Harumi woke up determined.
Not calm.
Not collected.
Determined.
The kind of determination that only comes from someone who's way too exhausted to think things through.
She stared at the ceiling.
Then at the clock.
Then at the wall.
"...Yeah," she muttered. "I'm gonna have to skip work today."
Not because she wanted to.
Because she had to.
She sat up, rubbed her face, and confronted the real problem.
How was she supposed to explain it?
Because there was no way she could just call in and say:
"Hey, so... I'm taking the day off because I'm about to go knock on the door of a wanted criminal."
Sadly.
She got out of bed and walked into the kitchen...
Then her eyes landed on the microwave.
Silence.
The kind of silence that always comes right before a terrible idea.
"...No," she told herself.
"No..."
"...Okay, maybe."
A few minutes later, Harumi was on the phone with the attendance office.
"Hello, good morning..." she said, using the most exhausted, emotionally devastated voice she could possibly fake. "My son got really sick during the night..."
BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP...
The woman on the other end listened sympathetically.
Harumi took a deep breath.
Then pressed the microwave button.
BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP...
"O-oh, sorry!" Harumi said quickly. "We're at the hospital right now... these machines are really loud..."
She pressed it again.
BEEP BEEP BEEP...
"He'll have to stay overnight today, but I'll be back at work tomorrow," she continued, sounding serious, confident, and incredibly professional.
BEEP BEEP BEEP...
On the other end, the woman let out a worried little gasp.
"Oh my... I hope your son gets better soon, Harumi-san."
BEEP BEEP BEEP.
"Thank you... thank you so much..."
She hung up.
Complete silence.
Harumi stood there for two seconds.
Three.
Then she shut her eyes, clenched both fists, and celebrated in absolute silence.
"IT ACTUALLY WORKED."
She slowly turned around.
Takeru was standing in the kitchen doorway.
Still in his pajamas.
Hair sticking up everywhere.
Dark circles under his eyes.
Mouth hanging open.
"...I can't believe this," he said in the flattest voice imaginable. "I... genuinely can't believe you actually did that."
Harumi grinned proudly.
"But did it work?"
"...It did."
"There you go. Ethics are subjective."
She walked right past him as if nothing had happened.
"Now then."
Preparing Like Someone Who SWEARS They're Totally Calm
Harumi took a quick shower.
Too quick.
She picked out a simple but neat outfit.
Tied her hair into a firm bun.
Put on makeup.
Not to look pretty.
Just enough so she wouldn't scare homeless people.
"Neutral appearance," she muttered at the mirror. "Serious face. No smiling. You've got this."
Lie.
She was nervous.
You could tell by how she kept taking deep breaths without even noticing.
Just as she was about to leave, purse already slung over her shoulder, Takeru suddenly grabbed her wrist.
She stopped.
"...Harumi," he said quietly. "Be careful. Seriously."
She turned to him.
"Don't push too hard. Don't risk everything like this... You don't have to do this alone."
For a second, it looked like she was about to crack a joke.
Or say something light.
Anything.
Instead...
She simply took a deep breath.
Then smiled.
Far more confidently than she actually felt.
"It'll be fine. I promise." Harumi flashed a grin that was way too big to be believable.
She raised one arm, clenched her fist, and struck an exaggerated bodybuilder pose despite having approximately zero muscles to show off.
"Trust your mom!"
Silence.
Harumi blinked.
The silence lasted exactly half a second.
She blinked again.
"..."
"..."
"...Oh."
"...Crap."
Harumi buried her face in one hand.
"That... doesn't even make sense in Japanese, does it...?"
Takeru just stared at her, completely confused.
She laughed awkwardly, scratching the back of her neck as if she'd only just realized what had come out of her mouth.
Even so...
She kept smiling.
Way too brightly.
Way too confidently.
Like she was heading out to buy groceries—
Not confront a painfully complicated past.
"I'll be back soon!"
Takeru still didn't look convinced.
Then he held something out to her.
A small bag.
"...Cake."
He looked away, embarrassed.
"You always say cake helps in difficult situations."
Harumi's eyes lit up.
"HAHAHA! You're right!"
She accepted it like he'd just handed her buried treasure.
"You know I love you, right?"
He had already started walking back toward his room.
"...Be careful."
She nodded.
Then left.
Quick Cut — A Bad Feeling
At work, Aoi informed Kei,
"Harumi didn't come in today. They said her son was admitted to the hospital."
Kei frowned.
"...Hospital?"
He thought for a moment.
"So that's why I haven't been able to reach her..."
He picked up a stack of documents.
"I'll stop by later and drop these off."
Back to Harumi
Harumi walked down the street with a perfectly neutral expression.
Serious.
Confident.
Stone-faced.
The kind of expression you learn after spending way too long living in places where smiling attracts the wrong kind of attention.
The neighborhood was...
Odd.
Tall apartment buildings.
Weathered concrete.
Heavy humidity hanging in the air.
The smell certainly wasn't helping.
She stopped in front of the building she'd been given.
Took a deep breath.
Went inside.
Narrow hallway.
Far too quiet.
She stopped in front of the apartment door.
Raised her hand.
Knocked.
Inside, something shifted.
Slow footsteps.
The creak of a sofa.
The door opened.
The man standing in front of her was...
Nothing like she'd imagined.
Messy hair.
Rough stubble.
Thick eyebrows—
Exactly like Takeru's.
He didn't look particularly strong.
Yet somehow...
He still felt intimidating.
Mostly because he was tall.
Really tall.
His eyes drooped with exhaustion.
Almost... too calm.
His expression was relaxed.
Like nothing in the world had ever been urgent.
He stood there, staring at Harumi.
Harumi stared right back.
Neither of them spoke.
And in that heavy silence...
She realized something.
This meeting was going to be nothing like she'd expected.