Winds of Destiny: Rising ~ {Hawks x OC}

Chapter Eighteen: Clarity

Misaki bent to retrieve the can of sweetened coffee she'd just purchased from a vending machine in the lounge area down the hall from her office. As her fingers closed around it, she began to feel the familiar sensation of being watched suddenly creep over the back of her neck. She straightened and slowly turned her head to the side. Sure enough, facing her and leaning his shoulder against the wall with his hands tucked into his pockets was Hawks.

"Hey," he greeted her a bit timidly.

She just stood there, staring back at him in a state of nervous shock – as though she'd suddenly been put on the spot to answer a question that she hadn't been paying attention to. Her mouth opened and closed like a fish as she floundered to find the words to reply to the greeting that should not have been this hard to reply to! The awkwardness became more and more apparent as the silence continued to stretch between them. It wasn't like she didn't want to answer – she physically couldn't. Her throat had closed up just enough to let air into her lungs, but it stubbornly refused to let out any words. She was beginning to worry, as she continued to struggle to respond to his greeting, that her air supply was sure to be in danger if she didn't figure out some way to cast off her rabid nerves soon. She could tell by the look on Hawks's face that he was getting anxious, and she sent out a silent cry for help to somebody, anybody, to break her out of the awkward situation.

As if in answer to her plea, Misaki's secretarial replacement, Tadashi Nao, suddenly rounded the corner that led from the lavatories into the break room. He appeared to be completely oblivious to the hanging awkwardness as he nonchalantly strolled up to the drink machine, passing right between Misaki and Hawks, who were standing almost three full meters apart. He calmly scanned his employee ID badge and selected a can of black coffee. The machine seemed to take an inordinate amount of time to deposit the drink into the retrieval bin, an opportunity which Misaki gratefully took in order to gather her wits back about her. As he bent to retrieve his purchase, Tadashi seemed to finally notice that he was not the only occupant of the break room at the moment.

The happily married, former salaryman straightened and glanced over at Misaki, staring at her blankly for a moment before nodding to her. "Commissioner Torimodo."

Misaki returned his slow nod. "Tadashi-san."

Relief cascaded through her when she was able to speak his name and she let out a soft sigh.

Tadashi gave her a slightly conspicuous look before turning his attention to the other occupant of the break room.

"Hawks," he greeted with a similarly stiff nod.

The Wing Hero offered him a small, mock salute. "Yo."

The President's secretary turned and slowly began walking off in the direction of his desk, shifting his eyes between the two of them as he went while taking a long, slow drink from his hot coffee. As soon as he disappeared around the corner, the great feeling of tension that had been weighing her down since Hawks's unexpected appearance a few moments ago vanished.

Blinking a few times, Misaki swallowed heavily and cleared her throat before looking back at Hawks and finally replying, "Hi."

He turned his gaze away and grimaced slightly, reaching up to scratch the side of his cheek before sliding his eyes back over to her and asking in a somewhat hopeful tone of voice, "So, I was thinking, if you weren't too busy, that we could maybe give tails a shot?"

It took her a moment to figure out the reference, but she promptly remembered back to the coin flip he'd used to determine their karaoke date. Heaven help her if he had another excursion like that planned for them this time.