Nikki frowned as she pulled on her stockings followed by her skirt, she thought she had set her alarm earlier but she didn't and now she was rushing to get ready for work. As soon as her shoes were on she raced downstairs and grabbed her lunch from the refrigerator before taking off out of the house. If she could make it past the main shopping district in the next few minutes she'd be just fine. First day of work and she was already in jeopardy of being late and losing her job. Wonderful.

Shizuo sighed as he looked up at the rising sun, he was still tired from waking up super early but work needed to be done and Tom needed him to get into someone's apartment before they left. His eyes glided over some of the people, everything almost looked grey. The people, the city, there was never any color in Ikebukuro at least not to him. It was the same boring city he grew up in. His eyes immediately focused on a brightly colored blouse in the crowd that was moving quickly.

His eyes followed the bright pink blouse and he made a face when he recognized the woman who was wearing it. It was the same foreigner from the other day at the sushi restaurant, he would've been able to spot her from miles away because she wasn't from Ikebukuro, she wasn't dull, grey, and lifeless like everyone else. She was special.

Nikki smiled as she ran into the large building, she was still a bit early which was great. She headed straight to the elevator and pressed the top floor. Her boss's office was on the top floor and she needed to speak with him before trying to do any work. She ignored some of the looks she received from some of the workers as she walked out of the elevator.

"Danielson?"

Nikki turned around quickly when she heard her name and smiled. She recognized the deep chipper voice anywhere.

"Sakamoto-san, it's nice to see you again."

Sakamoto pulled Nikki into a tight hug before leading her down the long hallway, he was the one that instantly higher her while at her college's job fair. He was impressed with her grades, and her resume and that was it.

"I hope everyone is being polite, we don't have a lot of foreigners around these parts but I'm sure you're going to get along with everyone. You just have that type of personality, I mean look at the blouse you're wearing. No one here would be brave enough to wear a color that bright here, that's another thing I like about you. Your style. Anyways, all your paperwork is in my office and you're going to be working with Akagi Ren, he's going to be downstairs at your workstation. You'll be on floor twelve but I'm sure you're going to be running around once you get the hang of things."

Nikki followed her boss into his office and watched him shuffle through his things before pulling out a folder, he smiled and handed it to her. Nikki thanked her boss and bowed before turning to leave.

"If anyone gives you any trouble at all don't be afraid to come and get me, I'll be sure to handle them."

Nikki nodded and bowed again before taking her leave and heading to the twelfth floor as soon as the elevator doors opened Nikki noticed a male around her age holding a piece of paper with her name on it. She smiled and bowed to the male.

"Wow, the boss wasn't joking, that is a bright shirt. I guess you're working with me for a bit, I'll show you to your desk and then we have work to do."

Lena smiled as she skipped down the street looking for any anime stores, she looked up a few places but the bigger ones were way out of town and she wasn't trying to get lost in Japan. Her eyes instantly widened when she got to the shopping district, one of the first stores that caught her eyes widened at the small anime store.

Before she could make it inside she was stopped by a handsome male about her height, she couldn't help but get lost in his dark mysterious eyes.

"Woah, be careful foreigner."

Lena looked down to see a small child running past her, knowing her, she probably would've run over the kid and had to deal with its parent something she was way too awkward to deal with.

"Thanks and I have a name."

Lena walked around the handsome stranger and headed into the store as she looked back at him, she gave him a small smile before waving and heading down the manga aisle. Even though she couldn't understand anything she wanted to own every copy of Sailor Moon they had on the shelf. She picked up the first few volumes and walked down a few more isles picking up things here and there. Most of her money would be gone but she didn't care, anime was life to her.

Nikki sighed as she sat at her desk, the day was almost over and she had the world's worst headache. No one paid attention to her if she asked Ren any questions he would give her a half answer before disappearing.

"NIKKI!"

Nikki jumped up from her desk when she heard her boss. She turned around quickly and bowed, she had no idea what she did wrong but she was ready to face the consequences.

"Good job today, Akagi told me how well you did today. I expected nothing less, keep up the good work and I'll see you tomorrow."

Nikki bowed again and watched her boss walk away. Ren told him she did a great job, she thought looking over at her desk. Well, her day could've gone a hell of a lot worse. Nikki packed up her desk and headed out of the building, she didn't even know the sun was setting until she stepped outside of the building. She was starving and almost a hundred percent sure Lena didn't make dinner.

As she was heading home a familiar stranger walked past her. She had no idea who he was but it was almost routine how they were always appearing around each other. The tall blonde stranger looked down at her and made a face. Nikki gave him a small smile as she bowed and walked around him. She took a few steps before stopping and turning around to look back at the tall blonde.

"Um, sorry if my Japanese isn't the greatest but do you know where I can get something quick to eat besides Russian Sushi. I've been there almost every day since I've moved here and as great as it is I need something new."

Nikki watched the blonde nod quickly before pointing towards one of the many shopping districts.

"There's a few take-out places in that shopping district."

Nikki thanked the stranger and bowed before heading towards the shopping district. Her face was on fire not because she was embarrassed but from how soft and smooth the tall stranger's voice was. Not only was he handsome but he sounded like a god.

"Shake it off Nikki, stop with the wild fantasies. You're probably never going to see that man ever again now that you've spoken to him. Just hurry up and find something to eat before it gets too late."

Nikki sighed as she walked into the shopping district. The first place she spotted instantly excited her. Real Japanese ramen, there was no way she was saying no to ramen. Once she ordered she headed back into the busy city of Ikebukuro. A small smile made its way onto her face when she noticed the tall blonde leaning against the wall smoking.

"Were you waiting for me?"

Shizuo shrugged as he took the large bag from the short foreigner, he really didn't know why he was so attracted to her or why he had the urge to be around her so much. Nikki took the bag back from the tall stranger before bowing.

"Thank you but I don't know you and I have to go. Thank you again for the directions and the ramen place."

Shizuo nodded as he watched the foreigner walk away, he watched her until her brightly colored blouse disappeared into the crowd. He had no idea what came over him but he wanted to know more about her. She was different, she was someone.

Nikki frowned as she attempted to pay attention to the meeting she was in. She couldn't get the tall blonde stranger out of her mind. It had been weeks since she'd seen him and he was haunting her every second of every day. The meeting was coming to a close. Thankfully, Nikki started to pack away her things quietly and stood up moving to the back of the room. Her boss dismissed everyone and she picked up the notes that were left on the table, it was her job to review everyone's notes and ideas and place them all in a template to send to her boss.

"Hey Nikki, a few of us are going to lunch come with us."

Ren, took the papers out of Nikki's hands and quickly placed them on her desk before grabbing her small spiked backpack.

"I'm not giving you a choice, you're coming with us. Some of the others want to meet you and get to know you."

Nikki smiled and followed her tall senior out of the office, about five of her coworkers were standing outside waiting for them. She made a face when she noticed the other female in the group frown at her.

"You guys know Nikki, she's working under me and I invited her so you can get to know her. She's super smart, and almost does her job better than I do."

"Hey, it's nice to officially meet you, I'm Haneda Seiji. I think this is the first time I've ever seen an African American person in Ikebukuro. So is America as crazy as they say it is?"

"Um, I guess."

Nikki watched Haneda's eyes widened with amazement. She chuckled at the bewilderment of her coworkers. The only person that didn't seem amused by her was the other female in the group.

"Hey Miki, stop being a bitch for once in your life and come welcome, Nikki. Now you're not the only female on our floor so you should be happy."

Nikki looked over at Miki who ignored her and Akagi and continued walking, Nikki's attention was pulled away from Miki to Haneda who was asking her a million questions. People like Miki were everywhere and she wasn't going to let her sour mood ruin her time, nothing was going to ruin her new life in Japan.