My name is Noato Shinji, and I'm an office worker for a exploitive company in Tokyo. I have a daughter and two sons, and a wife who I loved so dearly- but, work got me so tied up lately I can't see them as often as I used to. forced to sometimes sleep under my desk, ridiculous hours, and even though we do get leave days, we're discouraged on using them.

It's safe to say that this whole thing was getting to me, just a little bit.

"Shinji!" My body jolted at the shriveled screech, a slender yet oddly brittle hand, slamming against my desk, causing my mug my daughter made for me to fall to the ground, shattering on impact.

I turned to the person in question, my eyes heavy with the weight of sleep. She was my boss, a woman who seemed to be in her mid sixty's, she's at the age of retirement, but it seems like her job is so easy she doesn't have to worry-

All she does was yell at us and bark orders anyway.

"Shinji!" She roared, trying to regain my attention.

"Y-yes ma'am!"

"The work piled up again." Her hand flung some papers onto my desk, hands instinctively moving to her hips with a soft scowl on her face, her yellow eyes staring down on me as I reached for the papers.

"Sayuri fell into an accident just last week, she's been reported dead the other day so, her work is on you now." 

Though her words sound like she pitied her, her tone had no sense of sincerity in them. My hands crumbled the paper in my fingers ever so lightly, trying to get rid of the fatigue of annoyance and anger somehow.

"And you need me to pick up her load, right?" I inquired.

"You know the drill." She smiled, but it was more condescending than anything else. Her hand waved me off dismissively as she walked away.

It was a common occurrence, some people would quit there jobs or have to go on forced vacations only for the work to be piled on the rest of us. Though I don't blame them.

"What I would give..." I murmured to myself as I pulled my seat up to my desk.

"To spend more time with my family."

_______

I fumbled with the keys to my home before I unlocked the door, a soft creak echoed throughout the dark room it guided me to. With a sigh I took my shoes off at the door, my thoughts just lingering on how comfy my wooden floor looked as I walked to the living room. My hand leaning against the wall for some sort of balance as I stumbled in my steps.

"You're finally home." A soft voice came from the couch in the living room, my eyes panned over to see my wife giving me the same affectionate look she always does when she greeted me home.

"What are you doing up? it's one in the morning." 

"Do I really need to have a reason to see my man?" She countered, her hands reaching up to pull my collar, bringing me in for a hug. Her face nuzzled against my chest with a content sigh.

"You know, the kids are dying to spend time with you again." She murmured, A twinge of guilt striking me at my core, weak hands slowly pulled her in deeper into the embrace.

"I know."

"When are you going to quit your job?"

"You know I can't afford to do that right now."

"Yeah but Zackary and Dante were really looking forward to seeing you."

"Even..."

She nodded, her soft smile pressed against me as she murmured.

"Yes, even Masao, she secretly adores you, you know? She's been working really hard to get into college, just to impress you."

"I-I see..." 

We stood there in awkward silence for a while, her gaze fixed on me, looking up with wide eyes and a smile. 

"Say, what are you planning on doing for her birthday?" She inquired with a grin. A shock look formed on my face at her question.

"Tomorrow's her birthday?!"

My outburst caused her to laugh, stepping away from our embrace, her hand rested along the wooden step rail that leads to the bedrooms.

"No surprise you've forgotten." She laughed, wiping a tear from her eye.

"You should really make an effort to hang out with her. She's been waiting the longest after all."  her body turned towards the steps, looking over her shoulder in a teasing glance.

"Well? You coming?" 

I smiled softly at her teasing question, nodding and following her lead, though her words still lingered at the back of my mind. 

"Dad.... what are you doing?" My daughter, Masao, looked at me with a look of concern, a grin on my face as I twirled the keys to the car in my hand.

"getting ready to spend time with my daughter on her sixteenth birthday of course." I tossed the ring up in the air and caught it. My confidence evident in my grin.

"Don't you have work?" she murmured, cutting through the wholesome moment.

"Don't you worry about that!" I coughed into my fist, trying to get the conversation back on track.

"I have it all sorted so no need to worry."

She gave me a blank stare, eyeing me up and down in dead panned silence, before letting out a disappointed sigh.

"What's that for?!"

"I was really looking forward to staying home today..."

I wrapped my hand around her, pulling her in for a one armed hug, trying to cheer the mood.

"Come on don't be like that it'll be fun, we're gonna go on a road trip."

"Road trip?"

"Yup! A road trip to the Tokyo Sky tree!" I grinned at her, hoping that she would feel the same excitement i felt then, my journey to bound with my family, and my daughter Masao, starts today!

"How long is this going to take..." Masao groaned in the passenger's seat, her hand holding up her head as she stared through the window. 

"Never took you for the impatient type." I chuckled, trying to make light at her comment but actually it was bothering me, now wondering if this would even work. Silence took over after that, not many words were shared. My fingers coiled harder around the steering wheel, if I'm to make this work, I need to strike up a conversation, maybe I'll get to know more about her...

"So, anything interesting happened at school?" 

"No, just boring school stuff." She murmured. 

A small sigh escaped my lips from her straight forward answer. Though it's not much to go off of it's a start I guess, yet it still ate away at me no matter how much I tried to ignore it.

"Hey, Mas-" The car suddenly stopped in it's tracks, cutting off my concerns with another.

"What happened?" Masao asked, her hand slowly lowered from her face, her eyebrows furrowed slightly in concern.

Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

"We're..."

"Out of gas..."

An awkward silence lingered for a mere moment, as we both stare blankly at the gauge in front of us.

"You can't be serious-" She commented.

"I'm afraid I am-"

"Well now what?" Masao looked at me with a slight sense of worry as I stepped out of the car. Trying to get the attention of passers by but they would always drive straight past us. 

"I don't think anyone would stop for us." She murmured, looking down the road.

I knew she was right, but then what? We can't just push it all the way to the gas station, and I don't exactly want to leave her on her own while I get gas either- and leaving the car unattended is definitely out of the question.

My hand cupped my chin as I remained deep in thought, eyebrows furrowed over my eyes in fatigue.

"Ok, I've come to a decision!" I announced, my fist hitting my palm as the idea came to light, my sudden outburst catching the attention of my daughter.

"What is it?"

"We have to," I paused for dramatic effect, pointing at her and then aiming that very finger to the road ahead.

"Walk to a gas station!"

"We're going to leave the car?" 

"It's our only choice, plus it'll be quick." 

Masao groaned, clearly hating the idea but followed along anyway, our journey to the gas station a quick detour to our main objective. The hot sun beat down on us during our travels, heating up the granite sidewalk we traversed on, nothing but greenery for miles. The sound of our footsteps trying to occupy the silence but it wasn't enough-

"So- What college are you aiming for?" 

"Osaka."

"You mean university of arts?" My eyes widen slightly at the unexpected surprise, soon turning ahead of me with a soft smile. "That's a big target."

She nods silently, her eyes seemingly stuck to the floor. She's been interested in arts for as long as I could remember, though I never seen her practice, the drawings I see on occasions left no doubt in my mind that she was.

"Well? Do you have a portfolio yet?" Her gaze shifts away at my words, I've seem to have struck a nerve.

"I'm working on it." She muttered.

"Well, either way that's amazing." A soft smile spread across my face, Masao looking at me with a look of subtle shock and confusion at my acceptance.

"Maybe we can look at some exhibits? Get some inspiration for your portfolio sometime, you know?"

"No thanks," She shot me down immediately.

"Aww, why not?" I whined softly, soon giving up with an exasperated sigh, great, just when i thought I was getting somewhere. She laughed softly at my reaction, but not saying much else, her eyes soon caught on the gas station ahead.

"Oh look." She murmurs, wiping a tear of joy from her eyes.

"We're almost there."

Masao ran ahead, leaving me behind with a soft smile etched on my face, eyebrows furrowed lightly forming a weary yet happy expression before I followed her.

"Gas sure is expensive-" I muttered, my gas carton freshly filled in my hand, a soft sigh escaping my lips as my money escaped my wallet.

"Oh hey!" Someone called out to me, my gaze shifted to a woman holding the arm of a child.

Oh, Fiona, how are you?" I greeted with a smile, Fiona is the sister in law of Sayuri, the coworker that died the other day. To think that I'd run into her of all places, she must feel down about the situation.

"It's been a little rough here and there but it's fine." She smiled, giving me some hopes of reassurance.

"Say, shouldn't you be at work right now? Why are you here? Did you get fired?"

"W-well... about that- I'm on a trip with my daughter for her birthday."

"Oh that's wonderful, " 

"yeah, not quite sure on how she feels about it though."

"I'm sure she's enjoying it, she'll open up in her own time, just gotta be patient." Fiona reassured, my eyes panned over to Masao who walked around the shop attached to the gas station.

"Maybe..."

"Oh! look at me- getting into family matters- Im sorry." Fiona apologized, her hand on her cheek as she asked for forgiveness.

"No, no you're fine- I actually kinda needed to hear that haha." I reassured, trying to get her mind of it.

"Dad, you done?" Masao called out with snacks in her hand, ready to leave.

"Yeah I'm coming!" i turned towards Fiona again waving her goodbye as i left.

The rest of the drive there seemed normal enough, Masao was mostly quiet as she usually was, staring through the window in a mindless daze as she watched the trees and buildings pass us by. A soft huff escaped from my cracked smile, a sound that caught her attention. 

"What's wrong?" She murmured, looking up at me with concerned eyes.

"It's nothing." I grinned, looking to the road once more. 

"Say, you got any crushes?" I asked out of the blue. Her reaction a mixture of shock and embarrassment.

"What's with that all of a sudden?!" She snapped, but i could tell she wasn't exactly angry at my question. 

"It's just a question." I laughed. 

"Well..." She pondered, her fingers twirling in her hair.

"There is one person....."

"Woah!" She exclaimed, met with the view of the Tokyo sky tree, the city spread out for miles under us.

"This is amazing!" 

I smiled softly at her enthusiasm, seeing her finally grinning ear to ear like this made this whole trip worth it, a warm feeling in my heart.

"Dad, are you seeing this?!" She turned to me, her eyes sparkled with amazement.

"Yeah," I chuckled, forced off my thoughts to stand by her side.

"You know..." I paused for suspense, looking at her with a playful glint in my eye.

"there is a massive aquarium here."

"Actually?" 

"Yeah! let's go check it out." I suggested, leading the way. Masao by my side, her smile couldn't be taken away even if you pried at it with a wrench as we took the path there.

The tanks were huge, spanning  across the room with tons of aquatic life, the room a calming tint of blue.

Masao pointed at all of the fish as they passed by, her eyes panned across the aquarium in a childish wonder.

I can't believe it. I actually can't believe it! She's smiling so much, I haven't seen her like this since she was a child, it was almost-

It was almost......

Too good to be true-

"Now stopping at Hino Station." The intercom of the train jarred me awake, tearing me from the serene spell of the aquarium. My surroundings transformed from the mesmerizing aquatic world to the harsh reality of a train station. I coughed into my hands, stepping off the train, my eyes heavy with the weight of countless hours at work. My weary feet dragged against the unforgiving metal floors as if resisting the departure from the fleeting joy of the family outing. I attempted to stay awake, to cling to the warmth of those precious moments, but, I'm afraid, my eyes closed.

For the last time.