Chapter 4: The Competition
"Shit! Honey, I gotta go! I'm sorry if I woke you." She said in a hurry.
"Oh no, I wasn't sle—" She hung up the phone before I could say anything else. I sighed. Yes, I knew she was married yet I continued to sleep with her. Its not just sex... or at least that's how I feel. She's such a sweetheart and she's good company. I guess I can really say that right now we're friends with benefits. Who knows? Maybe we'll progress to more than that or maybe I'm just thinking too far and fast. I met her a couple of months ago and we only started having our fun together just over 3 weeks ago. Not that I'm counting or anything!
I walked to my window and looked out into the night and then shut the window and closed the curtains. I had this awkward feeling like I was being watched or something. Like spider-man checking up on Mary Jane, or Edward spying on Bella. I laughed out loud at myself. What was I thinking? I watch way too many movies. I turned the lights out and took a dive into my bed face first.
-o-0-o-
I jolted awake by an annoying ringing sound and looked around until my eyes landed on the culprit. My phone was ringing. I glanced at the clock and it was 11:07am. I couldn't complain that it was too early, so I rolled over and picked up the phone. I cleared my voice before I said anything. "Hello?" I croaked out. So much for trying not to sound like a toad. I cleared my throat again.
"Yes, hello is this Miss Higurashi, Kagome?" The person said on the other end. It sounded like an old woman, but I could tell by her voice that she still had a lot life in her.
"Yes, speaking." I answered in a better voice.
"Excellent. Well let me introduce myself I am the Vice president of Shotai Co. My name is Ms. Kaede." I instantly stiffened up and ran my fingers through my hair as if trying to fix it. I smacked myself in the head. Obviously, she can't see me right now. I must still be half-asleep. "Mr. Shotai has decided upon five potential candidates for his secretary position and I'm calling to congratulate you for making the top 5! I understand this is very last minute, but we will be holding a group interview this afternoon. Are you available by any chance?" In complete shock I nodded, forgetting again that she couldn't see me. "Hello? Ms. Higurashi, are you there?" I shook my head to snap out of my daze.
"Y-yes I'm here sorry. I'm available." I replied.
"Okay great. The interview will be at 3:30pm. Please be on time."
"Okay, I will. Thank you." I said getting out of my bed.
"Alright see you then." I hung up and stretched. Then I ran to my closet. My interview isn't until a few hours from now but I'm just too excited. I threw everything I found distasteful all over the floor. So far, the only thing I could find was the suit I wore the last time I went there and a really nice teal blouse with the tag still on it. I bought it at a 50% off sale, but the occasion to wear it hadn't arrived... until now. The only problem was I didn't have anything to wear with it. Looks like I have to make another shopping trip to the mall. Or perhaps Sango's closet. I was about to open the door when Sango barged in. "Umm, come in?"
"I need to borrow your magenta shirt!" She said as she picked it up from the ground. She looked at me and smiled. "Please?"
"Borrow? You can have it!" Actually, I borrowed that shirt from her four years ago but I never returned it to her. I guess with so much time passed, she didn't recognize it anymore. "On one condition..."
Sango hugged the shirt to her chest. "Condition?" She squeaked like a mouse.
"Yes. I need to borrow your pin-stripped suit. You know the one with the slit on the back of the skirt?" She looked at me funny.
"Did you get the interview too?" She asked
"Yea… Did you?" Of course, I already knew the answer. It was just hard to believe that out of probably hundreds of applications both Sango and I are 'both' top five for an interview. What are the odds?
"Yea I did. Hmm what are the odds?" She said as if reading my thoughts. Sango folded the shirt over her arm and turned towards the door to leave.
I'll let you borrow my suit if you let me borrow your shirt. Oh and... good luck." And she was out the door leaving me with my thoughts and a huge mess in my room.
-o-0-o-
I stepped out of my car and fixed my hair and pressed down any creases that may have been visible on my outfit. Sango had just parked her car beside mine and did the same. I took a deep breath and began to walk as she did. "Ready?" I asked her and she flashed me a confident smile.
"Of course!" She said. "I was ready the second I gave in my resume." Once in the building my nerves seemed to hit the roof. It was even busier than it was when I first visited here. We both walked towards the elevators in silence but completely took in our surroundings.
"Dammit! Why won't it work?" I looked to my right and noticed a guy with light brown hair and blue eyes banging angrily at his keyboard. I don't know why but instead of walking straight my feet took me to his desk in his cubicle.
"Ummm, is everything okay?" I asked him.
"Kagome!" Sango whispered sharply at me.
"Go wait at the elevator I'll be there in a minute." I told her. Then I turned around and faced the blue-eyed guy who stared up at me. He had short brown hair that looked like he cut it himself. He also looked oddly familiar.
"M-my computer..." He sputtered out.
"What's wrong with it?" I asked him.
"Well my computer is running so slow it seems almost frozen." He replied and hit the side of the monitor. It's been getting slower and slower every day!
"That's all?" I shoved him aside and restarted the computer. Then as it started up again, I activated safe mode. After about five minutes of entering command prompts, his computer was running as smooth as butter.
"Wow… Marry me."
"What?" I asked quickly standing up from his chair.
"I mean thank you very much miss." He said loosening his tie slightly.
"Sure." I said smoothing down my blazer and proceeded to walk away. Then I turned to face him again bit caught him staring at my backside in the process. "Oh, and if you don't want your computer to run like that again, I suggest you turn on your spyware and your anti-virus software and stop downloading porn. Some of those things come attached with everything." His jaw dropped a bit when some people started looking in his direction. I walked to the elevators where Sango was still waiting. "Wow still never came yet?" She shook her head. After waiting for so long the elevator doors finally opened and a huge rush of people were let off. No wonder it took so long. We both got on the elevator and another crowd of people came on with us. We stopped at what seemed like every floor until they were all gone.
"You nervous?" Sango asked crossing her arms and tapping her fingers on her them.
"Pshh! No!" I lied. "You?"
"Meh, just a bit." Hey at least she was being honest. The elevator stopped and a man and a woman got on. Her hair was slightly tousled, and his top three buttons were undone on his ruffled shirt. Sango and I glanced at each other very briefly. I'm sure in that moment she was thinking the same thing as me. Office quickie! The elevator stopped again, and the messy haired woman got off. We rode the elevator a few more floors down and the doors opened again. The man made to get off the elevator, but on his way out he copped a feel of Sango's rear and tried to make a quick getaway. She grabbed his arm and flipped him onto his back and spun him with her foot so he'd face her. Then she kicked him in his groin so hard he crumpled up and nearly summersaulted right out of the elevator from the force. She gave him the scariest look she could muster and as the doors closed, she introduced him to her middle finger while he writhed in pain. The second the doors shut, I burst out into a fit of laughter and I didn't even realize the doors re-opening again until Sango grabbed me by the arm and dragged me out until I shut up.
"It wasn't funny." She grumbled.
-o-0-o-
So here we are. Four of us sitting and waiting for something to happen. It seems one of them couldn't make it on such short notice. That's too bad. We've all been sitting here for about five minutes but it felt like forever. We sat at a round fold up table in the office of the soon to be secretary. A moment later, an older woman emerged through the doors. "Ah, you're all here and right on time. We'll begin now." She said. "As you all know I am Ms. Kaede." She said putting a folder with a bunch of papers on the table. She sat down in her seat. I was in the middle so now she was facing me on the other side. Oh the pressure is on, but I took a mental deep breath to calm myself down. "Okay first things first, I just wanted to say that I hope you ladies are here for the right reasons and not because you have other inappropriate motives and intentions when working along side Mr. Shotai." She seemed to have said that without so much as a blink. Not even a smile. Hmm she's one tough cookie, but so am I and I don't crumble that easily.
I noticed two of the women to the left of me glanced at each other and bowed their heads ever so slightly with blood rushing to their faces. I looked back at Ms. Kaede and she stared straight at them. I could see in her eyes that she was already running through a process of elimination. It was silent for a few seconds until Sango to the right of me spoke up.
"Ma'am, you can count on me to remain professional at all times!" She said confidently. I cleared my throat and fought the urge to glare at her. What a kiss ass!
"Very well then." Ms. Kaede said and opened the folder.
-o-0-o-
We were pretty much at the end of our interview and Ms. Kaede was just wrapping up.
"I have one last thing to tell you all." She said standing up and walking around her chair. She walked to the plant on the other side of the room and spread the leaves a bit to reveal... a camera? At least it looks like a camera. Then she pointed to a small one above the elevator doors and another one on the coffee machine. Finally, she walked over to the big mans door and pointed to what I thought was a doorknob but was actually a camera. Are we on some sort of reality show? "I've always wanted to meet Ashton Kutcher." I said aloud crossing my arms. Ms. Kaede gave me a puzzled look before replacing it with a look of realization.
"I assure you that you have not been 'punked.'" She said the word punked with air quotations. "You were just..." She thought of how to word it. "Thoroughly tested, but it wasn't the security guards watching." I cocked my head to the side.
"Then who was?" I asked.
"Mr. Shotai himself." She said with a sly smile. Oh, she was good, but I bet you anything it was his idea. The bastard was really going to put us on the spot like that? "Mind you, there is also audio on these cameras as well, and being a Great Dog Demon he can pick up things that I wouldn't have. So, for your sake I hope none of you were mumbling things you shouldn't be saying under your breath." The two women on my left looked at each other again. "He feels that if he was present in the interview things would be a lot more different, and he wanted you to be comfortable enough to be honest. Oh, and before I forget to mention, there were also cameras in the lobby, the main work stations and the elevator."
Hmmm... smart, nothing more comforting than a little old lady. Even though she did have quite a lot of spunk for someone her age. The man is pretty smart. She told us she would take about fifteen to twenty minutes so we could use this time to take a break. We all left the room briefly. I walked to the coffee machine/camera for some coffee and followed Sango to the elevator doors. We didn't say anything but I could feel that familiar competitive tension between us. We may be best friends but when rivalry sets, there's no turning back.
We both didn't say a thing for fear we'd say something that Mr. Shotai wouldn't approve of.
-o-0-o-
When we came back the cameras were already gone. Does everything always happen this fast around here? Sango and I sat down in our seats and minutes later the other two women arrived as well. We didn't wait long for Ms. Kaede to emerge out of the CEO's office. She didn't make any small talk, she cut right to the chase.
"Miss Yura and Miss Tsuyu, I'm sorry but you aren't what Mr. Shotai is looking for. Please leave the office immediately and thank you for your time." We watched as they left. Then it was just down to Sango and I. "Miss Higurashi and Miss Taijiya, Mr. Shotai would like to see you both in his office." We looked at each other and got up from the table. Kaede lead us to the door and entered the office to be once again greeted by the back of a large white leather chair. So much for 'seeing' us in his office... Kaede gestured for us to have a seat in the 2 chairs in front of his desk and she left the room. We sat in silence for a moment until he spoke.
"From what I've seen, you two stood out the most but for different reasons." He said. His voice was so masculine and deep that it rumbled through my core. I furrowed my brows at such an odd feeling. "I shall be holding a final interview for you both tomorrow. One on one. Ms. Taijiya I'll see you tomorrow at 2pm sharp, and Ms. Higurashi I'll be seeing you tomorrow as well at 3pm sharp. You are dismissed." And without so much as another word Ms. Kaede quickly ushered us to the elevator doors. How rude he didn't even turn around to greet us. Not only that but he didn't have to call us into the office just to tell us this! God, men are such assholes. We headed back to the elevators and Sango pushed the button.
"Wow top two. Congrats to us huh?" I turned to look at her. "I have to say that I'm surprised they still chose you with all your corny answers." Sango said, with a smirk and that competitive edge in her tone.
"At least I didn't sneeze in the middle of my answer like a dork." I told her, mocking the moment she did exactly that. The elevator opened and we both got on.
"I could have sworn I heard a vacuum in there because you were a complete suck up!" Sango retorted.
"Oh please, are you forgetting the incident in the elevator? Kaede said he was watching the cameras in the elevator to remember?" I winked at her. "What makes you think you stand a chance?"
"At least I wasn't acting like a total fake!" She said through her teeth. The elevator doors opened again and we walked out towards the lobby.
"Fake? I'm as real as it gets! You're the one who's fake!" I didn't have a better come back unfortunately. She opened the lobby door and let it close on me. "Arghh!" I opened the door and was met by a strong wind that blew harshly at my hair and almost blew my skirt off my person. Sango laughed. Once in a while we would try to one up each other in a 'friendly' rivalry. It's what we do. I glared at Sango for laughing. "I'm sure Mr. Shotai would be impressed with that dent you made in his car on your way in the parking lot." Sango gasped.
"That was his?" She asked turning to face me. I nodded and pointed at the sign in front of his car that read "Reserved for Mr. Shotai. CEO" "W-well he doesn't know it was me though!"
"Yet..." I said, and Sango's jaw dropped. I could probably fit both my hands in there. I stifled a laugh at the suddenly odd thought.
"You wouldn't!"
"To get what I want? Yes. I would!" I told her. I was only half kidding, half-serious. Would I really do it? Ok no I wouldn't. But she didn't have to know that. I could let her squirm.
"A job as a secretary involves answering phones... I'm sure Mr. Shotai would love to hear about how you got fired in the first 15 minutes of your telemarketing job." She said as she smirked and scanned the parking lot to remember where she had parked her car. So, she was going to play like that now huh?
"I'm sure it's not as bad as going to jail for stealing your boss' car." I said and she flinched.
"I was seventeen and moody!" She yelled and then walked ahead of me. With my slightly longer legs I managed to catch up with her stride.
"Age is nothing but a number." I said as we both approached our cars. She unlocked her car door without a word and got inside while I searched for my keys. Sango started her car and then rolled the window down.
"Well you know what?" She said putting her seat belt on.
"No, what?" I asked finally finding my key. I turned to her and put my free hand on my hip.
"You know that girlfriend of yours, Kagura?" She asked. I smiled remembering her pretty face but then confusion took over as I wondered why she was changing the topic. I also didn't remember mentioning Kagura's name to Sango. I narrowed my gaze at her.
"Yea what about her?" I asked.
"Well... it turns out you've been sleeping with Mrs. Shotai, Kagura. Mr. Shotai's wife!" She beamed with an almost crazed look on her face. "Good luck in your interview tomorrow!" And with that her tires squealed as she sped off before I could say anything else. Shit… SHIT! Her interview was before mine to! Shit! She wouldn't say anything would she? She wouldn't dare! Then, I remembered my own words, "To get what I want? Yes. I would!"
... FUCK!
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