Xiān Kè Lái

By: Aviantei

[Shibuya Operation—Story Storm]

Epilogue. Zhǒngzǐ

"I'm kinda surprised you called over something like this," Yoh says on the other line. Just like I predicted, there's a slight chuckle to his voice. "But it's nice to talk again after all this time."

I want to scowl but I end up smiling the slightest bit. Not that it matters over a phone call. "Shut up, Yoh," I say, as half-hearted in an insult as it gets.

My old college friend gives his usual chuckle, completely unfazed. "Heheh, alright," he agrees. There's a crackle as she shifts the phone around. "So what're you gonna do now?"

"What are you even talking about?" I look around the employee longue. Despite the hour, it's pretty empty. Seems I'm the only one that decided to stay in today. It's a slight reassurance. "She can do what she wants."

"Yeah, but are you gonna go see her or anything?" Yoh presses on, like it's a logical jump in the conversation. "Come on, Ren, it takes a lot for you to make a friend. Don't tell me you're just gonna let it slide like—"

"I'm going to be late for my meeting, Yoh," I that I've looked at the clock or anything to confirm it. "If you ever feel like talking about anything but nonsense, you know where to call." I stand up anyway and head for the door. There's no harm in being early.

Yoh hums out a happy confirmation. "Alright. Have a good day, Ren."

I grunt before I hang up. My phone's screen has a notification blinking. When I open it up, it's from Bai.

[Today's you're big meeting, right? Good luck!]

Heading to the meeting room, I turn my phone off before slipping it into my pocket. I wouldn't call it anything particularly special, but today is finally the day for the foreign representative to arrive. Even with my promotion, I've still been assigned to be the ambassador. We're going to have a meeting for introductions, and then I'm in charge.

As I head upstairs, the hallways get quieter. The bustle of workers condensed into a smaller space thins out. I give a quick knock on the assigned meeting room to make sure I'm not interrupting anyone using the space in the meantime, and go to step inside.

"Come in."

I stop. I definitely wasn't expecting to hear anyone. It's light, female, and accented. Italian at that.

At the table stands a woman, dressed in a white business suit. Her hair is just as white, falling down her back in waves. She opens her eyes, a shocking red.

"Sorry if I'm too early," she says. I'm impressed by her inflections. "I'm from _. My name is Jeanne."

Polite. Prim. Almost the opposite of Bai's familiarity. But at the same time, something is comforting.

"It's nice to meet you. I'm Tao Ren."

結束

And, done!

After much waffling and such, the conclusion has arrived. Thanks to anyone for reading! I would especially like to thank Halfinsane-HalfMental for favoriting this story the past week. I hope you enjoyed it.

Things are certainly heating up over at Shibuya Operation - Story Storm. If you want, I would suggest heading over and checking out the other works that were produced over the past few weeks. Some of them made it far, some not. Still, they're all made with love, and could use support.

Next week is going to be SOSS's off week. I'll be posting something special, but not to this story. However, the week after is the thirteenth and final week, and as soon as I get information, I'll be posting whatever the mission is then. :)

I'm going to be working on an author's POV for how the story has changed over time while being written, which you can look out for on my Wordpress blog.

The chapter title is Seed.

See you in two weeks.

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