Katawa Shoujo - Akira Satou Route

Act 5-8 Sway

Akira nudges the wheel left and right, trying to squeeze into a parking space. It would seem that we're the late arrivals, even though it's still at least twenty minutes before the scheduled time, which only prompts her to give a long sigh and slump in her seat. She glances back at me with a dull fatigue in her eye. "How about we skip this and go get sushi or something?"

"What a nice thought." I counter, looking around the parking lot while the car settles into its spot. I undo my seatbelt and sit forward against the front seat, the scent of Lilly's perfume drilling into my nose. "What about pizza? You said there was this nice place you wanted to show me."

Lilly stifles a small yawn, already seeming a little restless even if it's rather well hidden behind her calm demeanor. "I certainly wouldn't mind a small dinner stop once the meeting was finished."

"Well, he said there's gonna be a banquet-type thing afterwards. I wouldn't mind dodging out on it, but I'm kinda trying to avoid letting him blow up tonight." Akira asserts, giving one of her 'I just want to go home and sleep' looks.

"He's going to be surrounded by a lot of other rich folk, isn't he? I doubt he'd let himself get mad around them." I return, climbing out of the back and helping Lilly onto her feet.

With her purse in hand, the younger Satou lightly grips the sleeve of my suit coat. She's wearing a red chinese-style dress that seems to hug her form at all the right angles with matching red slippers, her hair tied back into a bun. Akira seems to have opted for her usual approach, although instead of wearing a suit, she's settled for a black long-sleeved blouse and some black cloth pants.

Damn, there goes another chance to see her in a skirt. Maybe I should have tried to convince her to wear one.

Akira guides both of us out of the parking garage and into the more familiar lobby of her workplace, both hands in her pockets. The elevator only takes a few moments to arrive and soon we're on our way up, the sinking lurch of the chamber not doing much to help my already nervous gut.

The doors open with a resounding ding. Both Lilly and Akira try to remain composed, although it's clear that the younger of the two is feeling quite a bit of worry right now. Akira doesn't seem so nervous -- if anything, I get the impression that all of this is just a bore to her.

"Are you ready?" I ask, rubbing her back with one hand.

"About as ready as I'll ever be." Akira nods, heaving a sigh as we step out onto the carpeted floor of the sixth story hallway.

Keeping in line with the overly ornate reception hall, the interior of the office seems to be just as flashy - the dark-colored carpet looks freshly cleaned, the beige walls are free from even the smallest scratches, and no two paintings or framed pieces of corporate history hang more than a few meters apart. A column of office numbers and other such labels adorns the wall just outside the elevator, pointing to a group of miscellaneous rooms down one path while the other leads to 'Banquet Hall C,' among various other important-sounding places.

The total lack of any sort of crowd in the halls on the way there leads me to ask "Just how big of a company does this have to be for there to be three banquet halls?"

"Well, this used to be the main building until Pops decided to move overseas." Akira answers, her matter-of-fact tone making it seem more like a recital than a response. "Now it's just a 'shared services center.' We do pretty much all of the auxiliary stuff for Japan's R&D, as well as a ton of other technical mumbo-jumbo."

Lilly listens with what I assume to be great interest, even if it looks like she's just waiting for our talk to finish so that we can get to the meeting on time. "It must have been difficult making all those changes after Father left."