Long after the board meeting ended, when the sun was about to set and paint the sky with streaks of amber, the silver elevator doors opened with a quiet hush. Reika stepped out and walked; the heels she wore had started to bite into the edge of her skin, but something else on her mind made her oblivious to the uncomfortable sensation. She kept walking—
Until, from the far end of the corridor, a tall woman waited, her coat slung loosely over her arm, hair tied back in a simple ponytail. She paced into step beside Reika as she approached.
"I thought you'd be later than this. How did it go?" Shira noted casually.
"It ended when it needed to," Reika replied without looking at her.
"…Of course. Efficient as always."
As they walked side by side, the walls around them reflected two silhouettes—one taller, sharper in poise; the other more rigid, as if braced for unseen pressure.
"And the follow-up?" Shira asked, tone still casual but her gaze cutting sideways. "We'll need to relay something to the house before the first quarter next year."
"They said what they wanted to say, and I told them what they needed to hear."
"…That's not an answer."
"…That's how it goes…"
Then Shira said, low, "You've been brushing off every real question lately."
"I've been working as you want me to."
"You've been avoiding."
Reika's jaw tightened just slightly in annoyance. "I did say to you that it's useless to talk sense to those men. Especially Igarashi and Hino."
"Miss Reika, their open aggression is not without roots. They take the full brunt of your policy. Even Lady Blanca took a long time to make a deal that finally got both of them on board."
"…You're saying that too? I know that I'm not my mother."
"…I'm not comparing. I'm telling you that Lady Blanca had her own share of difficulties with those two as well, to build what she believed was right."
"That's why! I'm… trying to protect her legacy." Reika trailed off mid-sentence.
"…I understand that, I really do… but did you think that far ahead when you made the decision to forbid local channels…?"
"I still let them move the stock outside Japan." Reika's tone clearly held back from exploding, and she continued almost in a whisper in that quiet hall. "…We have to find a way to live normally…"
"…Miss Reika…That's the world we lived in, like it or not, it's our most reliable method to live."
"…No… We can't keep circling back to those days... there's no way my mother would want that…"
"…Fine, I'm sure you can find common ground about it with boardman Tsuda and Murakami, as well as with Mr. Kitamura."
"…It's not that simple… they just see me as the little girl in suits."
"That's why I told you to at least show up all the time. The more you feed them your absence, the more severe your position becomes."
"I don't see any point in it."
Shira's tone shifted into a concerned one, like a big sister who was genuinely worried about her little sister's questionable choices.
"Rita… please choose a step to take. You can't keep walking on two sides like thi—"
"Shira… they want a warlord. And I won't be one."
And Reika, hearing Shira call her that way, sighed—as if letting down a bit of her armor.
"…Then what do you want to do?"
"I'm still trying to walk in something that I want to do. Whatever it is, I won't become my father."
"…Okay… but you can't keep them waiting, Rita… you have to be their leader…"
"…"
Reika didn't answer—or rather, she didn't want to continue the conversation—as she walked faster toward the main lobby. Evening shadows stretched long over the floor as the building transitioned into night mode.
The tension was tangible now—woven into the rhythm of their steps. Then—
"Good evening, having a good day today?"
The man already waiting beside an open rear car door, his short dark wavy hair slightly ruffled from the wind, and his trademark deadpan smile resting on his lips like it had been carved there at birth. Renji's eyes glanced between the two women with disarming ease.
It was like a switch had been flipped.
Shira and Reika both paused in their steps and frowned, exchanging a glance. Then they let out a long breath at the same time.
Shira's sigh came out exasperated.
Reika's came out relieved. She answered him while stepping inside the car.
"Unbelievably fun day—you'd be surprised."
"Wow, tell me about it." Renji replied, turning his head to ask Shira too, "What about y—"
*Thud*
She didn't answer, closing the door as soon as he blinks.
"Cool."
As Renji sat back and drove, the KHX Tower's looming presence faded into the background. The city swallowed them whole, and for Reika, the silence inside the car felt like peace.
--------
When he'd already been driving them between two different meeting spots in the span of three hours, Renji finally turned the car back toward Reika's mansion. The two women in the backseat looked drained, each relaxing in their own way—then Reika said just like someone that adds some small stops to her shopping list.
"Next week, you'll be accompanying Shira to Kanmon Port."
"Kanmon Port? Which way is that from Asagiri Dock?" Renji asked without much thought.
"Not in Tokyo, In Shimonoseki."
Renji frowned while guessing about the possible assignment. "Outside of Tokyo, huh…"
"You'll go on the 23rd. Monday. You'll be there until the 27th," Reika continued.
"Huh? I'm staying there??" He was still thinking in terms of quick trips and return drives, unaware of the full scope.
"What? Don't like it?" Shira finally speaking for the first time since the ride began.
"It's not that, but what about my morning food deliveries?"
"I already told one of my employees to take care of that during those dates," Reika answered immediately.
"You can't just decide like that! I'd talk to Tetsu—"
Reika cut him with a smile. "I already told Tetsuo 2 days ago, he said it's fine."
…Old man… you could've at least told me…
"You're going. That's an order." Her tone snapped to cold finality.
"…If I'm gone for five days, who's going to drive you around, Miss Reika?"
"I can drive myself."
…Then why the hell do you even keep me around as driver…?
Renji was about to respond, but stops himself as he's just had too many questions that's more important.
Shira chuckled under her breath with teasing tone. "Just so you know, this trip to Kanmon Port? It's mainly thanks to your little creative stunt the other day. So you'll drive me there, like it or not."
…They're still holding a grudge over that… great…
"O-okay…" His shoulders slumped. He knew better than to argue when it is his mistake they brought up.
It wasn't until they were on the Setagaya neighborhood, almost to the mansion that another something clicked in his head.
Shimonoseki… Shimonoseki…?? isn't that almost at the tip of Honshu?
"Hold on a damn second. We're driving WHERE?? We're not taking a plane? That's far as hell!"
"We might make a few stops on route, can't exactly do that with plane." Shira replied in a bored tone.
Renji paused, still unconvinced. "Okay, but trains—"
"Haah… You always have a nerve to complain. You go where we tell you, and you do it. Clear?" Annoyed, Shira closed his complaint with superiority, not intending to answer his every nagging.
"…Yes ma'am…"
"Good, so just shut up and drive."
Renji kept glancing at her in the rearview mirror, he still thought there had to be an easier way. "Still feels like a lot of driving…" he mumbles.
Soon, they arrive in front of the mansion sat behind tall black gates and stone walls blanketed with snow, traditional perfectly pruned pine trees flanked the entrance. Renji eased the car to a stop, the day's conversations still rattling around in his head like loose change.
...And… next week... isn't that... Christmas Eve?
His mind did the math quickly. Then, with a weak attempt at humor, he quips with a smirk.
"Miss Shira… does this mean we're spending Christmas Eve together?"
No answer. Not even a reaction.
Two car doors clicked open in unison, shutting again with perfect, synchronized finality. Renji glanced over his shoulder. Empty backseat. Both of them already gone behind the gate.
"...Lucky me. Yay."
Then with a forced smile, he drives back to his home.
--------
Tetsuo walks out to clean the table when Renji put his yellow chicken helmet and jacket to the cabinet beside the door. Then after he packed his stuff to go back, Renji said—
"Hey, uh… I'm heading to Shimonoseki on 23rd."
Tetsuo glanced up, almost amused. "Yeah, I heard from the person herself."
"You seriously knew?"
"Of course. Good for you—go see more of the world."
"Heh, don't give me that bullcrap. I'm not hikikomori…" Renji let out a wry laugh
"But I don't think you've exploring much, anyway, don't worry Renji, go have fun."
"So, Miss Reika's really sending one of her people to handle the deliveries while I'm gone?"
"I've been telling her I can do it myself, haha…" Tetsuo's brows lifted as he finishes wiping the tables clean and tossed the towel aside. "Probably that same guy who's been picking up her orders since your accident…"
"Is that so… well, guess everything under control here… And... hey, old man…"
"Yeah?"
Renji frowned, deep in thought. "I just don't get how that woman thinks. She sends me halfway across the country, then sends her guy here instead. Why not swap us the other way around?"
"Isn't it because they trusted you?"
"Trust…? Bet they picked me like they're picking sandwiches at cafeteria— 'Eh, this one will do.'" Renji said while making a cynical expression to show his doubt.
"Come on, Miss Reika's not that harsh."
"Oh, you haven't seen anything…" Renji mumbles with a twitching smile.
"Anyway, take a rest after your drive this evening. You've got a five-day road trip ahead. Pack your things, keep your health in check."
Renji puffed his chest slightly. "Hey, I'm sturdier than I look."
"That's exactly what I keep saying about myself, and everyone around me treat me like I'm on a wheelchair."
"Alright, old man. I'll bring you a souvenir." He said while gave a playful salute at Tetsuo, which Tetsuo returned it with the same lazy gesture.
"Yeah, just make sure you come back in one piece."
Renji's grin turned smug as he about to close the door. "And old man, when I'm back, let's hit that massage parlor that you want and eat something nice on the way back. My paycheck should be in by then. Hehe…"
"Sure, sure. Be looking forward to it."
--------
Later, after Renji goes back from driving Reika and Shira around as usual. Freshly out from bath, he found himself in sinking into his sofa, the springs creaking under. While he took out his worn-out notebook and twirling the stainless-steel pen.
He flipped to the latest entry with pages half-filled with uneven handwriting.
"I really worked with them almost three weeks… feels like a lot happened…"
From the competition I'm sure I'll fail… got jailed… and somehow being a fancy driver…
The sentence hung there, like he wasn't sure whether it was a complaint or an accomplishment.
Most of the pages was like that—scraps of thoughts jotted down during every pause in the day, while waiting for his two beautiful bosses to finish a meeting, or waiting for their further instructions.
He scribbled another line.
"I'm busier for sure…"
The pen stopped. His mind, lately, drifted to them.
Reika was weirdly cold. Shira was coldly weird. Both too beautiful to make a man second-guess if his hellish job was a blessing.
And it wasn't just their looks… it was how they moved and spoke without hesitation, turned conversations in their favor without breaking eye contact. They had that… authority, like gravity bent around them.
"And here I am…"
He thought about himself—and the contrast was like comparing a diamond to a paperclip.
"Being around them just make me realize exactly where I stood…"
It's not their fault… but that didn't change the fact I felt like a prop in their world.
He closed the notebook, and threw it on the table.
"Don't matter, as long as the checks clear, I don't have the right to ask more…"
Most of all… Guess I AM lucky?
Then his phone vibrates, he reaches for his phone to see one message from Shira Kurosawa.
'23rd, Monday, standby in front of the KHX managerial office, 7 am.'
'Okie dokie ma'am!'
After replying her message, which he's sure earned him a sigh from the other end, Renji lay flat on the sofa, one arm crooked under his head, the other raising his phone above him. The session of scrolling through the social media out of boredom. Or habit, definitely.
Swipe.
A cat knocking over a cup of noodles.
Swipe.
A celebrity's apology video.
Swipe.
A video of someone 'life-hacking' boiled eggs.
Swipe.
Then—a scripture post.
'Blessed are those who trust in the Lord.'
Pasted over a blurry waterfall photo, with three sparkle emojis and a username he didn't recognize.
"…Yeah yeah, sure… who keeps making these?"
It wasn't that he hated seeing verses—it's started to become an eyesore to him, wedged between people fighting in comment sections and celebrity's vacation photos.
He almost locked his phone right there, but a flash of warm pastel colors caught his eye.
A cute squirrel-octopus hybrid grinned up at him from his screen, wearing a scarf, offering a cup of cocoa. The caption: 'Stay warm, winter's mean out there.'
"…Right, you again as always..."
'@RaroPeroTierno'
A crab-owl sitting on a snowman's shoulder.
A hedgehog-giraffe awkwardly wrapped in tinsel.
A dolphin-lemur wearing a detective hat, magnifying glass in flipper.
Heh, I wonder what the artist even thinking drawing stuff like these… or heck... what do they even looked like…
"Because, these for sure... are crazy fusion of animals… the artist must've at least to be weird in the head…"
He kept scrolling anyway.
One of the newer posts had hundreds of comments—apparently the people were throwing ideas at them. Most were silly, but a few were oddly sweet.
The battery warning popped up—10%. He grabbed a charging cable, plug it, and leave it on the table beside his notebook.
"… Maybe I'll start pack some stuff before I hit the hay…"
It was still Saturday night, but his mind was already on the road ahead. He got up, pulling out a duffel and slowly filling it—best shirts, decent jeans, toiletries. Despite his cynical mind, he still picked the best outfit he had, and even extra to bring along.
When the bag sat half-packed on the chair, Renji dropped back into the sofa. He let the room's stillness swallow him until sleep finally came.