Stinging Beauty

79. Over and over the mountain again

Kaiba Seto gaped.
The hair on his neck stood upright, goosebumps
erupted on his arms, but he couldn't tear his sight away.
Mildew.
Thankfully not the black, poisonous species, but it still proved to be a health hazard.
Seto grit his teeth behind his pollution mask.
It would take weeks, if not months, to restore the poolhouse.
And that during summer, when the heat became opressive and chased everybody to the next cooling body of water.
Then again, he could just as well grab his family for a few days to their summer residence while the masons went to work here.
Azure eyes scanned the building, trying to estimate how much it would cost to have it rebuilt stone by stone.
Perhaps a more modern version-?
"Penny for your thoughts?"
Seto nearly jumped out of his skin, but caught himself at the last possible instance. Shooting a mock-glare at his husband, he nodded towards the construction.
"Rebuild or get a completely different style? What do you think?"
Katsuya tilted his head to one side and narrowed his eyes in thought.
"I don't know..I always liked its old-style charm. Very much like a traditional onsen, ne?"
Seto smirked.
"You just don't want people peeking inside while we're performing our carnal festivals, ne?"
Lips, full and demanding, hushed seductively,
"As I said, I don't like sharing you. Or myself."
The shiver had barely subsided as Katsuya was forcibly hauled back to the main house.

"You are rather good at this."
Kawashiro Yuji smiled.
"Arigatou. My father was a carpenter, so I guess I inherited some of his talents."
The foreworker nodded in approval.
"You should have stuck with the kazoukuketei°, then you wouldn't have ended up in jail."
Something..flittered across the elder man's face, but it was gone in an instant. Keeping his tone neutral, he stated,
"True. But then again, I would have not made so many connections."
The forweorker scowled, supressing an icy shiver.
Something about that word had just sounded wrong.

Mokuba gazed confusedly at the blueprint.
Then he searched for the sketches and spreadsheets, but to no avail.
"Ja?" asked Tsuchiya Seichi hopefully. The teen merely huffed and shook his head.
"I can't make head nor tails of this, Tsuchiya-san. I mean, I know what o-nii-san is aiming at, but these graphics..and you're saying he sent you the rendered data base model?"
The head engineer nodded.
"Hai, and as always, his layouts and calculations are flawless, but this..are we even looking at the same project, here?"
Mokuba huffed again, then furrowed his brow and, pulling out his cell phone, speed-dialed a number.
"Sasaki? Could you tell my giri no ani to come up here to desining? No, the lab. Hai. On the double."
Three minutes later, there was a soft knock on the door and Katsuya stepped in.
"O-youbi desu ka?" Mokuba nodded, then pointed out the mass of paper on the large desk.
"We tried to start the finework on Seto's newest project, but can't seem to get anywhere. Got any clues?"
The blond stepped closer, then started sorting out and rearranging the various prints and sheets. He held a blueprint up for inspection -and his ears and cheeks turned red.
"Err, yeah, my mistake. I...erhm..the copy is actually mirrored inside out."
Mokuba decided to leave the punishment to his elder brother.

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This actually happened to a friend of mind during vectorizing..they still met the deadline.

° kazoukuketei: family business/trade