Ch.003 – Lo, the fool obeyeth thine errands – 01

His eyes up to the sky that was slipping into twilight, a short moment where the city hadn’t yet turned its lights on, but the sun had already clocked out. Then Renji glanced down at his phone—7th December. 5:51 pm., blinking steadily like it was trying to remind him of something.

“6 pm. sharp.” Reika’s voice echoed in his mind—clear and clipped.

Across the snowy street stood the building. It wasn’t the tall 20+ story glass tower he usually ran deliveries to. But this one still carried its own kind of elegance. Five stories, maybe six if he counted the rooftop fixtures. Minimalist exterior, tinted windows, same silver KHX logo, overall building looks professional, but subtle. Almost like it didn’t want to be noticed unless you were already meant to find it.

His shoulders slumped on instinct. Then he stepped up to the front entrance, where the automatic doors didn't even get a chance to slide open before a uniformed security guard stepped forward with a polite yet firm expression.

“Good evening. Can I help you, sir?”

“Ah, yeah. I’m here to see… Reika Hiraga.” He held up yesterday’s sleek, matte-black name card.

The guard’s eyes narrowed slightly. “Do you have an appointment?”

“Yea—”

“Let him in.”

A familiar voice cut through. The woman in a business suit and simple, long ponytail—Shira. She emerged through the far side behind the lobby.

“Alright, Miss Shira.” The security gave a quick nod.

Renji muttered something close to a thanks and walked past the front door, his steps slowing as he approached her. She stood like someone with better things to do but had decided to kindly spare the time for him.

“So, you came after all.” The tone in her voice was not hostile, not exactly pleased either.

“What? I shouldn’t have?”

“Didn’t think you would, considering all that bravado yesterday.” She throws a smirk along with a questionable side-glance.

“I’m invited. That’s it. She still owes me an explanation anyway.”

“If you say so.” She glanced down at her wristwatch, already turning on her heel. “Come on. It’s almost time.”

Renji followed her into the building, the echo of their footsteps mixing with the back sound ambience from activities of other employees inside. As they passed through the hallways, people in tidy, typical office suits nodded at Shira, some bowing slightly, others offering quiet greetings.

Guess she’s quite important here as expected…?

“You won’t find anything useful snooping around, by the way.”

“…I’m not snooping. Just… looking. Thought this was a weekend. Why are there still so many people working?”

She didn’t answer. And he pressed on anyway with a slight joking tone. “Wait—don’t tell me. You guys one of those companies? The ones that make interns cry and brag about unpaid overtime—Black company, right?”

Shira makes a short stop, and finally spoke as they passed a wide corridor on the second floor. “What kind of black company lets its staff drink in a lounge during work hours?”

His steps slowed as he looked through the tall wooden partition that stretched along the hallway. A spacious bar sat at the center of a large room, with an island counter in the middle. Low jazz played from somewhere above. Men and women in business attire leaned on stools or stood around sipping drinks and talking in hushed, easy tones. Some laughed. A few looked half-asleep.

“What kind of logistic managerial office has a bar?”

“Not that unusual. You just haven't seen one before.” She said, already walking again.

Renji had to pick up his pace to catch her, the distance widening with every step she took without him. They moved in silence from there. Escalators, polished floors—until they reached the fifth floor.

Finally, Shira stopped in front of an ebony door with silver trim.

“Miss Reika. I’ve brought him.” She knocked once at the dense door.

“Come in.” Then came the response. Muffled, but unmistakably her voice.

With a click, Shira pushed the door open. Allowing Renji to step into a space that feel like one he’d always seen in movies. A long obsidian table stretched nearly the length of the room, surrounded by twenty leather-backed chairs. One entire wall was glass, revealing a sweeping night view of Tokyo in winter—the skyline began glittering like it had dressed up for the occasion.

At the far end of the table, just in front of that scenery sat the woman. Reika Hiraga. With a poised posture, her gaze already locked onto them.

The air thickened the room like smoke as Renji and Reika stared at each other.

Shira’s hand was firm on the doorknob for a moment before she released it. The click of the lock was soft, but in the quiet, it landed like a gavel. She remained at her post beside the door, her eyes too, soon on Renji’s back with that same distant look—as if gauging the man.

Unable to read the silence any longer, Renji shifted his body uncomfortably.

“...Well... hello,” he muttered, breaking the contact first, letting his eyes drop to the polished edge of the table.

“Hello,” Reika returned, a trace of amusement ghosting the edge of her lips—not enough to be called a smile though. She leaned her chin into the back of her hand, elbow perched on the table like a queen on her throne, her shoulder-length hair shimmered where the last reach of the light met it through the glass wall behind her, casting a fine rim-light along its edges.

The hands of the wall clock clicked into perfect alignment. 6:00 pm.

“...So... what now?” Renji said while clearing his throat.

“You came, I thought you wouldn’t. After all that talk yesterday.”

It was the same line Shira had thrown at him earlier.

Tch… As expected, they're just toying with me, huh…

His brows twitched, feeling like a clown, like some idiot who showed up to a rich kid’s party, only to realize the invitation was fake.

“If that’s actually all, I'm goin—”

“—Wouldn’t you want to know what happened to you the other day?” Reika’s voice interrupted him. Renji raise his eyes to meet hers slowly.

Gone was the faint smirk. Her expression now held none of the playful sharpness from before. The room felt colder, somehow appropriate to the weather outside the building. The city lights outside had fully bloomed.

“…You knew? Is it really yours? Your drugs?”

“Sit down,” Reika said, motioning casually to the chair across from her. “You’re already here.”

Whatever… not like I can leave anyway...

Renji grumbled in his mind, pulling a chair right across where Reika sits.

“Let’s do this properly.” She placed a hand to her chest in a strangely ceremonial way and straightened her posture. “I’m Reika Hiraga. CEO of KHX. A pleasure.”

“O-oh...” Renji blinked. The sudden shift in tone threw off his anger. “I mean, I already knew that but... nice to meet you?”

She ignored the awkward jab and turned slightly, extending her hand toward the door.

“And she’s Shira Kurosawa. My personal assistant.”

So… a queen and her knight, huh…

Renji glanced over. Shira met his eyes with no reaction, but that earlier pressure was gone too, as if the introduction was a formality she didn’t need nor care for. Then Shira speak with almost disappointed tone.

“Really... you have no manner alright.”

Huh? what she's talking about?

Renji just stares back and forth at both of them confusedly.

“We've introduced ourselves.” Shira interjects from distance.

“A-ah!” He stood quickly, nearly knocking his knee against the table. “Renji Tohara... just... that, I guess.”

Wait! Why the hell am I the one flustered here?

Then another awkward silence, after Renji sat down again, he stares at the table, while the two women evaluating him like a lioness staring at their prey.

Then something inside him clicked.

No. Screw that.

He straightened in his seat with firm and determined eyes.

“So, care to explain what happened?”

Reika answered immediately. “Honestly, I don’t know.”

“What?”

“You heard me.”

“Didn't you said earlier that you know something??”

“I said ‘Wouldn’t you want to know what happened to you the other day?’. You assumed I had all the answers.” She sighs, crossing one leg over the other. “That assumption’s on you.”

Renji could only answer back with dumbfounded stares at best.

The hell is with this passive-aggressive princess?

He muttered in his mind, dragging a hand across his face.

“That’s one of the reasons I called you here,” Reika said coolly, adjusting the cuff of her blouse like the conversation was nothing more than business. “To clarify things.”

Renji let out a breath, somewhere between a growl and a sigh. “As I said... it’s not mine.”

“Yes. It seems so.”

“If there’s anything you could share,” he added, mimicking her posture with a mocking raise of his shoulders and a forced smile, “I’d be delighted.”

She didn’t react. Just kept her back straight and her chin slightly lifted.

“I do know this much, the drug wasn’t tied to you, Tetsuo, or anyone around you.”

Renji’s foot, which had been tapping anxiously under the table, stilled.

“And second, it’s clear someone tried to sabotage me. Using you.”

“Why me?”

“Bad luck, perhaps. You’ve caught on a routine. Someone saw that. Used you. A low-cost method—drop something volatile into my front door to harass me.”

His stomach turned.

“So what, I just happened to caught stray when someone decided to mess with your schedule?”

“Crude way of interpreting it, but more or less, yes.”

There was a long silence. Renji stared, mouth slightly parted, eyes searching hers for any hint of remorse.

There was none.

Why the heck does she seem so unbothered…?

His thought turns bitter for unexplainable reason, and his fists clenching hard under the table.