Second Chances

Chapter 1: A World Frozen Over

How many days has it been? Weeks? Years?

I can't think anymore. I can't feel anymore. Not since that day...

"Aishi-san, do you have those reports filled out already?" a woman in her thirties wearing a light pink dress shirt and pleated skirt kindly asked beside her desk.

"Oh, sorry. Here they are, Rena-san," the younger woman replied in monotone. She gathered a small pile of reports and handed them to her co-worker.

"Thank you very much." Rena-san gratefully took the papers back to her cubicle. 

The whole office was filled with noise of ringing phones and papers being shuffled around. A few office workers excitedly chatted away in the Rec room while others spoke on their respective work phones with customers. The sound of the copy machine was an ever-constant noise amongst it all.

But none of it fazed the younger woman.

Ever since that day, I haven't been able to feel a single emotion...

It would be another 2 hours before everyone was let off for the day. But none of it mattered to Ayano. To her, everyday was a routine. It was all bland. Colorless.

My heart is frozen. I can't feel a single thing.

"Have a goodnight, everyone," Rena-san announced to all the workers there. There was mix of "farewells" and people tiredly excusing themselves to the elevator to go have a celebratory drink  at the local bar. 

Everyone was put on over-drive this week to meet the demands of the higher-ups coming in to check on their progress. People were even working over-time just to make sure that all went according to plan. It was that or never hearing the end of it from their boss.

But, again, this didn't faze one Ayano Aishi.

She just didn't have it in her to over fret something as small as missed deadlines or an unorganized work environment that would warrant the wrath of their boss the following week. And it's not like she had a lover or family to go back home to. Or friends to hand out with on this brisk Friday night, for that matter.

Ayano carefully placed her papers in a folder and put it all in her leather tote bag. She grabbed her jacket from the back of her chair and slowly put it on. 

What's the hurry, right?

She joined the mass of workers going down the hall, excitedly talking with one another. Just another evening. Another day in her bleak and dreary world. 

Her frozen land.

She opted to go down the stairs in lieu of avoiding the mass of bodies cramped in the elevators. She much preferred solitude. It was something she was most familiar with, after all. There were no friends waiting for her arrival at a restaurant nor family to call up as she got home, asking her how her day went. And forget having a lover– that dream was quickly dashed aside the moment her world fell apart 6 years ago.

Now all she had as a 23-year old woman to come back to was a cold and lonely apartment and her silence to expand the void in her heart.

Her parents kept to themselves (no doubt, due to Ryoba's constant need to monopolize her husband from every person around–her daughter included) and she hadn't kept in contact with anyone from high school. She didn't consider any of those people her friends. 

Sure, she felt some closeness to a few people there. Kokona Haruka, who she spared from her muderous spree by setting her up with Riku, was a nice enough person to her when they passed each other in the halls or happened to see one another at lunchtime. And Saki Miyu tried numerous times to involve her in a few of their girl talks before she backed off when she saw it wasn't garnering success. Midori Gurin, though not having much interaction with her, was always telling her 'good morning' and offering a compliment towards her appearance when she didn't have her full attention on her phone. And then there was Budo Masuto, who was nothing but nice to her when the martial arts club members were weary of her presence the first time she entered that room asking to join the club.