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Yu Kanda

There was an unfamiliar Renault Clio in the parking lot, which I found strange. Even though I was a half-hour later than usual, there were normally no other cars here at this hour other than security. They parked elsewhere though, so it wasn't theirs.

I pulled my car up beside the grey one and cut the ignition, absentmindedly staring at the other vehicle.

It was an older model, a Gen III hatchback model in fact, and it appeared to be in good condition.

I climbed out of my car and slammed the door shut behind me, still staring at the car. Through the windows, I could see that the interior was clean, with only a black backpack resting on the back seats.

Weird.

I threw one last glance at the other car before deciding to get a move on, taking the elevator straight up to my floor.

Curiously enough, the Moyashi was already here, typing on his computer as he usual.

"Your speech has been made. Since you had no real specifications, I made multiple. The meeting is in three hours, so please look over the speeches and decide which it is you prefer," he said, voice monotone and bland. "There are also three corresponding digital representations. Please take a look at those too. If there's anything unsatisfactory with my work, I'll be sure to perform any changes you wish."

Fuck. He made my ears want to bleed from how boring and robotic he sounded.

He was wearing different clothes -he always wore basically the same thing, but there were always slight differences in the material and colour-, which mean that he had left at some point. The kid looked tired though, unattractive shadows beneath his eyes.

"How long have you been here?" I asked, suspicious.

He glanced up at me momentarily, before looking back down again, dazed eyes rapidly blinking away sleep as he stared at the monitor. His glasses slipped down his face, but he seemed too out of it to push them back up. "An hour or two, maybe."

Liar. "When did you get in?" There was no way that my stupid PA would be like this after being here for only an hour.

"Two-ish," he said, and placed a hand over his mouth to muffle a yawn.

"That was about four hours ago," I deadpanned as his hand relocated to his computer mouse and smiled tiredly at me. Annoyed by that smile, I looked away and moved to stand behind him, taking the opportunity to check his computer screen and find out what he was up to now.

Familiar dates, times and notes glared back at me, and I recognised my schedule.

Christ. The brat's still working?

The boy swivelled his chair so that he could face me again. "Oh." He didn't sound like he cared.

My suspicion rose as I dragged my eyes over his form. There was something wrong with him. "What time did you leave?"

He froze, smile falling, and then a look of increasing discomfort began to grown the longer I stared. "That doesn't really matter."

I growled from the back of my throat, not satisfied even when he flinched. Crossing my arms and releasing an irritated breath, I took a closer look at my PA.

His clothes.

In the short amount of time I'd known him, I'd found that Allen Walker's clothes were always neat. There were never any stains, barely any wrinkles, and never any real imperfections.

That was not the case right now.

His appearance was bedraggled, at best. His white shirt was unironed and off by a button, and the cuffs were not done up. I thought I saw a glimpse of black peeking out from between the open cuff and his gloves, but he tucked his hands in his lap before I could be sure.

"What. Time. Did. You. Leave?"

My PA shifted shyly under my gaze, before swivelling his chair back to face the bright computer screen as he quietly admitted, "One o'clock."

I wanted to slam the kid's head against that damn computer and beat some fucking sense into him. Did he not fucking realise that he was useless to me like this? That I couldn't use him if he was dead on his feet?

The brat could be reasonably smart at times, but then there were moments when he could be more of an idiot than those fucktards in the rest of society. Like now. "Did you get any sleep?"

He shook his head and blinked some more. "I had a shower and ate."

This kid was such a pain to deal with. Work-wise, he didn't suck. Also, messing with him and teasing his shorter stature was always entertaining. The problem was that he possessed traits that I despised.

I'd always hated people that couldn't properly care for themselves. They were like big babies, adults but still so damn reliant on others for everything. This idiot here thought that going without sleep would be fine and that that showering and eating was all he needed to keep himself healthy. Hadn't he ever wondered why he was such a thin midget? If he wasn't treating his body right, there was no way he'd grow.

I also hated the way he deceived others with false happiness. That was why I found it so enjoyable to have him snap and cuss at me in British.

Furthermore, what pissed me off the most was how nice he was to everyone. He was all polite words and warm smiles, the kind of person that was like a dim little light that would eventually burn out because it tried too hard.

It wasn't only those three things though.

He let me stomp all over him and didn't put up a fight when I forced him into becoming my PA. He didn't know how to say no. He took some of the stuff I said too damn literally. He got stupider when touched, stiffening and stuttering or falling silent like a moron.

It was just so fucking frustrating.

I left the room, moving to my office to check on the speeches and see what needed editing. Since this was his first time creating one of my presentations, I wasn't expecting a lot.

The Moyashi soon trotted quietly in behind me, remaining by the chair opposite to my desk.

"Take a nap," I told him as I sat and searched for the papers, briefly throwing my hand in the direction of the futon. I peeled a sticky note from the small pile of speeches he'd made and put it to the side. The speeches all seemed to be a few pages long, though varied to a some extent in length. I skimmed over the one on top, flipping through the flimsy pages. The basics weren't bad; I'd have to have a more in-depth look to be sure that it was alright to use.

That was weird. I'd thought it'd be crappier than this.

Then again, he had worked with Komui. It wouldn't surprise me one bit if that slacker pushed the responsibility of his own branch meetings and staff speeches off onto someone else. I'd be even less surprised if that person was my meek little PA.

"Sir?" He inquired, still standing where I'd last seen him over ten minutes ago.

I lowered the paper, exasperated and more than a little tired myself because of the late night I'd had. "What?" My tone was surlier I'd meant it to be, but that was fine. I was not in the mood for this today.

"I have work to do."

It was too early for his stubborn shit. "You're an insufferable brat," I said, taking an old marked folder full of -blank- paper from my bottom left desk drawer. "Take this down to File Storage."

He instantly paled, staring at me with an incredulous look in his sleepy grey eyes. "But you know what ha-"

"You wanted to work, didn't you?" I snapped, already knowing his response. He was a predictable brat, always wanting to work and prove himself useful. This would teach him to not be so eager to please.

The Moyashi nodded quickly, if a little stupidly because of the lack of sleep, before coming closer and taking the item. He mournfully looked down at his ticket to Hell, but didn't say a word of protest. "Then… I'll see you later, sir."

From the back, I noticed that his dress shirt was only half tucked in to his pants, and he wasn't wearing a belt.

VWV

I slumped down in my seat and loosened my tie, watching as Tiedoll, Marie, Daisya and Lavi filed in after me.

Tiedoll sat at his usual seat while Marie and Daisya took the futon to my far right.

Unlike the rest of the group, Lavi decided be an ass and get close, his hands on my desk as he peered down at me from over my computer. "You sounded alright," he said, his grin turning sly. "I take it Al did an alright job, yeah?"

"Tch." The Moyashi's speeches had been alright. That is, they hadn't sucked. I, obviously, had chosen the one I thought best suited Crow and edited it as I saw fit.

Actually… speaking of my PA… It'd been nearly four hours since I'd sent him down to File Storage. Now that the meeting was over, I'd have to go find him.

"Yu-chan?"

I hissed at the sound of that nickname, just about ready to stab him with a pen if he said it again.

Lavi raised his hands in amused surrender. "Someone's in a bad mood."

I absently flipped him off and pretended not to hear Tiedoll's alarmed "Yu!" as I tried to organise what was on my desk. That was when I saw the yellow sticky note I'd found earlier. I checked it to see if there was anything important on it, only to find that that the contents were written in the messiest fucking chicken-scratch I'd seen since I was in elementary school.

[I noticed that it wouldn't all fit in the cabinet, so I suggest getting a new one. Also, nothing was in order, so I took the liberty of alphabetising your folders by year. You should be able to figure out where everything is.]

I scanned the area behind me where the only cabinet in the room stood. It was way tidier than I remembered seeing it in a long time, and that was even with the piles by its base.

Huh.

The Moyashi had done this and made multiple speeches? The fuck?

"Damn overachiever…"

"Who is?" Lavi asked, suddenly right by my right elbow. He looked at the note in my hand and laughed. "Man, whose writing it this? It sucks."

I contemplated elbowing him in the eye, but Tiedoll was watching. He also had a this latest incident, a new problem had been brought to my attention: my PA's handwriting was shit.

A vein in my forehead throbbed. I fucking hated bad handwriting. I hated seeing it, I hated reading it, and I hated people who wrote with it.

I set the sticky note down before eventually tapping the desk repeatedly with my forefinger, thinking about what would come next. It would make sense to ensure that he just didn't write by hand any time in the immediate future and stuck to typing. If he did that, however, he would never improve.

Did I have him go buy a preschool book that taught kids how to write? Would that even fix this?

I breathed out and stilled my finger. This was stupid. I had better things to do than worry about this.

"Yu," Tiedoll said from his chair, looking musingly across at me. "What are you doing?"

Clicking my tongue, I took the two sheets of paper from today's meeting that required a Chairman-level signature and stood, dumping them in Tiedoll's lap on the way past.

"Wait! Yu! Where are you going?"

This time, I smirked. "To rescue the baka Moyashi."

VWV

I found my PA asleep in File Storage, his face slack and his body slumped against the wall, some stray white strands stuck to the corner of his mouth. There were no fake smiles or glares. He looked utterly defenceless.

He looked better.

Awake, he looked overworked and stressed, like there was always some weight on his shoulders. He was doing better than the others had at this point in the season, at least. Most would have already cracked under the pressure and handed in their resignation letters or requested assistance from other sections.

My PA's chest rose and fell with each breath, each movement minute.

I crouched down and reached for his face, but froze as he made a small noise. I paused for a beat, and when he didn't wake up, I pulled the strands of hair from his mouth.

With how nearly everything about this kid was so colourless, that ugly red scar really stood out, from the crude star on top to the curved line that ended by his lip and framed his pale cheek. If anything, the scar looked more like it was there as a mark of possession.

My hand still felt weird remembering the incident from two days ago. That was when I'd realised that the thing wasn't a tattoo like I'd originally thought.

Tattoos didn't leave a jagged depression in the skin.

For it to have healed so well, he must have received it years ago. It would have hurt like hell.

I poked his left cheek, barely touching the edge of the scar.

"You're such a pain."