Chapter Nine — The Fork in the Road (Part Two)

In the locker room, Keisuke was changing when his coworker and fellow hire, Sasaki, walked in.

“Good work.”

“...Yeah. You too.”

“Whoa. You really do look exhausted, Keisuke. What happened? A woman?”

“Huh?”

“Just kidding. Gaming, right? That’s got to be it.”

“Yeah. Pretty much.”

“Want to grab some food? For a change.”

“Nah. There’s food waiting for me at home. And I’ll get yelled at if I suddenly do something like that.”

“True. Your mom is scary.”

“Exactly.”

“Which is why I’m going to ask anyway. Come keep a lonely single guy company. Just one drink. Come on.”

In the end, they decided to have a drink near the station.

Keisuke was in the mood for one, too.

---

As soon as they raised their glasses, Sasaki spoke.

“You know, you’ve been slacking off a little lately.”

“Me?”

“Yeah. You.”

“We work in different departments. How the hell would you know that, huh? Mr. Sasaki? Stop making accusations.”

“I know.”

“What are you talking about?”

Keisuke took a long drink of his beer.

“You’re not thinking about quitting, are you?”

Sasaki suddenly said it.

“What?”

“Ah-ha! Hit a nerve, didn’t I?”

“No. Nerve, star, whatever. I haven’t even thought about it.”

“Really?”

“Really. ...Seriously, can you stop?”

“Okay. Good.”

Sasaki suddenly drained his beer.

“Excuse me! Another draft beer, please!”

That idiot must have gotten the wrong idea, Keisuke thought.

But why had Sasaki thought that in the first place?

Keisuke had never even considered quitting. Not even the tiniest bit.

Not even enough to scoop up with an ear pick.

And yet...

There was something that came to mind.

As they had one drink, then another, Keisuke found himself thinking back over the way he had been approaching his work lately.

(Yeah... something’s wrong.)

Had the people around him noticed how he felt before he had noticed it himself?

......

“Sasaki.”

“What?”

“Tell me the truth.”

Sasaki was already drunk.

“How rude. You won’t find a more honest guy than me.”

“Who told you to invite me out for a drink today?”

“...Huh? What? What are you talking about?”

“You’re terrible at pretending you don’t know. Come on, just tell me. I’m curious about this kind of thing.”

“......”

Two minutes later...

Overcome with guilt, Sasaki finally confessed.

He gave Keisuke the names of several of their senior coworkers.