Summary: Mimi's come back to Japan, and she's set her sights on a certain Yamato Ishida.
IN THE
EYES OF PERFECTION
—Chapter Two: Encounter—
By Ascendo Tuum
Miko Hidaka squealed in delight as she skimmed the email. As usual, her boss Toshio Tanaka had to drone on and on about the most uninteresting topics such as getting a new instant tea machine before finally stating in one sentence at the end the "real message." She couldn't believe it though, it had to be just part of the rumors that had been swirling for awhile, but if her boss was going to mention it, then it had to be true. "This is fabulous! We're definitely going to have to push the Public Affairs Office to go through with everything!"
Her twenty-nine-year-old co-worker, the uptight and snippy Sachiko Sato, wandered over with an irritable look on her face. "What's so great that you have to be giggling like a six-year-old, Miko?"
"You won't believe it!" Miko trilled happily. "The greatest thing to happen in Japan since... well um... you get the point!"
"And what is this great thing?" Sachiko asked sardonically. "That new machine in the workers' lounge? The one that spits out ten different kinds of tea? Or perhaps is it the new water fountain installed down the hallway? Or maybe it's those new silk flowers in the ladies' room?"
Miko waved her over eagerly from her seat at the cubicle, choosing to ignore her sarcasm. "Come! Look! Read it and believe it!"
Sachiko glanced disdainfully at the rumpled dress suit her co-worker wore, and noted the messy bun that contained perhaps eighty percent of Miko's hair, leaving the remaining strands to fly up all over the bun. "I still don't understand how you got this job. College graduate degree and all, look at you! Have you no respect for your position that you skip into work each day looking like you just woke up?"
"Oh shut it, Sachi-kun! Come on! Read the email! It's not going to recite itself for you."
"Sachi-kun?" Sachiko mumbled in shock, her horn-rimmed glasses falling down the bridge of her nose. "What did you just call me? Am I imagining it, or did you really just call me Sachi-kun?"
"Will you just look at the freaking email!" Miko almost screamed, her hands gesticulating wildly towards the brightly lit computer screen. "Here I am, trying to tell you about the greatest thing that has happened to Japan, and you're just being the edgy bitch you are! Like always!"
Surprised at the outburst and "bitch" comment from her normally meek and quiet co-worker, Sachiko hurriedly went over to Miko's side and began reading near the end of the email. As she read it, her face went through a series of convulsions, as Miko duly noted with a snigger. "Kami-sama! You're kidding me!" The woman said at last, not even bothering to address the fact that Miko had just insulted a woman one year her senior.
"I thought so too, but the boss never jokes around," Miko sighed happily, her eyes aglow with pure joy.
"It is too good to be true," Sachiko uttered. "Too good. I thought she would remain forever in America."
Miko nodded along, her eyes skittering across the front wall of her cubicle, which was cluttered with photographs of family and friends. "Hey doesn't your roommate Mitsu or something like that work at Shiseido?" Sachiko nodded slowly, unsure of what the younger woman was getting at. "Well call her up! Ask her if it's true, ask her if Tachikawa-sama is really coming back!"
"Tachikawa-sama? You act as if the model is a goddess," Sachiko remarked, as she examined her neatly-pressed sleeves for wrinkles. "Is she your role model or something?"
Miko grinned. "But of course! Think about it, she left her hometown to move to a totally new country and within a few years, she's all over the place! Movies, music, modeling—that Mimi girl can really do anything! I bet she's worth millions and has a hot boyfriend!"
Sachiko rolled her eyes as she chewed at her lip thoughtfully. "Considering how Tanaka-san mentioned Tachikawa in her email, I have a feeling we will be her public relations firm. Regardless of whoever her agent sends to deal with affairs, no one can beat Tanaka and his dedicated group of representatives!"
"Are you serious? Really? Oh my god, I would do anything to be assigned to her!" Miko nearly shrieked as she began jumping up and down, despite her three-inch pumps.
"Whoa are you okay Miko?" A new voice asked in surprise.
Sachiko whirled around and instantly addressed the newcomer. "Konnichiwa Ishida-san! How are you?"
Yamato Ishida shrugged, a few strands of his golden-blonde hair falling across his face. "Good, I suppose. And please, call me Yamato, would you Sachiko? What's with Miko today?" Even though he had no need for a public relations service, Sora had insisted he have one, and so here he was.
"She's just excited," Sachiko answered slowly, wondering how on earth the young woman had been accepted into this prestigious company. It was amazing how the girl hadn't ruined anybody yet, what with her impulsiveness and tendency to overreact. "Miko, calm down before Tanaka-san hears your stomping. Remember, he's on the floor below us."
Miko finally stopped jumping out of exertion, rather than respect to the fact that her boss was sitting at his high and mighty chair on the floor below hers. Her face was flushed red, and her hair was now free of its confines and in a big frizzy mess. "Whooo. I am so happy!" She began dancing around, dragging first an unwilling Sachiko before trying to cajole her client into a brief waltz around the room. Seeing their surprised faces, she slowed to a stop and chuckled as she smoothed her pencil skirt down. "Hehehe sorry, it's just that this is the GREATEST THING!"
"What is?" Yamato asked with a laugh, as he slung his guitar case onto his other shoulder. "You won the lottery? That big one?"
"No, I wish but this is just as good! Guess who's coming back to Japan!"
"Mimi Tachikawa," Sachiko replied quickly.
Miko stuck her tongue out at Sachiko. "Oh you're no fun! You always have to be a wet blanket and ruin this and that! Grr Sachiko, could you just relax for once?"
"This isn't a social club, this is a workplace. We are here to work, not play!" The other woman fired back.
"Hey Yama-kun, you okay?" Miko suddenly asked. The man had this odd look on his face like he had been hit in the side with a sack of bricks. "You look like you've been hit in the side with a sack of bricks," she added cheerfully as her co-worker fired a dirty look at her.
Yamato shook his head. "No, I was just ah... thinking. Yes, thinking."
"About Mimi Tachikawa right? Of course a guy like you must think her sexy and beautiful! After all, she's been voted 'One Hundred Most Beautiful People' six years in a row! That's got to count for something, at the very least."
"Miko," Sachiko began exasperatedly, "he's married."
"So what? Even though I have a boyfriend, I still look at other guys and think they're cute or handsome. What's wrong with just acknowledging someone's looks? It's not like you're cheating on anybody."
"Miko, forget it. Yamato, what can I do for you?" Sachiko asked, placing much emphasis on the "I."
"Oh I was in the neighborhood so I thought I'd drop in and see how you ladies were doing. I brought some pastry," he said, holding out a large shopping bag.
"Arigato Yamato!" Sachiko exclaimed. The man was always so generous, bringing them gifts and little knickknacks on holidays and whenever he came by. "You need not be so generous."
"Yeah, because Sachiko's afraid she'll become fat after eating one too many cookies. Then the whole world will come down crashing upon her head because she's not a size four anymore," Miko snorted as she fixed her hair. Her co-worker gave her yet another dirty look but did not make a retort.
Yamato laughed. "I'm surprised you two are partners. Such animosity!" He said dramatically, placing a hand over where his heart would be. "Please don't fight anymore, I don't know what I'd do without my power duo!"
"You flatter us," Sachiko and Miko chimed in simultaneously and then each drew back from the other as they flushed.
A knock sounded on the closed door. With a flourish, Sachiko strode over to open it and then gasped.
"Good morning," a musical voice chirped.
"W-why good morning Tachikawa-san," Sachiko responded as she bowed in return.
Her coworker's ears pricked up. "Hello Mimi!" Seeing the dirty look on Sachiko's face, Miko grinned apologetically. "Is it okay if I call you that?"
The chestnut haired woman smiled as she removed her sunglasses. "If you so wish. I much prefer Mimi anyway, it's so much less formal. I stopped by because I am an interested client and would like to be represented as soon as possible."
"Anything for you, just give me a few minutes while I get all the paperwork… would you like some tea?" Miko threw over her shoulder as she dug around for a new file.
"Please have a seat," Sachiko offered, gesturing at a row of plush seats. "It wouldn't do for you to stand on such uncomfortable shoes all day!"
"Don't worry," Mimi laughed as she set down her numerous bags, "I'm used to it. After we get the paperwork done, I'd like to discuss a few things—"
"Oh Mimi, you have got to meet somebody!" Miko said as she retrieved a pen from her drawer. "You two would probably hit it off right away!"
Yamato, who had been carefully hiding in the shadows of a nearby storage room, stiffened. "Shit," he said quietly. "Shit." He looked around for a means of escape but found none. He was too high up to attempt an escape through the windows, and besides, he doubted they'd open easily. What was he going to do? He really didn't want to meet Mimi, not now, not ever actually.
Then Miko strode in to the small room he was cowering in, with an undeterminable glint in her eyes. "Yamato, you'll never believe who's here!" She gushed.
"I heard, from the door," he said feebly, trying to send the message that he did not want to be out there. However Miko was either oblivious to his implicit pleading or determined to introduce him, because next thing he knew, he was being dragged by the scuff of his neck. Where this woman found such strength he didn't know, but within seconds he found himself brushing off his clothes as he awkwardly straightened—
—to meet the cool collected gaze of Mimi Tachikawa. His ex-girlfriend. The girl he'd promise to be with forever. The woman he left for Sora.
"Why hello Yamato Ishida. Fancy seeing you here… after all these years."