Problemo?

«⟨ Problemo? ⟩»

She stood opposite Hazel, with the table dividing the two. One hand rested on her hips, with the other pressing the edge of her phone to her chin.

A taunting smile spread over her face, “Bad mood?” She said, with a tone as if talking to a baby.

Hazel–who was looking out the window–rolled her eyes to the girl in front of her. A sharp glance that fueled even more tension within the room.

Should I be doing something here…

The silent quarrel doesn't really have anything to do with Chitose–Does it?–so as an outsider, he could only watch the two from his seat right next to the whiteboard.

A rather hard watch.

The honcho girl was a little bit taller than Hazel and the silver-haired girl next to her. Heck, she may even be the tallest girl out of those in the room–even had the most volume when it comes to the rack too–Where am I even looking at…

Despite not reaching Chitose's height, he could still feel a sense of superiority from her, as if a princess or even a queen. Even the way she talked was snobbish. Perhaps that's the reason the silver haired girl avoided looking at her?

Her silky hair waved in lilac-purple, reaching down as it bloomed beneath her waist. And her eyes–colored in the same shade of purple–had a hint of pride to it as she looked down on Hazel.

She wore a tech-styled jacket of purple and white, with the middle zipping left opened and shoulder region exposed. Thankfully the white long-sleeved dress within, covered her shoulder and even got a tiny black ribbon at the collar.

All in all, she really gave off an assertive vibe to the people around. Maybe that's also the reason why the other two girls behind her seemed to just listen and follow her like some ducklings.

“If you don't feel like working anymore, feel free to quit.” Hazel said.

“Thanks, but I'm good,” the purple girl said, “I'll just do my job by myself. There's no need for me to be such a good little cog in a wheel, right?”

The whole room just focused on their conversation–Chitose included–and kept their silence.

“Great... You seemed to be really fooonnndd of the decoration in this place huh. It really suits you well.”

“Me listening to this stupid idiot won't magically fix this crack house, Hazel. It's about the result,” the purple girl pointed at Chitose(the stupid idiot), somehow catching strays.

Ouch…

Then she continued, “Or what? You really think some random guy with little to no experience in our field of job is going to bless this place?—Get real Hazel, did you see the recruitment poster? This dude got his job for JUST being able to read and write. Isn't that crazy?? The department had forsaken us to not even care who to put in charge anymore! What's next?? A dog??” she snickered–the situation was too much of a joke to her it seemed.

Hazel slammed the table and stood up–her chair dropped back, “It's because idiots like you couldn't even do your DAMN JOB PROPERLY! Is it that hard to even use your ears and that empty brain of yours to LISTEN TO COMMANDS?!”

“LAST TIME I DID THAT, THE GUY JUST STRAIGHT UP ORDERED ME TO DIE!!!”

“BECAUSE YOU KEPT GETTING OFF YOUR DAMNED POSITION!!!”

“HIS ORDER WAS SHIT, HAZEL!!! HIS ORDER WAS SHIT!!! I HAVE TO COVER FOR OTHERS!!!”

CLAP!!!

The two were startled.

They turned to the source of the sudden clap—It was Chitose's.

Ugh… What a pain…

Chitose cleared his throat, slightly adjusting his tone. I can't believe I'm doing this…

“Ladiesss~~~”

With a loud calling, he got up from his seat, and walked flamboyantly towards the girls.

He then signaled both hands to them– telling them to chill out.

“Woah~ Woah~ You guys need to relax!” He said.

“““???....”””

All of them gave him a side eye, somewhat confused, somewhat cautious.

“I know you guys love me~ But please! There's no need to create meaningless arguments over me, ladies!”

“WHAT THE?!—”

“WHAT?!—

Both Hazel and the purple haired girl–with an expression filled with disdain–were shocked by his sudden appalling ego.

“It’s fine! I got it already! You guys were just faking a scene to get my attention, right?”

He continued, “I know, I know.—I’m cool, and handsome. So it's pretty rare to find a guy like me.—But it's fine! I can see how pretty and beautiful you guys are! So just relax!—And, how about this!—We can go on a date later, okay? It doesn't matter if you guys are automatas or what not.—One guy, with five beautiful gi—”

SLAP!!!

In the middle of his talk, a sudden heat stung the side of his cheek.

And by the time he recognized the pain, he was already sitting on the floor–as if he just stumbled onto something.

He looked up to see the purple girl extending a hand where his face was before. Her eyes devoid of feeling, as if looking down at the most obnoxious creature she had ever seen in her whole life.

……...

It seemed he had already been slapped…

“..disgusting…...” was the word muttered on her mouth before stepping out of the room.

The other two girls who were with her turned a glance towards Chitose with the same disdainful eyes, before following the purple girl after.

……….

Again–for the umpteenth time–the room fell silent.

With his head looking up, only the swaying ceiling fan became his friend–filling the silence with subtle buzz.

Still on the floor, the table next to him covered the face of the other two girls who were somewhat still staying in their seats. Their expressions were unknown to him.

Welp… There goes my reputation…

As to why he did what he just did,

It was a solution he had thought about while Hazel and the purple haired girl were arguing the entire time.

As of right now, he was the only stranger within this workplace. So it was understandable for them to think badly of him. And despite having a position of a Leader–it was already guaranteed that none of them would give a damn cent about his orders when the time would come.

It was something he had deducted from the two's bickering exchange–that he wasn't their first rodeo on having a leader before. And how the previous ones already failed them–either through teamwork conflicts, or lack of experience.

Of course, there's also a possibility that it wasn't entirely the leader's fault, and that they just suck at receiving orders…

But for now, the only chance for this crack house to even get fixed was to first fix the connection of the people within first. And that is, their relationship with each other.

Based on how even the purple girl said that she would still go on about her job and wouldn't plan on quitting, he thought maybe at the very least, she would have a consensus to that of Hazel–in an aspect that they would still work in this station.

And,

Despite his demo on the most obnoxious; disgusting; cringiest, of behaviour. Maybe the upper guys of A.P.S would just turn a blind eye to it–seeing how even they would hire anyone at this point. Which is quite sad in its own way…

As for now, his plan was to be someone SO obnoxious, that even the girls would have to join hands together just to get him kicked out.

Still, the plan can be quite extreme and has a few holes in it. But seeing how even extremer the condition here was first-hand, it's already a sign of how multiple people before had already done the ‘safe strategy’ and failed even more miserably than the one before…

WHATTTT A PAAIIIINNNNN……

Chitose felt a tear would just pop out of his eyes at any second.

This meant that he would need to make enemies with everyone now. But knowing how it would at least have a slight chance to fix the highly unstable situation here, it was something he was forced to do just to keep this job.

What the hell is up with the management here man…

With an exhausted mind, he planned to just drift to sleep, lying on the cold comforting floor. At least now I don't need to find a place to sleep anymore…

Something then hovered above him, obstructing the view of his ceiling fan.

It was a head–Hazel’s.

She had somehow moved from the table over to his side without him noticing.

“Are you retarded?...” she said.

But rather than a disgusted look, it was one of disappointment instead.