The design of Mei's study was specifically built for her convenience and to fit her taste. For example, a regular study would be something akin to a private room where the head of the house would limit his or her business affairs. That would be to say that such a room would normally have a few bookshelves, a large desk and possibly a reception area of some sort which would allow the gentleman or lady to invite their associates in for confidential matters.

Mei's study, however, is a mixture of a library and a study. The room was large and filled with even larger bookcases which dwarfed her oak desk despite the said furniture being enormous when compared to its siblings. The alabaster walls and marble floors allowed the room to be presented as both clean and empty when in contrast to the popular wallpapers that were typical in most manors and houses.

Every corner of the room was filled with books on various topics and literature, everything from Greek tragedies to poetry and scientific studies. There was an endless wealth of knowledge to be had and even the doctor herself hadn't touched upon all of these books. Over the years she had accumulated the collection through her terrible habit of picking up whatever seemed interesting.

Unfortunately, with the amount of work that she dedicated in her studies and the time she spent galavanting around in search of answers, the end result was that some of these books would never be read.

Of course, all that is also part of the design. These books were not here for decoration nor bought just so the doctor could waste a few shillings on expensive pieces of bound paper, no, these books are here so that she may call upon them should the need for additional ideas or information arise, as it often did. Everything in this room was there for the sole purpose of being useful... except the two who were shamelessly chatting about some obscure social topic without regard for the doctor's privacy.

"Harumi, do you ever tire of bothering my peace?"

Mei removed her glasses and rubbed her temple in annoyance. Ever since the blonde arrived in her manor, Harumi's visits had grown more frequent and now it was at a point where the plum-haired girl lounged about her residence every single day without fail. She didn't mind that her friend was there, what she minded was the fact that the two girls needed to be in the same room as her.

"Don't lie, Mei. I know you like having me around." Harumi teasingly replied.

"No, I most certainly do not."

"You're always so cruel. Is she like this with you as well, Yuzu?"

The blonde looked panicked at her friend's question and despite no verbal answer of agreement or disagreement, the reaction itself was enough of an indication that she echoed Harumi's complaint. Mei never thought of herself as a cruel or cold individual, she only did what she thought was correct and in line with what her feelings or mood was telling her. If she didn't want to be bothered, then that was exactly what she was going to say. The question of liking an individual posed no relevance to the matter.

"Speaking of which, your birthday is in two weeks time. What do you plan to do?" Harumi continued.

"Nothing."

"You can't just do nothing, Mei. Your grandfather wouldn't allow it."

"Have you forgotten that I left our estate exactly because of Grandfather?"

"That fact doesn't stop him from throwing a grand ball every year, as I recall."

Harumi spoke the truth, despite Mei leaving the main family house when she turned 21, there hasn't been a single year when her grandfather didn't use her birthday as a chance to further their family influence. For a year or two, she attended just for appearance's sake but then it became unbearable to have to dance with so many gentlemen in a single night and so she stopped coming to her own party - much to the patriarch's dismay.

"Would it be rude to ask the circumstances of Miss Aihara's family?" The blonde asked seemingly nervous at the thought of poking her nose too far in the doctor's affair.

"It's not like it's a secret, Yuzu. That lady over there-" Harumi pointed her hand fan at Mei, " wanted to further her medical study and since the Aihara patriarch wasn't fond of the idea that a woman would rather have a career than start a family and produce heirs, she left. Simple as that."

"Pardon, but surely he'd understand how amazing Miss Aihara is if he knew her work."

"Yuzu, what do you imagine when you hear the word 'doctor'? Harumi asked the blonde.

"Someone who heals the sick?"

"That's correct. However, if you were to ask the vast majority of people the very same question, you would most likely get an answer like 'a gentleman in a black coat.' Of course, the question of gender is irrelevant when it comes to proficiency but there will always be those who will look down on women and call us inferior. For that very reason, our beautiful doctor over there is often overlooked in favor of her male peers. Even though she's better than most of them."

Mei met Harumi's eyes and for a split second and she saw what she thought was pity in the plum-haired girl's eyes. It would be unfair to dismiss Harumi's words, in reality, the doctor had a much smaller pool of patients than her peers and the only reason for it was because they didn't trust in her abilities - being a woman and all. Come to think of it, that may have also been the reason why she was so adamant in forcing the blonde girl to comply to her orders the other day.

"My apologies. I seem to have made the afternoon quite glum." Harumi apologized after silence fell in the room.

"Your presence is what makes the afternoon glum, Harumi." Mei retorted.

"Hush, Mei. In any case, if your grandfather is throwing you a ball then will you be taking Yuzu and Himeko along?"

Mei eyed the blonde who was sitting in a more lady-like manner than one would typically expect from a lowborn and uneducated woman. Sadly, her table manners weren't the least bit acceptable and there was much work to be done before she could ever bring the girl to an upper-class social occasion without embarrassing her family name.

"No, she's hardly trained nor educated enough to accompany me but Himeko is a different matter entirely."

It wasn't so much that she didn't want to be embarrassed, on the contrary, she wouldn't mind one bit. The real issue was that if her grandfather ever found, then she'd never hear the end of it and just thinking of all the letters he'd send made the doctor's skin crawl with discomfort.

Looking at the blonde, she noticed that the girl was wearing another expression that made it look like she was saddened by the doctor's comment. 'Why is she looking at me like that?' Mei wondered.

"I'll bring her along then." Harumi excitedly stated as she gave one loud clap.

"What are you planning, Harumi?" Mei questioned the girl's motivation.

"Why do you always assume that I'm up to no good? I am just inviting a friend to your party, that's all."

Harumi's dignified face hid a bit of mischief which made the doctor even more suspicious of the girl's motive. Harumi was never one to thoroughly plan anything. She was more of the 'act now, think later' type of person and that meant that she was probably jumping into this head first which worried Mei. The last thing that the doctor wanted was for the blonde to traumatize herself on the first party she'll ever set foot in.

"Yuzu, could you excuse us for a moment?"

"Of course, Miss Aihara."

Mei sat quietly on her chair and waited for the blonde to leave the room. Once the girl had gone, she sat back and crossed her legs as she placed her interlaced fingers on her lap. Harumi noted how threatening Mei was in her current posture. It was like sitting in front of a tiger that was ready to pounce and decimate her at any moment.

"So, what are you planning?" Mei asked the same question again.

"As I said, I'm not planning anything." Harumi played tough though she felt pressured by the oppressive look in Mei's eyes.

"You do realize that you could traumatize her if you don't take this seriously, don't you?"

Mei questioned her friend with severe condemnation and not without a good reason. While she won't be directly involved in the matter, should the blonde ever do something to displease the Aihara patriarch or disrupt the party, then all hell would break loose - the Aiharas are known for their draconian laws after all. Not ever Mei was spared when she once made a mistake during a ball. The humiliation wasn't something she'd ever wish on anyone.

"Are you worried about her?" Harumi asked with a smile on her face.

"Worried?" She echoed.

"Is our little Miss doctor finally growing some human emotions?" Harumi joked.

Mei furrowed her eyebrows at the constant barrage of comments from Harumi. She hasn't even fully comprehended whether she was worried or not and why, yet the plum-haired girl didn't bother to give her enough time before she threw another boisterous allegation. Unfortunately for Harumi, Mei's patience could only handle so much and a book came flying out of nowhere, hitting the plum-haired girl square on the face.

"What was that for?! You brute!" Harumi shouted while rubbing her nose.

"Learn to be quiet, Harumi." Mei scolded her friend.

The doctor was a little embarrassed that she overreacted. Mei was always quick to anger and violent to boot. She'd often be quick on throwing items around or losing her temper over the smallest things, usually, this landed her in a world of trouble but she had gotten better at controlling her temper over time. There were still these outbursts every now and then though.

As for Harumi, there are times when one must fight in order to preserve one's dignity - thankfully this wasn't one of those moments as the socialite knew better than to feed herself to a starving predator. There is, however, a difference between arguing and poking your nose into someone else's business and the plum-haired girl wouldn't miss this opportunity for all the jewels in the world.

"You might have broken my nose, Mei. The least you can do is tell me what's bothering you." Harumi asked while she pretended to examine her 'broken' nose.

"I assure you that your nose isn't broken. I chose a light book." The doctor tilted her head in annoyance at her friend's refusal to let the topic die.

The doctor watched as her friend's face contorted with discontent. It wasn't unusual at all for Harumi to quip once or twice during conversations but the girl's temper looked extremely potent at the moment and Mei knew it was because of the book. Sighing heavily in frustration, Mei decided that to end the pointless conversation by giving Harumi what she wanted to hear.

"She can't read, write, dance, bow nor behave properly. She can't even differentiate between the tablecloth and her napkin. Now, tell me how you plan to teach her everything in the span of two weeks? It's cruel to get her hopes up, Harumi."

There was venom in that last line. Mei almost chuckled to herself at the thought of being the one to scold Harumi about cruelty for once, not that she ever agreed to the plum-haired girl's accusation. Despite the sincerity of her concern, it was definitely gratifying to be on the 'mature' side for once.

"You worry too much. She doesn't need to learn everything, just the basics she'll need for the party and besides-"

The girl abruptly cut her speech and Mei eyed her curiously as she waited for the thought to be completed. To the doctor's dismay, the idiotic friend opened her fan and covered the lower half of her face before proceeding to pose like some up-start theater actress whilst loudly proclaiming something along the lines of 'You forget who I am m'lady.'

The entire display was ridiculous. Mei couldn't help but feel embarrassed at their friendship and be ashamed for the girl since the latter wasn't likely to even consider the act as anything other than hilarious, which in a way, it was.

"Do whatever you want, Harumi. Just don't get Yuzu into trouble." The doctor slammed her head onto her right palm as she spoke.

"Oh? First name basis now, are we?" The plum-haired girl teased. A devilish smirk on her face.

It slipped. Mei had been extremely careful not to call the blonde by her name unless she was speaking directly to the girl but now even that small barrier she had erected in between them was slowly crumbling and the doctor couldn't help but feel a slight discomfort at the thought. After all, Mei knew that naming a 'pet' was a surefire way to become attached.

"Mei? Meeeei!" Harumi snapped her finger in front of the doctor's face.

"Can you kindly learn what personal space is?" Mei swatted the girl's hand away.

"You didn't seem like you were paying attention." Harumi sighed.

"I had something in my mind."

"Is that so? Well, as I was saying, you ripped one of Yuzu's dresses and she will need a new one for the party. I'd like to take her to my favorite store if you'd allow it."

There was an 'AHA' moment in Mei's head as soon as Harumi mentioned dresses and whatnot. In the end, the plum-haired girl was excited specifically because she could use the blonde as a doll to dress up. Of course, that makes sense. Harumi and Mei were both obsessives after all, which is to say that if Mei's affinity was with science, then Harumi's aligned with fashion.

"Do as you wish." She answered.

"Oh? You better get ready then, Miss Aihara." Harumi smiled as she clapped her hands in delight.

Notes:

I've been a little busy as of late, so there hasn't been much time to dedicate in updating both stories.

Anyway, I'm sorry but I won't be confirming anything with regards to what Yuzu has. All I can say is that I specifically chose it for a few reasons which includes the onset and a bunch of other things. I like being somewhat believable when I write these things though I may add something on top just because there's a scene that I absolutely need to write or else I'd fidget in sheer annoyance all my life.

Thanks for reading!