In An Alternate Universe, Let's be Childhood Friends.[Hypnosis Microphone ]

Chapter 4

It had been ten days since Izanami Hifumi had not left his apartment.

He had curled himself into a ball on his bed and buried himself underneath the blankets. A part of him wished that he could stay like this forever and that he never had to step out of his apartment, never had to go out into the obnoxious streets of Kabukicho nor into the bar he owned, both of which reeked of alcohol.

The other part of him knew that he had to step out of his apartment one day. He knew that if not today, then tomorrow he had to put drape the grey piece of clothing over his shoulders and walk out into the neon nights of Kabukicho, open his shop in the third street, thank his substitute for taking over while he was absent, and continue bartending and attending to customers who visited his shop.

However...

Uhh...Hifumi, you seem different than usual today, i-is something the matter?

The events which occurred in the afternoon, ten days ago, flashed through his mind.

Hifumi buried his face deeper into his pillow and muttered,

"After all that...he probably wants to keep his distance from me."

Hifumi ruminated how the redhead must have perceived him. He thought about numerous possibilities like, how the informant must have stopped coming to his bar or how he must have thought it would be better not to meet the bartender anymore.

Doppo was just a customer, who visits the blonde's bar whenever he could squeeze some free time from his busy schedule. He was the same as all other customers. Yet...the blonde perceived that Doppo could be similar while at the same time different from the other customers who visited "Fragrance". Overall, Hifumi knew that he felt comfortable with him, which he had never felt in the presence of anyone else.

The redhead would give hints that he too, felt the same way.

Hifumi would always be looking forward to the informant walking into his bar. Without a doubt, he enjoyed attending to other customers but he didn't remember being excited for something so much as he was about the possibility of the redhead visiting his bar. They would always chat about day-to-day things, sometimes troublesome customers or overly dissatisfied clients, laugh once in a while. Neither of them would try to inquire about the other's private life. That was like an unspoken rule between them. Sometimes it would also happen as such that neither of them spoke but the air around them was comfortable.

At least that was what Hifumi felt.

He could be misunderstanding the entire situation.

Anyways, Hifumi had planned that he could eventually let the redhead into his secret. Eventually but not soon.

However, the suddenness of the events that occurred ten days ago traumatized the blonde to such an extent that he had immediately locked himself up in his apartment, frantically arranged for a substitute, and shriveled up in his bed. He did not eat for the first few days but gradually began eating though not much. He would somehow lift himself off his bed, go to the kitchen, quickly cook something, eat, and return to his bed.

The thought of the redhead giving him a disgusted look and saying, "So this is your true self, how disappointing...". He could also see the latter turning his back, leaving the bar, never to return. The chance of this very possibility playing out, in reality, terrorized the blonde.

The blonde could also go back to his shop and continue his job. If the redhead would come again, then he could just dodge the subject but he could always imagine the informant's confused eyes and the air growing awkward around them. He did not want that either.