A small, honest smile flickered over Tomoe's lips.

'Thank you,' he said, genuinely, 'My associate might actually want to consider this offer. I'm off now, fare well.'

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A feeling of anticipation built up in her during the rest of the day, and, although she wasn't aware of it, she checked the time continually.

However, she only unwrapped Tomoe's little token of retribution at night, when everybody else had already gone to sleep. Her room was little and a bit like an attic, and it was right above the shop. Her cousin Yukiji and her younger cousins lived in the old house behind the shop, that was very beautiful with its wooden floors and quaint interior garden, but notoriously empty. Yukiji had more than once invited her to take a room, any room she chose, but Nanami was always slightly reluctant. She feared that if she went down to live with her cousin, she'd never become independent enough to leave once she could make a living for herself. And, none the less significant, Yukiji was an important woman with a very busy professional life, and a loving fiancée. Nanami preferred to give her space, and have space of her own in return.

Besides, she really liked the attic. It almost felt like home, perhaps because of the slanted windows and lingering scent of cinnamon. It was her private place where she could walk around in her underwear and read cheap romantic novels, where everything worked out fine in the end.

It was the place where she could open gifts of handsome random strangers (or, almost-strangers), and not give explanations to anyone.

With a little smile, she pulled the wrapping open and peered at the contents of the package, which consisted of a small rectangular box with a handwritten note that read 'Pear tart' on it. She was thrilled, because she'd never tried that before, because it was homemade –because it really meant a lot.

With a happy sigh, she brewed some green tea and cut a small piece of tart with a tiny fork.

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Tomoe's next three weeks went by at vertiginous speeds. His associate, Mikage Kamino, had signed a contract with a famous chain of tea houses, known for their historical accuracy in their decorations and the clothing of their staff.

With such an opportunity, Tomoe had, at first, been thrilled, and for many reasons.

Although he'd majored in Traditional Arts, as soon as he'd started working he'd found that, in the modern life of a big city, there was little need for a graphic designer who cared about every precise minute of the tea ceremony, the proper length of an obi and the order of the steps of the kagura dance. The urban rhythm was voracious, and Tomoe had to adapt to survive. He learnt to draw inspiration from every crevice of the minimalistic present world. Eventually, he redeveloped himself, changing every history-inspired feature he kept for a renovated, contemporary version of itself. In that process of killing his old enthusiastic, traditional, student self (and dying a bit inside), he met Mikage.

And Mikage, an architect of some renown, and definitely a man of importance within the realm of design, found an use to all of him: the new Tomoe and the old as well, and plunged him into a whole new world –where his youth and innovation, together with Mikage's solid standing, knowledge and perspective, soon had their joint studio flourishing.

And however faintly he complained privately for having to open the studio so early on such a cold morning, he always found pleasure in finding his name written alongside Mikage's right over the studio's door, and he smiled affectionately as he opened it.

He pocketed his keys and turned some of the mellow lights on, to keep the mood smooth; then he went straight to get the coffee going.

While the coffee whistled as it passed through the machine, his gaze got lost outside the window; where there was little moving but the shifting shadows of late fall, lazily dancing with the streetlights.

Soon, it would dawn.

Some of the wet scent of fallen leaves had seeped in into the studio together with him, and now hung around like the lingering presence of an old friend; and Tomoe, despite himself, felt slightly lonesome. So, with a heavy heart due to some unknown early-morning melancholia, he got himself a cup of black coffee and busied himself with his share of work for the day.

Mikage only arrived hours later, past 10 am.

When he called Tomoe good morning, Tomoe felt tempted to let a sarcastic remark slip regarding his tardiness. But then he noticed that his associate looked like he'd gotten little sleep, yet he sported his usual smile and carried a handful of rolled planes and drawings under his arm. So he decided not to say anything but 'good morning' in return, not looking up from his own work on the computer.

Meanwhile, Mikage laid out some of his designs on his long working table and pinned their edges with colorful thumb tacks. When he was done, he called his associate over.

'Hey, take a look at this,' he said, gesturing towards the sketch of a series of rooms, 'Now that we're almost through with the floors, I think it's time we started thinking of what's next.'

'Well,' Tomoe said, failing to see the point, 'I thought you'd been through all the color schemes I sent you, Mikage…'

'I did, I did,' explained the older man, 'But it wouldn't be fair if it was me alone who chose one. It's better to do it together.'

Tomoe's scowl softened until it faded away. Mikage never failed to remind him why he'd decided it would be a good idea to have him as a partner.

'All right,' Tomoe said, 'Tell me what you've been thinking so far...'

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Interior design was Tomoe's favorite application of the work he did; and, luckily, most of the times it mean restructuring boring, neutral spaces into neo-Japanese concepts. For a couple of years now, most of the workload that came to the studio was related to the unique way they had of intertwining the art that had endured centuries upon centuries with more modern forms and simplified spaces.

The owner of the chain of tea houses had contracted with them for a series of renovations they were planning to undertake on some of their most visited locations; and, after much planning and foundation-laying, it had finally come down to the 'fun part' for Mikage, and the 'tedious, odious part' for Tomoe; which was actually going to choose and buy supplies from different providers.

Tomoe wanted to be sure that it had been pure professionalism what had driven him to suggest Mikage to take a look at what the 'Sengoku Jidai' store had to offer. But he hadn't succeeded in entirely convincing himself.

Yet, as they browsed together the beautiful website and online store, Mikage was delighted. He congratulated his associate in all the ways his vocabulary allowed him to for his amazing discovery, which was guaranteed to make their work even more unique and sophisticated.

'Embroidered wall dressings,' Mikage had said, 'Now, how come we didn't come across this earlier? How did you find it, anyway?'

'It was only chance, Mikage.'

And Tomoe had shrugged and presented him with the discount coupon.

An hour and a half later, they had agreed upon a certain patterned cloth to hang directly from the ceiling all the way down to the floor, which they would alternate with veneered wood panels, to go for a sober and refined finish.

'Anyway,' said Mikage, after duly writing the details of the fabrics (names, prices, serial number, etc), 'since you discovered this place, and seeing they don't give any kind of online-purchasing facility, which is totally odd, mind you, I think you should get over there and make the order. What do you think?'

Well, what did he think? He thought that he wasn't sure that he wanted to go all the way back to the store and have a chat with the confusing girl of the pretty smile. He also thought of the nice memories that the place had brought him while he'd been there.

Neither thought was of relevance as to his associate's question.

So he answered 'Yeah, sure, tomorrow?'

Mikage smiled. 'Why not. Tomorrow would be perfect. And do ask if they work with any online banking system…'

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A/N: I thought it was a good moment to show a bit of Tomoe and Mikage's daily life + work.

Coming up next: more backstory, confusion of names and sexy tattoos (soon!)

Comments and reviews, very welcome and very encouraging! :)