"Please, Kashiwagi-san, welcome to our lab. These are the students who are currently work-..."
"AHH!" - I shouted involuntarily, interrupting Prof. Fukuda, dropping off my books and bag, making a loud noise
"???" - Prof. Fukuda was startled for a moment trying to understand the cause of my shock
"Maria!?"
As the professor opened the door, three students were on the other side of it waiting for me. Two men were standing beside a woman sitting on a chair; all of them with clean white lab coats and looking directly at us. Although dressed in a different way and below a lab coat, that girl was unmistakably Maria from the pastry shop, who was now waiting for me in that lab, with a big smile and both of her hands making the "V" signs, like she was expecting my reaction.
"Uh? Do you already know each other?" - The taller student questioned Maria with as much curiosity as the rest of the room"
"Ha-ha-ha, yeah, kinda!"
"Maria is always one step ahead of us, uh?" - The other student, who was probably shorter than the rest of us, and had black skin, started laughing together with Maria, as I began to feel like I've been bamboozled
"Oh, isn't that great? Maria, as you guys already know each other, please present your colleagues and the lab facilities to Mrs. Miyuki. I must go now, I have to attend the examination board of a student"
"Yes, sir!" - Said Maria
"Well, then if you excuse me…."
Prof. Fukuda closed the door behind us as I bent myself to pick up the books that I'd dropped. Without me noticing, Maria came close to me, squatted, and picked up one of the books that were on the floor, extending her arm to me.
"I'm sorry. Pr. Fukuda loves the Colombo pastry shop, and he is always trying to make us eat in that place whenever possible. We knew that a prodigy girl from Japan was going to study with us, so I was sure he'd say something about Colombo to you. I just asked him when you'd arrive and doing the math it was possible that you'd be in the shop at that time. Being the only Asian English-speaking tourist and young girl alone in the shop, it was easy to spot you"
"R-right…." - Okay, so far, you're just an efficient stalker.
I was still a bit suspicious of her, and I felt like I was being fooled around. Nonetheless, Maria kept a very big smile, and she didn't seem to have a malicious aura.
But… As soon as I let my guard down and turned around to pick up the other book on the floor, she put her arms around me, pressed her chest against my back and hugged me.
W-w-w-w-whaaat!?
"O-oooh, please!" - She proceeded to act in an extremely clingy way.
"Forgive meeee, Miyuki! I'm just extremely curious and was very excited to know that we were going to have a new friend, especially an overseas one. But I didn't want to pass the impression of a stalker, even though I ended up seeming like one! But seriously, you are a scientist, you are also curious, aren't ya? You can understand me, right?"
As she clung on to me vigorously, I could see just a bit of her cleavage, above a green sweater made of wool, which sure drew attention; she was also wearing a short brown skirt, with dark stocks below it, and purple high heels. Although with a completely different outfit from yesterday, a more academic one, she was still extremely attractive, which embarrassed me. I could also see that the guys were quite enjoying the scene, as they too were blushing, and broke eye contact the moment I turned my head towards them.
I mean…. I think I'd also be enjoying it if it was the other way around, but at that moment I didn't want to take part in any private shows, so I just pushed Maria away.
"Okay, okay, got it, got it! I can sorta understand! Just give me some space, okay?" - After forcing her away a bit, she finally let go of me.
These guys sure can be physical down here...
"Anyway" - Said Maria while brushing off the dust in her skirt from the previous moment.
"I think I'm supposed to show you around or else Prof. Fukuda will scold me. First, the introductions; you may already know, but my name is Maria Pazolini, I'm in the 3rd year of biology and here in the lab I work with marine microbiology."
"This is Ricardo de Souza, he is our IT guy here, he-he."
"Hey!" - Ricardo replied.
"Just kidding. He is actually our superior here in the university, as he graduated last year in computer science engineering and is now studying his master thesis here in this lab, in data science applied in marine biology."
A smartass, uh?
Ricardo is pretty tall by Japanese standards, he has black hair, green eyes, and a bossy attitude. He had his arms crossed all the time and frequently looked away avoiding eye contact; didn't seem to be a very approachable person. Because of that he had an aura of mystery that sure made me pique some interest.
"Don't mind his cocky attitude. He is a very gentle guy! Just don't ask him too much about biology. He's a bit dumb in that area despite working in a biology lab, ha-ha"- Said Maria mocking Ricardo
"I'm what!? You sure do have a big mouth"
"Ha-ha-ha, anyway, finally, we have Oliver Saint. He is only in his second year of biology in the university and is in his first months as a student here in our lab; he's also an excellent diver, you'll see it. Oliver is like our little mascot here he-he-he"
"Hey, Maria!" - Replied Oliver.
Oliver is small and has a baby face which I thought was very cute and made me instantly feel like I wanted to protect him from the evils of the world, like I would with a kid. He also had a very innocent and honest smile that could penetrate your soul and warm your heart.
Ooooh, I want to hug him!!
After all the introductions, I stepped forward and proceeded to make my own introduction.
"Uh…. Nice to meet you all. My name is Miyuki Kashiwagi and I'm from Tokyo University, I'm in my 4th year of Biology. I've been invited by Prof. Fukuda to study in his deep-sea marine life project for the next two years, especially for cataloging and observing marine life here in Rio. Hope we can have a good time together!" - I automatically bowed down in a typical Japanese way. Maria, in respect, tried to follow, not understanding much about it, so she did in a sort of clumsy way, while the other guys just stood still a bit confused by this act.
"A-h, ha-ha…. Well… Thanks Miyuki" - Maria responded- "We are also extremely happy to have you here. You know how much time has passed since we had a new student in the lab!? I've been here since my first year of uni, but I've only known about two other people that have studied here in this lab; it's frustrating! I mean, who doesn't like giant squids, mega-sharks and sunken old ships? Hasn't anyone had a decent childhood!?" Not that I've ever seen a giant squid during my years studying marine biology.
"Well…. I don't think that people would join a field of research just for having seen 'finding Nemo' "- responded Oliver.
"I disagree! Everybody turned on their TVs when submarines explored the sunken body of the Titanic or when the BBC do some crazy documentary with that awesome sexy male voice talking about a random animal living on the deep oceans."
"Humpf. Don't assume people will choose something based on your same twisted logic" - Ricardo commented
"Heeey! I'm not twisted! Miyuki help me! Say it, why did you choose to study biology?
"Hmm… For me, what intrigues me the most is the unknown. Like, in the case of the Americas, imagine what it was like being the first European explorers on those boats discovering a whole new world, completely different from yours. However, today 99.9% of the land is charted, so our "New World" today is the deep sea; only 5% of the oceans have been explored, there's still so much to see and discover. How amazing is that!?"
"Right!?" - Maria agreed with me, again, grabbing both my hands like yesterday - "Finally someone who understands it as I do. Miyukiiii, I already love you!" - She jumped on me again, getting overly clingy and making a whole embarrassing scene once again.
After I pushed her away yet one more time, she decided to show me where my desk would be. Grabbing me by my hand, she led me to the other side of the room, while the other guys just went back to their assignments.
As I walked through the lab, I couldn't help but notice that the architecture itself wasn't very modern and seemed more like a XIX Century lab, as the whole floor and walls were made of wood and not of masonry like I was used to back in Japan. That being said, there was some pretty high-tech stuff in there, like an electron microscope, good PC hardware, and all the basic required tools for researching biology, like plastic gloves, glass tubes, pipettes, and, of course, tons of biology books for reference. It probably wasn't the most advanced lab in the world, but it sure was neat and elegant.
As we reached the corner of the room, Maria released my hand, turned to me and said,
"There ya go! Here's your desk, I've reserved the best one for you. Thank me later!"
However, it wasn't the desk itself but something else that completely mesmerized me and took my breath away.
"Woaaah"
Maria and Pr. Fukuda were kind enough to reserve me a place by the window, and the view was nothing else than a paradisiacal tropical landscape of the beach, with the Sugar Loaf on one of the extremities and the old colonial buildings on the other. I could see the people cycling on the road; the nets of volleyball being raised and the drink vendors running up and down the beach trying to get their daily bread; all that mixed up with the mountains, which had patches of dense tropical rainforest. It was criminally beautiful, and my eyes were glowing, as a tear almost rolled down. The guys here really wanted to make me feel comfortable and were making all the effort for that, be it the professor or my future colleagues, all of them going the extra mile for me.
"Thank you, Maria, you're really gentle!" - Not thinking twice, I jumped on her just like she did with me before. I guess I was rapidly getting used to this touching culture, and I confess that I wasn't disliking it that much.
"Woah, hey, hey" - This time, it was Maria who got embarrassed and blushed, being surprised by my sudden move - "You're welcome, Miyuki, you're welcome" - Said she, while petting my head.
Ahh, she is so soft, I don't want to let her go.
Although her chest was indeed really comfy, I noticed that the boys were starting to stare at us again, which sure made me blush and distance myself from Maria right away. Smiling at me, she raised her index finger and spoke.
"I knew you'd like it, right? Just don't forget to close the windows when you are done by the day. Anyway, every Wednesday we have a lab meeting to discuss our projects and what we are researching. This week we are supposed to read two papers about a random scientist researching some random fishes in a random place in the Pacific."
That's not a very enthusiastic speech about it.
"You know, between us, lately we've been reading some lame papers, which is something already lame in itself. But I trust Prof. Fukuda's judgment in the end."
"Right…."
"Do you already know which classes you will take, Miyuki?"
"Yeah, but my classes will only start tomorrow, so I'm planning to stay in the lab a while and then return home."
"Oh right, that's true, most classes will only start tomorrow. But don't worry, your superior Maria will show you around he-he-he, but right now I have something to attend to, Miyuki, so I have to go! If you need anything, please ask the boys, and once again, sorry about before!"
"Heh…. Thanks, and don't mind, you really are too gentle."
"See ya!"