Yu-Gi-Oh! Fan Fiction ❯ Arubaito ❯ Irritation ( Chapter 3 )

A/N: I have been asked what the title of this story actually means. No, its not some sort of spoiler or anything Whytney-chan, so don't worry. In hindsight I probably should have stated this in the first chapter, but at that point I was just worrying too much over what people would think of it to remember to translate Japanese. It means, simply, “part-time job”. So yes, as I will shamefully be the first to admit, my skill in naming stories is obviously rather lacking. So, I just used the age-old fan girl trick and took an English word and, instead of actually using said perfectly good English word, I wrote the Japanese equivalent instead in effort to try to “jazz it up”, and make it sound more interesting.

Did it work?

 

Disclaimer: Characters, worlds, people, games, and everything else is owned by and copyrighted Kazuki Takahashi. This is a non-for-profit fan work with no particular personal gain in mind. I own the writing and nothing else.

 

~~

Nobita Matsuno had explained it all to him (in a kind of detached, uninterested sort of way anyway), about how Kaiba Corp. had bought Shichi Corporation a few months ago. They had been major shareholders for years now, and Nobita had mentioned, in a rare streak of contemplation, that he suspected Kaiba Corp. had been confronting a few of their other shareholders to sell out. A take over was inevitable, and in any case Shichi Corporation simply didn't the metaphorical back bone to say otherwise.

It was around this point where the conversation turned to stock profits and usage explanations that Katsuya began to get lost. By the end he had surmised all the important points however, and they all came down to one thing: Kaiba Seto was technically his boss now.

He had, with great difficulty, repressed the urge to scream.

 

It had taken him a long time to calm down about it, but now that it was Sunday and he hadn't been asked to work again that day, he'd decided to catch up with his friends, and that meant at some point he'd need to tell them how his first day had gone. Since they were all very eager to hear this information, that `some point' had been fairly soon after they'd all sat down at the nearest fast food place and were happily digging in to various fatty, extremely unhealthy yet surprisingly delicious foods.

Their reaction had been quite… collective. They all chocked and then coughed and finally with clear air passages were able to laugh properly. Katsuya would probably have been laughing too, had he not been the butt of the joke. He could see Yugi and even Ryou trying to compose themselves, trying to sympathise instead of being entirely amused by the situation, but it clearly wasn't working.

It took them all awhile.

Finally, “Well,” Honda started, his speech constantly interrupted by sniggers, “Good luck with that man.” He gave him a little pat on the shoulder.

Katsuya groaned, “I think I should resign.” He wasn't sure if he really felt that way or not.

The others chuckled, but Yugi looked shocked, “You can't do that Jou! You really wanted this job!” The word he actually said in his mind was `needed', but Yugi didn't want to imply anything derogatory and he had way too much respect for Katsuya to mean it either. But Katsuya knew that he needed the job, he wouldn't really quit already, it was just hard to accept that he was technically working for a man who had belittled him so much and made his life hell a number of years ago.

“Yeah, I don't think I will, Yug', I was just kidding!” He flashed his friend the cheesiest smile he could manage.

“Besides, you're not actually working for Kaiba personally, are you?” Ryou pointed out, picking up a chip and popping it into his mouth. “You're working for this other Nobita guy, and it doesn't sound like Kaiba has much to do with this place. His office is probably in the Kaiba Corp. building on the other side of town. So just try to imagine their business has nothing to do with Kaiba's business, because you're not likely to bump into him anyway.”

At this, Katsuya brightened, “Hey, I hadn't thought of that!” He flashed Ryou an appreciative smile.

Honda looked thoughtful, contemplating which item of food he was going to consume next, “But what if Kaiba see's Jou's name on the employee list or something?”

Katsuya's face fell.

“That's stupid Honda!” Anzu poked him agitatedly, “Why would Kaiba bother to look over a list of his employees? Besides, he must have over a million of them!”

That was probably an exaggeration.

Especially seeing as so much production was automated by machines these days.

Katsuya's face lit up again.

“Well what if he comes to the office for an inspection or something?” Honda countered again.

Katsuya's face fell.

“Why would he do that? Besides, even if he did he probably only does that kind of thing maybe once a year, and Jou so far only works on Saturdays and its more likely that Kaiba would inspect an office when everyone is working there which wouldn't be a Saturday, it would be a week day.”

Anzu crossed her arms and sat back in her chair looking distinctly satisfied with her argument. She non-verbally challenged Honda to throw something else at her.

Katsuya was sick of his face twitching every time his hope was inspired or extinguished, so he decided to surmise the conversation into thus: the likelihood of Kaiba ever finding out he worked there was very slim, so he could just put it out of his mind, and deal with it when or if it ever happened.

With that joyless, yet resolute, thought in mind, he renewed his meal with more enthusiasm and with more appetite than he'd had in two days.

 

***

 

The office workplace was a mine field of objects and practices that could potentially piss you off. There was the broken fax machine, the printer out of ink, the lack of readily available stationary, the toilet door with the broken lock, the plant wilting all over your papers, and the fact that someone else had already solved the crossword.

But then there were also the people.

There was the woman who always spoke too loudly on her mobile phone, as if she was in the middle of a crowded train station rather than a small break room with a population of three. There was the man with the cold who kept sniffing, the man who kept reminding you the coffee machine was broken, the woman who sent spam emails around the office that really weren't funny, and the woman who sent spam of her baby photos. There was the old man in the corner that had been here so long no one knew who he was anymore, the sleazy guy who hit on anything that moved, the man who never seemed to be doing any actual work, and the people who were just altogether too enthusiastic.

Seto came in contact with all of these things daily. Thankfully, being the CEO of a multi-billion dollar company was not without its perks; he only had to be annoyed by these things for a minimal amount of time per day, as he could usually escape the mundane stupidity by holing himself away in his own, rather large, office. He felt some pity for those lowly peasants who had to work in their tiny cubicles facing the above-mentioned strife on a regular basis.

Well, almost.

Seto didn't really do pity.

You got your own self off the floor or you stayed down there.

Although he normally had the pleasure of blocking out most of office life and thus its little annoyances, lately it had been creeping into his office constantly. It took the form of his new personal assistant, Niita.

Seto had gone through a number of personal assistants in his time working as CEO. Some of them had simply moved on to further their career in other directions, however he'd had one who had quit on the grounds that he was `unbearably cold'. His previous assistant had needed to go on maternity leave (which had absolutely nothing to do with him, she was married, although there was no extent of rumors flying around that people thought he didn't know about), and that meant he'd needed to get someone in on short notice. Niita, otherwise, would not have been his first choice.

She was straight out of college, with a degree that qualified her to be a teacher, as opposed to a thankless filling clerk. He wasn't actually sure why she'd applied for the job, but he guessed that she had been unable to find work in her profession of interest.

But it wasn't the inexperience that bothered him, people could learn if they were forced to, if anything her experience in learning to teach actually irked him further. Niita felt the need to prove her teaching skills at any opportunity. She had even, at one point, after Mokuba had come into the office to ask about a new gaming station, tried to explain to him the way his little brother's development process worked. She had gone so far as to suggest that Mokuba needed more `nurturing', before Seto had firmly told her he had work to get on with.

She was just aggravating; she chatted loudly on the work phone outside his door, and sometimes because of this didn't take incoming calls. She poked her head in the door at least every 30 minutes just to check everything was okay. It would have been an almost-sweet gesture had Seto not been the kind of man who hated it when people interrupted him when he was right in the middle of something. If it wasn't important he didn't want to be bothered with it. And telling him that a new shipment of paper clips had arrived to the office was not important.

Most of all, however, things never seemed to get done on time when entrusted to Niita. He would ask her to find a file for him, and three hours later he would go to her again and ask for it, having been confused at not seeing it so far, only to hear her respond; “What file?” and give him a blinking stare that could usually be comparable to a dying fish. Files would turn up in the wrong place, his coffee was always too weak, she would misdirect calls to other offices and on numerous occasions his lunch had mysteriously disappeared.

Seto sighed, Monday morning ten a.m. and she'd already managed to annoy him on three separate occasions. The bad thing was she wasn't even aware she was doing it. It was just how she was, her personality. He assumed anyway. He'd asked for the Shichi Corporation Stock Report over an hour ago, and whilst he had been busying himself with other work during that time it was now finished, and there was no new Stock Report on his desk to go over in the time before lunch.

He'd been noticing an unusual smell emanating from the next room for a few minutes now. That was as good excuse as any to get up from his desk and check on the Stock Report.

He opened the door to his office and strode outside, and as soon as he did the smell seemed to amplify itself at least twenty times. It smelt like someone had decided it would be a wonderful idea to mix alcohol and paint. It was so strong it was almost over powering; he was sure the whole level must have been smelling of something similar by now. And the closer he got to where Niita was sitting, the stronger the stench became.

Finally he came to a stop, looming above her and at last able to discern the source of the nasal bombardment.

She looked up at him and smiled, holding out one long hand and waving her bright red fingernails around; “Third coat!” She chirped happily.

His eye twitched.

It took all of his self-control not to pick her up by her collar and throw her out of the nearest window. He took a deep breath and said slowly and as steadily as he could manage; “Where. Is. My. Report?”

“Oh! Your report, yes… it's here. Somewhere.” She began looking through the stack of papers on her desk, although it was tough-going seeing as she was very cautious not to disturb her newly polished nails.

“It's under your nail polish.” He stated.

It was.

She gasped, “Ah! I knew I put it somewhere I could remember!” She extracted it, careful not to spill red all over it, and handed it to him.

Niita was not a natural blonde, but perhaps the bleach in her hair was starting to effect her brain, Seto decided.

“Any particular reason why you didn't bring this in to me?” Seto growled, his voice almost dangerous. Most people would have picked up on that tone, the one that warned them that what they said next could very well decide whether they lived or were thrown screaming into a tank full of starving lobsters. It was a threatening tone, but Niita was a teacher, and she was trained not to take those kinds of tones from anyone.

Or, perhaps, she just didn't know any better.

“I didn't want to disturb you. You said you hate it when people disturb you.”

“Niita, I asked you to find me a document, it is not interrupting when I have asked that you come and see me.” He seemed to be struggling to explain the simplistics of this. It was too much, he needed an assistant that could at least discern the fact that if he said he wanted something he wasn't lying.

She apologized, then, and asked; “Is there anything else you need?” She was less chipper now, and he could hear the slightly regretful tone in her voice. She'd even put the top on the nail polish and was putting it away in her handbag.

“No.” He replied, turning straight around and back into his office. He noted that the smell hadn't seemed to dissipate at all.

Seto spent the rest of the morning trying to come up with a legitimate excuse to fire her.

 

***

 

They didn't play Duel Monsters as much these days. College and the fact that their little group of friends didn't see each other on a daily basis anymore contributed to this. In fact, Katsuya really strained to picture the last time all of them had been in the same room together (that was, including all of their new friends they had picked up along their journeys like Otogi, and Shizuka). Tonight, Sugoroku was making a full dinner sized bentou, and as a result both Katsuya and Anzu had politely offered to walk Yugi home. Honda had explained to them with great reluctance that he needed to help out his family that night and as he was leaving had whispered; “Eat my share” to Katsuya.

Sugoruku's cooking was always delicious, he was quite an accomplished chef compared to Katsuya who had only recently mastered the art of boiling water. So after dinner, when everyone had eaten as much as their stomachs could hold and were all feeling quite content and sleepy, they had gotten out their cards to play a few games.

Anzu, who had always been somewhat less impressed with card games (although would always support her friends from the sidelines whenever she could) resigned after a few rounds, and left Katsuya to duel Yugi. And then Yami.

Due to his pre-occupation with recent enlightenments at his new job, Katsuya had spent the entire night sleeping very little and worrying very much; so although in all likelihood Katsuya would have lost to the Pharaoh anyway, by this time of night he was losing spectacularly.

“Are you alright?” Yami asked, as Katsuya's head dropped to his chest and a few moments later he suddenly sprang up again.

“Uh.. yes? … Why?”

“It's just that you're yawning every three seconds, your eyes keep glazing over, your chin keeps hitting the front of your shirt as you power nap, and there are rings under your eyes as dark as the basement when the globe breaks.”

“Ah… You put that very succinctly.”

Yami smirked.

“Aww…” Katsuya stretched, then eyed the sheet of paper they'd been using for a scoreboard. He was losing by 7350 life points. The likelihood of him making a dramatic comeback was comparable to the likelihood of walking out in the middle of monsoon season and remaining dry.

With a sigh he picked up the pen and crossed out his remaining life points and wrote a large “0”.

“Okay I lose, thoroughly and officially. I think I need to go home and sleep.”

There was a chorus of agreement as Katsuya slowly stood up, stretching and yawning at his full height. Just then his mobile rang. Puzzled, he threw it a confused look before flipping it open and questioning the caller.

A voice he didn't recognize replied to him.

“Uh.. who is this?”

There was a pause while the person may have been annoyed at the question, but it was a little hard to tell; “This is Nobita Matsuno, from Shichi Corporation. I want you to come into work tomorrow afternoon, is that okay?”

Katsuya blinked, looking quite dumb, before he checked his mental timetable.

“Yes, I can work tomorrow.” He replied, putting as much information into the sentence as possible so that his friends could understand what the phone call was about. They exchanged happy glances while the man on the other end of the phone spoke a little more then obviously hung up.

Katsuya closed his phone and pocketed it. He managed a grin.

“Oh that's great Jou-kun!” Anzu cried, smiling broadly.

“Yep. They obviously want to keep you there if they're calling you back to work already.” Yami pointed out.

“Yeah, he said something about trialing someone else on Sunday or something… I dunno I'm not quite sure, heh.” Katsuya gave a sheepish grin.

“Oh well,” Sugoroku chuckled, “Have a great day at work tomorrow!”

“Do your best!”

“Work hard!”

No one wanted to add: “And we hope Kaiba doesn't show up.”

They chorused their goodbyes as Katsuya walked to the front door, Yami indicated that Yugi was bidding him farewell also.

Katsuya smiled and closed the door, making his to the train station; he was already beginning to forget that the company he worked for was under the thumb of his most hated rival.

 

~~

Yes I know you probably all hate me for using what is mainly filler for this chapter, but plot points needed to be made! To try to console you, I'll let you know that the next chapter is almost finished and I will definitely be posting (unless something unforeseen happens) within the next few days once I finish it off. And, they will meet in it finally, I promise. (I can not promise, however, that they will enjoy this XD) See you next time!