She’s not as stealthy as she thinks she is, Toshio thought. As he moved around the room, so did she, in an opposite direction. Caucasian women weren’t unheard of at these types of parties, it wasn’t unheard of that people of varying skin color all came together for the color green after all. Money transcended all petty squabbles in the end.

Introducing himself, he stopped at one group, mostly older gentlemen, but he smiled and nodded at their recognition of his namesake, only to continue their previous conversation as if he weren’t there.

Even as he spoke up about the expanding reach of NTT Docomo, which usually garnered a response or a compliment were met with non-committal ‘mm’s or ‘ah’s before the conversation was steered to another topic.

What was this? Toshio did his research, so why were they disregarding him? The realization of it crawled up the back of his neck. What is different about me and you? Experience? Years? Do wrinkles add that much trust in method analysis than my conclusion would? He churned in his own mind, hearing his teeth grinding up his jaw to his ears.

--

She had to tug her dress up a bit to keep up with him, slipping from group to group, but unlike him, she simply remained unseen. The burgundy dress was muted, not at all billowy. Emma refused to wear heels, even though her mother would always protest that a tall, demure girl is quite attractive these days.

The way she dressed and looked was the least of her worries in almost 90% of situations. She knew when to look good, but more importantly, she knew how to talk.

Skirting behind a relatively tall, broad-shouldered man, Emma opened a compact to examine her face, frowning as she catches the man turning a bit to see who is behind him. He cleared his throat at her gaze and turns back to his companions. Tilting the mirror to the side, she scanned the guests and found him, grinning at her discovery until she noticed his expression.

Emma closed her compact and slipped it into her clutch, turning to look right at him. That’s the face when you’re trying to hide something, she wondered. She knew because that was the face she would see in the mirror when something didn’t go right for her. Downcast, tight, squinted eyes, his whole body was taut, even as he tried to hide the balled fist behind him. What had they said to him? Or was it that they hadn’t?

--

Toshio was faced with a choice, not one he was used to facing. Walk away and know that his mind would come up with every conceivable disappointing judgement without them having to say a word, or bow your head like the young man he felt like, nodding and smiling. His vision shook side to side as he looked at their shoes, Toshio didn’t see red. He lost focus, and it was only getting worse as they felt much taller than him, though they had the same stature. Bow out, useless, you tried. Go back to the unknowing idiot childr—

He felt an arm slide around his taut bicep, his slowly-easing vision following gloves matching his own up to a bare shoulder and a burgundy dress. Facing him, was the white girl from before, she’s taller than me, he thought, her hair pulled up in a simple ponytail but tied with a gorgeous large bow. He squinted at her in confusion before she leaned forward to his ear, causing him to hitch back before she grabbed his arm harder.

“If you show them your indignation,” she murmured in perfect Japanese. “They win. Breathe. You’re surprised to see me, aren’t you, nod your head.”

The nerve of this woman, telling him what to-- His dark eyes glanced at her, who met his look with her own tremendous gaze. Dark blue rings surrounded the stunning green center of her eyes, and watching them slowly made his fist uncurl, his jaw unclench. A brunette eyebrow raised at him: Understand?

Toshio nodded once, then turned to the men who were quite interested in the latest addition to their conversation, and bowed slightly to them. “Gentlemen, I have previous business to attend to, I hope you enjoy the rest of your night.” They bowed slightly back, and he didn’t dare look up, turning with the insistence of his newfound acquaintance, away from the situation altogether.