Sparks Fly [Dee & Death]

It didn’t feel late but as all the other interns said their goodbyes and left Shiori still working on her design, she knew it was going to be another late night. It wasn’t dinnertime yet, but the soft growl in her stomach reminded her that in two hours, her mother would be placing a hot bowl of soup on the table and she dreaded not sitting in her spot at that moment. Mrrrghh, she heard as she placed her arm across the source of the sound. Despite the increasing emptiness of the room, no one seemed to notice or cared that her stomach was demanding attention. She resumed etching another line when one of her supervisors approached her. “Shiori,” her supervisor started. Shiori quickly placed the pencil down and looked up at her supervisor. “Can you pick something up, please? Eden should have some files for me, but I have to go to a meeting now. Just hold on to them until I come back.”

Shiori stared for a few minutes, thinking about what her supervisor was asking for. “Eden?” she asked, trying to remember all the other workers on the project. Her supervisor nodded impatiently and brusquely responded, “Yes, Eden. The tall one. You’ll know him when you see him.” But he’s probably sitting down, Shiori wanted to respond but dared not to. After all, her supervisor was the authority and the last thing she wanted was to be one internship less. So she nodded her head and walked out into the hallway, her eyes scouting for a tall man or a nameplate.

It took her a while but she found someone who was in the same department and he looked tall from her perspective, a rather terrible perspective considering most people were taller than her. But the legs were much longer than usual and nobody else seemed to be as tall as him. He was looking through some papers so Shiori knocked and softly said, “Excuse me.” He made no indication of hearing her and he continued looking at the papers. Not knowing what else to do, Shiori stepped into the room and quietly approached him, her feet barely making a sound as they inched towards this man and his papers.

She took a look at some of the papers that were lying around. Shiori was no expert in information analysis or electronics, but she knew enough to know there was something wrong with the numbers on the paper. Was that the reason why he was so concentrated in his work that he didn’t notice her approaching? Finally, she knew she had to speak up. Even if her supervisor was in a meeting, she wanted to finish the task so she could get back to her own project. “There’s something wrong with the numbers,” she said, her voice a little louder than usual in an attempt to get his attention. “Maybe it’s a component?” Her voice grew softer as she suggested the problem, aware that she was talking to someone who probably knew way more than she did about the field.

He didn’t respond quickly which made Shiori doubt her suspicion and go over all of the information she had glanced at before she spoke. No, the math was supporting her argument, but he—and then he spoke, agreeing with what she had said. She exhaled ever so slightly just before he asked her a question. Her eyes widened for a quick second before she realized she had entered his workspace without even asking.

“Oh! I’m sorry. Um, only for a few minutes. I knocked earlier but you didn’t respond.” She looked to the side before remembering why she was there in the first place. “Tammy told me you have some files for her. I’m supposed to pick them up.” But what she really wanted was to talk about the numbers with this guy. It was a problem that was in front of them, and Shiori found it way more exciting than the low-level design she had been working on.

Not really wanting the conversation to end, she pointed at the diagram and said, “I think your problem is there.” She quickly withdrew her hand, remembering that she was talking about something she wasn’t working on. Had she already crossed the boundary by speaking up? Would she get in trouble? But a part of her was enthralled with the idea of discussing this problem even more, especially with this man. Talking to him wasn’t the same as the collaborations she was forced to do with the other interns. Most of the problems that were given to them were usually practice, and like any practice set, there was always a cheat. You couldn’t cheat real-life problems, though.

“Um, right. I’ll just take the files and let you do your work.” She bit her lip nervously as she said those words. It would do no good if she kept interfering with his work; her supervisor definitely wouldn’t be pleased.

His quick response startled her, but instead of running off, her feet refused to move. Answering quickly must mean that he is busy with something, she thought to herself. She knew it only made sense for her to leave him to his work, but she wasn’t really sure how to respond. Her mouth formed a soft “Oh…” as she contemplated pressing him for the files or to just leave him alone. She was in no position to pressure him to give her the files, even if her supervisor would have been mad that she hadn’t obtained what she had asked for, but she wanted to stay just a little longer. But if they weren’t ready, then he must have been really busy with the papers that were in his hands.

He continued talking though, and a little part of her felt relieved. She had no idea what he was thinking but a part of her wanted to believe that he felt the same way as she did about the conversation—she wanted it to last forever, talking about this problem, not Tammy’s files. To her, his words sounded like an invitation to probe further into the problem, to offer some solutions from the information that was available. If only she knew who this guy was would she have felt completely at ease with butting in.

There were two propositions: a problem with the electrical system or a problem with the equipment used to collect data. To Shiori, the latter was easier to solve, although data analysis was never fun. The former probably required more testing unless there was a way to pinpoint… But she decided to ask about the second proposition, forgetting about her original task completely. “Do you have the test results from other projects using the same equipment? Any tests done with the data collection equipment in the past month should suffice for analysis.” Was it too much to pull up a chair? Probably.

“If it’s something wrong with the data collection equipment, there’s a department at the college doing specific research on advancing methods using older technology. You can ask them to reveal some of their research; they’re particularly fond of discussing any new developments they’ve made, even if it isn’t published. Plus, this department wouldn’t have to spend money on a new machine from District 3.” She inhaled before she continued. “But if it’s the electrical system—,” she cut herself before she got too caught up with the conversation. He probably knew everything that she had just said. After all, it seemed like he was determining what the problem was, not figuring out a solution. She gave him a nervous smile as she said, “Sorry. What I meant was looking at the test results done on other products might help determine if it’s an equipment error or something else.” She really hoped that it was something else that was causing the problem. If only she could stay in that room forever.

Her supervisor was going to kill her.

He gathered the other test results and it was only then that Shiori realized how tall he really was. She had noticed that he was taller than most average people when he was sitting down, but it wasn’t until he stood up to his full height that Shiori understood why Tammy had called him “the tall one”. His height suddenly made her conscious of how small she really was. She had always been shorter than her peers, but standing right by him, she was tiny. But their height difference wasn’t what mattered; what mattered were the papers in his hands.

She noticed that he didn’t seem fazed by what she was saying and even encouraging her to discuss the electrical—did he really just say that? Shiori thought as her face blushed a bright red. How was she supposed to respond? She knew it was polite to say something back regarding his looks, but she was so flustered she didn’t know what to say. It wasn’t that he wasn’t good-looking—in fact, she found him rather attractive—but she was just foreign to this whole situation. She couldn’t even bring herself to say anything coherent.

When he took a step away from her, it was only then she realized how close he had been standing to her—and how okay she had been with it. Close human contact was not strange for her; although she and her brother often spent their childhood fighting each other with their minds, there were also physical struggles. But this situation was different, almost…electric? She didn’t understand it herself, but she noticed that he looked just as flustered as she was. What was she supposed to do?

He was the one who spoke up and broke the standstill of the atmosphere as he suggested that they work on the problem together. His words were enough to snap her out of her thoughts, but her mind still lingered on what he had said before. “Um, it’s okay.” If anything, Shiori didn’t mind it—how could she be thinking like that? They were co-workers, or even worse, he was in a higher position than her. Wasn’t there something in the rule book against this? But how she wanted to just take a step closer, turn her body so they were facing the same direction, and lean in to him as she looked at the papers in his hand.

She thought that she had gotten over being flustered, but her mind was only making it worse. She gave him a smile and nodded, hoping to break whatever was in the air before. “I would like to work on this as well,” she said as she pulled up a chair, exhaling and letting go that tight feeling in her chest that she was certain she hadn’t felt before. “About the electrical system. I was thinking if it had something to do with the electrical system, we—I mean, you could do some experiments on different components.” She blushed again as she realized that she had just included herself when she shouldn’t have. “But maybe we should look at the tests first. You seem to have noticed something before?”