"That reminds me, Mousumi. Isn't your internship ending soon?"
Narumiya set a thick bunch of documents on the cleanly furnished conference table. Shirotani looked over with curiosity burning in her eyes. She leisurely leaned onto Narumiya, ignoring the fact that her life was now in a dreadful situation. Mousumi sweated nervously as she felt two pairs of eyes waiting eagerly for an answer.
"Yes, my internship ends on the 20th. I'll become a regular employee starting next week."
"Isn't that great?" Shirotani clapped her hands enthusiastically, her eyes shining bright with excitement.
"We'll be seeing you more often." Narumiya smiled but her exhaustive self made it seem like she was just an empty skeleton hanging at the Halloween party's venue entrance, loosely swirling around and clinking even with a tiny gust of wind. She was already holding onto her last straw when Shirotani's weight started to crush her posture.
Narumiya shot daggers at Shirotani, "You. Get. Off."
Shirotani jumped at the very sight of Narumiya fuming up and backed off a couple of steps. Her hands were positioned in the air to convey the words 'I surrender'.
"Oops! Sorry, I did it subconsciously." Narumiya frowned at the response while Shirotani continued to bow and apologize several times.
"Pfft-"
"???"
"Sumi-chan, why are you laughing?..."
Mousumi wiped her slightly wet eye and continued to laugh heartily. After calming down for a bit she replied, "No just- I thought to myself that, 'Ah you both are really close.' Shirotani-san, you're a carefree person. But when you're with Narumiya-Senpai, I can see that you really care for her. Today, during the meeting too. You understood that she was exhausted from preparing and organizing the conference since last week. To lessen her burden, you took up some responsibilities yourself allowing her to take a break."
Narumiya's eyes widened at every word spoken by Mousumi. Every drop of blood that was left in that frail body rushed to her face and got collected on her cheeks. On the other hand, Shirotani was plainly embarrassed and quite taken aback at the same time.
"Sumi-chan! I didn't know you were this observant. Moreover, I didn't consider you as someone who talks a lot. You're...full of surprises."
Mousumi scratched her head and laughed awkwardly, "Do I seem to be that way?"
"Yeah! Hey Nanase, what do you think about it? Do you think we're close?~" Shirotani smiled teasingly and turned around in the direction where Narumiya was supposed to be standing.
The wind shifted around the conference hall. Fans whirred at a distance above. Narumiya had disappeared in a span of a few minutes.
"Nanase?"
[
"I can make the whole crowd mosh pit, watch this (woo)
I can make your b***h wanna stop and watch this (watch)
I can make your b***h wanna stop then pop it (pop)
I ain't even drop no songs, still poppin'
I stay with a whole lotta (whole lotta, woo)"
]
"...."
The phone on the messy table vibrated and lit up.
The AMOLED screen displayed the name 'Nanase Narumiya :3'. The background was blurred but anyone could make out that it was a picture of two young girls. One of the girls was crying and the other was smiling widely. It looked like a picture clicked at a graduation ceremony. Both were dressed in sailor uniforms and thigh-high socks. Each of them held a bouquet on either side. Cherry blossoms were falling at a distance behind. The picture itself was nostalgic, enhanced with a vintage ocean filter.
Shirotani checked the screen twice to make sure she was not mistaken and picked up the incoming call.
"Suika."
"Hello, Nanase? Where did you run off to? You totally got me worried!"
Before Shirotani could even let out a sigh of relief, Narumiya responded hastily. "I got called by the team manager to run an errand. You guys return to your desks and start segregating the documents. I'll join you in an hour."
"Huh? Wait-"
"Call ended" The monotonous voice of AI rang out from the speaker cutting through their conversation and eventually putting an end to it.
"This woman...she..." Shirotani sucked in a deep breath and let it out slowly. She then proceeded to gather up the documents placed on the long table. Mousumi helped her to clear out the plastic bottles lying around which were more than a quarter or less than half filled with water. She thought to herself, 'I was here to take back the documents with me...how come I ended up picking up trash?'
On the other side of the restless atmosphere, Narumiya entered the general washroom in a frenzied manner. At the same time, a woman came right out of a stall, resulting in them lightly bumping into each other.
"Forgive me."
"No, I should've been more careful. I'm sorry." The air around the woman was fragrant and sweet as though petals of jasmine were dispersed even without the influence of the winds. When paired with her gentle way of speaking anyone would mistake for the moment to be surreal.
"..." Narumiya glanced up instantly when she heard that soothing voice.
"Well, if it isn't Nanase-san?"
There she was. Kanae Itou, the Head Executive of Operations Team B, standing right before her.
"...Kanae-san..."
Kanae tilted her head lightly and inched a bit closer to Narumiya. "Your face is bright red, you know."
"!!!" Narumiya subconsciously covered her face with her hands as she received the shocking revelation.
"Heh, did something happen with Shirotani?"
Narumiya's tone became serious, "What does she have to do with this?"
"You're too obvious-"
"Please excuse me." Narumiya shifted past Kanae and entered a random stall with a baffled expression.
"Ah-!" Kanae watched Narumiya's tiny figure disappear with a bang as the stall's door was shut tight. She walked towards the sink and murmured, "I wonder when she'll get over with that habit of hers to end conversations midway.
"Like come on, who are you trying to fool with that expression on your face..."
"...Suika?" She stared at her reflection in the mirror. Water oozed out aggressively from the faucet of the sink she was facing.
Narumiya supported her back and slid smoothly down the stall door. Her face still had remnants of red tint. Her hair was disheveled by constant pushing and pulling.
Narumiya held her head and whispered to herself,
"This is bad..."