"Oh, hey, that's wonderful! Congratulations! We actually keep a list of what you need to do when you move someone here with you. Hang on, I'll print you a copy."

April went into the Miscellaneous folder, found the list, and hit print. "I'll assume you've taken care of the obvious first thing - she has a passport?"

"Yeah, as soon as we started talking about this."

She handed him the list. "Pretty much everything else you'll need to do is on here. One thing that isn't there that I'd recommend is to start making all the appointments now. It's a lot easier to get one moved up because something didn't come through on time than it is to make a new appointment at the last minute."

"You're the best, April! Thanks!"

Obviously, I come in second. At most. But it was her fault, wasn't it? They never came around because they wanted to be around her, and she should have known better. Just like all the other times.

She had the luxury of a cubicle against the back wall of the room. It offered a tiny bit of privacy, at least. She could turn around, face the wall, and have a little space to collect herself. Deep breaths. No crying, you dumbass. You've got to stop doing this. Rule 3, idiot. It exists for a reason.

Rule 3: Thou shalt not fall for a co-worker. She'd been ignoring the hell out of it, and it always ended this way. They came to her wanting a paperwork-expediting machine - which, to be fair was her job, after all - and she started to think things that weren't right. It always started with He comes around more than he really has to, and ballooned from there. In her head it did, at least. It had never proven to be true, not even once. And she spent a week or so feeling heartbroken over something that never even existed. So sing yourself some Doobie Brothers, stop being a goddamn idiot, and drink heavily.

"April?"

Oh yeah, and see the one person who can make you feel better even in the face of all this crap. She spun her chair back around to find Kota Ibushi smiling at her. There was no way not to smile back; it was a natural law, she was sure of it. "Hi, you. What's on your mind?"

He at least came around just to see her. It wasn't like he needed help translating Japanese paperwork into English. It had started as a prank that she'd traced back to Kenny Omega - not that it had been terribly difficult to figure that out - that had sent Kota to ask her with great and sincere earnestness to define an English term for him. That term being 'Cleveland steamer'. Watching him try to muscle 'Cleveland' into shape had been pretty epic, too.

He'd refused to say who sent him - that had no doubt been covered in the set-up - and she'd refused to define it, but he did go back with a message: Tell him it'll cost him ¥50,000.

Kenny had turned up about 20 minutes later, laughing. Sorry about that, truly. He didn't know how to start a conversation with you.

And you figured coprophilia was the way to go?

It worked, didn't it?

It did, that was the thing of it. And so was what it underscored: Kota not only broke Rule 3, he trashed Rule 4, too: Thou shalt not fall for someone who's in a relationship already. Oh yeah, and then there was Rule 7: Thou shalt not fall for gay dudes.

She had a good friend, though, and she thought she'd been able to return the favor since Kenny left. Kota needed a shoulder sometimes - to cry on or to lean on, or both even - and she conveniently had two of those. She tried to avoid needing his too often, though. Her problem was an overactive imagination, after all, not missing someone she loved.

"You look unhappy."

She didn't always get away with hiding it; he was preternaturally aware of other people's moods. "It's been a rough day."

"Beer will fix that."

She agreed, just not in the specifics she knew he meant. "I'm just going home tonight."

"That will not fix it."

"Beer will, right?"

"Right."

Beer at home would, but I don't think that's happening tonight. "Okay. But only if I get to go home and change. I hate going out in office clothes."

"I will send a car for you."

She didn't realize until he was gone that she had no idea when he meant he was sending it - to take her home, or to get her from there after she was ready. That kind of summed up hanging around Kota: A general sense that chaos was about to come around, but no idea what form it would take.

This chaos this time took the form of a driver coming up to look for her a couple of minutes before the end of the workday. She'd naturally assumed a taxi, but this was very obviously not a taxi driver. She was getting those It's rude to ask, so come and voluntarily tell us ALL about it glances that were part and parcel of life in a Japanese office. Not today. They ought to be used to Kota and his strange surprises around here, anyway.

It turned out that he'd sent a private car for utterly practical reasons: It meant not having to call a second cab or pay for the first to wait while she got ready. He caught a lot of crap for not being the most sensible guy on the planet - even for being flat-out dumb, which April knew better than - but a lot of what he did actually made sense, as long as you were ready to embrace Kota-sense.

It also helped to assume that he would do the sweetest rather than the most sensible thing. Sensible would have been hearing that she wasn't feeling social and letting her go home. Sweet was arranging for a private room at the restaurant so they could eat and drink together, but not in a crowd. The food was excellent, which was no surprise; she'd been out to dinner with him before. He knew where to get the best, and how to ensure that he would. She'd teased him more than once about turning her into a woman whose tastes far outstripped her income. He'd just laughed and said she deserved to be spoiled.

Yakiniku was a great start on that, given it meant short ribs, a grill in the middle of the table to cook on, and a lot of cold beer. It took about an hour of everything - all mixed liberally with Kota's determination to make her smile - to break through her blue mood, but it happened.

He called the car back, but saw her home anyway, over her laughing protests that she'd surely be safe walking through the lobby unsupervised. It was impulse more than anything to hug him when they got to the elevator, where he'd always left her. His explanation of why had been one of the most awkward discussions of her life, but it was absolutely the beginning of moving from liking him to full-force joy from seeing him. He seemed to take the hug in the same spirit, which made her happy. "Thank you. I needed to not sit around the apartment tonight more than I thought."

He looked thoroughly pleased with himself. "I know. See you tomorrow."

The Rules spoiled a lot of things, but at least they didn't mess with having a real friend.