Work Text:
Hiyoshi Aika waits in the conference room. She sits up right in her chair. Even though she’s young, she knows that having good posture is a special kind of talent, and it wards off any unwanted criticism. So, despite being alone she keeps her back straight, and legs crossed. She’s ready for any passing eyes, or unexpected co-workers making an entrance. She glances at her watch again.
Five minutes passed eight o’clock in the morning.
Segasaki Mizuki is late. And getting later by the second.
She frowns to herself, and rests her hands back in her lap. She can’t recall a time when the meteorologist has ever been late before. Herself and Segasaki are due to be on in a little under an hour. And though, granted, he’s not that late, she can’t help but feel anticipatory anxiety for his arrival.
Aika doesn’t consider herself a nosey person. She’s not overly concerned with gossip, or other people’s affairs. She does consider herself, however, a keen person. She has sharp eyes, and she notices way more than she tends to let on. And Segasaki is different, she pays extra attention to him. She’s been burning a torch for him ever since her first day. He’s handsome, and polite. He’s tall, and respectful. He smiles so kindly, and talks so sweetly. How could any woman resist? She certainly can’t, and in truth, she doesn’t try to. She’s not nosey, but she wants to know why he hasn’t arrived.
She wonders if he lives with his family, or if he lives alone. Or maybe even, if he lives with a partner – a girlfriend. She has no way to be sure. He’s private, she knows that. He never offers up any information about himself, but he doesn’t shy away from conversation either. He’s perfectly polite to everyone, but he’s still a mystery. An enigma that makes him even more attractive.
She checks her watch again, under the coy guise of adjusting the strap, even though there’s no one there to see her. Aika can scarcely admit to herself how eager she is for Segasaki to show himself. It’s eight past eight now.
Just as she’s giving a disappointed sigh, in walks Segasaki Mizuki. She perks up immediately, a soft smile forming on her face at the sight of him. It drops quickly, with her eyebrows drawing in, in confusion. Who’s that behind him? Who’s that who’s wrist he’s gripping so tight?
Partially shielded behind Segasaki is a boy much shorter than him. He’s got dark curly hair shielding his down cast eyes, and he’s wearing the most truly awful green plaid shirt Aika has ever seen. It’s way too big, too big for even the popular loose-fitting style. It’s also very apparent that the boy is hiding. He’s using Segasaki as a wall between him and her. But she can still see that his right arm is in a sling. It’s navy blue, and has his arm pinned against his chest.
Segasaki looks back over his shoulder at the boy. “You sit in here,” he says. A casual instruction.
The boy nods, squishing his lips together in an obviously uncomfortable way. To Aika’s surprise, she seems the corners of Segasaki’s mouth lift, a cheeky grin she’s never seen before. “I’ll have a break in an hour or two. Don’t go anywhere,” he says.
The boy can’t be that much older than her. Maybe he’s Segasaki’s relative, or maybe he’s a friend? He’s never brought anyone to work with him before, and Aika can’t fathom a reason why he would.
Then he finally turns, just seeming to realize Aika is there at all. “Good morning,” he says pleasantly.
“Good morning, Segasaki-san!” she says, before internally wincing at how eager she sounded.
“I apologize. I was late this morning.”
“It’s fine. Glad you made it in. I was concerned,” she tells him.
He nods politely, then gestures for her to follow him out. They have work to do after all. She gets up and goes out first, eyeing Segasaki nervously as she passes. What’s going on?
“Stay here,” she hears Segasaki say, then he’s following right behind her. The energy he’s bringing feels wholly foreign. Aika has never heard him speak that way. His words sounded serious, but he was being so unserious at the same time. It was teasing, almost mocking that this guy would accept and obey his command so earnestly. It felt a little mean, yet playful, which wasn't a way she'd ever seen Segasaki act before.
She and Segasaki sit down in the lounge, reviewing their script for the day. He’s leaned back in his seat one ankle rested on the other knee. He’s relaxed, and yet still imposing. When there’s a lull of silence, Aika takes the opportunity to strike. Her curiosity is making it hard to focus. She sets her packet down on the table.
“Segasaki-san?”
His eyes lift and he lowers his papers.
“Who is the boy you brought with you?” she asks.
He freezes, and gives her a calculating look. She’s seen this expression before. He does it a lot when he’s considering modifying something in the script, or before making an interjection. “Tanada Yoh. Please excuse me, for not making an introduction,” he tells her. His answer is polite, but not overly kind.
It makes Aika feel as though he’s not exactly pleased about her asking. Despite this she presses on. She’s already opened the door; she might as well see how much he’ll tell her. “And he’s…?”
Segasaki sets his papers down on the table, and drops his foot. He leans up to sit right. His posture is perfect, but it’s somehow not at all like when she sits with good posture. Even when she’s straight as a board, people still view her as dainty and small. Segasaki, however, emanates an aura of supreme confidence. Aika realizes that he doesn’t have to scowl, or speak aggressively to come off as intimidating.
Again, he’s perfectly polite when he answers her, “Someone I know, who needs caring. He’ll be here with me for a couple days.”
Aika just nods, giving him a small smile, and picks her script up again. She hides her face behind it, and cries a little inside for loosing her nerve. But then more importantly, she asks herself, who is this guy?
Tanada Yoh. An acquaintance. Who needs caring.
Who brings their acquaintances to their job to take care of them? And also—why does he need caring? The broken arm? Or maybe… something else? Perhaps a disability not apparent from their brief encounter, if it even qualifies as an encounter. She can’t be sure, but now she thinks better of it than to ask. And she also thinks, she shouldn’t be so worried about it. It’s a weird thing, but none of her business. She decides to let it go. Segasaki wouldn’t do anything their management would object to.
Just before they go on, Segasaki excuses himself and she curiously watches him slip back into the conference room.
Their camera man looks at her questioningly. “Where’s Segasaki?”
“I’m not sure,” she lies. “I’ll go and look for him.”
The man just nods his reply, and she scuttles away. She goes straight for the conference room, huddles in the door way just out of sight.
“Mmmm?” she hears Segasaki hum. It’s sounds all smug, like he’s coyly surprised. “You want to watch me?”
“I—I… it’s better than sitting in here by myself,” stutters a new voice. Yoh’s voice obviously. Why does he sound so nervous?
She risks a look, just barely peeking around the corner. Her eyebrows shoot up in surprise, and she rests a hand over her mouth. Segasaki has one hand flat on the table, the other holding the back of Yoh’s chair. His head looks down over Yoh. She’s a little stunned by how close their faces are.
Yoh’s face is startled. He’s got big doe eyes; even wider now like he was standing in headlights. His cheeks are all red, mouth slightly ajar. His eyes flash to Segasaki then right back into his lap.
“I see,” Segasaki says, shoving Yoh’s chair back. It rolls backs a short way making Yoh yelp. “Let’s go then.”
Aika doesn’t linger a second longer. She spins around and rushes back to the set, not wanting to be caught by Segasaki. She would die of embarrassment if he caught her watching.
Those two are super friendly with each other.
“He’s coming,” she tells the camera man, and hurriedly takes her place in front of the forecast screen.
Segasaki and Yoh are just a few moments behind her. Segasaki directs the nervous boy to a spot behind and adjacent to the camera man and the rest of the film crew. Not only is it out of the way, but it’s the ideal spot to watch Segasaki’s side. Yoh gives a nod, squishing his lips again.
Segasaki turns away from him and joins her in front of the camera. They start rolling, and everything is totally normal.
Except it’s not. This Tanada Yoh character is the most distracting person she’s ever seen. And not because he’s doing anything particularly disruptive. In fact, he’s silent and still apart from playing with his shirt sleeve. As innocuous as that seems, it’s the way he looks at Segasaki that snares Aika’s attention every time she happens to look Yoh’s way. Yoh watches Segasaki unwaveringly, and he blinks slow and soft like a cat. He appears mesmerized.
And fine, maybe even that’s not that strange. Maybe Yoh looks up to him, respects Segasaki’s work, and admires him. That’s not really much of anything. What really pushes Aika over the edge is the way Segasaki seems to look at Yoh back. In the hour that they’re on, she only catches Segasaki glance at Yoh a couple of times, but each time his smile widens, his eyes shine a little brighter.
Has he ever looked at her like that?
When they take about a five-minute break, Aika expects to see Segasaki make a bee-line for Yoh, but he doesn’t. He consults with another meteorologist on staff, but when they’re about to resume filming, Segasaki goes out of his way to pass Yoh, who is pathetically struggling to open a water bottle. Their arms brush, and they share an unreadable look of eye contact. Then Segasaki takes the water from Yoh’s hand, with an amused look, opens it and hands it back to a bashful Yoh staring at the ground.
Aika really feels like there is something going on between them. She has to make a conscious effort not to propose anything preposterous in her own mind. If Segasaki hadn’t been so vague she wouldn’t be so curious about their relationship. The way she’s seen them acting doesn’t completely read as friends, and certainly not as acquaintances. The way Segasaki was so close to Yoh before… it’s intimate. She’s never seen that side of him before.
Perhaps Segasaki is acting as an older brother. That would account for all the unspoken affection she’s picking up on.
Two hours later and they’re done. Yoh is out of sight while the crew, herself, and Segasaki have a debrief and prep for the following day. Later, when she stands to leave, Segasaki is still talking with their manager, and she quietly slips out, discreetly searching for her target.
She finds him in the lounge, and she can’t help but be confused by him. Tanada Yoh sits in a chair, looking this way and that, fingers still twiddling like he has no idea what to do with himself. Aika can’t fathom why Segasaki associates with such a person. Yoh is so unlike him. Yoh is the nervous type. He fades into the background, and it seems to her that he must like it that way.
Segasaki on the other hand, has a commanding presence. He’s attractive and draws people’s eyes. He’s self-assured. He’s never out of place. Aika doesn’t understand how the two could have become friends. Shouldn’t Segasaki be irritated by someone so frivolous? Aika likes to think Segasaki would like her because she’s driven. She has purpose, and she does her job well. She’s intelligent and insightful. She’s a perfect match for someone like Segasaki. Not that she views Yoh as a threat—he’s a man after all—but it gets under her skin a little bit that someone like him could be closer to Segasaki than she is.
She lingers in the door way just a moment longer, but Yoh is not paying attention. He’s completely zoned out. She approaches him slowly, and sits in the chair beside him.
“Um,” she says, a gentle way of bringing his focus to her.
He startles anyway, turning to look at her with a dumb, shocked look on his face.
She smiles politely. “Yoh-kun?” she says—definitely less polite, but she figures they’re around the same age.
“Huh?”
“Hello, I’m Hiyoshi Aika. I work with Segasaki-san.”
Yoh just nods. His eyes are so round, as though he can’t believe she’s talking to him. It’s cute actually. He must not speak to beautiful women like her very often. His good hand curls into a fist holding onto his stupid big sleeve. She knows she shouldn’t have such unneeded malice for him, but it’s truly an awful shirt (not to mention she’s jealous of him, even though it’s ridiculous to be).
“You came with Segasaki-san. I’ve never met any of his friends before.”
“Mm,” he nods again. “Sorry. I had to come.”
Aika’s eyebrows raise at this. He had to come? Interesting way of putting it, but she pushes on. “Ah, that’s how it is. You know him, how?”
Yoh’s eyes jump away from her. His expression changes from confused and apologetic, to woefully uncomfortable.
“Forgive me, for being intrusive,” she placates. “I thought it might be nice to talk, since you’ll be coming for a few days.”
“Uh—yes,” Yoh says—bizarrely using respectful speech, when she had so clearly not been. “He was my senior in college.”
“From college? You’ve known him a long time then.”
“Yes.”
“I see. You’re friends. And you came here, why?”
Yoh shifts uncomfortably. He definitely doesn’t want to answer, but from their conversation so far, Aika can’t imagine he’ll refuse her. She's prying, but this guy makes it too easy.
“Yoh,” Segasaki’s voice cuts in like a bullet fired straight through her spine. Aika jumps slightly, and whips her head back to face him. His face is arranged pleasantly, but there’s something hard in his eyes that Aika isn’t familiar with, it feels like suspicion. He looks from Yoh, to her, then back to Yoh again.
When she also looks back at Yoh, feeling sheepish, the relief on his face is noticeable, surprising even. His shoulders are relaxed. His eyes are still big, but they’re glued to Segasaki. He stares at him like a puppy awaiting a command and a treat.
“Let’s go,” Segasaki says.
Yoh practically bolts out of his seat. He gives Aika a polite nod, a substitution for a bow, and goes to Segasaki’s side.
“Goodnight,” Segasaki says to her.
She’s too distracted for a proper response, because just as she opens her mouth, Segasaki is turning away, hand going down to Yoh’s wrist.
She would almost swear she hears Segasaki say, “Don’t be friendly with her,” as they round the corner. She can’t be sure though. If it’s true, it stings, because why the hell not? But on the other hand, she thinks hopefully, Segasaki could have been jealous over her; he doesn't want his friend making a move on her before he does. Wouldn't that be something? Or... perhaps she misheard.
The next day is much the same, apart from the fact Segasaki arrives on time, Yoh right in tow. Segasaki leaves him in the conference room, and is strictly clear that Yoh should remain there until Segasaki comes back to get him.
Upon having an hour-long break, Aika does something that she would normally never do. Even though it’s beating a dead horse, she’s not nosey. What she has is more like harmless curiosity about a man whom she likes so desperately. It’s this harmless curiosity that leads her to follow Segasaki and Yoh from a good distance.
They left the building, heading out for lunch, and Aika made the quick decision to trail after them. The two of them walk down the busy sidewalk at a brutally slow pace. Aika has to make a conscious effort to not catch up with them. She can’t hear them talking, but Yoh must say something amusing because Segasaki laughs and bumps his shoulder. Yoh looks at him with a soft, cheeky smile and they carry on.
They turn into a small home-cooked style restaurant, and after stalling for an appropritate three minutes Aika enters as well. She spots them tucked into a corner both and she pops into a table adjacent but where she thinks is out of their sight line.
Segasaki orders for the both of them, and she doesn’t miss the way Yoh rolls his eyes. At first, they sit in silence, and Segasaki just stares at Yoh, rarely looking away. Aika orders too, and nothing of note happens until everyone has their lunch.
The restaurant is quiet, and Yoh’s phone buzzes loudly on the table. He looks at it cautiously, throwing an uncertain glance to Segasaki, who’s peaceful expression quickly turned to a pout.
“Who’s calling?” Segasaki asks.
“Just Man-san,” Yoh says. “Can I—?”
Segasaki nods, leaning back in his seat, arms crossed.
Yoh answers it, and brings the phone to his ear.
Aika strains her ears hard, wanting to overhear any bit of interaction she can. She can barely make it out, but it sounds like a women’s voice excitedly saying, “Dayo-chan!”
“Hi, Man-san,” Yoh says quietly, anxious eyes pinned on Segasaki. “I’m at lunch, I’ll call you back later.”
Aika hears an unhappy noise through the phone. The voice starts to speak but Yoh cuts her off with a “Sorry—later!” Then he hangs up. He stuffs his phone in his pocket.
“Bold of her to call you,” Segasaki says, miffed.
Yoh rubs the back of his neck. “I told you… I tripped. It wasn’t her fault.”
Segasaki’s frown deepens, and he leans forward again, resting his arms on the table. “I let you go with her, and this,” he reaches out and grabs the strap of Yoh’s sling, tugging it lightly, “is what I got back.”
Yoh doesn’t say anything.
“All because,” Segasaki continues, “she swore you would be fine without me.”
“I am fine!” Yoh protests. It’s such an indignant response Aika cringes and has to look away.
“A broken wrist and fractured elbow is not fine. How can I leave you alone when this is what happens?”
“I had to go—if you went with me, it would have been too obvious.”
“Hmm?” Segasaki gives him a knowing smirk—an uncharacteristicly rude thing for him to do. “You don’t want people to know it’s you?”
A red blush crawls up Yoh’s neck, and he shields his face with his hand, so that Segasaki can’t look directly at him. “I don’t want them to know it’s you,” he mumbles.
Segasaki swats his hand down. “Idiot,” he says, but there’s no heat in it. To Aika, it was almost like Segasaki calling Yoh a pet name, as if he’d just called him ‘baby’ or ‘sweetheart,’ and she’s shocked by it. Segasaki stretches over the table and pats Yoh’s head. When he sits back, he says, “After she apologizes, you can see her again.”
“Huh?”
“Invite her over. If she apologizes, I’ll let you work with her again.”
“But—it wasn’t her fault!”
Segasaki shakes his head, but by the barely suppressed smile, Aika can tell he's being unseriously serious again. “I trusted her, and she failed. I think an apology is only fair.”
Yoh frowns, and struggles to hold chopsticks in his left hand. He doesn’t argue it further, and his silence is a show of displeased acquiescence, but acquiescence all the same.
At this point, Aika’s has a thousand more questions than she had before. The only question that has been answered is why exactly Segasaki has Yoh tagging along: just the broken arm. But now, she wants to know what they’re even talking about. Where did Yoh go? Who’s that woman? Most mysteriously of all, why does Segasaki care so much in the first place? She’d thought they were just old school friends...
If Aika couldn’t physically see that Yoh was a man, she would be convinced by this whole conversation that they were married. It leaves her with a weird feeling. She’s coming to terms with the fact that she doesn’t truly know Segasaki at all. She only knows Work Segasaki. Private Segasaki is an entirely different person.
But Segasaki is a ladies’ man. All the girls are obsessed with him. What are the odds he’s… homosexually inclined?
And one would like to think that all of this would send her crush into a screeching halt, that her feelings for him would evaporate. But they don’t. She’s not convinced of anything, and she’s even more invested than she was before. So maybe he’s a little controlling, but the depth of feeling she’s seeing from Segasaki is wildly attractive. Aika thinks that she, too, could be bossed around by him, and thoroughly enjoy it. If he’s this passionate and overprotective toward his friends, she can imagine what he would be like toward his girlfriend—it’s a nice thought. He’s invested. He’s attached. He’s not like all these other flippant men out there who only want a woman for two things, sex and home keeping.
As she watches Segasaki, put his hand over Yoh's for the third time to help him use his chopsticks, she considers that she should step up her efforts to win him over.
Their lunch hour winds down, and Aika leaves before they do, having saw what she needed to see. Back at work, everything proceeds like normal. Yoh lingers in the film room, Segasaki performs as a flawless meteorologist, and he and Aika share their typical banter on screen. When he smiles at her over a little quip, she feels her heart expand by four sizes. It’s not the same smile he gives Yoh, but she hopefully thinks, that maybe this broad one is reserved for her, the way his asshole-ish one is for Yoh. She knows which she prefers.
As everyone is leaving, Aika is momentarily tempted to follow them for a bit, just to see what Segasaki does in his time off. However, she quickly realizes that would be going way, way too far, so she just goes home as usual.
The following day, Aika doesn’t notice anything that vindicates her uncomfortable sense from the day before, until their lunch break swings around again. Segasaki and Yoh have completely disappeared. She discreetly checked the conference room and the lounge. She thinks perhaps they went out for a lunch again, and goes off to the bathroom. Both stalls are full so she makes her way down to the floor just below them. It’s an abandoned office space. No one is ever down there, but the bathrooms still work like usual. She doesn’t mind going out of her way to use it either. It feels like her little secret space.
She comes in through the stair well, and goes down the dark hall. Just as she’s coming to the corner, she hears a sound. A loud breathy sound. She slows, straining her ears. She shouldn’t lurk, but she’s never encountered anyone else down here before.
“It’s a reward,” someone says quietly, teasing. “Mmm? You’ve been patient.”
The voice is undeniable; she basically hears it for hours every day. Despite herself, despite knowing she shouldn’t do this again, she lowers herself down, and peers around the corner. On the wall, next to the men’s bathroom, Segasaki has Yoh crowded up against it. One hand firmly planted next to his head. He’s leaning in toward Yoh’s face, just as Aika saw him that first day. She sucks in a sharp breath, taken aback.
Yoh shakes his head, and tucks his chin against his shoulder, looking away from Segasaki. Segasaki gives him a remarkably pompous grin, and pinches Yoh’s cheek, giving it a tug. Though reluctant, Yoh yields and looks at him.
“Yoh,” Segasaki says softly. “Use words.”
“We—we can’t. Not here.”
“Hm. Why not?”
Yoh answers with a pleading look, but Segasaki just shakes his head. Then he ducks down further, and in an act that almost makes Aika squeal in shock, he bites Yoh’s ear, who whines and winces. “I say we can,” Segasaki tells him. He grabs Yoh by his unbroken arm, and tugs him through the door and into the bathroom.
What the hell was that about? Aika straightens, leaning back against the wall. That was… those two… What the hell?
She should leave. She’s found out way more about Segasaki than she’s ever needed to know, and she’s not even sure what she saw. He would hate this invasion of privacy. He would hate her. And yet—and yet, she goes around the corner anyway. Creeping quiet as can be up to the men’s bathroom door. Because maybe, just maybe, she misunderstood. It’s dark, maybe she didn’t see what she thinks she saw (a half-ass lie, because it couldn’t have been more clear).
But she should be sure. She doesn’t want to be walking around with a false impression of Segasaki Mizuki—the man of her dreams.
What she hears is more than enough confirmation.
“Put your hand on the mirror,” Segasaki commands. After a moment he scoffs, there’s a light rustle, then a loud smack of skin hitting glass. As though Segasaki had taken Yoh’s hand and pressed it against the mirror for him.
Now she really needs to go. She’s crossing over into pervert territory. But Aika feels frozen, the cold hard truth dawning on her. All the pieces have come together, and denial is futile. Not only is Segasaki clearly in a relationship, but he’s in an… enthusiastic one at that. Her heart is breaking, and her mind is spinning.
Segasaki is dating that boy?
She hears hitching breath through the door and the wet kisses of lips on skin. When she closes her eyes, it’s like she’s seeing it. Segasaki kissing the side of Yoh’s neck from behind, their hands curled together on the mirror, Yoh’s flushed, mortified face.
She spins around then, one hand over her mouth and the other thrown out for balance. She tips sideways, her splayed hand hits the door, and pushes in. She bites down hard, and in a panic, steadies herself, grabbing the door handle for the support. She’s partway in the open door way, and her chest burns hot with mortification. In her ears it’s so loud, but from her angle, she can see the reflection of the mirror—and by their faces, they don’t notice her at all.
Segasaki is standing behind Yoh. He uses one hand to pin Yoh’s to the mirror, and uses the other to grip Yoh’s chin, squishing his cheeks up. Yoh is blushing intensely, his lips forced into a little O, eyes fluttering. He tries to step back, but he’s already pressed against Segasaki’s chest. Segasaki is smiling, a self-satisfied smirk that coveys his enjoyment at Yoh’s embarrassed squirming.
Yoh is utterly trapped, stuck between the counter top and Segasaki. His hands are tied, one in the sling, the other in Segasaki’s unwavering grip.
“Watch,” Segasaki tells him. Then he releases Yoh’s face, and starts to move his hand down his chest. When Yoh quickly looks down, Segasaki is just as fast to grab his face again. He tilts Yoh’s chin up, correcting him. “Yoh,” he says to his partner’s ear, grinning mischievously like this is the great enjoyment of his life. “See what I see.”
Yoh’s face is red. He’s blinking rapidly but doesn’t attempt to look away again. It’s like he’s trying to look more at Segasaki’s reflection than his own. He gives an anxious squeak, leaning his head back onto Segasaki’s shoulder.
When Segasaki starts moving his hand toward Yoh’s pant ties again, Aika, as silently as she can, yanks the door shut. She has to stop. She needs to leave. Seriously this time. She just crossed so many lines, it makes her stomach turn.
The last thing she hears before she scampers away is Yoh’s whine fading into labored breaths.
Her brain screams loudly as she rushes back up the stairs. Segasaki Mizuki is having sex in the bathroom! She saw it! Who knew he could be so bold? Who knew he had proclivities for such a thing—and for men too! The information is overwhelming. Her hopes disintegrated, her crush on him finally withering into vain yearning.
Any feelings she carries for him are utterly worthless, and she saw it in his eyes. That boy, Yoh, is Segasaki’s favorite toy. His one true lover, who sees a part of Segasaki that no one else gets to see—apart from her now, she supposes, but it was entirely accidental… mostly. She’ll never see that side of him again.
When break time is over, and they come into the lounge Aika can hardly look at the pair of them. Segasaki looks just as perfect as before, like nothing happened at all. Yoh, on the other hand, is in worse shape. His already wavy hair is mussed up, and there’s a bleary, dazed look in his eyes. He follows behind Segasaki as though his mind is turned off.
After all their time working together, it's a slap in the face to know that this is what Segasaki likes. He likes a quiet, puppy-eyed, docile person who crumbles at his every word. It's a little unfair, Aika thinks, she could be that too.
Segasaki leads Yoh to a cushy chair, who drops down into it without a word. Segasaki smiles at him, soft and pleased. He casually ruffles Yoh’s bangs, and steps back. A blatant display of intimacy if she's ever seen one; she can't help but feel he meant for her to see it.
“Ms. Hiyoshi, I need to speak with you,” Segasaki says, turning toward her. He puts his hands in his pockets, and shrugs a shoulder toward the conference room.
A lead weight drops into her stomach. She stands up colt legged, and after stumbling in her heel slightly, follows him inside.
He’s leaning back against the table edge, ankles crossed. It looks normal, but Aika is highly aware it is not. She’s suddenly stricken, that he knows, and by how dark his eyes are, he knows everything. He knows she saw; he knows she’s been watching, and he is now confronting her.
“Ms. Hiyoshi,” he says, voice cold, and face devoid of emotion. “Be courteous, and respect my privacy. It’s improper to steal looks and spread gossip, is it not?”
Embarrassment is hot on her face, and she quickly bows, arms at her sides. “I’m truly sorry, Segasaki-san! I was impertinent. I won’t speak of it.”
When she looks up again, he’s stepping past her. “What’s mine, is mine,” he says.
Then he leaves Hiyoshi Aika alone with a scalding secret, and the most brutal humiliation of her life.