Work Text:
It might be embarrassing, but going downstairs adorned in her pyjamas, a cardigan, and bedhead didn’t matter much to Iroha at the moment. Her stomach pressed into her, a consequence of misjudging her own drowsiness when she treated herself to a nap as she waited for Kaguya’s precooked bolognese spaghetti to thaw out. As she woke up this morning, she was left with hunger and some soggy pasta for compensation. In her moment of weakness, Iroha managed to tap her phone to order the first breakfast delivery option that seemed to suit her fancy.
‘This is an exception. I should be treating myself anyway.’
These thoughts kept Iroha company as she hobbled and wobbled down the elevator, then towards the building’s lobby. A yawn slipped by her and the fact that neighbours were a rare sight at these hours was one Iroha couldn’t be more thankful for right now. The sight of a single paper bag on the greeting desk’s counter caused both relief and guilt inside of Iroha. It wasn’t like she meant to skip out on two Kaguya meals in a row after she worked so hard to make sure Iroha wasn’t going to starve herself while she was panelling at a convention. The 30 year-old wasn’t going to gamble a gastric attack for sleep yet again, though. A sip of scalding Americano and an English breakfast might just be the perfect start for a lazy day like this one (she did have to clean up a little before Kaguya got home that evening).
Re-energized, Iroha initiated her walk back to the elevator, taking careful sips of coffee every couple of meters travelled. As she counted down her waiting time in tandem with segmented displays next to the lift, something caught her attention. To her far left, a lightbulb flickered. It was trying (and failing) to illuminate a carved out room with stacked metal lockers lining up each wall. ‘It’s a letter room, I forgot this even existed,’ Iroha mused to herself. Her eyes scanned each row to find her apartment number, starting with the floor.
Barren. Is what she would say about it, all in all. There were more cobwebs than letters surrounding her. Gone were the days of spam mail and random pamphlets filling up every letterbox to the brim, with the easier (and frankly more annoying) medium for those messages to reach people being near constantly on their body at all times. The important deliveries these days were too big to fit in between the slim opening. Whatever was left of posted envelopes were usually redundant bills and notices. Documents Iroha wouldn’t mind forgetting at all.
Oh?
A single white letter jutted half-way through her own mailbox. It was placed higher than she was expecting, but it was nothing a tiptoe and some elbow grease couldn’t solve.
Iroha winced as dust fell into her eyes.
Who knows how long it had been there, and given the circumstances, it better be worth it. When she could stop feeling the tear-inducing itchiness, Iroha took a look at the envelope. It was unassuming; Iroha S. with her address printed out in standard font. The simplicity of it intrigued her. She pinched the paper right in the middle and concluded that its contents couldn’t have been more than a couple folded pieces of paper. If she were to hazard a guess, it would most likely be an invitation to an alumni dinner, A.K.A a pleasant way to waste an evening. (She chose to stay at home with Kaguya last year.) Iroha spent the rest of the trip back upstairs imagining what kind of outfits she and Kaguya would’ve decided on for such an event.
The bolted door of her apartment was heavier than she liked. Iroha wasn’t in any rush, yet the letter caught her attention more than the slightly stinging pain in her abdomen. The bag was placed on their dinner table and she took a seat sluggishly.
Palms slightly darkened from the dust, Iroha ripped the seal off. She was ambivalent that its contents were perfectly preserved. It was waiting for her. Someone had typed out, printed and posted this just for it to end up being unread if it wasn’t for that pickup earlier. Then again, why go through all that effort when a text could have been far easier? It might’ve been from someone who didn’t even have her number. As Iroha took out the papers, she lamented her myopia and put on a pair of reading glasses that were tucked into her shirt pocket.
Iroha’s overcast mood turned to confusion as she began reading:
SAKAYORI LABS INC.
Product & Service Customer Satisfaction Survey Letter
To Sakayori Iroha,
First and foremost, we would like to congratulate and thank you for the 2 years of your loyal patronage to our company. Notably for our prototype “YC-KG-1145-A”, Kaguya, you have provided excellent care and maintenance to the model as well as supplying valuable performance data for the duration of your ownership through your routine activities. To ensure our services are meeting your expectations and to continue improving the quality of the model, we would greatly appreciate your feedback.
We kindly ask you to take a moment to fill in our Customer Service Satisfaction survey attached to this letter. Your responses will help us understand how well I am serving you and where I can improve.
This survey will take approximately 5 minutes to complete, and all responses will be kept confidential. To submit the form, kindly leave it in the envelope and place it at your model’s service station. As a token of our appreciation for your time, you will receive a 20% rebate bonus on your next service with me.
We truly value your input and are thankful for helping us provide the best possible customer experience. The survey is open until March 12 2043. Any late submissions will not be tolerated. Should you have any questions, please feel free to reach out to our support team at [email protected]
I see.
The emphasis on certain choice phrases did not escape Iroha’s notice. It was already July and nothing particularly odd happened after the deadline. (Kaguya did sulk about this on the 13th but she could only manage to go to sleep early and resist being cuddled by Iroha) Her brow furrowed harder as she read through the second page.
SAKAYORI LABS INC.
Customer Satisfaction Survey Form
For the following questions, please rate the importance of the following characteristics in your hardware product from a scale of 1 (not important) to 5 (extremely important).
1. Ease of Installation/Maintenance
- Compatibility with Your Standard Hardware/Software
- Quality of Product Support
- Variety of Services Offered
- Overall Reliability
- Overall Professional Performance
- Overall Personal Performance
In the provided space, please write your answers for the questions provided.
- What is the relation between you and our product?
2. Any suggestions for Improvement of your model.
3. Any other general comments regarding our services.
Kaguya’s phone rang just twice before she picked it up, if it wasn’t for the spotty internet here her internal receiver would have accepted the call immediately. She promptly excused herself from the stage and found a quiet corner to talk to Iroha.
“Iroha!! What’s up? How are you doing? Have you eaten the bento I made for you today? Is it good?” Excitement practically spilled out of her and it was wholly received on the other end. The looming dread of a long day of work in front of her vanished the instant Iroha replied, “Yes, yes. I’m doing okay. Your cooking is amazing as always, honey. Thank you very much.”
“Liar.”
“Eh?”
“I didn’t make a bento for today, it was onigiri! Hmph.” Iroha chuckled as Kaguya’s sulking act ended with blowing a raspberry.
“Oh Iroha, I appreciate you calling but was there something you wanted to say to me? You never call this early.”
“Ah, sorry if I’m bothering you,” she said with a grin.
“I just wanted to ask. Kaguya, are you familiar with any type of Satisfaction Survey lately?”
A shameful squeal came from Iroha’s speakers before it hung up immediately.
“Fine, I can bring it up tonight if that’s how you’re playing.”