This Is A New Start

I arrive back in Shinichi’s room.

It’s starting to get late.

It looks like he’s about ready to go to bed.

Kinda earlier than usual.

Hmm, while I can’t talk to him directly like before, I should still able to access his memories like I did with Takahiro.

Although, the last two time I tried I just had random memories.

I was just trying to speak with him again and not picking certain memories.

Guess I’ll have to try it.

I pace around thinking about this situation as Shinichi gets ready for bed.

As he crawls into bed, I wait a bit for him be asleep for a while.

Well here goes nothing.

I crawl up on top of him and place my hands on each side of his head and focus on the interview he had.

A white light envelope my vision and then…

* * *

I see Shinichi in that suit I got him along with a small carry bag.

He’s so handsome in it.

He walks up to a security guard siting behind a desk guarding a door behind him.

On the front of the desk is the name of the company “Kanzaki Bio-Tech.”

“Hello, I’m Kitaji Shinichi here to see Ms. Yamazaki.”

The guard picks up a phone on the wall and presses a few numbers on the number pad.

“Hello, Miss Fuchizaki. I have a Kitaji Shinichi here for Ms. Yamazaki...Okay, understood.”

The guard hangs up the phone and turns to Shinichi.

“They will be out to get you shortly.”

“Thank you very much.”

After about three minutes go by, the click-clack of some high heel shoes start to grow louder until they stop and door across the room opens.

A rather medium height woman in a stereotypical looking OL outfit, slightly oversized round glasses on her face and her hair done in twin braided ponytails.

Dangling from her neck is a lanyard with a badge with her picture on it.

“Hello. Mr. Kitaji, I assume?”

“Yes, I am.”

“I’m Miss Fuchizaki, Ms. Yamazaki’s secretary. Please follow me.”

“Of course. Thank you.”

Man, security is pretty tight here.

She reaches for her badge, places it on a black square next to the door and then opens the door.

I follow the two of them as the leave the entrance and continue down the hall.

The hallway ends into an open area is laid out in a square with hallways in each corner.

In the middle is a smaller square which has a counter and houses the desk for Miss Fuchizaki.

Facing the front of the counter is three chairs.

“Please have a seat while I let Ms. Yamazaki know you are here.”

“Thank you very much.”

He sits down in one of the chairs.

After about two minutes a door opens from the left of where Shinichi is sitting and a woman enters the room.

She’s about medium height, wearing a lab coat with a similar lanyard to that of Miss Fuchizaki.

She has neck length hair with a tiny mole under her left eye.

Also around her neck is a pair of square framed glasses.

She walks over towards Shinichi and introduces herself.

“Hello Mr. Kitaji, I’m Yamazaki Yuriko. Nice to meet you.”

He stands up and bows.

“I’m Kitaji Shinichi. Nice to meet you.”

“Pleased follow me.”

“Of course.”

She walks over to Miss Fuchizaki’s counter.

“I will be unavailable for the next thirty minutes.”

“Understood Ms. Yamazaki.”

They continue on to the right of the counter area and enter the door there.

After the door is a hallway with five doors on each side and a door at the far end.

Since one of doors were open, I take a peek inside.

It seems they are just office spaces, probably for writing research reports and such.

They reach the end of the hallway and enter the door there.

The room they enter is not too dissimilar to the Mr. Momoi’s, minus the windows of course.

The room is about half the size but still has mostly the same furniture and setup as Mr. Momoi’s.

What is the deal with those couches anyway?

Maybe they are for taking a nap.

“Please have a seat.”

She points to one of the chairs in front of her desk then goes around to the back of the desk and sits down.

After she finishes sitting down Shinichi then sits down.

With a somewhat disinterested tone she says, “I suppose you have a resume for me.”

“Yes, I do.”

“Just place it on the desk face down.”

With that he grabs a resume from his bag and places it on the desk face down.

“Anyway, with that formality out of the way. I was delighted to hear to hear that you got in touch with me about this position. Mr. Akitaka and I were just out catching up and I had off handedly remarked that we had one of our researchers had left to take a position in Germany.”

“I was surprised when I got that mail from Mr. Akitaka as well. I had only just met him.”

“Yes, Mr. Akitaka mentioned that you had requested to drop out of your position at New World Bio-tech. As well as the reason for doing so.”

“Yes, it was a difficult time for me.”

“I can bet it was. So, what exactly brought you to see Mr. Akitaka?”

“I was there to see one of his students who wanted to get my opinion on his finals project.”

“I see, and why would he need your expertise without breaking any NDA you may have signed.”

Oh yeah NDAs.

Been a while since I heard about nondisclosure agreements.

We had those sometimes in broadcasting.

Really all just legal stuff to send ninja lawyers to keep you from telling secrets.

“I didn’t sign any NDA but I’ll be careful. He was building a delivery system using a theory I had come up with as my final.”

“Oh, if you don’t mind me asking what was your final?”

“Not at all. It was four years ago so it’s not a big deal. It was research on using temperature sensitive compounds to fight off autoimmune and rare diseases.”

“I know that one. Dr. Raijo had told me about that.”

“He was my professor.”

“That’s great! He was my senpai in university.”

“It really is a small world.”

“Yes, it is. I knew my instincts were right to see you. So, what made you decide to try to come back into the field and what have you been doing the last few years?”

“I lost my desire to continue doing research so I became a pharmacy tech. I have been doing that for the last four years.”

“I see, at least you were still in the field even if it was just tangentially.”

“To be honest I didn’t expect to come back at all but, recently I felt like a weight had been taken off of me.”

I can’t help but giggle.

I guess I did a really good job.

“I see. But what made you decide to apply for this job?”

“Well, I was talking it over with a friend and while I felt I have been out for a while and may be a little rusty I felt good working with Mr. Akitaka’s student and didn’t miss a beat.”

“Well, that’s good to hear. Also, it will be great to swipe a prospective researcher from a rival. If even if it’s retroactively. You must have been quite the student for them to grab you before you graduated.”

Hehe she’s pretty cutthroat.

I guess she’d have to be to run a company like this.

Or I would assume she is in charge.

“All I did was do my best for mine and Michiru’s future together.”

“She must have been one incredible woman for you to put all your effort into your research.”

“I think so. She kept me grounded so I wouldn’t get completely absorbed in my research.”

Stop it you two, you’re making me blush.

“Let’s move on to what you intend to work on when you come here.”

“Well, I never did finish what I was doing with my final. I mean yeah, I did finish my paper but I had some correlating compounds and diseases I was looking into.”

“I see, was that all you had in mind?”

“Not at all. I had a few other ideas I was going to bring to New World but, I’m sure you’d make use of what I have in mind.”

“That’s what I like to hear. Alright. I think that covers everything. How long are you going to need before you can start here?”

“One week should be plenty.”

“Got it. I will see you back here next Monday then. Stop by to see Sumire-chan to get you started with your forms and get you a badge.”

“S…Sumire-chan?”

“Sorry I mean Miss Fuchizaki.”

So, that’s it?

He’s hired just like that?

She didn’t even look at his resume.

“Thank very much for taking your time to see me.”

“Well, I’m glad you decided to come see us and I look forward to what ideas you have in the future.”

They get up and exchange bows and Shinichi leaves the room and visits Miss Fuchizaki’s…office, counter or whatever it is.

I guess you can call it an office even if it is a bit oddly placed.

Just as he arrives at her counter everything goes white again and I open my eyes.

* * *

I see him sitting on the edge of the bed.

As he walks off to prepare for his morning, I can’t help but think that now I gotta wait a week for both of them to start their new jobs.

Not much to do now but wait.

It’s times like these that are made for a good book or two.