Interlude III (Thursday I, Night - Surprise Encounter)

Who’d have thought; I’ve now gone three days without any combat, professional or personal, the lone woman with black and purple hair thought, while taking a late-night walk through the vividly-illuminated streets of the capital city.

Aside from the sound of the few passing cars and the odd advertisement stall or displays in shops; these streets are almost silent. It feels strange, being able to walk through here and being able to hear my own thoughts; it’s almost unsettling.

Well, on the upside, at least the relatively peaceful scenes have given my shoulder a bit of time to heal. ‘I wonder what that doctor might be up to right now…,’ she murmured, her mind wandering; filling with thoughts surrounding one woman in particular.

Before too long, her gaze landed on one particular noodle bar, whose interior lighting painted the pavement ahead of her.

After passing through the large glass front door, her eyes panned across the space. This is a neat little place; elegant, dark wood tables of varying sizes and more modern-looking seating, with a matching finish. A shade of cherry tints the grey walls and the colour gradually shifts at a consistent pace, creating a cool and relaxing atmosphere; kinda like a lounge.

Hikari stepped up to the counter, finding no staff immediately available, though a chef stood in front of her, a little further back. The person very vigorously tossed and flipped over the contents of a large frying pan, steam billowing upwards at regular intervals. The volume of the sizzle from the pan-frying that they cooked with threatened to drown out the ambient music that otherwise filled the room.

When the person had finished her cooking and returned from serving a customer at the other end of the counter, they arrived in front of Hikari.

‘Ah!’ she blurted out, loudly enough to attract stares from nearby customers.

Continuing, warmly and excitedly, ‘Fancy meeting you here; I honestly thought I’d never see you again, but here you are!’

Hikari’s face took on a confused expression.

Um, what? I’m pretty sure we’ve never bet before. It’s not even like I can tell who you are either, thanks to that chef’s attire; it’s shrouding any and everything that I’d normally use to identify someone.

The confusion led to an awkward pause. Uuggghhhh; I swear time slows down, stretches or something when it’s this awkward, the woman behind the counter internally commented.

Hikari smiled and unsteadily asked, ‘I’m sorry, but are you sure we’ve met before?’

Ugh; there’s a funny sensation spreading through my cheeks; thank god for the mask. Get it together Haruka. Normally, I’m so much better than this at intros, so what’s so different now?... Ah, right; the hygiene-focused outfit is probably what’s disorientating her. I mean this outfit isn’t far behind what they normally show ninjas wearing, in terms of concealing identity.

‘Oh, right. You probably don’t recognise me while I’m in this guise, heh. If you don’t mind, I’ll take your order, but please eat it here; my shift ends pretty soon and I’d love to have a brief chat,’ she requested, with a friendly tone, before adding, ‘Your order will be on the house as well; I’ll tell the manager to take it from my pay.’

Well, you don’t look like someone who’d have a 17 handgun stashed somewhere, ready to make my right shoulder feel like hell, I guess…

Looking directly into the eyes of the insistent young lady, Hikari eventually accepted, placed her order and took a seat near a window.

Roughly half an hour after placing her order, Hikari’s phone vibrated briefly as her bowl and plate sat almost empty, (the capital city being one of the few remaining places with limited telecommunications networks still under public control).

Ah, I was beginning to wonder if they’d forgotten about me; it’s been that long since I’ve received an assignment invitation or been requested to provide a status report. A few seconds after unlocking and inspecting the phone’s screen, Just as I’d suspected; an invitation from the Section, to investigate another criminal operation.

So… The client wants a suspected weapons stockpile to be kept out of more criminal hands without risking the prospect of inciting increased gang warfare.

Great; send the operative who’s been shot twice in one week to deal with a site that’s most probably flooded with small arms.

Seems logical.

I’m not sure if they think the world of my abilities or they just want me decommissioned at the earliest opportunity.

‘Heyyy,’ a soft voice and a hand waving close to Hikari’s face broke her focus and brought her back to reality.

Huh!?

Hikari looked up, A woman, likely in her late teens or early twenties?

Though softly-spoken, her confident yet elegant body language and dazzling face creates a strong first impression.

Wavy shoulder-length black hair, with a lustre unlike anything I’ve ever seen before. A striking yet gentle streak of aqua blue hair on her right, across from the part of her fringe which covers nearly half of her left eye. Sort of like me, she’s also got a flower in her hair. Um, a large hydrangea? Softer shades of blue compared to the dyed streak.

Her irises are a shade of blue similar to the depths of an ocean or a Paraiba tourmaline gemstone; almost trance-inducing in this first instance of directly staring into them.

Style isn’t too different from mine; I like the black collar, with a silver heart pendant, but more so those apparently floating bar earrings.

Surely those aren’t off the shelf, right? An intricate mix of brushed and polished silver metal for the main bars, and diamonds at the tips? They make my hoops look like gutter-grade bargain bin jewellery.

Such an elegant face, but the clothing’s a bit less elegant… I mean, that low-cut black lace top reveals pretty much everything aside from her boobs and it’s not making too much of an effort to conceal those either.

If dark blue and white is my theme, then this girl’s theme is definitely black, though I’ll admit; I do like her half-length trench coat and matching leggings as well; no doubt she carries the look well.

I’ll be disappointed if I don’t find that you’re wearing black boots or heels as well though, Hon.

‘Do you recognise me now?’ she continued, still stood and motioning with her arms, as if presenting herself like a fancy product.

You’re totally open to having fun poked at you with that question, but I’ll let you off lightly. ‘Not really, but I have an idea of who you might be.’

The woman hastily explained, ‘I’m that girl who was accosted by two men in an alleyway two nights ago, before one particular woman with black and purple hair, in blue and white attire (I love the outfit by the way; such a stylish mix of elegant, classic and combatant), disrupted them and urged me to flee.’

She took a lengthy bow and exclaimed, ‘Thank you! Like, really; I’m honestly grateful to you for sparing me from whatever horrible fate awaited me at the hands of those guys!’

After finishing, her posture relaxed and she sat down, before continuing more gently, ‘I guess it’ll be no surprise, but my name is Haruka; written with the characters for blue (青) and beautiful, lovely (佳),’ drawing the characters in the air with her left index finger as she mentioned them.

Her voice quietened as she leaned toward Hikari, ‘What will probably be a surprise to you, is that unbeknown to nearly everybody here, I’m the daughter of the president of one of the largest manufacturing and R&D companies of this nation; Yumi Heavy Industries.’

After pausing to remove her earrings, ‘Although my father very much is a fan of tough love and we only agree on things like half of the time, he’ll be endlessly thankful to anybody who saves me from danger or death. If you find yourself in the south-central region of the island, you should stop by the headquarters if you’re in need of a favour, or just tell him I said “bleh”,’ finishing her last sentence pulling the lower eyelid of one eye and sticking her tongue out.

Hikari dispatched a quick laugh, Heh; it’s nice to know that she’s not all serious, unlike a certain someone...

Haruka stretched out an open palm towards Hikari, ‘Here; take these. They’ll ensure you an audience with my father and also serve as your identification.’

Um, what? Your earrings? How??

‘They have RFID emitters that can be used for various verifications at any of the company’s facilities. Also, I’ve recorded a voice message onto them, which’ll play if you’ve recently verified their location and hold the diamonds together for a few seconds.’

‘Uwahhh... What the-?’ Hikari’s eyes widened. That’s an impressive amount of tech they’ve managed to pack into them then. Before that explanation, I thought devices like these earrings only existed in spy thrillers or science fiction.

After a brief pause, Hikari smiled warmly before tentatively responding, ‘Sorry, I mean thank you, heh.’ Hikari paused for another moment. ‘If you don’t mind- ‘

‘I don’t mind. Honestly, you needn’t be so formal with me. My being here right now in itself is mostly down to my wanting to live an ordinary life, even if only for a short while,’ Haruka interjected, with an encouraging smile following.

Don’t tell me that company has also developed technology that allows people to read minds!? ‘Right, sorry. Actually, that’s along the lines of what I wanted to ask; what are you doing here if you’re the daughter of the company’s president?’

Haruka confidently replied, ‘I’m currently studying at university, but rather than relying on the company’s resources for everything, I decided that I wanted to be responsible for my livelihood outside of studying. It’s a great thing that you turned up when you did; you helped me avoid personal failure and also saved a lot of powerful people a lot of trouble. I guess I still have some areas that need working on before becoming fully independent.’

Haruka paused after replying, with a pensive expression on her face.

‘Yeah; things are pretty tough, I totally get what you’re saying,’ Hikari remarked, sympathetically, before turning to an encouraging tone, ‘but hell; you’ve definitely got the right spirit and attitude. You’ve certainly got my vote of confidence.’ Playfully, she added, ‘Surely you must be a hit with the guys and girls at uni, maybe you should get one to help you out?’

‘Not too sure about the guys, because I’ve never really paid attention and I’m still yet to find a girl that can keep up with me,’ Haruka replied, her self-doubt apparently had vanished.

Hikari sighed before smiling. ‘Birds of a feather, Haruka, birds of a feather. Though I recently found one who looks promising. If only she wasn’t such a sensitive tsundere…’ Hikari became playfully irritated as she continued.

Haruka checked her watch and cut through the soothing and fun atmosphere that had clearly developed between herself and Hikari. ‘I should probably start heading back; I have a morning lecture tomorrow, heh,’ she explained, while lifting herself from her seat.

Hikari stood up as well. After leaving the bar and realising that Haruka would head off in the opposite direction to her, she turned to face her, ‘Well, Haruka this has been a lot of fun. I hope you get back safely and that your studies go well,’ she offered, with a warm and friendly smile.

Buttoning up her coat, Haruka replied, ‘Thank you, and thanks again for saving me. Hopefully we’ll cross paths again but, in the meantime, I hope you take good care of yourself and that it heals soon.’ The younger lady concluded by gesturing towards Hikari’s right shoulder area, with a teasing smile.

Transitioning to a comforting smile, she then hurriedly continued, before Hikari could completely turn away, ‘Oh, and one more thing.’

After her deep blue eyes and the purple eyes of the nearby woman met again, ‘I hope you get her. I’ll be cheering for you.’