33 ABC Int. Corp.
I had a feeling that shopping would become my worst enemy if things continued on like this. Skipping meals and not being able to rest made me exhausted and very irritable from the smallest things.
I was heaving and out of breath while I wondering why people liked shopping in the first place. Was it the glam of getting new clothes and showing it off to other people? Or was it simply from the excitement of getting new things?
As soon as I entered the dorm room, I flopped onto my bed and nuzzled into my pillow. It was 11AM, I would have two hours to relax to relieve my fatigue. I pulled my blanket to take a brief nap to soon find myself wrestling with Luke for my blanket.
"Why are you taking my blanket away from me?" I scowled.
"You can't take a nap. I know how you sleep and your hair is going to get messy when you wake up again." Luke countered.
I was about to say that it wasn't true, but it was true. My hair got tangled up very easily from the smallest things such as the wind blowing in the wrong direction.
"Well, I have two hours to rest and take a brief nap so I'm not going to waste it." I tugged on the blanket with all my strength.
"Well, you don't have the time to nap anyways, it takes us two hours to get to the location of our assignment!" Luke tried reasoning with me.
Well, if it was because of that, then I had to get up. I groaned while separating from my bed as Luke showed me how to get dressed. When Luke pulled out his diamond from his marble, a bright piercing light covered the room. He now wore a nice pastel blue tie with a stormy blue suit that gave off an image of sophistication and envy.
Somehow, the clothes that he was wore didn't seem normal as my mana hummed away from his clothes. Ignoring the odd feeling, I copied his actions to find myself engulfed in the same flashy light. When I opened my eyes and faced the mirror, I found myself wearing a gleaming orange dress with marigolds sown around my waistline.
Fascinatingly, not only did the dress looked like it was made for me to wear, but it also felt like it was a part of me. No wonder Luke kept on saying I needed to buy clothes. Whatever I had before, I couldn't compare to what I was wearing right now. My mana loved the dress so much that it hugged itself around it. That's why I couldn't feel the weight of the clothes on me.
"Rika?" Luke softly asked.
I stopped admiring myself in the mirror and remembered that I had to go to work today and I had a limited amount of time to get there. Luke opened the door to escort me to the teleportation gate where it would somehow take two hours to arrive at the location where our assignment was supposed to be held.
The teleportation gate usually led us directly to our location, but unfortunately, this was not the case this time. I found ourselves in front of many crossroads and paths in front of us.
"To what pleasure should I lead you to your desired location?" A guide came up to us.
Fierce burning red hair, long legs, and hazel eyes that resembled a bit of tenderness itself. One side of his lips slightly went up, resembling a smirk, and the high nose bridge that displayed some of his confidence. Where did I see this face before?
"I am Hubert, your guide for today." The guide introduced himself while slightly bowing.
Hubert! Hubert!!! The one that Shelly had a crush on! The cafe in the second district with one of the two adolescent boys chatting with Shelly. When Shelly blushed, it was partly because of his good looks and partly because of his great humor. I was too focused on Ben that I almost forgot Hubert was there as well!
"Are you perhaps Hubert from Signhert Academy high school?" I asked as part of an 'inside joke'.
"Yes, and how might I know you from the second district?" Hubert responded with one of his eyebrows going up.
"It was in the second district where my friend Shelly and I were at a cafe together." I smoothly answered back.
Hubert's eyebrows went up in remembrance of the big rebellious event of Shelly and me that almost got us kicked out of the school.
"I thought that event would be kept a secret between us four?" Hubert replied back with a wink.
"Well, I don't think it would matter anymore as the school already found out about the incident," I nonchalantly answered back.
I still didn't think that incident was a big deal to this day. However, Luke and Shelly never brought up the 'incident' again like they were ashamed it ever happened or even existed in their history.
"Well...Nice to meet you again Rika. Now, where would you like to go?"
"To ABC International Corp." Luke intervened.
"To that place? I heard it was a pretty tough place to get in. I'm pretty impressed but it is expected of your academy to send you there." Hubert lit up in admiration.
Well, it was only one of the many companies Alex's family-owned. I did not think it would be regarded as somewhat 'prestigious'. I felt awkward as Hubert led the way to our destination. When we finally arrived, we parted our ways. I wondered if I should tell Shelly about this event later but decided I shouldn't as Shelly kind of got traumatized from our visit to the second district last time.
I looked up to find myself in a trance from admiring the glory of the building I stood in front of. It was nothing as I had imagined as it seemed mystical and finally something like an item that came out of a fantasy novel or game. I saw clouds of imaginable softness around a tower that resembled the modern design from the second district.
"Rika, you're blanking out again," Luke warned me.
Right. I put those images behind my head and found myself inside the building. We waited inside a meeting room with a well-dressed businessman standing behind me waiting to introduce himself.
"Here is your assignment." The man wasted no time.
"You are to help in managing a team in the design department for a week. Go to this room and here's the map." The man continued vaguely.
While I stood there waiting for more instructions, Luke was already looking at the map and dragging me to our next location. By the time, I was aware of my surroundings, I was standing in front of the team I was supposed to manage with Luke. It was a cozy little team of four people with bright eyes.
"You look just like a doll Rika!" One of the workers came up to me.
"But how did you-" I looked at her in confusion.
"Didn't Luke just make a formal introduction once you entered this room?" The worker beamed.
Ahhh. That must have happened when I was still blanking out.
"Do you want to be our model?" Another worker asked.
Was I considered to be pretty in this reincarnation? I wasn't concerned about my appearance in this world because I gave up. Luke was prettier than me with his long eyelashes and feminine jawline.
Meanwhile, Shelly and Elene always looked like they appeared out of some magazine. Even if I did put some makeup on, I doubted that anything would change. So, I just did the bare minimum like letting Luke manage my hair.
"Really? Are you sure?" I asked for confirmation.
All of a sudden, the team started bringing all these designs in front of me. "Which ones do you want to wear Rika?" the team looked at me very expectantly.
"Ummm. Which ones do you want to start wit-"
"Rika! Did you forget what our assignment was?" Luke cut me off.
I rolled my eyes to Luke, "helping the team with whatever they're supposed to do?"
"We're supposed to manage the team. Like, take the lead in approving the designs and which ones would make the most profit in the second district." Luke whispered into my ear.