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Iijima sat out at the main reception desk of the lab, staring at the ceiling and twirling around in the chair. This was not, as anyone familiar with the lab knew, his usual post. His office was located not twenty feet away, behind a door marked "Employees Only." It was little more than a tiny coffin box carved out of the wall, but it was stuffed full of cheerful clutter and Iijima loved it despite the size and the feelings of claustrophobia it induced. Had his sense of decency allowed it, he would have headed back to his office in a heart beat.

Unfortunately, he had a duty to fulfill. This morning, he had mistakenly taken the last banana nut muffin from the lounge and Ariko, who had decided that muffin should have been her own, threw a tantrum about it. Her whole day was completely ruined because he had messed up her schedule and taken the one muffin she wanted and she hated him for it! No, she did not want the muffin now that he had taken a bite out of it. It was the principle of the thing. Iijima just had to sigh and roll his eyes when Ariko wasn't looking. Thirteen-year-old girls (or at least girls that looked and acted the age) could be so ridiculous sometimes.

Because he hated to see Ariko so upset, he had gone out to get her a muffin, and one of those fancy sweet coffees she was so fond of, and offered to take over her position so she could go off and enjoy the coffee and the muffin.

That had been four hours ago.

Iijima knew that if he left Ariko would use that fact against him for a week. Never mind that he had work of his own to do, never mind that he had done nothing wrong. The best thing to do was just sit here and wait until she came back. Finding him still sitting in her chair just like he had promised would humble her into kindness for a day or three. He would just have to stay four hours late to make up for his own missing work.

Having been sitting here for four hours, Iijima couldn't wholly blame Ariko for running off. Her job was terribly boring. Wait around for people to visit the lab or go fetch coffee for the other scientists. He had been forced to use a lame excuse to cover up his actions: "Ariko just sent me with your coffee since I was heading this way." Worse, Dr. Gusman had figured the scheme out, since he sent for coffee more than once and his office was about as far from anywhere Iijima might go as was possible. When Iijima turned up the second time Gusman had raised an eyebrow in intrigue, which was never a good thing. The only things that intrigued Dr. Gusman were Very Bad Things, and sure enough, Gusman ordered coffee seven more times. He didn't even bother to drink it. The full cups sat in Gusman's office in a neat little row, taunting Iijima each time he visited. Finally Iijima told Gusman to stop wasting lab resources or he'd tell Dr. Akari.

In retrospect, at least fetching coffee had been something to do. Now Iijima was just sitting here, waiting. doing nothing. He kicked his lanky legs out and tried to imagine becoming so small he could escape into one of the holes in the ceiling. He didn't even notice the sound of the door opening. Instead, he felt the wash of fresh air from outside. Iijima immediately sat up, turning to see if it might be Ariko come to finally relieve him.

Not Ariko. Iijima felt his heart sink just a little. This was cruel, even by Ariko's standards. He put on a smile despite himself and leaned over the desk to address the visitors. "Good morning! Can I help you?" Wait, wrong, it was definitely afternoon now. Iijima had come up with that greeting at ten o'clock, not longer after Ariko left him, and had forgotten to adjust it for the amount of time that had passed. Oh well! Amusement at his own mistake cheered Iijima up considerably, enough to put all thought of Ariko behind him and allow him to interact with these newcomers in a happier light.

Iijima grinned, always happy to see a small child, even a noisy one. He was the baby of his family and had always wanted a little sister or brother. "Don't worry about it!" he assured Addie, sticking out his hand. "My name's Iijima, but you can call me Iji."