Blue Summer

Chapter 7: Ibuki's new job, the first day

As soon as he left her house, Misao sank back into the wave of sadness she had managed to fight before he came. She went and crouched near the window.

Rui waited a while before he felt that Misao had been in her room for far too long than usual. She hadn't called Youra or gone out to the library to study. He began getting the intuition that something was wrong with his sister, so he went up to her room to speak to her.

He saw his sister sitting near the window, her head resting on the brim and her face dull. He approached her and placed his hand on her head, slowly moving it about. Misao turned to him and hugged him before bursting into heavy tears.

Whilst Misao was sad, Ibuki was in a rage. Rage-driven, he began his search for a job. He did have many options, for he was still young, and his experience wasn't much. The only jobs he could count on were being a helper or a cleaner, which he could easily do as he had done in his part-time jobs. Considering his options, he recalled working as a cleaner at a fashion brand company. He had left the job because travelling from school to the workplace wasn't easy for him.

But this time, he didn't have to go to school. All he had to do was work. So, he decided to go back and see if he could land a simple wager.

Ibuki reached the company. It was a large campus with the company's main building and complex architecture. It was an obtuse triangular-shaped building with a hollow centre and one corner taller than the other two. It was coated in red and white shades with a golden wave at the front wall. The company's name was standing high above boldly: "Cosmic Fashion House".

The forepart had small showrooms dotted around and a park with green trees and bushes. A wavy path connected the buildings.

Ibuki made his way about the campus and entered the company. It was bustling with staff and customers. Dresses, exquisite ones, were held on display all across the floor. Ibuki had been there before but still felt he had come to a new place. He recalled the floor and found his way into the manager's office.

It was a grumpy middle-aged man. He was shouting at someone on the phone when Ibuki entered. The man put his phone down and turned to look at Ibuki, frowning.

"Mr Chen, do you remember me?" Ibuki asked.

"I see dull-faced youngsters like you every day; how would I remember. Are you even important for me to remember you? Get to the point!" Mr Chen growled.

"I used to work here. I had quit due to personal reasons. I wanted to know if you have any job left that I could apply for?" Ibuki asked politely.

"Why? Why did you quit only to apply again? Eh, am I supposed to create a new job for you now? You can take the mop and clean the floor. Be on time, and if I find you sulking, I will fire you then and there!"

Ibuki bowed in agreement and, taking the mop, went out. He didn't dare go in again to ask where he was supposed to clean. So, he began cleaning, which he thought would be okay.

"What a grumpy man?! I am assuming his life isn't going well." Ibuki thought.

As Ibuki was mopping purposelessly, a girl approached him from behind. She had a small round face, and her skin felt like porcelain. Her hair was black, and her lips red. She was slim and had a bright smile on her face. She bowed to Ibuki to greet him. Ibuki greeted in return.

"I am Ha Eun Yun. I also work here. By the way, I have mopped the floor from that side," she spoke in an angelic, soft voice.

Ibuki could not momentarily take his eyes off her until she patted him on the shoulder. He snapped back and nodded.

"Your name?" she asked.

"Ibuki Kaoru."

"Where are you from?"

"Incheon itself."

"Ah! Sorry, your name made me think you were an immigrant."

Ibuki smiled, "It is okay."

Then, in a moment, Ibuki's smile faded. He won't go around telling people he is not an immigrant, and many may assume he is so like Eun Yun did. He went into deep thought as to what effect it would have on him if he were to work here for the rest of his life.

Eun Yun saw his confused and sulky face and giggled, "Don't worry. I will help you around. Come. I will show you our staff room."

Ibuki sighed and followed Eun Yun to the staff room. She led him into a room in a corner at the end of the floor. It was a small room for the cleaning staff to keep their things and have a break or lunch.

"So, it is small but fine," Eun Yun said.

"It is good."

"If you ever need to take a break and eat something or talk to someone, you can come here."

"How often can we take a break in a day?"

"Well, you are allowed to take a break every three hours if you are working alone and five hours if you are working with someone else."

Ibuki nodded to the response. He looked around for a bit and then suggested he should return to work. Therefore, the two came out of the room, and Eun Yun gave Ibuki directions on where he should begin cleaning. She pointed at a showroom on the floor and asked Ibuki to clean it as she hadn't yet cleaned it. So Ibuki went to the showroom to clean.

There were many dresses on display in the showroom. Gowns, formal suits and other sort of clothing were kept there. They seemed to be fresh and new and yet to be debuted in the market.

Ibuki was fascinated by one dress on the display. It was a gown in a rose pink shade with a silver lacing. It also had roses embedded in its sleeves. It was glowing in the light. Ibuki looked at it and found it magical.

He slowly cleaned around it until disaster struck. His foot got entangled in a wire running across the floor and into the display. He fell down, dragging the wire with him and causing the whole light system in the display to come crashing down on the dress. He froze that instant, realising what he had done.

The sound of the crash drove the manager, Mr Chen, out of his office. He came running to see what had happened, and the moment he saw the dress under the lights, he was horrified.

Eun Yun also came and helped Ibuki up. Ibuki was still in shock. What would happen now?

The manager turned to Ibuki with a cold look and growled, "You fool!"

Ibuki bowed to apologise despite knowing that he would not be forgiven so easily.

"You ruined a billion-dollar dress. You will die paying for the damages!"

Eun Yun quickly rose to Ibuki's defence, "He is new here. It was just an accident and not intentional. It's not his fault that the wire was open on the floor."

"Shut up! What will you do now?!" Mr Chen yelled.

At this point, the entire floor gathered to see what had occurred. Ibuki was now even more embarrassed with so many people gathered around.

"The dress is set to undergo display in two days. What will I do?!" Mr Chen grunted.

Ibuki was on the brink of crying but had to hold himself. Finally, he spoke, "I will fix it."

The crowd looked at him in surprise. A Dress worth billions that involved the best designers of the world in the process of its making will now be fixed by a cleaner. It had to be a joke.

"Fix it? How will you fix it?!" Mr Chen questioned loudly.

"I made a mistake. I will fix it."

Was Ibuki making a promise more than his abilities could handle, or did he intend to return the dress to its original state?