Disclaimer: I OWN NOTHING. NGE and all characters are property of GAINAX, I'd suppose. Dr. Pepper is owned by Pepsi Co. 'Ruby Tuesday' is a song by the Rolling Stones. Ruby Tuesday's is a restaurant chain, owned by someone else. T.G.I.Friday's is another chain, owned by a different someone else. Everything is owned by their respective owners. BetaMax is mine.

Author's Note: One, I'd like to point out that this isn't an Eva/Office Space crossover. This is an 'Alternate Universe' fic. There's a difference.

Sorry about the two-some week wait. Work's been pretty hectic, I've been getting home pretty late, and I got an awesome new music program that's been taking up some of my time. And that's not even mentioning how many hours I've put in on my instruments the past few weeks.

Anyhow, I know it's short, but I didn't really have anything planned for this chapter. It's really just a filler to get to Friday, which is the climax of the story, and the last chapter. This is just… more pointless banter, I suppose.

And don't take anything seriously or personal. This is fictional comedy.

Now, on with the show…

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Chapter 4: Thursday

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"Hello, Shinji…"

"Hello, Ritsuko…"

"Mmm, naughty boy…" a sultry laugh echoed from the couch. "I told you to call me 'Doctor' when we're on this couch."

A tired, nervous laugh was heard. "S-sorry, Doctor."

"That's better, my patient," the female voice again, "but you're still deserving of punishment for your last slip up."

"U-uh—"

"Do you know what this little device is, Shinji?"

"N-no, Doctor."

A thoughtful noise accompanied her response. "Neither do I. Let's find out what it does, shall we?"

"Doctor, I don't think—whoa—a-a-ahh" he stuttered, "I—ah-h-h-h—wow."

The quiet laughter from the psychiatrist only added to the situation. "I'm glad you're enjoying this, Shinji." She said. "I'm most definitely glad…"

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THURSDAY; 7:00 AM

IKARI RESIDENCE

---

A loud thumping awoke Shinji from his somewhat distant slumber on his living room couch. Blinking tiredly for a few moments, he slowly stood up and regarded the door with curiosity.

Another round of intense bangs erupted from the wooden slab, this time accompanied by a masculine, vaguely British voice. "Shinji! My man, you in there?" More knocks.

"Yeah." Shinji returned, "Yeah, I'm here." He stood up, scratching his neck tiredly. "Sort of." He lumbered toward the entrance to the quaint townhouse.

As the door swung open, Shinji regarded the somewhat scruffy man with an exhausted expression. "Hello, Kaji."

"Hey man!" The guy said enthusiastically. "How's it going?"

Shinji nodded and stood back, gesturing for Kaji to enter. "Not too bad, really. Wanna come in?"

The door closed with a quiet clatter, signaling the man's entry into the abode. He gazed around for awhile, watching Shinji as he lumbered off toward the kitchen, before dropping himself on the couch and resting his feet on the coffee table coasters.

"So, how have things been?" Shinji looked back from his position at the coffee maker, as he responded to his guest's inquiry.

"Not bad. Work's been…" he paused, thinking. "…Interesting. Kinda upsetting." He strolled over to the couch and plopped down next to Kaji, waiting for the coffee. "They hired consultants to help the company be 'more efficient'—whatever that means. Oh, and our outdated operating systems all crashed at the same time, so none of us are getting any work done."

Kaji nodded, frowning. "Yeah, that's probably why I love my line of work."

"Don't have to deal with consultants or operating systems?"

He chuckled. "Nope."

Shinji craned his neck toward the ceiling. "Say, speaking of your profession, where'd you just get back from? Somalia?"

Kaji shook his head. "Nah," he said, "Cambodia. Somalia was a few weeks before that." He scratched his shoulder absently. "Speaking of which, we're probably scheduled to go out that way again sometime soon." He sighed. "Anyway, yeah… Cambodia's looking a lot like it did thirty years ago."

"Nothing's changed?"

"Not really. We provide what we can as the Peace Corps, but that's only local help—and who knows what happens when we leave."

Shinji was about to reply, until he heard the coffee maker's bubbling finally die down. "Coffee?" he asked, as he started for the kitchen.

"Sure, man."

"So," Shinji continued from the kitchen, "what brings you here?"

"Ahh, I just wanted to see if Katsuragi was in town." The slightly older man replied. "She still work up at your place?"

"Yeah." He replied. "She's still the Tech Supervisor as well—though I've always thought that she and Ms. Akagi should switch positions."

Kaji clenched his brows in confusion. "Ritsuko? She's a psychiatrist."

"No, I meant her mother, uh—Naoko, I think her name is." Shinji brought the coffee into the living room. "You might recognize her. She's a brunette, kinda angry looking—a real Nazi, from what the marketing guys claim."

"Huh." Kaji took the coffee and relaxed on the couch. "Oh well. Hey, I'll be in town for the next few days. Why don't we get everyone together say… tomorrow night and have a big party? You and those guys you hang with, Katsuragi, that Horaki manager girl, Soryu—everyone. I'm sure I can even track down the good doctor for this escapade, as well."

Shinji shrugged. "Uh—actually, Soryu and I kinda… broke up."

"No way! You serious?" Kaji almost jumped from his position. "Man, you don't say. Well, I can't say I'm all that surprised. You and her… don't mix. No chemistry." He shrugged. "To be honest, I'm only surprised that you two stayed together for so long."

"Yeah," Shinji nodded, "but I'm sort of dating this other girl in my department."

"Sort of?"

"Sort of." Shinji shrugged. "It's—she's—I dunno. It's all messed up." There was a brief silence for awhile, until Shinji spoke up again. "Well, listen man; I gotta get going to that work place 'n all, so I'll see you later."

Kaji stood up. "Sure, no problem. I'm staying at a hotel up the street a ways, so I'll be around." He opened the door and started down the steps, before turning back. "And remember—party tomorrow night!"

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THURSDAY; 8:38 AM

RUSH HOUR

---

"How's dat work?" Toji scrunched he brow as he considered his friend's statement. "I mean, it doesn't even seem possible."

"Well, sure it's possible 'n all, but it isn't really practical." Kensuke replied. "I mean, sure, we're all probably gonna get laid off, and sure, we're getting laid off for reasons we can't control anyhow, but is that really so bad?"

Toji looked at him.

"Look at the company we work for, man!" Kensuke exclaimed, lightly hitting the steering wheel for emphasis. "No one in their right mind enjoys working here. Even people who aren't in their right mind hate the place—just look at Kaworu!"

"Hmm," Toji made a thoughtful noise, before nodding in vague agreement. "Yeah," he said, "Yeah, you got a point there."

---

Makoto ducked into the sedan as it pulled up to the curb. "Any luck with the coffee maker?"

Shigeru narrowed his eyes as he gazed out at the quiet, suburban neighborhood. "Don't start it," he said. "Don't you even start with the coffee maker. That piece of shit has given me hell every waking minute that I've been home."

"Have you considered replacing it?"

The driver scoffed. "And what makes you think a new one will be any better? Half of the coffee makers out these days are exactly the same—one company designs it and the others pirate the blueprints."

Makoto made a noise. "Huh," he said. "I always wondered about that."

"It's just like those goddamn—uh—oh, what are they?" Shigeru continued, but stumbled for words. He looked over at his passenger. "You know, those things that…uh, oh damnit!" he gripped the steering wheel in frustration. "See what happens when I don't get morning coffee?"

Makoto frowned. "Yeah, I know what you mean."

"Toasters!" Shigeru exclaimed, triumphantly. "You know how all of the toasters in stores claim that they won't burn your toast, or overcook it, and how they brag about how their toaster is better than the one next to it because of the fact it has four slots instead of two?"

The spectacled man blinked. "Sure," he said, though he really had no idea what his coworker was ranting about.

"But then you take it home, plug it in, and the damn thing burns your toast—exactly like the toaster you just threw out did!" He ground his teeth as he slammed on the break and hit the steering wheel. "It's an endless cycle of burnt toast and hopeful, gimmicky marketing tactics!" he angrily wailed. "A cornucopia of damaged dreams and false promises, caught in a spiral of shattered hopes and self loathing!"

Makoto was silent for a while, before he spoke. "…For toast and coffee?"

"Damn right for toast and coffee!" Came the immediate response.

Makoto then did the only thing he could do in that situation. He sighed.

---

Shinji's ride to work was about as interesting as a thirty-year-old beige colored sofa.

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THRUSDAY; 9:11 AM

THE OFFICE

---

"Good morning!"

"Highly doubtful."

---

"Rei?" Shinji stopped by the water cooler before actually reaching his desk. "What are you doing?" He had spotted her slender frame leaning against the wall next to the liquid dispenser.

She opened her eyes. "Hello, Ik—Shinji." She caught herself. "I await the consultants. My interview is in nineteen minutes."

"So… what? You're psyching yourself up or something?"

Her brow creased in confusion. "No." she said.

Shinji blinked.

After a silence, she continued. "The license on my version of BetaMax has expired. I am unable to complete the work that has been assigned to me."

"So you're just hanging by the water cooler…?" He said, somewhat uncertainly.

She opened her mouth to reply, but Kaworu strode down the hall and grabbed one of the paper cups next to the dispenser. "Hello," he said. "My computer just committed suicide."

Shinji frowned as an unsettling quiet drifted over the area.

"Well—I'm just going to… um…" he nodded toward his cubicle. "You know. Yeah."

Kaworu nodded and smiled, still ingesting the liquid of life.

It wasn't until he was standing in the doorway of his cubicle did he realize there was someone else occupying it.

---

"'Another day, another dollar'." A tall, elderly man said as he stretched next to his car—a sleek, black, overpowered Maserati. "Time to face the rat-race and secretly laugh at the fools who have to put up with it."

"Fuyutsuki!" A stern voice from behind him called to him.

He nodded to the orange spectacled man, who was in the process of gathering his briefcase from the trunk of his Porsche. "Ah, hello Ikari."

The other man nodded his greeting. "You're early. I'm surprised."

It wasn't until the short-haired brunette stepped out of the same Porsche did he realize that his partner had a companion. "Hello, Professor,"

"Ms. Ikari?"

"Yes, this is Yui." Gendo said.

"Our current employer." Fuyutsuki added, brow creased into a disapproving scrunch, a frown overcoming his features. He was about to ask just what the hell his business partner and part-time pupil was doing driving the woman who hired them around. He would have asked, had he not been cut off.

"Yes Kuzo, our current employer." Gendo only smirked in response.

"Don't be so uptight about it, Doctor Fuyutsuki." The woman half-chuckled. "It's nothing serious…"

The side of Fuyutsuki's face twitched unnoticeably. "There's no need for the 'doctor', Ms. Ikari. 'Professor' will suffice."

"Very well," she smiled. "Then do away with the prefix in front of mine, Professor." She mocked stressing the formality, like an infatuated college student. "Yui will do fine." After a moment of awkward staring between the three of them, she took her leave; the sound of her heels echoing against the concrete sidewalk into the building being a distracter to both men's thoughts.

Fuyutsuki was first to break the silence which descended after her departure. "Is it just me, or is she a tad—" HOT! "—loose?"

Gendo smirked again, unblinking eyes still on her retreating form. "It makes no difference." He said. "Our task remains the same and the scenario remains unchanged." He picked up his briefcase again. "I foresee layoffs in the near future."

Fuyutsuki just sighed.

---

"Why do I have this increasingly eerie feeling of dread?" Makoto stepped through the doors of the tech department, looking around for a brief moment before heading toward the office he was assigned to.

"What, like we're gonna be laid off?" Shigeru followed his lead. "Probably because we are."

Makoto frowned and shook his head. "No," he started. "—Well, I'm not doubting the fact that we'll all be replaced by a bunch of cheap, know-nothing college kids, but—"

Shigeru cut in: "Because they'll probably do more work than we've ever done." He snickered.

Makoto nodded. "Yeah, true…" he continued, "But no, I'm not dreading that. We can probably get new jobs across the street, anyhow."

"That's the beauty of the corporate world!" Shigeru exclaimed. "We're all expendable, and yet, our positions are completely irreplaceable."

"I have this other eerie feeling of dread," Makoto elaborated, setting his stuff down on his small desk. "Sort of…" he paused, thinking. "Sort of like that feeling you get when you know you have to face a teacher that you really hate, but you haven't seen in a few days."

Shigeru blinked. "What?"

Makoto shrugged ambivalently. "I don't know. Just sorta… you know. A dread."

---

"I've been waiting for you, Shinji." The older woman peered at him, rotating in the swivel chair so that he could see her.

"Mrs. Akagi?" He blinked in confusion. "…Why? What are you doing here?"

"As head of the tech division," she started, throwing Shinji's preconceived notions of the company out the window, "I'd like to interview you about the BetaMax issue."

He blinked. "What issue is that? The license expired, and the operating system messed up my computer to the point that it can't be rebuilt." He shrugged. "We'd have more luck trying to use a hard drive that had a nail through it than try to use the BetaMax garbage again."

A wry smile twisted the face of the brunette. "Yes, we understand that." She said. "But in order to program a better OS, we'd like your input."

"Mine?" Suddenly, Shinji felt special. The one-in-a-million picked to design the new operating system. It was like he won the lottery—a special contest he never entered—a raffle! It was exhilarating.

"Well," the woman shrugged, "Not yours, specifically. We need an engineer's input as to how this operating system would work—since you guys are the ones who'll need to use it all the time." She cracked her neck. "We're actually interviewing everyone in your department."

Shinji's hope was instantly crushed. "Oh." He sighed dejectedly. "Go talk to Nagisa," he said finally. "He and Ayanami have already started work on the new OS."

She nodded and stood up, shoving her left hand into her pocket. "You've been a big help. The tech division thanks you for your support."

He scrunched his eyebrows. "Really?"

"No. But I have to say that for courtesy reasons—company policy and such; you know." She said, leaving the cubicle. "Bye."

---

"Please state your name for the record."

"Rei Ayanami."

"Rei?"

"Yes."

"That's your name? Rei?"

"Yes, it is."

There was a silence as the spectacled man scribbled something down on the paper, and then returned to his previous stance of acute observation.

"What is it that you do here, Rei?"

She furrowed her brows slightly at the loose usage of the informalities. "I am a computer program engineer."

The elder man spoke up. "Yes, we can see that."

"What do you do here?" the other man asked again.

"Most of my assigned work is in security. I design debugging, anti-virus, and firewall programs for commercial and residential use." Her voice portrayed little, if any, emotion. It was somewhat clear, however, that she was rather annoyed at the consultants' presence.

The older Ikari pushed forward anyhow. "Have you designed any programs for federal use?"

"Yes."

"I see."

More notes.

Fuyutsuki took the chance to glance at his partner's notes, and he came to the conclusion that it was going to be a long interview.

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THURSDAY; 10:10 AM

THE OFFICE

---

"She was…" Fuyutsuki trailed off.

"…Odd."

"To say the least."

"Indeed."

There was a silence for a few brief moments.

"Definitely put her in the 'layoff' pile, along with everyone else we've interviewed."

"Weirdo."

---

Rei Ayanami returned to her desk, and promptly decided to destroy her computer—if only out of spite.

---

Kensuke yawned as he stared at his desk, before deciding to open the large binder dedicated to the mysterious Project E. He was leafing through it when he heard a loud 'BANG!'.

"What da hell was dat!" His cubicle mate shot up from his chair, wildly flailing his head above the walls in hopes of spotting the source of the disturbance.

"Toji, sit down. I'm sure it wasn't anything serious."

---

"Ms. Akagi?" Makoto flinched dramatically and nearly fell out of his chair. "W-what are you doing in the Tech Division?"

Shigeru turned toward the door. "Yeah. You're the Marketing Supervisor—what are you doing here?"

"I was transferred by the higher-ups." She said, nodding toward the door vaguely. "They claimed that I had a better knowledge of the technical programming involved with the company than I had people skills."

Makoto cowered under her intense, leery glare. Shigeru's sweat was as painful as liquid hot-ice. The unsympathetic silence seemed as hostile as the woman who brought it on.

She sighed. "Get back to work, dweebs." She walked back out the door, but only after adding, "And by the way, your ten o'clock coffee break has been cancelled. Just so you know."

"What?"

"Why?"

She shrugged distantly. "Oh, no reason, really. Increase productivity and all that jazz. Company policy—you know." Her retreating footsteps seemed to punctuate her statement like the nails in their coffins.

Makoto shook his head in a condemned state of shock. "Goddamnit."

Shigeru bleakly sighed. "Oh well." He said. Then he chuckled. "No 'Katsuragi babe' for you!" His chuckling soon broke out into loud guffaws of mirthful hilarity.

---

"State your name," the older man sighed.

"Kaworu Nagisa, Senior Engineer."

"What's the 'senior' mean?"

A shrug. "Who knows?" he replied calmly. "It's just some title. I think it may have some hidden meaning for bureaucrats and the like, but for me… It's just a valueless title."

"Hmm," The man scribbled some notes down. "What, then, is it that you do here?"

"I've been bogged down by various projects concerning minor banking companies recently." He replied. "Nothing really all that serious. Just miscellaneous programs for minor, no-name companies."

"And that's it?"

"I'd say so."

---

"Say, where's Kaworu?" Shinji leaned against the wall of the kitchen. "It's almost eleven already."

Kensuke shrugged. "I don't know where Kaworu is, but I'm more concerned about this god damn coffeemaker." He stared at the empty pot in utter befuddlement. "It hasn't done anything. It's like… broken, or something."

Toji nodded. "Eh, screw da coffee, man. Just wait 'til Kaworu is outta da meetin' so we can go t' lunch. We got nothin' else t' do."

Kensuke sighed in defeat, dumping the water out of the back of the non-functioning coffeemaker. "Yeah. May as well." He set the appliance back down on the counter and leaned up against the refrigerator.

"Hello," As if on cue, Kaworu strolled into the kitchen, refilling the coffeemaker and turning it back on. In seconds, the thing was working perfectly; the sound of steamy bubbles flooding the kitchen area.

"Oh you gotta be fucking kidding me!" Kensuke threw his hands up in the air. "Come on! It works for you, but it doesn't work for me! Whatta piece of shit!"

Kaworu shrugged absently and leaned against the counter.

"Actually, we were planning on going to lunch, Kaworu." Shinji piped up. "We have to be back by one thirty, tho'."

"Yeah, I got da consultant meetin'." Toji pushed off the counter. "But I 'ave to admit, I'm pretty hungry right now."

Kaworu shrugged indifferently. "Arlight." He said. "Whatever works."

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THURSDAY; 12:01 PM

T.G.I. FRIDAYS

---

"Who the hell would name a place 'T.G.I. Friday's'? That's gotta be one of the dumbest names for a bar and pub I think I've ever seen." Kensuke shook his head as they waited for their waiter. "I mean, who would name a restaurant after a day of the week?"

"You don't complain about Ruby Tuesday's." Shinji observed.

"But that's because Ruby Tuesday's is named after the song 'Ruby Tuesday', by the Rolling Stones. And the song's about some girl named Ruby Tuesday, not some stupid narration of a day." He retorted. "Besides, naming a restaurant after a song is better than naming one after a phrase."

"There's more to it than that, I think." Kaworu stated. All eyes went to him, as he continued. "The song, I mean. 'Ruby Tuesday'—there's more to it than just a regular love song."

Kensuke shrugged. "Yeah, but that wasn't my point."

"Regardless. The song is pretty poignant—that's why they named the restaurant after it." He cracked his neck. "If I remember the lyrics correctly, it had to do with a girl whose name corresponded with a day of the week—Tuesday, obviously—and she's always a different sort of person with each passing day. She's so caught up in the times that she keeps reinventing herself, without any way of slowing down. And the speaker—singer, rather—comments on the fact that he can't get to know the girl." He paused for a moment. "The 'Tuesday' part of her name is perhaps a symbol of that perpetual change in herself. I doubt the 'Tuesday' itself is important, but more the idea behind the 'Tuesday', the fact that it's a passing day—as temporary and fleeting as the next." His gaze had settled on the table cloth as he spoke. "The fact they chose Tuesday is probably because it's a day that doesn't have any sort of special meaning. It just exists, like Thursday—whereas Monday is the beginning of the workweek, Wednesday is the 'hump day', Friday is a party night, Saturday is a recuperation from the party night, and some people consider Sunday to be sacred, etcetera. They've all got certain importance, except for Tuesday and Thursday."

Kensuke shrugged yet again. "So what?"

"Well, that's the whole point of the song. The girl changes so often that she doesn't really let anyone get to know somebody." Kaworu inhaled deeply. "I think the message is to try and slow down one's life, otherwise you'll end up like her—off and adrift far away, and essentially, terribly alone." He shrugged. "That's probably why they named the pub chain after the song—it's supposedly a place to unwind and meet people."

There was a thoughtful silence.

"Well," Kensuke started, "All the more reason that Ruby Tuesday's is exempt from my comment. T. G. I. Friday's is based on a ridiculous acronym that was real popular in the nineties. It was the first of all those ridiculous abbreviations that we've got now."

"Instant Messaging didn' help dat, either." Toji interjected.

"Yeah," said Shinji. "That really gets on my nerves. It's like they're too lazy to type coherent words and sentences, so they abbreviate everything."

"Lazy bastards." Kensuke shook his head.

"…And den dere's dat LEET crap." Toji continued. "You know, da 'l' an' da 't' wit da two '3's in da middle."

"Oh don't get me started on that garbage." Shinji said, shaking his head in disgust.

"Yeah, talk about bogus."

They all sighed except for Kaworu, who sat there sipping his Dr. Pepper with a laid back smile plastered to his face.

-----------------------------------------------------

THURSDAY; 1:33 PM

THE OFFICE

---

A sigh was heard.

"Your name?"

"You got it already."

"State it for the record."

"Toji Suzaharra, Engineer."

Now the older man spoke: "What do you do here, Toji?"

"Mistah Suzaharra would do fine," came the immediate response. "As for what I do…" he shrugged. "I'd say somethin' along da lines of database work."

"Databases? What do you do with them?"

Another shrug. "Anythin' really. Design work, testing, even the programmin' itself. Whatever needs t'be done."

There was a brief silence as the orange-spectacled man took some notes.

"Well…" Toji spoke again. "Actually, nowadays I'm not doin' a whole lot. With BetaMax's complete suicide, we got no workin' machines. I'm pretty sure da whole company is losin' money over it."

"Wait—BetaMax suicide?"

Toji definitely had their attention now. "Sure, sure. The OS died earlier this week, and the management doesn't want to replace it—they claim it'll cost too much to buy licenses for windows." He diverted his eyes to the desk in a sideways glance. "'Course it don't help dat dey refuse to admit their machines are too messed up t'use." He mumbled.

The older man pried, leaning forward on the table. "What do you mean?" he asked slowly.

"Well, I suppose that if you really want to know what's goin' on, I'll have ta start at da beginning." He made sure he had their attention before starting. "Y'see, it all started awhile's back; when we first got BetaMax—jus' before I was workin' here. It went sorta like dis…"

---

"Toji's certainly been in there for a long time," Shinji commented, gazing over toward the glass windowed conference room. The person in question could be seen talking adamantly to the two consultants; both of which seemed surprisingly enthralled by the story.

"Yes, he has." Kaworu stood next to him, sipping his mug of coffee slowly to pass the time.

"I wonder what they're discussing," Kensuke pondered, leaning against the wall as he cracked his neck.

Shinji shrugged. "I don't know. I don't care either." He said. "They've been in there so long that my scheduled meeting has come and gone already—I don't have to see the guys until tomorrow morning! Yes!" He clenched a fist in victory. He sighed in contentment as the thought of procrastination washed over him again.

"Say—" a different thought suddenly occurred to him. "Has anyone seen Rei today? I saw her this morning, but now I can't seem to find—"

Kensuke nodded down the corridor. "Speak of the devil."

"Shinji." The cyan haired young woman stopped several paces from the man in question.

"Hi Rei." He said. "There was something I needed to ask you." She blinked, and he continued. "Can you make up an anti-firewall invasive virus for us?"

"What for?"

"We want to ruin the Management server." He replied. "Meaningless, hateful, spiteful vengeance for things that really weren't so bad."

There was a slight pause for several brief moments before Rei spoke again. "I destroyed my computer today."

"Really?" That threw all of them for a loop—except Kaworu, who just smiled absently and stared at the ceiling. "Why?"

"It was a meaningless, hateful, spiteful act of vengeance for things that really weren't so bad." She quoted. "I was angry."

"Oh."

There was another somewhat misplaced pause.

"So you'll help us?"

She shrugged. "I suppose."

---

"Hey Shig."

"Yo Mak."

"Were we supposed to pick up Maya or something?" His voice was riddled with uncertainty. "I thought she had car trouble."

"Did she call you?"

"Well—no, but…"

Shigeru shrugged. "I don't know man. I had this weird dream that she was in jail for drug trafficking, though."

"Really?" Makoto stopped staring at his computer and looked over at him. "I did too." He scrached his shoulder. "Maybe…" he started, "Maybe it wasn't a dream?"

They looked at each other with odd expressions on their faces, then burst out laughing.

"Maya's a heroin dealer!" Shigeru guffawed. "That'd be the day!"

"Yeah—next thing we know she'll bust in here and kill us all!" Makoto's laughter was as strong as his co-worker's. "Her and a bunch of her 'street buddies'! Hah!"

Their laughter died down after a while, and they returned their gazes to their screens.

"But seriously, where was she today?"