Office Client

Other than that mishap with the horror game, her VR setup works perfectly. So that’s another job I can say is accomplished that I basically did for free. Discounting the part where I ended up being a maid for her with all that cleaning. Even if we are friends, I really should be asking for compensation, and something better than her cooking, instead of doing all this out of the goodwill of my heart.

“Yuito, got a big job for you.” Speaking of compensation, my boss has some news I already can tell I won’t like. He’s got that tone where he knows I’ll be unhappy, but will give it to me because I’m supposedly the only one who can do it. “One of the offices just contacted us and wants some help with IT.”

“Did you tell them that we don’t actually offer tech support unless it’s something they purchase from us?” I reply. There’s a reason we do that, it’s called we’re a small business with limited resources and employees.

“Hey, I gotta expand and find new opportunities.” Odd coincidence that now is the time to do that. “It shouldn’t be hard either, but come on. Getting a big client would do the shop some wonders, don’t you think?”

“I doubt some major company is going to this tiny store to buy things.” In fact, I’m pretty sure most just go straight to the manufacturers to get some better deals. “But if they’re paying, then I guess there’s no choice for me.” After all, gotta serve our customers to the best of our abilities, no matter how ridiculous the request.

I wish the boss wouldn’t put all this work on me. There’s plenty of other perfectly qualified employees working here. And by perfectly qualified, I mean those who only joined due to an interest in the field without any of the training.

I grab my tool kit and load all the boxes I’m to bring to this office in the car. Considering all of these boxes are filled with network cables, they want to fix up or improve their internet within the building. With how much I’m bringing, I already know I’ll be here all day slaving away for a place I don’t work for. At least their environment will have better air conditioning.

Wow, as I pull into the parking lot, I can’t but be in awe at the sheer size of this office. When he told me about the job, I was under the impression this was one of the smaller offices that wanted to cheap out on labor. But this place seems like one of the top dogs, surely they would have their own IT department to handle things.

“Ah, you must be Yuito.” An older man is already waiting for me as I get out of the car to open up the trunk.

“Correct.” I respond, taking out one of the boxes from my car. “I was told your company needed our services, but if you don’t mind me asking. Is there any reason for going to us over others specifically?” I put it in a way to make it sound like I’m asking a survey question. The type where I seem to be trying to improve our reach. In reality, this is just because I’m curious how our small shop got their attention.

“We’ve heard high praise for your services.” He answers. “Now, come on in and I’ll get you with someone who can tell you more about the job.” This man makes no effort on grabbing another box to help me. Hopefully there’s someone more helpful inside because otherwise I’m going to be spending more time lugging around equipment instead of actually working.

At least this isn’t as bad as I thought it would’ve been. The people here seem nice otherwise as I walk along the office space. Not to mention even if they weren’t, I’m probably not required to interact with them anyway. “Sena, could you show our guest here to the server room?” That’s strange, I could’ve sworn I just heard that man say Sena’s name as we pass by one of the desks.

“Yes sir, I can do that.” I can hear her voice, but somehow still don’t recognize it either. There’s something about the mannerisms that there’s no way this is the same Sena I know. “Okay sir, I’ll…” We both look at each other, where the two of us come to the realization on who the other is. For a moment she pauses, but quickly regains her composure to continue speaking. “I’ll show you to the server room.”

The man leaves us as we now make the quiet and awkward trek to where I’m to do my work. Apparently this office is where she works at, which I can’t say I expected. This whole time, I assumed she just worked at some simple company. Not one as big as this one.

“So, I guess you’ve been talking about me at work?” I break the ice by speaking first.

“Heheh, I don’t talk about you that much.” She now sounds exactly like the Sena I’m used to. Something about her casual manner reminds me closer to her VTuber counterpart instead of her professional mannerisms. Yet at the same time, even that distinctly sounds like her when I think about it deeper. “It’s just that our usual IT department is so busy putting out fires that they’re all short staffed. I hope you don’t mind that I… Might’ve thrown your name out for someone who could help on short notice.”

“Well, it is my job after all.” So that explains why the boss was so adamant about me being the one sent to this task. Still would’ve been nice to have some help, but at least I’m with a familiar face here.

When we get to the server room, she uses her name card to scan and unlock the secure door. For some reason, I’m still shocked whenever she opens a new door for me. And as always, it’s for the wrong reasons. “What happened here!?”

The server room isn’t some mess of cables, which would’ve been much better than what reality is showing me. “Half this room looks like it’s been burned.”

“That’s because it was.” She answers plainly, looking at me dumbfound as if I’m the weird one for being shocked. “I already told you, the IT department is busy putting out fires.”

“I thought you meant that metaphorically!” She then explains to me how a lot of their long running systems suffered from a power surge which resulted in a lot of damage as a result of poorly maintained wiring. “Either this company needs to invest more money into their infrastructure or fire the entire IT department for incompetence.” I comment after hearing her story. I thought she was the only person who was bad with tech, but I was very much mistaken.

How am I supposed to fix all this? I’m just one man and all I got with me is a toolkit and some cables because I thought I’d just be hooking some stuff for them on a simple job.

“We bought all the servers to replace this. You just need to take out all the old stuff and install the new ones.” She tells me. “Don’t worry about all the software or whatever it was they said our own IT would handle. You just need to do what you’ve always done for me.”

“Sounds like I’m always doing something for you.” It’s annoying to always have to do things for her. I don’t work for Sena, but it’s like she thinks she can just always rely on me without considering my feelings for me. “Whatever, this is still a job assigned by work. So I’m doing this for them, but it has nothing to do with you.”

“Hey now.” She picks up on my bitter attitude as she grabs my shoulder after I turn towards my upcoming arduous task. “I don’t want you thinking I’m taking advantage of you. I promise I’ll repay the favor.”

“I don’t need another lunch from you.” I pull my shoulder from hers, starting my walk away once again. “And it’s not like I have anything right now to ask you a favor for.” I’m not even sure what she could help me with. This woman is useless. It’s almost impossible for me to think that she was hired to work at somewhere like this.

“Hmm…” She audibly makes a sound as she thinks on what she can do for me. Sena stands still for a bit with hand under her chin as I ignore her and get started on work. This will take a while and there’s no time for me to waste if I want this finished before the end of the day.

It seems she stays like that for a while as I pull out the charred remains of what used to be a server board. Given this company’s lack of concern, I can respect they definitely made sure to have backups prepared in case of emergencies like this.

After a few minutes of work, Sena finally snaps back into reality with a literal snap of her own fingers. “Aha!” She says, causing me to flinch from being reminded she’s still in the room with me. “I’ll just help you right here so you don’t have so much loaded onto you.”

“It took you that long to think of something like that?” I’d hardly call this repaying the favor. Though I don’t deny it either. I could do with another pair of hands.