An old new introduction

The transfer had been decided, and it was time for an official introduction. At least, it seemed to me as if everything had been decided. I was pretty sure Hanekawa had already been informed of the new appointment. Still, in an industry like this, at certain times, following protocol was deemed the right thing to do, even if it was kind of unnecessary.
So, a few days after the decision, I handed in the required documents. I was then led out of the bosses’ office to a meeting room. Already having my verbal agreement, the meeting would have been arranged even if I hadn’t handed in the papers. …Right? At least, that was what I wanted to believe. Anything else would have been too weird.

During these changes in position, a higher ranking official was necessary. And as fate would have it, Seiko was the one who had been assigned to me. Whether it was due to her not having anything serious to take care of, or due to our personal relation, I didn’t know.
“So… what am I supposed to do?” Seiko asked nonchalant.
“…” I couldn’t prepare an immediate answer to her question, and needed a moment. Once I had one, I turned to face her directly, trying to read her face if she was just pulling my leg. “Aren’t you supposed to be the one responsible for this?”
“Yes, but I hadn’t needed to do this before, so…” She shrugged excessively.
‘Okay, this is her normal expression, she seriously doesn’t know. Or she has gotten seriously better at tricking me.’ I let out a sigh, and faced forward. “I guess just behave yourself as always, and it should work out. It brought you up to where you are right now, no? By the way, what position do you even hold?”
“Hm? Did I never tell you? I am directly below the boss.”
“…” I stopped walking. Seiko then did the same, looking at me.
“Something the matter?”
“…”
“Hm?”
“You gotta be kidding me.”
She took it personally. “Hey, that’s rude.”
“B-But… How?”
“Well, I don’t know. I am just working as I think I should.” ‘The future of this company is bleak.’ “You are thinking something incredible rude right now, aren’t you.”
“No.” I resumed walking, trying to literally evade that accusation.

“You can’t lie to me. Your pokerface might be really good, but I have seen you growing up nearly all your life. Can’t fool me that easily.” She smiled in victory. “But, I get where you are coming from. Heck, I can barely believe it myself. I know I tend to be a bit disorganized, but your impression of me is only because you see me at my worst times, you know.”
‘Probably referring to her drunk behavior. Still,’ “And even then, I have a high evaluation of you.”
“Huh?” Now she stopped. However, I didn’t, which meant she had to catch up a few steps. “What do you mean by that.”
“Despite all the jokes, I think you are a trustworthy and dependable person. You are…” I stopped speaking.
“I am what?”
“Nothing.” I increased my pace, to keep my blushing face away from her. I wasn’t used to directly sharing parts of my inner thoughts. And praising her out of the blue was for some reason embarrassing me. I didn’t even fully understand why. Not to mention the gloating and teasing I would have to endure later. ‘Why did I even say that in the first place?’

Luckily, we arrived at the meeting room quickly. There were still a few question I wanted to ask her, but surely there would be time for it at another day.
Opening the door, I saw Hanekawa waiting, along with two people I didn’t know.
One of them was a demure lady, holding a clipboard to her chest. Something about her reminded me of Megumi, albeit less forward. Her outfit was pretty similar too, so it was probably someone in a role like that.
However, her presence was shone over by the other person. A tall, slender man, wearing an expensive looking business suit. Though, its image clashed with the apathetic look on his face. While he didn’t give off a bad feeling, there was something about him that made me wary. The feeling of mild dislike seemed mutual, as he regarded me with little interest, as if I wasn’t worth his attention.

The mood inside seemed kind of frigid. However, that was nothing Seiko couldn’t fix. And to my relief, I could always count on her to cheer up this kind of situation.
“Hey, wassup Souhei.” Seiko raised a hand in greeting.
‘Too casual! What is up with that?!’ The secretary obviously shared my shock. Though I probably managed to keep a straight face, same as Hanekawa who gave no indication of any thoughts on that matter.
Glancing at his watch, Souhei responded. “Himura, I didn’t think they would go out of their way to send you in for this.”
The boredom in his voice didn’t change her spirits in a single way. “Same to you. Well, as for me, I just had time available. How about you?” ‘So it had been that.’
“The same. Although I got a message about another urgent meeting, so I will have to leave now. I trust you to take care of the paperwork.” His later sentence was addressed to the secretary next to him.
“Yes!” Full of energy, she gave a beaming response.
With a short nod, a “Good.”, and a slight bow to Seiko, he was out the exit in an instance.

The first to break the silence was Hanekawa. “Of course he would. Why did he even show up in the first place?” It didn’t look as much as irritation and more of a slight annoyance.
“Yuuko!” Her manager tried to give stern reply, but it didn’t fit her.
“Maybe he wanted to keep protocol up?” I might not have had the best first impression of him, but directly assuming he meant it badly seemed like a bad idea.
The answer gave me a look from Hanekawa, who then turned to Seiko as she spoke.
“Please excuse him. I know how it may look, but he doesn’t mean bad. Just… he is better suited to pure managerial and paper work than in human contact. He is, let’s say uncomfortable around other people.”
‘You can become a manager like that?’
With a sigh, the angry exclaimer let it go. “I know. But so does he know there was no need to accompany us.”

A short moment followed where no one knew how to follow up on it. To drop the subject, Seiko continued as if it hadn’t even happened.
“Alright everyone, let’s get the introductions started. I am Himura Seiko, assistant director of the security department. I am here today to fulfill the role as overseer for the exchange of staff. While I may be a it too high up for it, as I said, I had some free time.” She gave a triumphant smile. “Also, I just wanted to make sure that this one here does a proper first impression, otherwise I might have to scold him later.” Ruffling my head as she said that, she sure tried to play with me. Was it payback for not continuing to praise her?
“What might your relationship be?” The question came from Hanekawa. Although it seemed a bit unusual to me that she had asked it.
Still, Seiko answered truthfully without a pause. “He is something of a little brother to me. But rest assured, I know how to separate private and business, so he didn’t and won’t get any preferential treatment from me.”
Then, for another bit, she moved closer to Hanekawa, and whispered something to her I didn’t make out. Whatever it had been, it couldn’t have been that good, as a scowl showed on her face in response.

Taking a few steps back to me, she put her hand back on my head.
“Wasn’t there something about separating private and business?”
“Never said anything like that.” ‘What?’ “You were the one being oh so vehement about it as you started working here. As for me, the only thing that I mentioned was that you wouldn’t get preferential treatment. Anything else is up to my discretion.”
‘Of course she’d bend the rules as she saw fit, which was nothing new.’ But what surprised me more — or actually at all — was her frank acting in front of others. Did she know them beforehand? Or did she trust my judgment enough to act like this? I mean, there had also been her interaction with the other person, so…
A little bump to the back of my head and a small nudge from her meant it was time to introduce myself.

“While we may be in part acquainted, as this is our first formal meeting, please allow me to introduce myself. My name is Moriya Shuuichi, and I am part of the security department. …Due to reasons, I will be transferring and acting as a PA for the time being. I hope we will get along.” ‘Should be alright about that.’
“Well, be nice to him.” A short slap on the back sent me a step forward.
With another sigh, Hanekawa did hers. “Hanekawa Yuuko, model.” She looked away from us. ‘…What had Seiko said that put her in such a bad mood?’
Apparently done, she turned to her manager? Assistant? Who then realized all of our eyes were on her, which made her shriek back two steps.
“Ehm. So, I am Nakano Chinatsu, acting as Yuu- Miss Hanekawa’s manager. Pleased to make your acquaintance.” With the bow, she managed to calm her nerves. Looked like she preferred formality, or at least not standing in the spotlight.

“Now that the introductions are done, I will leave you to your business. Shuuichi, make sure not to embarrass me.” Seiko gave me a thumbs-up.
‘If that was all, what was even the point of you coming along.’ “You could have told me to do my best.”
A smile crested her mouth. “I know you will anyway, so no worries there. Then, see ya.” With these informal words, she left the meeting room.

Now, it was just the three of us. To make sure I presented myself properly, I knew there was a part of etiquette that I had to follow first. I faced Nakano, and gave a deep bow.
“Thank you very much for your hard work until now.”
“Huh?” This shocked her a bit.
A few seconds later, I realized why. “Ah, sorry. This is not meant like a replacement or anything. I just meant that you took on more work than was required of you. But please rest assured, I will take on that extra burden you had to carry, and do my best as her assistant. And don’t fret, I wont quit quickly like the others. I am quite resilient.”
“…Huh.” There was still a bit of surprise left in her voice.
But not only her, as someone else spoke up. “Ignoring the resilient remark, where did you hear these things from?”
‘Was she worried about office gossip?’ “The changing of PAs and the extra work? From the girls of RainySunshine.”
Hanekawa turned pensive. “…Why would they?”
“Ah.” Did she think that they would simply share things she told them in confidence? I couldn’t let it stand like that, as it would cast a bad light on them. “They only told me after I mentioned I had gotten the offer for this position-”
“Wait.” This got a rise from her.
“Hm?” ‘Did I say something wrong?’
“You told them?”
“Yes.” ‘Obviously.’
“When?”
“A few days ago, when I got the offer.” ‘No need to tell any insecurities and pondering on the question.’
“…” She seemed annoyed, bringing a hand to her forehead. “Why?”
“Why… I mean, we are both close with them, so-“
My response only seemed to irritate her further. “No! Why did you tell them before me?”
“Huh? Weren’t you told first?” That came as a surprise.
“No. I had just found out about you being my new PA when you entered the door.” Now her exasperation made a bit of sense to me.

“…” ‘Oops.’ “…Sorry, I guess?”
She heaved another sigh. “No, you didn’t mean anything bad by it.” Sitting back down, she looked a bit remorseful for her previous frustration. “But that explains why they were pestering me all the time the last few days…”
Something had happened in the background without me being aware of it. ‘I’d better make it up to her somehow…’

“Did you know about it?” Hanekawa turned to her manager.
She shook her head. “No. I only knew it would be someone you had interacted with before, but that was it.”
“That information alone would have been helpful.” Still, she didn’t dwell on it for much longer. “Not much we can do about it now. Anyways, how did it come to this?”

“Well…” I gave her a rough outline of the events, with Takeshi and the talk boss had with an unnamed colleague. Seeing her pensive reaction, there was something I ought to ask. “Are you dissatisfied with my assignment?”
This was of utmost importance. To do my job properly, I would need to put my charge’s satisfaction very high on the priority list. If she were displeased with the setting from the get-go, most of what I could do would be pointless.
It seemed that my question had caught her off-guard, as she studied me for a few seconds before answering. “No. Did it look that way?”

While her face was still not showing many changes, by now I could make out a few of them. And it looked to me as if she genuinely felt a bit remorseful for making me feel unwelcome. “A bit. I mean, I was essentially dumped onto you without you getting any prior notice.” I tried to force a smile. After coming to my conclusion for doing this, I hadn’t felt badly about this arrangement at all. But, I had failed to take her perspective into account.
She glanced over me for a bit before giving her answer. “I… do not feel bad about it. In fact, if I am being truthful, I am even happy. I didn’t know who they would be bringing along this time, so seeing it is you, it was a relief. Still… there are some conflicting thoughts and feelings inside of me. Unrelated to anything you did, so do not worry about it. It’s just, due to the history of my previous PAs, I feel a bit uneasy. Since we might part ways fighting.”

I hadn’t seen her open up this much before. Her honestly sharing what she was thinking meant a lot, and I had to respond in kind. “I doubt that.” My assured tone and immediate answer made her stare at me. “After all, I am pretty resilient.”
“I am serious here,” That might have rubbed her the wrong way, but.
“And I am too.” I knew she was actually bothered by that worry inside of her. I had just gone through a similar thing, where it gnawed inside of me. And the conclusion I came to, was that it was best to extinguish any needless doubt from the beginning. I was a hundred percent certain I would do my utmost to fulfill her needs, and wished to convey that accordingly.
It seemed to have worked, as she smiled slightly, her expression softening. It suited her more than the previous scowl. “Then, I guess we have no problems on either side.” She stood up and walked to me, stretching out her hand. I grabbed it, and we shook them. Hers was smaller, more delicate, really driving home the feel that I should look out for her.

“Then, I will give you some time to get familiar. Chinatsu, could you maybe show him around the place? I will be heading off.”
“Shouldn’t I accompany you?” Since it was my job now, after all.
This earned me a reproachful glare. “No, I do not want to take you to the tailors and the changing rooms. I hope you understand.”
‘Come on, I didn’t know.’ Contrary to my internal groan, and the previously harsh tone, she followed by breaking the stern facade with a gentle smile. “I know you didn’t know. So when I say something like this, it means I will be going on my own.”
‘Similar to the code words we had during security duty. I would need to figure out a few to make sure we are on the same boat when it comes to these, in case there is an emergency.’ The habits that had ingrained themselves into myself for over a year of rigorous training began to show, as my thoughts wandered to security.
“Don’t overthink it.” Her voice brought me back. I saw her give a quick wave before she vanished through the door.