MHG-V3-4 (Initial Draft)

Chapter 3 - Meet Samantha Kang + Worm attack

A2.3

"Crap." Ken cursed himself as he rushed out the door. His father had arranged for him to accompany him on one of his visits to a factory he owned, and he was late.

He could imagine Teruko in his ear telling him that it didn't matter whether he got there in time or not, that there was nothing interesting about visiting a factory and so on. But to Ken it *was* important, because his father had specially arranged it, and he *never* specially arranged things for him. He imagined it was something to do with the results of the mathematics competition, otherwise there was no hope that his father would try to include him in the things of his work life.

Teruko however wasn't chattering in his eae like she normally was. Rather she was busy configuring a new security network with Ayaka. He was alone, and that was probably the primary reason he was currently late.

Ken stood impatiently in front of the elevator, waiting for it to come up to his floor. As soon as it did he rushed in, pressed the ground floor button and then the door close button rapidly.

The elevator began a quick descend towards the ground floor as Ken stared at the floor. Could he still make it in time?

When the doors opened, Ken rushed out without looking. He ran straight into a girl who was waiting on the other side of the doors.

The girl fell backwards onto the ground, and Ken stumbled forwards as well, almost falling on top of her, but he manages to steady himself in time.

"Ah, sorry! Sorry!" Ken said, looking at the girl sprawled out in front of him with a look of shock on her face. She had long black hair tied up in a pony tail, and she wore a green blazer and a long ankle-length skirt. He put out a hand to help her.

The girl's face turned sour, and she took his hand grudgingly and let him pull her back up to her feet.

"I'm so sorry. I was in a rush so I didn't look at what I was doing. Please forgive me." Ken said, bowing rapidly several times.

"Whatever." The girl responded coldly. "If you don't mind, I'll catch the lift before it closes?"

She walked past him and as she did the faintest smell of perfume reached Ken's nose. Was this what girls smelt like, He thought to himself. It was a bit shameful, but no matter how long he'd known Teruko or how intimate they were, he still didn't know things like this. The smell of a girl..

"Are you getting in, or are you going stand outside my house with that creepy look on your face all day?" The girl asked suddenly, already in the elevator. Ken looked around and suddenly noticed he wasn't on the ground floor.

"If my mum came out and saw a pervert like you standing in the hallway, what would she think?"

Pervert?

"I'm not a pervert!" Ken said grumpily as he headed back to the elevator.

"Whatever. Hurry up and get in. I thought you were supposed to be in a rush."

Ken turned around as he stepped in the lift and then noticed the book in the girl's hands.

"Elements of Cryptograpic Mathematics?" He said, reading the title.

"What about it?" The girl asked, shifting akwardly.

"Are you studying cryptography? That's pretty hard stuff..."

"About as hard as all the other stuff I have to study." The girl said, shrugging her shoulders. "There's a few parts I don't get, but for the most part it's okay."

"If you need any help, let me know." Ken said, smiling. "I'd really like to make up for knocking you over before."

The girl stared at him as her face started to turn red.