"Ah, why did HR kept us for so long? That was totally torture back there!" Saizo complained, smiling slightly.
Shinsuke simply clicked his tongue.
He knew that it was his fault, and that he was the only one at fault. So he was really sorry for his friend, but also careful: he didn't want to make him more angry than he already was.
If Saizo kept smiling slightly even while complaining, it was never a good sign.
He was pissed. More than pissed, even. And the events at HR were not going to help his mood.
They had just met their new department head, who was not only younger than they were, but also related to the president.
That was enough to put pressure on them.
To top it all off, said manager had made a point of going to the team lunch to introduce himself to the other employees, resulting in a long and uncomfortable cab ride between the three men.
"Hey, it seems that a lot of people have already gone home," Saizo grumbled, still wearing a slight smile.
This smile that did not bode well made Shinsuke shiver. Saizo was really pissed that he missed the start of the team dinner. No, on second thought, it seemed something else had annoyed him even more.
"Even Shinohara-san is gone..." He observed with a frown.
Maybe it was a good thing, after all, that the young woman wasn't there. Saizo was literally becoming obsessed at this rate.
Shinsuke was just disappointed that he couldn't clear things up with her. It would probably have to wait until Monday morning...
In the meantime, the new director of the Natural Disaster Department had also slipped away.
He had exchanged a few words with Chief Tsukasa, having introduced himself with discipline to him and the rest of the team, before the discussion took a rather friendly turn. Shinsuke had seen him leave the room after this short exchange.
"Since you are my new superior, can I have your number?" Heizo asked cheerfully.
"Yes of course, let's exchange our contact information," he replied with a smile.
Takao had indeed quickly felt his jacket and trouser pockets, before realizing that he was missing something crucial to perform the operation in question.
"I forgot my cell phone in my jacket, I'll be right back," Takao apologized.
He had just returned from abroad, so there was no way he didn't already know his new phone number by heart, when he was already having trouble remembering which buses went by his house and at what times.
Reluctant, he returned to the reception of the restaurant, where were the wall coat racks where he had left his things. Very quickly, having spotted his jacket whose navy blue color stood out slightly, he retrieved his smartphone, and was about to return to the rooms that had been reserved for the company, when something caught his attention.
Two people were standing outside, right in front of the restaurant entrance. Or, more accurately, a man was holding a young woman who didn't look well by her waist.
He could only see their backs, but strangely, Takao got doubtful.
The very long black hair with irregular strands and without a precise hairstyle to discipline them reminded him of the young woman he had met that morning. And now that he was paying more attention, the clothes the two women were wearing were similar. Too similar, even.
Intrigued, he started to approach the couple, when a detail occurred to him: he also knew the person who was holding her up while they seemed to be waiting for a cab.
This guy... It was also the same one as this morning.
Quickly, a feeling of discomfort came over Takao. He had the impression that something was wrong in this situation.
In spite of himself, he continued to go forward, and called out to the two people who still had their backs to him.
"Hey you two, everything okay?" He asked in a more authoritative voice than he would have liked to communicate.
The question startled the man, who turned slightly on himself and dragged the young woman in his gesture; which confirmed Takao's suspicions.
It was indeed that young woman named Hana, and that heavy guy, Kubo Touma.
"Ah, the guy from this morning? What do you want?" He asked casually.
He probably didn't know that Takao was one of his superiors, and had decided to adopt a rather disrespectful attitude thinking he was facing an equal.
"I'd like to know if Shinohara-san is okay," Takao insisted.
"She just had too much to drink, so I'll take her home," Touma replied succinctly, while adopting an aggressive attitude.
If Kubo thought he was intimidating him, he didn't know him very well. Something was definitely wrong with this situation, and he intended to find out what.
"Do you know where she lives?" Takao questioned.
"Uh... Yeah... Near Sasazuka," Touma answered quickly.
What a liar.
Miss Shinohara lived near Kameido, in the opposite direction.
Curious about the young woman, he had quickly consulted her file in the afternoon. He was not so senile as to confuse two different parts of the city.
Which in itself made the situation even more tense, because in the meantime a cab had arrived and stopped right in front of them.
"If you're done questioning me, can we go?" Touma asked disgruntledly.
During all this time, the young woman had not said a word, which suggested that she was probably unconscious, or too drunk to answer anything. She was therefore vulnerable, and potentially in danger.
And even if it was only a possibility, Takao would rather be sorry and have to apologize for a misunderstanding later, than have regrets for not having acted.
"I'll take care of taking Shinohara-san home," he offered.
"Huh? What are you talking about, moron? Can't you see that I'm already taking care of her?" Touma snapped.
Ah, this was definitely more than suspicious. Who would get so upset about such a proposal?
"It seems to me that Shinohara-san is the one to decide that, isn't she?" Takao insisted.
"I'm telling you that-!"
Touma's sentence was cut short as a hand violently grabbed his hair and yanked his head back.
Surprised, the two men looked to the left: the young woman, still with her head down, had firmly grasped the hair of the man who still had his arm around her waist.
And very quickly, a threatening voice rose, like a rumbling.
"What do you think you're doing to Hana, you bastard?"
What happened in the next few seconds was so fast and violent that Takao couldn't help but be a spectator.
The young woman had suddenly stood up, and still holding Touma's hair with her left hand, sent a lightning punch in his face.
Touma fell to the ground, having lost consciousness under the force of the impact, the young woman standing alone and staring at him with an angry look.
"I'm going to kill you, bastard." Said she with a voice that gave goosebumps while approaching the man passed out on the sidewalk.
Onlookers had already stopped to watch the scene, and Takao suspected that someone was probably already calling the police. Customers and employees of the restaurant were also starting to come out to find out what was going on, driven by curiosity.
Given the young woman's demeanor, people would probably say she was the aggressor, despite what had happened earlier. She was not able to explain immediately what had happened, and if her colleagues saw her, things could become very complicated for her.
This pushed Takao to make an impulsive, thoughtless decision.
He took the young woman by the wrist and started to run with her towards one of the small streets perpendicular to the one where the entrance of the restaurant was located, quickly escaping the crowd that had formed.
Being finally out of the way and quiet, the young woman shook her arm to free herself from Takao's grip, before taking a step back.
"Who are you?" She asked warily.
Was she too drunk to remember their discussion that morning?
"Don't you recognize me? I'm Takao, Utagawa Takao. We met this morning..." He said while recovering his breath.
"Eh? Doesn't ring a bell..." She said with a disinterested air.
Takao couldn't help but pinch the bridge of his nose. She had really had too much to drink, if she didn't even remember him.
"We introduced ourselves this morning," he insisted patiently. "You even gave me your name: Shinohara Hana."
"That wasn't me." She answered immediately.
"Of course it was!" He replied with annoyance.
"I don't know you." Said she by crossing her arms.
Ah, it was becoming exhausting, all of a sudden...
"I'm Utagawa Takao," he said, pointing at himself, "and you're Shinohara Hana. We work together at Marline Insurance."
"Marline?" She repeated. "That sounds familiar, indeed..."
"Yes! Because that's where you've been working all week!" Declared he, exasperated.
"In that case show me your badge," she ordered with a straight face.
"My badge?"
"Yes, to prove your identity," she clarified, glaring at him.
She... Was she serious, here?
Said badge had been left with the rest of his belongings, at the entrance of the restaurant.
However, the young woman was relentlessly suspicious, and he felt that she would not change her stance so easily, especially after what had just happened.
Resigned, he decided to face the problem head on.
"Look, I don't have my badge on me, so what can I do to make you trust me?"
"Let me beat the shit out of that bastard." She said with a more than serious look on her face.
"No, that's a crime." He tried to reason with her.
"Are you going to stop me, then?" She asked defiantly.
"Of course!" He retorted forcefully. "I can't let you commit a crime!"
She remained thoughtful for a moment, her stern gaze trained on him, and tapping her right index finger on her still-crossed arms, before blinking slowly.
"Why do you care about Hana?" She finally asked.
"Why shouldn't I?" He replied. "It's okay to worry about other people!"
"You only know me from this morning..." She said with suspicion.
"And? This guy who tried something fishy seemed to know you for several days... " He argued. "I may have only known you since this morning, Shinohara Hana, but you seemed friendly and sincere. It's natural to want to help that kind of person."
"This again?" She said, lowering her head and looking at the floor.
Again what? What could he have said wrong?
He had no time to ask her what she meant by that, because already, she had uncrossed her arms before putting her hand on her chest, and declaring out loud while raising her head the following words:
"I'm not Hana, I'm Nana!" She exclaimed, offended.
"N... Nana?" Takao repeated with a confused look.
What the hell was that?
Was she just messing with him, or what?
He was about to scold her and tell her that the shorter jokes were the better, when something suddenly occurred to him.
He hadn't paid enough attention to it until now, but on closer inspection, the attitude and posture of the young woman was totally different from what he had seen this morning.
If the Shinohara Hana of this morning seemed shy and smiling, with slightly slumped shoulders, the one currently standing in front of him was defiant, seemed uncompromising, and had adopted a confident stance.
Even the way they spoke was different.
It... didn't match at all.
The realization made him in turn take a step back, before he asked her the next question:
"Who... Who are you?"