V2Ch1: Fate Part 1

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Translator: Soafp

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“I’m off, then. After work, I’m planning to have dinner with Hikaru, so you don't need to prepare anything tonight.”

Sho carried deep emotional scars from the serial murders of young girls.

Even so, he tried to keep moving forward with his daily life.

At work, he was gradually gaining trust, living with his parents to help ease their pain, and also caring about his childhood friend Hikaru. Before he knew it, he had turned 23.

“Sho, why don't you just marry Hikaru already? Your father and I would never oppose it, and I'm sure her parents wouldn't be against it either.”

His mother said with a laugh.

“Come on… it's not like that. How many years have you been saying the same thing?”

Sho smiled wryly as he replied. This back-and-forth had been going on for over ten years.

It wasn't that he disliked Hikaru. But his feelings had long since gone beyond seeing her as a woman he liked. To him, she was only “family.”

“I really think it's a waste. A pretty, kind girl like Hikaru, who even takes the time to chat with us older women—where else would you find someone like that? Even if there were, she'd probably be so far away you'd never meet her.”

“Mom… you're still going on about this? I'm not fighting with Hikaru. We get along fine, and that's good enough.”

“Well… I just hope you two never fight…”

“Exactly! So let's drop it. If you keep pushing, even Hikaru might get fed up with me! I'm leaving!”

With that, Sho got into his car and headed to work.

(Seriously… I mean, Hikaru's not bad at all, but… just because my childhood friend happens to be a girl doesn't mean I have to marry her…)

In truth, it wasn't just his family who brought up Hikaru. Back in school, people often teased him about her, and even at work, when Hikaru once delivered something he forgot, it caused plenty of misunderstanding.

That time, his mother had asked Hikaru to bring it, and she agreed without complaint. That incident had sparked the gossip.

“Hmm… maybe we're too close. The distance between us.”

Sho and Hikaru had always been by each other's side, growing up together. And that's exactly why they couldn't figure out what the “right distance” between them was. Without a ruler to measure it, all they got were awkward glances from others.

“Forcing change doesn't feel right either… guess I'll just keep things as they are for now.”

Hikaru had been the one to fill the hole left in their family when his sister was gone. The thought of losing her as well was unbearable to Sho.

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“Good night, everyone.”

6:00 p.m.

With no big overtime, Sho finished work almost on time.

Some companies forced employees to cut overtime for the sake of “work style reforms,” while others simply turned extra hours into unpaid “service overtime.”

But the advertising agency where Sho worked was one of the rare companies that was truly “clean” and easy to work in.

The rules were simple:
8 hours of work.
1 hour lunch break.
That was it.

The difference in pay came from “performance.”

As expected in an ad agency, your income increased if your proposed ideas were adopted. If not, you lived on base salary alone.

Even then, the base salary was not low, since the agency was one of the leading companies in Tochigi Prefecture.

“Hello? Hikaru?”

That evening, he was supposed to meet Hikaru for dinner.

Walking to the parking lot, Sho called her.

“Already done? No overtime?”

“My company doesn't force overtime.”

“Jealous! But doesn't that mean your peers get ahead of you?”

“Well, staying late does give you more time to experiment, I guess.”

Hikaru knew about his work and his workplace environment better than anyone.

“But you got the campaign billboard for the theme park in Motegi, right? That's a big deal!”

“Honestly… yeah, it was huge.”

Despite his youth, Sho was already showing remarkable talent.

The theme park campaign Hikaru mentioned had been won in competition against other companies.

“Ah, so that's why.”

“Hm?”

“That's why you said you'd treat me tonight!”

“I didn't say that.”

“You did! I'm sure you did!”

“You must be hearing things. Forget dinner, I should take you to a hospital.”

“Sorry! I'm kidding, I'm kidding!”

Whenever Sho succeeded, Hikaru celebrated as if it were her own achievement.

That had become one of Sho's motivations at work.

Even if Hikaru hadn't brought it up, Sho had already decided to pay for dinner tonight.

“So, where should we go?”

“That Italian place in Imaichi, the one run by the couple!”

“Ah, that one's great. Alright, I'll be there in about thirty minutes.”

“Okay! I'll head straight there too.”

They decided on the time and place, then hung up.

“Guess I'll try to get there early, so I can be the one waiting.”

Sho started the car.

The night was chilly, but the stars shone beautifully.

In Nikko, Tochigi, where Sho and Hikaru lived, traffic dropped sharply after 8 p.m.

A quiet night.

On such nights, for some reason, the stars always looked brighter.