The ladies ordered food and invited their guests but they turned down the offer as they had eaten to their fill for the day. They exchanged pleasantries, introducing their work and relationships to Hide and Kaneki.
Mei was a self proclaimed photographer, she had little to no education on her work. Apparently, she was a graduate of Orthox University, majoring in Finances but had later decided to pursue her long-forgotten talent in photography. Her father offered insight on how to operate a camera as photography was one of his hobbies. At first, she had started off by selling nature shots— the sunsets and sunrise, water bodies when the sunlight just hit right; then she switched over to people, family photos as well as ceremonial. Until she later managed to purchase her very first studio and with that, she met Karla.
Rin Karla, unlike her friend, had studied in a stylist institution. Karla comes from a long line of artists, in every era, members of her bloodline were amongst the fashion enthusiasts. She had a natural eye for fashion, and could turn anything plain and bland into an item of monetary value. And not just in the clothing Industry, her family was scattered in various fields of art; sculpting, carpentry, motors, architecture, engineering...the Rin family dominated in the blue-collar Industry!
And due to the fame her family had garnered, Karla has never been short of customers, when she got into the market, she had immediately been bombarded with contracts but turned them all down as she wasn't at all interested in settling as a firm like her family prodigies. Instead, she became the personal stylist of many (those that could afford her services). A freelance fashion designer. Until she met Mei and marvelled at her photographs, Karla later sought her out and voila, the Phoenix Fashionette came to be. She designed the items and Mei snapped them on models.
In Izuku's case, she was an aspiring writer and had studied literature. Originally, she wasn't from this ward, but she couldn't resist the urge to come over and witness for herself the Lovecraft Art that had been the rave all over the internet. Despite the risk, writers' block was a frustrating situation to be in, and she was desperate for more fuel to reignite her imagination. And nothing better than a bloody crime scene to gift a writer of the Thriller genre.
Hide, acting as the spokesperson for both himself and Kaneki, narrated their tale as well. How they both were orphans and have been brothers since childhood. He lightened up the mood by recounting funny memories of their younger days, to which Kaneki commented on to salvage whatever dignity he could. Damn, his predecessor was pathetic!
"Alright," Karla tapped her glass with a fork to snatch their attention, "We've got contracts to pass along, since this is an impromptu meeting, we'll put across the clauses, terms and conditions and whatnot. Let the interviews begin!"
A somber mood settled within the booth as her announcement ushered in a formal atmosphere. Mei began.
"First and foremost, I was irrational to offer you jobs without gauging your aptitudes at all, I apologize for that. Despite you two being photogenic and a magnet to the lens, you're not models at all. If you're still interested in applying for the roles, then be prepared to put in a lot of effort since the two of you are students pursuing your set out careers, we'll have to create flexible timetables for you both."
She fished a tablet out of her purse and scribbled on it for a moment and turned the screen to them.
"Furthermore, the two of you are in different courses, I don't know your schedules, and I'd have liked to have you two squeezed into a class together. But that seems to be a tall order and some sacrifices have to be made. Getting you two into a single programme would only allow for— probably two days in a week. And that is not enough at all for the Crash course we have in plan, hence we'll be eating into your rest hours. You might later develop insomnia but that is moot concern..."
"Wait, what!" Hide cut her short.
The three ladies stared at him with genuine confusion and Hide gulped. Why were they looking at him as if his concern for becoming an insomniac was strange? Little did he know, that the trio actually was insomniac!
"No, no, no, we— we're still young, we need our rest!" Hide was not going to lose his sleep and become a creature of the night this early in his life!
"I think our University has an option to switch lessons from physical to online. Hopefully, that will pool more free time for us," Kaneki offered.
Mei went silent and retrieved back her tablet and scribbled some more. Izuku too, seemed to have pulled out her notebook at some point and was drafting on it. She momentarily paused and addressed the meeting.
"Mhmm, that might just work, opens up more time for you to meet on the daily too. You two can then align your lessons within the same time frame," Izuku was absentmindedly twirling her pen in-between her fingers, it was hypnotic, and she didn't seem to realize the quirk herself.
They discussed further into the night, cracking up plans for their new career. Using Karla's influence, she promised to get them a model or two to guide and teach them. Mei offered to reserve new apartments for them, closer to the studios. The future was looking bright for the childhood friends. However, rather than inflating their egos, Hide and Kaneki knew that this was an investment on them and they silently vowed to pour in their commitment without reserve. After all, it wasn't everyday you stumbled upon a magic lamp.
Despite the copious amount of coffee they had consumed, the new business partners couldn't escape the allure of sleep and like a domino effect, they drifted into the realm of dreams. Hide was the first to succumb.
At 2AM, Izuku stirred and her eyes fluttered open, at first, she was confused at where she was but then her mind reassured her with fragments of memory. She yawned and was about to return to slumber when she picked up on movement close by. She momentarily snapped to alertness and her eyes bore through the dark to spot a lone figure gliding through the place.
It leaned over, picked up Hide and placed him on its shoulder, then pulled Karla onto his other shoulder and walked towards the plush sofas within the booth without a strain in its step whatsoever.
'I really might've been tired today,' she yawned once more and began nodding off when Izuku felt her body get hoisted into the air.
Arms wrapped behind her back and under her knees, she was too tired to bother with retaliating however, she allowed a sliver of awareness about her. The hold on her was strong but not hostile.
Though, she felt like she was being held longer than the others? Enough of all this, she willed herself to sleep.
Again, Izuku awoke at 5AM, thirsty and surprisingly well rested— she wasn't an early riser. Groggily, she walked over to the fridge to fix herself a glass of water, sprawled across the plush sofas, her friends and Hide were draped in towels. She walked into the washroom and splashed her face to rid herself any remnants of sleep. Izuku caught a glimpse of her reflection in the mirror and took note that her hair was no longer styled in a bun but let loose, all the way down to her waist.
She sighed and walked back to get some writing done while her mind was still unclustered. However, she stilled when she arrived, her eyes glued to one spot. Beside the glass wall, a creature was engaged in rigorous ritual. The sun hadn't risen yet but the lamp lights offered enough illumination.
There was a silhouette of a man, moreover, he was upside down, his arms retracting and pushing off the floor in simultaneous succession. The exercise appeared to be intense but he performed it with ease. He stopped midway as if registering her presence, then continued.
Izuku moved closer and sat herself at a corner, her eyes not tearing from the figure. She studied his bare torso, trailed the beads of sweat snake down his back from his waist, following the contours of muscle like predetermined curved out paths.
Time lapsed and the first rays of gold began to filter in. Kaneki had switched to different forms of workout and Izuku kept her focus to her writing, of course, not without stealing glances towards him once in a while. Well actually, it was more than just a glance. Izuku smiled wryly as she stared at her book with incredibility— simply because, without her realization, she now had three sheets of portraits and various poses of Kaneki.