Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Border of Tokyo and Saitama Prefecture

09:05 AM

The sun shines brightly on the blue sky without any clouds on sight and the hustles of the workers in a warehouse complex have already kicked in more than a few hours ago. Some of them are operating forklifts and going one way to another non-stop carrying many boxes containing various fruits and vegetables.

While some others are busy counting the warehouse stocks with clipboards on their hands, some others are busy handling cargo that always comes and goes in every minute.

In front of one of the warehouses, there’s one tall man who’s standing on the entrance of the warehouse. His pair of hazel eyes are watching every activity that has been currently going on at the warehouse complex. At some moments, some workers are going to him and handing him clipboards where he looks at them intensively before signing them.

Besides being tall, the man also has dark brown hair that is styled in a curtained cut that makes him look like a member of 90’s popular boyband, Westlife members. He also wears casual clothes consisting of an unbuttoned dark maroon shirt with rolled-up sleeves, a white T-shirt, and black jeans that combined with white sneakers and a very old watch with brown leather strap on his left wrist.

His body is also having a buff built which shows an impressive pair of strong big arms and well-shaped chest muscle that can be seen vaguely behind his white T-shirt.

He then takes a black aviator from his shirt’s pocket and wears it on his eyes. He looks at the watch that shows 09:20 in the morning. He sighs his breath a little and then immediately goes to a big building in the north direction. After he reaches the building, he goes straight to the stairs and goes to his personal office room.

It’s a medium sized room equipped with a large desk with a set of computers, a medium sized cabinet, and some other furniture like a pair of sofas and a small table placed in front of his working desk. The man then sits on his chair and turns on the computer. While waiting for it to boot completely, he stands again and goes near the big windows where he can see the whole warehouse operation with clear sight.

The man sighs again and smiles a little as he witnesses the fruits of his five and half years of non-stop hard work finally ripped and now he’s harvesting it all.

He remembers when he started from the very bottom to establish a fruit and vegetable supplier company. He has to apply multiple loans to the bank for early capital for building his business, making the grand design of his business model and presenting it to the potential investors, and started partnership with the farmers community around Japan which made him travel non-stop to one place to another just to seal the deals.

He has no experience in starting a business before as he was working in a completely different field back in the day. It’s only guts and blood for him to put his resignation letter and start a new thing that he never actually thought about before.

He knows the hardships as he faced many rejections and failures at first, but now the small-time vegetable and fruit supplier company that used to take headquarter in a small garage in nowhere now has grown into a big-time company that already have 2 big warehouse complexes, lots of workers, and dozens of transportations consisting of big haulers, medium sized trucks, and vans. 

It’s also having many big clients all around Japan and some neighbouring countries and roughly making hundred of millions Yen every month. His company also recently started to have its own farms in some parts of Japan that produced many kinds of vegetables and fruits besides relying on the farmers communities’ partnerships.

The innovation didn’t stop there as his company also now has its own online market that is easy to access. The valuation of his company is increasing rapidly in the amount that he never imagined before.

The company’s name is “Green Dragon's Vegetable and Fruit Supplier” which he took the inspiration from Shen Long, the big green dragon in Dragon Ball series. One of his childhood's favourite anime. 

The man then returns to his seat and starts to work again before a seconds later, a knock is heard from his office door.

“Yeah. You can come in” the man replied.

A woman then comes in while bringing a clipboard with some papers attached to it. She then goes to the man’s desk.

“Mr. Suzui. The representative from Tokio Grocery is already here,” said the woman.

“Already? Alright, I see. Send them in,” said Ryouta.

The woman nods her head and two men dressed in formal suits are entering the room. Ryouta is exchanging handshakes with them before welcoming them to sit on the long sofa while he also takes a seat on the sofa on the opposite side of them.

“Welcome to Tokyo, gentlemen. I’ve been expecting you all here” said Ryouta in his opening statement.

“Thank you for having us, Mr. Suzui,” said one of them.

“You all must be tired after the long journey from Nagano. Would you like a drink? Coffee or water maybe?” said Ryouta.

“No thanks, Mr. Suzui,” said one of them.

“Alright, just ask if you want one, okay? Minako, please make me a cup of coffee, black with a little tip of sugar” said Ryouta to his assistant.

“Right away, Mr. Suzui,” said Minako before she rushed out of the room.

“Alright, gentlemen, now let’s get down to business. First, we discuss the partnership proposal that you sent me two days ago” said Ryouta as he mentally prepared for another round of negotiation for today.

…

Chiyoda District – Tokyo City

08: 30 AM

A woman in her mid-thirties is sipping her morning coffee while enjoying the city’s landscape on her penthouse windows. Her crimson eyes are watching the busyness on the streets as hundreds of people passing the sidewalks and vehicles are passing the streets non-stop. The sun shines brightly and its haze is penetrating the windows.

She then goes to the kitchen and washes her coffee mug, before she goes to her room to wash up and is dressed in a simple black T-shirt and plaid pants.

After that, she goes to her computer set in her bedroom. It has three large monitors and there’s a laptop and iPad each attached to some kind of handler so they can be erected in perfect 45 degrees position.

She turns on all the devices and once they are all turned on, the first thing she does is open her email in which she has a ton of inboxes which makes her sigh a long breath. She quickly skimmed to each one of them while pinning the important ones and she’s also replying to some emails.

After taking care of those emails, she then grabs a stylus pen and prepares the drawing app on her iPad and synchronizes it with her laptop. She then looks at the objectives of the day on her calendar app on the computer and soon after begins her work.

First order of the day, she will finish the art that is a project between her and a giant food company specialized in light snacks where she designs some art for their special edition products. She meticulously takes a huge attention to the details of her digital artwork while at the same time, she’s looking at the company’s request list on how it should be done according to their vision.

It’s been almost 12 years and half since she’s had a career as a digital artist. It all began when she found her old passion in drawing things after she found her childhood drawings that were kept on the old box in her old home back in Kyoto. It became the ignition for her to change the course of the streams that she’s been doing for many years. It also became her saviour when she got lost on her path to adulthood.

And so after that, She went to France to attend Paris College of Art where she learns all things about art, especially painting and in the process, she’s also learning about digital art. She graduated with one of the highest scores in her class and after that, she packed her things and moved to New York where she got her first job in a big advertisement company there.

She’s hoping from one job to another in America before she decides to went home and establish a more flexible working hours for herself as she decides to become some sort of independent digital artist.

She set up her own website for people to see her own gallery of works and contact details for anyone who wants to order her service. It’s been five years since she started this routine and every month, she can make up a lot of money and currently has clients from all around the world.

Sometimes, there are some emails that are addressed to her asking her if she’s available to join certain companies in which she simply refuses. She wants to take everything under her control now and in her own way.

After spending three and half-hours, she finally finishes most of the art designs and sends the preview version to her client to know if it's already up to their taste or need some other revisions. She looks up at the clock and its already nearly lunchtime.

She gets up from her work station and goes outside to get herself some fresh air. She then makes her way to the kitchen and decides to make broccoli and stir beef fry for lunch. She prepares the ingredients from the refrigerator.

She cuts up the beef into smaller pieces after letting it defrost and then add them into a pan alongside with the broccolis and other ingredients. It doesn’t take her a long time to finish her lunch and after that she immediately eats it with warm rice that she has already prepared from the morning.

Being alone in her adulthood makes Yumeko always do everything by herself from cooking to doing laundry, compared to her younger self who always got served by maids. She struggled a lot at first when she was abroad for the first time in France but as days went by, she’s getting used to it. So, whether it’s Paris, New York, or Tokyo, it’s no problem for her.

Adapting to the culture and vibe to those countries are also a challenge for her too. In France for example, she needs to be careful when walking in public for street thieves who can snatch things from her purse in a matter of seconds without she’s even realizing which make her to stay on alert every time she hits the public road. Nevertheless, France is still a beautiful country for her especially when she visits the cities and towns in the southern part like Cannes. The same goes for America too with its own stories.

After finishing the lunch meal, Yumeko remembers that she has a meeting with her other client, this time from a big advertisement agency in a café near Shibuya. They emailed her yesterday morning. Another possible challenge, so she decides to know everything about it.

After washing the dishes, Yumeko is rushing back to her bedroom and get dressed properly. She wears a sweet brown women’s blazer with white T-shirt on the inside combined with dark blue jeans and white flat shoes. She’s also wearing her Alexandre-Christie watch on her left wrist and bringing her handbag.

Yumeko then takes her phone and order an online taxi. After that, Yumeko goes outside and locks the door. She heads to the lift that will bring her to the lobby area.

When she gets there, she is greeted by the penthouse receptionist and so they have a small chat between them while she waits for her ride.

15 minutes later, Yumeko’s online taxi driver informs her that he’s already arrived and waiting on the pickup area. She then goes outside and immediately goes to the backside of a black wagon taxi car.

…

Another day of work is done. Ryouta is on his way home while driving his white metallic BMW M4 on medium speed as he cruises through the busy road between Shibuya and Shinjuku district. Today, another partnership has been made and his company will officially become a new vegetable supplier for Tokio Grocery. The negotiation is a bit intense but the official paperwork is finally signed in the end.

Before he heads home, he needs to stop by at a place. It’s in Shinjuku. Right now, he’s at the Shibuya intersection, stopping at one of the traffic lights. While he waits for the red to turn green, he turns on the radio on his car to ease off the bore. Hearing the news, updating himself on what happened.

“……The Parliament has passed new bills that will increase Japan’s military budget twice as much compared to last year…. This bill as stated by parliament member, Junichi Takihiro will allow Japan to spend more on the modernization of its armed force, particularly for the navy and air force especially after the incident at the Yellow Sea few weeks ago”

“The military has gone full throttle now, huh?” Ryouta said that to his mind.

“……The next report comes from the updates on Murasaki Hito’s first court hearing on his alleged involvement in money laundering in the Ministry of Trade. The hearing session is closed for the public and when he steps out from the court hall, Mr. Murasaki did not wish to answer any questions from the press. His lawyer, Mr. Iwate stated that his client is trying to prove his innocence in this case and they will be prepared for next week's hearing session….”

“What a fucking scumbag. We all know who you are, you fucking shameless idiot” said Ryouta as he comments on the news.

The red light finally turns green and Ryouta steps on the gas. After another thirty minutes on the road, he stops his car in front of a medium sized bar painted in black and gold color located four blocks away from Shinjuku station. The name of the bar is “The Black Horse” as the logo on the door side shows a golden circle with the black horse inside of it.

He steps out from the car and enters the bar. The inside of the bar is styled in 1920’s American Speakeasies era. There are only a few people on the inside as the bar has just opened. The “Fly me to the Moon” song by one of the greatest legendary singers in Hollywood Golden Era, Frank Sinatra is being played right now.  A timeless classic that soothes the ears.

“Oh, you are here, boss,” said one of the bartenders who’s cleaning the glasses.

He is a guy in his mid-40s. He’s wearing a typical speakeasies bartender of white shirt and white shirt combined with black ribbon along with the suspender.

“Kaito,” Ryouta replied. He then sits on an empty chair in front of the bar section.

“Please give me a glass of bourbon,” said Ryouta.

“Yes, boss,” said Kaito.

Kaito then takes a glass and a bottle of bourbon from the rack behind him. He opens the bottle caps and pour a half glass of bourbon.

“Here you go, boss,” said Kaito as he served the bourbon to Ryouta.

“Thanks,” said Ryouta.

Kaito then takes something on the cabinet below him and he resurfaces with a clipboard containing some papers on it.

“Here’s the monthly financial reports of the bar,” said Kaito as he hands Ryouta the clipboard.

“Thanks, Kaito,” said Ryouta.

Ryouta then examines the reports, starting with how much the expense that has been made this month, then the inventories, and finally the bar’s overall income which shows surplus profit for this month.

This bar is his second hustle besides of his vegetable and fruit supplier company. He acquired the ownership of this bar around a year ago from the old owner who got trapped in a lot of debt and had to sell the place.

After he bought the bar, he decided to rebrand it by first changing its name to its current name “The Black Horse” because he thought it is a cool and kind of catchy name. He also made a huge change in the bar decoration and theme to the speakeasies of America in the 1920s and hired some new people while retaining some old workers.

Kaito, for example, is ripped in experience as a bartender as he was moving from one bar to another throughout Japan during his 20 years of career. So, Ryouta also makes him the manager who runs the bar’s daily operation and teaches the young bartenders.

After his takeover, the bar who almost succumbed to death a year ago has been resurrected and flourishing. The ratings on the internet are always good, and the bar is always lively with many people visiting it every day.

“Good, I am really satisfied with our profit this month. Good work to you and everyone” said Ryouta as he handed back the clipboard to Kaito.

“Thanks, you very much, boss. I will make sure the numbers will increase next month” said Kaito.

“That’s the spirit,” said Ryouta.

“By the way, there’s a brawl that happened last week here. A pretty big brawl, a lad caught his girl cheating on him with another lad. They fought here” said Kaito.

“Really? That’s fucked up. Is there anything broken?” said Ryouta.

“No. Before they broke things, Asahi managed to defuse them both. Apparently, the lad knows some martial art moves besides being a good bartender” said Kaito.

“I see. Well, it seems like I need to hire a bouncer to guard the place especially when night gets late,” said Ryouta.

“I agree with you, boss,” said Kaito.

Ryouta takes a sip on his bourbon. The taste makes him immediately go on relaxing mode after a long day at work. He decides to scroll on his phone while enjoying his bourbon.

The bell on the door is heard. Ryouta took a glance and he sees a woman entering the bar in which he then ignores her as she’s just a customer.

The woman then walks to the bar section and sits three chairs from Ryouta’s position. She then put her bag on the bar's counter.

“Welcome back,” said Kaito as he greets the woman.

“Good evening,” said the woman with a smile.

“What would you like to order, Miss Jabami?” said Kaito.

Ryouta's pupils suddenly widened when he heard that name and he also almost choked on his bourbon. It’s the familiar name that he hasn't heard in a long time. A really long time ago, but he didn’t forget about the person who bears that name.

“I would like Manhattan as usual please” the woman speaks again.

“Okay” said Kaito who then works on her cocktail drink.

Ryouta on the other hand still tries to process what he heard just now. He took a glance at the woman from the corner of his eyes. She looks so different with her ponytail hairstyle, but the color of her hair is still the same as he remembered it.

And then he takes a glance at her right hand and he sees the silver ring on her right thumb. This is the most legit thing that confirms that she’s the one girl from his past.

“Here you go, Miss,” said Kaito as he gave her the cocktail.

“Thanks,” said the woman with smile who then move to one of the tables.

And Ryouta suddenly feels his heart beating fast than before.

Chapter Text

Ryouta takes another sip of his bourbon and sighs a long breath. He feels uneasy and his heart keeps beating faster than before. More than 20 years ago, he and that woman had a quite long history between them. His mind then takes down to memory lane as he tries to recall everything about her.

Jabami Yumeko, that’s her name. She and him were once close back in high school. At the time, he was attending Hyakkaou, which is one of the best private schools in all of Japan. He was able to be accepted into that school because he has a scholarship due to his best academic skill and partly because he was coming from a decent higher up family.

Yumeko in his memory, was an interesting and exceptional girl. She was cheerful and kind, but deep inside, she holds a very dark persona as a prominent but compulsive gambler. Hyakkaou was already littered with crazy and psychopath people who’s willing to do anything on the gambling table, but this girl, she took it on a whole different level in which even the craziest gamblers there looks normal in her presence.

She’s crushing her opponents one by one, stripping them down to completely naked, and those crimson eyes are staring and killing poor souls that challenged her. It’s still fresh on his mind the shadows of people that she crushed to the pulp.

Despite all of that, Yumeko also has her own charismatic persona when she eventually can make friends or allies out of her enemies even though her enemies are despising her very much because of their losses against her. Her words are like honey and her charm is too irresistible to avoid.

For him, Yumeko is more than just a compulsive gambler. On the first day of her arrival at the school as a transfer student, she helped him to relieve his debt of 5 million yen that he got after his series of losses to another prominent gambler in his class.

For a while, he had to live in one of the darkest hours in his life as his status was lowered to house pet. A status of subhuman where he lost all of his dignities. It’s all because he got too consumed in the moment and got too foolish as he's not measuring his skills first before taking on that person.

Even after all these years, that memory of being a house pet is still haunting him along with all the bad dreams that he had. Those people howled at him, spit on him, and beat him to the pulp. He still can see those terrifying faces when the world around him starts to crumble.

To make a story short, he helped Yumeko to beat this prominent gambler that ended up on her own demise in the same fate as him. Falling from the grace that she held on before Yumeko came. He himself was ready to leave the school and finish all of his debt to the debt settling committee but Yumeko gave him the exact amount in which makes him confused on why on earth she did that.

She said she gave those money as thanks for making her first day at school memorable and that’s how she and him became close to each other. She always dragged him to anywhere she goes and sometimes he has to help her in a gamble too. Being close to her also affected him as he gets more stronger on the inside and eases off his scaredly nature little by little.

At some point, he was even ready to sacrifice himself for her in a gambling match against an ultimate enemy, the student council president in a tarot game. Something that he never thought before and just spontaneously coming out from his mouth. He remembers everyone was surprised by his remarks but in the end, everything was settled in a draw so no one got real consequences.

Being close to her everyday made him develop a feeling towards her. It was slowly changed from being a close friend to a romantic one. Besides her nature, Yumeko is a beautiful girl, especially when she smiles. Her round face reminds him of mochi cake.

That feeling for her inside of his heart was getting stronger from day to day, but in the end, he never expressed it to her because he was too chicken to talk about it to her. He always thought that there was some kind of barrier between him and her, something like Icarus and the sun that made him not worthy of her.

It’s something that he always regretted to this day and he thought that he had to just go with it regardless of what the answer was. And so, just like that after two and half years being friends, they finally graduated from the school where they ended up their school years in, say, a lot of good things.

After the graduation party, Yumeko asked him what he wanted to do. He said “I don’t know yet, but I’ll figure it out” and he also asked her the same question in which she put a silence for a few seconds but then smiled and said “The same goes for me, I guess”.

And then she whispers to him “Thanks for sticking out with me, Suzui-san, you are one of a kind” before she hopped to the backside of her car driven by her chauffeur. He was only standing there alone as he watched her car go away. The sky was orange with Sakura flowers falling to the ground. He never got to tell her how he truly feels about her.

Now his mind snaps him back to the present time. Right now, in this place where he’s sitting and enjoying his bourbon drink, the same girl from his past is sitting not far from him. He wonders if she’s still the same person that he knew after all these years. All he needs to do is to walk and talk to her.

But somehow, he feels too heavy to do it, like there’s some kind of force that prevents him to do so just like the last time and at the same time, his curiosity is getting high,

And so, Ryouta is taking a deep breath and steps away from the bar section. He walks to the table where Yumeko sit. Every step that he takes correlates to the increase of his heartbeat. He’s getting nervous now but he keeps walking.

When he gets there, he finds her already busy with her iPad while enjoying her Manhattan cocktail.

“Excuse me, Miss,” said Ryouta. The woman looks up from her iPad.

“Yes?” she replied.

“I’m sorry for the intrusion, but can I ask you something?” he said to her.

“About what?” the woman replied with a confused expression.

“Well, I happened to notice that you’re oddly familiar with someone that I knew a long time ago,” said Ryouta.

“How so?” asked the woman.

“The bartender called you Miss. Jabami, am I right?” said Ryouta.

“Yes, but what’s up with it?’ said the woman.

Her answer makes Ryouta’s heartbeat get stronger. He then decides to ask the final question to confirm.

“Nothing. I just want to confirm something. Is your name Jabami Yumeko?” asked Ryouta.

The woman is startled a little when she hears that question and looks at Ryouta with a look of wonder on her face.

“How do you know? Who are you actually?” she said in annoyed looks.

“So, it’s really you,” said Ryouta after he got his confirmation.

“What do you mean? I don’t know you. Please leave,” said the woman in a demanding tone.

“No, no. Please hear me out. The reason why I asked you that question is because we were actually knowing each other a long time ago, back in high school,” said Ryouta.

“High school?” she said.

She then looks at Ryouta closely as she tries to refresh her memories about the guy who suddenly came to her table and casually knows her name. A seconds later, her eyes meet with Ryouta’s eyes and that’s the moment where everything starts coming together to her mind.

“Suzui-san?” she finally said that makes Ryouta smiles.

“There you go,” Ryouta replied.

“Oh my god, it’s really you” she immediately stands up and hugs him tightly.

Her response surprised him, but he eventually returned her hug. After a minute they let go of the hug. Yumeko looks at him again.

“You’re sure unrecognizable, Suzui-san. I thought you were some creeps or something” said Yumeko.

“Yeah, that can’t be helped. I was really surprised that we stumbled here” said Ryouta.

“Me too, Suzui-san. I mean, how long is it? Fifteen years?” Yumeko asked him.

“It’s almost twenty years as I remember it,” said Ryouta.

“It’s already that long? How time surely flies by fast” said Yumeko.

“It is and I must say that I almost didn’t recognize you at first, but when the bartender said your last name, and I also noticed that you’re still wearing your ring in your right thumb, I immediately realized that’s actually you,” said Ryouta.

“Heh, your observation is good, Suzui-san. By the way, how do you do nowadays?” said Yumeko.

“Well, a lot has happened to me since our high school graduation. I’ve been everywhere with ups and downs, and now I’m settling in as a business owner now,” said Ryouta.

“Really? That’s impressive. What kind of business do you have, Suzui-san” asked Yumeko.

“Vegetable and Fruit supplier. I started it around five and half years ago from scratch and thank God after lots of hard work and hustling, it’s growing rapidly now,” said Ryouta.

“I’m genuinely happy to hear that, Suzui-san,” said Yumeko with smiles.

“Thanks, Yumeko. Then, how about you?” Ryouta asks her.

“Me? Well, you must be really surprised at what's happened to me, but right now, I’m taking a very different path after graduation, but I’m currently working as a digital artist” said Yumeko with a smile.

“Digital artist? Well, I’m truly surprised, yeah. But I’m interested to hear the story behind it,” said Ryouta

“Nothing special really, but it’s just that I discovered my old passion and hobby in drawing. I liked drawing when I was a kid. So, when I got back to my old home in Kyoto, I found my old drawings stored in a very old box in my old room. So, yeah. I feel like that’s my call to change my stream to embrace adulthood. After that, I went to Paris to study art and after I graduated, I moved to America and have several jobs there before going back to Japan to become an independent digital artist where I now work from my own home” said Yumeko.

“I see, so you completely don’t … you know,” said Ryouta.

Yumeko smiles knowing what Ryouta actually wants to say.

“No, I already left that life many years ago. I realized that life is much more than that. There’s so much that I didn’t see back then besides of my own lust and endless compulsiveness that consumed my own soul back then. I didn’t know exactly if all of my problems or ambitions were already solved or not but I tried to move on and open up my horizon to new things” said Yumeko.

“You know, I’m really glad that you finally can find things that you actually love, Yumeko. I also know the feeling of starting new things. It’s like we are stepping into an undiscovered zone of a place which we don’t know what’s waiting for us in there, but we sometimes we just have to walk towards it. Who knows what we found there but we have to keep walking. The key is you have to believe in yourself,” said Ryouta.

“Thanks for that, Suzui-san and yes, I agree with your remarks,” said Yumeko.

“Sometimes, I still think of our times back in high school. It feels surreal like I still don’t believe what I witnessed or experienced,” said Ryouta.

“Me too, Suzui-san. I was always thinking the same thing too sometimes. It’s a mixed feeling for me, '' said Yumeko.

“Aside from us, I’m wondering about everyone else’s life after all these years,” said Ryouta.

“I only know some of them like Itsuki-san already married with Manyuda-san three years ago where I attended their matrimony ceremonial and Mary is still in Tokyo working as financial consultant in a big financial firm and she’s currently been in a relationship with a police officer who’s working as a senior investigator at Tokyo Metropolitan Police. She introduced me to him some time ago” said Yumeko.

“Wow, everyone already has someone now,” said Ryouta.

“Yeah, that’s life, Suzui-san. How about you?” said Yumeko.

“I’m still alone for now. I’m too busy with my work and my other personal things. How about you?” said Ryouta while scratching the back of his head and smiling awkwardly.

“Same as you, Suzui-san. I'm always on tight deadlines too whether back in America or in Japan so yeah, that sums up why I’m still single until now” said Yumeko also with a laugh.

Ryouta and Yumeko then keep talking to each other on many other topics, particularly about their friends back in high school and their careers. Time flies by fast without them realizing until Ryouta looks at his watch.

“Whoa, it’s already this late,” said Ryouta.

“You’re right. I didn’t even realize it” said Yumeko.

“Well, um, how about I take you home?” said Ryouta.

“Hm, I don’t want to bother you to drive me back home, I can take online taxi instead” said Yumeko.

“Nah, it’s fine really,” said Ryouta with a reassured smile.

“Okay, if you say so,” said Yumeko.

Ryouta and Yumeko then get up from the table and go outside. Ryouta unlocks his BMW and opens the passenger door for Yumeko who replies with simple thanks.

After that, Ryouta goes to the driver’s seat, starts the car, and hits the gas. It’s already late at night but Tokyo is still busy like in the morning.

….

Ryouta stops his car in front of a penthouse where Yumeko is living after around 30 minutes of driving through Tokyo’s traffic.

“Thanks for the ride, Suzui-san,” said Yumeko as she released the seatbelt.

“No problem,” said Ryouta.

“Before I get off, can we exchange contact, Suzui-san?” said Yumeko.

“Yes, sure,” said Ryouta. They then exchange their contacts and social media accounts to each other from their phones.

“Thank you so much, Suzui-san,” said Yumeko.

“Yeah, no problem. It’s nice to meet you again, Yumeko,” said Ryouta.

“The same goes for me too,” said Yumeko with a smile before she got out of Ryouta’s car.

“And one more thing, Yumeko,” said Ryouta.

“What is it, Suzui-san?” asked Yumeko.

“Since we already know each other for so long, I hope that you can call me by my first name too,” said Ryouta.

Yumeko is a little bit surprised to hear that and it makes her realize that she’s been calling Ryouta his family’s name although they are already pretty close.

“Uhm, I’ll try,” said Yumeko with a little blushing face.

“Okay, I guess I’ll head back now. Good night,” said Ryouta.

“Good night. Be careful on your way home” said Yumeko.

Ryouta nods with a smile, rolls up his car’s window, and drives away while Yumeko wave her right hand. She then going inside to her penthouse complex afterwards

Chapter Text

Yumeko is reading her favourite novel in her living room while enjoying a nice warm chocolate. The clock is hitting five minutes past midnight and the sound of hard rain can be heard clearly from the outside. Everything is quiet.

After some minutes, Yumeko put on a bookmark to mark the page where she left and put the novel on the table in front of her. She sighs a short breath and then takes another sip of her warm chocolate.

Her mind then takes her to her sudden reunion with Ryouta some few hours ago. She was just on her way home after the meeting with the advertisement agency which ended up in a big success as she landed a big project. After that, she decided to stop by at Black Horse bar where for the past few months she’s been a regular there.

Unexpectedly, she bumped into Ryouta there. She’s really surprised as hell to see how Ryouta looks right now. He’s completely changed in almost everything after all these years. At first, he was pretty like a stranger who tried to creep on her while he was standing on her table and knew her name, but when she looked at more closely, she finally realized that it was really him.

Now, the Ryouta that she knows has been changed a lot. He’s talking with a lot of confidence now and full of self-esteem. He’s no longer Ryouta that she knew back in high school where he was a very shy boy and having a low self-esteem even though she knows that he was capable to be like their other peers back then as he held so a big potential to do so.

He was always seen as someone who loves to slack off or very laid back for many people in school around him back then. No ambition, no real goals, it’s what they thought about him and at first, it might be right.

But for her, Ryouta is much more than that. He was probably the only one who ever stood up for her. It was when they faced Kirari in a tarot game. The consequence is simple. Whoever loses, leave the school. This match is basically her versus her distant cousin, but since there are three cards that must be taken which are reflecting the past, present, and future, there must be a third player and unexpectedly, between Mary, Itsuki, and Ryouta, Kirari chose the last name which surprised everyone.

Because they knew, Ryouta wasn’t mentally ready and he was even shocked and said “Why me, President?” in which Kirari simply ignores but Yumeko knew that Kirari was already planning that choice so she decides to go along with it.

Besides, before this game, she and Ryouta managed to escaped Midari’s psychopath Russian Roulette game where Ryouta forced to became the card’s handlers with his head being pointed at with a handgun by Midari’s bodyguards. In the very critical situation like that, Ryouta able to keep his calm throughout the game and change the course for both of them in the end. So, she believes him that he will do that once again.

Besides, if they fail, the consequence is only applied to her, so that’s why she’s somehow felt relieved that she doesn’t have to sacrifice anyone. The game is simple, score more than your opponent then you win and then vice versa.

She was the first to flip the card, but she only managed to get one point, and Kirari flipped the next card that made her suddenly trapped in a very critical position as she was -20 points behind. Mary and Itsuki who watched them already felt hopeless.

And it was Ryouta’s turn to flip the card that would decide the winner. She knows that Ryouta felt the pressure were suddenly on top of him but she assured him that the consequence was hers and not him.

But his next words stunned everyone, especially her.

“The consequence is mine too, Yumeko! I want to be always with you and watching you close in the best seat in the house. So, don’t worry about it. You are not alone”

Those words were piercing deep into her heart and soul. It made her world stop a little as she tried to process in her mind. For the first time, there was a human being willing to help her carry the pain that she bears on her shoulder. It was him, Suzui Ryouta. It made her face flustered, her heart almost exploded, and her tears almost fell.

But the next thing even surprised her. Ryouta was able to demonstrate that he wasn’t some loser that people can’t easily step on as he exposed Kirari for rigging the entire game for her own personal amusement. That’s when she saw that Suzui Ryouta can actually be unstoppable and has a lot of potential in him.

And it made her excited and encouraged him to embrace the risk with her. Eventually the game ended in a draw after Ryouta managed to flip the card that added +20 to Yumeko’s point. Nobody has to leave in the end.

After that game, Ryouta and her were back to their usual self but she noticed a little change in his personality as his confidence slowly grew and he became less scaredly whenever they got in a high-stake gamble.

When the election for the student council came, everyone was so hustled to gamble their way into the throne of Student council president, but Ryouta chose to remain low-profile.

She asked him why he didn’t fully take part in the election, he said “I feel enough for what I have gained so far and I don’t want to be foolish anymore. I want to live the best of my high school days in my own way”.

She then asked him what does he means by “not want to be foolish anymore” in which he explained about his story on how he blindly challenged Mary because he was too confident due to his previous wins, but it’s all ended badly for him, but thanks to her help that he was able to get on his feet again.

He also explains that the sudden election thing that Kirari holds will be just another ploy of hers that he didn’t took any interest to take part in. He remarked that he just wanted to have some peace of mind for a while and doesn’t really care much if he somehow got left behind. A truly the opposite from everyone around them.

And for that, she understood and respected his views. But despite all of that, he still walks beside her and whenever she is in desperate moments, he comes to help. He keeps his words until the end.

After they graduated, she wanted to say many things to him. About their times together and all but she only can say thanks to him for sticking up with her from the day they met for the first time by whispering to his ears.

She wanted to say more but time was running out. She had to hop on another journey of her life. There’s a lot of things in her mind back then, but she always prayed that one day she would see him again. And today, God answered her prayer and he might be all changed, but she can still feel his old warming aura inside of him.

Yumeko then grabs her phone and opens her Instagram app. She types Ryouta’s username which she acquired during the contact exchange when he dropped her off earlier.

“Ah, I found it,” she said.

His profile picture is him wearing a black aviator and posing in front of Kiyomizu-Dera shrine. His Instagram page was made two years after their graduation.

There are six photos on his page. Most of them have the same theme like his profile picture where he’s posing in his holidays and one of them showing him with a long-tied hair that reminds her of the main protagonist of the Viking period drama that she always watched. It looks really cool on him in her opinion.

But one photo caught her attention. It is the sixth photo. It’s the picture of him wearing their high school uniform with the graduation ribbon still attached on his blazer. It was taken on the day of graduation. He smiles widely to the camera like he’s never having any weights on his shoulder. Just a pure joyful smile. The caption says: Throwback to my high school graduation.

“He was so happy there,” Yumeko said to her mind.

Shen then remembers Ryouta’s words before he drives away to call him “Ryouta” instead of “Suzui”. Suddenly, she felt so foolish to think that she was the one who asked him to call her Yumeko when they first met but she herself never calls him his first name in return. It’s always “Suzui-san” that comes on her mouth whenever she addresses him.

Even more, she calls Mary, by “Mary-san”, Itsuki by “Itsuki-san”, and some others but not Ryouta.

“Oh my god, how can I not realize it all the time?” she said in frustration in her mind. 

She then lets out a long breath and tries to say Ryouta’s first name.

“R-Ryo-Ryouta-san”

“R-Ryouta-san”

“Ryouta-san”

“Huh, that’s not so difficult at all” said Yumeko with the expression as if she’s invented something new.

“Well, things are going to change,” she said again.

She looks up at the clock in her living room. It’s already nearly 01:00 AM in the morning and the rain is still coming down hard. She decides to call it a day and goes to sleep.

…

“Hey pass over here” a guy shouting to Ryouta as he makes the hand gesture to ask for the ball.

Ryouta makes a simple step over move and gets past one guy before passing the ball to the guy that is asking him for the ball.

“Nice pass, Ryouta!” said the guy after putting the ball into the net while Ryouta responded to him with a thumb.

Ryouta then goes back to his position and fixes his socks and sports bandana on his head that makes him look like David Beckham in his prime. He’s wearing a retro Juventus away kit from the 2014-2015 season and a black Nike football short.

For a year, he has been on the membership of a fun football group that consisted of people from many backgrounds, which most of them are office workers. Some of them are also business owners like him too. For twice a month, they’ll be assembled and play fun football together provided with match referee and documentation.

This is not just a sporting event, as it has also become the place for its members to socialize and make connections about work and stuff.

For Ryouta, playing football is not a new thing for him as he was already playing it in elementary and middle school, so he knows the basics pretty well, and besides having a sports routine is good for his work-life balance.

After thirty more minutes, Ryouta makes a hand gesture to the bench area signalling that he wants a substitution for himself. A guy then stands up and walks to the side of the pitch.

“Good game, Suzui-san” said the guy before he entered the pitch in which Ryouta smiled a little in response.

 Ryouta then sits at one of the chairs in the bench and grabs a cold mineral water bottle from the cold box nearby. He’s drinking it till it leaves only half of the bottle before putting it down.

“That was a damn good game, Suzui,” said a guy who’s sitting beside Ryouta. He has red spiked hair and yellowish pupils.

“I can say the same about you, Yukihira. But alas, you only did around 30 minutes before you went out of the pitch,” said Ryouta.

The guy is laughing when he hears Ryouta’s remark. “It can’t be helped. I’m already 35 for God’s sake. I don’t know how the hell you still can run like you are in youth” he said.

“Hehe, it’s simple. Good food, good lifestyle,” said Ryouta with a smirk.

“What a baloney. Tell that to your Marlboro and Jack’s Daniels supply,” said Yukihira with a laughter.

Ryouta is chuckling. “Well, anyway, how’s the family and business doing pal?” he said while leaning his back to the chair.

“All good and oh, I almost forgot. I’m opening a new branch of my restaurant in Saitama and I’m inviting you for the grand opening event next week,” said Yukihira.

“Really? Congratulations man, you really deserved the glory and I will definitely come,” said Ryouta.

“Appreciate it man and thanks for always delivering me the best vegetables and fruits,” said Yukihira.

“It’s my job and also, you are one of my early customers too, so yeah, I have to say thanks too for the good partnership that we had for the past couple of years,” said Ryouta.

“And oh, you can bring your family and friends too to the grand opening,” said Yukihira.

“I see. I’ll keep that in mind,” said Ryouta.

After the game ends and all the documentation session is done, Ryouta decides to take a quick shower and then goes straight to his car while carrying his medium sized bag that contains his football shoes and dirty clothes. He puts it in his car’s baggage section.

He then goes to the driver seat, starts the car, and drives away from the sports complex. The time is already nearly 23:00 PM in the night and all he can think in his mind is to reach his home and take a proper shower.

….

After driving for almost an hour, he finally arrives at his residence in the tip of Adachi District. It’s a modern style two floored house erected in 5500 square feet of land. He bought it around two years ago.

He then parks his car in the garage beside his modified black Toyota Tacoma that has accompanied him from a long time before he had this BMW.

After that, he gets out of his car with his sport bag and then goes straight to the front door. When he unlocked the door, the dark empty house welcomed him. He turns on the light which reveals the interior of his downstairs area which consists of a living room, small bar, and large kitchen section.

He is living alone in this house and doing everything by himself, but sometimes, when he is too busy, he will hire housekeeper service to clean his house.

“Home at last” he said to himself.

The first thing he does is go upstairs and take a midnight cold shower. It’s taking him around 20 minutes to make himself all fresh again. He dressed up in simple home wear consisting of black T-shirt and white mesh shorts from the Inaka Power brand.

He then gets rid of all of his clothes to the dirty laundry basket in the washing room. Tomorrow is his day-off so he can sleep later.

So, he decides to go watch TV in the living room while enjoying some cold beer from the fridge. After grabbing a bottle of Heineken, he is sitting on the sofa, and turns on the TV that aired some local reality show.

While at it, his mind then thinks about the invitation to the grand opening of his buddy and also business partner’s new restaurant, next week. Yukihira said that he can bring more than one person to the event.

At first, he planned to go there by himself like he always did to other events, but why does his mind keep telling him that he should do otherwise this time?

Yumeko is the first person that appears on his mind if he wants to have a companion to the event. He just bumped into her a couple of days ago in his bar and already exchanged contacts with each other.

He lets out a long breath and then grabs his phone from the table. He scrolled through his messaging app contacts and found Yumeko’s. contact. He was surprised that she’s still active at this hour.

He then decides to give it a shot.

R: Hey, it’s me. Sorry to interrupt your night, but I’m wondering if I can ask you any favors?

It’s delivered and not later than ten seconds later, Yumeko gives her reply.

Y: Oh, It’s you. What is it?

R: I just got an invitation from my buddy and also my business partner to attend his new restaurant's grand opening in Saitama Saturday next week. I’m wondering if you can accompany me.

Y: Hmm, next Saturday huh? I can do that.

R: Thanks, Yumeko. Then, I pick you up at your place at 16:00.

Y: Okay. I’ll be waiting then.

R: Great. Then I guess, once again, I’m really sorry to disturb you at this hour. Good night, Yumeko.

Y: And good night to you too.

Ryouta then put his phone back on the table. Honestly when he’s typing the chats with her just now, he feels that his heartbeat is rising. It’s just like practically asking her to a … date but deep in his heart. He is also happy that she’s willing to go with him.

He sighs a little and decides to go back to his relaxation as his eyes focus on the TV again.

Chapter Text

Yumeko just woke up from her sleep. She looks at the clock at the wall which shows 10:15 AM in the morning which makes her startled a little but suddenly remembers that today is Saturday which is her day off.

She gets up from the bed, still with a sleepy face and takes her fully recharged smartphone with her to the outside. The first thing she does is to open the curtains to let the sun haze coming through the windows. She took a short gaze at the city’s landscape and the roads below where people and vehicles are passing through.

She goes to the kitchen afterwards, checking what she should make for breakfast, although she thinks that at this hour, she should just straight make lunch, but she feels so lazy to do it right now so she decides to just order fast food.

Yumeko then checks her fridge and finds out that most of its contents are already depleted which means that she has to go on shopping at the supermarket that luckily is located not far from the penthouse complex.

So, she makes a quick breakfast for her as she is making a warm latte with the chocolate flavoured biscuits as its companion. After enjoying her breakfast, Yumeko is going back to her bedroom and changing into a set of casual clothes which includes an oversized red T-shirt and black jogger pants.

When she’s about to leave her residence, she looks at the calendar and suddenly remembers that she’ll be going out tonight with Ryouta. She smiles a little and then goes outside.

After reaching the lobby, Yumeko goes out to the front door and makes her way to the main entrance gate before taking turns to the left. She walks for about 10 minutes to finally reach the supermarket that is located on the intersection.

She walks it out and is greeted by one of the clerks in which she smiles back in response before she grabs one of the shopping carts and wanders around the aisles. There are only a few people there who shop like her.

She first goes to the meat and fish section where she grabs some fresh tuna, pork cuts, and beef cuts before she turns to the food spices and essentials where she spent a lot of time there trying to figure out which ones that she wants to buy.

When she’s about to grab a pepper product from the shelf, suddenly her phone that she puts on her bag is ringing. She checks out the incoming call and it turns out to be Itsuki.

“Oh hello, Itsuki. What’s up?” said Yumeko in a happy voice.

“Hi, do you have free time today? We’re going to a girls' night together at Tsukichi’s. Mary and some others will be there too” said Itsuki over the phone.

“I’m really sorry, I really want to come but I already have another schedule for tonight” said Yumeko with a smile.

“Eh, that’s unfortunate, but that’s okay. You have work or something?” said Itsuki.

“No, it’s not about work but rather, I’m going out with someone,” said Yumeko.

“Eh…. don’t tell me, you now finally have found your beau?” said Itsuki with an excited tone.

Yumeko’s face is flustered so hard when she’s hearing Itsuki’s remarks just now.

“Ah, it’s not like that, I just accompany him that’s all” said Yumeko.

“Mm…are you suureeee?” said Itsuki with a teasing tone.

“Jeez, it’s alright if you don’t believe me. By the way, send my hi to the girls and tell them I’m sorry I can’t join you guys tonight” said Yumeko.

“Alright, alright. I got it. Well then, see you soon, Yumeko-senpai” said Itsuki.

“Okay, see you soon too,” said Yumeko.

The phone call then ended. Yumeko sighs her breath and smiles a little before she takes the pepper product that she wanted and continues with her shopping. After she got all of her things, she makes her way to the cashier.

“The total is 6.500 Yen. Do you want to pay in cash or debit card?” said the cashier.

“Ah, debit card please” said Yumeko.

After paying all of her stuff, Yumeko is leaving the supermarket with her hands full of groceries bags. She then decides to make a stop at the nearest ATM to get some cash for her wallet before going back to her penthouse.

…

Ryouta is standing in front of a mirror in his bedroom to check his appearance. He’s already dressed nicely in a formal outfit consisting of dark blue navy suits without a tie combined with white shirt. He then goes to a small drawer that contains his watches collection. He decides to wear his silver Tag Heuer watch on his left wrist.

After that he grabbed his small man’s sling bag and put his phone, wallet, and some other stuff there before going downstairs. He then goes to his shoe rack and grabs a pair of black shiny loafers and socks from the small drawer next to it.

He put them all on, grabs his car key from the living room, and goes outside. He locks the front door and goes to his garage.

He enters his BMW that had already been cleaned up on the inside and outside just a few hours ago. The fuel is full and the car also already had a full service at the auto shop as it is ready for a trip to Saitama.

He pulls the handbrake and steps on the gas as he leaves his residence. He’s already checking the traffic today as there will be some congestion on some parts of the roads leading to Saitama.

It’s not a big deal anyway for him since he already used to drive long distances in the past, particularly during the time when he was starting his business venture. He can sleep everywhere, either in a motel or in the car. It’s surely hard but at the same time, it feels fun and exciting.

This afternoon, the main roads of Tokyo are busier than usual as the sideways are filled with young people who want to spend their days off wandering the endless activities that they can do. It will become interesting when the night becomes late as there are more interesting things happening, especially in the area where the bars and clubs are located.

It took him around 30 minutes to reach Yumeko’s residence. He stops his car on the side of the penthouse complex.

He grabs his phone from his bag and sends a message, telling her that he’s already arrived and waiting for her in the car.

“Coming. Just give me a minute,” she said in reply.

“Okay, take your time” he typed before putting his phone back in his bag.

Some minutes later, Yumeko is finally showing up. She looks beautiful with black V-neck T-shirt, Latte coloured straight leg pants combined with white flat shoes.

She’s also bringing a small black Louis Vuitton’s handbag with her. Her long black hair is tied in a simple but elegant ponytail.

“Whoa” Ryouta said to his mind as he’s gazing at her appearance.

“Hey, Ryouta,” said Yumeko as she got in Ryouta's car and sat in the passenger seat next to him.

Ryouta is stunned a little bit when Yumeko finally calls him by his first name. He then smiles at her which makes her feel puzzled by how he looks at her.

“What’s wrong?” said Yumeko while tilting her head a little bit.

“Nah, it’s nothing. You’re ready to go?” said Ryouta as he put the seatbelt on.

“Yeah,” said Yumeko with a smile.

Ryouta then releases the handbrake and steps on the gas as he drives back towards the main roads ahead.

“You look stunning. I was really surprised when I saw you in a ponytail like that” said Ryouta, which made her blush a little.

“Thanks a lot, and the same goes for you too. Ryouta-kun” said Yumeko.

“Thanks. By the way, how’s your week going?” said Ryouta as he focused on the traffic in front of him.

“Well, it’s kind of hectic. I have a lot of deadlines to finish, so I barely get a proper sleep for two or three days. What about you, Ryouta-kun?” said Yumeko.

“Pretty much the same as you, I guess. You know, like cutting deals with clients, monthly meetings, and so many more,” said Ryouta.

“I see. By the way, this grand opening of a restaurant that your business partner had. Tell me more about it” said Yumeko.

“Okay. So, as you already just mentioned, the restaurant that we’re about to visit is owned by one of my business partners. The restaurant’s name is Orient’s Paradise,” said Ryouta.

“Wait, wait. You say the restaurant’s name is Orient’s Paradise? Is that the famous fancy restaurant chain owned by that celebrity chef named Yukihira Soma?” said Yumeko.

“Yes, that’s right,” said Ryouta.

“Wow, that’s really unexpected, I mean, Orient’s Paradise is one of the best restaurants in Japan right now from what I read on some articles on the internet” said Yumeko.

“Yep, and now after Tokyo and Sapporo, it will now open the third branch in Saitama today,” said Ryouta.

“Yeah, you already mentioned that before. But I’m really interested in how you and Yukihira-san ended up being business partner” said Yumeko.

“Well, the story dates back to, if I'm not mistaken, around four years ago when my company just started to grow up. One day, I was working in my office until my secretary told me there’s an incoming call for me. Turns out it was from Yukihira Soma, the owner of Orient’s Paradise who reached me. He told me that he’s looking for a new fresh vegetable supplier for his restaurant and he said after he researched the options, he decided to go on with my company. I even didn't know who he actually was until my secretary informed me and showed me his bio on the internet right after the meeting,” said Ryouta.

“Wow, I see. So, what happened next?” said Yumeko.

“What’s next is, two days after the phone call, we have a face-to-face meeting while I show him how everything works and the rates, stuff like that. And boom…. The deal was signed and became the start of a partnership between me and him. And we eventually became good friends too and apparently share the same hobby of playing football, so he asked me to join a fun football club in which me and him routinely attend twice every month since a year ago,” said Ryouta.

“That’s wonderful. I can tell that he’s a very easy-going person” said Yumeko.

“Yeah, you’re right,” said Ryouta.

“And married the woman who shares the same passion as him too. His wife’s name is Yukihira Erina, formerly Nakiri Erina. She’s one of the leading experts in the culinary industry and also the current headmaster of Totsuki Academy which is one of the best culinary schools in the world” said Yumeko.

“Yep, he’s such an amazing person who lives an amazing life,” said Ryouta.

…………

After one and half hours of cruising the road from Tokyo to Saitama, Ryouta and Yumeko are finally arriving at their destination.

From afar, they can see a big building designed in modern style with neon that has “Orient’s Paradise” on top of it. Ryouta drives his car to the parkway and starts looking for a parking spot in the underground basement parking.

He eventually found one on the middle side between two cars. He then perfectly parks his car on the spot.

“Okay, we’re finally here,” said Ryouta as he pulled the car’s handbrake.

“It’s my first time actually visiting this restaurant,” said Yumeko.

“I can assure you that you’ll love it. The cuisines that they offer are varied and I already tasted some of those before,” said Ryouta while putting his phone, car key, and wallet inside of his suit’s blazer.

“Well, I’m looking forward to it. Seems like you’re a regular.” said Yumeko with a chuckle.

“Nah, I only eat there a few times actually and it’s all for the business lunches with my clients,” said Ryouta.

“Alright,” said Yumeko.

After that Ryouta and Yumeko get out of the car and go to the entrance door where they are greeted by the doorman who stands behind a podium-like table.

“Welcome to Orient’s Paradise. I assumed you two are here to attend the opening party?” said the doorman.

“Yes, we are. Here’s my invitation” said Ryouta as he shows his invitation that Soma sent him via email.

“Okay, welcome aboard. The party is in the function hall on the second floor in which you two can access it from the stair,” said the doorman.

“Thank you,” said Ryouta.

And then, they both enter the restaurant. For merely a minute, they stare at the whole interior of the empty restaurant’s ground floor that is designed in modern style with the combination of white, black, and light brown color which is the trademark of Orient’s Paradise that is also used in the Tokyo and Sapporo branches.

There are also many tables and chairs that are seemingly just got arranged a few hours ago with the combination of one table with two chairs and one table with three chairs, On the separate section, there’s lounge that made up with the combination of tables and sofas. On the corner side, there is a bar where one restaurant’s worker is busy cleaning the glasses.

“Wow, everything’s beautiful,” said Yumeko in awe.

“It really is. C’mon let’s get to the second floor,” said Ryouta.

After arriving at the second floor, muffled sounds from a commotion can be already heard clearly alongside the jazz music. Two waiters are standing in front of the function hall and greets them before one of them guides them to their table.

“Here we are, Sir and Madam,” said the waiter.

“Thanks” said Ryouta and Yumeko in unison before sitting on the chairs.

Around them there are also plenty of tables that are already occupied with the invitees. The setup of all the tables is the same, which is using white tablecloths with a set of glasses and silverwares on it.

On the very center end of the hall, there’s a medium sized stage and a jazz band spitting John Coltrane’s jazz collection with their instruments.

“There’re so many people here and I don’t expect a restaurant to have a large function hall like this,” said Yumeko.

“Yeah, it’s kind of a trend for big fancy restaurants nowadays to equip themselves with function hall that can be rented for many kinds of events. Wedding, Engagement Party, and many more. All three branches have a function hall,” said Ryouta.

“Oh, I see,” said Yumeko while nodding her head.

“And, this restaurant also has a private room too which is often used by company executives and sometimes government’s higher ups to do their meetings and business lunches. Also, all three branches have one of this room” said Ryouta,

“Uh, well, that sounds really expensive,” said Yumeko.

“It’s a fancy restaurant after all. So, things like this are pretty common,” said Ryouta.

“Sure, they are,” said Yumeko.

Then a waiter comes to their table while bringing a tray with a bottle of red wine on it.

“May I fancy your appetizer with wine, sir and madam?” asked the waiter.

“Oh, uhm for sure. How about you, Ryouta-kun?” said Yumeko.

“Yeah” he said shortly.

The waiter nods his head and pours the wine into two glasses before leaving their table.

Some couple of minutes later, a man with a suit comes to the center of the stage which is followed by the stoppage of the performance of the jazz band. Now every pair of eyes in that hall are focusing on one point.

“Good evening. Ladies and gentlemen. Thank you all for attending tonight’s grand opening of the third branch of Orient’s Paradise. Mr. Yukihira Soma as the founder and the owner will be giving a speech to officially open our event tonight. So, ladies and gentlemen, please welcome Mr. Yukihira Soma,” said the announcer.

The invitees are standing from the chairs and giving applause as Soma enters the stage with his wife while holding her hand. They are both stunning and elegant with Soma wearing a set of black tuxedos and Erina, his wife wearing a white long gown.

“Thank you to all the invitees for coming for tonight historic event. First of all, I would like to say my deepest gratitude to my family, especially my wife, my parents, and my colleagues who always gave their biggest support and great inputs for me to this very day. I also want to say my very big thanks to all of my business partners for all the good cooperation that we have throughout the years so we can both stand on this historic point tonight.

At this moment, I also want to state a few things. The first order of business, I’d like to announce that there will be some changes for Orient’s Paradise and it will apply to all three branches, especially on the terms of meal courses that will be expanded significantly. I also proudly announce that Orient’s Paradise also will officially open a paid internship program that will select thirty candidates from all over the country to get a real experience on how it feels like to work professionally in the kitchen and also in the hospitality sector. All of them will be scattered around the three branches,” said Soma.

The invitees are giving Soma a round of applause. Soma then clears his throat before continuing his speech.

“And lastly, I also want to introduce the head chef that will be seeing all the operations of Orient’s Paradise’s of Saitama branch. He's very talented and also rich in experiences. Please welcome, Chef Nakamura Morita,” said Soma.

The invitees then once again give their round of applause. After the speech session was done, the event continued with all the invitees tasting some new course meals of Orient’s Paradise which still adopted the big theme of East Asian Cuisine with the blend from the other cultures from all over the world.

…..

“Wow, you’re right, Ryouta-kun. The foods are all so great and also unique too” said Yumeko as they finished the dinner session.

“Well, I already told you,” Ryouta said with a chuckle. He then takes another sip of his wine.

They then both look around them as now the people are mingling with each other after eating. The lively hype is taking the whole hall.

“So, what do we do now, Ryouta-kun?” Yumeko asked.

“I don’t really know.  I Hope we can go somewhere less crowded to digest our food,” said Ryouta.

“Then let’s go outside. We can hang near the big windows in front of the hall, look, some people are already there too” said Yumeko.

“That’s a good idea,” said Ryouta.

And then, Ryouta and Yumeko are both getting off from the chair to go outside of the hall, but before they even take a step, Soma’s voice can be heard calling Ryouta’s name.

“Suzui!” he said as he approached both of them while her wife followed him.

“Yukihira” Ryouta turned his head with a smile.

And after they have a brotherly hug for a second.

“Great party and dinner you have my friend. Oh, once again, congratulations for your new restaurant branch,” said Ryouta.

“Thank you, Thank you very much. But, you know, I can't accomplish this milestone alone. You are a part of it too and I hope that our partnership can be more stronger than ever,” said Soma.

“I also wish the same thing too” said Ryouta with a smile.

“Oh, by the way, this is my wife, Erina. Erina, this is Suzui Ryouta, my business associate” said Soma as he introduced his wife.

“Pleasure to meet you, Erina-San,” said Ryouta.

“Me too, Suzui-san” said Erina with her gracious smile.

“And who is this charming lady who is with you, Suzui” said Soma as he takes a look at Yumeko who stands besides Ryouta.

“Oh yeah, this is my companion, Jabami Yumeko. She’s a long-time friend of mine back in high school and we just reunited a couple of weeks ago,” said Ryouta.

“I see, nice to meet you, Jabami-san,” said Soma with a friendly smile.

“The same goes for me too, Yukihira-san. It’s an honor for me too as I always watch your cooking videos on YouTube for my daily menu inspiration” said Yumeko.

“Really? I’m glad to hear that, Jabami-san. I really appreciate it,” said Soma.

“Sure, and it’s also a pleasure to meet you too, Erina-san,” said Yumeko who turned her gaze to Soma’s wife.

“The same goes for me too, Jabami-san” Erina replied, once again with her gracious smile.

After that, the four of them are continuing their casual conversation until ten minutes later before Soma and Erina are excusing themselves to mingle with other guests. Ryouta and Yumeko then decide to stick back to their earlier plan to hang back for a while before leaving the party.

……………..

“Thanks for today, Ryouta-kun. It was really fun and memorable” said Yumeko after they stopped right in front of her penthouse.

“Yeah, and thanks for accompanying me too,” said Ryouta with a smile.

“No problem at all. Well…uhm, I will get off now” said Yumeko as she opened the door of Ryouta’s car to get outside.

“Wait” said Ryouta.

“What is it, Ryouta-kun?” said Yumeko.

“Uhm…I just want to say that…I’m really glad that you finally call me by my first name after all these years,” said Ryouta with a little flustered face.

“Yeah, you know … I should have done it a long time ago as it was not as hard I imagined it would be,” said Yumeko, also with a little blush on her face.

Then a wave of quick silence clouded them as they didn’t know what to say next, but their hearts are beating faster than before.

“Well, I guess, I see you soon, Ryouta-kun” said Yumeko

“Yeah, of course,” said Ryouta. Yumeko then gets out of Ryouta’s car.

“Good night, Ryouta-kun,” said Yumeko.

“And good night for you too,” said Ryouta.

“Be careful on your way home,” said Yumeko.

“I will,” Ryouta replied with a smile.

Then, Ryouta is driving away while Yumeko is making her way to the inside of her penthouse complex.

Chapter Text

Ryouta is driving his black Ford Everest Titanium through the glam of Tokyo City night in a medium speed. His radio on his car is playing some sort of 1980’s playlist. He’s no longer drive his Tacoma anymore as he sold it and buy a bigger car.

His eyes are tired after spending another long day managing his business which had seems growing bigger and bigger everyday. More business partners, more veggies and fruits are delivered, and also a thought of an expansion as he’s looking to diversify. He’s thinking about seafood industry and its potential good prospects, especially with market like Japan. He’s also eyeing the spices market too.

But, for now, the realization of that thought can be waiting.

After some time, spending on cruising on the street, Ryouta is finally make it back to his residence. He parks his Everest besides his BMW in his garage, gathers all of his belongings, and enters his abode. As always, the darkness is the one who welcomed him.

After settling everything a bit, Ryouta make his way to the kitchen and stand there for a little bit as his mind is processing the choices of idea regarding what he should cook for this late-night dinner. He then opens the double-door refrigerator that are stacked up with many kinds of foods and drinks, including the veggies and fruits products from his own business.

“Well, I guess, I’ll have a roast salmon, with veggies and rice” he thought.

Then, he gathers all the ingredients needed to make his desired meals of tonight. It only took him around 25 minutes to finish all of the cooking work.

He brings all of his foods along with a glass of water and a can of beer to the living room table as he intends to eat while watching some late-night TV programs. He grabs the remote and sits on the sofa and ready for his dinner. But before that, Ryouta put the palm of his hands together and doing a little prayer for another day that he had.

And that’s it. After that, he turns the big screen on and starts eating his dinner in silent. The TV is showing a late-night news in which telling him the news that he misses to read or watch in all day. The food tastes great in his mouth as he chewed it, but his face is flat. Not only by tiredness but also his mind starts lingering elsewhere too.

To the woman that he met on his own bar around two months ago after long years of not seeing each other.

In this past two months, Ryouta and Yumeko have been “close” again as both of them are constantly getting in touches again with late-night chat or voice call, talking about many things like how’s their days going on or the memories of Hyakkaou Academy. Sometimes, He and Yumeko will also be going out together, like for example, a week ago, they spent their day together eating dinner together in a restaurant uptown.

Them being reunited and spent some time together like that again after so many years has somehow, make Ryouta’s heart feels the sensation from the past.

Seeing Yumeko is no longer a gambling addict that he used to know feels kind of weird, but he glad that Yumeko is found another purpose in her life that is not life-threatening.

In one call that they do, Yumeko confessed that she had more freedom and peace than she used to be, but she also said that sometimes, the memories of her past persona come to haunt her dreams. Ryouta is understand and only said:

“it’s just a dream. You’ve been taking the path of new you well. Don’t let your past ruin it” he texted that to her.

She said thank you and kind of mentioning how Ryouta always do this kind of talk whenever she felt down.

In other night, in a voice call, Yumeko also revealed about her big family of the Bami-Clan condition after they graduated from school. The part that she didn’t mention when they first reunited again on Ryouta’s bar.

Kirari is now the full-head of Bami-Clan, reigning over all of the family branches and vast businesess. She’s still single without a husband, but Sayaka is always with her with now, she’s working for Kirari as her personal assistant and her spokeperson.

“So, no man is ever destined to conquer her heart…” he said to Yumeko.

“She has Sayaka on her side for a long time. I think that’s all she needs in the companionship” Yumeko replied with a chuckle on her voice.

Kirari’s twin sister, Ririka is also rising to the top position in clan’s leadership as she’s still acting as Kirari’s deputy and also one of her main advisors. She’s also still single, with no lover as she done much travelling these days for clan’s business.

And the rest of them, also with their own different paths.

Apart from that, the call and the chats have made Ryota slowly awaken the old familiar comfort like in the old time. When, Yumeko finally starts calling him Ryouta, instead of Suzui is making him feels happy although, yeah …. took a long time.

His mind then taking him back further, as the memory of him and her on the last day of school appears. That sense of guilt of himself for not telling her the truth about how he feels about her.

For many years, he quietly hoped that he can reunited again with Yumeko in which his little prayer is magically answered many years later with a plot twist that he never imagined before.

He’s thinking.

Maybe…this is the second chance for him to finally do it.

Ryouta sigh a little and let the thoughts pass.

After finishing his late-dinner meals, Ryota immediately clean the dishes and drink the can of beer that he brought to the living room with him earlier. He took a glance of the clock that already shows half-past midnight.

So, after finishing his beer, Ryouta is going upstairs to his bedroom. He took off all of his clothes, grab a towel, and then goes straight into the shower.

15 minutes later, he’s stepping out from the shower room and gets dressed in a simple home outfit. He then grabs his phone from the small desk next to his bed and walk to the next room which is his personal office space.

It’s a medium sized room with large bookshelves stationed on the right side, filled with many kinds of books. In front of it, there’s a mahogany table and a large armchair. On top of the table, there are some stuffs there like a monitor that connected to the set of PCS underneath the table and some table decorations.

On the left side, there are sofa that shaped like letter L with some desk extension underneath it. Some sort of extra storage place for him.

This room serves as Ryouta’s personal space where he thinks about ideas or just want to spend the late night, watching some videos or listening to music in which the exact thing that he will do right now.

He turns on the PC and once booted, he clicked on the browser, open the YouTube and click on one of his favourite podcast’s videos.

“Ah, what a comfy” he said as he rests his tired back against the chair.

Some minutes later, his phone is buzzing. Ryouta grabs it and see a notification pops up from his chat app. He opens it and Yumeko is the one who sends him message.

“There she is” he’s said in his mind while smiling.

Y: Hey, Ryouta. You still awake?

R: I’am yeah.

Then, after some seconds, the message been replied again.

Y: What you do now?

R: As always. Watching some podcast before sleep. How about you?

Y: Drinking some hot tea. I’ve just finishing the last details of my work.

R: I see. I bet you have deadline or something?

Y: Yeah, but I already finished it. Took around five hours or something.

R: At least It is done.

Y: You’re right. It’s also made me think of something

R: Oh yeah? What is it?

Y: I’m thinking of looking a small property not far from my apartment. I plan to use it as studio as my works have been starting to overload too.

R: So, like opening your official brand?

Y: Sort off. I’m also looking for one or two people to help me out. One will act as my secretary who’s managing my schedule and one as my assistant who will assist me in designing stuffs.

R: I see, maybe I can help you out.

Y: Oh, well, thank you but how?

R: I have a friend in real estate agency that will help you chart some places that might be suited you. How about in next week, I’ll take you to meet my friend? How do you say?

Y: Sounds like a good idea.

R: Alright then. I’ll be picking you up at your place.

Y: Thanks for helping me out, Ryouta.

R: Nah, don’t mention it. Okay, Good night, Yumeko.

Y: Good night Ryouta.

Ryouta put his phone back on the table and sigh a little. The focus again on the videos that he’s currently watch. But for a mere second, his attention shifted again to a military medal that encased neatly inside of a protective glass. He paused the video again and look at the medal.

His mind then starts to wander again to the moment after the graduation in high school.

Back then, he was alone in his flat, sitting in front of a computer with idle looks. His high school days was over and it’s time for him to decide which direction he wanted to take. He could take university entrance exam as his parents hope for, or taking a one-year break to gain some experience in internship that were available for high school graduate like him.

It was nothing until he found something.

The Japan National Military Academy is opening a new entrance exam. At first, he seems not interested, but he decided to read everything about it on their website. At that moment, he slowly realizes which path that he will take.

Then, he came back to his hometown in Osaka, asking for his parents blessing. At first there were heated debate and arguments as Ryouta’s mother deemed his choice was ridiculous and keep asking him to take the university entrance exam, but his big brother who is also with him at that time, defending him as Ryouta has the right of his own choices.

Eventually, his dad who was seemingly neutral in those debates, finally said that, Ryouta has grown into a man and he can make his choice. His mom also finally gives in but give him a warning about his choice.

And so, he is making some preparations like improving his physique and learn the materials for the exam for the next two and half months. Eventually, he got accepted into the military academy and spend the next three years as cadet, learning everything from A to Z until he graduated in the age of 21. He took another three months to complete Officer Candidate School and got his first rank of Second Lieutenant.

He was posted in an infantry regiment in 2^nd Battalion in Hokkaido region. It only took him one and half year to get a recommendation letter to enter the Special Forces Group’s selection exam as he was doing so good in pretty much everything and have the way of out-of-the-box thinking, probably thanks to his time at Hyakkaou Academy.

He was found himself in the grueling and nearly inhumane SFG selection exam which took around four months. Out of 250 candidates, only 20 is choosen and Ryouta has made it into the list of 20 after finishing a long hell march as the last exam in the selection.

Age 22 and he already became a special force member. Soon after that, Ryouta was placed in 1^st SFG Regiment in Funabashi.

His career in the SFG is pretty steadfast as he is deployed in several missions in foreign and domestic soils. One of them mission that still etched into his mind until this day is when his unit is tasked doing a raid on neo-Aum Shinrikyo leader on the depth of Aokigahara mountain.

It was dark night without a moon, and he’s leading a group of 10 men in the dark forest while the other 10 men under his comrade’s command was on the other side. The plan is to surprise the rebels from two sides.

Their mission is succesfull, although there were two casualties on their own, while he got some bad wounds as well. It took him around a week to recover as he’s treated in Army hospital. And for that, he also received the medal that he’s looking right now for his bravery.

Another mission that still carved into his mind is when the SFG storming the shit out of a subway metro train that has been hijacked between Shibuya and Shinjuku by a group of terrorists. They hold the passengers as hostages and demanded 250 million Yen as ransom. The negotiation failed, and the SFG was sent to deal with them. He remembers how he led his team with casual clothes strapped with battle gears into the dark subway tunnel as they made their way to the train.

The close contacts, the thrills, were like nightmare in a daylight as this is one of the most difficul mission that he ever had. It’s ended within 45 minutes with somehow, without any casualties except for all the terrorists themselves. It’s a big miracle in his opinion that something like that happened.

His rank rose from Second Lieuteant to the Captain in just four years. He’s pretty enjoyed his military life as he received a fairly high wage although he sometimes questioned about his decision of joining the military life and also, having some bad dreams sometimes.

Between his military life, he’s also quietly enrolling in a college degree in accounting management from a stateUniversity in Nagoya and got his bachelor degree. Never told anyone about this side hustle, though.

It was until another game changer event came when he’s watching farmers and their farm while on a solo vacation trip in rural part of Akita. And that’s the idea of his current company come.

He made another bold move to put his resignation letter which surprised everyone since he is one of the best in the squad, but his decision is already final. It’s like gamble as he left his comfort zone and the high pay wage of special force to something that he never explored before.

The gamble, has now paid off.

And he realizes how much he grown over the years.

Ryouta puts back the encassed medal back to its place and lets out a long sigh.

“It’s been a long, long time” he said to his mind.

Chapter Text

Ryouta is stopping his BMW in front of Yumeko’s penthouse. He looks at his watch as the clock shows 11:30 AM on Saturday. Today, he promised Yumeko to accompany her to find the perfect spot for her future office studio. He then grabs his phone and chat her that he’s already waiting for her in front of her place.

“I’m on my way” she replied around one minute later.

Some minutes later, Ryouta can finally see Yumeko is walking to this car. She’s wearing some casual attires consists of white T-shirt and cream-coloured oro pants along with sneakers and a handbag.

“Hi, Ryouta-kun” said Yumeko with her smile as she gets on the passenger seat besides Ryouta.

“Hi, you’re ready?” said Ryouta as he releases the handbrake.

“Yep” said Yumeko.

Ryouta then steps on the gas and drives to the main road. Yumeko is settling in on her seat while putting the seatbelt on.

“How you do, Yumeko?” said Ryouta.

“I’m fine. By the way, thanks for helping me out” said Yumeko.

“Nah, it’s fine” said Ryouta with a little glance and smile, before focusing back on the road.

Then a brief silence spread upon them, before Yumeko starts talking again.

“So, where we heading now, Ryouta-kun?” Yumeko asked him.

“To my friend’s office in Minato. He has over 10 years of experiences in property sector and he’s the one who’s helping me finding my current residence, too” said Ryouta.

“I see. well, I hope that I can found it by today if possible” said Yumeko.

“Don’t worry, they have all kinds of options you can explore and also adapting to your budget” said Ryouta.

“Okay” said Yumeko.

Yumeko sigh a little as she sees the traffic of Tokyo from the window in passenger seat. She then kind of remembering something important.

“Oh yeah, I forgot to mention something” said Yumeko.

“Hm, what is it?” said Ryouta with curious tone.

“Rei-san will be married next week” said Yumeko.

“Rei? Uh, you mean Batsubami Rei?” asked Ryouta with an eyebrow raised.

“Yeah. I just got the invitation from Terano-san this morning” said Yumeko.

“Really? Well, congrats to her. Whom she’s will be married to?” Ryouta said.

“I don’t know, but she’s marrying some foreigner from Italy. Terano-san said that he’s her co-worker or something” said Yumeko.

“I see. so, you gonna come, yes?” said Ryouta.

“Of course, yeah. Everyone like Mary and Itsuki will be there too” said Yumeko.

“Hu-um” said Ryouta while focusing on the road.

“How about we go together there? I feel like that this could be sort off a high school reunion. Mary, Itsuki, and the others must be surprised when they see you there” said Yumeko with a chuckle.

“I thought that they already know about me or something. You said that you are occassionaly doing hang out with them” said Ryouta with a small laugh.

“That’s where you got it wrong. I didn’t tell them anything. But yes, sometimes, they gonna say like. I wonder where Suzui is or what is Suzui doing now. Not even your social media” said Yumeko.

“Make sense, especially for the social media one since I don’t use my name as username and bio” said Ryouta.

“Anyway, the reception ceremony will be held in next Saturday in Ritz Hotel of Chiba. 19:00 PM” said Yumeko.

“Okay, I’ll guess I’ll tag along too” said Ryouta with a little smile.

“Great” said Yumeko with excited tone.

After spending some more times on the road, they both finally arrive in a two-floor office building, only few blocks from Minato main station.

“Okay, here we are” said Ryouta as he pulls the handbrake of his car.

Then, they get off from the car and get to the entrance.

“Hi, welcome to Izumi’s Property Agency, how can I help you?” said a female receptionist when they got into a lobby area.

“Ah, yeah. Is, Mr. Uehara in office today?” said Ryouta.

“Yes, he’s upstairs. What’s the business, sir?” said the receptionist.

“First, tell him, its Suzui Ryouta and secondly, my companion over here is looking for a suitable property for her business” said Ryouta.

“Okay, sir. I’ll call him” said the receptionist who then doing a call via telephone on her desk.

“Mr. Uehara said you all can go to his room now,” said the receptionist.

“Thanks” said Ryouta with a smile.

They then taking the stairs to the second floor. When they get there, they are welcomed by lot of empty office cubicle with only several people working today. There are also some private offices with glasses too.

Ryouta knock the door with Uehara name attached on the plate.

“Yeah, come in” said a voice from the inside.

They then come inside the room and found a man in his mid 40’s is sitting behind his table. He wears a blue suit with a loosened grey tie. The room is not too large and filled with many stuffs and furniture. He has a polished short black hair and wear a pair of glasses.

“Oh, welcome” said the man while rising from his seat.

“Uehara-san” said Ryouta with a smile.

They then have a handshake to each other.

“Please have a seat” said Uehara while gesturing to the two chairs in front of his desk.

“Okay, uh, the receptionist said that your friend here is looking for a property, is that so?” said Uehara.

“Yes, she is Uehara-san” said Ryouta while looking at Yumeko.

“Alright then. Well…. what type of property you’re looking for, miss?” Uehara asking.

“I’m looking for an office space, with the capacity of around 2 to 6 people at the moment. The preferable location is around Chiyoda” said Yumeko.

“Hmm…Chiyoda huh? A very strategic area I must say and there are plenty of choices depends on your purpose. By the way, you’re looking to rent or to buy?” said Uehara.

Yumeko is silent for seconds.

“Hmm…. rent-to-own option” said Yumeko.

“Okay. Uhm…. then may I know, what’s your budget is miss?

“Currently I’m earning around 9.5 million yen per year. With the cold saving around 125 million yen, here’s my financial report” said Yumeko while giving Uehara a bundle of document.

Uehara then checking it throughly and some minutes, he put the papers down. Yumeko and Ryouta watch him eagerly, waiting for what he might say.

“Okay, I think we can move on,” said Uehara.

Then, for the next two hours, Yumeko, Ryouta, and Uehara are exchanging opinions as Uehara is presenting some options of properties for Yumeko. Slowly but steady, they narrowing the options into two, which in the area of Yumeko desired.

Yumeko decide go to have a look in the two places. Uehara is riding with them and for another hours, they are observing the places, weighing their pros and cons carefully. And finally, Yumeko is choosing a simple two floored office space, a few blocks from Chiyoda station. It is enough for her as the new stepping stone in her career.

After that, Yumeko is signing some documents to seal the deal of her new office space.

“Congratulations, Miss Jabami. I hope your business will blooming with this place,” said Uehara.

“Thank you so much, Uehara-san” said Yumeko.

After wrapping up everything, Ryouta and Yumeko decide to go get them some food for dinner on a restaurant in Shinjuku.

The rain is start pouring hard on the outside of the car and the currently stuck on a long traffic of a late afternoon Tokyo.

The hum of the car’s engine and muffled sounds of cars honking are decorating the silence since for a while, both of them didn’t say a word.

Ryouta focusing on the road, while Yumeko is scrolling down on her phone.

Some minutes later, Yumeko put her phone down back to her purse. She then took a glance to Ryouta who’s eyes are locked in on the traffic in front of them.

“Thanks for helping me out today, Ryouta-kun” said Yumeko.

“Of course. Now, you got your place to start” said Ryouta with a genuine smile.

“Yes. It’s a new opportunity for me” said Yumeko.

“I thought back then, you’re planning to just renting the place” said Ryouta.

“Well, I have enough money that I save from my last ever gamble” said Yumeko.

Ryouta took a glance at her before focusing back on the street.

“Your last ever gamble?” Ryouta said with a raised eyebrows as this are the the first time since their reunion that Yumeko mentions about this.

Yumeko sighs a little and then look outside of the window.

“Yeah. Just after the graduation, I went on a mission. To avenge those who were wronging my family after so long. It’s one final gamble that will conclude my life as a human depends on the results” said Yumeko with a heavy tone as her thought bringing her to a flashback.

“I see, but in the end …. You won right?” said Ryouta.

Yumeko nod with a silent.

“Yes, I concluded with a triumph, but I don’t know if what I’m doing is wrong or right. I felt empty afterwards for a while before finding what’s next for me. Sometimes, I keep asking myself that question” said Yumeko.

Ryouta sigh a little and then smile.

“Well…I think you’re already done accordingly. Maybe it’s not really satisfied you or leaving you more questions than answers, but from my humble perspective, it is closing the door for your old unpleasant time, and opening a new horizon that you never expect before” said Ryouta.

“You thought so?” said Yumeko.

“I am. You said it yourself to me that you have more freedom than you used to be. Although yeah, your past is sometimes trying to haunt you. But, as I said to you, you’re stronger than them and you are now walking in the new path. No need to worry about anything” said Ryouta.

“Maybe you’re right, Ryouta-kun. Thanks for the insights” Yumeko said with a smile.

“No problem” said Ryouta with a quick glance and a smile.

Now, they are passing through the traffic jam and they fell silence on again.

“It’s been two months since we bumped each other at the bar and do frequent talk like this. It’s like taking me back to our highschool days” said Ryouta.

“Yeah, me too. I also never thought that the bar that has been one of my favourite spots for the last couple of months is owned by you” said Yumeko with a chuckle.

“There are lot of things happened since the graduation, for you and me” said Ryouta.

“I know. One thing for sure is that, we’re both now in our 30’s in our adulthood. Look I have completely barely recognized my teeny figures anymore” said Yumeko.

Ryouta only lets out a small laugh to Yumeko’s remarks.

After driving for some more times, they finally arrive at a big steakhouse restaurant in Shinjuku main street.

“Here we are” said Ryouta.

“Ah, finally. I’m so hungry” said Yumeko.

And after parking the car, Ryouta and Yumeko are entering the restaurant to get their fill on the evening.

Maybe talk some more about today.

Chapter Text

Yumeko is sitting on a gambling table with hundred of unknown dark crowds are watching and cheering her. On the table, the card is already flipped and revealed. The fate has twisted everything to its core.

Yumeko sees five people in front of her who’s now trembling in shock. One of them is shaking hard before falling into the ground. They don’t believe what just happened.

They were thinking that they were close to win, but it’s all shattered like glass in the matter of seconds. It’s like smokethat vanish into thin air.

Everything feels surreal but also real at the same time. Yumeko look on her side where Kirari is sitting in some kind of throne. She only smiles at her with a flat gaze as her hands are clapping for her.

“You’ve finally done it, huh?” Kirari said.

Yumeko didn’t answer and look back at the five people in front of her who’s now having their face distorted and popped up like a target being gunned down in a shooting range.

 Yumeko has seeing this for like a million times now like a broken casette that plays the same over and over again.

Then everything becomes fully distorted and a tap on her shoulder has jolted her into a spiral wormhole

She has back to the reality as she opens her eyes and waking up in her bed. Her alarm from her phone on the desk beside her is ringing non-stop.

She then gets up and grab her phone. It’s 06:48 AM in the morning. She shushes the alarm and put her phone on the bed.

She looks around at her room and sigh a long breath.

“When that dream will ever stop” she hummed to herself. She then let the thought pass and decide to prepare for the day.

Yumeko then gets up from the bed and walk outside from the bedroom. She opens the curtains on living room, exposing the sunlight to immediately penetrate to the room.

The traffic and the activity below can be seen clearly from the distance. Yumeko then starts the TV and roll it into news channel. She leaves the TV on as she’s going to the kitchen to make some breakfast for herself to start her day.

She makes a cup of hot coffee and her favurite toast with chocolate jam. After making all of those, Yumeko brings the breakfast to the living room area and eat them while watching some news.

She has some works and schedules for today including finishing some designs for the client and also do some checking on the progress on her new office.

After finishing her breakfast, Yumeko take a morning shower and get dressed. She turns on her PC and Ipad.

As always, the first thing she do is checking and sorting her email inbox. Yumeko sighs a little when she sees hundred of emails on her inbox.

This is exactly why she is buying the office space and doing some recruitments. This hustle of her is no longer managable by her.

When she does calculations again, she is at least need one personal assistant and minimum of six to ten employees who will help her in day-to-day operation.

In other words, she will be opening a small company. Yumeko is already discussing some things related to this to Ryouta who’s giving her much insights about it.

Ryouta said that her step and her vision is already on the right track. All she needs to do is now register the paperworks so the company is listed. Yumeko already decided that her little company will focus as creative agency since Yumeko also has marketing experience back when she worked in United States.

The whole process could take at least a month before everything is finalized. She also already prepares the name of the company which is “Red Aces Creative Agency”.

The name still has some “relation” to her past. It’s her own choice to well … “giving homage” to her past and reminder of her to always strive for the future.

Yumeko is taking everything step by step by now, no rush, but there’s steady progress. Another milestone to achieve.

For the next six hours, Yumeko is drown with so many design works. She is so focused. Soon, one by one of those works are getting done, delivered, approved.

By the afternoon, Yumeko is out from her room again to make eat some lunch. Since everything is pretty hectic, Yumeko already ordered some food via Uber and its already dropped in the lobby.

Yumeko grab her key and going downstairs to the lobby.

“Hi, I’m here to pickup my food” said Yumeko to the security guard on the lobby.

“Oh yeah, Miss Jabami. Here you go”

“Thanks”

Yumeko then goes back to her penthouse room. She set up her food in on her dining table and start eating them while scrolling through her phone.

Bzzz….

A notification is popping up.

It’s from her message app and when she opens it, it’s from Kirari. She said that she wants her to attend the Bami-clan submit for this year.

Yumeko sighs herself a little. Thinking how she should response.

After that final gamble, Yumeko was nearly got everything after avenge those who wronged her family. She got money which is around billions, got her family’s name reinstated, and everything.

But it doesn’t change the fact that her mom and dad are gone forever and will never come back and her sister returns to her usual cheerful persona as she remembers it. She’s still sitting on the same hospital ward for like many years since that fateful day.

Now, she’s basically the sole heir of Jabami Family. Nobody else. Since she left this world of gambleand clan’s power struggle for new direction in her life, she’s distancing herself from the clan’s affairs although on rare occassions she is attending the annual meeting just to know what’s happening with whom, when, and where.

“I’m gonna think about it. I’ve been very busy lately” she replies the message.

“Okay. I do hope you’ll be here” Kirari’s response coming up immediately.

“Alright, see you” Yumeko typed her response.

Yumeko then continue her lunch meal while thinking the decision that she would take.

……………………

Yumeko is standing on the what would become her new office. Everything is slowly put into their places. Her office will be having two floors, which is first floor that will be the place of receptionist and small lounge, and the second floor will be the office section and her personal office. There are also toilets and pantry as well.

“Is this fine by you, Jabami-san?’ said one of the workers as he putting some stuffs on Yumeko’s future office room.

“Yeah, sure” she said.

She then checks the office set that will be used by her employees. The cubicles and PC set is already 80 percents completed.

She spent another 30 minutes to look around before she decides to let the workers finish their work. Yumeko order an Uber to drive her to the Black Horse Bar as she could sip some drink after a very long day.

It took around 35 minutes of silence drive before she reaches the bar. When she enters, the bar is pretty crowded with people enjoying their drinks with laughter and casual conversations. Her eyes then look around and spot a familiar person sitting on the bar section.

It is Ryouta, who’s wearing a casual dark brown shirt and cream chinos. He seems on the conversation with Kaito.

Yumeko then smiled and walk toward him.

“Hey” a simple tap to his shoulder is enough to make him turn his head.

“Yumeko?” he smiles when he sees her.

“That’s me” she said.

“Come sit here” he said while gestured on an empty chair besides him.

“Thanks” said Yumeko. “Kaito, I want the usual please” she said to Kaito.

“Coming up”

Ryouta then look at her. “You look tired. Having a long day?” he said to her.

“Yeah, lots of deadlines and then I just coing back from checking my future office. It’s around 60 to 70 percent completion. I also doing some follow-ups on the administration as well” said Yumeko.

“That’s great to hear, Yumeko. The first phase is always this tiring, but I belive you got everything under control in the end” said Ryouta.

“Thanks, Ryouta-kun. It’s felt reassuring for me after this long day” said Yumeko.

“Here you go, Miss Jabami” Kaito hand Yumeko’s drink in front of her.

“This one on the house” said Ryouta to Kaito.

“Got it, boss” said Kaito.

“You don’t have to do that, Ryouta-kun. I’ll pay as usual” said Yumeko.

“Nah, It’s okay. You have a long day and this is my way to offer you a humble appreciation. Congratulation” said Ryouta.

“You are sometimes really something, Ryouta-kun. But I guess thanks a lot for that” said Yumeko before sipping her Manhattan cocktail.

“So, how about your day, Ryouta-kun?” Yumeko asked him.

“Well, I just got back from a long drive from Onomichi. Business related” said Ryouta.

“Wow, tell me about it” said Yumeko.

“Nice sea view. Holding potential for my second business in seafood. Just looking around for now” said Ryouta.

“I see. Looking for an expansion huh? From veggies” said Yumeko.

“Yeah, pretty much” Ryouta said with a smile.

He then takes the last sip on his bourbon and look at his watch. “Mmm, I don’t eat something since lunch. Want to follow me to find dinner? I’m craving for some Sichuan Hot Soup in China Town” said Ryouta.

“Sure, but after I finish this lovely Manhattan” said Yumeko with a giggle.

Chapter Text

Ryouta is standing in front of his mirror on his bedroom, trying to take a good look on his appearance for the event of this Saturday evening which is Rei’s wedding.

Right now, he’s wearing an expensive set of dark charcoal suit without tie with a white shirt inside. His brown hair is neatly combed and now he’s looking a bit like Leon S. Kennedy from Resident Evil, but only rougher.

On his wrist, he’s wearing a black leather strapped Breitling Navitimer and he doesn’t forget to add the best perfume he had. He’s already looking all shiny and ready to impress. He then grabs his phone, wallet, and car key before leaving his room.

He’s going downstairs and head for his shoe rack. He’s looking carefully before choosing black socks and a pair of black formal shoes with ties to complete his looks. He’s looking at the clock which shows 17:30 PM.

The late afternoon haze is pouring on his living room. He looks around for a little bit before he’s going outside and lock everything. He then goes to his garage and decide to drive his Ford Everest that has been polished inside and outside after a long journey from Onomichi some days ago. The interior is looking impressive, the fuel is full, and everything else is ready.

He goes into his car, starts the engine, and step on the gas, drive from his driveway. The first stop before going straight to Chiba is to pick up Yumeko in her residence.

The drive in the late afternoon Tokyo on weekend is something else in his mind. Like you step on the gas, but you don’t know for sure where you’ll go. But the vibe is there. While at it Ryouta decides to listen news from radio for a little bit in medium volume.

“Now on the entertainment news. Actress Mei Nakano is facing backlash following the uncovered scandal of her affair with actor, Toneri Mizuno who is the husband of model Yui Matsunaga. Both of their agencies are still silent about their future, but several brands have cut ties with both of them as for example, SK-II is suddenly pulling out Nakano’s ads….”

“It’s happened again; it’s happened again…” Ryouta humming as he reacts to the news. For some years now, some scandals of affairs in Japanese Entertainment industry are rising.

Before Nakano and Mizuno, there were also Yuuji Yamashita’s sexual assault charge of a young actress. Ryouta thought those lads are having everything. The fame, the money, but they do one stupid thing that ruined their legacy and image forever.

As far as he knows, East Asian Entertainment industry has high level of cancel culture, so when you got hooked up in scandal, the chance of you make it back is very thin and most of them are not able to revive their career as the prejudice has permanently branded onto them.

That’s why, Ryouta thought that having sitting on the higher throne requires extra attention and common sense.

After some time on the street, Ryouta is arriving at Yumeko’s apartment and instead of waiting outside, he brings his car to the near lobby. He stops there.

He then gets his phone and type message to Yumeko, telling her that he’s waiting downstairs.

“Okay, wait for 10 minutes, I’ll be there” Yumeko reply coming up immediately.

Ryouta then put his phone on the holder and turn off the radio.

And there she is, walking down from the lobby all dressed up like a goddess. Yumeko is wearing a long grey dress with elegant glittery pattern on it. Her black long hair is styled in a beautiful elegant bun. And she’s wearing a red lipstick and pair of pearl earrings, while holding a white purse on her hand.

It’s making her heart feels stirred and time seems go on slowly for a while.

“Hi, Ryouta-kun” said Yumeko softly as she enters the car and sit on the passenger seat besides Ryouta.

“You look….  charming, tonight, Yumeko,” said Ryouta.

Yumeko look at him, blushed a little on her cheeks. “Thanks, you look sharp too. The perfume you wear… I like how it smells” she said.

“I’m glad to hear that. So, anyway, you mentioned that two more people are hitch a ride with us to Chiba. You didn’t tell me who” said Ryouta who then steps on the gas, as they leaving Yumeko’s residential area.

“Oh yeah, sorry I forgot about that. It’s Mary and her boyfriend” said Yumeko.

“Mary and her boyfriend, huh?” said Ryouta.

“Yeah, Mary’s boyfriend is having a minor injury on his arm so he can’t drive. I said to them I know someone who can drive both of us to the party, but I didn’t mention your name” Yumeko said.

“I see what you up to, Yumeko” said Ryouta with a small laugh.

“You know me. I told you I don’t mention anything about you since our first reunion” she said with a grin.

“So, where they waiting?” said Ryouta.

“In his boyfriend’s apartment in Minato” said Yumeko.

“Alright” Ryouta said while his eyes are focusing on the road.

Some minutes later, Ryouta stops his Ford on the front of a tall apartment blocks in Minato district.

“Okay, this is the place. Now let me tell Mary that we’re here” said Yumeko who then take her phone from the purse. She types some message to Mary.

“Yep, and she said they’re on their way” said Yumeko, which Ryouta respond with a nod.

After around 10 minutes, a couple is seen walking out from the building entrance. A blonde woman who is obviously Mary, which is kind of having a different look since she is in her mid 30s. She’s now having her blonde hair in a bun style, wearing a navy-blue one-piece gown, and white heels.

Her man is walk beside her. He’s pretty tall, probably around Ryouta’s height. He’s pretty sharp but also soft on his face expression. His black hair is tyled in a crew cut. He’s wearing a set of black plaid suit and a dark maroon tie.

Ryouta unlocks the door and both Mary and her boyfriend is entering the backseat of Ryouta’s Ford.

“Hi, Yumeko” said Mary with a smile.

“Hi, Mary” said Yumeko.

“And Hi to you, Fujiwara-san” said Yumeko to Mary’s boyfriend.

“Jabami-san” said Mary’s boyfriend with friendly expression.

After all the passengers are ready, Ryouta is taking his phone and setting the GPS to Rei’s wedding place, before Ryouta steps on the gas and start driving according to the direction that the GPS give. It will be a one hour and thirty minutes drive at most.

“So, the one who drives us tonight is a long good friend of mine” said Yumeko.

“Thanks for driving us” said Mary and Fujiwara in almost a unison.

“Sure thing” said Ryouta with a smirk. It seems that Mary still don’t have any idea who he is.

“Yep, thanks again for driving us, Ryouta-kun” said Yumeko.

As soon as the name is mentioned, Mary’s eyes pupil is widened in disbelief.

“What’s wrong hon,” said Fujiwara.

“R-Ryouta? You mean Suzui Ryouta from high school?” said Mary to confirm.

“That’s me” said Ryouta with a little laugh while his eyes focusing on the traffic in front of him.

“Oh my god. This is literally the first time I see you again in like so many years after high school. You’re changed so much than I remembered,” said Mary.

“Haha…yeah, been going on many ups and downs, but yeah this is me,” said Ryouta.

“Well, you are like vanished without trace after high school. So, what do you do now?” said Mary.

“I’m settling in business now. I have business in Vegetable and Fruit Distribution, and some others like a bar, and some properties,” said Ryouta.

“I see, well good for you. Anyway, Yumeko. How do you guys meet up?” said Mary demanding a story from Yumeko.

Yumeko and Ryouta then explain about how they bumped each other in Ryouta’s bar around two months ago, then how they constantly keep in touches till now.

“Well, that ain’t just a good old long friend, isn’t it?” said Mary with a smirk on her face.

“Mary…” said Yumeko with a blushed cheesk, while Ryouta is keep focusing on the road while clearing his throat. Fujiwara is having a laugh too.

And then Mary is telling Ryouta about her job as financial consultant and her boyfriend. They’ve been together for two years now.

Fujiwara also involved in the convo as he told Ryouta that he and Mary also met for the first time by bumping each other on the road.

“I see. So, how it like to be working as detective?” said Ryouta.

“It’s nice but also challenging. I’ve been moving up ranks for some years now. Before this job, I was in JIA. The Domestic Affairs Bureau,” said Fujiwara.

“Yeah, he’s a former JIA agent apparently before he was in police force,” said Mary.

“Nice. Well, before I was settling in business, I was once served in the army for eight years,” said Ryouta.

Mary and Yumeko are having surprised looks on their faces when they heard Ryouta’s confession just now.

“This is the first time you mentioned it since we met again, Ryouta-kun. I actually think about it for some time about what did you do before business and wanted to ask you, but well… I think I know the answer now” said Yumeko.

“Yeah, I forgot to mention it. My bad,” said Ryouta.

” You joined the army? That’s really unexpected. But how?” said Mary.

“Well, I done some serious contemplations after high school graduation. So, after considering many choices I choose to enroll in the National Military Academy,” said Ryouta.

“I actually wanted to go to the military academy but got rejected. So, I try criminology study in university and got my luck in Domestic Affairs in JIA,” said Fujiwara.

“Yeah, the selection is very hard from the beginning. So, after spending 3 years there as a cadet plus some two months in officer candidate school, I was graduated in well…. pretty above average score in my class. I choose the army as my branch and I was sent to my first deployment in 2^nd Battalion in Hokkaido. Didn’t last long there,” said Ryouta.

“Why is that, Ryouta-kun?” said Yumeko.

“Well, the answer is, I got enrolled again. This time to army special forces selection exam,” said Ryouta.

“Special Forces Group Selection Exam? That’s one trip to a hell brother,” said Fujiwara.

“It is. 4 months, hundreds of participants, rigorous trainings and exams that make you question your sanity. I was among the few that got selected into the force. I was placed in 1^st Assault Group. Things are harder there, but the pay is way above the regulars,” said Ryouta.

“Damn, no wonder you got the “teams’ guy” look when I first see you when I get into the car,” said Fujiwara.

“It’s very obvious, huh?” said Ryouta with a chuckle.

“I can read people well, Suzui-san,” said Fujiwara.

“By the way, what’s a “team’s guy” means?” said Mary.

“It’s the slang term of someone who’s in special force, like Suzui-san,” said Fujiwara.

Mary nod as the response.

“So, yeah, that’s my life before business. I was going many places, many missions,” said Ryouta.

“Including the Metro?” said Fujiwara.

“Yes. One of the hardest missions that still linger to my mind as I keep asking, how the hell we can manage to clear the train without any casualties on civilians,” said Ryouta.

“Yeah, I also think the same thing. That day and the day afterwards are very busy for me and the lads of Domestic Affairs,” said Fujiwara.

“Major Honeda, my commander was in the control room too that day. How he was doing there?” said Ryouta.

“Oh yeah, I remember him. Very tense look and the scar on his face is pretty scary. Never talk much tho. What’s he doing now?” said Fujiwara.

“Thought so. Well, Honeda is already two stars general now and taking command in Eastern Army,” said Ryouta.

“I see, so what rank are you hold before you left the army?” said Fujiwara.

“Captain” said Ryouta with a smile.

“Thanks for your service, Captain” said Fujiwara while doing a salute to Ryouta.

“Thank you and at ease” said Ryouta with a laugh while Yumeko is looking at him with smile and awe expression.

……………

After one hour and fifteen minutes on the road, they finally arrive at the venue of Rei’s wedding at Ritz Hotel in Chiba. Ryouta drives to the main entrances and there are some valets are waiting for them.

“Good evening, sir” said one of the valets while he hands Ryouta a card with number.

“Alright, we’re here,” said Mary. Then all four of them are getting off from the car.

“Take care of my car properly, yeah?” said Ryouta to the valet.

“Certainly, Sir” said the valet before he’s entering Ryouta’s Ford and drives it onto the underground parking.

Then, they walk to the main big lobby section and keep walking to the lift area.

“Which floor is the ballroom is?” said Yumeko.

“The 26^th floor,” said Mary. Yumeko nod and press the floor button. And then enjoy a soft listening music on the lift ride.

They then arrive at the desired floor which already flooded with many people in there all the way to the main ballroom. The decorations are full of white and there are also some photos of Rei and her husband during their pre-wedding photoshoot being shown in small gallery near the ballroom main door.

And then, they enter the vast ballroom area after registrated their names on the attendees’ book and receiving boxes of souvenirs on registration table. The ballroom is very fast and there are many round tables and chairs there.

There is also the path for the bride and groom to walk in the middle that led all the way to their stage at the end of the ballroom. The jazz music played by a jazz band situated on the left near the main stage is pleasing the ear.

The four then seating themselves in one of the tables with six chairs located on the middle.

“Looks like we’re early” said Ryouta while looking at his watch.

“Yup. By the way, this place is very big” said Yumeko.

“Yeah, you’re right,” said Mary.

Around 15 minutes later, a familiar face is appearing and walking to their table. It’s Itsuki and Manyuda. Itsuki is waving her hand excitedly to them while Manyuda is only smile. Their faces are not much changed, but Itsuki is more stylish in her 30’s and Manyuda still keeping his clean polished look.

“Hi guys” she said when she gets to the table.

“Hello Mrs. Manyuda” said Mary and Yumeko, who then gets up and gets their hugs together.

“Hi there, Manyuda-san” said Yumeko to Manyuda.

“Jabami-san” said Manyuda.

“And hello there, Fujiwara-san” said Itsuki which Fujiwara nodded with smile.

Itsuki then look at Ryouta. She seems doesn’t recognized him which make Yumeko and Mary giggled.

“Are you, Yumeko’s boyfriend?” said Itsuki.

Yumeko and Ryouta are blushing. “He is my companion, here tonight” said Yumeko.

“Hmm…I see, well, what’s your name?” said Itsuki. Ryouta is about to open his mouth but Mary stops him.

“Wait… this guy is very familiar face from high school. Try to guess,” said Mary.

Itsuki and Manyuda are looking at Ryouta’s face carefully. After some time, Itsuki is gasping.

“Is that you, Suzui-san?” said Itsuki.

“Yes, I am, Itsuki-san” said Ryouta with smile.

“Oh my God, after all these years without trace! How are you? You look so much different now” said Itsuki.

“I’m pretty much fine, Itsuki-san. Been on the adventure of life,” said Ryouta.

“Nice to see you again, Suzui-san” said Manyuda.

“Same for me,” said Ryouta.

Then all six of them are sitting again on their table after exchanging the pleasantries.  

Ryouta told Itsuki and Manyuda about what’s he doing now including the military phase but only on the surface which surprise them both. He also congratulates Itsuki and Manyuda’s marriage as well.

From that convo it is revealed that Itsuki is now become the chairman of her family’s toy company and Manyuda is currently seating as the head of a department in Ministry of Finance while at the same time seating as the CEO of a large international shipping company.

Yumeko also told Itsuki and Manyuda how she and Ryouta met again.

“Hmmm…. are you sure, Suzui-san is only your companion? tonight Because, I know how close you are back in high school” said Itsuki in a teasing tone.

“Talk about it, I start to notice that you are calling him by his first name too. I wonder if you actually secretly dating back then,” said Mary.

This makes Ryouta and Yumeko are blushing hard again. “Guys, please stop” Yumeko said while scratching her back of the head while Ryouta is looking at other way in awkward expression.

Well, they ain’t wrong honestly.

Then, the wedding of ceremony is beginning with Rei and her husband, Leo walking down on the path to the stage together. Rei looks gracious in her wedding gown. She looks so happy, the same for her husband too.

Everyone is looking at them with smile as they reach the stage together. For Ryouta, Rei is a pretty much like Yumeko in his remembrance, as she had dark past too although he doesn’t remember the details much.

Although it was years ago, he’s fondly remembered how she reveals he true intention to everyone at the gamble, and also the tranformation that she had afterwards.

Just like Yumeko, she’s already changed to a happier life.

“I’m so happy for her, Ryouta-kun” said Yumeko in a half whispering.

“Me too, Yumeko” Ryouta said.

After Rei and her husband reach the stage, they slice their wedding cake together and seal their communion with one loving kiss which make everyone clap their hands. Rei and Leo also said a few speeches to everyone there, saying thanks to everyone who are here to celebrate their communion as husband and wife. They also have a short video that highlight their love story where everything began in the bustling city of Turin.

After the main ceremony, the attendees are served with dinner meals which combine the intersection of East Asian and South European cuisine.

After the dinner, Ryouta and Yumeko decide to mingle with other guests. They met with Kirari and Sayaka first who also attending. Kirari asked Yumeko if she’s already coming to a decision to attend Bami-clan meeting this year, Yumeko is smiling and said she needs more time. Meanwhile Ryouta also does a firm handshake with Kirari.

Kirari still give him a chilling aura even in her 30’s and she look more powerful than ever. Kirari like everyone else is also not recognize him at first and she surprised by how Ryouta changed after all these years. Even more surprised when hearing his career at military before becoming a businessman. Meanwhile Sayaka is still like before, less talk, but still giving her smile when she needed too.

Ryouta and Yumeko also meet with other fellers from their high school time like Yumemi, Midari, Yuriko, and Runa who’s somehow got the invitation as well via Rin and Ibara. Yumemi is now becoming a solo singer in different genre and now dating a South Korean actor. She’s saying that she is in a collab in a movie featured South Korean and Japanese actors which make her now travelled Seoul-Tokyo non-stop these days.

Midari is still Midari where her craziness is still visible, but she looks more matured now in her 30’s. Yumeko even talk to her casually even though in the past, they are like oil and water. Anyhow, Midari is now found herself having business too as she is owning a gun shooting range and tattoo parlor in Yokohama, the city where she lives in now.

Runa is at least grown now, but only around the height of 150 cm. She still maintains her childish persona, and she is apparently developing new taste in cosplaying and having her own business of costume rental. Yuriko is still traditional as ever and still maintain her calm demeanor. She’s already married with a Japanese man from a wealthy aristocrate line around two years ago, and she also having a career as traditional Japanese culture enthusiast and have her own foundation.

Next, Ryouta and Yumeko are meet with some others familiar faces as well from the Bami-Clan members and also give their warmest congratulation for Rei and her husband.

When the party is over, Ryouta, Yumeko, Mary, and Fujiwara are leaving the venue together, but not immediately go back to Tokyo, but rather spend their night eating some hot ramen in a stall Fujiwara recomemmended to them as they feel the dinner is not enough to make them whole.