Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Five people in suits and sunglasses stood in a line in front of the rest of the security personnel. Three men and two women. “These are the most accomplished members of our security personnel and I personally recommend each and one of these five to be your personal bodyguard, Miss Yazawa”

Nico tapped her lips with her finger as she walked from side to side of the line of five guards, carefully inspecting them one by one. She walked back and forth, eyeing each one of them and occasionally taking a glance of the rest of the security personnel behind them. Most of them looked uninterested as they probably wouldn’t get picked. After a couple of minutes, Nico sat on the edge of her desk and smiled.

“I’ve chosen my bodyguard” she announced proudly and gained the attention of the whole security detail.

“Well, which one will it be Miss Yazawa?” The security chief asked and proudly looked at his five best men.

“That one” Nico pointed not at one of the five in the front but at the back “That woman who’s looking at her watch, with the red hair and purple eyes”

“U-ueeh? M-me?!” The woman almost dropped the phone in her hands which she had been using to distract herself from all of this.

“Yeah, you” Nico smiled, amused by the redhead.

“Her?! M-miss Yazawa, I know the decision ultimately is up to you but I can’t possibly condone herwhen there are others much more suited to be your bodyguard! Five people to be specifi-”

“I appreciate your concern, but as you said, it’s up to me. I want her.” Nico cut her security chief off and pointed at the redhead again “She’s going to be my bodyguard.”

“I… I understand Miss Yazawa” the chief knew he wouldn’t be able to change his boss’s mind and recognized defeat. “Nishikino!” his voice suddenly raised into a shout, surprising everyone in the room but the twintailed CEO “Come forward! You’re now assigned to the security of the CEO of the Lantis Company, Nico Yazawa”

Maki did her best to put on a smile as she felt five glares on her back “… Thank you sir”

“The rest of you, dismissed” The whole security personnel began to clear out of the room, Maki almost following suite before the head of security reminded her that her post was now in this office.

“Finally, that Boring McSecurity Pants is gone” Nico let out a relieved sigh and crossed her legs, still sitting on her own desk. The CEO earned a chuckle from the redhead and right then she knew she had made the right decision.

“So why me?” Maki asked as she began to look around the CEO’s office. She would’ve imagined that the room of the boss of one of the biggest music companies of the country would’ve been intimidating, cold. Instead she felt comfortable in Nico’s office. The room had shelves packed with all the records the company had published and the walls were adorned with posters of idols. Nico’s desk was a mess of papers, probably all important documents that were now on her butt.

“Because you’re cute” Nico said nonchalantly and smiled, already expecting an amusing reaction from her new bodyguard.

“Because I’m cute? Are you stupid?” Maki squinted her eyes at the petite woman “You put me in charge of your protection, of your life, when there were people much more qualified for the job. You chose me because I’m cute?!” Maki couldn’t believe what she had just heard.

“… Yeah, basically” Nico shrugged and got off her desk. Walking up to the redhead, she smugly smiled at her before going back to her desk and properly sat down on her chair “But if you think you’re not up for it I could just call the chief so he revokes your new position”

“You think I couldn’t do it?” Maki frowned and walked up to Nico “Did I just hear you correctly?”

“Yeah, if you don’t think you can do it step out of my office and it’ll all be cleared out for you, Miss Nishikino”

“Pfft, protecting you difficult? Please. I could do that with my eyes closed”

“Then prove it”

“Fine. Just you watch. No one will ever lay even a finger on you” Maki had a defiant look in her eyes that were ready to continue arguing with her boss for forever.

Nico was going to have fun with her new companion.

Chapter Text

Maki brushed her hair one last time and looked at herself in the mirror, bobbed her bang and twirled her finger around it. Pleased with how she looked, she smiled and tightened the loose tie around her neck so the knot fit snugly in the collar of her shirt. Unlocking her phone, she saw that she was right on schedule.

She said she was up to the challenge of being Nico Yazawa’s new bodyguard and she planned to keep her word. She wasn’t going to be late on her first day of her new job.

Now in her car, a “bad excuse of transportation and source of 85% of all the air contamination in Japan” as a certain ginger friend of hers called it, Maki loudly groaned about the unusually spike of traffic. It was too early for the streets to be this slow. On a red light she looked at the clock of the radio and felt relieved. Thanks to her strict schedule that she followed to a T, she’d been able to make it just in time to work. Once Lantis Headquarters was in sight, she finally let all of her stress be released through a sigh. Turning her car to the parking entrance, she waited for the gatekeeper to let her in and finally start her day. Instead of the gate arm opening however, the gatekeeper walked out of her booth and approached Maki’s car. The redhead internally groaned as she rolled down her window

“What’s up Rin?” Maki put on a smile, only wanting to go inside.

“Heard you got a new job, protecting the boss” Rin commented as she put an arm on the open window and looked inside.

“Yeah, I don’t know why she’d choose me though”

“I dunno Maki-chan, you can be pretty intimidating sometimes,” the ginger giggled “so…” Rin looked at the backseats of the car as if she was searching for something “Where is she?”

Maki took a couple of seconds to process what he had just asked “What? Look Rin, I just want to do my job, so let me in already”

The ginger laughed for a moment and looked at Maki with a smug smile that the redhead wished she could wipe off.

“Well Miss Bodyguard, you can’t exactly start your job if haven’t even picked her up yet”

It took a few more seconds for Maki’s brain to start up again.

“E-eeeeh?! W-what was that?! I-i wasn’t told about that!”

Rin laughed again “Well, you better go get her!”

“I-i don’t even know where she lives!”

“Were you told anything yesterday about your new job?” Rin wondered as she wiped off a tear of laughter from her eye.

“Ugh… N-no…” Maki put her head on the steering wheel and groaned loudly.

“Okay, let me write down her address for you” Rin said as she ran back to her booth. Moments later she came back and handed Maki a small sheet of paper with an address written on it. The redhead read it once and looked up at the ginger.

“How do you… you know what, I’ll ask later. I’m going to be really late with this traffic” Maki said as she quickly changed gears to reverse “I owe you one”

“Just treat me to a nice bowl of ramen and we’ll be even!” Rin grinned and winked at her before waving goodbye at Maki’s now speeding car.

“I don’t understand! Why didn’t she tell me I had to pick her up!?” She yelled as she stopped on a red light.

“This is so dumb!” She groaned and hit her steering wheel, sick of her 5th traffic jam.

“I swear I’d kill her if that wasn’t literally the opposite of my line of work” She complained as she finally reached the house marked on the address Rin had given her.

Having reached her destination, Maki stepped out her car. She looked at the quite ordinary house that blended in with the rest of the houses in the neighborhood; Maki would’ve guessed this was the wrong address if the plaque right above the mailbox didn’t say “Yazawa” in it. She was now over an hour late. Well, whatever, she was already here and it wasn’t her fault. She didn’t even know she had to come pick her up. It was her fault. Nico was to blame. Yeah, it was all her fault. Maki knocked on the door and would make sure to let her know of all of this once Nico opened the door.

Once she opened it.

Maki knocked on the door again, this time louder.

On her third try, Maki called out for her name.

Why wasn’t she opening the door already? Maki frowned; what could be making her take so long? The redhead walked around the house, looking for a window to look through and see what was up.

Once she found one, the one fear she had buried deep in her sub-consciousness hit her in the head like a hammer: the entire house was a mess. Papers were everywhere, shelves had everything on them messed up, pantries and cabinets were opened. Almost as if a hurricane had broken into the house. Or as if someone had broken into the house.

Maki gulped at the implications that brought that last thought.

Bracing herself with a deep breath, Maki began to walk around the house and looked through different windows to inspect the house’s insides. She just found bigger messes but oddly enough she never found any point of forced entry. Had the burglar managed to somehow get a hold of the house keys? That meant that Nico must’ve been attacked before she got home. Maki’s train of thought didn’t help her psyche: her heart was beating faster and harder by the second.

Maki wasn’t going to find any way to go inside the house any time soon. Heading to the biggest window she could find, Maki took a few deep breaths before shattering it with her elbow and unlocking the window from the inside. The lack of any reaction must’ve meant that whoever broke in wasn’t home anymore, or at least she hoped so. Managing to squeeze through the window, Maki ignored the rest of the house and set her priority to finding the bedroom. Each door she opened led her to the wrong room. Eventually all the doors had been opened but one. Taking a deep breath, she slowly turned the doorknob and gently pushed it open.

Maki gulped at the squeaking door as it slowly turned.

Turned to show to reveal that Nico was peacefully snoring in her bed. Which was as much as a mess as the rest of the house.

The more she looked at the wreck of a bedroom, the more Maki began to realize that the house looked more like a disorganized house than the debris of a robbery.

Maki had to prop herself against a wall, otherwise she would’ve collapsed right there on the floor.