For disclaimers, please see part one.
Author's Notes:
Utterly un-betaed. Hopefully, this should make up for chapter one being as short as it was. Enjoy.
A Million Reasons; part II
Sooner Than You Thought
The ringing of the bell signaled the end of the last class of the day, which for Kuga Natsuki had consisted of 95 minutes in one of Fuuka University's many engineering labs. The dark-haired young woman jotted a few more sentences down on the pad laying on the table beside her tools, – a microscope and a set of implements so tiny they gave the impression that she was hand-making a new, ultra-small microchip – then dated and signed the bottom of the page and folded the notebook shut.
She tuned out the chatter of her fellow students - what few there were – and tucked the notebook and pen under her arm as she made her way out of the sterile lab along with the small group of people. The image of them all shuffling out of the doors, all clad in pristine, white lab coats and wearing clear latex gloves and face masks gave her the almost irresistible urge to baa like a sheep, but she choked back a slightly hysterical snicker and forced it down.
Once the doors shut behind her, she tugged the gloves free from her hands and dumped them into the bin set against a nearby wall just for that purpose, idly rubbing her fingers to free them of the rubbery feeling as best she could until she got the chance to wash them.
The ridiculous little booties that covered her shoes were next to come off and be placed in another bin, before the turn finally came to her face mask. She peeled it off with a sense of relief, and grimaced slightly as the elastic ribbons used to secure it caught in her hair. The fact that it always happened, no matter how much care she took to tie back her hair, didn't make the task of freeing it any less tedious, and by the time she made it back to the changing room to dispose of her lab coat, the rest of her classmates had already left.
Oh well. She ambled over to the metal locker sporting her name and unlocked it before unbuttoning the white coat and letting it slip off her arms and onto the bench behind her. All of the other students had plans for the weekend, most of which she'd been invited along to and declined, since she'd already agreed to spend her free time with her family.
She found herself smiling as she carried the lab coat over to the laundry hamper and shoved it in, then padded over to one of the sinks set into the wall and used the disinfectant soap to thoroughly clean her hands and lower arms. It sure was hell of a gear change compared to her high school days as the Ice-Princess-slash-Lone-Wolf of Fuuka Academy.
Well. The first part of her high school days, anyway. Once the utter disaster that had been the HiME Carnival had been over, there had been very little left to spend her time on, especially since she'd also uncovered the truth about her mother.
So she'd focused her energy on her schooling and the few friends she'd had, like Mai and Mikoto, and slowly but surely, her grades had increased right along with her social circle. The former had been enough to get her into Fuuka University's undergraduate bioinformatics program on a full scholarship, and then on to the graduate program for biomedical engineering.
The scholarship even gave her a set amount of money each month that enabled her to stay out of the dorms and in her own apartment, although she had traded her old one for one closer to both the school itself and the Eastern Hills district. There wasn't much extra money for pure fun, especially considering how much she'd spent on acquiring information in her HiME days, but the scholarship paid the bills and kept her reasonably comfortable. Akiko, of course, was more than willing to help whenever the money ran a little short, but Natsuki hated having to ask, and only did so when she had no other choice.
Of course, her sister was every bit as stubborn as she was, she idly acknowledged as she trotted back to her locker and pulled out the new full-body, leather suit. The material was predominantly black with dark gray piping, and a broad, deep blue stripe running along the outsides of both legs, up along the sides of her waist and the underside of her arms all the way down to her wrists.
That had been the most recent gift, given to her after she'd passed her end of year exams with flying colors. And it even matched the the brand new Ducati that she'd found sitting in her sister's driveway when she'd come over for Christmas the year before, only a scant month after her old bike had been helplessly totaled in an accident involving a careless driver and a traffic light that had been green on her side, dammit. She'd ended up flinging herself off the bike and out of the car's range, and had only bled from landing face-down on the pavement and smashing the visor on her helmet. She'd felt very lucky to walk away from the accident with only a cut above her right eyebrow to show for her trouble.
Well, that and a series of bruises in some of the more imaginative colors of the rainbow, all of which had faded into nothingness soon enough. The only physical reminder she had of her little tumble on the asphalt was a small scar where the broken visor had cut her, and even that was only visible if one was to look really close.
She deftly switched her ordinary clothes for the riding suit, zipping the snug fabric closed before sitting down to store the other garments in her book bag, along with the notes she'd brought back from the lab.
The campus-wide PA system crackled slightly above her head. "Kuga Natsuki, please report immediately to the main office of the Biology Faculty. Kuga Natsuki."
She lifted her head enough that she could send the inconspicuous loudspeaker a curious glance. "Huh. Wonder what I did this time," she muttered to herself as she got to her feet and headed for the door. "Can't really be about Lab 17. They haven't even finished rebuilding that yet."
That in mind, she idly reminded herself to keep double-checking what chemicals she mixed before she mixed them, and swung the bag over her shoulder as she pushed the door open.
The campus was pretty much abandoned at this point, since the majority of the students had either left for the weekend or were spending some extra time studying in the library or in the open areas further away. This meant, of course, that the noise level around her was between low and non-existent, and she startled slightly as the PA system crackled again.
"Kuga Natsuki, please report immediately to the main office of the Biology Faculty. Again, that was Kuga Natsuki."
"Yeah, yeah, yeah," she grumbled quietly to herself as she mounted the large stone steps that led to the front door of the biology department's administrative building. "I'm coming, already. Hold your damn horses."
She gave the heavy door a tug and stepped into the cool air of the building's lobby. The front desk seemed empty of people, but it was quiet enough inside that she could hear some rustling noises not all that far away.
With a sigh, she approached the smooth wooden desk, her boots squeaking slightly against the polished stone floors as she walked. "Anybody here?" she called out, turning her head to look around curiously.
"Just a moment, please," a male voice replied from a room off to the side. "I'll be right with you." A few more shuffling noises carried into the main room, and then a familiar head of brown hair peeked out. "Ah, there you are, Kuga-san."
Natsuki looked up from where she had folded her hands on the dark wood, and blinked. "Takumi-kun? What are you doing here?"
The young man smiled as he stepped up behind the desk, opposite her, and spread his hands out. "I work here. Part time, that is." He picked up a stack of papers that had been left next to the computer terminal behind the counter, and shuffled them into order with a few brisk, efficient motions. "The faculty can always use a few extra hands, and this way I can help Onee-chan so she won't have to worry about the bills quite so much."
The biker shook her head. "I know you work here, your sister told me a few days ago." She leaned her elbows on the counter as she remembered how she'd had to talk a pretty frantic Mai down, since the redhead had been worried that she wasn't good enough at taking care of her brother. Eventually, she'd ended up convincing her friend that the young man's job was a good thing, as it would both alleviate some of Mai's stress and help Takumi himself feel more like the adult he now was.
"I meant, what are you doing here now?" she clarified. "It's almost four o'clock. Haven't most people left already?"
"Ah, sorry." Takumi set the papers down in a neat pile. "Yes, they have, but as you know, a few of the professors appointed for counselor positions stay behind until 7 or so, in case a student needs to see them. That's the shift I work, since I can't really come in during the day."
"Yeah, I heard." Natsuki let a grin shape her lips as she reached a hand out and clapped the young man on the shoulder. "You got into med school, eh? Congratulations."
Takumi ended up leaning slightly to the side from the force of the slap, but he chuckled easily enough. "Thank you, Kuga-san." He glanced down at a pad of paper on the table in front of him, and blinked. "Oh, excuse me. The reason you were called over the PA is that Kamiizumi-sensei wishes to see you. She's waiting for you in her office."
"Hm." The biker nodded. "I figured it was her." Kamiizumi Suzume had been her counselor during the past four years at Fuuka University, and while she hadn't needed to see her much until she was close to finishing her undergraduate studies, from that point forward she'd started meeting with the older woman about once a month.
She also happened to teach a few of Natsuki's classes, now that the biker was working on her master's degree. "I guess I'd better head over there, then." She pushed away from the counter and strode off in the direction of the professor's office. "Don't be too late getting home to Akira-kun, ne?" A glance over her shoulder told her that the young man blushed at her words, and she chuckled softly to herself as she turned a corner and continued down a hallway.
Her merriment faded somewhat as the door swung shut behind her. Even though she'd spent the better part of her teenage years hanging out in smoky bars and fighting monsters from another world, there was still something decidedly creepy about the way the severe faces of the university's founders and past professors stared down at her from the many black and white photographs mounted on the wall. The bright lighting in the hallway didn't help any, either. All it really did was make the pictures seem all the more grim.
"Brr." She shook of the feeling of unease as she came to a halt in front of one of the last doors, and raised her hand to knock with a mild sense of relief.
A soft "Come" could be made out from behind the wooden door, and she swung it open and entered the much warmer lighting of the small office, closing the door again behind her and bowing lightly as she did so. "You wished to see me, Kamiizumi-sensei?"
Across the room was a wide, stainless steel desk in front of a row of tall bookshelves made from the same material. The silvery color meshed well with the faint shade of blue on the walls, as well as the white curtains that hung by the window to the left. Behind the desk sat a distinguished-looking woman with black hair that showed only the faintest hint of gray at the temples, and she looked up as she obviously heard the door close.
"Ah, Kuga-san." Suzume set down the pen she had been holding – red, which left little doubt as to its use – and waved her closer. "I certainly did. Have a seat."
Nodding wordlessly, Natsuki approached the desk, setting her bag onto the pale wooden floor next to one of the visitor's chairs before seating herself on the somewhat comfortable cushion. Then she simply waited respectfully.
The professor pulled out a drawer beside her and seemed to ruffle through a few things inside it before she gave a small noise of of satisfaction. A plain, cardboard folder was pulled loose and placed on the desk into front of her, and the drawer clicked softly as it was slid shut once more. "I assume that you remember the issue I discussed with you at the beginning of last semester?"
"Of course, sensei." The issue in question had been one of Natsuki signing up for offers of internships and work-study programs for her final year of graduate school – something that, if attained, would grant her not only extra income, but also real-life experience with her chosen major, which could prove invaluable once she graduated.
"If you want this..." The older woman tapped the folder with a neatly manicured fingernail. "...it is yours. I advise that you invest in some more appropriate clothing, however, since this company isn't quite as... relaxed.. about their dress code as we are here."
The folder was pushed towards her and, after a glance up and a nod from her teacher, the biker claimed it and curiously flipped it open to the first sheet of paper.
And she almost... almost... started laughing at the absurdity of it all.
"The faculty was recently contacted by the division of Fujino Incorporated that opened downtown just a few weeks ago," Suzume explained. "They feel that their new executive director will need the aid of an assistant once she arrives, and they would, of course, prefer someone who has experience with their area of expertise."
"Of course." Natsuki bit back a sigh as she flipped to the page which listed the company dress code, which she would have to abide by. Business formal. Great. That, she knew, meant skirts, shirts and blazers. And heels.
Oh well. She neatly deposited the folder in her bag and resolved to examine it more closely later in the evening. "When?"
"You have an interview with Fujino-san the Monday after next."
Nine days, then. "Alright." She nodded, and then paused as her brows furrowed slightly. "Why me, though?"
Her teacher cocked her head just a little bit as she folded her hands on the table in front of her. "You are one of our top students, Kuga-san. Explosive mishaps aside."
Natsuki glanced off to one side as she awkwardly scratched at the beck of her neck. "Well... it's not like I did it on purpose."
All that had really happened was that she'd misread a label during an advanced chemistry class that she'd taken for some extra credit, and somehow managed to create a very unstable, but thankfully slowly reacting mix. Next thing she knew, the teacher had hurriedly rushed the entire class out of the lab and as far away as possible.
The professor's lips quirked into the smallest of smiles. "Kuga-san, whether you did it on purpose or by accident, the fact remains that all that was left intact in that room were the walls."
The dark head on the other side of the desk ducked slightly. "I know." There was a lengthy pause. "Have they figured out the total repair costs yet?"
"Yes." The older woman slid a piece of paper across the table, and watched her student blanch as she looked at the figure written on it. "However..." She tugged the paper back and held it up. "It seems that the scholarship you received during your time at Fuuka Academy also included a rather hefty sum to be used on any property damages."
Natsuki fought the urge to slump down in her seat in relief. Oh, I owe you such a favor, Kazehana-san. Where ever the hell you are, thank you.
"While I don't much care to know why such a large amount was set aside for that particular eventuality, it was transferred here when you first enrolled, and will cover the expenses," the woman went on. "Actually, there will still be some funds left over." A slender eyebrow quirked. "I'm sure you understand, however, that this in no way means that you should strain yourself for a repeat performance."
"Yes, Kamiizumi-sensei." Sensing that she was being dismissed, Natsuki rose from her seat and bowed before picking her bag up and heading for the door.
"And Kuga-san?"
She paused halfway through the door. "Yeah?"
The professor sent her a dry glance. "Do try to not blow up any more labs. Here or downtown, hm?"
A sigh. "Yes, sensei."
She closed the door behind her and regarded the silent hallway for a moment. Then she clapped a hand over her eyes. "Aw, man." She shook her head as she started the trek to the parking lot. "I sure hope I can learn to walk in heels in a week."
"Ojou-sama?"
She paused as she was about to enter her new office, and half-turned to see her secretary approaching, a thin folder held in her hands. "Yes, Yamuri-han?"
"If you would please look these over." The slender, middle aged woman handed her the folder with a light bow. "They are the details on the young woman who has been chosen as your temporary assistant."
"Assistant?" The executive claimed the folder with a slight tilt of her head, but made no move to examine the files within.
"Yes. Since ojou-sama was so suddenly appointed here, there was little time to find a suitable candidate without outside assistance," Yamuri Kina explained hastily. "Fuuka University has recommended one of its top students in the field of biotechnology. She will be meeting with you today for an interview. If ojou-sama does not approve, someone else will be found to replace her as soon as possible."
"I see." Shizuru shook her head slightly and studied the front of the folder, which only had the words 'Assistant details' written meticulously on the front of it, and thus offered little clue about its further contents. "It seems quite harsh that a young woman should be pulled so suddenly away from her classes simply because of me."
"Ah..." Kina blinked once in surprise. Had her new boss not read any of the documents forwarded to her back in Kyoto? They had, she knew, sent her intricate explanations of the agreement with the university, and promised her to deliver the details on the chosen candidate once the executive arrived in Fuuka herself.
"It's been designed much like a work-study program," she explained, taking care to keep the slight befuddlement out of her voice. "She will be here three days of the week, and remain in classes for the rest."
"Hm." The CEO nodded once. "And for how long?"
"The entirety of her final year, should you find her satisfactory, ojou-sama."
"Ah. Ookini, Yamuri-han." She turned back around and opened the door to her office, then paused once more. "When will she be arriving?"
"In two hours."
"Ookini." She took a few steps forward and quietly closed the door behind her.
The silence was the first thing she noticed. In spite of the early morning stillness in her outer office, she should still be able to hear something from the outside, like the phone ringing, but there wasn't even a single beep.
Hm. Soundproofed. I think I like that. She let a small smile shape her lips as she remained by the door for a few seconds, studying her new domain.
The room was large and rectangular, with the longer sides containing the door she now stood by and the outer wall across from it, which seemed to consist entirely of windows. In front of said windows stood a wide desk and a comfortable-looking chair, both facing the door, and the wall to her left had a large conference table situated by it, complete with eight chairs and a flat-screen TV mounted above it. Against the rightmost wall there were three wide, leather couches placed catty-corner to each other, with a low table between them.
The walls in the office had been painted in a color that was so light a gray that it almost passed for white, while the carpet and furniture was done in complimentary shades of light brown. The combination managed to lend the room in its entirety an air of both cool professionalism and welcoming warmth – efficient, yet open.
And utterly Western. Shizuru shook her head amusedly as she approached her desk, circled around it and sat down in the leather chair behind it. It certainly was a far cry from the dorms at Kyoto University, where she'd spent the better part of the past six years of her life. But as the company was expanding to other countries, her father had felt it important that they try to somewhat break away from the image of 'stodgy, Japanese traditionalism' and try to embrace other, more widely familiar cultures.
She'd laughed when he'd told her of this decision. Fujino Hiraku was the most traditional man she'd ever known. But he'd laughed right along with her and appreciated the irony of it all, so that had been okay.
And after that talk... Shizuru sighed and leaned back in her chair. After that talk, she'd been thrown headfirst into the new responsibility of running a division. One whose focus was on something that she knew very little about. Her studies in Kyoto had leaned far more towards the humane sciences like communication and languages. Biotechnology wasn't exactly a subject she was familiar with, apart from what she'd learned about it during the precious little time she'd had between being informed of her placement and actually arriving.
It wasn't a very comfortable sensation to feel so out of her element, but she supposed that she would just have to improvise until she learned and hope for the best.
"Sink or swim, Shi-chin," her father had told her as she'd once more left Kyoto for Fuuka. "You've grown your own wings over the past years. Now it's time to test their strength."
She stole another glance at the file in her hand. Perhaps having an assistant who actually had a clue about the division's main focus wasn't such a bad idea.
She dropped the file into her inbox, booted up her new computer, and got to work.
Damn, that's a big building. Natsuki had to tilt her head back in order to see the top of the structure as she heard the cab pull away from the curb behind her. While she would have far preferred to have ridden her bike, both her counselor and her sister had drilled the importance of first impressions into her head, and arriving in her leathers only to change in one of the company washrooms probably wouldn't have given off a very good one.
So she'd ended up splurging on cab fare, since she already owed her family enough money for the suits Akiko had taken her shopping for. She had ended up with five different sets in varying colors, along with an almost disturbing amount of shirts and shoes to match. She'd lost the argument over the black leather briefcase, however, and had ended up having to accept it as a gift.
Really, her sister had enjoyed herself far too much during the past week. How To Walk In Heels 101, my ass, she mused idly as she gave the lapels of her suit jacket a tug to settle the fabric properly into place. Today's chosen set consisted of a figure-sewn blazer in a dark shade of blue with a matching, slim skirt, a white shirt, sheer hose and and pair of dark shoes with heels that thankfully weren't all that high.
She spotted her own reflection in the massive, mirrored glass panes that covered the entire outside of the building as she approached the large double doors, and fought the urge to pull a face at herself. Ugh. I sure look stuffy like this.
She was pleased to notice, however, that she was now walking as elegantly as her sister did in those damned contraptions. Her first few attempts had resulted in some rather glorious falls, along with much arm-waving and general wobbling, which, to her chagrin, in turn had caused much amusement for her brother in law. Morio had grown sadly immune to the Kuga Death Glare, and since Kaguya had also been present at the lessons, she hadn't been able to properly threaten him into leaving.
It wasn't easy to intimidate someone while calling them a 'son of a biscuit', after all.
She sighed and gripped the handle of the briefcase a little tighter as she pushed one of the doors open.
The first thing that hit her as she entered the lobby of Fujino incorporated was... Money.The space fairly reeked of it, and she looked around curiously as she took in the black marble floors and the rich, wooden walls. Aside from the gentle babbling of the massive fountain in the middle of the large room, she could also hear the sound of several pairs of feet, some close, some far away.
She found out why once she took a few steps further inside. Jesus. She felt several curious sets of eyes rest on her as she weaved her way through a throng of hurriedly moving people, and made sure to only send a brief glance up on her way to the security desk off to her right-hand side. A fucking atrium?!
Indeed, it seemed as if the entire center of the building had been left open all the way up to the large skylight in the roof, almost thirty stories above her. Walkways with what appeared to be waist-high railings circled the open space at every floor, allowing the apparent sea of humanity to keep flowing effortlessly.
She shook her head in bemusement as she reached the security desk, where a uniformed guard sent her a friendly smile. "Excuse me, my name is Kuga Natsuki. I have an appointment with Fujino Shizuru?"
The guard picked up a clipboard from his station and leafed through a few pages on it before glancing up at her and smiling. "Of course, Kuga-san." He indicated that she should wait for a minute, and pulled a plastic card from a drawer. The card was inserted into a slot in a small device on a table behind him, and she watched him type something into the terminal next to it as she waited.
Then the machine beeped and spat the card back out, and the man slid it into a black plastic holder, onto which an oddly shaped snaphook had been attached. "There you go, Kuga-san." He pulled the card and the hook apart to show the black piece of string that allowed her to hold up the card even after clipping it to something, and released the plastic again, making the string retract back into the metal with a click before handing the whole deal over to her. "That'll take you upstairs for today. We can make a more permanent one for you once you've been officially hired."
She accepted the card and studied it, seeing the word 'visitor' printed on the white plastic in plain, black lettering. "Thanks." She deftly clipped it onto one of the belt loops in her skirt. "Could you tell me exactly where 'upstairs' is?"
He grinned. "28th floor. Take those elevators over there," he nodded to the other side of the room, where a series of said machines were seeing what seemed to be constant use. "... first hallway on your left, then down to the last door."
"Thanks." She gave him a nod before turning and striding off towards the elevators, and felt oddly self-conscious as she stepped into an almost full one and pressed the button for the top floor.
That action earned her more curious glances from her fellow passengers, and she bit back a sigh and pointedly kept her gaze on her own reflection in the metal doors in front of her. Which only made her want to sigh some more as she was reminded of the fact that she was wearing... ugh... makeup. Not much, to be sure, just a hint of blush and the faintest trace of eyeshadow – 'to add some color to your face', Akiko had said.
Yeah, yeah. She stepped aside as the cart stopped to let some people off. First impressions are the most important ones. Blah blah blah. Of course, the person she was meeting already knew what she looked like, but then again, Akiko didn't know that.
And it had been seven years, so... At least the surprise on Shizuru's face should be worth the effort.
The thought made her smirk to herself as she exited the cart and stepped onto the surprisingly silent floor. The hallway the guard had mentioned was easy enough to spot, and she briefly entertained the idea of kicking off her shoes and sliding down the length of the smoothly polished, wooden flooring.
Only briefly, though, as it really wasn't all that long of a hallway, and that had been about all the time it took for her to reach the end of it.
To her surprise, there was no handle on the door in question, and she spent a few seconds studying it before noticing a small, electrical box with a tiny red light in it set just to the right of the frame. "Hm." She fingered the card she'd been given. "I wonder..." Experimentally, she tugged the plastic up higher and examined it, seeing a very slight bulge in one of the corners that would about fit the size of one of the more recent security chips.
She cocked her head and held the card up in front of the box, which obligingly beeped and switched its light to green as the door swung inwards.
Nifty. She released the card and let it snap back into place against her thigh as she stepped inside. As soon as she'd cleared the door's reach, the same swung shut behind her, startling her a little.
"May I help you?"
Natsuki blinked and turned her head back around, spotting a slender, middle-aged woman with dark hair rising from behind a desk placed next to another set of double doors. "Ah... yes." She shook off the last bit of surprise and approached the desk. "I have an appointment with Sh... with Fujino-san at nine."
"Ah," the woman bowed in greeting and smiled. "Kuga-san, correct?"
"Yes." She clasped both her hands around the handle of the briefcase and sketched a return bow. "That would be me."
"Just a moment, I'll inform her that you're here." The woman, whom she assumed to be Shizuru's secretary, sat back down at her desk and pressed a button on the intercom set next to her phone. "Ojou-sama?"
There was a slight wait before they heard a reply. "Yes, Yamuri-han?"
She glanced down at the small speaker and felt her heart pound a little harder as she heard the familiar voice. I wonder if she knows that it's me?
"The graduate student from Fuuka University is here."
This time, the pause lasted a few seconds. "Ookini, Yamuri-han. Please send her in."
The secretary released the button and nodded to her. "Go on in, Kuga-san."
"Thanks." She shifted her hold on the briefcase a little and squared her shoulders, then pushed down the handle on one of the double doors and pushed it open.
Inside the large inner office, a slim, chestnut-haired woman was standing up behind her desk, but abruptly fell back into her chair out of sheer surprise. "Natsuki?"
She fought back a chuckle as she watched the crimson eyes widen in shock. Nope, she had no idea it was me. "Hey, Shizuru. Long time no see."
Japanese used in this chapter:
(-)sensei
Honorific/form of address used for teachers, among others.
-han/-chin
-san/-chan in Kyoto dialect
Ookini
'Thank you' in Kyoto dialect