Akira Is Gone?!

 The next morning, Akira wasn’t there.

“Huh, that’s odd,” I muttered to myself.

He’s usually here at the same time every day. In the 5 years I’ve worked here, he’s never called in sick before either.

I started my day a little dejected but looked forward to seeing him tomorrow.

But he wasn’t there the next day either!

Or the day after that!

I was really starting to worry. Something about all this feels totally off.

I wanted to ask someone, but I didn’t know who I could possibly ask...

Our boss was very picky about his employees talking with members of Sky Kingdom Company, so talking with anyone on Akira’s team about his whereabouts would be a bad look.

My only other idea was to ask Yuki and Saki. Gulp.

Yuki and Saki’s desks were side-by-side on the far end of the office. I tentatively walked up to them.

Yuki was twirling her light brown hair around her finger as she talked on the phone, and Saki was buffing her nails.

So, this must be how I end up having to pick up their slack every day... Seriously?

“Um... Excuse me.” I start.

Yuki stops mid-twirl and looks at me, phone still up to her ear. Saki pauses from her buffing work to look at me also.

AH! What do I say now?! I got this far, I didn’t think ahead any further!

Yuki breaks the silences, “Oh! Miyu From Accounting! What can we do you for?” She says, and smiles with her pretty pink lips.

“Um... Sorry to bother, I was just wondering...”

“Spit it out, I am needing to get back to my work soon. Okay?” Saki snaps.

I eye her nails. ‘Work’, huh?

“Ah, S... Sorry. I was wondering, did either of you two know where Akira from Sky Kingdom Company is?”

Yuki and Saki look at each other, then back at me. Suddenly their expressions had turned serious.

“No!” Saki snaps again, “I wish I knew!” She continues.

“Oh! M... Me too!” I say. Oh my God! Why did I say that?!

“What? You do? Why?” Yuki says and narrows her eyes at me.

Saki launches into a monologue before I can say anything in response, “Ugh! That Akira! I can’t believe him! I asked him out, you know? On Monday. He said he would think about it and stared off into the distance. Like... What the hell?!”

I didn’t know where this was going. I both wanted to listen, and also I totally did not want to listen. I felt glued to the spot.

Saki continues, “Then I was like, ‘So yes, or no?’, and he goes, ‘I’ll think about it, and tell you tomorrow’, like umm...? Okay, Mr. Mysterious. Whatever. But then! He doesn’t come on Tuesday, or Wednesday, or Thursday! Now it’s Friday, and I still don’t have an answer! He won’t respond to my messages either. Like, what a coward! Ugh!”

Saki scrunches up her nose in disgust. How does she always look cute, even when she does that?

“O...Oh, sorry, to have reminded you of that.” I murmur, and bow.

“Yeah, whatever. Why do you want to know, anyway?”, Saki says, but I’m already bowing once more, and backing away.

So, he’s mysteriously vanished, huh? Wish I could do that, right about now.

What am I supposed to do without him?! He’s my once source of joy in this miserable building!

I went back to my desk, to see another hundred emails had piled up.

Ugh.

Fixing spelling, checking numbers, delete, delete, typo there, number wrong here, delete, delete... Huh?

What’s this?

SUBJECT: “We NEED our Princess back!!”

Weird. Looks like spam. Or maybe it’s from that royal themed gacha game I played a lot last year?

Either way, probably safe to delete. My mouse hovers over the rubbish bin icon.

I read the subject again. I don’t remember signing up to games with my work email, though.

For whatever reason, I move my mouse to the left, away from the delete icon, and click the email.