"Welcome to your new office, Uki-chan," he put his food down on his busy looking desk and gestured for me to put my bag down on the other desk. It was relatively empty and dusty with disuse.
"Is this your office too?" I asked, looking at the small space.
"Yep. From now on, you and I are partners. I've been a soloist for a long time but Susan has been trying to convince me to get a partner. After she and I heard from Howard about your situation in your team, I thought I'd give you a shot. Save you from your predicament. Get to know you more. Hence the painting and so on. But you have to get more than a passing grade on your exams next year. Ok?"
"Why? Why me? I'm nothing special."
"Says the girl who leapt more than forty metres across the gulf to escape from an enemy she noticed was still around when all her teammates and team leader failed to spot the clues. The girl who has an auto-translate ability and aptitude scores that says you should be a genius despite your actual horrific grades. Says a girl who refuses to give up and is determined to turn her life around. You're special, Kim Na, my Uki-chan. Very special. Or I wouldn't have chosen you to be my partner. You may not know yet but there are some agents who would cut off an arm or a leg to become the partner of the man who turned the last invasion of Blue Gulf around."
"You? You're Red Eye? The mind controller? The telepath who can cast illusions? The Blue Gulf Hero?" I stared at him in disbelief.
"Have they been giving me new names in the textbooks again?" Shigure muttered.
"But you don't have a red eye," I pointed out.
"Not normally. No," Shigure rubbed one cheek. "Do you have anything else to say? So that we can get over the fangirl or the rejection moment and I don't have to feel so awkward and embarrassed?
"Kimi-shigure?" I dug in my pocket and found two more boxes of pastry. One was a bit crushed. The other looked fine. I held it out to him.
He blinked and then a warm smile spread over his face.
"Thank you, Kim," he said with a warm voice, taking the little box. "Don't mind if I do. Why did you buy these?"
"I was passing by the shop yesterday and had an urge to buy a few," I shrugged.
He ate his pastry in two bites, while I put mine on my dusty desk to eat later.
"I have to admit I wasn't expecting that reaction. Come on, I'll show you around," he led me through the door at the back of the office with a grin. "Then we'll wipe down your desk and chair, and get your stuff moved over before we settle down for the night. There's going to be a lot to get done tomorrow."
Behind the office was a mini gym with various barbell and dumbbell weights, a gym ball and a dangling rope. Upon seeing the rope, I couldn't stop myself. I climbed up it to ring the tiny bell at the top. It made a tinkling sound. Sliding back down it, I skidded over to where Shigure led the way into a small corridor with a wall partition. For some reason, I felt like a little kid again.
"This is my bedroom," Shigure pointed to the first door and opened it, turning on the light so that I could see into the little room. There was only space for some shelves along the wall to the side of the bed. The clothes also hung on a rod over the bed. There was one window. He ushered me along to the next door. "This is your bedroom."
My bedroom was empty. The bed was raised up to show an empty storage space underneath it. Like Shigure's room, there was a rod over the bed, one window and shelves on the same wall that the bed was against. The bed had a mattress but no sheets. It was small but I would at least have my own private space, unlike the bunk bed dormitory I was currently living in. It was good enough. I didn't have that much stuff anyway. Everything would fit in here easy.
"We will be sharing the bathroom and toilet," Shigure turned me around to show me three doors opposite our bedrooms. "The toilet and shower are in separate rooms. The waste water we use for our shower and for washing our hands is reused to flush the toilet. We're lucky. We also have a half sized bathtub. The washing and dryer machines are right there in the bathroom. Isn't it handy? The other room is a kitchenette. One sink and one electric portable stove. There's a little kettle. I seldom use the kitchenette except to make drinks. We have a bar fridge over here under the table. Cleaning materials are under the sink."
Shigure helped me wipe down my desk, table and the dust in my bedroom. He vacuumed the mattress so it wouldn't be too dusty as well as the little bit of carpet beside the bed. Then he helped me to collect my few things from my bunk bed dormitory before lights out and helped me make my bed. We decided to collect my office things tomorrow.
Together we ate our now cold dinner. He finished the beef bowl that he had begun eating earlier in the Director's room at a leisurely pace, while I steadily munched through my beef bowl. The green leaf mustard pickles were awesome.
Then we washed up and I fell into bed. I felt like I was dreaming and the feeling persisted even when I was actually dreaming.
In the early morning, I woke up due to excitement. My head still hurt and felt a bit dizzy but I had my own room. That trumped the pain. My own private space. I had the best partner I could wish for. I was no longer considered a waste of space.
After cleaning up, I moved my stuff from my old team's bullpen to my new office. There were very few people up in the building at this time of the morning unless they were on a case. I arranged my new desk to my satisfaction and then used the little gym.
Shigure emerged in singlet and shorts to correct my weightlifting technique and spot for me. I did the same for him. He suggested and taught me some new exercises and then sparred with me in padded training clothes until the clock ticked over to the o'clock.
"How did you sleep?" he asked me.
"Like a baby! But not. I was too excited about having my own room to stay asleep," I admitted.
He ruffled my hair and went to get us breakfast while I showered. When he got back, he showered while I set the table and wondered what our eating arrangements would be. Would we be taking turns to pay for the food from the canteen or would we pay for them individually? We had a food allowance, but I usually didn't get to use mine. Mary Belle, Flint and Sarden usually got most of it, so I had barely any money on my food card.
I asked him when he came out of the shower.
"Don't worry about the food. I've got you covered for now. It's part of my responsibility as your senior partner in our team until you find your own feet. You don't have any money left in your card, do you? Your teammates took it all, right?"
I stared at him with wide eyes. He had truly been listening to me yesterday? He remembered what I said?
He just gave me a gentle smile and patted my shoulder in reassurance. It appeared like I had amused him again.
"Our team will mostly only take on special cases. They may be more dangerous or extremely mundane, like transcription, translation or interpretation. Before I'm willing to take you out on the field for the dangerous missions, I want to train you a bit more," Shigure told me, rubbing his wet hair with the towel around his neck. "But first, I'm going to come and help you and Howard out with this Chad Thundercock case. It sounds like that murderer's fixated on you a bit. After he contacts Howard, you and Howard do what you normally do. You won't see me, but I'll be around, keeping an eye on things. I want to know who this man is."
"Got it," I nodded.
"If we can, we'll try and get your stuff back so that you don't have to fill in so many forms and have to undergo such a rigorous investigation. Let's try and keep you unnoticed by Headquarters or any other people for as long as we can. As you probably know, just like how you tried to hide the big improvement in your ability to leap long distances, people who stand out too much get targeted. You're going to become like me. A hidden ace up the Director's sleeve until we work out who all the moles are and what our hidden enemy is up to. What do you think?"
"I'll do my best," I told him, "but I don't know if I'll get to the level of a hidden ace."
"Other people will be told you're undergoing special training as a last ditch effort to help you stay in the Agency before you get kicked out. The truth is that your special training is what is going to turn you into an ace," Shigure winked at me. "Whether you think you can or not. There are going to be no 'if's about it. You will become a special ace agent or you will answer to me."
His last statement came with a very serious expression and an almost evil sounding voice that made me shiver.
"Now, the rest of your team don't yet know that they're under investigation and that the team will be disbanded. The Director, Howard and I have a plan in motion. You aren't to tell them or hint at it either. As far as they know, I'm coming as special support and as extra protection for you until this case is over. They'll be told you are back on probation for misinformation in your report. You're not to tell them what you left out in your report either. Let them stew and think about it themselves. Remember, while you're out with your team, none of you will see me but I'll be there all the same. I won't interfere unless there's serious danger that none of you can handle, so that Howard and I can apprehend Chad. Do you think you can act like normal?"
"Mm. Yes," I thought for a moment and then gave a firm nod.
"And just between partners, I know both of us aren't at the top of our game today, but do your best. If you start to get too fatigued and dizzy, let Howard know. If you aren't sure about something, call for me in your mind."
"Will using your ability again so soon hurt you though?" I asked him.
"Just casual talking and sending of images is fine. I won't be hurt by that."
"Are you sure?"
I didn't want to call on him and then afterwards discover that he got sick because he overused his abilities. In fact, it might be safer if I tried not to rely on him at all unless there was an emergency.
"That's right," Shigure agreed out loud, making me jump.
Had he been reading my mind? Was it because I was thinking too loudly or because I was thinking of him at the same time?
"Both," Shigure said and grinned. "I'll have to teach you to keep your thoughts to yourself. The main reason is that you're still partially holding onto the link we established yesterday when you agreed to let me into your mind. You didn't completely let me go. I suppose you've decided I can be trusted? Now that we're partners, it's not a bad idea to keep that link open. You just need to know how to control it from your side. Otherwise I'll keep accidentally hearing things I don't think I'm meant to."
Ah. Oops. How should I not broadcast my thoughts to him? Think of closing my mind off into private mode? Like setting up my own private room? And then if I wanted to include him, open up a group chat channel like this? Then switch back to private mode like this?
"Yes. Something like that," Shigure smiled at me proudly. "That's the way."
It was a bit like telephone lines or chat groups on the internet. If I thought of it in that way, then that made it easier. Team chat. Private chat. Switch. Switch.
"There," Shigure patted me on the shoulder. "Now you've definitely got it."
Huh. It was as simple as that. Righty-o then.