A New View

“My position, sir?” This narrowed down the choices to only a few options now. Yumi pretended to act confused for the sake of the situation. Behind her and to the right stood Miki with a small wrinkle forming on her otherwise smooth complexion.

“Yes. I’ve been evaluating your performance recently both with recent clients and the overall time you’ve been with us.”

‘Those are two very different people...guessing he’s just making it sound like it’s more thorough than it actually was…’

“You’ve made some remarkable impressions. I’ve talked to many in the department about you. You’ve got commitment and drive with a good sense of taking charge of a situation and understanding how to assign work. Rather remarkable for someone so young.”

“Thank you, sir.” This narrowed it down to a single option. Which still surprised her that it was even happening. This was never her goal, though it might be the necessary trigger. ‘Perhaps I’m supposed to meet the person now…’

“Given that and your excellent handling of the Soseki job, we’ve decided to offer you a promotion to the Department Lead.”

That was a title that she wasn’t familiar with or of anyone else that might hold that position. It clearly sounded like a step up, but she needed some specifics. “Department Lead, what would that entail?”

“Your confusion is understandable. Until recently, you know we’ve had individual teams and everything being assigned by the manager, Miss Tomori, while the teams independently make the calls for their work.” She nodded familiar with the current arrangement of the teams. “But it’s a lot for a manager to handle and we’ve been looking to hire someone to fill that role. This will involve a slight restructuring, but you would be in charge of the publishing department for marketing.

“The work you’ve done for Soseki hasn’t gone unnoticed and I’ve had more than a couple requests for you to be transferred. You’re talented and I’d hate to lose you from the independent team, but you are clearly suited for something more.”

“Thank you very much, sir!”

“I don’t need an answer immediately. Like I said, some restructuring is needed and we’re still hiring for the other departments, but you’d be our model case if you accept.”

“I’ll give you an answer by the end of the week.” She bowed politely to him.

“Good job, Miss Tomori picking this one. She’ll be a great benefit to the company.”

“Thank you, sir.”

‘That probably stung.’ Yumi bowed again to Miki before she opened the door and exited leaving the two behind. ‘No wonder things have been silent. She probably was dealing with the pressure from above. She couldn’t have made too many overt moves. And she probably kept hoping the book would bomb.’

A new page turned for Yumi.

Chapter 571 - A New View

Returning to her desk, she didn’t get more than two minutes of peace before Kasuse and Ogura were at her desk followed by a couple of others. They all had to know. It turned into a much bigger deal than she expected.

“What was that all about? They’re not firing you, right?”

Shaking her head, “No, nothing like that. Though I’m not sure how much I’m allowed to say thinking about it he didn’t say.”

“You’re going to hold out on us are you?”

“I wonder about the specifics, but I got an offer for a promotion.”

“Damn! That Soseki job must have really impressed them. Impressed me.”

“Apparently, but I feel like some of it is just luck.”

“Hey, that can be just as important a skill. So what did you tell them?”

“I’d think about it and give them an answer soon.”

“What’s there to think about, take it! I don’t want to lose you from the team, but if you get an offer, jump on it.”

Yumi nodded to him in a semi-committal way. She already had planned to take the job offer, but she still wanted some time to look at all the angles. The biggest factor to it would be a chance to meet new people and hopefully her candidate. She couldn’t deny that made up a majority of her motivation.

Though there was something else that she had to consider. As the head of the division said, she was replacing the responsibilities that Miki covered in the day to day runnings of the department. ‘Which means that I would be reporting directly to her most likely. I’m not thrilled with the prospect of having to deal with her on a regular basis. Though she might find it equally problematic. She probably opposed me getting the promotion knowing that.’

While there was never any out loud conversation about her promotion, whispers rant through the whole office. It turned into rumors that spread everywhere. People started to invite speculation on what the promotion entailed. Regret began to settle on saying anything, she didn’t anticipate this degree of interest in her employment.

She kept working as normal. Returning home, she found Yuki in the apartment, his day off. The apartment changed quite a bit since he started to live with her. All of the boxes were emptied and the guest room actually had a bed and furniture. A TV now sat in the living room along with some additional side tables and lamps.

He spent his day off getting the bedroom put together for Yumi, something that she had just told him to put off. She didn’t even use it for anything other than sleeping and dressing, so it being perfect didn’t make a lot of sense, at least as a priority. But he still did it, just last.

Now she had a nightstand with a lamp and clock, some aromatic herbs that kept the place feeling fresh. Curtains covered the windows now and the balcony door. It looked better than the room she had back in the real world. Each time she came home to find something had changed it surprised her. Yumi didn’t doubt Yuki could or even would do it, but she had no idea that there was this side to him. Seeing it made her smile, learning something new about him.

“You’ve been busy again.” She poked her head into the kitchen from her visit around the apartment.

Dinner was already going and would be ready for her shortly. Even what was available to cook with had expanded. She saw a good bit of her money disappear to the apartment, but she wasn’t really doing a lot with it anyway, fake money as it were. “Just a little shopping.”

“A little? I thought you were going to take your time on the bedroom and didn’t you have a book you were reading?”

“Finished the book last night. I just got into a rhythm and got everything today for it.”

“I can see that. I don’t think even my mom did that much, though she was also working all the time.”

“It’s nice to have something comforting to come back to after work.”

“You do remember this isn’t real right?”

“Short of our memories understanding that, it’s just as real here. No sense not making it nice.”

“I guess so.” She inhaled the air smelling the dinner cooking. “What is it tonight? Mr. Chef?”

He grinned and juggled the different things on the stove keeping them from burning. “Nothing too complicated, just some curry and some stew for lunch.” Moving around the plates to get them ready and checking on the rice, he kept everything running smoothly.

“Only...you know I can eat out for lunch. You don’t have to do that.”

“And I know you sometimes skip. Always be prepared, right?” Yumi reluctantly nodded to him as he was not wrong. “So anything new? Any more results on Miki?”

Yumi sat down at the counter stool waiting for him as she always did. “I told you before, she’s not the one. I’m looking for someone else, not that I found anyone yet. Though I might have the next chance soon.”

“Oh something changed?”

“They’re promoting me and moving me to a different department.”

“Fresh faces and Miki?”

She turned away from Yuki looking down the counter. “Still going to be my boss, I answer to her directly. But I think the new department will have who I’m looking for. It only makes sense.”

“When do you start?”

“Not sure, a couple of weeks probably. I’ll look forward to having a new environment. There’s so little opportunity for meeting new people beyond clients that if she’s not near me it’s going to be almost impossible to find them.”

Yuki served up dinner to Yumi and sat down next to her. “Just keep your eyes open. We won’t know who it could be. Just don’t rule anyone out too early.”

“As long as they’re not like Miki I’ll be fine.” She slowly worked through her dinner thinking about the future. The unknown got her excited and the possibility of finding the next candidate. The goal of this world remained a mystery to her. She had too many unknowns to give a solid answer to that question. Finding the right one would provide her with those answers she hoped. Though it did usually take some time for her to understand it.

But she still wondered how much trouble Miki would give her, especially being closer than ever. It frustrated her a little that she had considered her candidate, but the clues were there. So she couldn’t fault herself. She just had to move on and not get caught up in understanding the woman any further.

A new job, a new view came to her.