King's Gambit 004

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IT'S FOUR IN THE MORNING, MY EYES WERE HEAVY AS SH*T AND REIJI-SENPAI AND I WERE SITTING NEXT TO EACH OTHER IN A FOUR HOUR BUS RIDE.

Well, flashback 12 hours ago.

"Eisuke, later, prepare a set of clothing that's good for 2 days." Reiji-senpai, who's sitting across from me, said without even looking up, his eyes has been glued on his computer screen for hours now.

I blinked twice. "Uhm… Am I going somewhere?"

Finally, he looked up and his gaze landed on me. "'We' are going somewhere." He corrected.

"Err… where are we going?"

"We'll visit the location of our current project to conduct an ocular inspection since they just finished the renovation of their facilities. The General Manager will meet us there to give us a tour around the resort."

"I see…" Wow. That was so sudden…

"By-the-way, I saw from your CV that you're knowledgeable in using the camera, Is that right?"

"Yes. I took extra elective class in Photography."

"Good. Go find Andy and borrow a spare camera and lenses from him. Let's see how good you are with the camera." His mouth curved in a cunning smile.

Without asking for more questions, I went to Andy-san's desk.

"Andy-san…"

His eyes travelled from his camera screen to my face. "Oh, Intern-kun. Need anything?"

He has bags under his eyes and, obviously, looked tired but his smile while looking at his camera was a smile of satisfaction. "Yanagi-san told me to borrow a spare camera and lenses from you."

His face lit up in an instant. "Don't tell me… you'll be the one taking photos for Yanagi-san's project?"

"Uh, well, he said he'll test my skill in using the camera…"

"Yes! Thank you." He leaned down to open a drawer and then pulled out a camera bag. "Do your best Intern-kun. Actually, I have a lot of sites to go to this week. Normally, I would go with Yanagi-san since he's the one handling big clients and urgent projects. It'll be great, and honestly, a big help for me if he approved your shots."

"But I can't say my skill in photography is good enough to be approved for such project."

"It'll be fine. Just do your best, hmm?" He passed the camera bag to me after checking its contents. "Besides, Yanagi-san won't let you work on your own considering this is your first time. Just listen to his suggestions and ideas."

"O-Okay…"

---

I was trying to go back to sleep but I was too focus on Reiji-senpai sleeping next to me. We boarded the bus thirty minutes ago and he instantly fell into deep slumber. I'm quite envious if I say the least.

Aside from being nervous and anxious whether I could do my tasks well later as a photographer and, at the same time, observing and learning how to handle projects and conducting ocular visits, is the annoying realization that little by little I'm starting to be aware of Reiji-senpai.

The morning after that incident at Haru's bar, Reiji-senpai's actions were oddly normal, as if nothing happened. The fact that I knew about the kind of relationships he has been engaging with and that he used me to run away from his problem doesn't seem to bother him a tiny bit.

To be honest, I thought he'll talk to me about that night to explain or, at least, tell me to forget about it but there was nothing, he just went on as if nothing happened. It even made me wonder, does this kind of thing happen often?

Reiji-senpai was just his normal self – cocky, spoiled and annoying. But there's one thing I noticed. For some time he was having a hard time meeting my eyes. At first, I thought, it wasn't intentional or it was just me being overly conscious, but for the whole day he never once met my eyes for more than a second. And Reiji-senpai is the type that will melt you with his stare.

When I told him that it was actually Natsuki-san who paid our bill that night, he almost couldn't believe me or, at least, he refused to.

"Natsuki? Are you sure?"

"Yeah, he said as thanks for an entertaining night." I shrugged.

He leaned closer to me, completely omitting the words 'personal space' on his dictionary, "I thought, you took out money from my wallet to pay for our bill."

"Huh? Why would I do that? It was never my habit to pull people's wallet out their pocket."

He pulled himself back and shifted on his seat, heaving a sigh. "I thought I already repaid you."

"Repaid for what? Because you used me to get rid of your ex?" I spat. I was not even thinking before I speak, it was already too late when I realized I might have said something rude and senpai suddenly fell silent. For a second, I was scared to even glance at him.

Then I heard him snorted and I immediately turned to look at him, he's trying to suppress his laughter.

"Ex? That bastard? In his dreams."

Part of me doesn't understand why he's acting this way. He's laughing but it seemed so empty, his eyes definitely gave him away. Smiles and laughter can hide an empty heart fairly well, but the eyes are a different story. A person's emptiness reflects well to their eyes. It'll take a fool not to notice.

"Ugh, I own Natsuki a favor now…"He said, more to himself.

After that, Reiji-senpai started talking about something else, totally leaving the topic behind. When we arrived back at the apartment, he went straight into his room, but before he closed the door he said…

"Eisuke… Sorry."

It surprised me. I never thought that I want him to apologize or, heck, I don't actually need his explanation. I would have felt better if he just said 'Thanks'.

The next day, we went to Haru's bar again and this time he really did treat me to dinner.

For the whole week, Reiji-senpai never stayed out contrary to what he used to do. Maybe it's because he became too busy with his new project. Aside from the days he stayed a bit in the office, we always went back home together.

As soon as I arrived back in the apartment, I would immediately research and study the materials senpai gave me. One time, senpai gave me a mock project just to see my current skill and knowledge in terms of design. He gave me a day to complete the project and after that, he will act as the customer.

After seeing and researching a lot of samples, I was quite overwhelmed with lots of options, since there was no 'client' that gave, like, their expectation with the design, I had to come up with my own advertising design.

And of course, I couldn't satisfy Yanagi-san and was a bit disappointed at myself. After all the effort I put on that task, in the end, it wasn't enough.

"Who are the target customers of the product?" Senpai asked in a serious tone, as if he was interviewing me.

"Ahm… young girls to teens?"

"What was the very first thing to consider when planning our design?"

"…" It took me a few second before I could answer. "To get the customer's attention?"

"Let's say you're right. Then… how can we do that?"

"Uhm, I used colors and designs that are current trends for the teens."

He leaned in on his table bringing both of his hands together in a clasp, and with an eyes like a hawk he asked, "Eisuke-kun, do you think that's enough?"

I was dumbfounded for a while. I don't know how to answer when that kind of question was thrown at me.

"If I were the customer, I won't even bother to look at that."

That was the final blow.

I was really frustrated about that failed task that's why as soon as I went back home, I researched and tried designing once again, correcting the 'mistakes' Reiji-senpai pointed out. Funny enough, he just pointed out the details I did poorly, but never said how to correct them. When I asked him what was the correct way to do this, he said…

"There no such thing as correct design, Eisuke. If I tell you now, how the design should have been, it'll just end up being 'my' design and not yours, Morikawa Eisuke. I can't tell you what to do, you have to figure that out yourself, and soon you will figure out your own style. The only thing I can do is to guide you how to design and capture both the client and their customer's attention."

During dinner when I told Yuma about what happened, he just laughed.

"Reiji, you're being too hard on Eisuke."

A smug smile was slowly forming on senpai's face, "If I'm to go easy on Eisuke and pamper him like a baby, I'm afraid he won't be able to work on another company without me."

"Who told you to pamper me like a baby?" I mumbled.

Reiji-senpai opened his mouth as if he's about to say something but stopped himself when his eyes landed on Yuma but Yuma doesn't noticed that split second event.

I was too focused on senpai that it startled me a bit when Yuma suddenly patted my back. "Don't worry Eisuke. Strict teachers make the best students."

That night, Reiji-senpai found me working again on the task and stood right behind me watching my laptop screen.

"Still not enough…. But maybe I'll spare 2 seconds to look at that." Then he vanished into his room.

"Nice Eisuke! That's compliment coming from Reiji."

Somehow, that frustration and disappointment I was feeling just a few minutes earlier was easily replaced with a great sense of accomplishment and happiness just by a vague compliment by Reiji-senpai.

Before I went to sleep that night I remember thinking, "Someday… I will make him say that he can't take his eyes off my design."

***

"REIJI-SENPAI… REIJI-SENPAI… YOUR PHONE'S RINGING."

I didn't realized I also fell asleep and I woke up to the sound of senpai's phone ringing.

Senpai was sleeping so deeply as if he stayed up all night. He grunted before he slowly opened his eyes. When he realized someone's calling on his phone, he immediately pulled it out from his bad and answered the call.

"Ahh. Natsuki, sorry I just answered your call. I was asleep the whole trip." He spoke in his, almost a whisper, raspy morning voice. It goes extremely well in his 'just woke up' look with all the bed hair and wrinkled clothes I had no choice but to see every morning.

He listened for a bit to the other person speaking, as he yawned.

"It's still too early, Natsuki. Stop teasing me."

"Hmmm, let me check. Wait a sec." He looked at his phone for a bit and I saw from my peripherals, he opened KMap. "In 15 minutes we'll be at the bus stop."

"Okay. Thanks Natsuki." He ended the call before he turned to face me. "Natsuki's waiting for us at the bus stop. We'll arrive there soon."

"Ah… Natsuki-san will be at the resort too?"

"Hm? Did I not tell you that Natsuki is the General Manager of the resort?"

I shook my head. I know that the company Natsuki-san's working at is our client but I didn't expect for him to be the person accompanying us today.

"Senpai, how did you become close to Natsuki-san?"

He was surprised for a second then his lips curved in a sly smile. "Are you interested in me now, Eisuke-kun?"

Now that his awake he's back to being annoying. I brought my face closer to his until our lips were just few inches apart. "And if I am?"

He was slowly moving closer as if testing how long this courage of mine will last. Should I back down or should I stay? I don't know.

When he realized, I was not fazed and had no intention of backing down, he just pulled back. He sat comfortably on his seat, crossing his arms in front of him.

He sighed before he answered, "I met Natsuki in the office. Actually, Natsuki's company is one of our regular clients. At first, Natsuki would always turn down Yuma's and our designer's suggestions and ideas, as if nothing they will ever say will make him approve of it." He chuckled as he recalls the past. "I still remember well, how Yuma would always complain about how demanding Natsuki is. That time, I had my hands full with a couple of projects, but I had no choice but to step up.

"I took over the presentation that time and made sure he won't find any fault in my proposal. All aspect of the design, I made sure they're all perfect. I was really confident about it. After the presentation what do you think Natsuki said?"

I shrugged, "It's great?"

"He said, 'Hmm… it's not half bad.'" Reiji-senpai attempted to imitate Natsuki-san from that time. "Then he pulled out a brochure from his file folder and asked me, 'Are you the person who made this?'. It turns out, he saw that brochure I did for my past client and said he was impressed that's why he picked out our company even though it was just small and, basically, starting. And… the rest was history."

Huh? Is that all? How did they become so close? How did they become fuck buddies? What was the 'hunt' they were talking about before?

"Reiji-senpai, you and Natsuki-san how did you become—"

"Eisuke, we're here."

Before I knew it, the bus came to a stop and everyone stood up to get off.

"What were you saying again earlier, Eisuke? You're about to ask something right?"

"You and Natsuki-san how did you become fu—"

"Reiji! Eisuke-kun!" I was interrupted again. This time it's from a familiar voice.

king's gambit chapter 4// end