Michiyo sighed, piled up her oh-so-generous amount of paperwork her boss had assigned, and looked at the tiny clock propped up on her desk.
It was a rather plain clock, thin, black-frame with a white face, two black, spaded arms (one shorter than the other,) and a hair-thin red arm that slowly ticked away the seconds into minutes and minutes into hours. It ran pretty well; Michiyo had sped it up 5 minutes ahead. She was a prim and proper girl who liked to be early for everything. Today though, she felt a little off. Not sure why.
"10:05" it read, as the hair-thin arm ticked away. It was morning, and her work day had 'officially' begun.
Actually, her work day started at around 7:00, but things started to get very, very hectic around ten o'clock.
This is when her esteemed employer got up.
We'll just say he's more of a night owl.
"Hey! You! Where is my tea? WHERE IS MY TEA! Open that door! For God's sake LOOK AT ME WHEN I'M TALKING TO YOU." some things that most people didn't know about General Yamamoto is that he isn't himself until he's had his morning tea. No one in the first division really liked to approach him before then. Another thing that most don't know is that he sometimes wakes up with terrible headaches.
Guess what.
Michiyo swallowed and bowed deeply. He had aroused an ancient pet peeve of hers. She brushed a strand of curly brown hair behind her ear, and grabbed a container out of her desk, "Sir, have you taken your Advil today?" she handed the child-safe container to her employer and opened one of the enormous doors with much effort.
"My head is throbbing. Of course I didn't! I thought you were smarter that this! Now go get me my tea before my head bursts!" the elderly general had calmed down just a bit.
"Yes sir."
Michiyo went off as she ran into the lieutenant of her division.
"Aren't you late?" The poor girl really shouldn't have stopped. Not with the General and his lack of Advil and tea. Curiosity had gotten the better of her, though.
"Aren't you?" the normally proper man teased, happy as a sixth grader who had just been asked out on his first date. Michiyo didn't seem amused.
"Haha, just kidding little Michiyo~! Ever since you've been hired, my mornings have been like heaven. No waking up to, 'The General wants you, now!' or 'My head hurts! DO SOMETHING!' Nope~ I've got less paper work now, too. I've actually got some time so myself! I can get a trim, or go shopping, or listen to smooth jazz..." he rambled on like this for a while. His eyes were glistening. The rather late assistant was about to take her leave, when his mouth formed a small 'o'. "Oooh~! I almost forgot in my bliss! I bought some tea over the market, it's really good, you know. I thought I'd give you some today!"
"Oh, er, thanks! I've got to be going, I'm afraid, I've still got to brew this up and get some more advil on my way back."
She really shouldn't have. She really, really shouldn't have. Could've been poison for all she knew! 'Never trust anyone.' her mother had always told her. There was just something weird about today that made her accept the unmarked tin.
"Ooh~ Funny, I just came from there~! I probably shouldn't keep you waiting, though! Bye-bye~!" Sasakibe skipped off into where she had just exited from, and Michiyo took off running to the Division 1's community kitchen.
Ah, yes. The First Division community kitchen and cafeteria. A rather simple place, designed in the architecture of the ancient orients, bamboo and all. The kitchen, though was rather high-tech.
Yes, that's right. This baby comes equipped with all of the latest and greatest cookery utensils and apparatus under the sun! The large fridges have enough space to pack the best ingredients you can find in Sereitei, plus all of your brown-bagged goods! Order now!
There was a pot of cold water on the large stove. She grabbed a canister out of one of the very very large cupboards and waited for the water to boil. Out of another, grander cupboard she grabbed a cup of fine china and a plate to act as a coaster.
A rather elegant and intricate design was crafted onto the cup. The assistant noticed this as she shoved it into a little carrier bag, especially designed for these things. She started to pour some of the pre-ground tea leaves, as a shinigami walked in.
"Hey, you're the new secretary, aren't you? What kind of tea are you using?" she inquired, a worried look on her face.
"My name isn't 'Hey'. It's Hasegawa Michiyo, Ms. Hasegawa to you, Miss. For your information, Lieutenant Sasakibe gave these to me. They look like black tea, or something."
"Oh."
"Why?"
"Er, nothing, I should probably get going now, haha." The female shinigami forced a laugh, a nervous look on her face as she exited the kitchen slowly, looking back and forth.
"Huh, weird." The girl finished pouring in the pre-grounds. She plucked the now-boiling kettle from it's burning perch and tipped it slightly, it's spout pouring the scorching liquid into her canister, adding a few packets of sugar along with it. Apparently that was how he liked his tea, which was weird, because sugar in tea was normally a Westerner thing.
She screwed the cap back onto the canister, hoisted the china-filled shoulder-bag onto her shoulder and got on her way.
"Oh, that's right, I need to get Advil. Then again, though, I'm already a bit late, and I'm sure the General is raising hell right now. I'll guess I'll do it after I've brought him his tea." she talked to herself as she scurried down the walkway back to her work station.
"Why're you so happy, Lieutenant?"
"Oh~ because." he smiled.
"You better not have slipped something into my tea."
"Just something tasty~"
"We'll see about that you whippersnapper."
"Oh good grief, I hope I didn't chip the china." the assistant mumbled to herself as she set out a tray, taking the canister and setting it on her desk. She took out the delicate china, which (thankfully) wasn't chipped, and poured some of the nice smelling tea into it, careful not to spill any.
Picking up the tray holding the delicate china which was holding the odd black tea waitress style, she knocked on the grand doors carefully.
"Come i~n!" called Sasakibe in his new, slightly creepy, sing-songy voice.
She pushed one of the doors open with her back, now carrying the tray holding the delicate china which was holding the nice smelling black tea with both hands. The brown-haired secretary bowed deeply, arose and walked towards the desk with attempted grace. Her new fancy-pants shoes weren't working for her.
Oh dear oh dear it was an awfully long walk to the General's desk. The sun was glaring in her eyes through the needlessly long window on the east and west sides of the room.
"Ah!"
Oh dear oh dear, poor little Michiyo had lost her footing. Did she fall? What had happened?
"Oh thank God."
She sighed. The girl managed to regain her footing at the last minute, checking to make sure that not a speck of tea dropped onto the tray or the delicate china which was holding the bouncy, odd tea. Thankfully there was no tea on the tray.
"I haven't got all day!" her employer called out.
Michiyo managed to walk at a faster pace, she was going very slowly.
Placing the tray holding the delicate china which was holding the nice-smelling black tea on Yamamoto's desk, she took a step back, bowed, and watched carefully as he took his first sip.
He smacked his lips a few times, taking in the rich flavor of the odd tea.
"Hmm, American Classic Governor Gray Loose Tea..."
"American... Classic?" Michiyo's expression grew horrified as she exchanged looks with Sasakibe's more gleeful one.
"Are you short of hearing? Yes, American Classic Governor Gray Loose Tea, grown only in Wadmala island, South Carolina, America, on the Charleston Tea Plantation." her employer frowned, "Who exactly gave you this tea? Don't you know I'm not fond of western things, including western teas?" he was firm in his tense as his eyes glowered on Michiyo.
"Er, y-yes sir." her eyes searched the floor as it would give her some kind of solace. Silly girl.
"Then why exactly did you serve it to me?"
"S-Sasakibe gave it to me on my way out. He said you would l-like it."
"Stop stuttering, Hasegawa. Don't you know it's rude? Sasakibe, my lieutenant, is this true?"
"You betcha, General~!"
"I see. You're dismissed, Hasegawa Michiyo. Do practice walking in those shoes."
Michiyo swallowed and and bowed, again, "Yes sir."
Leaving, she walked slowly out of the grand office, closing the large door behind her, and carefully closing it.
Well she had gotten through that fist hour of the day farely well, she thought. She sighed, and sat back down at her desk. It was going to be a good day.
"HASEGAWA! GET OFF OF YOUR ASS AND GET ME MORE ADVIL!"
Maybe a very long day.
The rest of the day, General Yamamoto of the First Division remained irritated and moody.
Oh how Hasegawa Michiyo loved her job.
A/N: Eep, I'm starting not to like these, especially writing them. But I guess I need to give you some explanation on the exceptionally-late edition of '13'. Me and my father had gotten into a disagreement, and well, you know what happens next. So yeah. Sorry for this terribly-late, terribly-written chapter, hopefully the next one will be more successful. I'll try to update every few days or so, according to my schedule. Just giving a heads up. Also, a special thanks to all of my reviewers, and everyone who add '13' to their favorites list/ alert list. I'm not a very good comedy writer, so some tips would be appreciated. Thank you for reading '13'!
--Epic
