Chapter 1: The Fox Executive and Lonely Nekomata
DUSK had fallen over Fukuoka Tenjin Station. Uniformed fans wore bright expressions as they headed to the nearby stadium. The local baseball team had recovered from three losses at the start of the season and gone on to win three consecutive games.
Meanwhile, I’d gone to three unpromising job interviews. Despair weighed on me, and I sighed, slumping against the wall beneath the station’s giant LED display. “It sure is hard to live a normal life, huh?”
The Tenjin area was in the middle of an urban development initiative dubbed Tenjin Big Bang. The Tenjin Core and Fukuoka Buildings had already vanished from the skyline. Famous architectural landmarks were disappearing one after another like teeth pulled from the jaw of the city. Even so, Tenjin remained as lively as ever. I was the only one so downcast.
A plane soared toward Fukuoka Airport, visible through the gaps between skyscrapers.
My heart has just as many holes as the skyline.
I—Kaede Kikui—heaved another sigh. “I just want to be normal.”
After graduating high school, I began working as a general office clerk for a small company in Tenjin. My parents had pushed me to attend college regardless of whether I stayed near my hometown, but I’ve never been particularly ambitious. I did go to an open campus day in Tokyo once. I was overwhelmed by so many options, and the sheer number of people was dizzying. I’m not cut out for this, I realized before giving up on university life.
My high school was within commuting distance of my home. After I earned my bookkeeping qualification as a student, the school introduced me to the local company where I currently work. I’d dreamed of a pleasant life: going out with friends and shopping at the neighborhood Aeon Mall from time to time.
Someday I’ll get married in the city and buy a house around here, I’d thought. Wouldn’t that be nice?
A normal life. I wanted an utterly normal life. That was my dream, my ideal.
Yet, for some reason, the president of my workplace treated me with abnormal favoritism. His behavior made my job downright uncomfortable. If I worked for a larger company, perhaps I could’ve solved the problem by claiming sexual harassment. But unfortunately, our small, outdated company had merely fifty employees, including part-timers. So the president continued to smother me in the office and drag me out for drinks around the city.
Eventually, my seniors began to spread rumors about me. “She only got hired because she’s having an affair with the president,” they grumbled to each other. Learning the ropes as a recent graduate, I’d drawn nothing but negative attention. I hadn’t thought the situation could worsen until I found myself in a new hell where many of my coworkers resented me. Of course, the average corporate grunt wouldn’t lend a hand to a convenient punching bag.
Considering my position and academic background, I earned a decent salary. I didn’t necessarily want to find a new job.
And so three years passed in the blink of an eye.
This can’t go on, I realized after hearing about an old friend’s wedding. If everyone keeps treating me like the president’s mistress, I’ll never have a normal love life, let alone get married!
I’d recently started to dip my toes into the job market but had run into a wall: I had no specific goals. How could I know if I was choosing the right company when I desired nothing more than to be normal? And to be honest, I would have been satisfied with my current role if I weren’t so conspicuous.
As I brooded, a notification lit up my smartphone. Photos of my former classmates who’d moved to Tokyo flooded the group chat. A dinner party.
My friends were always posting about their wonderful lives.
“Must be nice,” I muttered.
Everyone, myself and others, had their own form of happiness. I’d believed as much until that evening. Suddenly though, my friends’ lives seemed so much more dazzling. Was I the only one to have hit a massive dead end in life? Just as my heart began to sink, I noticed something.
What’s that? A fortune teller?
Draped in a black robe, a young man behind a market stall beckoned to me with an impassive expression. His youth struck me as a bit unusual for a fortune teller.
“Is it okay to run a booth here?” I wondered aloud.
I’d never seen one in the area before. Something about it felt very off, yet none of the other passersby showed any concern.
“Still,” I mumbled to myself, “having him read my fortune might not be such a bad idea.” I staggered toward the booth as if drawn by some invisible force.
And shortly, my luck ran out.
🍁🍁🍁
✦ ✦ ✦
TEN minutes had passed since the fortune telling began. The young man had asked for just five hundred yen. At first, I couldn’t have been more delighted with his careful listening.
“That sounds stressful,” he said with a contrite nod. “I wouldn’t be able to work first thing in the morning, much less without an afternoon nap.”
“You need a lot of sleep, huh?” I asked. “Things must be rough for you too.”
The fortune teller looked to be around my age. I could discern his straight-backed posture even through his robe. He had piercing, almond-shaped eyes, and his voice, issuing through thin lips, was clear and dignified. He could have been a minor model.
Not how I usually picture a fortune teller, but here we are, I guess.
His next words cut through my absentminded musing. “Take this bracelet if you’re feeling worried,” he said.
“Huh?”
He held out a clearly suspicious energy bracelet.
“U-Um,” I stammered. “Sorry, but I don’t have any more money, so…”
The fortune teller tried to push it into my hands. “I don’t need money,” he insisted. “This bracelet will bring you good fortune. Please take it.”
“Uh, for real?”
“Find a new job, earn more money, gain prestige, and settle down with a nice mate. That’s what makes humans happy, right?”
“A mate?!” I cried. “I-I didn’t say anything about that.”
“You can obtain money, prestige, and a mate with a single bracelet. To achieve all your dreams with the wave of a wand is a human’s greatest desire, is it not? I’ve studied these matters. Please take this bracelet and find happiness.”
“Um, I don’t think you’re really listening to me.”
“You’ll find the perfect mate with the help of this miraculous bracelet,” the fortune teller insisted. “Every day will be a debaucherous feast.” He tried once again to shove the bracelet at me.
I looked down to avoid his intense gaze, and at that moment, a man with eye-catching golden-brown hair approached us. Rather, he raced in our direction like an Olympic sprinter. He was unbelievably handsome and wore a stylish, light-colored suit. His beautiful, silky hair fell to his shoulders, and his keen eyes and aquiline nose had a feminine allure. The most desirable traits of a gorgeous woman and a dashing man had been combined to create the perfect face.
I gaped at him, dumbfounded, as though he weren’t barreling straight toward me. Then, to my surprise, he stopped right in front of us.
He stared down at me with a fearsome expression, his shoulders heaving with each breath. “I…found…you…” he said between gasps for air.