Infectious

ch. 15

Chapter Fifteen;;- Of Paperwork and Fanmail

"[name]! It's been a little while since we've seen you here in the morning," [name]'s secretary, Yamamura Reiko greeted as [name] entered her office.

[name] nodded, smiling and giving Reiko a small wave. "G'morning to you too, Reiko." What Reiko had said was true, [name] wasn't usually here in the mornings. She patrolled at night and only ever came in during the afternoons if there had been something eventful the night before. However, since the students were out for their internships, [name] thought it'd probably be a good time to catch up on anything she might have missed at the office and to try and get some work done for the future.

She pulled a key ring out of her jacket pocket (she wasn't wearing her hero uniform yet-- it was packed in her duffel bag, but she wanted to avoid attention on the way over here) and unlocked the door to her private office. [name] pushed it open with her hip as she put the keys back into her pocket.

Her personal office was relatively small compared to some other heroes'. The back wall had a big picture window. [name]'s desk was in front of it-- a dark wooden desk with a plush office chair behind it and a desktop computer on top of it surrounded by a mess of papers and a couple pictures of her cats. There was two seats in front of the desk for visitors, dark red armchairs that probably would've been more comfortable if people used them more often. The door opened to the left corner of the room and the right side was covered in ceiling to floor bookshelves made of the same wood as the desk, filled a random assortment of books. Against the wall across from the windowed wall was a soft black couch that could pull out into a bed if [name] ever decided she needed to stay at the office for the night. The walls (painted a rich red color with white trim) were decorated with photos and newspaper articles of her achievements.

Reiko was the only employee that worked at [name]'s office. She took all the calls and sorted all the fan mail, mailed stuff the [name] needed mailing... She was a hard worker and honestly the best employee that [name] could ever ask for. She understood [name]'s desire to limit her amount of interviews and turned down all of them except for about one every two months.

[name] dropped her duffel onto the couch then made a beeline for her chair, flopping into it. She let out a satisfied sigh at the way it wooshed, smiling as she turned on her computer. The monitor started to come to life as Reiko came into [name]'s office with two boxes stacked on top of each other in her arms. On top of the boxes was a small stack of papers.

Reiko dropped them onto one of the armchairs (gently, mind you). "The top one is letters and the bottom one is packages," She said, pointing to each one as she mentioned it.

"Ah, fan mail." [name] nodded. "Thanks Reiko, you're a godsend."

She shook her head, smiling. "Only for you, [name]." Reiko picked up the papers on top of the boxes. "These need signing and looked over and all that jazz."

[name]'s face fell. "Thanks, Reiko..." Her tone was less happy than it had been the first time, making Reiko laugh lightly in response. The secretary started back to her own desk. "Ah, wait. Present Mic might contact the office about doing something on his radio show. If you get a call about that, I'd like to accept it."

Reiko raised a thin eyebrow, smiling almost knowingly. "'course, [name]."

[name] had met Reiko right after [name] had gotten her hero license. She saved Reiko from a small villain and was surprised to find that Reiko was an American born Japanese woman. Her parents decided to move back to Japan after they retired, and Reiko had decided to come with them. Unfortunately, it was proving difficult for Reiko to find a job.

After talking for a little while, [name] decided to offer her a job at her up and coming hero office. Reiko was always very diligent in her work and never complained, although [name] told her to always be honest. If she thought she might need a raise or a helping hand around the office, [name] would be more than happy to make sure that Reiko's job went smoothly for her. But, since [name] was more of a patrol hero and less of a big-crime hero, Reiko never said anything about feeling overworked and every time [name] asked, she was always doing well on finances.

They quickly became good... friends? [name] wasn't sure if they were close enough to call each other friends. They only addressed each other by their first names ever since they both found out they were from America. It felt natural to them. Irregardless of their relationship, [name] was glad to have Reiko at her office.

[name] stared at the papers that Reiko had given her, finally giving in and working on them. It was hard work sometimes, being a hero. Most people didn't think about all the paperwork that went into it, instead imagining the glamorous life of fame and usually money. Still, [name] never doubted her career path, considering she had gone through way too much to start hating her job over a couple hours of paperwork.

It was about nine o'clock when [name] started her slow descent into madne-- ahem, paperwork. By the time she had finished, the sun had just passed the highest point and was starting it's gradual dive in the sky and the clock on her computer read two o'clock. She let out a huge sigh once it was all done, glad to be caught up in all her work since a week before the sports festival to now. Tomorrow she would try to get some work for the future finished, but she couldn't bring herself to continue doing such tedious work for a second longer.

She sat back in her chair, stretching her arms over her head to get rid of the ache that sat on top of her back from being hunched over. [name] swiveled her chair around to admire the afternoon sky, filled with fluffy clouds and the warm sun filtering through the window panes.

After a moment of contemplation, [name] got up and went to the boxes that Reiko had taken in. [name] opened up the flaps of cardboard and glanced in. Reiko had neatly sorted the letters into piles from specific dates with cardboard dividers between them to keep it organized. I love you, Reiko, [name] thanked mentally, picking up the stack of letters from the earliest date.

To [name], answering fan mail was important. For one, she didn't want blame pinned on her if there was a situation she could have prevented through answering, but she also wanted to be seen as someone that was easy to approach. She didn't always do a great job of it in person, but at the very least she could say thank you for all of their encouragement.

Gently, she sliced the top of the envelopes with a letter opener. These people could have worked hard on whatever was in her and she would be devastated if she accidentally did something bad to it. [name] kept everything that fans sent her, provided that it wasn't inappropriate or actually hate mail.

Finishing a long day with the well-meaning words of people who wished her to succeed was the nicest possible way. It made her feel like everything she was doing was good, even if she doubted herself sometimes.

It would have been nice to get those sentiments her whole life, but [name] would take what she would get.

a/n: this chapter is probably kinda boring :^/ sorry,, i didn't mean to make it boring but i mean?? it's a part of the hero lifestyle so obviously the reader would be doing it sometimes,,,, also fanmail? reader is a nice celebrity and they appreciate it. it'd be hard as fuck to reply to all of them, but she works hard as fuck