A mostly normal morning

Shuichi awoke the next morning with a start, having just rolled over in his sleep, and was promptly startled by a stinging sensation all over his body. Now awake, he could feel the pain subside, but it did not completely disappear for quite some time. He pulled up his undershirt, seeing that the remaining red marks on his body from the previous night’s activities had thankfully vanished, even if he still felt their effects a bit.

“Augh, Korekiyo was right; these are probably gonna sting for a while…” He muttered to himself, before gently sliding out of bed and beginning his morning. “But, oddly enough, a part of me feels like going back there again… Ah, what the hell am I saying?! That was just a one-time thing, like I told her.”

Pulling himself out of bed, Shuichi began his normal daily routine; a quick shower, donning his work clothes, and having a light breakfast. Shuichi felt occasional stiffness and a dull pain as he started his morning routine, but it was admittedly nothing compared to the soreness he felt after his first workout session with Maki.

“Alright, looks like I got ready a little early this time,” Shuichi said as he closed his briefcase and looked at his watch. “Maybe I could pass the time by chatting with someone?”

Shuichi took out his phone and scrolled through the contact list. “Oh yeah, I remember getting Azura's number yesterday. Sending her a ‘good morning’ to her couldn’t hurt.”

“Hello, Ms. Nakano,” Shuichi sent to Azura. “I hope you’re doing well this morning,” he wrote, and just a few minutes later he got a response.

“Hi Shuichi! Good morning! Sorry if I didn’t respond right away, I don’t get a lot of texts from new numbers, so I thought you might have been spam,” the message read.

“It’s fine, don’t worry about it.” Shuichi chuckled as he typed.

“So, uhh, have you given any more thought concerning your relationship to Ms. Tojo?” Azura asked. “I really was surprised to hear you don’t consider the two of you to be a pair…”

“Oh that.” Shuichi thought to himself, remembering his conversation from yesterday. He responded: “It never really crossed my mind to be honest. I really like spending time with Kirumi, and I do like her. But… I’m not sure if she feels the same way as me or if she’s just doing it out of her sense of obligation and duty. Like I said… it’s complicated.”

Azura replied with a rather long message: “I see. Well, I am familiar with how devoted she can be most of the time, and to be honest I’ve never talked much with her about her feelings towards you, but… personally? I think you mean a lot more to her than her naturally deferent attitude might lead you to believe. I would never tell you what you should or shouldn’t do around her, but please keep that in mind when you’re with her.”

“Okay, I’ll promise to do my best,” Shuichi replied, though not even he really knew what he meant by that.

“I appreciate that. Kirumi is, after all, someone who puts others’ needs above her own, for better and for worse. She's always so used to serving the needs of others that I think she can never tell what she truly wants from people, including you. So maybe that’s why her feelings haven’t always been obvious: she isn’t fully aware of them either,” came the next reply.

“I see. Then maybe I should actually take the time to get to know her outside of just being our boss and… you know. Do you think she’d mind?” he asked.

“Well, if it’s a request from you then I can’t imagine she’ll say ‘no’. But you may have to jump through a few hoops to ensure things are discreet. The CEO inviting a random employee over for some private time is probably the kind of thing that needs to be done inconspicuously.” After a few more seconds, Azura added: “Especially considering what often happens when you two are alone together for too long.”

Shuichi blushed, rather embarrassed at what she might be insinuating. “Come on, that’s not the reason I want to do this! I’m just curious to get a better read on her, that’s all.”

“Of course. I’m merely considering all possibilities, you understand,” she replied. "Not to mention, I’m sure she’s looking forward to a chance for you to use that headband she gave you on your birthday.”

Shuichi’s face got even redder as he thought of his boss wearing those fuzzy cat ears. “Wait a minute… you knew about that gift?”

“Of course! Who do you think helped her shop for gifts for you?” she texted teasingly. “Anyway, I’ve got to get ready for work, and I expect you do, too. Have a nice day, Mr. Saihara, and thank you for the conversation.”

Azura had a point; Shuichi had been so caught up in the discussion that he was now a little behind schedule. He brushed his teeth, shaved, and finished putting on his business suit. With everything done, he locked his apartment, hopped in his car, and set off towards C.O. Inc.

Arriving at the office, the black-haired auditor strolled past Kaito and Makoto, who were grabbing the first coffee of the day at the break area, giving them a quick wave before moving on. He stopped, however, when he saw a familiar face waiting by his desk: Korekiyo Shinguji, HR Director, Ultimate Dominatrix, and the woman whose lips he still couldn’t get out of his mind. “Hello there, Ms. Shinguji… did you, um, need something?”

“Good morning, Mr. Saihara. I just wanted to see how you were feeling this morning. I got word from a mutual friend that you suffered a few ‘injuries’ yesterday, is that right? Hm-hm-hmm… I hope that since you are here today that you’ve managed to recover.” She cradled her cheek in her palm as she chuckled knowingly.

“Ah, yes. L-luckily, it was only minor,” he replied as he noticed Kirumi exit out of the elevator behind Korekiyo and start walking in their direction. “It was… how can I put this… it was a good learning moment, that’s for sure.”

“What was a learning moment?” Kirumi asked, a curious look on the CEO’s face as she stopped next to Shuichi’s cubicle.

“Ahh, greetings, Ms. Tojo.” Korekiyo bowed respectfully to her superior. “I had just heard Shuichi suffered a minor injury yesterday and I was simply checking in with him to make sure he was feeling alright. What was it again, Shuichi?”

“Ah! Um, it was… I… tripped on a cable when getting up from my desk at the end of the day. No br-bruising or anything, just, it was rather silly of me to leave my wires all tangled up, I guess I was… in a hurry when I set things up…” Shuichi explained, coming up with a cover story as quickly as he could.

Kirumi nodded. “I see, and it’s good to hear you are feeling okay; falls like that can still do more harm than one might expect. If you require a doctor’s visit, do not hesitate to let Ms. Shinguji know.”

“Do not worry; I am sure I will be the first to know.” Korekiyo subtly winked toward Shuichi. “Well, I think my purpose for meeting you here has been completed, so I shall bid you farewell. Until we meet again, Mr. Saihara.” With that, she turned on her heels, and walked down the hall, leaving just the young man and his boss.

“Did you need anything, Ms. Tojo?” he shyly asked. From his current position sitting in his chair, his eye level was perfectly aligned with her breasts, and even if she wasn’t wearing anything remotely revealing, his familiarity with what was underneath meant he still had to remind himself not to stare - especially since she was the one who paid his salary, and then some.

The CEO calmly replied, “I wanted to ask if you might be able to provide a comprehensive summary of last year’s budgetary audits. A few of the newer members of the board of directors have been requesting a more streamlined way of getting caught up with our company’s finances. I thought you would be the best person to ask, considering your familiarity with our reports to date.”

“Right… of course.” Shuichi knew the request was more of a formality than anything; there were already ways to streamline the process more, but regulations prevented utilizing them - the same regulations that kept his position from being eliminated. Still, he had to at least try to come up with something, for appearance’s sake, for the board. “When do you need it done?”

“The shareholder meeting is once a week and we just finished the most recent one a few hours ago, so preferably before next Wednesday so that I can be prompt with my response. Please let me know if there are any accommodations that can be made to facilitate it. Additionally–” she trailed off and looked around stealthily to see if anyone was within earshot. Leaning down, she spoke in a more hushed tone. “I was wondering if you would perhaps be interested in paying me a visit at my home sometime in the near future. There are a few things that I thought we might discuss, in detail.”

“I-I understand. Is there a reason you couldn’t just tell me in your office or something?” Shuichi asked, rather puzzled at how discreet Kirumi was acting, not sure if she was going where he thought she was going.

“Normally I would, but after Vice President Scholten barged into my office yesterday, I’m not leaving it to chance. You understand what I’m getting at, surely?” she answered, practically whispering in his ear now.

The young man gulped and scratched his chin. “Right, sounds rather serious… well uh, you know, I was just thinking this morning about how it might be interesting to visit you outside of the office.”

His greenish-blonde superior smiled slightly, and replied, “If that is what you would request, then it would be my pleasure; what a coincidence that things should align as such. I must be going, but I will try to arrange a meeting before the weekend. In the meantime, here is my contact information. I must insist that you do not share this number with anyone, as it goes to my personal phone rather than the one in the company directory.” With that remark she handed him a small slip of paper, stood up, bid him “good day”, and strode off with her usual confidence. Shuichi smirked, unable to help but notice that her butt swayed cutely as she walked.

“‘Discussing things in detail’, huh…? That’s an interesting way to put it.” Shuichi pocketed the note, and turned his attention to his job, setting himself a few reminders on his phone to work on putting something together for the board,

After about four hours of monotonous number-crunching, the clock struck lunchtime. As Shuichi arose from his chair, he heard the boisterous voice of Kaito ring out behind him. “Hey man, you still up for World’s Famous? We’re just waiting on Kazuichi.”

“Sure thing, I was just about to head out.” He stowed his laptop and headed over to the elevator.

“Sounds good, we’ll catch up with you in just a few minutes!” the purple-haired man waved and called behind him.

Just as the elevator doors were about to close, someone suddenly jumped across the threshold. It was Margaret, and it was clear by the way she panted that she sprinted to get inside in time. “Hah, whoo, just barely made it, yes!” She pumped her fist in celebration. “Oh, Shuichi! Sorry, I didn’t see you there.”

“It’s okay; I don’t really blame you,” Shuichi replied with a half-hearted laugh as the elevator began moving down. “Are you, uh, going to lunch too?”

“Yeah; as a matter of fact, I am,” Margaret replied casually. “I had to come in early this morning for a meeting with management and I haven’t gotten a break since, so I’m starving right about now.”

“Well, at least you get to have a break now,” Shuichi said, though his mind was partly elsewhere. The strange sense of familiarity that he had whenever he looked at her was back, and it ate away at him on the inside that he still couldn’t figure out what caused it. “Say, uh… would you want to come with us to the World’s Famous? A few of our coworkers and I are going to be grabbing lunch together there.”

“That’s very kind of you, but I have a feeling those coworkers of yours are going to have a huge engineering project ready for them when they get back from their lunch break, and I’ve got to prepare my notes and presentation slides. Maybe another time?” she asked.

“Sure, whenever it works out.” Shuichi nodded, and got off the elevator, waving to Margaret as she did the same.

Shuichi arrived at the World’s Famous before any of his friends, as he expected. Not only had he left first, but his car was probably faster than most of his friends’ too.

“Well, guess I’ve got time to kill, as usual…” he thought to himself as he stepped through the door. The restaurant had dark brown faux-wood panel walls, dotted with large pieces of artwork depicting various famous locations around the world. The dining tables were a shiny light gray, with a finish resembling polished stone of some kind, though in reality it was likely just a vinyl wrap. Still, it was nevertheless an appealing decor, and if Shuichi hadn’t seen it all many times before he would probably have found it pleasant. But right now, he simply took a seat at one of these tables and waited for his coworkers to arrive.

They stepped through the door only a few minutes later, the group led as usual by Kaito. “There you are, Shuichi!” He quickly jogged over to the table ahead of the rest. “You know uh, when I said we would catch up, I was kind of thinking you were gonna wait in the lobby so we could carpool with you. My car’s more than capable, but it’s a classic, and I don’t wanna put any more miles on that baby than I need to, you know?” he said as he scratched his head.

“Oh, sorry, I guess I didn’t really think about that. But my car’s a classic too, isn't it? Plus, it’s a gift from my parents,” Shuichi pointed out.

“Right, but your car really deserves to be driven around, shown off! It’s a symbol of style, man! What good is it staying cooped up in a garage, right? Besides, I’m more than willing to pay for your mileage!” Kaito declared in his usual loud, jovial tone as Makoto and Kazuichi sat down at the table across from them.

“R-right. I’ll keep that in mind, sorry to just leave you three hanging…” Shuichi said sheepishly, acquiescing to Kaito like he usually did.

“No worries, no worries!” He gave him a hearty slap on the back. “There’s always next time. Now then, I’m starving! You just want the usual? A Splendiferous Beef Burger meal with cheese for Shuichi and I; Makoto wants a Splendiferous Beef Burger meal with no tomato, and then a… Triple-Deluxe Poultry Sandwich meal with spicy sauce and extra pickles for Kazuichi?”

“You’re ordering for us all again? Don’t forget the spicy sauce this time. Their chicken sandwiches are pretty bland despite the crazy long name; it’s the spicy sauce that really makes it good, and last time you forgot to ask for it,” Kazuichi scolded.

“You also forgot to make mine a meal last time, so it only came with the burger,” Makoto added.

“Yeah don’t worry, I’ve got it for sure this time, you can count on it! But jeez, we’ve been coming here for weeks and I still have to keep checking the menu to remember what everything is called…” With that, he stood up and marched over to the ordering counter.

“So how have you two been holding up, Kazuichi?” Makoto asked.

“Not too bad, actually! We finished our last client’s project, so we’ve got a bit less to worry about on our plate now,” he replied.

“Uh, about that,” Shuichi interjected. “On the way here, I saw Margaret on my way to the parking lot and she’s probably got another big project waiting for your team when you get back.”

“Awww, man. So much for getting easy work for the rest of the day… but I’ll take what I can get, I suppose.” The engineer somewhat dejectedly stared out a nearby window.

“How about you, Makoto?” Shuichi inquired. “How have things been at your desk?”

“Same old, same old: reports and meetings. I swear it’s really starting to feel like every day at work is the same. I’m kind of envying my sister’s job selling doughnuts, even if the pay isn’t as high,” The brown-haired office worker sighed.

“Heh, yeah I can sympathize. Going through dozens of pages of redundant budgets every week can be exhausting too.” Shuichi signed back. “And now Ki–er, Ms. Tojo needs me to go back through the entirety of last year’s audits and compile a ‘streamlined’ summary. So now I’ve basically gotta condense a year’s worth of documents into a few dozen pages…”

“Oof, yeah, that’s no fun.” Makoto laughed wryly. “Glad to see I’m not alone in that monotony, though.”

“Yeah, but it doesn’t make it any less…” Shuichi trailed-off mid-sentence as he noticed something behind Makoto.