A/N: Enjoy the read! Thanks for the reviews :)!

Disclaimer: I do not own Code Lyoko! Only my imagination :)!


Yumi was working at her desk. She was typing up the last report for the finished project. Yesterday Ulrich, Yumi and Odd had held the final presentation, successfully ending the first big project of the year. When she was done, she e-mailed the document to the whole team.

A knock on the office door diverted her attention from her screen. "Come in," she called out. Originally she had thought it to be one person, but when she paid closer attention she noticed two people behind the first one. "How can I help you?" She politely asked, not recognizing the first person. Jamie and another of the younger employees stood behind him. "I was looking for Miss Yumi Ishiyama," he told her.

"That's me," she informed him, slightly amazed that he would still ask that when their names were situated in small slide-in placards next to the door.

"I'm the counsellor of his company. My tasks include listening to people, talking to people, solving confrontations between people. Anything and all related to people. My newest clients wish to speak to you, but they dare not do it alone. So I offered to be a mediator. Do you happen to have a few minutes for us? Depending on the outcome, it won't take long," the counsellor explained, checking his watch with impatience. He was dressed in a black suit, wearing a red tie and carrying a brown business suitcase. Your stereotypical office guy. It seemed he had somewhere to be.

"Well, that's fine. I do have some free time now," Yumi agreed, not wanting to give them the image of her lazing around. The counsellor entered the room, but the others stayed outside. "Aren't they going to come in?" She asked him. He shook his head. "I did advise them to, but is not in my rights to force them." Yumi stared at him and at the duo outside. "This conversation will not fare well if they won't at least stand inside the office. If we're going to discuss private matters, I want those to stay within this room," she wished. He turned around. "I'm afraid Miss Ishiyama has a point. Could I ask you to step inside?" The duo hesitated, but obeyed nonetheless and remained silent without making any eye contact with Yumi.

"I will be referring myself together with my clients as I speak. Do take note that this does not entail my personal opinion. Please consider it as part of my job," the counsellor, Ren, said. Yumi nodded in understanding. "My clients and I have come to discuss your attitude at work," Ren began. "According to us, you act unusually arrogant, pretend to be the leader and have an exasperating amount of enthusiasm for your work that isn't considered normal," he eyed her for a reaction, but Yumi was capable of hiding her discomfort.

"The lack of Mr. Stern's presence might have made you think you were allowed to take over his position, but you are merely a secretary in the eyes of many others. My clients and I want you to understand that it requires a lot of patience and endurance to stop ourselves from letting it escalate in a fiery discussion in front of others. You are always quick to point out someone's mistakes, which is fine in some sense since we learn from that. However, the way you approach us shows us that you think you know better than most of us. That in itself is very degrading and in our opinion unacceptable. After having heard this, we hope you will be able to take into account how others perceive the message as you bring it across," Ren ended his speech.

"May I ask if this is your personal opinion or have you received orders from your mentors?" Yumi asked Jamie and the girl that stood next to him. They looked at Ren in desperation, refusing to speak up. Ren wanted to answer for them. "My apologies sir, but I want them to honestly tell me. Do you both have a problem with me personally? Or do you have a problem with me because of another issue in the office?" She stood her ground.

It was Jamie who decided to open his mouth. "Uhm, we're rather new and in our eyes you act like you're our boss, while we both have our own mentor. On top of that, Ulrich is our actual boss and we only listen to one person. I don't see why you approach us the way you do, but we consider that hostile. I also don't know whether you've been told this before," he saw Yumi shake her head, "but we experience it that way."

"I have never thought of it as reprimanding you nor was it my intention to hurt you. My goal is having a team that has great coordination and teamwork. I strive to reach those goals. Whether I come across as a workaholic or not doesn't change the fact that I'm merely doing my job. I don't care what kind of job it is. I always give 100% if not 200%. You cannot demand that I change my ways to suit your tastes at work," Yumi told them off, but didn't alter her tone or voice. She kept it neutral.

The girl joined in. "There are also many moments when we want to talk to Ulrich about certain problems, but we don't dare to enter this office because of possible confrontations with you," she claimed. "That's a personal issue they have, isn't it? Work related matters are almost always communicated to Ulrich via me. Nobody has voiced their problems with me, so I have no way to know about them. If people have a problem with me, they should come and talk to me personally. Other than that, I will keep working hard to help keep us on the right track," Yumi defended herself again.

"I hope you aren't angry or disappointed with me. I'm only an employee in this company and I would like to get along with my colleagues. Please understand that I hold nothing against you personally. I'm just trying to help. It would make me happy if you can see it that way from now on. You're wonderful workers who are making a fresh start at this company and I'm proud you're part of our team. Okay?"

The two of them nodded in sync. Then everyone looked at Ren. "It appears to be that I wasn't needed today," he said. "Thank you for your time. Have a nice day." Ren quickly left the office with Jamie and the girl in tow. Yumi figured he must be a busy person.

Despite her efforts to be cool about it, there was a sudden weight on her shoulders that she wished would disappear. Was she really arrogant? Were her methods wrong? She was starting to doubt herself more and more as time passed after the conversation. Yumi wanted to continue working, but her mind wasn't following.


Ulrich returned to the office after meeting a client outside. "I'm back," he told her as he headed straight for his office. Yumi didn't answer his greeting and stared at her screen, absent-mindedly moving her mouse left and right. "What's going on?" Ulrich asked her upon seeing her current state. "Hmm?" He pressed on, while bumping his knee against her chair. "It's nothing," she said, taking her post-it notepad in her hand. "Really?" Ulrich continued. He grabbed a pen from her holder and took away her post-its. "I don't think so," he commented, drawing a Tic-Tac-Toe table on the upper post-it. He marked the top left corner with an 'X'.

Yumi smiled. "Just feeling a little down," she said, marking the middle with 'O'. Ulrich looked at her. "Want to talk about it?" He offered. "Maybe later," she said. They finished the game, which ended in a tie. Yumi wrote the word 'Tie' next to the Tic-Tac-Toe table and Ulrich joked around by drawing a tie underneath the word. Yumi smiled again. "Very classy," she complimented him mockingly. "I know," he said.

"Just shout if you need me. I'll be right over," he carried on with the bad jokes and left when he saw her nod.

A few hours had passed when Ulrich went to check on Yumi again. "Have you managed with the reservations for that restaurant? Since we have a proper budget, we should take out the team. I did promise them after all," Ulrich said. "It worked out, but I think I'm going to pass this time," Yumi revealed. "Why? Is it because of what happened? It will be really bad if you don't come. Leaving me alone with all of them," he said, but it didn't cheer her up. "Hey, you were part of this project as much as myself or any other member of the team. So..," he was cut off by Yumi.

"You're the only one who thinks of it like that. Today, Jamie and another girl came to talk to me with help of the counsellor. I really didn't want to let it bother me. I wanted to focus," she pointed at her screen and papers on her desk, "I just couldn't do it." She looked at him and he saw her hopeless expression. "What happened?" He crouched down and put his arms on her desk to support himself. Yumi told him the full story while trying to sound unfazed, but her irritation and sadness were visible anyway. Ulrich put his hand over hers when she finished her story. He gave her time to calm down.

"In my opinion as your boss, I say it's good that they showed some kind of initiative to sort this out. If they wouldn't have done that, their issues would most likely have stayed underwater. That aside, I have no problems with your attitude or your performance. You work three times as hard as all of them. And I approve of the way you handle yourself, your work and the others. In my opinion as your friend, I don't think I have to give you confirmation for this. But if you need it, I will say it to take away your worries. You are not arrogant, but always work with pure intentions. You are who you are and no one can order you to change that. Not even me as your boss. I can't tell you not to let it get to you, but I ask of you to have positive thoughts. Things always get better right? It might take long, but everyone gets there. That's what they told me, when I nearly lost it," he scratched his head and she giggled. "Thank you," she said, getting up to get some water.

He smiled at her. "I placed the reservation for Friday 12 March at 7 PM," Yumi informed him after finishing her cup. "That should be fine. Most of them will be able to come, according to the poll we held. I'll let them know," Ulrich told her. He thought for a few seconds before continuing. "How did you commute to work today?" He asked. "By foot, since my tire is flat. It is a rather long walk. I didn't expect that, since it always takes me around seven minutes by bicycle," she grumbled.

Ulrich chuckled. "That's because you don't have any traffic lights." Yumi eyed him. "Why did you ask?" He got out his keys and walked to his office to lock the door. "If you don't have anywhere to be, do you want to go to Odd's house for a while? Just for fun. He called over the others too, but only Aelita can make it. It's his way of 'paying for dinner' as punishment for losing.. and bragging, I guess." Yumi frowned. "But he didn't mention it in the group chat or in a personal message," she trailed off to check her phone. "Oh, nevermind, apparently he did. I haven't checked my phone all day. Sorry," she started typing.

He observed her thinking face as she typed her message. Ulrich was amused. He got out his phone to read along. "I bet you didn't, with all that happened combined with the usual trance you fall into when you work," he teased her.

"Ha-ha," she said, not taking it seriously.

I can make it too! Odd.. warn us a little earlier next time. Such short notice! Yumi let her friends know.

You're lucky I managed to shake her from her work mode. Ulrich added.

Yumi crossed her arms. "That's not even true." She wasn't offended.

Ulrich shrugged. "Not today. Are you ready to go then?" Yumi punched him in his arm. "Yeah, sure, just had to release some stress," she joked around. "Yeah, yeah, that's fine," he rubbed his arm. "Ohh? Really?" She asked without expecting an answer. Yumi aimed for his other arm, but he caught her by her wrist. "I don't think so," he said, determined. Ulrich twisted her around and made her face away from him. His arms held her into place whilst her back was touching his chest. "Try escaping," he dared her. "No problem," she said, ready to stomp her foot on his with full force.

The attempt was unsuccessful as Ulrich avoided it, locking her right foot with his right from inside out. "I have another one," she warned. He was preparing to do the same with her left foot, but Yumi tried to shake herself off. "Woah, wait, that's not going to… AH!" Ulrich exclaimed. He went down, taking Yumi with him. They groaned. "That's my win," she claimed, while being vaguely aware that she was lying on top of him. However, Ulrich still hadn't loosened his grip on her. "Nope," he countered. "You can let go now, though," she realized they weren't in the best position.

"I probably should," he agreed, wasting no time in sitting them up. Yumi was now seated between his stretched out legs. "He got stronger," she randomly thought as she hadn't put in any effort to sit up. "Well, let's go then," Ulrich pulled her up after standing up first. "Thanks," she said.

They left the office and walked to Ulrich's car. "Was that supposed to be a self-defence lesson?" She asked him. Ulrich shook his head. "No, I felt like it. Like good old times," he grinned at her. Yumi didn't know why, but she was surprised to hear that. "Yeah," she trailed off again, "like good old times." She smiled.

When they were in the car, they discussed what dishes Odd would cook for them. Yumi had already forgotten how down she had felt before. She glanced at Ulrich from the passenger's seat and back to the road in front of them. "Is this the moment people wish for the ability to turn back time?" Yumi thought to herself, but shook her head afterwards. Time managed to mend their relationship to a more refined one. She was thankful that she could spend time with him like this, even with the amount of worries she had. So why should she wish for more?


A/N: Next time might be a short chapter. I hope you won't mind with chapter 30 (a longer one) right around around the corner after this corner! I'm still taking main character suggestions for the second bonus chapter. This is your last chance :D! Thanks for reading.