-Chapter 7: Off With Her Head
"Did you return to Daybreak Town the other day?" Aruto asks me, looking a bit tense. Is he worried about something I may have done there? If so, why?
I look at Aruto and nod slowly. "Yes, why?" How did he find out about me heading to Daybreak Town once again? I didn't mention it to anyone. I kind of just went there.
"Yua followed you there and she told me that you somehow got in yourself. Did you want to see something alone?" It is odd that she talked to him about that. I guess she's trying to ruin me for whatever reason.
"So, she was stalking me?" I should expect her to do so. "I guess she got suspicious of me for some reason. I only went there to look at something again. I just wanted to make sure I made a mental note of everything I saw there the first time." I will let Horobi know of this later.
Suspicion doesn't mean that she knows I'm guilty yet. She can think it all she wants, but she'll have to prove it. However, I do need to address this right now. I need to keep Aruto on my side so I don't get into trouble.
It isn't like I blame her for following me. I'm sure I've been kind of shady and hard to deal with. I feel like most people would try to find something out about me and then try to get rid of me as soon as possible. I'm not the easiest person to deal with and I never will be.
"I am glad that you're open with me about this instead of hiding it from me. Unlike some people here at Hiden..." He looks down at his legs. "Did you find anything at all?" He looks back up at me.
I shake my head. "No, nothing. I was just hoping that I would honestly. I want to be able to help you get your company cleared of any misunderstandings people have right now. If I can prove that something big happened there, it could work out for you." I cross my arms over my chest. This is hard for me to do.
I am not going to come out and say that I'm now involved with MetsubouJinrai. The moment that comes flying out my mouth is the moment I'll be taken to wherever A.I.M.S. wants to hold me. Then I'll be labelled a terrorist and Horobi would leave me out to dry.
"Izu, make an appointment with A.I.M.S. member Yua Yaiba. I wish to talk to her as soon as possible. Please cancel any of my other appointments and reschedule them," Aruto orders.
"Understood. I will do that now, Aruto." Izu bows and tilts her head, eyes glowing. It looks like she is rearranging his schedule. She's honestly so cool just like Kairi is. If I could do that, I would be happy.
I stand up, uncrossing my arms from my chest. "I should go right now, Aruto. I have some things I need to get done and I have to get Kairi. I am so sorry for any trouble that Yua Yaiba has caused you by telling you my activities. I can assure you that I'm just doing my job that I was sent here to do." And whatever else I need to do to make Horobi happy.
"Alright, I'll see you around." Aruto smiles. "Take care." He's really caring and kind, so I hate doing this to him.
"Take care." I move around the table and towards the stairs. I still hate the fact he has stairs here. I don't like it one bit.
I head to the first step and place my foot down on it. I hate myself for wearing nice shoes right now. I'm wasting nice shoes on these stupid steps.
I move down them, holding onto the rail. I hope he decides to get rid of them. I know he has other ways to get out of the office, but I rather not use them.
"Mari, how was your day?"
I look ahead as Yua stops in front of me. I stop, pursing my lips. Great! She's here.
"I'm having a wonderful day so far and you?" I glare. "Thank you for asking me. How is your day so far?"
She's probably going to pretend like she didn't do anything that wrong. I don't know why she hates me so much, but it might have to do with my personality. I don't think I'm that bad. I'm just not an easy person to live with at times.
Isamu stops beside her and looks down at Yua. "Did you follow Mari the other day? Why would you do that? She's part of the joint project the USA is running with Halo Horizons?" he asks, raising his voice a little. He looks mad. Really, really mad.
Yua looks at Isamu, looking ice cold. "Should we blindly trust this girl who showed up out of nowhere due to another government's arrangements with ours? We know almost nothing about her."
"This isn't like you to be freaking out over, Yua. You're always calm and collect, but right now you're not. What did Mari do to you to make you this upset?" Isamu asks.
"She's a blank slate!"
"Yua!" He gets in her face, staring down into her eyes. "That is none of our concern right now. Whoever Mari is outside of work isn't our problem until it is our problem. Only our job matters right now."
"Isamu is correct. A.I.M.S. should focus on their tasks. For higher quality outcomes for their work, A.I.M.S. should only focus on things they need to be focused on," Kairi states. I'm going to have to side with both Isamu and Kairi on this.
Yua turns her head, glaring at Kairi. "What do you know? You're a tool created by mankind," Yua asks her. I really make her blood boil, huh? "All you do is take her orders. For all I know, she's pulling your strings and making you go along with her schemes." I don't have any wicked schemes, but Horobi does. I wonder where he's getting his schemes from, because they kind of suck honestly.
All his hackings end up pretty much doing nothing but creating fear. If he really wants to hurt people, he should pick an area without Kamen Riders near by to challenge. However, he may just be aiming to create fear and work off that.
"Watch your mouth, Yaiba," I order, glaring at her. She looks back at me, looking annoyed. Yeah, she hates me. "You don't know what will happen the moment you saw something you know I won't forget."
Isamu grabs her arm. "We should go right now before you cause a huge fight here. You can deal with the side stuff on your own time, Yua. Besides, this isn't like you."
I wonder what she is doing on the side. Maybe I should tail her one of these days and find out. Actually, I am sure I can figure it out on my own. She's not a full A.I.M.S. employee, huh?
"I don't trust you, Mari." She really, really dislikes me. She so knows I'm working with MetsubouJinrai, but she's never going to prove it. It can just be in her head with all the other thoughts about me.
"And I don't trust you that much either, Yaiba. How you're acting right now makes me think you're trying to harm me in some way," I state.
"Yua, I don't like Hiden Intelligence and HumaGears that much, but I still do my job," Isamu tells her. Ha! Hard can barely do his job. "Mari, I apologize."
"It is fine."
"Good luck with your meeting, Isamu," Kairi says and Isamu's eyes go to her. "I hope it goes well and that everything gets settled there."
"Kairi..." He looks like he is conflicted about her. Does he hate her or does he think she's okay? "Uh...sure, thanks." He isn't sure if she's being kind out of her own will or because I want her to be. I think Kairi does it because Kairi is a kind woman robot.
He looks at Yua and lets her arm go. He moves towards the office and Yua follows, glaring at me. She turns her head towards Aruto's office, ending her death glare. She really doesn't like me. I hope they like climbing stairs.
I need to resist the urge to groan right now. Goodness, she's ticking me off! How can she go around acting like I'm terrible just for heading to Daybreak Town randomly? She needs to focus on her job while I focus on mine.
"Mari, what do you want me to do for you now?" Kairi asks.
"Delete the conversation you probably just recorded. You should disregard it unless I bring it up again," I tell her, giving her permission to delete it. I don't want to delete it exactly, so I can view it later, but it has no purpose really other than to piss me off more.
"Understood. Deleting the footage now, boss," Kairi tells me, deleting what was recorded. I don't want to keep it and I don't wish to use it to make Yua's life harder. That isn't how I want to work right now.
I'll have to discuss this with Horobi later. He's my boss now and he needs to know about someone tailing me here and there. I don't need her discovering their base there. I don't want Horobi to be to harm me for a mistake I've made.