Chapter 3 : Yellow?

As usual, Kei was early, waiting inside the Aoyama Group’s meeting room.

Aoyama Sora was smokong near the vending machine, chatting with two attractive coworkers.

A real playboy.

“Sorry i’m late!”

7:58. Hana was actually perfectly on time today.

“You’re on time.”

“Perfect, colleagues.” The vice president and self-proclaimed leader, pushed the glass doors wide open,making a grand entrance like a true protagonist.

“Now that we’re all here, we can begin this great project!”

“Hana-chan, do you already have some ideas?” He continued sitting down next to her.

“I think we should find a design that rapresents Asia in its entirety” She said, pulling somo logo draft out of her bag and arranging them neatly on the table.

Kei stared at her, surprised.

That girl was so different from years ago. Even after the little incident the night before, she had still managed to prepare logo draft?

A phone rang.

It was the phon of the blonde playboy. He stood up and stepped out of the room.

A moment of silence followed.

“Uhm… what do you think of these logos, Okabe-kun?”

He picked up the ten or so options and examined them carefully.

“They look good.”

Another moment of silence.

“I think one of these three could work.”

Kei took the logos that seemed most valid to him and lined them up.

“ The import.:”

The door swung open again.

“Dear colleagues, have you chosen the logo yet?”

“Actually, we were evaluating which of these three might be the best.”

“E-x-c-e-l-l-e-n-t. We already have a starting point. “ He replied without even glacing at the designs.

“I’ll have to leave you now. I have a meeting with a very important group, and i absolutely can’t miss it.”

He put on his sunglasses and casually draped a jacket over his shoulders.

“If you need anything, you can call my secretary.”

He walked out without even giving them time to respond, waving his hand in a hurried goodbye.

“Seriously? He’s leaving everything to us, just like that?”

“He was always in a rush back in college too…”

Hana tried to justify him embarassed.

She is defending him like that?

Kei was already tired of the whole situation.

He opened his laptop and started working.

Logically, the tasks should be divided among the three companies to present a solid proposal.

The company Kei worked for would handle target analysis and market positioning.

Hana’s company would take care of the design aspect.

What they wanted was a concept that could give the project a unique identity.

And finally, the Aoyama Group would fund part of the project, managing risk decisions and the overall budget.

“Anyway, Okabe-kun…”

“Yes?”

“Rika, my coworker… she told me you were the one who took me home yesterday…”

Silence.

“ I wanted to thank you. And apologize for the trouble.”

Hana fixed a strand of hair bejind her ear and looked at Kei.

He kept his eyes fixed on his laptop.

He had always been cold and emotionless.

So why did he feel this strange tension when it came to her?

“It was nothing. Don’t worry about it.”

The tension in the air was thick enough to cut with a knife.

“ I don’t really remember what happened. Usually i don’t drink at all…

I hope i didn’t say or do anything weird.”

Hana kept fiddling with the pendant of her necklace.

You’ve always been kind

Kei blushed slightly, remembering thos last words.

He convinced himself he must have misunderstood.

No, he had definitely heard wrong.

Then remembered the vomit on his shoes and grimaced.

“I did somthing weird, didn’t i?” She asked, her voice tinged with concern.

“Nothing that metters” He replied, heading toward the door.

“ I need to gram some documentd. I’ll be right back.”

Hana followed him with her eyes, noticing somethingunusual about him.

He was wearing a pair of yellow sneakers.

Overcome with embarrassment, she rushed after Kei to apologize.