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Kuroki Takeshi had a big presentation to give. It was to various heads of units around the country, all very interested in the work of the Transport Research Center. He had prepared it over the last 72 hours with the assistance and guidance of Sakurada-san, who was both in charge and very knowledgeable. Kuroki was nervous, but manageably so – he knew the work, and knew how to answer the majority of the questions he was expecting. He stood, and cleared his throat.
“Thank you for your attendance today.”
The presentation appeared on the screen.
. . . in spite of giving his name, and the correct title, it was not his presentation about Enetron supply and the provisional budget. The first slide had completely different figures, but when he saw the presenter’s notes in a certain person’s shorthand:
SRY KURORIN GO W/ IT
he just rubbed his forehead, and continued with this presentation which had different figures and different conclusions. He managed it seamlessly enough, though Sakurada-san’s eyebrows climbed up off his head halfway through and didn’t come back down again until the second last slide.
It was the last slide as far as everyone else was concerned, because Kuroki saw the actual last one on the preview and managed not to click through.
Sakurada-san helped him answer questions, and then the guests all filed out to their next stop, which was some kind of special dinner in the refectory.
Kuroki collapsed slowly down onto his chair. Sakurada-san put a sympathetic hand on his back. “I have a six o’clock. If you need to kill him, send me an email and I’ll provide you with an alibi.”
“Thank you, sir.”
Sakurada-san walked out of the glass walled meeting room. Kuroki glared after him, not specifically at him at all, and caught sight of a junior staffer turning hurriedly on his heel and walking back the other way. Whoops.
* * *
The door to Jin’s lab was locked.
Kuroki used his override key, which didn’t work. So he used his second override key, which Jin wasn’t supposed to know about. That didn’t work either. So he tapped into the base computer and established a fake emergency in Jin’s lab, which set off the sprinklers.
The door slid open two seconds later with a cheerful, “Come in!”
He turned off the sprinklers and stalked through. Jin gave him a damp little wave, but otherwise didn’t look up from his computer. A sparkly cat-sized robot scurried out from a wall alcove and turned on a hair dryer, waving it around. Kuroki stepped over it.
The door slid shut behind him. Good.
“I can explain.”
“You’d better.”
Jin looked up from his computer. He smiled, but there was exhaustion in the set of his mouth and in the fragile skin around his eyes. Kuroki frowned – well, he frowned harder. “Something actually happened, didn’t it.”
“I think one of them might be working for someone nasty,” Jin said with a sigh, pushing back in his chair. He locked his computer automatically. “Or one of our people is all industrial espionage-y, which sounds way, way cooler than it is. The figures in our systems weren’t right. There was tampering. I confirmed them independently with my own tests.”
“And you didn’t tell me earlier because-?”
“Because I only confirmed them three minutes before your presentation started, and there was a comms lockdown. Which I can get around, of course-“
“With your ‘magic’,” Kuroki quoted him, rolling his eyes. He folded his arms, resting a hip on the side of the closest table.
“-yes, with my magic,” Jin confirmed, grinning. He stood up and ambled over to Kuroki, pushing his hands back through his hair. “But it wasn’t worthwhile risking it, so I swapped out your file for mine.”
“Which you shouldn’t be able to do.”
“And yet here we are.”
Jin looked up at him, and Kuroki felt himself relent. There was so much anxiety in his stupid vulnerable face. . .
“All right. But I’m messaging Sakurada-san to put security watching those people, and then you and I are meeting with him at eight tomorrow.”
“Why not tonight?”
“Because you haven’t slept for at least the last thirty-six hours, and knowing you, you haven’t eaten, either.”
He reached out to cup Jin’s cheek, noting just how needily Jin relaxed into his touch. Then he bent and picked Jin up, slinging him across one shoulder.
“I have too much to do!”
“Masato.”
“What?”
They walked out the lab door, and Kuroki – mostly intentionally – didn’t bash Jin’s head against it.
“You’re going to eat, and then you’re going to sleep in my bed so I can keep an eye on you! You had time to put hearts and flowers and farting balloons on the last slide so you could’ve found yourself a sandwich!”
He headed up the short flight of stairs towards his own quarters. It wasn’t much, just a bedroom, bathroom, and a tiny kitchenette with a table and two chairs. It was plenty for him, and more than enough for himself plus his idiot friend (or whatever the hell they were calling each other these days).
Besides, if he accidentally rolled over during the night and squashed Jin, Sakurada-san had already promised him an alibi.
“Not the ramen, please,” Jin said woefully as Kuroki put a palm against the reader. The door slid open, and Kuroki eased Jin down to the floor with a groan.
“Not the ramen. I have seaweed soup today.”
The door shut behind him.
Kuroki stripped out of his jacket, and hung it neatly on the back of a chair.
“Seaweed soup?!” Jin was making delicately distasteful faces. “Also, I can make you a robot to tidy up, you know.”
“The last time you made me a robot, it made me forty-seven cups of tea and then burst into tears. What’s wrong with this?!”
His place was perfectly neat! No crap all over the floor like certain engineer types, who when they ran out of paper would write on the nearest person available!
“It could be better?”
“Oh, shut up.”
He really was tired, wasn’t he. Jin only got this stupidly bickery when he needed someone to make him shut up.
Kuroki wrapped Jin up in a hug, tucking Jin’s head under his chin. It was annoying, how much he enjoyed having this complaining idiot here. It was especially annoying how the other man relaxed, near slumping against him with trust.