One night had passed since Kashiwagi's confession. The morning of the third floor of the Akasaka Toumei Building was wrapped in its usual bustle. The clacking of keyboards, the ringing of phones, someone's laughter. Nagihara Satsuki sat at her desk amid those sounds, gazing blankly at her computer screen. (Did I really think about what happened yesterday...?) No answer had come. Kashiwagi's words kept spinning around in her head. And also that Liite icon reflected on Watase's smartphone. "Nagihara" A low voice called out. From the glass-walled private office, Watase Yuto was looking at her. Dark brown short hair, gray eyes. The usual perfectly tailored suit. His expressionless face watched her quietly. Nagihara's body stiffened reflexively. "[serious]Bring me the list of improvements" "Y-yes. Right away..." She stood up. Her legs felt a little heavy. She knocked on the office door, entered, and Watase opened his mouth without looking up from his documents. "[cold]You were supposed to submit this yesterday. Your analysis is too superficial. You've just lined up numbers without identifying the actual issues" His words were matter-of-fact, stripped of all emotion. "I-I'm sorry. Yesterday, I just couldn't concentrate..." She started to speak, then noticed it. Watase's eyebrows moved slightly. Just for an instant, but they definitely moved. But the next moment, they were already back to normal. "[cold]The reason you couldn't concentrate is irrelevant. Do your job. That's all" His gaze returned to the documents. Conversation over. Nagihara bowed slightly and left the office. On the way back to her desk, chestnut-colored hair entered her field of vision. "Nagihara-chan, wait a sec" Kashiwagi Kouhei leaned out from his desk, whispering with a grin. His amber-colored eyes seemed to shine with amusement. "[excited]Have you been thinking about what I said yesterday? My confession?" "I will think about it properly! I'm thinking about it properly right now...!" She hushed him in a low voice. Her voice had gotten a bit too loud, and she hurriedly covered her mouth. She felt a gaze on her back. From beyond the glass. From the direction of Watase's office. She wanted to apologize to both of them. "[laughing]Your face is way too serious—it's actually kind of scary" "Don't laugh!" "Sorry, sorry. But you will think about it properly, right? That's enough for me" When he smiled like that, she couldn't say anything more. Nagihara sighed once and turned back to her computer. She tried to focus on work. She really did. But in just the morning, she made the same mistake with numbers three times. —— Lunch break. Nagihara printed the revised list and headed to Watase's office. A short walk within the third floor—shorter than walking the distance of three floors in the hallway. Yet she felt slightly tense. Through the glass of the office, she could see Watase's back. He was holding his smartphone. The screen was faintly visible through the glass. Pastel green. ——It was Liite. Nagihara's feet stopped. Something pulsed deep in her chest. She stood frozen, completely missing the timing to knock. Watase moved slightly. Slowly, he turned toward her. Their eyes met. Watase's movements stopped. "I-I'm sorry! I brought the revised list..." She panicked, opened the door, slid the documents to the edge of his desk, and made a U-turn. She didn't run, but she walked quite quickly. When she got back to her desk, her cheeks were burning. (Could it really be... that person...?) "Nagihara-chan, what's wrong with your face? You look like a boiled octopus" "[angry]Just leave me alone!" She raised her voice for the first time. Kashiwagi's eyes widened slightly with an "oh," and then he chuckled quietly. Nagihara was surprised at herself and immediately became small. "I'm sorry..." "No, you don't need to apologize. I was teasing you too much" His voice was unusually sincere. —— The mistakes continued into the afternoon. She almost sent an email to the wrong client address and caught it just before hitting send. A document's page numbers were off, and she discovered it after printing. She miscalculated a meeting time by 30 minutes and was saved when Section Chief Seo confirmed it for her. After the third mistake, Seo Mariko quietly came to the side of her desk. Her chestnut-colored medium-wave hair caught the soft light of the office fluorescents. The small star-shaped earring on her left ear swayed slightly. "[serious]Come with me for a bit after work tonight. That's an order" Her voice was gentle, but left no room for argument. "Um, but..." "[gentle]No buts" Her deep green eyes looked at her quietly. She couldn't argue back. —— After work, she was taken to "Hotaru Yokocho." A small izakaya in an alley three minutes on foot from the Akasaka Toumei Building. Just eight counter seats and three tables—a cozy little place. Wooden plank walls, warm lighting, soft BGM drifting from somewhere. Behind the counter, the white-haired owner silently polished glasses. "Welcome, Seo-san. The usual?" "Yes, please. Two plum shiso sours" Seo sat down at the counter without hesitation. Nagihara settled onto the seat beside her. Sitting side by side at the counter felt strange somehow. At work, there was distance between supervisor and subordinate. But now, the air felt a little different. Two glasses were placed in front of them. Pale purple plum shiso sours. The sweet-tart scent of plum drifted softly to her nose. "[gentle]So, what happened?" Seo got straight to the point. "Um... nothing really. The mistakes were just because I'm a bit sleep-deprived—" "[sarcastic]Kashiwagi-kun's confession, right?" Nagihara's words stopped. "...You found out?" "[gentle]I could tell from the face you had coming down from the rooftop. I've known that kid had feelings for you for a while now" Seo took a sip of her sour and then leaned her elbow on the counter. A composed profile. At 41 years old, that kind of moment carried a quiet weight. "Have you decided on your answer?" "...Not yet" "I see" She said just that and fell silent for a while. Nagihara also stayed quiet, cradling her glass in both hands. The ice clinked against it, cold and refreshing. After a moment, Seo spoke again. "[serious]I'm going to say one more thing. Listen, even if you don't want to hear it" "...Yes" "[gentle]Director Watase—when he gets angry at you, his voice tone is different" The hand holding the glass stopped. "With other team members—no matter how poorly they perform—he just quietly criticizes them. Calmly, without emotion. But with you... something leaks through, just a little" "...Leaks through?" "Emotion. I've been at this company for nine years, and you're the only one he's ever raised his voice at like that. What that means—well, it wouldn't be fun if I answered that for you" With that, Seo took another sip of her sour. Nagihara couldn't find words. His way of getting angry was different. Only you, for nine years. Those words began spinning in her head. The Liite screen she'd seen at noon floated up. The pastel green chat interface. The way Watase's movements had stopped when their eyes met. The warm words in the messages that arrived at night. Scattered pieces were starting to form a shape—but it still wasn't quite clear. "[gentle]Make sure you understand your own feelings before you do anything. Otherwise, everyone will get hurt" As they were leaving, Seo said that quietly. The phrase "everyone will get hurt" felt heavy. It wasn't just about Watase. It included Kashiwagi too. When she realized that, Nagihara looked down silently. —— She returned to "Maison Harukaze" on the third floor just after 9 PM. She entered the room, took off her coat, and collapsed onto the bed. Beyond the balcony, the silhouette of the Yoyogi forest lay dark. The sound of the night breeze faintly touched the window glass. She took out her smartphone. She opened Liite. One notification. From "yoru_no_niwa." "Did you get to talk to someone tonight?" She checked the send time. It was ten minutes after she'd left Hotaru Yokocho. (Does this person know about tonight?) With trembling fingers, she typed a reply. "[scared]Yes, a little. An adult person taught me a lot of things" She sent it. One second. Two seconds. Three seconds—it was read. She waited for a reply. She stared at the screen for five minutes. Ten minutes. Thirty minutes passed, and nothing came. An hour went by, and still nothing. She placed her smartphone on her chest and looked up at the ceiling. White ceiling. (The way he gets angry is different, huh...) She repeated the words softly to herself. Seo's words still lingered there. Nagihara opened the screen three times to confirm the name "yoru_no_niwa." All three times, the name was displayed. All three times, no reply came. All three times, something strange happened in her chest. Only the read receipt was there. (He's looking at it, but won't reply. Why...?) She couldn't sleep. She stared at the ceiling all night, thinking the same thing over and over. His way of getting angry was different. Only you for nine years. The Liite screen. "Did you get to talk to someone tonight?"—a message that arrived ten minutes after leaving Hotaru Yokocho. The pieces shifted shape again. (I have to confirm it properly) Around the time the light of dawn began to seep through the window, Nagihara finally decided. Tomorrow, I'll look at Director Watase's face properly—this time, I won't run away.