As the day wore on, Haari returned to Rafta's desk with more documents in hand. "Rafta, can you tell me where to submit these?" he asked, impatience creeping into his voice.
Rafta glanced up lazily, taking the papers and flipping through them. A mischievous grin spread across his face. "16th floor, desk 5. There's a new girl there. She's into spicy curry, her favorite spot is Ramu Restaurant, and she lives with her aunt in Sector 25. Go drop these off to her."
Haari blinked, his face scrunching in confusion. "What? Why are you telling me her life story? I just asked for the location!"
Rafta shrugged. "What can I say? I'm thorough."
Haari sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose. "I already feel sorry for her, and I haven't even met her. God, protect her from this man."
Rafta chuckled, clearly entertained. "Hey, wish granted."
Haari shook his head, grabbing his jacket. "You're definitely going to hell, Rafta."
"Save me a seat," Rafta called after him with a smirk as Haari left.
The soft hum of the elevator filled the air as it ascended floor by floor. Haari leaned against the railing, his arms crossed, lost in thought. The office floor below had been bustling, the elevator dinged, announcing passing floors.
When the elevator doors slid open with a gentle chime, Haari stepped out onto the 16th floor. He glanced at the rows of neatly arranged desks.
"Desk number five… Rafta said she'd be at desk number five," he muttered to himself, scanning the nameplates.
There she was—a young woman, probably around 19 years old, sitting behind the desk. Her black-blonde hair framed her face as she flipped through a stack of papers. Her desk was cluttered with files, some stacked in a precarious tower.
Summoning his usual confidence, Haari approached. "Hello, miss…"
The girl flinched at the sound of his voice, startled. "Ah!_Oh, I'm_I'm sorry!" she stammered. Her sudden movement knocked over the towering stack of files on her desk, sending papers scattering to the floor.
Panicking, she immediately crouched down, trying to gather the mess. "I… please, just give me a moment!" she said, fumbling as she picked up a few sheets, only to drop them again in her rush. Her cheeks flushed with embarrassment.
Haari sighed softly, walking around the desk to help her. "Here, let me give you a hand."
They worked together in silence for a moment, gathering the scattered papers and stacking them back onto the desk.
Haari picked up the last file and handed it to her.
"Here," he said, brushing the dust off his hands.
The girl took it with both hands, her face slightly pink. "Thank you, senpai..." she mumbled, clearly embarrassed.
Haari gave a small shrug. "No big deal," he said casually. "Just take it easy. You only mess up when you rush."
She winced, clutching the file tighter. "Yeah... I know. I'm sorry, I just—"
"No need to apologize," Haari interrupted, giving her a lazy wave. " It happens to everyone. Give yourself a break."
"I'm Haari Kichiro, by the way. And you are?" He add as he continue.
The girl straightened, smoothing her skirt nervously. "Oh, how rude of me not to introduce myself!" she said, bowing slightly. "My name is Ane Yane… though, um, my name's kind of weird. So you don't have to say it if you don't want to." Her voice trailed off as she looked down, clearly self-conscious.
Haari raised an eyebrow. "Weird? Not at all," he said firmly. "Your name is wonderful. It's the name your parents gave you—it's a symbol of their love. You should be proud of it."
Ane blinked, her cheeks flushing a little shade of red. She stared at Haari.
He noticed her unbroken stare " What?"
Ane snaped out blinkly frenquently. "That's… the first time someone's said something like that," she murmured. "Thank you, senpai."
Haari smiled faintly, leaning against the desk. "So, what's with all these files? There are so many of them," he asked, gesturing toward the stacks.
"Oh, these are files came for verification," Ane explained, her tone brightening slightly. "I'm matching the file numbers one by one to confirm everything. It's taking a while, but I'll finish soon!"
Haari frowned. "Wait… you're not manually matching file numbers? in the system are you?"
"Yes," Ane replied, tilting her head.
" You don't have to do that "
"What do you mean?"
"There's an easier way to do that," Haari said matter-of-factly.
"Easier way?" Ane repeated, blinking in confusion.
Haari leaned back in his chair, rubbing his temples. "Yeah… you just use the search function. You type in the number, and boom, it pops up. No need to scroll manually."
Ane's eyes widened. "Wait… seriously?"
Haari nodded, clicking a few keys on his own computer. Within seconds, the exact file appeared on his screen. He turned it toward her.
Ane stared at it in disbelief. "No way…"
"Yes way." Haari sighed. "How long have you been doing it manually?"
Ane looked away, suddenly feeling self-conscious. "Um… since I started?"
Haari groaned. "Oh my god… no wonder you look so exhausted."
Ane pouted. "Well, nobody told me! How was I supposed to know?"
"Common sense?" Haari deadpanned.
Ane gasped dramatically. "You wound me, senpai."
Haari walked over to her desk and tapped on her monitor. "Yeah, you're wasting your time. All you need to do is scan the barcode on the files using the barcode scanner. Your only job is to confirm you received the files, not match the numbers manually."
Ane's eyes widened. "Wait, that's all? I… I didn't know how to use the scanner, so I thought I had to do it this way."
"Here, let me show you," Haari said. He opened a window on her computer screen, then picked up the barcode scanner from the corner of her desk. "Grab a file and scan its barcode like this."
Ane hesitated, then followed his instructions. As she scanned the file, a message popped up on the screen: File Verified.
Her eyes lit up. "Oh! That's it? That's so easy!" She turned to Haari, her face beaming with gratitude. "Thank you so much, Mr. Haari! You've saved me so much —I don't even know how to thank you!"
Haari waved off her thanks. "Don't mention it. It's part of the company's system. I just pointed it out."
"Oh, right!" Ane suddenly exclaimed. "I forgot to ask—what brings you here, sir?"
"Oh, that…" Haari reached for a file he had placed on a nearby desk earlier. "I needed to submit this." He handed it over to her.
"Got it. Thank you," Ane said, giving him a small bow.
With that, Haari nodded and headed back toward the elevator.
As the doors closed behind him, he leaned back against the mirrored wall. "She seemed nice. No wonder Rafta's been so curious about her."
A thought struck him, and his brows furrowed. "Wait a minute. We usually don't have much reason to visit other floors. How does Rafta even know so much about her?"
His reflection stared back at him as his imagination took over.
In his mind, Rafta transformed into a classic anime villain, laughing maniacally as he snuck around the office, gathering intel on all the new employees. In this absurd scenario, Rafta even appeared to be orchestrating elaborate schemes, kidnapping innocent people and demanding ransoms from their families.
"No… Rafta isn't that kind of guy. Or is he?" Haari muttered, his mind racing. "Could he be… a secret mastermind?!"
The elevator chimed, breaking Haari's train of thought. He rubbed his temples. "This is too much to think about right now," he groaned as the doors slid open.
Just as he swung his fist in exasperation, the elevator doors slid open fully, revealing Rafta standing on the other side.
Haari's fist flew before he could think, smacking Rafta square in the jaw. Rafta yelped—"Gah!"—and flopped backward, hitting the floor with a dull thud, out cold.
"Wha—WHAT?!" Haari's voice cracked as he dropped to a crouch beside him, hands hovering. "Rafta! Dude, you okay? Wake up! I didn't mean—oh crap, I'm so sorry!"
Footsteps clattered down the corridor, sharp and closing in. Haari's stomach lurched. "Oh no. Oh no—someone's coming!" He shot a wild glance around, then grabbed Rafta's limp arms, hauling him toward the elevator. "Stay knocked out, man, just for a sec!"
The doors loomed open. Haari stumbled in, dragging Rafta's dead weight, his sneakers squeaking on the tiles. "Come on, close, close!" he hissed, jabbing the button like it owed him money.
"Hey—hold the elevator!" a guy shouted, voice bouncing off the walls. Two coworkers sprinted into view, ties flapping.
"Nope, nope, nope," Haari muttered, slamming the "close" button harder. "Not today."
Outside, one of them lunged, mashing the "open" button. The doors stuttered.
Haari's head snapped up, eyes locking with the guy through the shrinking gap. His stare turned glacial—dark, unblinking, like something feral had slipped into him. "Hey," he said, voice low and flat, cutting through the hum. "You wanna die? Let it go."
The man's hand jerked back like he'd been burned. His knees buckled, and he hit the floor, sprawling. "W-what the hell?!"
His buddy grabbed his arm, yanking him up. "Dude, what's your problem?"
The guy pointed, finger shaking like a leaf. "A monster! There's a monster in there!"
"A monster?" The coworker snorted, brushing him off. "What are you on about?"
"I'm serious!" he wheezed, trembling head to toe, like his phone was buzzing in his bones. "His eyes—cold, red, evil! Like he'd rip my soul out!"
"Pfft, lay off the late-night coffee," the other guy said, rolling his eyes. "You're hallucinating. No monsters here, you need to stop over time work for a while."
" I Swear it wasn't human!" the man insisted, voice pitching high as his friend dragged him away. "I'm telling HR!"
"Good luck with that," the coworker muttered, shaking his head.
Inside, the doors sealed shut. Haari slumped against the wall, Rafta still limp at his feet, and let out a shaky laugh. "Monster, huh? Guess I've got a new rep."
Haari sagged against the elevator wall as the doors clanged shut, a ragged sigh escaping him. He glanced down at Rafta, slumped in a heap, head lolling like a broken puppet. "Man, did I really clock you that hard?" he muttered, nudging Rafta's shoe with his own. No response.
The elevator hummed downward, and Haari paced the tiny space, hands raking through his hair. "Okay, brain, work. If someone finds him like this, I'm toast. Oki'll skin me alive—no way I'm talking my way out of this."
The ding of the ground floor jolted him. The doors slid open, and footsteps—crisp, too close—echoed from the lobby. Haari's pulse spiked. "Are you kidding me? Now what? He's not waking up—move, move!" His eyes darted to a faded sign: Basement. "Yes!" he hissed, lunging for Rafta's arms and yanking him out.
A woman in a pencil skirt rounded the corner, heels clicking, then froze. Her scream ripped through the air—"Oh my God! What are you doing?!"—high and shrill enough to shatter glass.
Haari's head whipped up, caught mid-drag. "Wait, I—"
She didn't wait. Her eyes rolled back, and she crumpled to the tiles in a dramatic faint.
"Oh, come on!" Haari groaned, hefting Rafta's dead weight toward the basement stairs. "This is a freaking circus now!"
He stumbled down the steps, Rafta's legs thumping behind him, and dumped him onto the chilly concrete floor. Haari slumped against the wall, chest heaving, sweat beading on his forehead. "Rafta," he panted, glaring at the unconscious lump, "you're a damn disaster when you're out cold."
Upstairs, Haari slipped back into the office, smoothing his shirt and forcing a casual stride—like he hadn't just hauled a body through the building. The department was a ghost town—desks abandoned, a stale whiff of coffee and printer ink hanging in the air. He scanned the emptiness, frowning. "Where'd everybody go? Lunchtime, I guess," he mumbled, dropping into his chair with a creak.
He tipped his head back, eyes drifting shut, begging for a shred of calm. Then—
"Kichiro-san." Oki's voice sliced through, crisp and close.
Haari jolted upright, heart lurching into his throat. "H-Habi-san!" he stammered, spinning to face her. She stood there, arms crossed, her usual steel gaze softened by faint red rims—grief still clinging.
"Have you seen Rafta?" she asked, tilting her head slightly, like she already knew he was hiding something.