"Thanks," Kei muttered. The young man who had come to deliver the documents from Kiyoko bowed his head respectfully before stalking off down the corridor. Kei looked down at the file in his hand before closing his office door and trudged to his oakwood desk. Sitting in his chair and leaning back comfortably, he opened up the folder before looking at the typed up words.
The words were carefully typed, Kiyoko had made sure that the ink wouldn't smear and makes the words unreadable. Kei mused at the paper, breaking down what kind had been used, before actually paying mind to the words. It wasn't that Kei dreaded reading, but the fact that anything that had to do with work bored him to death. Skimming through the lines, Kei raised his eyebrows, suddenly gaining interest in his small task.
"He must really be troublesome if she's giving me precise instructions on what to do," he muttered, putting down the paper and smirking. "Yamaguchi Tadashi, huh?" Kei mockingly mused. "What exactly happened to you?"
"Stupid alarm," Kei groaned, sitting up in his bed and squinting in front of him. He looked over to his right and grabbed his black framed glasses, pushing them up on the bridge of his nose. He then turned his attention to the alarm clock that was placed on his nightstand, the one the was blaring that ungodly noise that had awoken him from his needed slumber. He turned it off with the bang of his fist, making sure that it wouldn't wake him up two in the morning again, but his thoughts wandered to what had happened yesterday.
Kei groaned, swinging his legs off his king sized bed and stretching, walking to his closet to pick out his attire for the day that had been set up. He brought out a simple, white button up shirt and black dress pants, his usual attire, with the company of the ebony colored dress shoes he had bought a little over year ago. Getting dressed quickly, but still making sure his outfit looked presentable and sharp, he panicked for just a second over where his white lab coat was, remembering he had left it in his office last night when he had drunk a glass of wine, offered by one of the nurses.
He had been quite bitter, not in the slightest bit amused over having to come into work at four in the morning, especially if he had to deal with a troubling patient. As the blond prepared himself breakfast, just a simple bowl of cereal, his thoughts wandered to what to would ask Yamaguchi. The day prior, the freckled boy had attacked one of his coworkers, a sudden emotional outburst. Yachi had done some of the work for him already, and as grateful as he was, he couldn't help but ponder about how she was holding up. He could sense the shock and maybe even the fear she had experienced, and she had even been willing to help him again today.
He brought the spoon to his mouth, munching on the cereal even though he had lost his appetite to eat. Eating this early in the morning wasn't a good idea as it made him feel nauseous, which is why he usually skipped breakfast and waited until lunch. Nevertheless, Kei forced another spoonful into his mouth before declaring himself done by standing up and putting his dishes in the sink. He decided that he's wash them when he came back home, hoping to catch up with a few documents he had left pending last night. He adjusted his clothes, and the rest of his appearance, before sauntering to the front door of his apartment. He grasped his briefcase and exhaled desperately, muttering, "I don't want to go."
He reached into his pocket to grip the brass key and lock his apartment, but his effort was avail as he cursed himself under his breath. He hadn't found the key and was now fearing that he had misplaced it somewhere. He was in no hurry at the time, but if he kept at his search for more than he intended, he would definitely arrive late to the asylum and possibly receive a scolding for the first time since he had been employed at the Wilkshire institute a few years prior.
He dropped his briefcase on the carpeted floor before rushing over to the kitchen, looking through his stack of mail and the scattered papers, not to mention the newspaper he had left there yesterday morning, the one that had caught his eyes. Kei looked into every nook and cranny he could think of while still staying in the kitchen area, still not being able to find his key. "Even with these glasses I can't seem to find where I misplaced the keys," he whispered with annoyance laced in his tone. He looked at his wristwatch, the one his colleague had gifted him for his birthday, and his breath hitched. The time on the the watch made him mentally stab himself as it was reading the time to be just five minutes past three in the morning, only giving him a little less than an hour to find his key and get to work. At least the streets wouldn't be cramped with traffic as it was still even earlier than daybreak, so maybe if he ran a few red lights and went just a tad bit past the speed limit, he could get there with the time he had thought to spare for his documents. Well, his calculations could only be counted as correct if he did indeed find the key in the next ten to twenty minutes.
Kei gave up on his kitchen, deciding that the next best place to look would be his bedroom. He stalked back to his room, clicking his tongue as a sort of habit when things weren't going his way. He turned the brass knob, pushing the door open briskly and strolled over to his small desk in the corner of his room. It wasn't that Kei didn't have any room for an office, with a luxurious apartment like his you could bet that there were spare rooms that could be turned into hobby rooms. Kei usually went home extremely late, and yet he usually brought home documents he had to read over before returning to work in the next few hours that awaited his arrival. He found it much easier to just buy a small desk and place it in the corner of his spacious room, even if he rarely used it as he saw himself just reading over the documents as he ate his dinner.
"This is why I should have a spare key," he grimaced. Kei was getting more frustrated compared to the annoyance he had felt by just waking up this early in the morning, something foreign to him as he liked to sleep in a few hours to make up for sleep he had lost by doing paperwork at home. He kept on cursing himself for being so careless, even resorting to going to his organized desk to clear the doubts from his head. Not only was Kei growing furious, he was starting to become anxious. He checked his watch again only to find that it was twenty minutes past the last time he had checked. If he was even lucky, he could barely make it on time, the extra hour or so had been used up in his little search for his key.
He decided to give up and just leave his apartment unlocked. The building's security was in great condition, security cameras and guards in the parking garage. He was sure that no one would be stupid enough to try to break into his apartment, so with one shaky breath he returned to his front door and seized his briefcase once again. He twisted the door's brass knob and hastily opened it door, hurrying as to make sure he wouldn't be tardy to work."Hopefully no one even tries to break into it," he voiced harshly under his breath, "What's the most valuable thing I own? The teas set my mother gave me?" The semi-comical thought of his put his mind at ease, if even for the tiniest bit imaginable.
He walked down the building's hallway to get to the elevator that had been renovated just a few months ago, which of course forced him to take the stairs for a few weeks. He pressed the button to call up the lift, taking a little bit more time than usual. He again looked at his wristwatch, the reflective glass giving off a blinding shine from it's last polish, the leather strap wrapped around his wrist, honestly Tooru had out done himself by giving it to him, but in all honestly Kei had covered his shifts and taken over his patients for when he left on vacation for two weeks, one of the most hectic times at the asylum to say the least. The rim of the watch was coated with diamonds, and the band of the watch was gold! Kei had actually been surprised at first but it had faded as he remembered how much they were all earning a week. He decided to keep the watch, mostly from Tooru's banters and tantrums on why he wouldn't wear the expensive watch he had bought with his own money. Kei had reluctantly agreed as it was the only way to get Tooru to leave him alone, although he secretly did love the watch.
The lift's door opened slowly, Kei stepping in briskly and slammed the garage level button repeatedly, hoping that the forced action would make it move faster. It was the first time the blond had been concerned on getting to work on time. He usually wouldn't care, he even planned to come a bit later than what Kiyoko's instructions had told him, but he had been called into Sugawara's office just before he had left. The ashen haired boy had told him that he had a pending call, and that it was of importance that he answer it quickly. It had turned out to be Stoneridge, who had sent in one of their own recruits to observe the session Kei and Yachi had done with Yamaguchi. He claimed that they weren't spying, but had sent in someone to check if they would actually handle Yamaguchi. After the explanation that turned into more of an excuse as to why they had decided to transfer Tadashi to Wilkshire, the man on the phone had gotten to the point.
"How would you like a challenge?"
Kei was the kind of man who would just scoff and turn his head away, but when it came to the head of Stoneridge, Kei had to outdo him.
Suga had meant to just modestly listen to the conversation from his desk, as Kei was standing right in front of him, but he saw the blonde's facial expressions and instead tried to concentrate on anything but the megane's aura. Kei had muttered something unintelligible to the ashen haired boy and had hung up with a scoff.
"I'm coming in early tomorrow, Sugawara-san," he had muttered before departing from the office and back to his own.
And now there he was, parking his expensive car and rushing to the front doors of the asylum, where two security guards stood like statues.
"Let me in," the blonde grimaced, pushing up his glasses and staring coldly at them. One guard, most likely a new one, glared back at him and insisted that Kei show them identification. "It's in my office," he said coldly, sending chills through the other guards back.
"I can't let you in unless you show me your identification," the guard said. It looked like the other one, a little bit more jittery and anxious at this point, was trying to reason with him to let Kei in.
"He works here though. He's been here since I started working here!"
Kei could only grit his teeth and clench his fists, the frustration at home had drained his capability to give a fuck. "Do you even know who I am, probably don't since you've only started working here, and judging by the shiny ring on your finger you're a newlywed, shame you'll have to go home to the missus and explain to her why you don't have a job anymore, now let me in," Kei hissed, his dark eyes narrowing at the guard who stood there awestruck. "Oh please, that was only common sense, but I guess I can't blame you for not having any, after all your parents died at an early age and you grew up in foster homes, that explains your trust issues, but it doesn't explain why you look that disheveled. You were married not that long ago, moved here after the honeymoon and maybe, but this is too farfetched, but you have a newborn at home, which gives you more reason to not want to lose this job as then you'd have no one to manage the household, not for God's sake let me in or I will have you fired." There was a fire in Kei's eyes, a murderous desire coursed through him as he grit his teeth and glared harshly at the guard.
"How did you know about the foster homes?" The guard asked in awe.
"It's actually quite simple, no one here has a family to go to after work's done so they have nothing to worry about, if something happens to them they don't have anyone that'll worry about them, but you, you're the only one I've seen wearing that gold band around your finger, so you're obviously desperate for any kind of job you can get to support your family, scrounging up every cent you could to pay for the wedding which means you don't have any parents to rely on for financial support, that could have just meant that you've parted ways with them, but no matter what terms, whose parents would not want to at least participate in your wedding, unless it has something to do with your wife but I doubt that, so on to the debt you probably owe, you're taking a job at an asylum because the pay's good, so you obviously deeply care about your family enough to sacrifice your safety, I applaud you on that, but you won't get very far here if you don't even listen to your superior, especially someone who's been here longer than you have." The shocked guard stared up at Kei, mouth hanging open in surprise. He was stuttering on asking how the blond had known, and with his trademark smirk, Kei muttered, "It's common sense. Now if you don't believe I am a doctor here, go to the East Wing and open the office just two doors away from the last door, it'll have my name on it, 'Tsukishima Kei', but please do hurry as I have to be in my office and with a patient by four and I do wish not to get yelled at as this is in fact a matter of importance and it is urgent that I be there on time, especially since Stoneridge will be sending someone again today, now open up the fucking door before I have to call Sugawara-san to let me in," he felt it unnecessary to add in the last part, but he wanted to get in he would have to resort to those measures.
The guard only stood there in shock, staring up at the glasses clad blond and visibly shaking by all the things Kei had said. However, Kei didn't stand there for any longer as the other guard gladly let him in, apologizing repeatedly for how his junior had acted, claiming he had only been here for two days. Kei dismissed it, and speed walked down the corridor, taking a few turns to reach the East Wing where his office was located.
He held his wrist to a reasonable eye level and held his breath when he read the time, just ten minutes left. He sprinted just slightly, and was able to reach the last corridor of the East Wing. If he were to complain, Kei would cavil about how the whole institute was a maze. Just by turning a wrong corner, you get from the South Wing to the North Wing in just a matter of three turns, it had been proven by the younger doctors who had wanted to try out a shortcut and had instead gotten lost in the corridors for around an hour. It had been a hectic day, and had required a lot of overtime. He made it to his office without turning a wrong corner, which surprised him since not only was he sleepy, but he was in a hurry and a ton of thoughts occupied him from even thinking straight. He took out the key to his office‒he had gotten his hopes up, thinking it had been the key to his apartment‒ and briskly inserted it into the hole, twisting the knob and pushing open the oak wood door.
He felt a chill run down his back when he stepped foot in, coming from the breeze of the window he had left open last night. He sighed and closed the door behind him, walking to his desk to set his briefcase down. Kei opened up the case to file through all the documents concerning Yamaguchi. Out of a bit of worry, he checked the clock in his office, the time telling him he only had three minutes to get to the lower levels of the asylum. He put the file under his arm and rushed out the door, sprinting around the corners to get to the entrance located in the North Wing.
He passed by doctors and nurses, looks of surprise following him as they seemed to be shocked about Kei's punctuality.
"Can't be late, not this time," he whispered to himself as he shoved his identification badge in the guard's faces, sprinting down the corridors of the maze like level. He felt an ache in his stomach, realizing that this was in fact the first time he had feared to be late to his shift. Kei wasn't one to worry too much about his job, but the challenge that had arisen prompted him to be early to work.
Soon he had reached Yamaguchi's cell, a worried Yachi standing in front of the door. She was pacing frantically, biting her lip and visibly shaking. "Sorry for being late," Kei called to her, startling her even more. She looked up at him and her face flushed, probably due to her anxiety, Kei thought.
"I-It's okay," she muttered, bowing her head in embarrassment, her blonde hair creating a curtain around her face. Kei handed her Yamaguchi's file, looking at her sudden actions and her facial expressions.
"Are you sure you want to be here? I wouldn't expect you to tag along after what happened yesterday," he lightly said.
"It's fine, I'm determined to do this," she whispered.
"Is it because you want to impress Shimizu-san?" His tone rising up in a bit of a teasing manner. Yachi's face blushed a beet red and her eyes were darting to any place but Kei, stuttering on her own words as she tried to decline what he had just said.
"N-N-No!" The blonde squeaked, covering her flustered face with her hands. She was hyperventilating, a nervous smile being hidden.
"Never mind that then," Kei mused over the blonde's fret, "We've got work to do." He took his keycard out of the pocket of the white lab coat he had managed to barely grab from his office, and opened the door. "Good morning, Yamaguchi."
A/N: Hi! I hope you guys got the chance to read overthe message I posted. If you didn't, let me just summarize what I said. I most likely will not be able to update any of my stories in the next two weeks because I will be going on vacation. I will not have my laptop and therefore will not be able to write. Sorry for the inconvenience, and I also apologize for this short chapter.