So, uh, this is kinda weird. And short. But I feel Nezumi really is this cryptic sometimes.
Disclaimer.
Message in a Bottle
"So where do we stand on the black market matter?"
The man beside Shion spoke up. "I think we should ignore it for now. It provides income for the West Block residents, and it's doing no harm to us."
"Do you even know what they're selling?" a tall woman asked. "They could be selling young children as slaves for all we know!"
"Last week I went there undercover and had a look around," he replied, slightly irked. "Most of the goods were simply stolen valuables and illegal medicines. There were no child slaves, I can assure you."
The woman raised an eyebrow. "'Undercover'?" she echoed, her voice thick with suspicion.
"Yes," the man to Shion's left ground out, and Shion reached out and laid a reassuring hand on his forearm. A reminder that they were in a civilised meeting. This was not the time or place for arguments.
The man quieted a little, and an older man with a long beard – Shion could never remember his name – had begun to offer his own opinion on the matter, but he was interrupted by a sharp rap on the door.
"Enter."
A young man entered, no older than seventeen, with a somewhat shy expression on his freckled face. "Urgent delivery for…" he glanced down at a scrap of paper in his hand, "Office 231." At the room's incredulous expression, he added, "Sorry. There's no other information. Just a delivery for this office."
The old woman at the head of the long meeting table said calmly, "We're in the middle of a meeting."
The man nodded, and seemed to shrink into himself somewhat. "Yeah. Sorry. The boss's orders." He shrugged.
She sighed in exasperation. "Okay." She waved a hand in his direction, and he entered the room, glancing around hesitantly and looking rather lost among the sea of unfamiliar faces.
"Um…?"
"I'll take it," the loud man to Shion's left answered, standing up and striding around the desk to accept the odd-looking delivery.
Shion eyed it with one ivory brow raised. To be honest, he was completely bemused about what they could be receiving – what sort of delivery was addressed to an entire office?
The man quickly handed over a tub of… something to the short man, before bowing his head respectfully and almost tripping over himself in his hurry to leave the oppressive atmosphere.
The door closed noisily behind him, but Shion didn't register it. He was too busy gaping at the object in the stout man's hands, numb with shock.
The man – and the rest of the room – was oblivious to Shion's reaction. He tipped it over in his grip. "Hm, strange," he said after a moment. "I wonder what it is."
Shion heard a vaguely strangled sound, and when all eyes turned to him, he realised he was the one who made it. "Um, c-can I…?" he stammered, gesturing weakly at the brown object.
The man shrugged and handed it over. "You think you know what it is?"
Shion didn't reply. Yes, now that he saw it up close, that blur of purple taped clumsily to the side of the tub was definitely what he'd thought it was.
It was an aster.
It's meant for me. A gift for Shion, addressed to my workplace… His brow furrowed. From someone who doesn't know where I live, but knows where I work.
He turned the tub around to read the label. Violet eyes widened, and he stifled a gasp of realisation with a palm. Oh my god-
He unscrewed the lid and peered inside. A puff of brown powder and a whiff of artificial chocolate flavouring assaulted him.
Instant hot chocolate. A half-empty tub of instant hot chocolate… No. Wait. Not just 'half-empty'…
Shion was pretty certain his colleagues were asking him what was going on, but he wasn't bothered with them at the moment. His attention was solely focused on the tub of instant hot chocolate with his namesake selotaped by the stem to its side, and containing just enough powder for two mugs.
Two mugs.
Shion abruptly remembered the last time he'd shared a mug of hot chocolate with someone. "Nezumi."
"What?"
The voices flooded into his consciousness. "Nezumi," he repeated, feeling more than a little choked up. He was now almost certain this was from the man he'd been missing for four years – the man he'd drunk hot chocolate with on the night that had changed his life forever.
And it contained enough for two mugs.