The cold touch of that whiskey glass from the night before seemed to linger somewhere still. Yukari made her way to the morning dining room, glancing down at her right hand just once. The sensation of that glass under the kitchen sink's running water. The faint smell of alcohol from what had been drunk. A sense of guilt—or something like it—at having picked up a fragment of Ichinomiya Toma's night that only she possessed. Even now, in the morning light, it remained. (I wanted to know.) The emotion had taken shape in that moment last night when she'd crouched in the hallway, lifting the empty glass. Thinking back on it now in the morning's brightness, she felt a little embarrassed. "Wanting to know" was such a large feeling. Tanaka Yukari had no experience with romance. So she'd never developed the habit of naming her own emotions. When she opened the dining room door, Toma was already holding a coffee cup. The morning light streaming through the window fell white and quiet on his silver-white hair. His eyes were on some documents—whether he'd noticed her entering or not, she couldn't tell. Without knowing, Yukari pulled out her chair. The silence was the same as yesterday, but its quality felt different. Yesterday's silence had been a confirmation of the distance between them. But this morning's silence—it held something else mixed in. It might have been her imagination. But there was something she couldn't dismiss as imagination, something catching in her chest. Toma turned a page. The small mole on his right ring finger flashed into view for an instant. Yukari let her gaze fall to her coffee cup. (Today, too, I'll go to Ichinomiya Center Building.) Holding only that fact in her mind, Yukari quietly brought her breakfast to her lips. ―――― The thirty-sixth floor of Ichinomiya Center Building changed as afternoon approached. The tense quiet of the morning loosened slightly, employees carrying documents crossed the hallways, and the sound of internal phone calls rang out somewhere. When lunch break came, Yukari set foot in the employee café space on the first floor for the first time. She usually finished lunch at her desk on the thirty-sixth floor, but today the documents had reached a stopping point, and she wanted to breathe some outside air. In the first-floor lobby of Ichinomiya Center Building—a vast, marble-lined atrium—there was a signboard reading "Marunouchi Kitchen" deeper inside. A café space that doubled as an employee cafeteria, with roughly two hundred eighty seats, it bustled with employees from each floor during lunch hours. Yukari lined up before the counter, the documents tucked under her arm. Coffee and a seasonal sandwich. She selected only those and was moving with her tray when— The documents tucked at her side tilted. They began to slide down—and in that instant, a hand extended from beside her, quietly catching them. When Yukari turned her face, a man was standing there. Deep navy semi-long hair fell diagonally across his forehead. A modest mark at the corner of his mouth, and eyes of different colors—right gold, left silver—looking at her. A gentle smile played at the corner of his lips. A pale purple ring glinted on his fingertips. "You were about to drop them," His voice was smooth. Without pressure. Rather, it was soft, with warmth to it. "Oh—thank you very much," Yukari straightened the documents while feeling a little flustered. She hadn't expected it at all. She hadn't even noticed there was someone beside her, and she felt embarrassed at her own inattention. "I visit here several times a month, but I rarely see someone standing in line while holding documents," It wasn't sarcasm. It was as if he'd simply observed something and put it gently into words. "I haven't had time to organize them," As she spoke, Yukari tried to straighten the documents. But she had a tray in one hand. It was hopeless—and then the man quietly offered his hand again. "Let me hold them," "No, I'm fine," "You look like you're forcing yourself," Yukari found herself looking at the man. He was smiling. Not teasing. It was a purely observant gaze. The gold and silver eyes looked straight at her. "I'm a management consultant who works with the Ichinomiya Group. My name is Kirishima Renji," He introduced himself politely. Naturally, with a distance that didn't feel abrupt. "I'm Tanaka Yukari. From the secretarial office—" "I know. From the way you organize documents, I can tell you're meticulous and sincere. People of that sort are rare in an organization," Yukari wasn't used to being praised. "Meticulous" and "sincere"—she'd never thought of them as strengths. She'd always thought she was just doing what was obvious. To be called "rare"—she didn't know how to respond. She felt heat bloom in her face. (Why?) She was a little bewildered herself. Why did she react so strongly to a single compliment? But perhaps the words had been that unguarded. There was something in this man's voice that didn't trigger wariness. It was soft, calm—it had a comfortable temperature. Yukari took her coffee and excused herself with a light bow. As she sat down and spread out her documents, she noticed something catching in her chest. It was a pleasant sensation. But at the same time—the gaze of Kirishima Renji as he turned back once at parting caught in the corner of her mind. His smile hadn't changed. But the eyes behind it—for just an instant, she felt they were seeing something else. Yukari didn't notice that. ―――― In the afternoon, she was tasked with delivering documents to the thirty-eighth floor. The top floor where the chairman's office was located required a private elevator. Just two floors from the thirty-sixth, yet the air felt different the moment the doors opened. The hallway carpet was thick, swallowing footsteps. The indirect lighting on the walls created silence. After handing the documents to the person in charge, Yukari waited for the return elevator. That's when she saw a figure near the entrance to the executive area. Her feet naturally stopped. Ichinomiya Toma was standing there. And—directly across from him was Kirishima Renji. With the same gentle smile from midday, speaking words in a respectful posture. The voice didn't reach her. But his gestures were polite and soft. To anyone watching, it was the picture of a "gentlemanly visitor." Toma didn't move. His arms hung at his sides, his posture without a single millimeter of disorder. His expression was the "Ichinomiya Toma face" she knew—emotionless, unreadable. But today's seemed different somehow. (Different.) Yukari stood at the edge of the hallway, holding her breath, watching the two of them. Toma's grayish-blue eyes narrowed slightly. Just barely. But that narrowing—it wasn't accepting Kirishima's words as courtesy. It held an animal-like sharpness, as if trying to discern something. The "emotionless quiet" she'd seen from him during the day was different in quality. That had been a quiet where emotion didn't exist. But Toma's quiet now—it was a quiet where emotion was being suppressed. There was something inside, certainly. He was controlling his entire body to keep it from escaping. That kind of quiet. Kirishima Renji turned his gaze down the hallway. Their eyes met. A light nod. Calm, natural. Following that gaze—Toma also looked at Yukari. A second of silence fell between the three of them. "Documents?" A low, terse question. "Yes," That was all she answered. Just two words exchanged. But—the moment Toma's eyes turned toward her, the quality of the air in the hallway seemed to change. The animal-like sharpness that had been directed at Kirishima Renji transformed into something else. Yukari couldn't put it into words. But the back of her neck grew warm. Toma turned his gaze back to Kirishima Renji. Yukari walked toward the elevator hall. Feeling the presence of the two men at her back, she passed through the corridor. Back on the thirty-sixth floor, sitting at her desk, she noticed it. Her pulse was elevated. A business exchange—just one word of confirmation—and why was she like this? Yukari let her gaze fall on the documents, trying to calm her heartbeat. But it wouldn't settle at all. (This is strange.) She gave a small, wry smile to herself. ―――― Quitting time came. The elevator hall on the thirty-sixth floor grew crowded in the evening. A dozen or so people crowded into one elevator, and just before the doors closed—a figure rushed in. It was Kirishima Renji. He said only "excuse me" as he boarded. The elevator was already full, so he naturally ended up standing right beside Yukari. The sleeve of his coat barely touched her arm. He might not have noticed. But Yukari did. After a moment, Kirishima Renji spoke quietly. "Thank you for today," His voice was calm, low, and carried well even in the crowd. The same voice she'd heard that morning. A voice with warmth. Yukari gave a small "no" in return. The elevator reached the first floor. The doors opened, and people flowed out. Yukari went with the flow and exited. As she headed toward the taxi stand, the events of the day floated through her mind and faded. Kirishima Renji's gentle smile. The words "rare." And—Toma's grayish-blue eyes in that hallway. That slight narrowing, that animal-like sharpness. "Documents?" Just one word. Both had changed her pulse. But—the quality was completely different. The sensation she felt toward Kirishima Renji was warm. Comfortable. Pleasant. Praised, her face grew hot. It was close to a purely "good feeling" sensation. The sensation she felt toward Toma was—like her chest was being gripped. Whether it was pleasant or not, she didn't even know. Only that she couldn't look away. The moment she saw those eyes, her entire body reacted. That one word, "documents," still lingered in her ears. Which was closer to "love"? Yukari thought as she walked. But the more she thought, the further she seemed from an answer. Her chest beat irregularly. Her breath caught slightly. Her hand, resting on her lap, had unconsciously clenched—Yukari only noticed this after getting in the taxi. Outside the window, winter Marunouchi flowed past. Building lights spread across the water's surface like melting. The gate lamp of Shirokane-dai appeared in the distance. No answer came. ―――― After dinner, Yukari spread out the next day's documents on the dining table. It was a quiet night. Murase had already withdrawn, and Shimokagakan's south wing was wrapped in gentle light. Outside the window, the bare branches of a weeping cherry floated in the winter darkness. Footsteps sounded from the hallway. The door opened. Toma came in. She thought it unusual. She rarely saw Toma in the dining room at night. He usually spent his evenings alone in his study. Toma sat quietly in the chair across from her without directing his gaze at Yukari. He held a whiskey glass in one hand and several documents in the other. Without exchanging looks with her, he began reading the documents. It was a parallel silence. Yukari returned her eyes to her documents. The sound of a pen moving, pages turning—only that continued quietly. Strangely, it wasn't awkward. Just two people in the same space, that was all. How much time passed? Without looking up from his documents, Toma spoke. "Did you talk with Kirishima Renji?" His voice was slightly lower than usual. Yukari looked up. Toma's gaze was still on the documents. "A little, yes," A second of silence. "Be careful with that man," That was all. Words without emotional embellishment, terse. But—the whiskey glass in his hand was gripped slightly harder than usual, Yukari noticed. "What do you mean?" "It's a business matter," He turned a page. There was a sense of closing the conversation. Yukari couldn't ask further. The words "business matter" stood as a wall. She didn't know if she should cross it. (Am