Chapter Nine: An Old Friend, the Best Ending, and the Reunion

Ryoko was so startled by her sudden reunion with one of her very few male friends from her school days, she forgot that she was still being held in his arms.

The friend in question was Yuto Takanashi, a high school classmate of hers who now looked like the quintessential career man. Back in high school, he’d been the extroverted popular kid of class. With a friendly demeanor and attractive appearance to match, he had numerous admirers in all grade levels. Despite this, he had always remained faithful to any girl he was dating, which had made a good impression on Ryoko.

“I haven’t seen you in ages! How long has it been?” He released Ryoko from his arms, although they maintained an intimate distance as they shared an umbrella in the rain.

Ryoko recognized his smile, and smiled herself in return. He was the popular type who lived the full high school experience, but he’d never treated Ryoko or other geeks any differently. In fact, cliques in their class had intermingled with each other much more than was typical. Takanashi had built bridges between the nerds and the party animals, the athletic and the artsy, and the extroverts and the introverts, so everyone in their class could have fun. At the time, Ryoko had viewed him as a shojo manga hero come to life.

“It has been a long time, hasn’t it?” Ryoko confirmed. “I’ve been doing pretty good. How about you, Takanashi?”

“Not too bad, not too bad... Except for almost working myself to death. Couldn’t make it to any of the reunions...”

“Me neither,” Ryoko chimed in. Their class had always held reunions every few years, but Ryoko had not made it to the past two or three because of her work schedule.

“Oh, Hayakawa. Hold this for a sec.” He handed her the umbrella and Ryoko reflexively took it. After making sure there were no oncoming cars, he went down the crosswalk and retrieved Ryoko’s fold-up umbrella. “Here you go.”

As Ryoko took her own umbrella, Takanashi retrieved his from her hands—all while making sure that she stayed dry, of course. The maneuver was so natural that Ryoko couldn’t help but silently mutter smooth as butter... in a deep southern accent, no less.

“Sorry, thank you,” she muttered out loud. “I would have gotten it myself...”

“Don’t worry about it. Does it still work?”

Ryoko checked the umbrella to see that the frame had bent out of shape, making it unretractable. She couldn’t help but let out a long sigh. “This was pretty expensive.” The umbrella was from a high-end brand, which she had impulse bought many years ago and used ever since. Even worse, the brand had discontinued the design.

Takanashi patted her shoulder in consolation. “Better than dying, though, right? You seriously got to be careful, though. Would have scarred me for life if I saw you go splat.”

“Says someone who was a little too into horror games back in high school.”

Video games were something Ryoko and Takanashi had in common. While Ryoko was already deep into otome games at the time, she also dabbled in all kinds of genres—fighting games, dungeon crawlers, RPGs, and pet-raising sims. Even though her monthly allowance and part time salary all turned into video games, she had managed to live a very fulfilled school life.

Takanashi wasn’t as deep into the otaku realm as Ryoko was, but they had spent many hours in heated conversation on video games. He had been particularly fond of action games, and had poured an exorbitant number of hours into one particular zombie shooter. That being said, Ryoko had always been averse to anything horror-themed, so she’d always turned down any invites from Takanashi to play games in that genre with him.

“Video games aren’t real, Hayakawa. That’s the point, don’t you think?”

“Yes, yes. I get it. I’m sorry. I’ll be more careful. Thank you for saving me. Really.” I really did cut it close, Ryoko thought, and swore never to make the same mistake again. She really didn’t want to die, after all.

“Rain’s let up.”

Takanashi’s comment prompted Ryoko to look up at the sky. There was no sign of the downpour, and stars even peeked through breaks in the clouds. The storm had come and gone. Takanashi closed his umbrella, and Ryoko forced her own shut. A nasty snap was heard along the way, as if the little umbrella had let out its dying breath. This prompted Ryoko to let out another sigh.

Takanashi said, “Looked like you were in a hurry. Did you have any plans? Are you meeting someone, maybe?”

“No, I was just going to the game shop down the...” Ryoko began to answer, preoccupied with mourning her umbrella—then realized that she, a woman in her mid-thirties, had just confessed to having plans to go buy a video game. She covered her mouth much too late.

“Still a gamer, huh?” Takanashi chuckled.

Ryoko scowled to mask her embarrassment. “Does that bother you?”

He shook his head. “Nope. Glad to see you haven’t changed.”

Ryoko didn’t know what to make of the response, and looked away as she maintained her scowl.

Somehow, Ryoko had ended up at the game store with Takanashi in tow.

“Here’s your copy... and your change.”

“Thank you,” Ryoko said, taking the bag and coins from the cashier she had long ago become friends with.

“Ryoko... I’m concerned that you’ve brought a guy to pick up this kind of game.” The cashier glanced at Takanashi, who was curiously browsing the shelf stocked with used games from a generation prior.

Ryoko let out a chuckle at her implicating glance. “Well, he’s just a high school friend I ran into.”

A smirk spread across the cashier’s face. “Oh? Sounds like you’re on track for a Best Ending to me.” And there was the video game lingo. She and Ryoko shared a vice, after all.

“Nope. Not happening,” Ryoko denied, shaking her hand and head. Her eyes began to wander, which only made the snicker on the cashier’s face more mischievous.

Just when Ryoko was about to deny her suggestions again, Takanashi interrupted, “Hayakawa, check out this blast from the past.” He held up a particular action game with a progression system based around hunting monsters, collecting materials, and improving the character’s weapons instead of leveling up the character itself, putting more focus on equipment and player skill. It was a massive hit when Ryoko and Takanashi were in high school. Ryoko remembered playing it too.

“One just came out for the current gen.”

The video game series had kept its popularity right up to the recently released title. Ryoko hadn’t purchased it herself, but it was definitely the season’s most difficult game to acquire, selling out in store after store.

“Where? Show me.”

“Wonder if they’ve actually got a copy here... I heard they were selling out everywhere.”

They headed to the New Releases shelf.

By the time they left the game shop, Ryoko’s wallet had gotten lighter than expected, and Takanashi had left with a video game, console, and even a strategy guide.

“I can’t wait to play this,” he said. “Things finally settled down at work. My team knows what they’re doing now, which means less overtime for me... But a little too much free time for a single guy to sit alone in his apartment.”

Ryoko tilted her head. “Wait, you don’t have a wife? Or kids?” She recalled how Takanashi had gone off to the same college as his high school sweetheart. She was convinced that they would end up getting married.

A shadow fell over Takanashi’s expression. “I’m still single, yeah. If you’re talking about my high school girlfriend, I broke up with her like ten years ago.” He went on to tell that they had been going steady until they graduated college. She wanted to get married right away, but Takanashi had asked her to wait until he’d started his career and built a foundation for their lives. She apparently didn’t like that answer, but failed to make this clear to Takanashi, who put himself to work for long hours, day in and day out. The company he worked for at the time was going through some changes, which meant that he worked overtime every day and barely received any days off. However the job itself was his dream job, so he never grew tired of it.

As he lost himself in his work, he had ended up neglecting his girlfriend. One night, when they were in their late twenties, she had cheated on him with a coworker of hers, and their relationship had ended.

Now that is some soap-level drama! Ryoko silently interjected. Sure, some blame lay with Takanashi for neglecting his girlfriend. She’d been desperate to get married, but was forced to wait; then on top of that, her boyfriend ignored her. It was easy to understand how she might have fallen for a man whispering some kind words.

Takanashi was an objectively handsome man, so Ryoko expected that the girlfriend might have also been a little insecure because of that—not to mention that women have a biological clock. Building romantic relationships was one thing, but having children only became more dangerous with age. Ryoko, as someone who was about to turn thirty-five in a day, could somewhat understand the loneliness, nervousness, and insecurities that Takanashi’s ex must have felt.

On the other hand, she could sympathize with Takanashi, too. Wanting a solid foundation for their lives was another way of saying that he never wanted his girlfriend to go without. That was a genuine sentiment, and was practically a proposal in and of itself.

Besides, the girlfriend had issued the forbidden ultimatum, “It’s me or your job!”

That ultimatum was a cliché in dramas, but Ryoko imagined that only fictional characters could really choose between the two. Takanashi had worked hard because he cared about his girlfriend and wanted her to have a good life. But would she have been truly happy with Takanashi neglecting his career, setting them up for financial difficulties later? Ryoko imagined that she wouldn’t have been.

They didn’t talk to each other enough, she thought, as most with more life experience than the young couple might have realized. Takanashi and his girlfriend had both been young and had gotten caught up in their own lives, neglecting to communicate with each other. Neither of them could have been blamed entirely, but Ryoko always secretly admired the pair, so she couldn’t help but feel disappointed that his girlfriend had crossed that line of infidelity.

“That must have been tough,” Ryoko said. She doubted that he wanted to hear any lecture or criticism from a high school classmate he hadn’t seen in over a decade, nor did she feel like giving him some platitude that his girlfriend was entirely to blame.

“What about you, Hayakawa? Oh, guess you shouldn’t be hanging out with me alone if you’ve got a husband waiting for you.”

“As if I could ever find one,” she proudly declared, which prompted a chortle from Takanashi. She was secretly glad that the shadow on his expression was gone.

“Is that really something to be proud of...? If that’s true, you should come play this with me some time. Oh, and do you want to go get something to eat?”

“What? Are you asking me out?” Ryoko teased, thinking that he was just being polite. She ended up looking up at Takanashi, who was a bit taller than her.

Her expectation, however, was betrayed by a coy grin. “Is that a yes?”

Ryoko felt her heart skip at Takanashi’s smile, which had taken on a romantic feel all of a sudden. She looked away, not knowing what else to do in a real-life flirtatious conversation. “I’ll think about it...” she muttered.

“In that case,” Takanashi quickly took a business card and pen out of his coat pocket and jotted down something on the back of the card. “Here’s my number. I could use your help with this game, too...” He handed the card to Ryoko. “I hope you give me a call.” With that, he walked away.

After watching him leave, Ryoko looked down at the business card and was surprised to find that it listed the name of a very big company—one of the major clients for her own job. He was the head of a department. They were the same age, but Ryoko could see how hard he’d worked from the difference in their career. While Ryoko also worked in the headquarters of a major company, she had fewer responsibilities and less pressure since she wasn’t heading a department.

She turned the business card around to find his number. Ryoko stood where she was for a few minutes, just staring at the card—a token of the very first time a man had asked her out.

After returning to her condo, wiping off her make-up and changing into loungewear, Ryoko placed her dinner on the table and sat down on her beloved sofa.

“I am exhausted...” she muttered as she turned on the TV and cracked open a can of beer, pouring the contents into a glass. The golden ale frothed to a perfect foam, which she downed with manly vigor before letting out a satisfied grunt and wiping her lips. “That’s the stuff. Nothing beats a cold one after a day’s work!” Ryoko nodded in contentment as she flipped through the channels.

Putting down the half-finished drink, she reached for her chopsticks to start on her dinner, which was more of a side to her glass of beer. This night’s course consisted of microwaved cabbage topped with mayonnaise, soy sauce, and bonito flakes, as well as a slightly-nicer pork chop she’d gotten from her parents’ house and a chicken skewer she’d picked up at a convenience store on her way home. As Ryoko lived alone, no one was there to complain that her dinner table lacked any sense of femininity or homeliness.

I thought I had run out of cabbage, but lucky me. She felt like an entirely carnivorous diet wouldn’t have been too good for her health, but she hadn’t had the chance to buy groceries amidst her busy schedule. She had expected to come home to an empty vegetable drawer in her fridge, but had instead been greeted by a half head of cabbage. Julienned cabbage heated in the microwave had become a staple in Ryoko’s apartment.

After picking through her dinner and finishing her beer, Ryoko let out a sigh. Watching TV and eating dinner alone was a normal routine for her, but tonight she seemed to have a difficult time finding her appetite. She knew exactly why, too.

As she drank beer, ate, and watched TV, she couldn’t help thinking about Takanashi. Whenever she came home with a new game, she usually cut her dinner short to boot it up, but she didn’t even feel like doing that tonight. She glanced over at her dresser, her purse and business card sitting on top of it. Takanashi’s even more good-looking now. I bet girls are all over him. He had grown into a man who looked fantastic in a business suit.

He’s not really interested in me, right...? Ryoko was a master of love when it came to video games, but just an otaku spinster in real life. Now, a good-looking classmate had come into her after more than fifteen years. What’s more, this single and available man had literally saved her life. Just like her cashier friend had said, if this was a video game, he would obviously be a conquerable character.

“Nope. Not happening. Not a chance.” Ryoko shook her head as if to banish the thought. Real life wasn’t as convenient as a video game, nor a dream. She wasn’t a starry-eyed teenager anymore, either.

Just then, she heard a song coming from the TV. She turned to the screen to find a female artist singing a ballad. “She’s gotten pretty popular now,” Ryoko mused. Usually she had only been interested in anime songs and video game soundtracks, but she’d come across this particular singer and had bought every album she’d put out.

When Ryoko had first heard this artist, she had only just gotten her first record deal and wasn’t very well known. Now, she was singing on TV. I haven’t really listened to her songs lately. Once the performance ended, Ryoko turned off the TV and stood up from her seat. Then, she turned on the stereo and set the volume low. While the walls of her condo were relatively soundproof, it was late enough in the day that she wanted to respect her neighbors.

A nostalgic song began to play. It’s been a while, but this one never gets old, Ryoko thought. The song had a slower tempo suited to its heartfelt lyrics, and this particular song had always helped Ryoko calm down whenever she was upset. She quietly sang along, and just as her favorite part—the chorus—was about to start, she felt a stinging pain in her head.

Ryoko clasped her forehead and the image of a little girl flashed into her mind. Her long copper hair flowed in the wind. What? She didn’t recognize the girl, but Ryoko felt a sense of breathlessness, like someone had grabbed hold of her lungs. What’s going on? Who is that girl...?

Before she could come up with an explanation, a wave of pain swept through her head, erasing the vision of the girl from Ryoko’s mind. I did get rained on today... Maybe I caught a cold. Guess I’ll call it a night. With a sigh, Ryoko turned off the stereo.

She then spotted a pocket watch right beside it. An antique-looking silver pocket watch.

“When did I get this?” Ryoko wondered aloud. She reached for the watch when her headache suddenly became pounding, prompting her to squeeze out a groan. “I better lie down,” she muttered as she turned away from the watch without touching it. Moving the dishware she had left on the table into the sink, Ryoko took some medicine from the medicine cabinet and brushed her teeth before crawling into bed. Then, she closed her eyes, already dreading waking up early in the morning to take a shower and wash the dishes.

She soon let go of her consciousness, forgetting all about the girl and the silver pocket watch.

That weekend, Ryoko visited her parents’ home. Her family was hosting a thirty-fifth birthday party for her. With a fancy pint of ice cream in one hand, she had walked over to her parents’ home from her condo. When she entered the front gate, the all-black guard dog had greeted her with a wagging tail.

“Who’s a good boy, Kuro?” Ryoko asked.

The large black dog, whose snout came up to Ryoko’s waist even when he was seated, answered with a ruff!

Just then, a black-haired young man appeared in Ryoko’s mind. Wait... She felt like she might have recognized him. The throb of a headache prevented her from recalling exactly where she knew him from, though.

Guess I’m not over that cold. Ryoko pinched the bridge of her nose. She had been having terrible headaches lately, and any medicine she took barely did anything to help. Even at work, the headache had given her a perpetual scowl, prompting her boss to ask if she was upset about something.

As she massaged between her brows to try and mitigate the pain to some degree, Kuro rubbed against her leg, concerned. She pet his head, and the dog wagged his tail so hard that it seemed in danger of flying right off.

“Let’s go for a walk later.”

Kuro answered Ryoko’s promise with a gleeful bark.

Ryoko stepped into the house and called to her parents as she went to put the ice cream away in the freezer. As she struggled to make room for the pint, her mother snuck up from behind her and said, “Seems like something’s up with you... Did you finally get yourself a man?”

“Huh?!” Ryoko blurted in surprise, and dropped the ice cream. It happened to fall into the space she had arranged for it, albeit with a loud noise. She turned around to find a grin on her mother’s face, and her father glanced back at them from the couch where he had been reading the paper. “That came out of nowhere,” Ryoko remarked.

“Something’s different about you... Like you’ve got this aura, you know? Don’t underestimate a mother’s intuition,” she added, prompting Ryoko to stammer back a response. Her mother always did have a keen sense of intuition, especially when it came to family. Ryoko couldn’t think of a secret she had ever successfully kept from her mother. “How long has this been going on?” she piled on. “How old is he? Where does he work? Are you going to marry him?”

“Why do you always have to jump straight to that?!”

“I knew you’d got yourself a man,” her mother smirked again.

Ryoko finally realized that she had walked into her trap. Even after thirty-five years, she never felt like she stood a chance against her mother. “It’s none of your business if I did,” she said to try and regain some dignity, although it came out sounding like a petulant teenager. She looked away.

Her mother’s expression shifted to one of concern. “We’re both worried about you,” she said. “We wait year after year and you never even find a boyfriend, let alone a husband. I know that looking for a boyfriend just to get married seems backwards, but what are you going to do once we’re gone?”

“I’m fine by myself. And I have two wonderful sisters and a beautiful niece...” Ryoko couldn’t be too combative in the face of her mother’s genuine concern, though.

Her mother kept going. “It can be really tough when you find yourself all alone. It’ll help a lot if you have someone you can really lean on.”

Ryoko pondered. Alone. She imagined herself living alone, with no one to rely on. Growing older, year after year, alone. The image of a silver-haired man sitting on a sofa in front of a fireplace came to mind, but it too was wiped out by her surging headache.

“Ooh... you’re thinking of a man, aren’t you?!” her mother pointed out.

Ryoko shook her head. She didn’t want to think of anything with this headache she was having. “I was not...! There’s still time until everyone gets here, so I’ll take Kuro out for a bit.” She walked past her mother—who wasn’t satisfied with the answer—dodged her father’s implicating look, and headed to the front door.

Opening the door, Ryoko found Kuro standing at the ready like a loyal soldier. She chuckled at the sight and removed the leash from Kuro’s around-the-block tote and clicked it onto Kuro’s collar before walking out the gate.

Kuro was an outside dog who spent most of his time in the yard, but he never went past the gate, even if it was open, unless he was being taken on a walk. He was such a smart guard dog that even when a stranger came into the yard, he would bark but never bite. On top of that, he never tugged on the leash when being walked and matched his stride with his owners. He only walked a few steps ahead of Ryoko, occasionally turning around as if to make sure she was still there.

“Why won’t mom shut up about marriage, Kuro?” Ryoko asked. Kuro responded with a sympathetic ruff, although Ryoko didn’t believe he really understood her. “Thanks for always letting me vent.”

Just as Kuro responded with another ruff, Ryoko spotted a little girl of about six or seven years old walking their way. Ryoko guided Kuro to the edge of the sidewalk and commanded, “Kuro, sit... Lie down.” He obeyed immediately. While Ryoko didn’t expect Kuro to ever attack or even bark at a child, he was big enough to intimidate a grown man. She didn’t want to risk the girl being scared and jumping out into the road.

When the little girl passed them with a small glance at Kuro, Ryoko could have sworn the girl had curly sienna hair. She turned around to see the back of the girl’s head—but she had a very ordinary black braid hanging down her back. What did I see...? Ryoko tilted her head, and Kuro ruffed at her. With an apology, Ryoko resumed Kuro’s walk.

Ryoko followed the usual dog-walk route and came to the park near the end. Twilight had lit up the entire sky above in a golden orange. “Beautiful...” Ryoko muttered. The sun was setting earlier and earlier as they approached winter, so Ryoko was usually greeted by a few stars in the night sky by the time she got out of work. She hadn’t seen a sunset like this in a long time.

The nostalgic orange somehow got her choked up, as if her heart was breaking. Why...? The sky’s color showed a vision of a faint landscape she didn’t know and someone she didn’t recognize. Ryoko tried to picture what she was seeing more clearly when the headache struck again, as if to bully her out of thinking too deeply. What is this...? This had happened every time she tried to remember something.

Ryoko wondered, through the worsening headache, if she was forgetting something important. She couldn’t shake the feeling, but she also couldn’t figure out what she had forgotten. The more she tried to remember, the worse her headache became. Even still, Ryoko didn’t give up. Something inside would not let her do so.

Then, she heard a meow. Ryoko turned to the park bench to find a cat sitting on it, bathed in the golden orange of the sunset. She knew that the cat actually had pure white fur, and never befriended or even came up to anyone. It was rare to see the cat cry at all. “Long time no see, Shiro,” Ryoko called, which the cat met with an annoyed flick of its tail.

Shiro stared at Ryoko with its golden eyes before getting up and out of the bench, as if to say that the cat was too busy to spend much time with her. “You give me one meow, then back to normal. What a tease you are,” she chuckled. First she’s hot, then she’s cold... Guess that’s better than Mister Ice-Cold-24-7.

Ryoko froze. Who am I thinking about? She couldn’t answer that thought as a dull pain overtook her head. Until Kuro rubbed against her leg, she stood there motionless.

Ryoko returned to her condo after her thirty-fifth birthday party and began organizing the presents she’d received from her sisters. One of the presents was a limited edition DVD box set of an anime, which she had been wanting for ages. She had forgotten to pre-order and hadn’t been able to find it through online auctions, but her sisters had coincidentally come across a copy. She went to pop in the first disc when Takanashi’s business card, still left on the dresser, caught her eye. She hadn’t sent him a text yet.

“It can be really tough when you find yourself alone,” her mother’s words echoed in her mind. After some thought, Ryoko picked up her cellphone and opened her contact list.

After half an hour of typing and re-reading and re-re-reading the text—which included another thanks for his help, an apology for taking so long to contact him, and a question about his new video game—she hit send.

Ryoko’s phone went off five minutes later, indicating a new text. She read it eagerly, her heartbeat growing faster. Takanashi had thanked her for sending him a text, answered that yes, he was enjoying his new game, and... “Do you want to go out for dinner, this Friday?” Is he... asking me on a date?! She had never received a text asking her out, either. Her heart beat faster.

It took Ryoko another half an hour to reply.

The next Friday, Ryoko was uncharacteristically frazzled. She kept staring at the clock on her computer screen. The day usually went by fairly quickly when she was at work, but not today.

One of her younger coworkers commented, half an hour before the end of the work day, “You changed up your make-up today, Miss Hayakawa.”

“Y-You noticed?” Ryoko reflexively covered her cheeks. She had, indeed, used different blush, eyeshadow, and lipstick. That being said, her make-up was still office-appropriate and only different enough from her usual routine that one would have had to pay close attention to notice. Little Yamada’s a social butterfly, after all... Her coworker was a cutesy type, a trendy young woman with a great sense of style. She was quite popular among the male workers of the office, but she had a boyfriend already. Yamada had a ditsy side, too, which Ryoko found to be her most charming quality.

“Sure did! You went with a cute palette, today... Oh, I know! You have a date tonight!”

“N-No, I...! Can’t you at least ask, Yamada?!” Ryoko panicked at the gleam in her coworker’s eyes. A few other coworkers looked up at her reaction, but Ryoko was too preoccupied to notice.

“And you’re wearing colorful clothes today! You never do that!”

In fact, Ryoko had worn an outfit devoid of her familiar neutral tones after spending an hour researching the topic online. She wasn’t going to say that out loud, though. Ryoko violently shook her head in denial. ”I’m telling you, Yamada. I don’t! And keep your voice down!” she added in a hush.

Yamada ignored her and grabbed the pile of paperwork Ryoko had set aside. “Leave the rest to me, Miss Hayakawa. You should get ready to go!”

“I know Fridays are date nights for you and your boyfriend, Yamada. And that task—”

“My boyfriend’s going out with his coworkers today, so no worries! Do you have anything else?”

Ryoko was interrupted before she could say “...isn’t due for another week.” At the end of the day, after Yamada carried on like she was the one going on a date, Ryoko thanked her and left her seat as soon as she could clock out.

Once Ryoko left the office, the remaining workers gathered around Yamada’s desk, clamoring her with all sorts of questions.

“Ryo’s got a boyfriend?!”

“She can’t get married! We can’t afford to lose her!”

“There are a bunch of people at her old branch that have got their eyes on her!”

“Someone asked me to set him up with her...”

Eventually the department head joined in for an emergency meeting, but Ryoko was none the wiser.

Ryoko changed into her outfit in the dressing room and looked at her reflection in the full-length mirror on the wall. She was wearing a ruffled white blouse and a knee-length skirt with a large floral pattern. Ryoko thought it was tastefully put together—not too flashy, but not frumpy and grandma-like, either. Sure, it’s a little brighter than my usual... In retrospect, she wondered if she was letting on more than she realized, seeing how Yamada saw right through her. This would be the first actual dinner date of her life.

Then, she caught sight of a scale that someone had brought in among a few other personal belongings that various employees kept out of the way in the dressing room. I haven’t checked in a while... In other words, she didn’t want to face the reality of her declining physique. That being said, Ryoko wanted to improve herself if she was going to enter a relationship in the future.

She carefully stepped onto the scale. When her weight appeared on the display, something snapped inside her.

“Yep, uh huh. Right. Of course...” She stood there staring at the dreadful number with her head on the wall.

Ryoko and Takanashi were at a fancy bar inside a luxurious hotel. The windows were floor-to-ceiling, allowing a clear view of the skyline beyond the softly lit interior. Sofas and tables were placed to allow patrons to look out at the city, which made this a popular spot for couples.

After they had eaten at a restaurant Takanashi suggested, there was a little quarrel between them when Ryoko suggested splitting the bill but Takanashi insisted on paying. While she had let Takanashi pay for the sake of his pride when the bill arrived, Ryoko had never been keen on being treated. Once they left the restaurant, she tried to hand him cash, but he stubbornly refused. After going back and forth, Takanashi finally relented when Ryoko threatened, “If we don’t split the bill, I’m never going anywhere with you again.”

Then, Takanashi had offered to buy her a drink for her birthday, and she had agreed to that. When he brought her to an obviously expensive bar instead of a local izakaya, Ryoko knew that she had been outsmarted. She couldn’t refuse to go into the bar when she had already insisted on splitting the dinner bill, even though she kept wondering how many beers she could get at her local bar for the price of one cocktail here.

“Then, one of my coworkers said...” Takanashi excitedly told her stories about his work, which Ryoko nodded along to as she sipped her drink. “Sorry, am I boring you?” Takanashi asked, noticing the lack of reaction from Ryoko. “I’ve only been talking about my work for a while...”

“It’s not boring at all. There’s lots of things to learn from it, and I can tell how much you enjoy your job.” Ryoko liked her job, too. She was fond of her office and the people who worked there. In a way, she felt a sense of camaraderie with Takanashi. She lived for her hobbies, while Takanashi lived for his work, and both of them were approaching forty, still single and unattached.

“Work did get me cheated on. After that, it was all I had...” Takanashi gave a self-deprecating chuckle.

“I bet you’re popular with the ladies, though. Isn’t there someone you have your eye on?” He’s gotta be popular, she thought. Good-looking, good at his job, funny, and kind—and he seemed to have really aged well. Any men around Ryoko who were remotely a catch were already taken, so any single men usually had some issues.

Takanashi chuckled again. “I’m not, and there isn’t. Everyone thinks I’m all work and no play.”

“Crazy. I wouldn’t let you get away,” Ryoko teased.

Takanashi’s expression became serious. “You mean that, Hayakawa?” His reaction had taken Ryoko out of her buzz. “I was actually relieved when I met you at that crosswalk.”

“Relieved?”

“That you haven’t changed since high school, I mean.”

“Well. I’ve gotten older.”

“You don’t have to say that about yourself, you know... And that’s not what I mean,” he said with a chuckle. “How you are, I guess. You always had this unique aura about you. It’s hard to explain.”

Ryoko gave him the stink eye. “Are you trying to say I’m weird? Or that I’m as immature as I was in high school?”

“No, I’m telling you...! You’re doing this on purpose, aren’t you?” Takanashi set his glass down on the table and looked Ryoko square in the eyes. “Hayakawa. If it’s all right with you... I’d like to see you again. A lot more often.” He inched closer to her. Despite the sofa being large enough for two, Takanashi began crossing over into her half. “And... won’t you call me Yuto? I would like to call you Ryoko, if I may.” His face grew even closer to Ryoko’s.

The next instant, Ryoko stopped him with a chop to his forehead. “I’d really be jumping for joy right now... if any of this was real,” Ryoko grinned, keeping her hand on his forehead. Then she stood, pushing Takanashi back by his shoulders.

“What...?” He seemed frozen in shock from the sudden rejection.

Leaving him behind, Ryoko approached the floor-to-ceiling windows. A gorgeous skyline rolled out beyond it. “I said, if this was real, Takanashi.” She turned to him, leaning on the window.

Takanashi was still immobilized. “Ryoko, I don’t understand what you’re...”

Ryoko chuckled, produced the silver pocket watch, and stared at it. “This is quite a well-made illusion. I almost fell for it,” she muttered, tightening her the grip on the watch. As if to give her courage again like it had once, the pocket watch had never left her side.

“Ryoko Hayakawa died at thirty-four. I am Herscherik Gracis, the Seventh Prince of the Gracis Kingdom.”

Just as she declared this, time stood still—and the world of illusions cracked and shattered to pieces, including the now completely emotionless Takanashi... or something else that had taken his form.

Ryoko had felt a sense of displacement here and there, but overall, this world was far too convenient for Ryoko. She met a man who was just her type, whom she knew for years but was also single and available. The rain had stopped when her umbrella broke. She got her hands on a copy of a sold-out video game with almost no effort, there was cabbage in the fridge when it should have been empty, her birthday present was a special item she’d completely given up on, and even Yamada, who had always left on time on Fridays... Everything worked out far too much in her favor. Then, there was the headache that got worse every time she tried to remember something.

“Although I wasn’t completely sure until I saw that...” Should I be happy that I realized when I stepped on the scale? The number on the scale had shown the ideal weight for Ryoko’s height, as if she were a supermodel—so much less than the weight she remembered. The moment she faced that impossibility, she recognized the irreconcilable difference between her perception and reality; that had broken through something within her, causing her to remember that she was now Herscherik.

Ryoko gave the fading Takanashi a smile. “Thank you for showing me a beautiful dream... Goodbye.” Just as she said this, everything except Ryoko and a small portion of the ground under her feet disintegrated into darkness.

Left alone, Ryoko held her head in her hand and let out a sigh. “Now what...? According to Mister Shiro, this should do it.” Ryoko recalled Shiro’s lesson on how to combat Mind Manipulation spells.

Shiro had explained first that one’s Magic, the armor of one’s mind, reduced the risk of succumbing to a Manipulation spell. Therefore, Herscherik’s lack of Magic Within left him practically defenseless against such an attack.

Then, he’d said, “If, by some chance, someone tries to brainwash you or trap you in an illusion... Hold fast to your sense of self, and don’t lose yourself in it. Spells like that are inefficient to begin with, so the caster’s Magic will run out sooner rather than later. Once that happens, find the core of the spell. Face it with determination and the spell will begin to unwind, then soon break.”

Per Shiro’s request, Ryoko had tried to will herself out of the illusion as soon as she knew she was trapped in a spell. When that didn’t work, she tried pinching her cheek as hard as she could to no avail. In fact, the pain in her cheek was as vivid as it would have been in reality, much to her regret.

After that, she focused on finding the core of the spell, which turned out to be Takanashi—as she had expected. This is probably something I wanted, deep down. There was some part of her that wondered: if she had never died that night, she might have met someone, had a relationship, married, started a family... she might have had a normal life. While the dread of being separated from Kuro and Oran must have contributed, the spell had struck a weak point in her heart, a deep desire that even she didn’t realize she had.

A world created from her own memory was a wonderfully comfortable place to be. But in the end, it was nothing more than an illusion. There are things I have to do. Ryoko took a deep breath, stroking the pocket watch with her thumb. “But what can I do now?”

Ryoko observed herself. Despite finding and destroying the core of the spell, she herself hadn’t changed at all. In fact, the ground below was gradually closing in on her. That seemed bad. Isn’t the spell going to break? Is it programmed to kill the target when the spell fails? Or trap their mind forever? That seemed very plausible. Almost too plausible, if Hoenir was the one behind it.

Just as cold sweat dripped down her face, the floor tilted. The next instant, the ground below her shattered. After a moment of weightlessness, Ryoko began descending into the darkness along with the shattered fragments of the illusion.

Just as Ryoko braced for the worst, the pocket watch began glowing in her hand. She closed her eyes against the brightness, then felt someone’s arms around her, relieving her from the weightlessness.

When she opened her eyes, Ryoko was greeted by a face she hadn’t seen in quite a long time.

“I’m sorry I’m late, my liege.”

“Count... Ruseria?”

“Yes,” he smiled. He had a bold expression on his face, with neatly trimmed mustard-colored hair and a pair of indigo eyes Herscherik had never truly noticed before.

“You’ve broken a powerful Manipulation spell. Incredible.” Ruseria waved his hand and a floor materialized beneath them. He lowered Ryoko to her feet and examined her from head to toe.

Ryoko, through her confusion, knew that she had questions to ask but didn’t know where to start. After what seemed like a mental overload error, she blurted out the most trivial question of all. “You seem younger, Count. Were you always this young? Were you younger than me?”

Ruseria chuckled at this. “I wasn’t exactly in good shape when you met me. Now I only have my soul, so I must appear more my true age. I didn’t expect my liege to be a beautiful woman, either.” He showed a relaxed smile, which must have been how he normally looked.

Now that her confusion had subsided, she gave a sigh with a dramatic rise and fall of her shoulders. “I never thought I’d hear a word of flattery from you, Count. You must be disappointed that the adorable prince was just an old bag on the inside.”

“Not at all,” Count Ruseria countered, defying Ryoko’s self-deprecation. “No matter the appearance, you alone are my liege,” he said with all sincerity.

“Thank you...” Ryoko answered, somewhat embarrassed. At the same time, something clicked. “Oh. You’ve been sending me signs the entire time.” The fragments of Herscherik’s memories that had been nagging at Ryoko in the world of her desires had to have been Count Ruseria’s doing.

“I only assisted in creating a catalyst to unravel the spell. The rest was all your doing, Your Highness.”

Ryoko chuckled at being called ‘Your Highness’ in her thirty-five-year-old woman’s body. “Without your help, I don’t know where I’d be... My death was unexpected, so I still have family back there. Things I wish I had done...” Ryoko placed a hand over her chest. She had made up her mind to live her life as Herscherik, but at the same time, part of her still longed for her previous life. She expected that to continue as long as she was Herscherik. Even though that feeling would only weigh him down, it was a precious part of Ryoko that he could never truly let go.

“May I ask you a question, my liege?” the count asked. Ryoko saw his serious expression and straightened her back before nodding. “Why does Your Highness work so hard for the kingdom?”

“What do you mean, why?”

“Our world, compared to my liege’s home...” He could say no more. Through Ryoko’s memories, Ruseria had caught a glimpse of a world incredibly more prosperous than his—particularly in Japan. All were considered equal there, even despite the considerable gaps in wealth between individuals. It was involved in no bloody wars, murder only occurred infrequently, and all kinds of people had access to abundant light and food. Ruseria imagined that his world must have appeared awfully destitute to someone like Ryoko, who had lived a comfortable life in a world like that.

“Hmm...” Ryoko groaned. “I never really thought about it like that. I mean, I was born into that kingdom and grew up there. Isn’t it natural to want to help your homeland and family?” After much pondering, this was the only answer Ryoko could come up with.

Oh, that’s why... After Ryoko saying this like it was the most normal thing in the world, Ruseria nearly teared up from joy. He wondered how many people actually thought this way and acted on it.

The Count knelt on the spot and took Ryoko’s hand. He spoke, like a knight pledging an oath to a princess, “I can not imagine a better master than you, my liege. Meeting you has brought me more happiness than anything else in my life.”

“At least put me after your wife and child,” Ryoko countered. Then, she kneeled down herself, met the count’s eyes, and took his hand in hers. There was something she always wanted to tell him. “I’m glad that I met you, too, Count Ruseria. I was able to push myself because you sacrificed your life... I can’t thank you enough.” Then, a bitter expression crossed her face. “And there’s something I need to tell you.”

“My liege?”

“Count Grim, one of the men who engineered your death...”

“Oh, yes. Him...”

“Even though he was partially responsible for your death, he’s...” Trying to change, Ryoko almost said.

After meeting Count Grim at the New Year’s ball, Herscherik had investigated him in detail. While he wanted to trust Grim’s advice, he wasn’t naïve enough to do so without doing a great deal of research. In fact, Herscherik had suspected a trap.

But he was pleasantly surprised to discover that Count Grim was managing his land, which formally had belonged to Count Ruseria, quite positively. Count Grim was using his numerous connections for the betterment of his people. He had acquired seeds and fertilizer to grow crops in their poor soil, paved the travel road, eased up on taxes... In the end, his people were able to survive, even living comfortably, through the winter. Grim was trying to change. Moreover, he was showing deep remorse for what he had done and was trying to atone for it.

But now, Ryoko didn’t know what she expected Ruseria to do with that information. She couldn’t dare ask him to forgive Count Grim.

“Please don’t look so sad, my liege. I can’t forgive him after he took my wife and child away from me,” he said, causing Ryoko’s expression to fall even more. Ruseria gave her a smile. “But, you are also right, my liege. People can change. It’s true that he has committed terrible crimes, but his atonement for them has nothing to do with my hatred. If he took a good look at himself and decided to atone for his actions before falling to the Darkness Below, that’s a wonderful thing... In the end, I was more concerned with my own obsession and ultimately made the lives of my people worse. If they can find happiness in Grim’s rule, I couldn’t ask for more.”

Ryoko believed the Count’s words. “Thank you, Count Ruseria.”

“Nothing you should thank me for, my liege.” Just as Ruseria said so, Ryoko’s body began to faintly glow. “It’s almost time...” A sign that the spell was about to break. The Count took Ryoko’s hands, and stood.

“Count Ruseria...”

“Klaus. My name is Klaus Ruseria, my liege.”

Ryoko chuckled, just now realizing that she had never learned his first name. “May I call you Klaus?”

“I am your subject, my liege. You may address me as you please.”

After a beat, Ryoko said with determination, “Klaus. I’m all right now.”

“What?”

“I have Kuro and Oran. And my family, too. So... you can go home to yours now.” Ryoko smiled a gentle smile.

Despite the difference in gender and appearance, Ruseria saw Herscherik’s familiar smile. You really are kind to everyone... Even the dead. That’s why people gathered around the prince, Klaus thought. Everyone saw a ray of hope in him. “If you don’t mind, I shall remain, my liege. My wife and son will wait for me.” They would just tell me to see it through, since I got you into this, he thought. Especially that beautiful wife of mine. “There will be more tribulations ahead, my liege. But I have faith that you will make it through.”

“Thank you, Klaus...” Ryoko said, and closed her eyes. She glowed brighter for a moment before the light disappeared, along with Ryoko herself.

Klaus was left alone in the utter darkness. “I have faith that you will conquer what lies ahead, my liege,” he muttered, before disappearing to be by Herscherik’s side, even though he could no longer see him.

Herscherik opened his eyes to find himself in a square room, its walls, floor, and ceiling all white. The only things in the room were a door and a shattered crystal sitting on a table. The height of his sightline looked familiar again, and he looked down at his hands. Much to his relief, they were small again.

Then, he turned to the broken crystal. “So this thing was controlling it all...” Herscherik picked up a fragment and peered into it. He could just barely make out a faint line of symbols, which he assumed to be a magical formula, that disappeared right before his eyes. Sick bastard, Herscherik silently cursed as he tossed the fragment aside and heard it shatter on the ground.

He had been able to give his thanks to Klaus, but he shuddered to imagine his mind still trapped in the spell. Without his mind, Herscherik would have become a soulless marionette. The weapons, the drugs, and now a Manipulation spell. A living marionette and royalty with no Magic... His hypothesis was swiftly becoming a theory, but there were still a few missing pieces.

Herscherik produced his pocket watch and checked the time. Good. I haven’t been in here that long. His worst fear was that too much time had passed while he was under this spell. Herscherik faced the door before him—everyone was waiting for him beyond it.

I’ll save you, Jeanne. Mister Shiro. I won’t let him kill you! Herscherik tucked his watch back into his pocket and approached the door.