Manifest

Chapter 7

Tadashi woke up with a headache from what seemed to be a nightmare, but he couldn't remember any of it. He was relieved to see things were back to normal, with empty or tormenting nights but no recollection from it in the morning. He got off his bed and got himself ready before going to Ainosuke to start his day, as usual.

Tadashi was now standing in front of Ainosuke — who was still making himself ready in the bathroom — and was telling him the day's schedule.

"So today you have a meeting with Diet members at 10 am, I will forward the link to the meeting again at that time. You also have an interview with Takao Fujiwara from Ryukyu Shinbun at 2.30pm. You should review the set of potential questions you have been sent by then."

"I already know those goddamned questions by heart already. My aunts haven't stopped bothering me about them for days." Ainosuke replied in a bored tone.

Tadashi didn't say anything about Ainosuke's words about his aunts and only nodded — even if the other couldn't see it with his back towards him.

"I recall mister Fujiwara has brought some modifications to them."

"And I already checked them out, Tadashi. Are you that worried about it too?" Ainosuke taunted.

Tadashi nodded, but not replying to his boss's taunting, staying silent at Ainosuke's glaring confidence. He had no opinions but today, he had the gut feeling something ominous will happen. He tried to shake this feeling, arguing to his brain that Ainosuke will do perfectly as he always does.

Junpei was back to the newspaper's headquarters in the early afternoon. The interview he had with a Thai resident lasted longer than Junpei expected, as they rambled along the way about their common passion — surfing. He encountered Takao Fujiwara going out of his office room as he walked to his own.

"Hello. We haven't seen each other in a while, huh? How is it going?"

Takao raised an eyebrow for a reason Junpei couldn't guess. The man wondered if he had caught Fujiwara at the wrong time or if he had said something weird.

"Hello. I was about to go out for a smoke before going to the interview with Ainosuke Shindo."

"I wouldn't have guessed you were a smoker."

"I only am when I'm anxious. And about 'not seeing each other in a while'..." Fujiwara trailed, giving Junpei a strong wave of anxiety.

He tried to not let it show but still laughed nervously as flashbacks of some nights he went out drinking came to him in a flow.

"Oh."

"You remember now?" Takao Fujiwara questioned, worried.

"A little bit."

"I'm sorry if I bothered you or anything!" Junpei previously apologized in shame.

"It's okay, to each their vice. Plus, it felt like you needed to blow off some steam and I'm glad if I could have been of help with that." Takao reassured him.

"I-I see. I'm sorry I really can't remember much of our nights."

"You did vent but nothing I couldn't handle. Though, you have quite some weight and I didn't expect that from a thin silhouette like yours." Takao joked

"I really hope it wasn't too much..." Junpei said.

Junpei wished he could actually remember what he vented about and prayed it wasn't too compromising, either.

"I think you will remember in the meantime. I shouldn't meddle in your business but you should slow down on the alcohol, if it causes that kind of blackouts, though. You could have been in the wrong place with the wrong person." Takao said with a comforting smile.