"Ayako is useless I swear. Talk to the Finance department and they'll sort you out," Masako said.

"Do you know where the legal department is?"

"Sure," Masako said, opening the door and holding it for Mai. "Who are you after?"

"Yasuhara?"

"Ah. Yes," Masako mumbled, leading the way through the corridors. "It's just through here."

Masako opened a door into an open-plan office and let Mai pass through.

"Yasuhara! You have a visitor," she called. "Have fun. Give me a shout if you need anything."

Mai thanked her new friend and looked around to see a bespectacled young man bounding towards her.

"Ah, so you are the newbie?" he questioned, holding out a hand. Mai shook it. "I'm Yasuhara. The Boss asked me to show you around?"

"Yeah," Mai replied. "He said that—"

"Yasuhara! There's a phone call for you!"

"Ah, excuse me, I'll just deal with this and then I'll show you about, is that okay?"

"Yeah, sure!" Mai agreed quickly. She spotted a sofa near the window and took a seat to wait. She picked up a magazine off the coffee table and flicked through it, barely registering the words and pictures.

"...can't believe he fired Jackie!" a female voice said from one of the nearby desks. "I thought it was illegal to fire someone if they get pregnant!"

"It is!" another voice replied. "But I bet he got someone in legal to find a loophole. He has the money for it."

"I hope she's okay! She's so young to have gotten pregnant and apparently — I mean I heard this from Susie in PR — the father wants nothing to do with it! To get fired after that!"

"It's despicable."

"Taniyama?" Mai looked up to see Yasuhara standing over her. "Shall we? If we're quick, we'll be done before lunch. What are you doing for lunch?"

"I don't know yet."

"How do you feel about sushi?"

"It's expensive."

"Well as it is your first day, it's on me," Yasuhara said. Mai opened her mouth to protest, but he encouraged her through the door and towards the lift. "Right, now I presume you've seen HR?"

"Yeah."

"Okay well that was Legal, although half my office are gossiping old women." Yasuhara sighed. "Seriously."

"Oh."

"Okay let's start with PR, they're the other department on this floor. They're in charge of advertising and marketing. You'll have a lot of meetings with this lot I imagine. Let's see if we can find…" Yasuhara trailed off as he weaved through the desks to the private office at the end of the hall. He knocked on the door. "Masako, do you have a minute?"

"For you? I have two."

"Have you met Mai?"

"I brought her over to legal for you," Masako deadpanned.

"Did you? Oh, well. I think you should take her shopping."

"After she's visited Finance and sorted her Relocation package, I will," Masako said. She scribbled something on a post-it note and handed it to Mai. "Give me a call, I'm free most evenings."

"Thanks."

"I'm gonna take her to Logistics and Customer Services and we'll finish with Finance."

"Sushi for lunch?"

"Yeah, I'm buying today, so my office at about half twelve," Yasuhara said.

"Gene joining us today?" Masako asked.

Mai watched the two talking, her head darting back and forth like she was at a tennis match.

"Nah, he has an appointment."

"Shame, okay see you later. Nice to see you again Mai. Yasuhara make sure you explain all of Ayako's stupid rules…"

"Will do, come on Mai."

"Ayako has more rules? More than the heels?" Mai asked in horror.

"Oh yes." Yasuhara sighed again. "Ayako… She's having some issues and taking it out on the staff and we're slowly weaning off her stupid ideas. But she's very prideful so it's taking some time."

"So what other rules are there?" Mai asked as they strode towards the lift.

"Ayako only joined the company last year, she was fired from her previous job for getting with a member of the staff and being caught in a cupboard somewhere. So since arriving she's banned all office relations."

"What?"

"Basically, don't go around shagging the accountants."

Mai's mouth fell open.

"I wasn't—"

"Why not? A few of them are cute, I wouldn't blame you!" Yasuhara stepped into the lift and hit button for the floor below. "Or if you're going to do something with someone, don't get caught."

"I—"

"Right so this floor has Logistics, they're in charge of ordering medication and equipment and they also they deal with transport. Just for the patients, not the staff, Finance deal with car hire for staff."

Yasuhara continued the tour around the building and left Mai with a young woman in Finance who could sort out her Relocation package.

"Right, so can I just check your bank details?"

Mai confirmed the numbers.

"Excellent. Right, I'll wire you two grand today, it should be in your account by the end of the hour," the young woman, Louise, said.

"I'm sorry, t-two grand?" Mai stammered.

"And if you send us your landlord's details we'll pay for six months of your rent, just email it through to me and I'll arrange that for you," Louise went on. "If you decide to purchase a property in the area, then we'll also pay for all moving costs and Legal can help with any issues."

Mai fell back into a chair and rested her head in her hands.

"Are you okay?"

"Yeah, sorry, I wasn't expecting that. I was hoping for a hundred or so to tide me over and—"

Louise smiled.

"If you had a family to care for, you would have gotten more," she went on, "Our CEO likes to look after his—"

She stood up suddenly, staring behind Mai. Mai looked around to see Dr Davis striding towards them.

"What is going on?"

"I was just explaining Mai's Relocation package to her, sir," Louise said quickly. "Ensuring everything was in order."

"Shouldn't Ayako have dealt with that?" Dr Davis demanded.

"Louise just wanted to check the numbers were correct before she sent such a large sum of money through," Mai said.

Dr Davis fixed her with a stare.

"A large sum? How much are you sending her?"

"Two grand, sir."

He frowned.

"I am touring the hospital tomorrow," he said a moment later. "I want you to join me so you can appreciate the full extent of our operation."

"Okay."

"In that vein, ensure we have a car hired for 9AM tomorrow."

Dr Davis turned on his heel and strode away. Louise slowly lowered herself back into her seat and took a deep breath.

"He scares me a little," Louise admitted.

"Me too," Mai mumbled. "So Yasuhara told me Finance dealt with car hire?"

"We do indeed, give me one second. We have a fleet of cars, I'll book you one of the Audis, I presume you have a driver's license?"

"Uhh…" Mai's cheeks flushed red. "I started taking lessons at university but exams got in the way and—"

"I'll take that as a no then. It's fine, Dr Davis can drive." Louise tapped at her keyboard for a few minutes. "Or Lin can, have you met Lin yet?"

"No?"

"I think he might be on leave at the moment, he's Dr Davis' right hand man. He's very quiet, but very efficient."

"Right."

Louise clicked decisively and smiled.

"Okay, pick up the keys from here in the morning."

"Thank you so much. For everything!"

"No problem," Louise said. "Shout if you need anything."

Mai stumbled her way back to her desk and logged back into her computer. She checked her emails, finding the itinerary for the next day.

Her phone began ringing.

Mai's eyes widened in fear. She mouthed a filthy swear word and then picked up the receiver.

"Hello, Mai Taniyama, PA to Dr Davis speaking."

Mai was so busy congratulating herself on sounding professional that she almost missed the caller speak.

"...I know sushi doesn't go cold or anything but I will eat your portion if you don't get down here quick," Yasuhara's voice said.

"I forgot! I'll be down in two minutes!"

Mai locked her PC, slipped off her heels and ran.

Three minutes later, she burst into Yasuhara's office, her heels clacking in one hand.

"Did you save me some?"

"Yeah, it'd only just arrived when I called," Yasuhara said with a laugh. "Help yourself, I got a spread for us all to share."

"But the salmon skin ones are mine," Masako declared, picking several up and depositing them on her plate.

"Is there any avocado and salmon ones?" Mai asked. Yasuhara pointed at them and Mai picked one up. "Do you do this often?"

"Get sushi? Yeah, every Wednesday," Masako replied. "It's our 'let's get through the week' treat."

"Oh, Louise in Finance sorted my payment out so if that offer for shopping is still open then—"

"Sure, the Outlet Mall will be open tonight, do you want to join us?" Masako asked Yasuhara, who shook his head.

"I'm busy…"

"Busy?" Masako raised an eyebrow. "Busy with a certain someone?"

"Maybe." Yasuhara smirked and then popped an entire futomaki in his mouth.

"Practicing for later?" Masako teased.

"Wouldn't you love to know?"

Mai looked from Masako to Yasuhara and back again before realising exactly what had been implied.

"You're gay?" Mai asked, then slapped a hand over her mouth. "I'm so sorry, that sounded so rude! I didn't—"

"It's fine. I'm bi, but my boyfriend is gay."

"That's cool," Mai said, still blushing.

"Yeah," Yasuhara glanced at the door before continuing. "But he does work for the company so if you can keep stum about it, I'd appreciate it." Mai mimed zipping her lips shut. "Thanks."

"Would Ayako fire both of you or—"

"Oh no, I would get fired. That fact that I have saved the company millions would mean nothing to her. Though perhaps the Boss would have something to say about it…"

"How have you saved—"

"Lawsuits. We get sued a lot. Generally by the families of people we couldn't save," Yasuhara explained. "The families don't seem to think that the doctors aren't gutted when it happens too."

"That sucks."

"It does."

"So how is your first day so far?" Masako asked.

"Kind of scary. There's so much to learn!"

"It's fine, no one expects you to know what's going on for a week or two," Yasuhara said. "And don't be afraid to ask questions. I mean, the Boss will act like you're an idiot but he does that anyway. He doesn't mean any harm by it."

"I've heard such conflicting accounts of him," Mai mumbled.

"Yeah, he's… He's a decent bloke, really, he just has zero people skills. That's why he needs a decent PA. But this is your first job out of university? That's not a bad first job," Yasuhara said.

"Yeah, I was so surprised."

"What did you study?"

"Business, I wanted to do Psychology but it didn't work out."

"But are you happy?" Yasuhara asked.

"By the end of university I was ready to leave and get a job, I really want this to work out."

"Yeah I feel you on that one," Masako said. "I was the same. So ready to start a life in the real world, you know?"

Mai smiled, relief spreading through her body as she realised that her new colleagues were definitely friend material. She popped another piece of sushi in her mouth and listened to Masako embark on her tales of the morning.

Author's note: So I was going to update yesterday. And then I got some very unpleasant reviews about my updating schedule. I don't you don't have something constructive to say, don't review.