Chapter 2.2: Kendama

She smiles as her mind freaks out thinking about the fact that she forced an alcoholic drink on her supposed to be boss, early in the morning.

Good Lord, why are you giving me this kind of trouble? Aren't my life's sufferings not enough?

But of course, in an apocalyptic situation like this, she'll just need to use her secret weapon.

Her expertise in plasticity.

Louise is not a fake without a reason.

When the camera rolls, she starts the interview with polite greetings. They both carried on with casual and enthusiastic conversation.

It really helps that he has a cute and handsome smile.

I might forgive him for what he had done to me.

She's still thankful that most of the interview questions are about the project, and when the topic goes to the actual work, she just can't help but get a little more talkative about it because that's where she's most knowledgeable. She got carried away to the point that Jackson needed to tap her shoulder for the next question.

When the interview was finally over, everyone bowed and said their thanks to each other. While Jackson is finishing packing up the equipment, Louise gathers the interview script from Ojiro. She notices that he's holding a kendama, a traditional Japanese children's toy. He saw her looking, so he explained to her that it really helps him relieve stress.

"Wow, that's amazing!" She pretends to be interested.

He plays some tricks, catching the kendama ball with the small stick from the wooden handle. She rolls her eyes when he's not looking.

Show off.

"How about you? Have you tried playing it?"

"Of course!" She lied.

As much as I wanted to impress my boss, why the hell would I learn to play that thing? As if that would cure my crippling anxiety.

            "Here, you can show me some tricks too." He hands her the kendama.

            "Oh, this is going to be easy." She swishes the handle with her full strength, hitting Ojiro in the eye with the kendama's ball.

***

"That's it. I'm quitting." Louise walks furiously outside the rink, toward the parking lot. Jackson is beside her walking in haste, trying to catch up on her.

            "You already said that a thousand times."

            "This should never happen if only they just informed me earlier...If only they just gave it to the right team...If only they are all a little less asshole—" She abruptly stops in her tracks, blocking Jackson with an arm. There, standing beside Jackson's car, is Ojiro Korishima.

            "It's happening. He's really firing me." She panics.  "If he looks for me, tell him I left for another country." She turns her back, ready to leave, but Jackson holds her in the shoulders and tilts her to face Ojiro.

            "He already saw you, Louise. Sometimes you need to face your fears. No choice." He pushes her towards him.

            Jackson is a great friend of hers, but this time she's questioning their friendship for him to betray her like this.

They bow to Ojiro, apologizing again about the kendama. Jackson pushes Louise's head lower to make it look more sincere on her part, especially since she's the one at fault.

            "Iya, daijoubu da." He waves his hand in a dismissive manner and tells them to raise their heads.

            When Louise stands, she looks at him guiltily. The bruise around his left eye is so obvious on his pale face.

"I'm just here to clarify something."

"Sure," she breathes nervously.

"Now that we're working on a new project, it's really nice if we'll get in touch, right?"

"Yeah, that's right!" She barks, nodding in agreement.

Thank God, it looks like I still have a job.

She breathes in relief.

"Alright, I'm sending you our studio's e—"

"How about your number?" he cuts her off abruptly.

"Oh, yeah. That too, of course. My social media, my email, my phone number. Take it all."

Take it all, I don't care. I'll fucking give you whatever you want; just don't get me fired.

They took out their smartphones to exchange numbers and SNS. While tapping on their phone screens, Louise sneezes out of the blue, which makes her face red in embarrassment.

"Sorry. My God gracious, bless me."

"Now that I've noticed, it's pretty cold now here in Tokyo," he chuckles.

He removes his suit jacket and places it on Louise's shoulders. She hesitated for a moment, but he insisted on doing it. When they're done exchanging contacts, they bow and bid each other goodbye. He opens the car for her, and Jackson is already waiting in the driver's seat, coughing his throat and looking in Ojiro's direction.

"See you at work," he reminds Louise before closing the car's door.

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