He did not maintain his leaned position for long for, as soon as I entered the room he marched straight towards me for a handshake.
"It's good to finally meet you miss Suzuki, I've heard a lot about you."
His grip was firm and assertive. Yet his smile was so warm and inviting. I can see why this guy is an accredited diplomat.
"Please take a seat."
He pointed towards the 3 seats surrounding the glass table, as I made my way there, he thanked the associate for her time and she made her way out, leaving the two of us alone to talk... Business?
He maneuverer himself to the three seats surrounding the glass table, pulling one out for me, I seated myself in the seat he pulled out before placing himself directly opposite me, in the seat in the corner. Then started staring into my eyes with intrigue. Leaning forward, hands linked together in front of him. I fiddled with my hands, which were placed on my lap, not knowing what to say.
"Have you heard about our organisation?"
"I did little bit of research on the way here. You're Tosin Oladeji, ex-okopan head minister of foreign affairs who created the Ministry of Extraterrestrial Investigation in light of recent extraterrestrial activity"
He leaned back in his seat.
"Nice, done your due diligence then. MEI is my will, my way of protecting the ones I love. On that night, one year ago, I witnessed something I'd never thought I'd see. The ship appeared out of nowhere and so did he. The ship beamed its light at me probably trying to gage what I was. Then suddenly, he swooped in, like an angel, took it down and left without a word."
He must be talking about that purple spirit guy.
"I saw him too"
He looked up at me in curiosity.
"It was during the invasion; this giant monster was about to kill me but then he took it down. After that, he looked at me and did some sort of peace sign with his fingers. Then he blasted off and the ship left shortly after."
"Like this?"
He gestured the sign with his fingers.
"Yes."
"Interesting. So, it's clear that he has some sort of understanding of human culture. Hmm, I may have a theory about him based on some of our findings, but we'll get to that later."
"I just want to talk to you about why we invited you to join us. You were recommended to us by an acquaintance, I'll let you find out who it is; you'll be meeting her later. She said you're a hard worker who jumps at danger the first chance you get. We need people like that here."
"You also know the aliens well, you've witnessed them in person, as well as the entity we are so keen on finding. "
"Himiko Suzuki, would you accept this offer to join MEI?"
I don't know what to say. What would dad think?
Is this truly what you want? What does Himiko Suzuki want?
If there's not a specific thing you want, then ask yourself to do what your heart desires, follow what feels right to you, and if the police force is what feels right then by all means, carry on. But based on the look on your face, I'm guessing that's not the case.
Is the police force truly what I want? Or am I just doing it to please dad.
I should be doing what I want to do. To please me.
"Yes, it would be a pleasure to get the job."
A warm smile graced his lips.
"I look forward to seeing how you perform, for now I'll let you go, your friend will be outside the door; she'll show you around the place."
He stood up to shake my hand again. I raised myself and followed suit.
"It's a pleasure to meet you Himiko Suzuki. We'll sort out the paperwork regarding your contract shortly and we'll contact the Rengappon police force about the termination of your current contract so you can focus on your work. Welcome to the team."
I bowed my head and made my way to the door.
"Thank you for your time, Mr Oladeji."
I parted ways with the office, closing the door behind me.
"It's good to see you again Himiko."
The voice was familiar, I turned to the left, it matched her familiar face. Her medium-short brown hair, her fringe sitting just above her eyebrows and reddish eyes were all things that I recognised.
"Superintendent, what are you doing here?"
"It's not superintendent anymore, I'm the head of special operations now. Who do you think recommended you?"
"It was you, but why?"
"Did our last conversation not reach you? We're the same, you're one of the most dependable people I've worked with."
That brought a smile to my bowed face.
"Anyway, I see you made the right choice Himiko. We're two peas in a pod you and I. I'm proud of you."
Proud. Would my parents be proud of me, have I disgraced the Suzuki name?
"Come, there's something we need to show you, we'll give you the rundown of everything we've learned so far and we'll get you started. It's a little way away, but I'll take you to the lab."
She led me back down to the foyer and towards the large parking lot across the road.
"You can't drive can you Himiko? I'll see if we can get you some lessons sorted; it'll make it easier to get here."
She brought me to her car. A grey sedan. We got inside and she drove us to the lab. We entered the industrial district and pulled up to a large warehouse by the docks. Inside the door was a small reception, there were two main doors on opposing sides of the room. On the left door, was a sign that said Research on the other, Special Operations. she greeted the receptionist and led me through the research door.
She walked me through a hallway with doors leading to multiple labs, taking me towards a large room that said Aethesium Research Centre. We passed through the door and what occupied the space behind it was a large white hall, full of scientists surrounding tables, analysing small rocks. In the far corner of the room were desks and computers, with a few scientists typing away.
This is where we research the source of power for the purple being we refer to as the Aethesium entity.