Worlds Apart
by Cyberchao X

Chapter 4

CCX: Oh dear, I'm going to need multiple sets of brackets for "speaking language other than Japanese" in this chapter. The square ones are English as before, and…well, you'll see.

"[I don't understand. The GPS said it should be here!]"

"[Of course it did, Miss Barrett.]" Verossa Acous sighed. His knowledge of Japanese was far from complete either, but he'd been paired with one of the company's youngest employees—barely even out of her internship—for this business trip because, allegedly, her knowledge of Japanese was also "greater than zero". Which he hadn't seen yet. Apparently her cousin worked at the U.S. Embassy in Japan and she'd picked up a little bit of the language from him? "[Well, since we're here, perhaps you'd like something to eat?]"

Katie nodded. "[I can't read the menu. What's the closest thing to a raspberry Danish? Oh, and of course a coffee.]"

"[Of course.]"

Katie was still stewing over her failure to locate the Tsukimura Corporation's offices when she saw someone else who appeared foreign. "[Ah, miss, can you help me?]"

"{I'm sorry, I don't speak English.}"

Katie blanched. "Italian?"

"{Please excuse my associate. We're a bit lost. You wouldn't by any chance know where we could find the offices of the Tsukimura Corporation?}"

"{I'm sorry, I don't. You speak Italian?}"

"{Yes, I'm ¼ Italian, so I speak it as a second language.}"

"I'm sorry, did I hear you ask about the Tsukimura Corporation? Do you have business with them?"

Verossa paused for a moment to take it all in and responded in the affirmative, then turned back to Fate. "{My Japanese isn't that great, as you can see by how long it took me to respond to that question. Can you translate for me?}"

Fate relayed this to Nanoha, and translated back to Verossa that he was in fact in the right building, but had taken the wrong entrance; the offices he wanted were on higher floors.

He thanked both of them and told Katie this information. "[So I didn't mess up?]"

"[No, you didn't. Who'd have thought that the Tsukimura Corporation would rent out the first floor of their office building to a bakery?]"

Meanwhile, hearing Fate speaking another language had Nanoha even more entranced by the blonde. "Was that Spanish you were speaking to that man?" she asked.

Fate replied, "Italian. They are similar languages, though, so it's an understandable mistake. You're the daughter of this bakery's owners, right? Takamachi Nanoha?"

Nanoha blushed slightly. "I am."

"I heard about you from Gracia-san. I want to sincerely thank you for your generosity." Her stomach rumbled slightly. "As well as place an order."

Nanoha was in a daze as she took the order. "She really does have an appetite far beyond what her size would suggest…also, she knows Gracia-san? Does she go to the orphanage regularly? How did we never run into each other there?"

"Wow, this is incredible! Is this what you were working on?"

"Nani?"

"Gracia-san said that your deliveries are often the result of you experimenting with a new recipe." Fate looked guilty all of a sudden. "I'll admit that when I heard that, and that you'd made a much larger delivery than usual, my motives for coming back weren't just out of gratitude towards your charity."

"So you love it?"

"I do." Nanoha couldn't hide her joy at this, but she restrained herself from saying anything, so Fate didn't catch on that Nanoha was pleased that she, personally, loved it rather than just that she as a paying customer loved it.

"You've been coming here even more often than usual," Nanoha teased. "Looking for someone, perhaps?"

"I beg your pardon?"

"Oh, it's nothing. Your tip helped me even more than you could have imagined."

Arisa racked her brain as to what Nanoha meant. "…You mean Testarossa-chan? She's been back already?"

"I often have a lot of leftovers when I'm making a new recipe, and I donate them to a local orphanage. Apparently she must volunteer there or something because she found out about me from the matron. …Why'd you get so quiet all of a sudden?"

"N-nothing."

"What?"

"It's not my place to say."

Nanoha, of course, was not stupid. "Oh. So I need to pretend I don't know, because she should be the one to tell me."

"Don't know what?"

"Exactly. Well, at any rate, I have to thank you, so perhaps…there's someone you've been thinking about?"

Arisa got defensive. "I don't know what you're talking about."

"Well, that's too bad. I really thought I could return the favor and be your matchmaker."

Arisa remembered how oddly Nanoha acted when she'd asked about Tsukimura Suzuka. "I suppose anything's possible, Takamachi-san. You know, if there was someone I thought was out of my league."

Realization dawned on Nanoha's face. "Well, I don't know if I'd be able to do anything if there was someone like that, but I'll do what I can."

In retrospect, it made sense. She'd seen first-hand that Tsukimura's life was a dangerous one; she was working on restoring a vehicle that had been run into the ground until finally a shooting forced it into the shop. So the Takamachis most likely were connected. But the question was, were they connected only to Tsukimura Suzuka, the young CEO of the Tsukimura Corporation? Or were they connected to suspected yakuza front Tsukimura Constructions and its owner, Tsukimura Shun? …Well, she'd find out more about the former soon enough. The vehicle in question was ready for a test drive. Which, given the whole "shot up" thing, was probably a tad dangerous in its own right. Unless…was that a membership key to a parking garage? She dialed the number she'd marked only as "Tsu".

"Bannings-san? Is it ready?"

"Most likely. We need to give it a test drive to make sure, but given that your limo got shot at, I was wondering if there was a place where it would be safe. There's something in here that looks like it unlocks a parking garage?"

"Ah, yes. You never thought it was strange that there was a parking garage so close to the edge of the city? You know, the one at", she gave the location.

"Not really? There are a lot of parking garages in the city. It wouldn't be fair if you had to walk a longer distance just because your real destination is right at the edge. Why, is it strange?"

"I live in a very wealthy neighborhood, and while my neighbors don't all have the same…circumstances that I do, many of them have their fair share of enemies as well. And even if they didn't, their cars stand out compared to what the middle class has. Yes, the upper floors of that garage should be empty enough to drive around in; the entry and top floors only have cars in them for show, because people can easily see those from the road and sky respectively. If it works out, take it down to the fourth basement and head down the tunnel with the numeral 2 over its entrance."

"That intentional?" Arisa asked. Suzuka had pronounced the number as "ni", but the goroawase implication was obvious.

"Yep."

It was only as she was pulling into the garage itself that Arisa realized the full implications of her instructions. If she was to drive it all the way down the tunnel…she'd be at Tsukimura's mansion, wouldn't she?

"'I'll do what I can', huh?"

Nanoha laughed nervously. "I'm sure, given how your first encounter with Suzuka-chan went, you understand why I don't talk about my friendship with her in public?"

"Don't worry, I'm just teasing you. …Though I didn't expect you to be close enough to address her in such familiar terms."

"My life wasn't always so perilous," Suzuka said. "I had a normal childhood, at least at first. I lived well, but I still went to a public elementary school. …Then it became more obvious that my father wasn't what he publicly claimed to be."

"And how do you know you can trust me with that information? Assuming, of course, that you even want it to be confidential."

"I don't. I want to. I don't know why, but I do. Want to trust you, I mean. Believe me, if I wanted to move against my father, I've got the capital to do so. But…you said you were sure my father's no worse than yours. I don't know anything about your father, but…you're right that I do have a good father, even if he's a questionable person. That's why my life is so dangerous; his enemies know that the best way to get to my father is to go after one of his daughters."

Arisa had forgotten that she'd said that, but thankfully the purple-haired girl had given her another avenue of conversation. "You have sisters? None of the articles about you mentioned any siblings."

"You researched me?"

"Your limousine isn't the first bullet-riddled car I've worked on. Just the first one that hasn't made me consider looking for a new employer."

"Oh. So you were just concerned about who your client was."

"…That is the reason I looked you up." She thought she sensed a bit of disappointment in Suzuka's voice, but that could've been wishful thinking. And it was the truth; she'd known nothing about Tsukimura before the limo had come into the shop. The fact that she'd kept going long beyond what she needed to do to assuage her, on the other hand…

"That's largely for our sake," Nanoha said. "Just today someone came into the bakery looking for the Tsukimura Corporation offices. People think it's odd that the Midoriya is located beneath their offices, but if they knew that my sister-in-law was born a Tsukimura…"

Arisa paused for a moment, before realizing that Nanoha was continuing on the previous point. "Oh, you mean Tsukimura's sister. You said the two of you were childhood friends, but you're also in-laws?"

"That's actually how they met. Nanoha-chan's brother came to pick her up from my house, and before any of us realized it, he was dating my sister, and they just…stayed together. Though in fairness, meeting new people could be a bit difficult once things got dangerous. The Takamachis are pretty badass, though, so they could handle it."

"Suzuka-chan!"

"It's true! I couldn't believe it the first time I learned that your father was a retired swordsman. A mercenary who still wields a sword in the age of guns, and lasted as long as he did."

Arisa had met Shiro Takamachi before. "So that scar wasn't from someone tripping with a knife in their hand?"

Nanoha sighed. "Nope, that was from his previous career. That's not public knowledge, though, so pretend you never heard that."

"No problem. I seem to be getting a lot of that lately."

"I wouldn't go that far. After all, my father's yakuza ties are an open secret—everyone knows it, but no one can prove it. …You said your previous employer serviced criminals. I wonder if it was anyone my father knows…"

"I wouldn't know their affiliation. Like I said, when I realized who I was working for, I got out as quickly as I could. And I specifically made sure I didn't find out any specifics, because otherwise letting me go could be a liability. I'm glad it happened, though; the Wolkenritters are like family to me now."

"I've never met them. They're not all as eccentric as Hayate-chan, are they?"

"…No one is quite like Yagami-san. I've only met her once, but it's kind of hard to forget her. Most of them have some quirks, but doesn't everyone?"

"Too true," Nanoha said. "We should probably get going, though. I'll take you back to the shop if you give me directions, Bannings-san."

"Do you have to?" Suzuka asked.

Arisa didn't really want to leave, either, but it was starting to get awkward. "I am technically still on the clock, so yes, it would probably be best."

"You like her."

"Takamachi-san…"

"It's pretty obvious."

"She'd never be interested in someone like me."

"She clearly is. Even if she hadn't told me as much, it would've been obvious watching the two of you tonight."

"She doesn't even know me."

"No, she doesn't. But she seemed like she wanted to."

"But why? I understand you falling for Fate-chan on sight, because she looks like that. I did, too. And I kind of fell for Tsukimura-san a little just when I saw her picture, when I first looked her up online. But I'm just a crude tomboy in an oil-stained work uniform."

"I can't answer that. Only Suzuka-chan can answer that. But you're being awfully shallow if you think appearance is all that matters."

"You didn't contradict me."

"Didn't think I needed to. All of the things you mentioned are superficial anyway. So, Testarossa-san's given name is Fate? How exotic. Wait, 'you did, too'?"

"It's why I said that if you fail, I had nothing to do with you trying. She doesn't know that I ever had a crush on her, but the Wolkenritters have teased me quite a bit about it. I'm not sure they'd even believe that I'd tried to set her up with someone else, but if they did, they'd probably assume that I was doing it to try to get over her."

"Well, that certainly would make you well-versed in what she likes…"

"…She really said she was interested in me?"

CCX: So yeah. No idea how I came up with the idea of giant underground driveways connecting personal garages to a single parking garage, but that's what that was all about. And we've got another Lonely No More cameo, comboed with a canon character no less! I didn't expect Katie to beat out most of the more regular characters, but then again she was supposed to be the star of a spin-off on Fictionpress and that almost completely fell through.

Also yeah I only just learned that Arisa and Suzuka's parents have canon names. It's been too long since I actually kept up with the franchise…