Of course not.

When Shuichi felt his elevator come to a stop and heard the doors start to open he had hoped that meant he was back on his floor so he could return to work and bury the obscene thoughts he had about Annie earlier. Instead, the door opened a few floors above his, and standing on the other side was none other than the woman he was supposedly having lunch with; Korekiyo Shinguji.

“Ah!” Shuich gasped in surprise and tried to regain his composure as quickly as possible. “H-hello, Ms. Shinguji. F-funny seeing you here.”

“Hmm? Are you quite sure about that? I usually eat my lunch here in the office,” she replied as she stepped onto the elevator. “It is, however, strange to see you here, is it not? Usually, you are out with friends at this hour, right? What stopped you from joining them today?”

“Er, nothing, really.” Shuichi scratched his face and tried to choose his words carefully as the elevator began moving again. “I was just… having lunch with someone else this time.”

“Really? Your partner didn’t happen to be Ms. Tojo, did it? You didn’t happen to have more… office-hours playtime, did you?” Korekiyo laughed softly to herself knowingly. “No, I don’t think so - you usually have a different air about you after you do things like that.”

“G-gah!?” Shuichi recoiled so hard he slammed into the wall behind him. “W-wait, hold on a second! Do you mean… you’ve known about us this whole time?”

“Kehehe… my dear Shuichi, I wish I could say that you and our submissive-in-chief were subtle, but it wouldn’t take a detective to figure it out.” The doors finally opened onto Shuichi’s floor, but Korekiyo just reclosed the door and pressed the button for the top floor of the building to give them more time to talk. “But do not mistake this revelation as any sort of confrontation, however; I do not disapprove of your relationship, even if it is against company regulations and even a few laws.”

“You… you don’t?” Shuichi asked, his body untensing but his mind still very confused.

“Of course not - Ms. Tojo is a beautiful young woman, and an even more beautiful submissive - the fact that you’re letting herself express it in that way so enthusiastically is nothing short of glorious!” she said enthusiastically. “I knew it was not my place to pry into your private lives, though, so I saw no reason to reveal that I knew up until now.”

“Phew… that’s a relief.” Shuichi sighed, happy that his job and Kirumi’s reputation were going to remain intact. “Wait… up until now? What changed that?”

“Well, because I suspect that Ms. Tojo isn’t the only one who has been expressing themselves in your encounters,” the mysterious dark-haired woman replied. “It’s been subtle, Mr. Saihara, but ever since the Monday after your night out drinking with the engineers, I’ve noticed that you’ve started to change. You’ve become more confident, more take-charge, more… dominant, if you will.”

Shuichi swallowed nervously as Korekiyo took a step closer to him.

“You see, I have this sort of… sixth sense about this kind of thing; about who’s dominant and who’s submissive. And quite recently, I noticed something awaken inside of you; something very similar to what had awoken inside me years ago. And now that I’m examining you more closely, I can finally confirm my theory,” Korekiyo explained. “You have a beautiful dominant side to you, but… it is still rough, unrefined. Like an uncut diamond still covered in dirt and rocks. You have a lot of potential, but there is something holding you back, isn’t there?”

“I…” Shuichi’s eyes drifted to the floor out of shame. “I don’t think I have nearly as much potential as you think I do. When I let myself do things like that, it feels like I’m a different person, and… it’s kind of frightening. And even now, I’m starting to worry if acting like that is starting to change me outside the bedroom too. Like, just a few minutes ago, with Ms. Scholten, I… had the most obscene thoughts about making her ‘mine’. Even just thinking about it makes me feel… disgusted.”

“But, you didn’t act upon any of those thoughts, did you?” Korekiyo asked. Shuichi shook his head. “Then you have nothing to worry about; we all have bad thoughts every once in a while. That is just part of being human.”

“I know that, but… that doesn’t make me feel any better.” Shuichi let out a long sigh. “Maybe I should try to just keep things… vanilla in the bedroom, you know?”

“That is always an option; a very disappointing option, but an option nonetheless. However… there are other options,” Korekiyo took a card out from one of her pockets and handed it to Shuichi. It had a picture of a full moon on one side, and on the other an address and the contact information for a woman named ‘Kitsune’. “Much like Ms. Tojo, I too spend some of my free time in the ‘seedier’ parts of town. But while she is a submissive maid, I am a professional dominatrix at the city’s premier BDSM club; The Moon.”

“Eh!? A-are you serious?!” Shuichi stammered and nearly dropped the card. “You’ve been a sex workder this whole time too, and no one ever noticed!?”

“Of course not; perceptions are often deceiving, you know. Few would look at you and believe that you had your reputation, after all,” she replied, making Shuichi blush even harder. “I don’t do it for the money, though; I do it because I find it fulfilling. I get to see so much of humanity this way, pure and unfiltered, without the trappings of social mores. I’ve even made quite a few long-lasting relationships while working there too; I’m even close to reaching my lifetime goal of having 100 ‘friends’ already.”

“That’s… good for you, but I still don’t understand what that has to do with me,” Shuichi said as the elevator finally reached the top of the building and began moving back down.

“Well, it’s simple; I know how to do S&M play safely and in ways that everyone can enjoy, and I’ve taught these techniques to dozens over the years,” she explained. “And I find that one of the best ways for someone to discover how to be a good dominant is to experience what it is like to be on the other side first. Come to the club tonight and show the bouncer that card, and I promise I can show you exactly what it means to dominate someone… lovingly.”

“And… if I don’t go?” Shuichi asked, sweating a little.

“Well, there would be no consequence, of course; I’d never **** you to do anything you wouldn’t want to,” Korekiyo replied calmly. “But I do hope that you at least consider my offer; from how happy Ms. Tojo has been lately, I can tell that you would be a fine partner in the bedroom.”

Before Shuichi could think of how to reply, the elevator doors reopened onto Shuichi’s floor, revealing that his friends had just arrived back from lunch as well.

“Ah; it appears we are out of time, Mr. Saihara.” Korekiyo politely bowed for Shuichi and held the elevator doors open for him. “Please, have a good rest of your workday, and remember… you could be so much more if you just let yourself.”

With that, Shuichi got off the elevator and walked back to his cubicle, Korekiyo’s card burning a hole in his pocket with each step he took.

“Ah; so old ghost-face followed you all the way to the elevator, huh?” Kazuichi commented as he leaned against Makoro’s cubicle. “Man, that must have been quite the talk she had with you. You’re not getting canned, are you?”

“H-huh?” Shuichi stammered as if being knocked out of a trance. “No, no, everything’s fine. Ms. Shinguji was just being… friendly, is all.”

“Really? Well, I’d be careful if I were you; she seems to be the type where her friendship can be just as dangerous as her ire,” sad Makoto.

“Pft, forget about her; she’s an executive! They’re paid to flap their gums like that,” Kaito said, rubbing the back of his head. “Anyway, I guess it’s back to the grindstone for us, huh? Catch you guys all later, okay?”

“Yeah… of course, Kaito. See you later.” Shuichi waved his friends goodbye and sat back down into his cubicle, pushing all thoughts of Annie, Kirumi, and Korekiyo from his mind and centering himself back onto his work. “Okay… that was a little bit strange, but… today can still be a normal day, right? All I have to do is relax, and focus on what needs to get done…”