I used to kid myself that it was unfair. After all, I was the first she met when she came to Douji. I was the one who had to search for her myself, and take different roles in order to find her. I've been her errand boy, her cook, her nurse, her chauffer, … her secret admirer that does nothing but stand at a distance and watch from afar. I'm kinder, and politer, and nicer to her than him. I'm only two years older than her, and he's just a year over a decade! I've even formed a nice relationship with her daughter whom he doesn't even seem to care for much. Is it fair? I suppose it makes sense then. He is after all my employer. A man with greater power, both physically and through status, and has and makes more money. His voice is deeper than mine, he has that enigmatic quality that I've heard women go crazy for. I am his puppet for him to control, so of course it makes sense that she should look at the manipulator, not the marionette.
"Goodbye now, Miss Rihoko! Have a nice evening!" said the older beautician in the tone that many adults use towards children. Rihoko turned around and waved her hand enthusiastically at the woman and the other ladies who bowed to them as they walked out the doors. Segawa was now carrying the bags which held the dresses as Rihoko held two boxes with her mother and her shoes inside.
Why Segawa was carrying the bags was because just moments earlier Masane had been holding them and swinging them about madly as she and her daughter talked excitedly about the upcoming party. Takayama warned her about not fooling around with the dresses (especially since they were more expensive than it is worth mentioning). After almost hitting a bag against the glass doors, Reiji confiscated them from the elated woman and handed them to his assistant.
He drove them back to Douji Group Industries and escorted the two females to their rooms and then followed Takayama back to his grand office. All the while he tried to act as usual, making the usual eye-contact with Takayama, regardless of how much Segawa didn't want to. Takayama went straight to his desk before the wall of glass windows. Silver moonlight cast into the room, giving a gleam to Takayama's hair and skin as he gazed out the window.
"Director, if you don't have a suit ready for tomorrow would you like me to prepare one for you?" Segawa asked as he worked on some data and Takayama's schedule with the high-tech touch-screen green clipboard of his. He tried to shake off the feelings that still lingered within his heart that had resulted from what happened an hour ago. Without turning around in his seat Takayama replied,
"No, that's fine. I already have a suit prepared for me, all that's needed are a few other things which I will get myself." Knowing better than to ask Takayama if he would like for him to get those items, Segawa nodded and said that he understood. Another few minutes passed as the two discussed plans and the progress of the Witchblade. As Segawa was about to take his leave the man stopped him.
"One more thing, Segawa.""Yes, sir?"
"Because Masane will be my 'arm-candy' for tomorrow's ball, our excuse will be that she is my date, rather than an employee of the company, and Rihoko is her niece whom she is caring for a few days, understood?"
"I understand. Have a goodnight director."
The second the doors shut behind him, a sorrowful look came into his light-brown eyes, he looked down for a few seconds, looked back up, exhaled, and proceeded to the elevator and went down a few stories. He walked to room fifteen. Residing just down the hall in room eleven were the Amahas. A middle-aged house-keeper was walking his way towards Segawa pushing a cart with several plates with silver dome-lids over them. From the smell wafting from them it was presumably food. The old man nodded to Segawa and greeted him, "Good evening, sir."
"Good evening." he replied, although it was technically morning, it being past twelve and all. Upon approaching his room, Segawa took out his card and slid it through the scanning device. A device in the bullet-proof door gave a click; he opened it and went inside. Upon entering a few lamps turned on automatically, giving off a warm feeling with the faded ivory painted walls. His room was furnished much like Masane and Rihoko's, except smaller since it had only one bed unlike theirs. The comforter and sheets were a creamy-white as were the pillows with the mattress being white. On the walls were painting that were there on default as well as some pictures and certificates of Hiroki Segawa. He put down his phone on his wooden bed stand and flopped onto the bed on his back.
On the wall to where the headboard of his bed was was a picture of two Special Section workers in medical-wear and himself, smiling in the picture at the camera-man as he took a picture of the three on their first MEW (Medical Emergency; Witchblade), taking care of Masane in her Witchblade form with several bandages and creams on her wounds. The three of them at the time had taken care of her while she was still in her Witchblade form, but hours later as she was quickly recovering she had reverted to her human form and Hiroki alone was to treat her.
A faint blush came to his long face as he thought about how he treated her wounds with her slightly ripped up tank-top on (the wound was above where the tank-top started on her breasts. A female nurse later replaced her shirt with a shirt exactly like it later when he was out of the room. Another reason to add as to why Hiroki was flushing was in reminiscence of the events only an hour ago. Unconsciously, his hand went to where his heart was and grasped the fabrics of his suit. "That's the second time I've encountered those melons of hers…or were they cantaloupes?" he thought, trying to remember what that photographer-friend of hers nicknamed her. He could almost wince at the memory of her furiously throwing a bookcase and Takayama and him when she found out he was the one to bandage her chest.
Getting up from the bed after a few more seconds of relaxing, he then undressed, and put on some blue pajamas consisting of a pair of blue pants, a white tank-top, and a light-blue jacket top that went over it. On his lean body, the simple attire made it look like he could be a model for pajamas. On his bed stand was a picture of Rihoko, Masane, and himself (kind of) from a few weeks ago when the woman had the idea of taking a picture of herself and Rihoko with his picture-phone. It was had a magnet glued to the back of it on the courtesy of little Rihoko so could 'always think of me (her) when you're (him) eating lunch!", assuming that he would put it on his non-existent refrigerator. Instead, he put it on the metal of his lamp-stand. In order to take the picture, Masane had grabbed the phone with his hand crushed gently between hers and the cellular device, as she pushed his face with her other hand out of the picture so that it would only be Rihoko and her. The end result was that it took a picture of the two girls making goofy faces and poses, but also of Hiroki being pushed out of the picture with his arm straining as he tried to hold on to his phone. He turned off the lamp and fell asleep with the picture in his hand.
BEEEP! Beeep! Beeep! Segawa opened his eyes and turned off his alarm-clock and put back the picture onto his lamp-stand. It was 6:30AM, and he had just an hour more of sleep than he was used to; five hours. He felt sleepier than usual, strangely enough, but he went to the bathroom and brushed his teeth. He as about to undress to take a shower when from the door some sudden pounding and banging sounded. He quickly ran to the door, slipped on his fancy black robe and opened the door. It was Masane, clad in a spaghetti-strap shirt of brown and yellow and some yellow slacks with duckies on them.
"M-Masane? What is it? Is something wrong?" he asked her, grabbing his dark-blue framed glasses from a desk near the door and slipping them on.
"You have to hurry! Rihoko! She, she fell and she's bleeding!!!" screamedMasane, grabbing him by the collar and shaking him. On the way of her dragging him out of his room he grabbed his suitcase that was luckily right next to the door and ran with her to her room. She flung open the door of her room and Masane cried out, "RIHOKO!" The girl looked quite fine actually, there was just a stool that seemed to have fallen that she was about to put back up. Rihoko looked up and pouted.
"Mom, I told you I was fine! You didn't have to get Mr. Segawa!" she said to her mother. She then looked at Segawa behind her. "Good morning Mr. Segawa." she pleasantly greeted him. He waved at her.
"Good morning Miss Rihoko. Is something wrong?"
"No, there isn't. I was just setting up the table for breakfast and I fell off the stool I was sitting on and scraped my knee on the ground! That's all!" Rihoko explained to him. Masane gave a deep sigh and walked towards her daughter.
"Well, I'm sorry Riko! I didn't know that! It could've been a lot worse, y'know." Masane said to her as she scratched the back of her head with an apologetic smile on her face. Rihoko reminded her that she had in fact told her that it was just a scratch. Segawa reached into his suitcase of many wonders and pulled out a small First Aid kit.
"At least let me cleanse and bandage your knee, Rihoko." he said to her, showing her the box. She nodded and hopped onto a chair. Rihoko's sleeping-wear was a cute white dress with pink lining and some simple flowers dotted every so often on it. He went over to her, knelt down, and warned her that the cleansing alcohol that he'd soon put on may sting a bit. He dabbed on the liquid with a cotton ball on her scratch, waited a few seconds for it to dry off, and then applied a Hello Kitty bandage, which came with the First Aid kit (as it was meant for children) on her knee. He stood up and smiled at her. "There, all done Miss. Rihoko. Just remember to put on a new one in a few hours, or if you're lucky it will have healed by then." She looked at her bandage and giggled at the Hello Kitties on it. He offered her his hand to help her down, she took it, and jumped down from the tall chair.
"Why thank you, Mr. Segawa!" Rihoko said to him. Masane in the background was smirking and wondering why she hadn't thought of that before running to Segawa. He turned to Masane.
"Mr. Takayama would like for both of you prepared to leave by 1600 hours so that we may have you done up at the boutique and ready to go by 1830 hours to arrive at the ball on time."
She looked at him strangely and was about to say something when he added,
"Be ready to leave by 4:00 so that we can get you and Rihoko to the boutique, and then leave by 6:30 so that we may arrive at the party on time." He adjusted his glasses.
"Oh," Masane said, she waved her hand and closed her eyes, "I knew that." Segawa made no comment about this but suddenly remembered something of importance to the to adults.
"By the way, Masane, you will be Mr. Takayama's date for tonight, so please mind you manners and try not to do anything that might embarrass him." Hiroki said to her, he almost had a hard time saying the first part of his sentence. Masane's jaw dropped as a look of fury overtook her.
"I'M HIS WHAT?!" she screamed aloud to not particularly him. Segawa reached for the door behind him and bowed to them and said to Rihoko in a soft voice,
"Bye now, Rihoko, have a nice day… I hope your mother has one too."
Rihoko said to him, "Bye Mr. Segawa, I will! Although I can't promise anything for my mom…"; looking at her mother who was still screaming and shouting about her being Reiji's date.
"I take my leave now." he said to her (Rihoko), and closed the door behind him. He walked back to his room, took a shower, put his work-suit, and took the elevator up to Takayama's office. On his way up, he couldn't help but think of the ducks on Masane's cute pants.
It was like this once back in high school. There I was in my last year and I thought I was in love with a young woman named Tsurai Musubi. But, we weren't meant to be. She was going out with a nineteen year old who had a scar that stretched from his left cheekbone to the cleft in his chin. Everyone always said how 'cool' he was. I thought that it was the scar that made him cool. Tsurai told me that I was too much of a pretty boy for her when I had the brilliant idea of asking her a few days after she and the guy with the scar broke up. Many girls liked me back then, I've heard, but my heart was set on Musubi, but, I guess she only liked macho-looking guys, huh? How tragic life is. Just a few days ago she called me the same thing: a pretty boy. And, as it happens to be, he too has a scar, just like that guy Tsurai had once dated. I begin to wonder once more if these efforts of mine are worth anything.
Hours had passed by and it was finally four o'clock PM. Segawa carried a small bag that held the suit he would wear in the evening as well as Takayama's. When they exited the office they found Rihoko waiting with Masane right outside of it. She impatiently asked them what took the two men so long, grabbed hold of her mother's arm, and quickly skipped down the hallway. Not quite willing to face the wrath of a child's anger, Takayama (stoic and grumpy looking as usual) and Segawa power-walked towards the elevator which the two girls were heading for, and managed to slip into the elevator before the door closed.
By the time they got to the boutique, Takayama and Segawa were quite near tired of the endless talk about the party, especially the fantasized stuff such as how the two girls were planning on entering the ballroom with fog rolling by their feet and the two men escorting them down a majestic stairway like princesses (at which Reiji smacked his forehead with his palm and rubbed his temple) where everyone would awe at their beauty and take pictures. It was just a simple congratulatory party for the surprise success of a beneficial deal with only two-hundred some people attending, certainly not a red-carpet type of party that the females were imagining.
The same old lady and young woman attended to Rihoko and the other two women to Masane as they got their hair washed and done, all of which took about forty-five minutes with the styling of hair taking about thirty-five. Meanwhile, Segawa and Takayama were quickly and easily done with prepping up. Upon Reiji was a black tuxedo with the sash looking of an expensive black silk. Segawa wore a tuxedo as well but his sash, vest, and bow-tie were of a navy blue to match his glasses. They were done dressing in about five minutes and then took only a few minutes for some of the beauticians to fix up their hair. They waited patiently for the two young women to be finished, Takayama reading a memo he had received in the morning, and Segawa touching up on something important in his advanced cell-phone.
By 5:50 the stylists were finishing up the make up on Masane and Rihoko. "Ahem!" the older lady cleared her throat, the two men looked up to see the silhouettes of the two Amahas behind silk red draw-curtains above the few steps that led to it. "I present to you—.", the curtains slowly drew back. "Ms. Masane!"
A delicate foot stepped from the shadows of the curtain and following it was the form of Masane Amaha. Hiroki could feel his heart fluttering. She looked…amazing. Her brown hair was neatly brushed with the majority of her bangs swept to her right, the remainder being put to the left where it fell next to her left eye. Her hair was put into a simple bun with two locks springing nicely it, the shorter hairs that didn't go into the bun lay nicely against her neck and behind her ears. Masane had on lightly applied eye-shadow of a very light violet, her lips; a deep pink. Draped around her arms was a sash the same ivory color as her dress. As she descended the stairs he could tell that she was trying to walk gracefully in her white shoes with about an inch of heel. He almost wanted her to fall again, with this time Hiroki would be prepared to catch her.
A young lady came up to Masane and put in a false purple-white flower with a clip high on the left side of her head. He looked at her in awe, words could not describe how he felt about her, about how she looked, about the date of his boss. Such a sudden movement in his heart, the sight of her was, that he forgot to smile and compliment her. Masane turned to the side and he could see a diamond-shaped pearl earring hanging to her mid-jaw from her ear. Still gazing at her, he missed what the old lady said.
"Princess Rihoko!" he heard Masane say. Segawa snapped out of his daze to look down and next to Masane to see Rihoko Amaha. Her hair was neatly combed and put in the same way as it usually was except her bangs being neatly parted with a hairclip with a false cherry blossom attached to it that held up part of her bangs to the left side of her head. Some very lightly applied blush enhanced the youthfulness of Rihoko's face as she had on some pink lipstick and just a thin layer of light purple eye shadow. Her eyelashes had been curled as she waltzed down the steps with her white shoes. Her mother held out her hand to her; Rihoko took it and bounded down the last two steps and to Masane's side. Masane put her right hand on her hip in a very un-ladylike way and asked the two men how they looked. Takayama hid his mouth behind the Y between his index finger and thumb. Masane leaned towards him. "Was that a smile I just saw?" she sneered. Reiji's thick eyebrows twitched and he set down his hand.
"You look amazing, both of you do." he said to them in his usual gruff, nonchalant tone. The girls and Segawa looked surprised to hear those words coming from his mouth. He turned to Segawa. "How long will it take us to arrive at the ball?"
Segawa replied to him without any hesitation, "About twenty minutes, so we have twenty-five minutes spare if we want to arrive exactly on time." Rihoko was showing her mother her shoes when she asked,
"Mr. Segawa, what is a ball, anyway?" He didn't seem too surprised that she didn't know and so said to her,
"It is like a very formal, or fancy, party where the main event is dancing." She nodded in understanding and asked her mom if they could dance together.
"Of course we can Riko!" she said to her, grabbing her child's hands and swaying back and forth with her childishly.
"That reminds me, Masane," Takayama said, "Do you know how to dance?" Masane ceased swinging around and said,
"Well, sure I do. Doesn't everyone?" He put his hand to his head as if having a headache and sighed.
"I mean waltzing, or even just slow dancing." he said, immediately regretting to have said waltzing, since it had been a very long time since he had last waltzed, or even danced for that matter.
"Uhm…"
"Segawa," Takayama said. His assistant turned to him. "Please instruct Miss Amaha on how to waltz."
"D-Director?" he stammered.
"On your application form from so long ago, one of the many requirements of being an assistant was to be able to dance in some way. I trust you did not lie about that then?" stated Takayama. Segawa pushed up his glasses and exhaled.
"Yes, sir." He stood up and held out his left hand Masane. Takayama ushered to one of the ladies to turn on some three-time music. In a few seconds some slow orchestral music was turned on at a low volume. Rihoko plopped herself down on the cushy sofa next to Takayama, to his awkward discomfort.
The slightest touch of her already made Hiroki melt, but having her in his arms like this was almost too much for him. In his extended left hand, raised to his shoulder height was Masane's gloved hand as his right hand was just below her left shoulder blade with her left hand on his right shoulder. "Try to relax your right arm more and make it not at such an angle and raise your left elbow." Hiroki said to her. She did this. Why did she seem so at ease and yet his heart was racing so? "The waltz is a three-four time dance. It starts with you stepping back with your right foot as I step forward with my left. You then step to the left and bring your right foot next to your left."
With some trouble this was completed. "Is that it?" Masane asked.
"No, it's —." he said, interrupted by her groan. "Next, you step forward with your left foot, step to the right with your right foot, followed by your left." He stepped back as she came forward and sided along with her at the final steps. "Great! You've learned the very basic steps of waltzing Masane! Now, let's trying this again and start very slowly moving counter-clockwise." They moved in time to the music, the warmth of her body holding him up, allowing Hiroki ignore the stare of his employer. They danced (slowly) in a wide circle. He let down his hands and bowed to her. "Congratulations, Miss Amaha. I believe you will do beautifully tonight." Masane did a curtsey towards him.
"Why thank you, Mr. Segawa."
"You did great mommy!" Rihoko exclaimed, jumping from the couch. Takayama got up and straightened his bow-tie.
"We're leaving now." he said to them. Masane looked from Rihoko to Reiji.
"But it's only 6:15!"
"Segawa and I need to get some boutonnières." Segawa's brows raised , angry with himself that he had not thought about that earlier.
"A what?" asked the girls.
"It's an accessory to our tuxedos." Segawa told them. Masane and Rihoko looked at each other, shrugged, and followed the two men out to the car.
They made no stops at any flower shops, but, rather, Reiji and Segawa had ordered two by phone. Through a fancy drive-through did they get their boutonnières and from there they drove to the ball. Rihoko took a nap in the car, as it would be a long night. Reiji put on his red rose boutonnière as Segawa set on his white rose one with little difficulty as he drove.
The place was amazing. It was like a palace-themed office building with large glass windows ornately decorated on it frames and even on the glass. A pair of large, wooden, and polished double doors awaited them beyond a few steps and a pathway of fine marble. Segawa stopped the car before the steps, got out, and handed a man the keys. He then opened the door to Masane and she got out as Takayama opened the car door for Rihoko who had already awaken from her short nap. The four got out of the car and walked towards the grand doors while the man drove away the car to a private parking lot. Two servers of the party opened the doors for them and they walked in.
Soft elevator-music like orchestral music greeted their ears from the orchestra opposite the room of them on the bottom floor as they walked onto the velvety maroon carpet that covered the second floor (at which they were currently on), A white banister went around the second floor that was more like a very wide hallway with an even larger hallway at the other side of the room. The stairs were wooden with red marble in the center as if like a red carpet, as the bottom floor was composed of waxed and polished wood. It was five minutes until seven o'clock but it seemed that many of the guests had already arrived. Masane and Rihoko looked at each other and squealed in joy, followed by descending the stairs hand-in-hand like princesses. The men walked behind them, it was just another formal celebration to them, nothing quite new. A table had already been reserved for them. Takayama went over to the table to see who's party would be sitting with them.
"Great…" Reiji muttered.
"Is something wrong, Director?" asked Segawa who was just finished with telling Masane and Rihoko (but mostly Masane) to please mind their manners and act like ladies. Takayama turned around and moved out of the way of Segawa's view so that he could see the card of the person and his party they'd be with.
"…oh, dear." was all he could admit to say. Footsteps sounded behind them and Rihoko came by with a plate of a food followed by Masane who carried a plate stacked tall with sweets (Rihoko had food, as in broccoli, rice, chicken, etc.). The woman set down her plate, not really caring that her layered tower-like cakes were swaying about uneasily. She looked at Takayama as he sat down next to her with a sour expression on.
"Why the long face 'sweetie'?" she asked him. He looked at her oddly out of the corner of his silver eyes, until remembering that she was his date.
"The other party that will be sitting with us this evening, even if it's not for long, will be… Masaya Wadou." he told her. Segawa sat next to Rihoko who was on the right of Masane; the right of Takayama.
"Who?" she asked. Segawa said to her,
"Wadou is the director of Douji Heavy Industries. He and the Director have long been rivals for—." he stopped when he saw her 'get on with it' expression. "He's the man you met once before in the office. He has black hair greased back. Angry looking, tight-mouthed, snappy…"
"Ooh, that douche bag!" Masane said. Takayama narrowed his eyebrows, whether that be a good thing or bad, at her choice of words for his rival.
"Mom, what's a doosh bag?" Rihoko asked as she wiped her mouth and put her napkin back on her lap. Segawa put his palm to his forehead.
"Well, Riko, they're kinda like people that are really, really big jerks, and I mean people that are extreme jerks and even go beyond being jerks. Nobody likes them, in fact, you almost have to pity them." explained Masane. Takayama and Segawa sighed.
"To be honest, Masane," Segawa commented, "children are often preferred not to be at these business parties, but since Rihoko's so well mannered and ladylike, we figured that if she could make the Director look nice as well as make any… negative comments near him unsaid. In other words, Rihoko acts as a 'jerk-repellant' for the Director, as well as anyone else near her." Rihoko beamed and her mother giggled.
"Is this true, you big gorilla? You're nothin' but a softy aren't you?" Masane asked her employer, she softly punched him in the arm. He was about to reply when an old man and a pretty young woman hanging onto his arm were approaching their table. Reiji got up and signaled to Segawa to remain where he was.
"Ah! Director Takayama! It's been so long since we last met!" said the old man. Takayama went over to the man, shook his hand, and they conversed over boring things. Rihoko, meanwhile, ushered to her mother and Segawa to come closer to her with her hands.
"I have an idea! The three of us can be… 'The League of Anti-Douchebaggery!" exclaimed Rihoko in a whisper.
"Um…"
"That's a great idea Rihoko! I'd pay money to see Wadou even trying to be a douche bag in front of you!" said her mother, bear-hugging her. Segawa raised his eyebrows when she said that she'd pay money for such a thing.
"You need to help too, Mr. Segawa!" He smiled at her and closed his eyes.
"I'll try my best, Captain Rihoko." he said to her, giving her a playful salute. Masane grinned at Hiroki, happy that he was playing along, unlike what Takayama would likely to have done.
The bells of the great grandfather clock placed above the grand doors gonged eerily. It was now seven o'clock and a dreaded character burst through the doors, lightning flashing behind him as he and his party folded up their black umbrellas.
Masaya Wadou had finally arrived. The douche bag.
Forgive me for the long wait. I thought that by I could I could write and/or upload it by last Wednesday or Saturday, but, you can't write a story of unrequited love without being in love, even one that's not unnrequited, can you?
In episode five, Masane did in fact call Hiroki a pretty-boy, in the English dub at least. If any one knows where you can watch an English subtitled verison of Witchblade, please review or PM me or something.
Rpgingmaster: I loved your review for chapter two so much and found it so funny, I had to share it here. And sorry to not really quote it directly, but I don't think Masane's smart enough to use the word 'justifying' in a sentence in a non-serious conversation.
Reviews are always welcome~
[edit] Here are some art I did for Segawa and Rihoko for the outfits they're in in this chapter! (Don't forget to take out the space between the deviant art and period mark).
deviantart .com/art/Segawa-Hiroki-129682519
deviantart .com/art/Amaha-Rihoko-129682269
