A/N: Welcome guys, to Spring! Expect super cliches: a super emo/emotionally and verbally awkward/annoying Natsume and a bright, fluffy, "I'm never gonna give up!" Mikan! Mikan is a total Mary-Sue type in this fic, be warned… but I just wanted something silly, something fun, and something ridiculous. I hope you enjoy it!
Chapter One: Nepotism
Today, the new girl was joining the Editorial Department at Shouda Publishing.
It was the first Monday of April, and the sakura trees outside the office were in full bloom, in all their pale pink glory. Maybe the thrill of spring, the season of new beginnings, renewal and rejuvenation, contributed to everyone's excitement that morning—the office workers on the 14th floor were all abuzz, twittering, anticipating the arrival of "fresh meat".
"Megane from HR interviewed her. He said that she was real cute." Akira Tonoichi said to Yuu Tobita that morning. Akira, more commonly known as Tono to his friends and colleagues, worked downstairs on the 13th floor, in the Marketing Department. Yuu worked in the Law and Copyrights Department, there on the 14th floor.
Yuu gently rolled his eyes, amused. He was already at his desk, looking at his emails. Tono languidly stood over him, his hand resting on Yuu's desk, his body leaned in. Spreading gossip and chatting about beautiful girls were part of Tono's daily morning routine, and today, it seemed that Yuu was at the receiving end of it.
"Pity she's not here yet," Tono remarked, looking at the neighbouring desks. "I was hoping to get a look at her before everyone else downstairs. Hey, will you drop me a message on Teams when she's here? Then I'll come up!"
"You can't just leave your desk to gawk at someone," Yuu evenly reprimanded, his eyes on his screen.
"I'll pretend that I need to give you some documents," Tono suggested.
Yuu looked up to meet his devilish smile, "I'm not doing that."
"Oh, come on Yuu, it's cool—oh, hey Hyuuga,"
Natsume Hyuuga had just arrived. As always, he looked rather tired, rather annoyed, and in desperate need of a cigarette. He made a beeline for his desk in the Editorial Department, and like clockwork, once he dropped his jacket and briefcase, he dived in, rummaging through his things to find his packet of Marlboro and lighter.
"Good morning, Hyuuga-san!" Yuu brightly called.
"Hey," Natsume replied, extending an acknowledging nod in Tono's direction too.
Tono left Yuu's desk—the L&C Department was only an arm's length away from the Editorial Department, but he wanted Natsume's full and undivided attention.
"So, new girl's coming today," Tono smoothly said, leaning now on Natsume's desk "I hear she's sitting here, with you." He pointedly tapped the desk.
"Where's that fucking lighter…" Natsume was muttering under his breath, as his hand scraped the bottom of his bag, in search of it. Somewhat aware that Tono had just said something to him, he tried to pass him off with a distracted and uncaring, "Sorry, I missed that."
Tono laughed, "Oi, you nicotine-addict! I said, new girl! Here! Today!"
Natsume stopped his digging and looked up at Tono. "Fuck, that's today?"
"You forgot?!" Tono guffawed. "Honestly, that's the only thing I've been thinking of since yesterday. And dude, she's joining your department—how could you not remember?"
Natsume supposed that Narumi, the manager of the Editorial Department had sent more emails than usual on Friday, all with the subject line "IMPORTANT: PLEASE READ BEFORE MONDAY", but Natsume was accustomed to ignoring non-business-related internal emails, especially ones from Narumi. His manager was nothing short of eccentric, and often sent videos of screaming llamas, BeyChella and adopted puppies to Natsume without any context or warning.
"I try not to think about work on the weekend," came Natsume's deadpan response, "healthy work-life balance and all that shit."
"The last word I would use to describe you is 'healthy'," chortled Tono.
"Hyuuga-san, you look quite pale today," Yuu added, looking concerned.
"Nah, it's how he always looks." Tono dismissed Yuu's worry. "It's a beautiful spring day, and you still look anaemic as shit, like it's mid-Winter. Where's your sakura spirit?!"
"How can you be so insufferable, so early in the morning?"
"Says you!" scoffed Tono, before he changed the subject to prettier matters at hand, "So, have you ever seen the new girl? Did you catch a glimpse of her when she came in for the interview?"
"No, and I don't care."
Natsume may have not met Mikan Sakura in person yet, but he had taken a glance at her CV a few weeks ago, and he had not been impressed in the slightest.
Two months ago, Narumi had been called by the CEO of the company, Takeshi Shouda, for a "chat". After this "chat", Narumi had asked Natsume to see him in one of the smaller meeting rooms, and for a brief moment, Natsume had wondered whether his taciturn behaviour had finally bit him in the ass. But instead of getting fired that afternoon, Narumi had approached him with a bothersome request…
"So, Shouda-shachou's daughter, Sumire, has a friend who would like to work here." At this point, Narumi had passed Natsume "Mikan Sakura's CV".
Natsume did not approve of nepotism. Warily, he took the CV and his eyes quickly scanned through the contents. His disapproval for nepotism only increased, and that frown between his brows only deepened.
This Mikan Sakura had graduated from a mediocre university with mediocre marks. She was 26, and had spent the past four years jumping jobs, mostly in trendy cafes and bookshops. Granted, she did have a lot of extra-curricular activities there—like organizing environmental fashion swap parties, and lifestyle vlogging—but nothing in her resume had anything to do with publishing.
"You've got to be kidding me," had been Natsume's final verdict, as he put the CV down.
"Shouda-shachou is quite determined," Narumi answered, "he's known this Mikan Sakura since she was in junior school with his daughter, and he believes that Sakura-san will be an asset to our company." Derisively, Natsume snorted at this. "Apparently, she's very charming—a natural with people, stocked with good humour and compassion."
Natsume did not bother to hide his disbelief, pulling a face. "Charm, good humour and compassion don't get the job done."
Narumi had been Natsume's manager since he first joined for an entry-level position six years ago. By now, Narumi was used to Natsume's juvenile behaviour, and knew Natsume to be a secret-softie—someone who never forgot his manager's birthday, always leaving him a card and a bottle of his favourite wine quietly on his desk, without fail. Narumi was incredibly proud of his little protégé; he was brilliant, with enormous intellect and nerves of steel. The only real fault Narumi could find in Natsume was his unhealthy chain-smoking habit. And perhaps also his aloofness—that often got him into trouble.
"Well, she could teach you some of that. I know!" Narumi clapped his hands. "She can teach you manners while you teach her all there is to know about editorial work! That's only fair, right?"
"What?" Natsume paused as he tried to understand his manager's words. "… Does that mean what I think it means?"
Narumi's smile brightened, "That's right, Natsume-kun! Shouda-shachou wants her to join our department!"
"She's actually joining?"
So this morning with Takeshi Shouda had not been a discussion, but rather an announcement of a finalized decision.
"Yes, in Spring! And her name is Mikan Sakura—isn't that quite fitting for the season?"
Natsume groaned loudly. This was all grossly unfair. Natsume had graduated from Tokyo University with the highest grades. He had worked incredibly hard to secure his position at this company, and now he's supposed to welcome an airhead with little credibility to her name, just because she was the CEO's daughter's friend? How on earth was this kind of shit still allowed in the 21st century?
"She'll be going through the usual application process—"
"Even though the job's already in the bag?"
"—Yes, just for formality's sake—she'll be coming in for an interview sometime in late March, to meet some members in HR and myself. I say interview, but it'll be more of a welcome introduction of sorts—"
"It's bullshit, that's what it is." Natsume declared, his stare hard and unyielding. "Why our department? Can't she work in the Administrative Department as an assistant or something?"
"Well, that's where you come in."
"Me?!" Natsume was horrified.
"Yes. Shouda-shachou has specifically requested that you mentor her."
"What!" Natsume cried, his worst fear coming true in that very moment. "I can't waste my time looking after someone who's never had a proper job!"
"That's very snobbish of you, Natsume-kun," Narumi tutted. "You need to show some more compassion. Something you could learn from her!"
Natsume's subsequent protests had all been in vain, and Narumi's final words on the matter were, "If you have such an issue with it, go take it up with Shouda-shachou yourself!"
Natsume gave up at that point. He wasn't brash enough to go to Takeshi Shouda's office with this matter—Takeshi Shouda, after all, owned the largest publishing company in Japan, and many subsidiary companies. He would be a fool to get on the wrong side of Takeshi Shouda: Natsume had always believed in choosing your battles wisely, and in this case, Takeshi Shouda was too big of an opponent to face, let alone takedown.
Nevertheless, he continued to sulk like a child at every opportunity he had about this matter—fervently, he would complain to his little sister on the phone about the evils of nepotism and how this corruption was solely responsible for Japan's economic crisis and imminent collapse. (Aoi, his little sister, always chose to paint her nails whenever these long-ass speeches would start, inputting a well-timed "Uh-huh" or a "Yeah, that's right" intermittently, so that he would think that she was actually listening to his ravings.)
And today was the dreaded day he was to become a mentor. As if Monday morning wasn't bad enough already.
Natsume sighed. He really needed a cigarette.
"Megane from HR met her a few days ago," Tono continued, choosing to ignore Natsume's look of mixed disinterest and annoyance, "and he told me that this new girl is a total babe!"
"I told you, I don't care."
"Good morning Hyuuga-senpai!" three female colleagues suddenly trilled as they passed by the Editorial Department, completely ignoring the others. Once they were a few steps away, they huddled together, giggling like they were teenagers.
"He's so handsome!" one of them squealed, and the other two incoherently squeaked and squawked in frantic agreement.
This interaction wiped Tono's smile clean off his face.
"I don't get it, are we invisible?!" he beseeched to Yuu desperately, before turning back to Natsume, with a jealous glare now marring his face, "What is it about you? When I look at you, all I see is unfriendliness. And anaemia. But when women see you, it's like they see the reincarnation of their teenage fantasies."
"I don't know who they are," Natsume shrugged, disinterested.
"That makes it more annoying, you prick."
"Good morninggggg!" came Narumi's sing-song voice, cutting through the conversation like soap to grease. A complete contrast to Natsume's arrival, Narumi's very step was saturated with spring and happiness. Narumi was wearing a frilly, Spanish-inspired white shirt today, paired with smart black trousers.
With flair, he placed his purple briefcase on his desk. Half a year ago, in an effort to make department managers more "approachable" to the workers, HR had implemented the "Close the Gap" initiative. Now, all department managers sat alongside their subordinates, at the head of the desks. Narumi had welcomed this change, gushing how happy he was to sit next to the "young, cool kids". Natsume, on the other hand, found his tolerance tested on a daily basis thanks to this initiative, often asking Narumi to be quiet.
"Good morning, Narumi-bucho!" Tono and Yuu greeted, their voices bright and clear as daylight.
Natsume grumbled out a gruff, "G'morning."
"Narumi-bucho," Tono stepped eagerly stepped forward.
"Yes, Tonoichi-kun?"
"The new girl's coming today, right? Mikan Sakura, was it?"
"Yes, that's right!" Narumi's excitably replied, "I'm surprised you knew, Tonoichi-kun!"
"Oh, it's all anyone's been talking about this morning, even downstairs." He then lowered his voice, "Rumour has it that she's pretty. Is it true, Narumi-bucho?"
"Oh, yes!" Narumi responded heartily. "Very charming too!"
Natsume resisted the urge to scoff.
"Nice!" Tono approved.
"She's due to arrive at 9:45. Come say hi to her later in the day, Tonoichi-kun. I'm sure she's nervous."
"And I'm sure Natsume here will do nothing to ease her nerves," Tono teased.
"Well, it's a good thing she has Tobita-kun sitting behind her," Narumi said. "You'll be extra nice to her, won't you, Tobita-kun?"
"Of course!"
"Excellent." Narumi finally took his seat. "You better get downstairs, Tonoichi-kun. It's nearly half-past."
"Yes," Tono stood up straight, and gave a small and polite bow in Narumi's direction. Then, he turned to his colleagues, as whispered, "I expect a Teams message as soon as she arrives, you hear me? With details."
"No." Yuu refused, while Natsume waved him off.
As Tono walked away, Natsume finally found his lighter. It had been in his pocket all along. He stood up with both his packet and lighter in hand—he still had another ten minutes before his hours started, which was more than enough to smoke two cigarettes in the smoking room on the 12th floor.
"Natsume-kun, where you are going?" Narumi asked.
Natsume held up his hands to show his precious items.
"Oh, not now!" Narumi disapproved, "Sakura-san will be here any minute now, and I want the Editorial Department to welcome her all together."
Natsume saw that the other five members of the Editorial Department were sitting at their desks now, turning their laptops on, getting ready for the day.
"You said that she'll be here at 9:45. There's time."
"And did you come on time on your first day, or did you come early? If I recall, you were twenty minutes early. I'm sure she'll be arriving any minute now, so sit back down, please!"
Natsume frowned but did not argue any further. He felt as if he had just been told off by his teacher in a classroom. Silently and petulantly, he vowed that at the first opportunity he got, he would go to the smoking room. He kept his Marlboro packet and lighter on his desk, right in sight.
And just as Narumi had predicted, Mikan Sakura arrived early that spring morning, coming as gently as cherry blossoms in the soft, spring wind.
Natsume smelt her before he actually saw her—it was as if her body cream or perfume had a three-metre blast radius—it was sweet, like warm, melted vanilla. When Narumi had called her name in welcome, he turned around to look at her. It was not just him—everyone in the vicinity, not just members of the Editorial Department turned to look at her at this point. From his peripheral vision, he saw Yuu Tobita's eyes widen in adoration.
Mikan Sakura was pink in the face, her breath fast and shallow. She was wearing a flattering pink midi-bodycon skirt, and a white short-sleeve blouse with nude-coloured heels. She looked just as sweet as she smelled, with her long brown hair and pink lips.
Begrudgingly, Natsume could see that this Mikan Sakura was attractive. But her good looks only added to Natsume's disdain of her—now, he totally understood her. This was someone who had gotten by in life thanks to her looks rather than anything else of substance. That kind of half-hearted and lack-lustre effort, where people just expect things to fall in their laps rather than work hard for it, was something else that Natsume despised.
"Hi," she spoke, "I'm Mikan Sakura!"
Natsume nearly groaned. Great. Her voice is also nice.
Narumi had stood up by this point, to walk over to her. "It's lovely to see you again, Sakura-san!"
"Hi, Narumi-bucho," he greeted, and bowed politely. "I'll be in your care from today!"
"This is the Editorial Department," Narumi flourished his hand, "This is Yuri Miyazono, that's…" he continued to introduce all the members, and for each member, Mikan Sakura inclined her head in greeting, and delivered a smile. "… And this is Natsume Hyuuga, who will be your mentor!"
"Hello!" She smiled at him.
Great. Of course, her smile was amazing. This girl was just handing him more and more reasons to dislike her.
Natsume did not stop looking at her but did not return a smile or a small bow like the others had done. And under his hard gaze, Mikan Sakura's smile faltered ever so slightly.
Aha! Victory!
"Oh, don't worry about him," Narumi offhandedly laughed, breaking Natsume's intense stare, "Natsume-kun uses mean looks to hide his shyness. It's his defence mechanism—he's the vulnerable sort. You'll see."
"Oh," Mikan said, believing her manager's words and gave Natsume an understanding, kind look.
Natsume opened his mouth to vehemently protest, to defend his reputation, but Narumi blazed on, "You'll be sitting here, sharing your desk with Natsume-kun's! If you have any questions, you ask him, alright?"
"Sure."
"So, get settled in your seat, and then I'll take you up to see Shouda-shachou. He wants to say hello to you!"
"Oh, great!"
Natsume's expression soured with the mention of Shouda-shachou. He turned away from her and returned his attention back to his laptop. He had quite a few emails to get through, and he didn't want to ruminate about the injustice of nepotism right now. But he found it almost impossible to concentrate entirely on his laptop—he found himself hyperaware of her presence; it was as if he could feel her edge closer to the desk, closer to him, and pierce through his personal space bubble. From the corner of his eyes, he watched her gently place her bag down, and when she took her seat beside Natsume, on his right, he was almost overwhelmed by her lovely scent and closeness.
It was almost as if every movement conducted by her was amplified and magnified by his senses—she opened her laptop, and her fingers typed in quietly, but he could hear every scrape against the keyboard. And every time she tucked her hair behind her ear, it was as if invisible, electric waves in the air prompted him to glance at her.
"Sakura-san, are you ready? Shall we go?"
"Yes," she stood up, and tucked her chair in.
He turned to watch her leave with Narumi. Behind him, Yuu rolled his chair over to Natsume.
"Okay, I thought Tono was talking crap as per usual. But looks like he's right this time," Yuu muttered quietly to Natsume, "She's beautiful."
"I don't care." Natsume stubbornly decided, even though he very much agreed with those words.
This is a place of work, Natsume rationalized, looks don't matter.
And with that resolve, Natsume plunged into his emails.
Twenty minutes later, Narumi returned with Mikan Sakura. By the time they returned, no longer was Narumi calling her "Sakura-san"—now, she was "Mikan-chan". This affectionate naming annoyed Natsume—up until "Mikan-chan", he had been the only one Narumi had called by first name. A childish jealously now told Natsume not to trust Mikan Sakura under any circumstances.
With her return, came that smell again. That achingly addictive smell…
"Um, Hyuuga-san? Could you help me—"
Petulantly, Natsume chose this exact moment to stand up abruptly from his seat. He grabbed his cigarettes and lighter.
"Not now," was his biting, moody response.
"Oh!" She recoiled slightly. "Of course, I'm sorry—"
He didn't let her finish; he stalked off, leaving her hanging. He revelled this small (incredibly immature) victory as he smoked his beloved cigarette. But that feeling of triumph died pathetically as soon as he returned to the 14th floor—Tono, that bastard, was in his seat, chatting to Mikan Sakura.
"Move," he commanded coldly, "get back to work."
Mikan Sakura looked somewhat terrified at his words and attitude, but Tono raised his hands innocently, with deliberate slowness. Clearly, he was not threatened in the slightest by Natsume Hyuuga.
"Alright, alright," Tono slowly stood up, but looked back at Mikan quickly, "So, I'll see you around, Mikan-chan?"
"Of course. Thank you for your kindness, Tonoichi-san."
"Call me Tono!"
As Tono passed Natsume, he shot him a celebratory wink. Natsume's glare only hardened and he sat down, reclaiming his seat.
"If that idiot ever tries to sit in my seat again, tell him to piss off." He instructed Mikan, without looking at her.
"Oh! I—um, I…" she did not know to what say, and her words trailed off before they died.
Uncaringly, Natsume returned to his emails without giving Mikan Sakura any more instructions or helpful words of advice that day.
Natsume's unfriendly unhelpfulness only continued as the days passed. But Mikan Sakura did not seem too fazed or upset by his attitude—where Natsume refused to help or step in, others were more than happy to give her an assisting hand. By the third week, she had stopped even trying to ask him questions.
People seemed to naturally gravitate towards her; they all seemed to enjoy her company, and often asked her to join them for lunch. She always obliged cheerily and would leave her desk at noon with others from the 14th floor. She had developed a particular solid friendship with Yuu and considering Yuu was one of the few colleagues Natsume actually liked and respected, he supposed that said a lot about her.
She was a hard-worker—that much Natsume could admit. Where she lacked in experience, she made up in optimistic determination. And despite everything, she did not seem discouraged by his taciturn behaviour, nor did she treat him coldly in retaliation.
So far, it looked like she was here to stay.
… The pink dress she was wearing today was very nice.
He mused on this quietly as he smoked his fifth cigarette of the day in the smoking room.
When he returned to his desk, Narumi called him: "Natsume-kun, let's have our 1-on-1 meeting."
Together, they entered the smallest meeting room on the 14th floor, perfect for these 1-on-1 monthly meetings. Natsume shut the door after him.
"So, let's get straight to it, Natsume-kun," Narumi started as they both took their seats, "I'm happy with the work you're doing for Rei Serio. You know how I find him to be a difficult author, so I'm glad you're taking over much of the bulk of the work for his new novel."
"Yes. Did you get my comments?"
"Yes, I agree with them all—but Natsume-kun, I want to talk to you about something else. I'm afraid I need to give you a stern word of caution."
Natsume frowned. "What did I do wrong?"
As far as he was concerned, he was managing all his tasks very well; they were always on time, always impeccable.
"It's not your work, Natsume-kun. It's your attitude towards Mikan-chan that's bothering me. And it's not just me—others have also noticed your discourtesy towards her, and have expressed their concerns to me privately."
"It's not my fault," Natsume brooded, "I'm like that to everyone. It's just how I am."
"Yes, I know you well enough to know that you're not being cruel on purpose. But Natsume-kun, I did assign you the role of her mentor, and you should have taken this responsibility more seriously. From what I can see, Mikan-chan has been managing her tasks with the help of everyone but you."
"You knew this was a bad idea. I'm not the mentor type. She shouldn't take it personally."
Narumi sighed, clearly disappointed by Natsume's evasive responses that dodged all accountability.
"I actually thought you being her mentor was a great idea. I thought it would teach you more about leadership and supervision—something you need if you ever want to secure a higher position. Natsume-kun, I didn't agree to this arrangement to punish you—I agreed to it because I believed that this mentorship will make you grow and reach your true potential. Truly. And also, you say you're not the mentor type, but I highly doubt this. You're very fond of your little sister, aren't you? I've always seen you as the archetypal "onii-chan", the perfect mentor for the right person."
Natsume knew that pulling out any excuses now would be the wrong thing to do. And so, he bowed his head ever so slightly, and apologized to his manager.
Narumi considered him carefully, and after a moment's pause, he said, "Would you be interested to know what she has said about you?"
Natsume stiffened. Honestly, he did not want to hear it.
But Narumi told him anyway: "I voiced my concerns to her, that I thought you were being too harsh on her. But instead of asking me to switch mentors, Mikan-chan assured me that you were always nice to her and that you've helped her enormously since her arrival. I think anyone with eyes can see this is not the case, but she did her very best to defend you during her 1-on-1 with me. So, Natsume-kun, you think you could try do a bit better? Perhaps try to live up to her defence of your character?"
"... I'll try to do better."
A/N: So, hi again! How is everyone doing during these trying times? I'm finding that my mental health is being affected by the pandemic/lockdown, so I thought I'd take up writing again. And it's felt really good to scribble down silly stories, so I thought I'd share them with you!
This story will be done in around 4, 5 chapters.
So, I always pictured my stories,
"Summer Wine" as Summer
"Night-Out" as Autumn
and "Golden" as Winter
And now, I bring you "Pretty in Pink", my Spring tale! I'm so over Winter, so I thought I'd invoke the spring muses early…
The story is definitely very silly, very cliched, very OTT but I hope you enjoy some escapism.
If anyone has any good tv shows/movies to share, please do… I feel like I have watched everything there is to watch at this point, so anything is welcome!
See you sooner rather than later!