Chapter 7
Chapter 7:
Yagami shuffled her feet as a cold gust blew over the company building, the spring weather taking a nap for the upcoming week. She had managed to get in contact with Hazuki soon after returning home, Rin in an extraordinarily good mood as she left for her own apartment. Hazuki had at first expressed disbelief at her maneuver, beginning to list reasons for why it wouldn’t work. Once Futaba was mentioned though, Yagami knew she was caught hook, line and sinker. Anders has been even more surprising, having asked to come to the office on Monday already to clear the paperwork.
Thus, she stood here outside the building, awaiting Anders and Futaba with a constant chill on her skin. Soon enough though, she caught sight of a black company car pulling up to her, parking neatly before a purple-suited passenger jumped out and hugged her.
“Hey Yagi!” she exclaimed, having recovered from the tension from their last encounter. Yagami grinned as she ruffled her hair.
“Welcome, Fuba. Did the office give you any trouble?”
“Nothing out of the usual. I have no idea what Boss did to get the papers ready so quickly. He still surprises me after all these years.”
Yagami couldn’t suppress a smile.
“He certainly gives that impression.”
Anders stepped out of the vehicle, himself dressed in a sharp black suit with dark blue stripes, something she found herself wholly agreeing with. He waved with his bag as he approached, holding out his notebook opened on a page:
- Sorry for being late. I received a call regarding a ‘client’ of ours and he didn’t know the meaning of ‘I’m mute’. He yelled at me for almost twenty minutes until Futaba could calm him down.
-
“He was a real piece of work as well!” Futaba sighed, “He’s one of our main sponsors and he keeps trying to coerce us into agreeing to his every demand.”
“That sounds like a pain.”
Yagami shivered as the wind picked up again.
“Let’s continue this inside. I’m freezing out here.”
They didn’t argue, following her to the elevator while Fuba continued chattering away like an unrestrained parrot. Anders sufficed himself with inspecting the decor of the building, giving a nod here and there for individual details. Yagami wondered what he was thinking about as they stepped out into the office floor, quickly swiping her card and entering.
“Come in you two. Welcome to Eagle Jump.”
Futaba looked ecstatic, bouncing in and colliding with a curious Aoba. Both peeped as they bounced off each other, giving profuse apologies while introducing themselves. As Yagami left Futaba to fend for herself with the group, she heard an audible thud come from the door. She turned to find Anders hunched over, holding the top of his head in apparent pain. Just as she realised what must have happened, the doors inexplicably began to close, the glass colliding on either side of Anders’ head. He gave a groan as the doors opened again, quickly retreating into the office to avoid further misfortune. She walked over towards him, his hunched position still tall enough for her to stand straight and ask:
“Are you alright?”
He held up a hand to signal he was fine, jotting down on the notepad:
- Nothing I’m not familiar with, unfortunately.
-
Sympathy already evoked for him, Yagami heard a collective gasp from behind:
“W-what kind of monster is that?”
“Yagami, get back!”
“S-so tall…”
Yagami sighed as the whole group became acquainted with Anders, deciding it was necessary to get introductions over with quickly:
“Everybody, this is Anders. He’s the branch manager of the company we’re planning on forming a partnership with. Try to be respectful. Also, he’s…”
She was interrupted by Anders’ snap of his fingers, who pulled out his notebook and produced the same page as when he had introduced himself to Rin. He then pulled open another page:
- I must ask that you keep your questions for me brief and in order, as I’m mute and therefore limited in communication. However, I would like to begin to thank you all for welcoming me here for this opportunity. I hope we all get along in the near future.
Yagami could have sworn to see him glance at Rin, yet she remained stubbornly focused by her workplace, not granting him an ounce of attention. As the rest of the team introduced themselves, Futaba’s squeak popped through, followed by Hazuki’s endeared voice:
“Such a cute girl! Oh, how I wish I could have you in my company! Say, how about a job offer?”
“H-help me Boss!” Futaba exclaimed, waving an arm free from Hazuki’s grasp. Anders gave a sigh, jotting a quick response on his notepad and presenting it to the pair. Hazuki’s eyebrow raised itself by a margin.
“Oh, you must be the ‘Anders’ that Yagami told me about. Sorry for stealing your cute little assistant, she’s just too adorable.”
“Let go of me! I’m not a kid, I’m a grown woman!”
“You’re still adorable!”
Their exchange was cut short by Yagami breaking the two of them up, eying Hazuki with a glare:
“She’s my underclassman, not yours. Would you stay serious long enough to get this meeting underway?”
Hazuki gave her a surprised look.
“That was unusually serious, coming from you Yagami.”
“We don’t have much time. Anders and Fuba have their own jobs to consider and came all the way here to plan this partnership out.”
She knew she was out of character, but Yagami sensed that Anders must have taken extreme measures to guarantee that they could be here today. Thus, she didn’t want to ruin his hard work. The look Hazuki gave her though was startling.
“What?” she asked, confused when Hazuki merely shook her head.
“Nevermind. So then, shall we begin, Mr.Tansuke? I understand this being very abrupt, but I’m confident we can come to an agreement regardless.”
- Thank you. ‘Anders’ will suffice.
Hazuki gave a professional smile, free of the mischievous nature she had just displayed with Futaba. Said person swallowed audible as they entered the conference room, Yagami entering last while giving the rest of the team a reassuring glance.
To her relief, the meeting went without a hitch. After having explained their products and plans for the festival, Hazuki showed enough genuine interest to stop fiddling with Futaba’s hair. The negotiations then moved into deadly seriousness, Futaba showcasing a high degree of professionality as she compensated for Anders’ lack of voice, though he provided helpful commentary to elaborate their goals and intentions. Yagami realised as they slowly won Hazuki over that they worked extremely well as a team, each covering the other’s weaknesses. It was teamwork acquired over years of understanding and effort. Seeing it, she couldn’t help but feel a bit envious towards them. She had never needed to work with others as they did, only ever providing advice to others in need.
As the meeting drew to a close, Yagami noticed Anders glancing more and more often at his watch, evidently in a hurry to leave. As Hazuki began signing the papers, he left Futaba to handle the final negotiations and excused himself, waving at Yagami to follow her. Surprised, she obliged and met with him in the hallway, even more stunned when he raised a finger in silence and handed her a note:
- I have to leave early. Futaba will take the car back to the company. Sorry for making this abrupt.
He warned her again not to speak as he slunk out of the office, somehow not catching the attention of Aoba and the others. Still standing there with the note in her hand, Yagami watched as he waved to her before the glass doors shut, an apologetic smile on his face.
Not soon after, the door to the conference room opened up to Futaba and Hazuki, the latter appearing unusually smug. She scanned the empty hallway with a curious eye:
“Where did Anders leave to?”
Yagami gave a shrug.
“Beats me. He said he had to leave and told me Fuba would take the car.”
She turned to Futaba for answers, but found her expression oddly clouded. Before she could ask though, the clouds vanished:
“He actually lets me drive the car when he isn’t in it, the oaf. Well, guess I better get going. Ms…”
“Call me Hazuki, Futaba. You deserve it.”
“R-right.” she stammered, likely willing to never step a foot again into the office without an extremely good reason. As she packed up the newly signed papers, she slapped herself on the forehead.
“ I nearly forgot! Here, Yagi."
She pulled out a small thumb drive from her pocket, placing it in Yagami’s hand, who inspected it with interest.
“What’s in here?"
“Our project designs and plans for the festival. Boss wanted you and everybody involved to get a proper look at all the surfaces we’ll be covering, including banners and digital screens. So he visited the other members of our team and got the preliminary drawings from them. But like we said, you get full creativity over how to present both of our firms. Just make sure the products listed for each surface still get presented, otherwise we’d have to revise three weeks worth of papers again.”
She shuddered slightly, apparently familiar with such short-term changes. Again impressed by Anders’ helpfulness, she embraced Futaba and said:
“Thanks a bunch, Fuba. Say hi to Anders when you get the chance. Any idea where he could be?”
To her surprise, Fuba promptly shut down her smile, shaking her head sadly.
“Sorry Yagi, company privacy. I don’t have permission to give his schedule to anybody. You’d have to ask him personally.”
“I see.” she responded, her mind spinning with possibilities, “Well in any case, it was good to see you. Say bye to Rin before you go, alright?”
“Of course!” Futaba answered before bouncing into the Character team booth, immediately being assaulted by the other members for information. As Yagami watched her battle against five enthusiastic voices, she caught Hazuki giving her another curious stare.
“What?” she asked, feeling judged.
“He’s an interesting person, this Anders fellow, isn’t he?”
“I guess so. He’s really pulling all the stops though to try and get this sorted out. I only asked him last Saturday and he already managed to arrange this meeting.”
“I see. I wonder what could be motivating him so much?” Hazuki wondered loudly, repeatedly glancing at Yagami, who felt cornered now.
“Why are you looking at me like that? He’s a branch manager, that behavior should be expected, shouldn’t it? You’d probably learn a few pointers from him.”
“I wholeheartedly agree.”
Both women jumped as Ahagon surfaced, her hands busy checking one of her many softball rifles while three pairs of goggles hung from her wrist. Hazuki visibly sweated as she began to talk:
“ Ah, Umiko. How nice to see you. What’s with…?”
“With me being here? Two reasons. One, I found the two guests interesting. Second, I get the feeling there will be a very tall order being made to the Programming Department with minimal assistance from our new partners.”
Ahagon put on her own goggles before tossing the remainder to the duo. Just as the two could exchange a look, they caught Ahagon raising her rifle against them.
“So I thought I might get my revenge on you two in advance. You have three seconds to run.”
That day became written down in legend as the most hazardous work day since the company’s inception.
