I never thought about the meaning of life before. People just go along with it I guess. I once read a very old book that I found in my father's library on the third floor. I've never been a good reader, but that time I was interested in finding out how the story was going to end. The protagonist was a university student, as I deduced in the Russia of 1865 not everyone could go to school, and had the belief that only the ones who were willing to do what was considered bad things could get the power to change the world. Controversially, I could perfectly understand what he meant. Power is an abstract concept, but it can be turned into something concrete. "Power is given only to him who dares to stoop and take it ." That's one of the quotes that I remember better than the others. I never thought about the meaning of life before, and I probably won't in the future. I think I'll try to remember the name of the book now, just to see if I can find it somewhere.
***
"Hello everyone!" exclaimed a pink-haired girl as she slammed the office door open and came inside the room filled with anxious-looking students who were waiting for their interview.
Yuuya was sitting in the corner, leaning against the gray wall with a bored expression. He had been waiting for half an hour by now, and still, no one called him.
Most of the guests were talking with each other, the pink-haired girl was the one that tried to raise everyone's mood. Yuuya wanted to pay less attention to her, but she was one of the most obnoxious persons he ever met, so ignoring everything was nearly impossible.
They were all waiting in a little space with couches instead of chairs that made it look more like a living room than an office. There weren't any lamps, the light entering from the big windows was enough to enlighten the whole area.
Yuuya wasn't nervous. The probability of getting rejected was very low, who wouldn't want an NTA student working for them? Only a mad man would say no to him. Tension filled the room, but the only reason why the raven-haired's eyes were closed was that his finger was hurting. Before coming in everyone had to do a blood draw to be sure of not having any sickness but for some strange reason, Yuuya was still feeling pain. It was just a small needle, nothing special, yet he was the only one who had to keep his hand in his pocket to relieve the aching.
Blood draws were normal occurrences those days, where people came from every part of the world without being vaccinated. Yuuya always did them, but it was the first time his body reacted like that. It was probably nothing, though.
He wasn't used to waiting. People like him, people who could afford whatever they wanted, were never left with bated breath. And Yuuya was no different. Most of the fellow students in the room wore elegant or formal suits, while he just changed the color of his school uniform tie and not put on his jacket. Of all, he seemed perhaps the only one with financial problems.
People who didn't know his background usually avoided him, thinking he was some kind of criminal or drug dealer because of his messy hair, pale complexion due to all the hours passed in his room, the heavy bags under his eyes, and the dark and penetrating gaze he held every time he spoke. Yuuya didn't mind at all: fewer people meant fewer problems.
He observed every single student close to him with a hostile gaze, he wanted to avoid anyone talking to him. However, the pink-haired girl approached him with an ecstatic expression and held out her hand, but after several seconds passed without having any hint from Yuuya, the latter sat next to him. Then, she clapped her hands and clicked her tongue "Hey, what's your name?"
Yuuya studied her for a few seconds before closing his eyes and turning his head to the wall "Yuuya."
"Cool. I'm Aoi Sasaki, nice to meetcha."
Yuuya shot her a dirty look and tried to ignore her, but apparently, Aoi Sasaki was determined to have a conversation with him.
"So, where are you from?"
"Here and there."
"What do you do?"
"This and that."
"You ever...?"
"Now and then."
"Boy, you're just full of information."
"I know right? Hey, listen here, isn't that amazing?"
Aoi tilted her head in confusion and looked around the room "What? What should I listen to? What's amazing?"
Yuuya narrowed his brows and stood up "The sound you make when you shut up." Saying that, he walked across the whole room and sat on another couch, the further possible from that noisy girl. Aoi looked slightly disappointed in his reaction, but her expression immediately changed as soon as she started talking to her next victim.
Yuuya finally managed to breathe a sigh of relief, but as soon as he thought he could relax, the door snapped open. From the entrance, a woman in a suit made her way with a stack of papers in her hand. After taking a quick look around the room, the latter called Yuuya's name.
The raven-haired male stood immediately up and lazily followed her. He shot a last look at the couch before heading into the corridors.
All he could say was that the office was well-illuminated. The wall in the back was made of glass, leaving the view of the city exposed. In front of him sat a middle-aged woman with long, blonde hair and a pair of big and round glasses that made her eyes appear way bigger than they should have.
"Kuroyami Yuuya. Eighteen years old. Currently attending the New Tokyo Academy. Would that be you?" she asked as the other woman who led him there walked away after leaving the stack of papers on the desk.
Yuuya nodded "Yes ma'am."
"Good. Please, take a seat. You can call me Mrs. Sanders."
He did as she said without complaining. The raven-haired male just studied her while she read a few papers, probably his information that proved his identity and abilities.
"Mr. Kuroyami, you're studying physics at the New Tokyo Academy. As I can see your grades are average, not bad, but as far as I can see there are some behavior issues. Could that be a problem if we were to hire you as a laboratory assistant?"
"No."
Mrs. Sanders raised her brows to point out her skepticism and, on the other hand, Yuuya couldn't help but narrow his eyes.
"Good. Mr. Kuroyami, you come from a wealthy family, am I right?"
The raven-haired male slightly nodded, already displeased by the way the conversation was going. He didn't understand how such information could raise his chances of getting hired, but if that's what the woman in front of him wanted there was no choice but to obey.
"Just as expected. We hire a lot of children like you every day, most of them retire after the first week. Here in Skyard Inc. slackers ain't welcome, our employees need to be always ready to work. Understood?"
"Yes, ma'am."
"Very well. By reading your report I think that you have more potential than the others, Mr. Kuroyami. I'd like to propose a different job offer from the one you saw in the article. Is it alright?"
Yuuya nodded, more interested than before. Being stuck in a laboratory with some crazy old geezer who liked playing chemistry set three days out of five never excited him anyway.
"I offer you a position as a part-time researcher. Hands-on experience, nothing difficult. You'll have to be around a little group of scientists who work on some different projects together. As you can see neither I know the details of the job, in fact, the request is from the head of the department that just sent an email to the human resources team. He's an excellent mentor, and from what I can see you don't need any special skills to join the research team. So, do you agree to the offer?"
The raven-haired student smirked and put his thumbs up in agreement.
"I'll let them know immediately."
"Uh-huh, thanks. You already have my number right? When will you call me back?" asked Yuuya as he quickly sat up from the chair. The woman propped her glasses on her nose and nodded "Soon. Uh, and before you go you'll have to do another blood draw. Someone lost the results of your first one."
Yuuya closed his eyes and winced while thinking about his other hand hidden in his pocket. He cautiously moved towards Mrs. Sanders, who already had a little needle in her hand.
Strangely, this time he didn't feel any pain. The woman raised again her brows at the boy's scared expression but didn't say anything.
"Farewell, Mr. Kuroyami."
"Same." was all he said before sprinting towards the exit door. For the first time in many years, Yuuya felt ecstatic about his new work.
While walking away, he saw Mrs. Sanders scribbling some notes next to the blood draw with the corner of his eye, but after a few seconds, he decided to walk away.
He couldn't wait to see Yoichi's face when he told him he was hired by one of the most famous companies in the world.