“Nagata-san,” says a voice from inside the car, “Right?”

It’s an incredibly fancy car, the kind used to impress business relations.

“Eh?” you say, turning at the mention of your voice.

You recognize the brown-haired man inside the car.

“Yoshimura-san,” you reply, then bow a little, “How have you been?”

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While Yoshimura Ken lives over in your apartment complex, you don’t see him around all that much since he said that he works at a black company.

Every few weeks or months you bump into each other at the lobby.

Last time this happened you decided to get dinner together since neither of you had eaten.

You blush a little as you faintly recall calling that innocent dinner a date in a drunken brag to Watase Yoko during the hot spring trip.

He’s looking a fair bit better now than he did previously.

Perhaps his workload has eased up a little.

Yoshimura takes a pull from his cigarette.

“Almost didn’t recognize you,” he says, “I’ve only ever seen you in work clothes after all.”

You look down at your clothing and while it has grown on you, you can’t help but feel a little bit embarrassed.

“Ehe… It’s a Saturday after all, so I figured… casual clothes…” you say, trying to frame it as an excuse, “Just shopping…”

Yoshimura nods, “Looks good, just didn’t figure you the type,” he says.

“Ahaha…” you say, scratching a cheek, “Thanks.”

“What brings you here?” you say to navigate the conversation away from your clothing.

Yoshimura reaches for a folder on the passenger seat, holding it up, “Working,” he says, “My boss is in there with a possible business partner. Told me to arrive fifteen minutes late with the files so he can trash talk me while I act apologetic.”

He pointed towards the little café you left just moments ago.

“Eh?” you say, somewhat confused, “Isn’t it rude to arrive late? Why not just go now?”

Yoshimura takes a pull from his cigarette and smirks, “Because those bastards run a black company as well,” he says, “I suppose they get off on belittling their workers. Perhaps that’s how those pigs bond, who knows?”

How do you even respond to that?

“Well,” you say, “You’re looking good at least.”

Oh, no. That almost sounded like a compliment.

You can’t go around complimenting random men.

“Compared to how we usually meet, I mean” you say, “At like 11 PM in the lobby…ehehe..”

Saved.

“Thanks,” says Yoshimura as he raises his eyebrows, then glances at his jacket, “Too bad my boss is about to toss whatever drink he’s enjoying onto me as part of his act though. He always does.”

This much you remember about Yoshimura, extremely self-deprecating.

You’ve never understood why men do this to themselves.

An alarm beeps and Yoshimura looks towards his phone, “That’s my cue,” he says, turning off the alarm and pocketing his phone, “Time to put that high school drama club experience to use.”

He gets out the car and locks it using a button on his car keys, the window rolls up automatically.

Don’t feel bad Renault Twingo-san! Those features might be fancy, but they’re unneeded.

Yoshimura adjusts his jacket, then turns towards you, “Had lunch yet?” he says, “My thing will maybe take ten minutes. Hand over files, get hit a few times, have a drink dumped on me, and then I’m good to go.”

Matter of fact, you haven’t had lunch yet, but do you want to spend lunch with Yoshimura?

> Decision

> >1 - Accept his invitation, maybe get to know him a bit better.

> >2 - Make an excuse, his self-deprecating attitude is kinda…

>

> Winner

> >1 - Accept his invitation, maybe get to know him a bit better.

Might as well take him up on it.

“Sure,” you say, “I didn’t get much of a breakfast either, so I can go for a lunch.”

“Great,” says Yoshimura, “I’ll be back soon. You can wait in the car if you like?”

“No, that’s alright,” you say, “I’ll just find a bench somewhere.”

You’re not about to cheat on your trusty Renault Twingo.

What if you get dazzled by the fancy features of Yoshimura’s car and never look at your own car the same way?

Yoshimura shrugs, “Alright,” he says, holding up the folder he showed you earlier, “I’ll just go deliver this then.”

You nod and Yoshimura walks off.

In the spare minutes you decide to check the email from public relations.

The email concerns Chigusa and Enatsu’s debut as both of them have worked on a job this past.

Both Genki Clothing and Isekai Cosplay mentioned they plan to publish the photos from this weeks’ photoshoots somewhere this month.

Thus, public relations presses that you should ensure your new idols have a proper debut before those pictures go live so you can piggyback on the buzz generated by those companies.

You didn’t do anything special for Kaiba’s debut, you simply had an image of her posted on the company’s social media.

Perhaps you should do things differently for Enatsu of Chigusa.

A proper debut event will cost a bit, but it might be worth it.

You decide to put it on your to-do list for now.

Roughly ten minutes later, Yoshimura comes back and, as he predicted, his shirt and jacket is drenched with some kind of drink.

He’s using paper towels to furiously scrub his jacket.

“Bourbon,” says Yoshimura as he gets closer, fighting a stain, “Bad luck today, it’ll be a pain to get out.”

You check your phone, it’s not even close to 1PM.

Where those people really drinking bourbon at this time of day?

You fish into your purse for some wet wipes, paper towels aren’t going to do much good against a sticky liquor like bourbon.

“Come here,” you say, frowning as you suppress the urge to stomp over to the café and give Yoshimura’s boss a piece of your mind, “Paper will just stick and shred, you’ll end up with dozens of tiny bits to your shirt.”

You take a wet wipe in hand and try to fight the stain in Yoshimura’s shirt.

Yeah, this is not going to come out that easy. Looks like an expensive shirt, too.

What a waste.

How somebody stay in a job where their boss treats them like that…

How dare people treat their employees that way to begin with…

The nerve of those people.

Black companies truly are the worst.

[https://assets.legendkeeper.com/28d5f061-4503-4fab-966e-57fdf8bfe9df.jpg]

After a fair bit of effort, your frown relents and you sigh, “It’s not helping much, you’ll have to take it to the cleaners,” you say, then looking up.

Yoshimura is staring down at you with small smile, “Sure, I’ll do just that.”

He sure is close. Wait.

He didn’t get close. You did.

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It finally dawns on you what you’ve been doing.

You were so caught up in your own thoughts you barely noticed until now.

After hurriedly taking a step back, you bow in rapid succession, “I’m sorry, so sorry,” you say, “I wasn’t thinking.”

When you notice a mess, you clean it up.

That’s a given, right?

Yoshimura laughs, “Don’t see me complaining,” he says, pressing a button on his car keys as he walks towards the car, “I came prepared, there’s a new shirt in the car, so don’t worry.”

The lights on the car flash twice, signalling that it’s unlocked.

You feel blood rush to your face, then stomp your foot down, “Why didn’t you say anything?!”

“And miss out on what just happened?” says Yoshimaru, “Not a chance.”

He has no issue with chancing his shirt in the middle of a busy Tokyo street.

It feels silly to look away after you were basically rubbing his chest only moments ago, but you do so anyway.

It’s different now that you’re aware of it.

“Have to cherish moments like these,” says Yoshimura, as he buttons up his fresh shirt, “They don’t come often for guys. Hell, I still remember the compliment a girl gave me back in high school.”

“What did she say?” you ask.

“She complimented my new haircut,” says Yoshimura, “Said it made me look cool. Handsome.”

He puts his dirty shirt and jacket in the trunk of his car.

“What kind of haircut was that?” you say.

“This one,” says Yoshimura, pointing at his hair, “I’ve had this haircut ever since.”

Wearing his hair like that ever since? That’s… strange, right?

Exchanging compliments is part of your average conversation for girls.

It must be much the same for guys and he’s just joking around.

Nobody would go years without receiving a compliment on their appearance.

You have to agree with the nameless high school girl though.

He does look handsome. Not that’d you ever tell him that.

That’d be so embarrassing.

“You ready to go?” says Yoshimura as he opens the car door.

“Ah,” you say, “Actually I plan to do groceries after, can we have lunch somewhere nearby?”

Yoshimura shrugs, “Not a problem,” he says, closing the door and locking the car with the press of a button, “Let’s go.”

He circles the car and walks towards you.

“I know a nice place towards the eastern side of Shibuya,” you say, nodding towards the right.

Yoshimura looks up, “East?” he says, then thinks for a moment, “I know a good place myself, not too far from here.”

He presses a hand into the small of your back to steer you slightly towards the west of Shibuya.

“Only a short walk from here,” he says.

You jolt at the sudden pressure on your back.

How can he just casually touch you like that!

You’re not that familiar with each other.

Ah, but you sort-of did the same just now. It’d be hypocritical to complain.

You basically signalled that it should be okay for him to do the same.

The both of you walk deeper into Shibuya.

----------------------------------------

As you walk towards your destination, you feel like talking a bit more.

What’s going on in his life? How’s he been? What are his hobbies?

However, just as you try to strike up conversation, Yoshimura lights up a cigarette.

Too polite to complain, you hope he notices, but that doesn't seem to be the case.

Instead of talking, you spend the remaining walk wrinkling your nose as the smoke from the cigarette always seems to find a way to hit you in the face.

After ten minutes, during which Yoshimura manages to smoke three cigarettes, you arrive at your destination.

It’s a Izakaya restaurant. A place ordinary reserved for after-work drinking and snacks.

“My usual place,” says Yoshimura, “They’ve been cracking down on it, but this is a place where you’re still allowed to smoke indoors.”

Huray for that…

As expected, as you enter there’s an overwhelming stench of smoke and the walls and ceiling are stained yellow by continued exposure.

There’s a bald man behind the counter.

“Yo, Yoshimura,” says the barman as he shelves away some bottles.

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“Shoji,” says Yoshimura, nodding to greet the man, “Is my table free?”

“Yeah,” replies the barman, who then eyes you over, then looks back at Yoshimura.

“Oi, oi, Yoshimura…” he says, “College girls, really? Aren’t you almost thirty?”

The barman sighs, “This is why you can’t find a wife…”

“Thanks for the sage advice,” says Yoshimura with a deadpan stare, “Some cups and green tea to my table.”

“Coming up,” says the barman.

The barman presses a button on a machine which dispenses steaming hot water and catches it in a small teapot.

Adding some tea leaves, he then places the teapot and cups on a tray for Yoshimura to take with him.

“What happened to service?” says Yoshimura.

“Service my ass,” says the barman with dismissive wave of his hand, “Take it with you.”

As he waves you notice the barman is missing a part of his pinkie finger.

Yoshimura clicks his tongue and holding the tray in one hand and a clean ashtray in the other, he moves into the restaurant – you follow.

“Bring me the lunch menu in a bit,” shouts Yoshimura as he rounds the corner.

There wasn’t really a good moment to introduce yourself.

You assume from the interaction that Yoshimura must come here a lot.

There something else to take away from the conversation though…

The barman called you a college girl!

Here you were thinking you’d look like some hag dressing up.

The diligent skincare routines and your short stature are paying off!

“Happy about something?” says Yoshimura as he moves into a private room.

“Fufufu~” you say, following, “Who knows?”

It’s an older style room with tatami mats where the table is sunken into the floor with plenty of free space beneath it.

Rather than having to sit on your knees, you can let your feet rest beneath the table.

Yoshimura sits down at the seat closest to the door, you sit in the seat beside him.

There’s a scowl on his face from the chat with the barman.

You reach for the teapot and, hoping that the leaves have steeped enough, pour the both of you some tea.

“Oh,” says Yoshimura, his scowl replaced by a smile, “Thanks.”

For somebody that seems so grim and serious, he does have a nice smile.

You’d half expect his teeth to be stained a hard yellow from smoking, but that isn’t the case.

Perhaps he simply hasn’t been smoking for that long.

> Decision

> >1 - Remembering what he said earlier, you decide to compliment his smile.

> >2 - Ask why Yoshimura doesn’t get a different job. One where they respect him.

> >3 - Subtly inquire about Yoshimura’s dating status. Is he seeing somebody?

> >4 - Ask Yoshimura how long he has been coming here.

> >5 - Inquire about his friend the barman.

> >5 - Write-in

>

> Winner

> >2 - Ask why Yoshimura doesn’t get a different job. One where they respect him.

“Say, Yoshimura-san…” you say.

It might not really be any of your business, but as a former member of HR you can’t let the way they treat Yoshimura slide.

“Hmm?” says Yoshimura, glancing towards you as he sips his tea.

“With the way your boss treats you… throwing drinks on you… hitting you… shouting at you…” you say, “Wouldn’t it be better to get a different job? One where you get some basic respect?”

Yoshimura chuckles, turning to face you, “Got you worried, have I?”

“Well, yeah,” you say, looking him in the eye, “It’d be weirder if I wasn’t worried.”

“I’m not particularly worried myself,” says Yoshimura, “They’re hard on me, yeah, but it’s a hard job. I’m the youngest of my group and the most recent hire. They’re hard on me because they need to be sure I can take it when it matters.”

He gulps down the remainder of his tea, “If I can tough it out a bit more then I’ll be in the clear.”

“Don’t your parents worry?” you say.

Yoshimura scoffs, “Not particularly, that’s all I’m gonna say about them.”

There is a moment of silence.

“I brought the mood down, didn’t I?” you say, looking down, “I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be,” he says, “It’s cute that you care, but I plan to tough this one out till the end.”

You refill his tea.

“How about you?” asks Yoshimura, “Human resources, right? That’s what you said last time?”

“Ah, well,” you say, “A lot happened and while I still work in the same place as before, but I now manage idols.”

“No kidding?” says Yoshimura, “With the songs, dancing, glitter and glamour?”

You nod, “All that and more.”

“Go figure,” says Yoshimura, holding up his cup and inspecting it, “Opposites really do attract, huh?”

Eh?

Was that what it sounded like?

As in he being attracted to you?

Or did he mean it more in a “we happen to run into each other” kind of way?

“S-so it seems,” you say, drinking some of your own tea.

Bleh. This is basically just hot water. You poured the tea too soon.

The leaves didn’t have enough time to steep.

Yoshimura didn’t complain even once though.

Not at all since you went out for lunch.

Then again, if he can take the verbal, mental, and physical abuse then what’s tasteless tea?

It’s strange how your chat began with him basically ranting about his boss, but the more time you spend with him the more guarded he becomes.

Isn’t it supposed to be the opposite?

Why is he so eager to keep up appearances all of a sudden?

You can’t spend too much time thinking about this.

“Being an idol manger has been very fun,” you say to break the silence, “It isn’t always easy, but I’m helping girls realize their dreams and I think that’s worth the effort.”

“Sounds like a great job,” says Yoshimura, smiling, “I’m happy for you.”

The remark should make you happy, but knowing he’s able to say such things while working at a gruelling black company kind of makes you sad instead.

“More tea?” you ask.

“Please,” he says, sliding over his cup.

In the silence that follows you contemplate the conversation thus far.

What if Yoshimura really was into you?

Are you into him?

It’s too early to talk about things like love, but is he worth meeting again?

> Decision

> >1 - He is. Decide to share your phone number with him after lunch so you can keep in touch.

> >2 - Just stick around till lunch and go your separate ways afterwards. If fate wills it then you’ll meet again.

>

> Winner

> >2 - Just stick around till lunch and go your separate ways afterwards. If fate wills it, then you’ll meet again.

Before long the barkeep comes by with the lunch menu.

You decide to order a bunch of small dishes together so you can try things out.

The food is a tad greasy at times and not the best you’ve had, but all-in-all it’s an enjoyable lunch.

You glance at your phone, it’s getting pretty late.

“I should probably get going,” you say.

“Oh, grocery shopping,” says Yoshimura, looking up, “You mentioned.”

He gets up to see you off.

“Will you be going back to work today?” you ask as you shoulder your purse.

“I’m basically on call,” says Yoshimura, “In a way -- I’m always working.”

That sounds terrible. Never being able to truly relax.

“Thanks for a nice lunch,” you say, “Since you seem determined to stay with your current job, well, what can I say…. Hang in there. I hope things work out.”

“I’ll make sure they will,” say Yoshimura, “Let me walk you out.”

You walk to the entrance together.

“I’m gonna stick here for a while,” says Yoshimura, “You take care, Nagata-san.”

You nod, “You as well, Yoshimura-san,” you say, bowing, “I’ll see you around.”

“Yeah,” says Yoshimura, looking a little disappointed, “See you around.”

The both of you know what this is. There was no real spark.

Perhaps your paths will cross again and things will be different.

For now, however, you go your separate ways.

You bow again, then turn to leave.

Yoshimura goes back inside.

The last thing you hear is the sound of the barman roaring with laughter, “Gahahaha! Far too pretty for your ugly, old mug anyway!”