Mid-Autumn Festival, 2025. Night. Inside an office building in a major city.
"Team lead… um…"
A man looked awkwardly at the group leader while glancing at his girlfriend—who stood at the doorway, anxious and clearly waiting for him to clock out.
"It's fine. I'll finish it. Go ahead."
The "team lead" answered without even turning around, fingers still clattering across the keyboard.
"Thanks, team lead!"
As he spoke, the man jogged out, then hurried to soothe his girlfriend, who'd been waiting a long time.
"So you dumped another mess on your team lead again…"
"I just—when I saw you waiting at the door, I got nervous too. I was scared I'd mess up under pressure…"
"So it's my fault now?"
"No, no, it's not your fault… it's late. Let's go grab something to eat."
The woman glanced through the glass wall at the team lead still working, then said quietly,
"It's a holiday and he's staying late to help you. At least bring him something too."
"It's fine. Don't."
The man flicked his eyes toward the office and lowered his voice.
"Last time the front desk bought boxed meals and brought him one, he didn't even notice. It sat on his desk until it spoiled. Then he finally remembered and tossed it without asking a single question. Look at him—he's obsessed with working, like he's scared someone will out-grind him. Who can out-grind him? He's insane. Doesn't even value his life."
"…What a weirdo."
"Boss Wang said he wasn't always like this. It was about a year before I got hired. The team lead was going to move his family here—already bought a place. Then there was an accident on the way. His parents and younger sister… all gone, just like that. His sister was only in middle school, apparently."
"What? That's awful…"
"Yeah. Can you even tell by looking at him? He's not even twenty-five. Boss Wang said after that he became like this—work every day, no socializing, no talking, no girlfriend, nothing. Work's probably his way of venting."
No friends. No lover. No family.
Just thinking about it made the woman shiver.
"Hey… if you live like that, what's the point of being alive?"
"How would I know? I'm not him."
…
Their scattered chatter faded with their footsteps until it disappeared at the elevator.
The city's night was always dazzling and loud—but he hadn't truly experienced any of it in a long time.
Outside his two-point commute, the only thing that changed was the growing string of digits in his bank account.
He functioned like a numb machine, pouring those painful memories—along with his own helpless struggle—into endless overtime. The office's cold white lights drowned the night. Keyboard clacks replaced all speech. No breathing room. No end. Only the screen's pale glow reflecting a face that refused to confront reality.
…
…
…
For the first time in a long while, he dreamed of the past.
On the last day of August, sunlight slipped through the gaps in a bamboo blind and pulled Asagami Yuuki out of memory.
The wounds on his body had healed without him noticing. They hadn't been deep, but they shouldn't have vanished so cleanly overnight—Yuuki didn't need to think hard to know Miss Tama had done it.
She'd probably treated him while he slept.
His original plan—make up with Ryougi Shiki before August ended, then return to school together in September—had completely fallen apart.
Things hadn't gone as planned.
But some plans were still moving forward.
For instance, over the past month Yuuki had carefully returned to the hospital where Fujou Kirie was staying more than once, trying to gather information. According to his expectations, Araya Souren should have appeared there around now.
Instead, it was as if Araya had vanished.
And Yuuki had also found the location that might allow him to shift from passive to proactive—the Ogawa Apartments.
Because the project involved construction, even before anything was built he could still learn where it would be.
The Ogawa Apartments site was near Kayamihama. It seemed to be positioned as corporate housing rather than a normal apartment complex—"seemed" because the site had only just been decided, and the project was still in the bidding phase. The contractor hadn't been selected yet.
Once bidding ended and preparation finished, construction wouldn't start until next March at the earliest. Completion would likely be in '97.
Yuuki had considered entering the bid under "Asagami Construction," but decided against it. It would draw too much attention.
This could be his trump card later—a known piece of information to use against that man. If he interfered too much and Araya chose a different location—or a different plan entirely—things would become exponentially harder.
After breakfast, Miss Tama said she needed to make her routine visit to the hospitalized Fujou Kirie, so she left early.
As for Kirie… her recovery had been visibly improving. According to the doctors, it was bordering on a miracle.
Which made sense: Miss Tama's abilities were outside conventional medicine. And Yuuki hadn't done what Araya originally did—merely pay for conservative care and hospital fees. Yuuki spent heavily, hired the best doctors, used the best available treatment plans, and was even considering transferring Kirie to a top Tokyo hospital once her condition stabilized, to access better resources.
If he asked Aozaki Touko for help, it would likely mean the "Grand Puppeteer" solution—abandoning the current body altogether.
Relying on Shiki was also unrealistic. Even ignoring how their relationship had sunk to rock bottom, Shiki without the Mystic Eyes of Death Perception couldn't even remove an appendix—let alone deal with lesions throughout the body.
If money and Miss Tama—someone on his side—could solve it, that was ideal.
Knock, knock.
Back in his room, while Yuuki was running through plans, a firm but not heavy knock came at the door. After Yuuki gave permission, Asagami Fujino entered, carrying freshly brewed tea.
"Brother… you're not going out today?"
Fujino lowered her head as she offered him the tea. Yuuki couldn't see her expression, and he wasn't sure how to answer. He hesitated.
Since returning to Kanbu City for school, this was his first holiday—and he hadn't spent even a single day with Fujino, who was still in middle school.
He wanted to treat her like a real little sister, but a faint barrier always remained.
"Tonight the moon phase is supposed to be rare. If you don't have plans… brother, would you like to—"
Yuuki cut her off before she could finish.
"Fujino… today is the last day of the fireworks festival. Go with Miss Tama."
"…Aren't you going, brother?"
Yuuki's expression dimmed. Maybe it was the morning dream lingering in his mind, but when he looked at Fujino, the present overlapped with a past that no longer belonged to him.
But unexpectedly, this time Fujino—who usually kept her distance—reached out and took his hand.
"Brother… can Fujino be selfish, just this once?"
That doll-like, delicate face trembled with an expression on the verge of tears.
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