Mr Mew has got a brother,
One that's not like any other,
Two of them can travel farther,
Would you like to go together?
Black Cat Crescent - 04 - Twinkle of stars
"Didn't hear you come in last night," said Eri, as Shiki approached the dining table. "Everything go okay?"
Shiki woke up feeling well-rested, despite having one of the most exhausting nights yesterday. Her morning routine went ahead as scheduled, which was why Eri was sat there with her breakfast already pretty much done, she was a much earlier riser than Shiki was.
Eri's pink hair was done in a simple, singular braid, which usually meant it was going to be a full day at the office and that Eri was itching to get some proper design sketches down.
"We're still in the negotiation stage, so we can say the door is still open on this one," was Shiki's answer. While this whole ordeal with the Twisters was a passion project of hers, it was still Gatto Nero business and she didn't want to keep her co-founder in the dark. "We did have a bit of a hiccup, though."
A message came through from Swallow this morning and it informed Shiki that Dragon was going to be on the lookout for Shiki this morning. She didn't mention that he would specifically be meeting Shiki anywhere so she wondered if Dragon was just going to tail her on the way to work. A second message came through with a number that was presumably Dragon's but Shiki hadn't sent one to him yet.
She showed the message exchange, as well as her previous exchanges with Swallow to Eri as she explained what went down. To Eri's credit, her expression remained relatively neutral the whole time that Shiki rambled, and boy did she ramble. She didn't want to worry Eri but she couldn't help but pour out every single detail, especially with how they hadn't been able to have their catch-up after Shiki's drunk-graffiti debacle.
Once Shiki was done, she let out a huge breath, having spoken at about a million miles per hour. This time, Eri did frown but she didn't look as panicked as Shiki had expected.
"So, the Twisters are going to be tailing you?"
Shiki nodded, "That's about right."
"Then we should probably be okay, they do have enough clout to scare others off."
That's a very Eri-like thing to say, Shiki thought. She had a grasp on the general pull the Twisters but Eri was the one who really paid attention to the numbers game of being reputable; it helped them a lot when they were first getting started, after all.
Making her way to the counter behind Eri, Shiki slot in some bread into the toaster. When Eri was feeling awake enough, she sometimes made them both breakfast but today was not one of those days so Shiki defaulted to her usual quick meal. The quiet hum of the toaster started and Shiki turned back to her best friend, "How about you? How did the meeting go?"
"Good. Great, actually!" said Eri, bringing her plate over to the sink. "I showed Miki and Fret a thing or two about putting the finishing touch to a deal, I can tell you that. I'm pretty sure I negotiated our contract with Kiryu Japan down to the yen."
At the mention of the modelling agency's name, Shiki's mind raced through the names of who could she possibly mean. Eiji Ouji…May Kurokawa…Jun Odaijima...there was more than a handful that it could mean but judging from the continuously growing grin on Eri's face, it could only be -
"Honoka Kondo!?" Shiki shrieked. At the same time, the toaster let out a ping, which meant her food was ready but Shiki was going to ignore that. "Oh my gosh, no way!"
"Yes, way!" Eri instantly went to hug Shiki and the two were hopping giddily on the spot. "We got her! The queen."
It was a good thing it was the morning because otherwise, their neighbours would have to deal with the shrill, gleeful screaming of the two young woman.
After a full minute or two they managed to calm themselves a bit and Shiki finally asked, "How did you manage to get this? Without me knowing?"
"Well, I wanted it to be a surprise! One of my friends managed to get in touch with Kondo's brother, who put in a good word for us and we got the ball rollin' from there! I was totally going to let you know but since you mentioned trying to get the Twisters by yourself I thought I'd try and shock you with this. Didn't see it coming, huh?"
"No way, not at all," Shiki assured her. No wonder Eri was in design mode today. "You want to make a whole new range, don't you?"
"Well…yes." There was that twinkle of stars in Eri's eyes that she got whenever she was cooking up something grand. "I swear when I went to them, I was thinking we should use our current collection but I'm thinking this needs to be Honoka-ised."
There wasn't a session of brainstorming that didn't go by with Eri saying 'don't you think our clothes would look good on Honoka Kondo?' so this was like a second dream come true for her. Shiki herself felt a rush of excitement. She really liked Kondo a whole lot too so this was going to be huge for them.
"That's amazing, wow I'm still - wow." Shiki grabbed a kitchen towel and her piece of toast. "What are we waiting for? Let's go, we've got some work to do."
xxxxx
[ hey, Misaki-san. Dragon here. swallow gave me ur no. i didnt want 2 bother u otw to work but I'm around if ya need me. ]
– morning! thanks for doing this :D huh, are you here already tho? cant see you…did swallow give you wrong address? –
[ im here! im just kinda hiding…dont wanna be too obvious ]
– ohh ok lol –
[ dw, anyone who needs to see me will spot me ]
– ok, thanks for helping ^^; –
[ no worries ]
xxxxx
Shiki hadn't spotted the masked young man from yesterday at all but she could sense that Dragon was nearby, true to his word. A sort of gut feeling that was surprisingly reassuring. Normally it would be horrifying to think someone was watching her but huh…was kinda cool that she had bodyguards. Probably not the most normal way to think about things but that was that.
Their office wasn't teeming with activity yet when they arrived but Shiki and Eri, without a word to each other, headed past the desks and straight to the door for the workroom.
This was more of Shiki's domain, the room stretching out long enough for more than three sewing machines, each with a differing function. Despite the noise of the machines usually making it louder than the main office, it was always more comforting to Shiki here. This was where Shiki would get her hands on her creations and make them from scratch. Their hand-made items were now considered rare and something that attracted a lot of attention. If you told Shiki ten years ago that things made by her would garner this much love, she'd have called you a liar. The fact that they had a space this big just for her was proof of it all, a huge upgrade from when they first started and Shiki used her clunky machine back home.
Eri was welcome here too, of course. She did work on her designs here from time to time, especially when they were working on a joint design. There were still times where Eri would go into her own small office to hammer out a design in an hour flat. This scale of a design would usually amount to that but Shiki could tell that Eri was still eager to let everyone know that they had secured the Honoka Kondo to model for them.
It didn't take long for that news to spread. Fret had come looking for them after about half an hour and he'd already made his rounds. It amused Shiki to see that Eri was slightly miffed that she wasn't breaking the news but told him to get anyone who passed in here. The whole office was buzzing with hype and it was an excellent morale booster. While they left the door close most of the time, since Shiki wanted to concentrate on the new Mr Mew hoodies that they were going to put out, she feel the boost of energy through the doors.
While it did make her smile, it also fueled another fire within her.
This was exactly what she wanted to do with the Twisters.
Bring them in and cause a storm.
xxxxx
[ hey, Misaki-san. hope ur day is goin good. smth came up and i gtg but someone else is gonna to take over. ]
– oh, that's fine! hope everything is alright with you! who's taking over? is it swallow? –
[ gimme a sec ]
[yeah, i think swallow should be able to make it. sry for this ]
xxxxx
Her best friend had really been in the zone today and told Shiki to go ahead. Shiki finished on time and even had room to update Nagi on her success. Nagi's glasses glinted and she laughed almost menacingly when Shiki relayed how the Key Item had worked. It was infectious and Shiki ended up joining her…the rest of their co-workers might have called it a day because of that.
Nagi was going to work a few more things for a while (and, Shiki suspected, wanted to grind some Elestra here where their aircon was fairly strong) before heading home.
So, when Shiki left the office, she exited alone.
It wasn't dark out yet but she didn't feel the same presence of Dragon that she did earlier in the day. She thought she would be able to spot Swallow if she was here but she couldn't see a hint of her at all.
Their office wasn't in a quiet area, so it wasn't eerie or anything of that sort but she still felt a little unsettled. Swallow would've messaged her if she had arrived, wouldn't she? Shiki didn't know Swallow well yet but she had a feeling that she wasn't the kind of person to not tell her in advance.
Going with the crowd, it is.
A lot of other people were finishing up with their day so it was easy to slip into the stream of people and become one of the masses. A lot of them looked tired and she briefly wondered whether they had enjoyed their job today. She wasn't as full of life as she had been in the morning but she didn't feel drained. Maybe there was a real difference when you loved your job.
…Wait.
She almost missed him.
But in the sea of people, she spotted those blue eyes that she had drawn yesterday, looking straight at her.
He was leaning against a wall, just under a shop that had an unfoldable roof over it. As someone she thought was so striking, he was really inconspicuous today. Jupiter of Monkey, she recognised. Super common brand. Maybe it was also because, she realised, the tips of his hair seemed to be dyed dark.
"Yes, I sprayed it black, quit starin'."
"O-oh." When did she get here? She could have sworn a second ago she had just spotted him but she was right in front of him now. "Er - where's Swallow?"
"She was going to come but something popped up for her last minute too, so I'm here."
"Right." She went and manoeuvred around so that she was leaning against the wall too. "So you got a lot of spare time to do the body-guarding yourself, huh?"
"...I wouldn't say that."
He didn't seem bothered to elaborate what he would say. Instead, he asked her, "Why'd you stop? Don't pay me any mind, I'll be following."
"No reason. Maybe 'cause it's weird to see you out in daylight."
His threads and black mask were nothing out of the usual and he was still enough to go unnoticed by most but it was a strange sight when you did actually look at him for longer than a moment.
"I don't operate just at night."
"Really? Isn't that your whole schtick? You know, 'cause you're a moon and all…"
Tough crowd. The joke fell flat on the floor with a giant splat. He didn't even shake his head at the joke. No response. Nothing.
"So - uh," Shiki changed the subject, feeling like she had to keep talking, "Any news on what the Skulls thinks? If you're putting it to a vote and all or whatever you're doing."
"Didn't you just finish work?"
"The grind never ends."
"Right." He did humour her, though, "I'm still waiting on a response. That's all I can say."
More like that was all he was probably willing to say, but fine.
He started walking away and Shiki was taken aback, racing after him. "Wait, huh, where are you going?"
"Swallow gave me your address so if you're not going to start moving, I will."
That was…fair. Maybe.
They walked in silence, even as the crowd around them continued to bustle.
So many people around him and yet no one took any notice of him. Even though he was the Crescent Nex.
She started giggling to herself, silly. Gatto Nero was on a rise, today for sure.
"What are you laughing about?"
"Nothing…" She lowered her voice, in a conspiring whisper, "Mr. Super-elusive Crescent Nex."
"Someone's in a good mood…"
"You can tell?"
"You're like an open book."
He was looking at her again and something made her turn her face away.
She wasn't an open book.
Shiki just thought it had been a great day.
And maybe even a better day, now.
A/N: Tadaa! When I say that I have not proofread this, I really haven't and it is nine minutes until midnight but I REFUSE to be late with this. Absolutely refuse.
Anyway, I did what I wanted to do and we spent a little time with Eri so yay! Even managed to keep this short and sweet like I wanted. I'd like to thank everyone, for reading! It's really nice to see that this is still fun for the handful of people who are into this ship hehe
Cheers and see you next chapter!
- Dina (22-03-23)