Chapter 2 — New Face

Misaki stared at the screen absentmindedly, a little pout on her face as she read over the same report for the nth time. Her attire was noticeably different; Instead of the pencil skirts she usually wore they were replaced with tailored pants — Even with the new change of outfit she could never find herself feeling truly comfortable, any moment she is she usually finds herself fixing her position such as straightening her posture out from the lingering feeling of something staring at her, lingering on certain places.

"Trading silk for denim," Sora commented, earning her attention as he leaned casually against the cubicle partition, his voice tinged with good-natured humor. "That's something you don't see every day."

Misaki glanced up, a half-smile playing on her lips. "C'mon, it's nothing important- just thought I might change it up recently." She responded, her tone light as if the reason she provided was the truth and not an excuse.

"Ah, how could it not be important? You're not wearing a skirt- and not to sound nitpicky but you've been wearing them since the day you were hired," He insisted, "But you do pull pants off with such grace…"

"Oh hush, flattery isn't gonna get you everywhere new." Misaki teased back, leaning comfortably against the counter of her desk before sitting back once she felt that nagging feeling in the back of her head, the tension in her body subtle.

"Speaking of new," Sora said, steering the conversation towards a different topic, "we have a fresh face among us. I think his name was something like—Kaito Hachiro. met him yet?"

She doesn't answer immediately, humming in thought as she recalled seeing an unfamiliar person talking with Aster "I've probably seen him," Misaki admitted, curiosity piquing at the mention of the newcomer. "If it's the same person I'm thinking about then from what I've seen he looks like he's brimming with eagerness."

"Ah, such youthful hope," Sora sighed theatrically. "Well, he seems pretty friendly with Aster, so I'm sure he's gonna be there during lunch break. Maybe you can satisfy your curiosity then."

Misaki nodded, her interest piqued by the mention of Kaito. Maybe her new coworker would bring a breath of fresh air to the office.

As the lunch hour approached, She packed up her belongings and made her way to the break room — She' figured out leaving early would give her some time — where she found Aster engrossed in conversation with a rather lively person- short black hair that, his slim frame animated as he ranted to the older gentleman- enthusiastically switching from topic to topic. She assumed it was Kaito.

"Good morning Aster," She greeted, a warm smile on her face as she approached the group. Aster turned to look her way, his eyes lighting up at the sight of her. "Misaki! Perfect timing," Aster said, gesturing toward Kaito. "This is our newest recruit, Kaito Hachiro. Kaito, this is Misaki, one of our star employees."

Kaito's eyes widened in surprise as he turned to face Misaki. His face flushed slightly, and he extended a hand toward her. "Nice to meet you, Misaki," he said with an earnest smile. "I've heard so much about you! Well, mainly from Aster- but the point still stands!"

Misaki chuckled softly, shaking his hand. "Well, I hope it was only good things" she replied, noticing the genuine enthusiasm in his voice. "It's always nice to have fresh energy and perspectives in the office."

The faintest trace of a blush colored Kaito's cheeks.

"Y-yeah..." he mumbled, trailing off into silence. Aster noticing the awkward pause gently nudged Kaito before beginning "Yup, it's amazing to have someone new around- especially someone so young."

"Young?" She repeated, tilting her head slightly, "How old are you Kaito?" She asked, turning her attention back to the young man

"Well, I just turned nineteen last month," he admitted nervously, chuckling.

"Nineteen!? And here I thought you were Kenji's age- like twenty-one or twenty-two!" She exclaimed.

Kaito blinked in surprise, "Oh, really? I guess I have a more mature demeanor than,"

"Mhm, but don't worry he won't try anything stupid- he's really mature for his age." Aster added on, a small smile tugging at the corners of his lips.

"Well, I guess he does carry himself with confidence," she replied, staring at Kaito for a moment "Still it's a bit strange to see someone so young work in the office."

"I guess it is, but he's something else! Kaito here has already proven himself to be quite talented. He's adapting to the work environment faster than anyone I've seen before." Aster explained, placing a hand on Kaito's head.

Kaito could feel his face grow hot from the praise from both Misaki and Aster. "Thank you," he murmured, his voice filled with genuine gratitude. "I'm just trying my best."

After that she didn't really think much of him — she didn't really see him much, and even then almost all those encounters were strictly limited to when he was near Aster. And to be honest, she was fine with that. She had always seen Kaito as the enthusiastic and eager newcomer, that'd eventually be another forgettable face in the office.

But, fate seemed to have different plans for her. It's been a couple weeks since Kaito has been hired- Misaki was left in her cubicle, eyes narrowing slightly as she read over the fine text on her computer. Mentally considering how long she'd have to stay tonight before she could go home, lost in her thoughts a startling knock on the wall of her cubicle shook her out of these thoughts. Looking up to see Kaito standing there, a hesitant smile on his face.

"Hey, Misaki," he said softly. "I know it's late, but I was wondering if you could help me with something? It'll be quick I promise-"

Pushing herself away from her desk slightly she tilted her head, "Of course," she replied, gesturing for him to continue. "If it's about the documents you ca-"

Kaito interrupted her before she could finish, avoiding eye contact. "'Tis not that-" He said, glancing away at his own cubicle, clearly hesitating with his next set of words "well uh, Im..." He trailed off, fidgeting with his fingers "Sorry- I'm just having computer trouble and you're like the only person in the office I can find right now." He explained, though his explanation as to why he came over sounded more akin to an excuse than anything else.

"Oh, that's it?" She said, a little surprised that it took that much effort for him to ask for something so simple. "Well I'm not super good with computers, that's more Haruhi's field but I can try." She mumbles, sitting up from her desk and letting Kaito lead the way to his desk.

She momentarily looked over at the wall- all plastered with colorful sticky notes and writing that were way too messy for her to read. "So what's wrong exactly?"

Kaito nervously scratched the back of his head, avoiding eye contact as he tried to articulate his computer problem. "Um, well, it's been acting really slow lately and sometimes it freezes up. I've tried restarting it, but it doesn't seem to help. I thought maybe you could take a look and see if you know what's wrong."

Misaki nodded understandingly, a small smile playing on her lips. "Sure, I'll do my best. Let me take a look at it." She stepped closer to Kaito's desk, taking in the cluttered workspace adorned with various trinkets and photographs. Her eyes landed on a photo of Aster and Kaito.

"How long have you known Aster?" She asked, trying to make small talk to keep away an awkward silence from settling. Briefly looking up at Kaito in the reflection of the computer screen, who was currently hovering nervously behind her, his eyes darting between her and the screen. "Only a couple of years, I've known him for about five to be exact."

"Oh, so you've known each other for a while..." She responded, as she navigated through various settings and clicked a few buttons. Strange, she thought. Despite knowing Kaito for five years, not once had Aster mentioned Kaito- "How old are you again?"

"Hm? Oh, uh, I'm nineteen," Kaito replied, his voice tinged with a hint of hesitation as he watched a small frown form on Misaki's face as she processed the information.

"So you've known Aster since you were fourteen? That's... quite the age gap," she commented, brows subconsciously furrowing when she got an error message on the screen.

Kaito shifted slightly, his gaze fixed on the ground. "Yeah, it is, but we met through a mutual friend and instantly clicked. Age didn't really matter to us," he explained, his voice carrying a hint of nostalgia.

Misaki nodded absently, her mind buzzing with questions. They've clearly formed such a strong bond despite their age difference. But the part of his story that had her worried was when they met — from what she's known Aster is in his early forties, so what mutual friend had the bright idea to introduce them? No matter the angle she tried seeing it from she just found it weird.

But she pushed those thoughts away, a little smile forming on her face when she realized that she'd fixed what was going on with the computer. "Well, I think I did it- should be running smoothly," She announced sitting up "You shouldn't worry 'bout it too much if it acts up again, these are older models after all- just ask Haruhi and she'll give you advice." She explained, not caring to notice the awe stricken expression on his face.

"Thank you, Misaki," he murmured, his voice filled with genuine appreciation. "I really appreciate your help. I'll make sure to ask Haruhi if it acts up again."

"No problem at all, Kaito. Just glad I could be of assistance." She gathered her things and prepared to return to her own cubicle when Kaito mumbled her name, hesitancy evident in his tone "Aster said we'd be uh, starting a project together soon. And I was just wondering if tomorrow you'd like to grab a cup of coffee after work? We can chat more about the office and get to know each other better." He stammered out, an awkward smile on his face in an attempt to hide his nervousness.

It didn't seem like a bad idea, and he was nice enough — not to mention if what he said was true it'd probably be best to get to know him personally — so she nodded along "Sure, I don't see anything wrong with that plan." She responded, putting on a warm smile as Kaito's eyes widened in surprise, unable to hide his excitement. "I would love that," he replied eagerly, pulling off one of the scribbled on post-it note and wrote something down.

"This is my phone number, I figured using our work numbers for this kinda thing would be a little inappropriate." He said, pushing the note into her hand. "Uh, I'll see you later than? I need to get home soon so I won't stay long." He explained, waving bye to her as she went back to her own cubicle.

Maybe she should hang around him more often

Misaki couldn't shake off the thoughts that had been swirling in her mind since her conversation with Kaito. The age gap between him and Aster bothered her, and she couldn't help but feel a sense of unease whenever she thought about it. Nonetheless, she tried to push those concerns aside and focus on the upcoming project they were supposed to start together.

The next day, Misaki found herself sitting across from Kaito in a quaint coffee shop after work. The aroma of freshly brewed coffee filled the air, creating a comforting atmosphere. Something she caught on rather quickly was that Kaito was chatty, considering for the majority of their conversation he's been doing most of the talking. Only pausing to take a sip out of his drink, it wasn't bad — She guessed — They're still getting to know each other better and to his credit he does make sure to ask her some questions.

He was basically an open book, while she was mostly vague about some of the details in her life he was enthusiastically sharing stories about his childhood and his dreams for the future. He mentioned taking dual enrollment in high school so that he could get into a better college, as well talked passionately about his love for art and how he hoped to pursue a career in graphic design someday despite the office job he has currently.

She couldn't deny it but it was nice in a strange sense, the small talk and his endless ramblings— He almost reminded her of Kenji when he was younger.

"Oh— It's starting to get late," Kaito commented glancing up at the sky. "It was really nice doing this y'know? Maybe we should go out like this more often!" He eagerly suggested, eyes watching her carefully "We can go somewhere else next time too, like that one

She dryly chuckled, placing the empty coffee cup down. "Sounds more like a date then anything."

"W-wait I didn't mean for it to so sound like a date!" He stammered, his cheeks turning a shade of pink. "I just meant it would be nice to hang out again, as friends... you know?"

Misaki raised an eyebrow, finding his reaction cute "Relax, Kaito. I was just teasing," she reassured with a playful smile. "I wouldn't mind going out again, as friends. We can explore different places and catch up on more stories."

Kaito let out a relieved sigh, his smile returning to his face. "That sounds great! I have so many more stories to tell you." He paused for a moment, a soft groan leaving his lips "I've been talking about myself this entire evening I forgot the entire point of this," He paused to motion towards the scene before them "Was to talk about the project." He whined slouching in his seat.

"It'll get fine, I'm sure we'll be given the details soon enough anyways." She responded, waving off his worries. "Plus I'm your senior! I'm sure I can guide you pretty easily." Her words seemed to ease his concerns, and he straightened up in his seat, a look of gratitude on his face. "I guess You're right, Misaki. I trust your guidance. I'm excited to work with you on this project," he said earnestly, his eyes sparkling with enthusiasm.

Misaki smiled, genuinely touched by Kaito's trust in her especially considering he's only known her for a few days. If anything his readiness to depend on her kinda had her stumped on how to respond "I'm..." She trails off for a moment trying to find her words " I really appreciate that. "

Finishing up their drinks they gathered their belongings and walked out of the coffee shop together, "I'm really glad we met," he mumbled softly to himself