My focus on work is quickly diverted when I hear someone yell behind me. I sigh and palm my face."Hey, Masuyo-san. Good morning to you, too," I exhale and greet in a monotone voice.
I don't need to look to know who it is. Just as I thought, when I turn around, there she is: long light brown hair, light brown eyes, a bubbling smile, and a carefree attitude. Her long, wavy, almost curly light brown hair flows like an ocean of caramel and chocolate. She's wearing her work clothes, which include a white dress shirt, a black jacket, a black skirt, leggings, and a gray computer she's holding. Somehow, even with work attire, she looks like she's not going to work at all—maybe it's the way she carries herself or just how she looks.
Her appearance and voice make her seem incredibly mature, like someone diligent and straightforward. However, if you talk to her for more than a minute, the façade completely crumbles.
"That's not a very nice way to greet your co-worker. Where's your energy?" she pouts, teasing. I roll my eyes in response; it's way too early to be so excited.
Diligent and straightforward? She's only one of those things, and it sure isn't diligent. When she first started teasing me like this, I couldn't believe a girl who looks and talks like her could be so outgoing and carefree. Now I've more or less got a handle on it.
"I thought you weren't coming in today and that I could get to work, but you're half an hour late. At this point, should I even be surprised?"
My coworker, Aoki Masuyo, is a habitual latecomer. It's like it's her job to come in late and bother me. She's a real slacker and loves to be inconsistent with her work, and that would be fine as long as she kept to herself—but she doesn't. She also has another habit…
"Aw, that's not nice at all…" She steps closer and bows down to eye level. Masuyo-san is tall for a girl, so she has no problem getting in my face when I'm sitting. Only a few centimetres from my face, I can feel her breath. Her sweet peach perfume fills my lungs, and her eyes lock with mine for what feels like an eternity.
"After all," she whispers, "I came all the way here just to be with you."
Before she can catch on to my blushing, I quickly turn around and shush her by calling out her duties. She giggles just loud enough for me to hear. I lied completely; I don't have a handle on it at all. I hate how she teases me like this.
"W-whatever, just get to work. You're already really late," I speak up, breaking the silence.
She giggles, steps away, and replies with a sly grin, "Gosh, you're so not fun." She sits down next to me and opens her laptop.
I work as an editor for manga and manga scripts, light novels, and anything similar. I thought working alongside her would improve efficiency, but I'm certain it has the opposite effect. I'm here to personally deliver feedback and adjust certain parts of the manga myself. Sometimes I think working in separate offices would help get work done more efficiently; however, I doubt she would get anything done at all if I weren't there to tell her to.
Noticing it's a bit too quiet, I speak up to break the tension from the previous provocation.
"How come you're always late? You can't live that far."
Masuyo-san stretches in her chair and yawns. Small tears form under her eyes.
"I forgot to set my alarm," she says nonchalantly. "Plus, it takes a while for me to get out of bed, you know," she replies, rubbing her eyes.
I roll my eyes. "What could possibly take you so long to do in the morning?" I ask, partly annoyed.
She smirks at me.
"Oh my, is this your way of trying to get closer to me? If you want to deepen our bond, you should say it straight up," she teases, giggling quietly. I stutter and trip on my words, trying hard to think of a comeback.
I should be used to it by now; we started working together a few months ago, after all. But for some reason, she always seems to catch me off guard. If I had to give a reason why she can stir me up so easily, one reason comes to mind: she's drop-dead gorgeous. I can't be the one at fault when a girl like that gets so close to me and says such teasing things. Plus, it's not like I have a crazy amount of experience dealing with girls. It's not like I'm some kind of loser—I just… don't go out too much.
"Tch, you always find a way to annoy me," I mutter, turning back to my work. I try my best to continue getting work done, but I absolutely can't. Even though I have most of my back turned to her, I can feel her intense gaze as I try to focus. She stares at me like that for five whole minutes. I mean, what is her deal? Unable to ignore it any longer, I slowly turn to her.
"Uhh, c-can I help you?" I ask sarcastically. She smiles at me in response, and I quickly look away. Though I hate to admit it, that smile of hers makes my face hot. I am a guy, after all, so there's nothing I can do about it!
"Actually, you can," she responds, fiddling with her thumbs. She takes longer to respond than usual, so I turn to face her.
"I need to ask you something… b-but be honest, okay?" she says in a quieter tone, her face starting to redden. Is she… nervous? I've never really seen her nervous before. What the hell could she be trying to ask me?!
"Uhm, yeah, sure. What's up?" The shock forces me to take a few moments to answer. If she's acting like this, I can only assume it's important. She takes a couple of seconds, looking around the office, which now feels a lot more cramped than it did a few moments ago, making sure not to look at me directly.
"I wanted to ask if—"