Out of Order
When Syaoran Li kicked the vending machine one hot summer's night, he didn't get his change back. Instead, he got Kinomoto Sakura.
3 Customer Services
It was morning. The polluted air from down below had somehow dissipated during the night, and everything felt fresh and new. Cars that had been left outside since the day before were coated with a sparkling sheen of morning dew, and the sun that was just emerging into the sky painted the horizon a soft, sweet orange.
In the morning, even objects of man held a semblance of beauty. The tall, high rise buildings were like giant mirrors, reflecting the sunrise in all its glory. The city stirred to wakefulness slowly, and the streets soon filled with people again as the air warmed.
Morning had come, bringing with it a new beginning.
…Syaoran heaved another monstrous sigh as the phone rang again with ear-damaging shrillness. Even coffee wasn't able to help this time—not when he had been subject to this torture since seven. Gritting his teeth, he picked up the phone after a significant effort. He hated mornings. Mornings were bad and deceitful.
"Moshi moshi! You've just reached the phone line of Tomoeda Technical Services-- How can I help you?"
Seriously, this job should have been reserved for a girl. A cheerleader girl, actually. For if Syaoran Li, descendant of legendary business tycoon Clow Reed had to say 'Moshi moshi!' one more time…
"Syaoran? The coffee mixes are totally out! What have you been doing? It's only eleven! Eleven AM!"
Startled, the young man almost dropped the receiver. Aiming a well-placed glare at his colleague, he mouthed a very big Not now, Takashi! before hurriedly pressing his ear to the phone.
"Sorry Ma'am, but could you please repeat that? Yes, I did catch the part about the television 'fizzing and exploding'…no, I don't think it was because the remote was rigged…"
It had been at least a week, and true to his expectations, Syaoran had caught no sight of Sakura at all. Something inside him crowed triumphantly with a huge "Ha, I told you so!", but the rest of him just felt despondent.
It was okay at first; really.
But when he found himself mistaking every auburn haired female on the street for the emerald eyed lady (which almost always led to very, very embarrassing encounters), it finally dawned on him that his little...problem…was getting a tad too big for even himself to ignore. What was worse was: There was no solution to be found.
The only thing he could bury himself in was work, and that was exactly what he did.
"Yes, Ma'am, I'm sure your kids will be able to survive without television for a few hours. Tell you what- I'll ask our technician to come over to your place around this evening to check things up. Eh?…Too long to wait?"
At the opposite cubicle in the office, Miharu Chiharu watched fearfully as her neighboring colleague grew redder in the face by the second. Her chocolate-haired friend now wore a rather murderous expression, and his hands were busy grinding the nib of a fountain pen into dust. Her eyes darted to the whole row of empty coffee cups lining the redwood desk. The amount of coffee Syaoran normally drank was approximately in ratio to the amount of stress he was feeling, and looking at the statistics… this meant trouble, lots of trouble.
"I'm an incompetent worker? Why thank you, Ma'am. I'm sure the company would appreciate the feedback. And NO, I don't think I'm being smart, Ma'am…"
Wincing, she slowly inched out of her office compartment. Balancing files and several checkbooks with both hands, she walked as fast as she could whilst maintaining her dignity to the compartment across the room.
"Psst, Takashi!" The woman hissed, walking sideways into the door. "Syaoran. Rogue call. Exploding!"
The addressed Takashi looked up from his work, frowning slightly. The man was quite relaxing to look at (compared to Syaoran), to say the least—uncombed inky-black bangs spilling sloppily over his eyes, the crumpled looking office shirt complete with a rather crooked looking tie…eyebags a mile long…
Chiharu winced again. Alright, so he's in bad shape as well.
It didn't stop her from blushing when his hand landed on her shoulder, however. The secretary froze when the hand proceeded to squeeze reassuringly, and she looked up into a pair of smiling eyes.
"He already drank all the coffee." Yamazaki Takashi replied, looking sheepish. "But in honor of our friendship, I will try to prevent him from getting fired."
Chiharu, still riveted by his smile, could only nod jerkily. Biting her lip, she looked down at the ground.
"Really sorry, Takashi. I would do it myself, but--"
Takashi just waved dismissively, cutting her off. "It's okay. Syaoran isn't that hard to calm down. You should know that…we were all from the same elementary school! And you and I go waaayyy back to kindergarten." He patted her again on the shoulder, smiling cheerily.
The young woman hesitated, then conceded a smile. "True."
"And for this, I get to tell you where coffee came from at lunch! Did you know that coffee beans are actually the congealed eggs of a legendary bird which is rumored to be affiliated with fire? You know, the phoenix? …Hm, Speaking of phoenixes…"
Chiharu twitched. For all the charm Takashi had, he just couldn't stop talking, could he? How in the world did he manage such long sentences without stopping to take a breath?
"I thought you said at lunch."
"…Phoenixes are quite interesting creatures…"
"Takashi…"
"…they're distant relatives of kangaroos…"
"OUT."
Pushing him out into the corridor, the secretary gave her childhood friend a complimentary shove down the aisle and watched hawk-eyed while he made his way over to Syaoran.
Then, the woman visibly relaxed, breathing out a sigh.
"Why did I fall for such a jabbering idiot?"
Because you did.
Her dreamy smile was plain for all to see as she exited Yamazaki Takashi's compartment a few minutes later, taking quick, steady steps towards the meeting room.
"Yes, Ma'am, you may speak to my manager. Could you please wait a few minutes? I think he's entertaining another call…"
Syaoran removed the phone from his ear, closing his eyes as a torrent of insults came flooding out of the earpiece. The calls seemed to get more personal day by day- or was it just his temper fraying to its last?
When the noise stopped, he put the phone to his ear again.
"Yes, I was listening, Ma'am. The manager will be able to take over in a moment, if you don't mind…"
He jerked the phone away from his ear another time before the woman across the line could empty a whole assortment of colorful language into his ear once more. Glaring at the button connected to his boss's hotline, he jabbed it with a finger several times, but to no avail.
Where is that good-for-nothing…
The fountain pen he had been venting his frustrations on had long ceased to be in one piece. Breathing in one more time, Syaoran was about to attempt to talk to the woman again when the phone was snatched out of his hands.
"What the-!"
Looking up in shock, he could only gape as the intruder took up the receiver and started delivering placating comments with the greatest of ease.
"Ma'am? I'm sorry—you must be terribly flustered waiting for your call to be transferred…tell you what, I'll try to free the line for you. Call again in fifteen minutes!"
Before the customer could protest, Yamazaki Takashi slammed down the phone and delivered a piping hot container of frothy cappuccino into Syaoran's hands. Then, disconnecting the phone, his childhood friend grabbed a free chair and plopped himself down beside him.
Syaoran blinked, then smiled haggardly.
"Thanks, Takashi."
Lifting the cup to his lips, he relished the feeling of warm coffee sliding down his throat, drugging his senses and calming him completely as music would to a savage beast. Sinking into his chair, the chocolate-haired man breathed out contentedly, the liquid completely drained.
"Sometimes, I wonder what I would do without friends like you."
The other man grinned. "Chiharu takes half the credit. She's the one who noticed that the alarm bells were ringing—and she practically forced me into getting coffee for you."
Syaoran grinned back. "And I thought she was only good for throttling you when you spouted rubbish!"
Takashi mock-huffed, drawing himself up exaggeratedly.
"She's got good observational skills too…and I do NOT spout rubbish! My sources are true and honorable, thank you very much."
Syaoran raised an eyebrow.
"Only you would think that your brain made a true and honorable source, my friend."
They both laughed, and the stress caused by their work slowly eased away.
"Well…y'know, you're looking pretty washed out lately. Distracted." Pushing himself up, Yamazaki ruffled his friend's hair, much to said friend's annoyance. "Take care of yourself, okay? Gotta get back to work. Toodles!"
Syaoran fell silent, watching as his friend slowly disappeared into the maze of office compartments. Stop thinking about Sakura, he thought to himself firmly, getting up to reconnect the phone. Work is work, and after-work is after-work. It's not use longing if there's no chance of meeting her again, anyway.
His smile faded into grim resolution as he reaffirmed himself. Placing the drained coffee cup Takashi had given him along the row that had been forming on his desk, Syaoran straightened his collar and waited for the phone to ring.
But to his surprise, the plastic contraption only beeped, and a robotic-like voice filtered through the air and into his ears.
Li Syaoran, summoned to the managers office on urgent business. Please proceed immediately.
…?
Syaoran blinked, getting up. Weird, he had never been summoned to the office before. Exiting his compartment, he made his way down the aisle and into the office elevator, going up to the topmost floor. As the lift clocked up the numbers, he let his thoughts wander.
Am I gonna be fired or something? His mind thought detachedly, sending his legs into a slow, leisurely walk. Syaoran vaguely felt his hand close in upon a door handle before pulling.
He still felt dazed when he entered the room.
"Hello, my cute little cousin."
The dreamy feeling abruptly fled when he caught sight of Eriol Hiiragazawa reclining in the leather office chair. Ah, yes. Eriol, the bane of his life, the thorn of his flesh- who was also coincidentally his boss who was having less than platonic relations with his best friend, Tomoyo. He personally hoped that his cousin would somehow burn and die before the two got engaged or something, but that was being too morbid, wasn't it? Funny, how they were related and yet so contrasting in personality.
Eriol smirked aggravatingly, disrupting Syaoran's dark train of thought. The young man glared for the billionth time that day and drew himself up stiffly.
"Why am I here?"
The midnight haired business man looked thoroughly wounded.
"Not even a 'hello', Syaoran-kun? I'm hurt…and to think we are related!"
Syaoran's gaze grew ever more dark and venomous.
"I've no time for this, Hiiragazawa. Spending working hours appeasing dissatisfied customers and their problems leave no room for any good, happy feelings, you know."
Yes, he was feeling particularly acidic today. Eriol, however was unfazed. Smiling like always, he continued on politely.
"From now on, you're hardly going to answer any more calls, dear cousin. That I assure you." Syaoran blinked, visibly perking.
"Really?" He asked, disbelieving. "You're actually cutting me some slack?"
Eriol nodded slowly, grinning like a pleased cat. He's up to something, I just know it, a part of Syaoran thought, but the notion was quickly forgotten as his mind was flooded by something akin to relief.
"Should seem so. Anyway," he continued, ignoring his cousin's look of joy, "I've got someone for you to meet. She is the daughter of a very high-standing member of the parliament—Fujitaka Kinomoto, head of economy, remember?—and she's here on behalf of him to check out the company."
Fujitaka Kinomoto? That sounded familiar, somehow. Syaoran furrowed his brow, silently thumbing through the pages of his memory. He had heard that name somewhere before…but where? Try as he might, he just couldn't place it.
"I want you to show her around, get to know her, and leave a good impression. There cannot be a slipup in this, understand? I'm choosing you because you're good in social relations and …charming with ladies too, but one fumble could cause our whole company's hard-earned reputation to tumble down."
The company manager watched gleefully as Syaoran's happiness immediately crumbled into dust, and waited for his cousin's mind to slowly process the information.
"I-I'm supposed to do what?"
"Show her around, make small talk, do the company proud."
Syaoran floundered, effectively stunned.
"But!"
"I'm trusting you on this one, Syaoran-kun. Don't let me down." Eriol stood up and gave the other a friendly slap on the back, cackling to himself.
I'm going to kill you, Syaoran swore. Slowly and painfully. If it's the last thing I ever do…
"Whatever," He finally growled, slapping his cousins hands away. "Let's…just get it over with."
Oh, the things he did to escape Customer Service…
Eriol nodded.
"You may come in now, Sakura."
Sakura?
Syaoran turned around, just as someone entered the room from behind them. Dizzying disbelief was flooding through his body at a hundred miles per second—was that her? The Sakura Kinomoto that he had found drunk naught but a week ago?
It would be a miracle, but now, it didn't seem as impossible as before.
The man looked up, and found himself staring into the most beautiful eyes in the world.
To be continued.
(Reeeviieewww please? Review my pathetic story? –sniff-
…I'm pretty sure it's Miharu Chiharu…
And I'm pretty sure it's Yamazaki Takashi.
Right?
Please tell me I'm right…
Sorry for lateness! –bows-)