Unable to comprehend what Tomo had just told him, Taiyo sat in a mild catatonic state.

“Are you ok? Helllooooo, Earth to Tai” said Tomo while waving his hands in front of Taiyo’s face. Shaking it off, Taiyo responded…

“A whole week?”

“Yeah, were you not aware you took a week-long vacation? You’re lucky that I covered for you…well almost lucky.”

“Why almost?”

“When I explained it to The Boss, he told me that once you came back he needed to speak with you one-on-one.”

“Crap, he’s gonna fire me for sure.” Said Taiyo with a sigh.

“Who knows, maybe he’s gonna give you a big promotion so you can take two weeks off without telling anyone.”

Taiyo stood up, and started an ominous gate towards The Boss’ office.

“What? I don’t get any thanks covering for you?” said Tomo in a voice that faded further and further away from Taiyo’s forlorn ears. As he stood in front of The Boss’ door, his secretary politely nodded to Taiyo indicating he could enter. Taiyo returned the polite nod, for a brief second hiding his immense anxiety. He was prepared for the worse, but The Boss’ sunny demeanor caught him off guard.

“Ahhh, Taiyo! Come in, come in.”

“I was told you wanted to talk to me.”

“Yes, sit down it’s an urgent matter.”

“Urgent matter? I knew it, might as well pack up my desk.” Taiyo thought to himself.

“My wife has been wanting me to get out more, break out of my shell so-to-speak.”

“This is an odd way to start off telling me I’m fired.” Taiyo pondered.

“She feels like people in the office probably think I’m some curmudgeon who only cares about work. Don’t get me wrong, I do care about work but I just have a naturally closed-off personality…”

Taiyo was inclined to just nod along and not dig any holes that didn’t need to be dug.

“…hence why I invited everybody to karaoke. Show a different side of myself, beyond the workplace.”

“And how does this relate to me specifically, sir?”

“Well my Wife suggested going on a double date with someone from the office.”

“But I don..”

“Tomo told me that you took a week off to spend some quality time with your new girlfriend.”

“Oh he did, did he?” Taiyo said through gritted teeth.

“I thought, oh to be young and in love is such a beautiful thing…and my wife agreed.”

“Oh she did, did she?”

“Indeed, so does Wednesday night around 14:30 work for you?”

Without any alternative answer, Taiyo reluctantly agreed to a double date with The Boss…even though he had no date to speak of. 

Stepping out of The Boss’ office, two very distinct emotions were hitting Taiyo at the same time. First was relief that he wasn’t fired, but second (and most importantly) anger at Tomo for getting him into this mess.

“You told The Boss I had a girlfriend?!”

“Oh…yeah guess I did.” Tomo said with a slight laugh.

“What were you thinking man?”

“Look, you’re the one who disappeared into thin air.”

“And you didn’t think to reach out to see if I was alive?, maybe I was kidnapped…you didn’t know.”

“Well Monday I just figured you were sick, then Tuesday I went on this date with a real babe from Yokohama, the rest of the week is a wash.” Tomo shrugs as Taiyo feels mild disgust at his so-called friend. 

“Either way dude, you weren’t fired so that’s what is important.”

“No, showing up to a double date without a date will probably get me fired once The Boss finds out you lied.”

“You could just continue down the lying rabbit hole, tell him you had a big argument with your imaginary girlfriend and you broke up.”

“With Hoshi?”

“Huh?”

“Nothing.”

“…He can’t force you to go on a date if you’re heartbroken and single.”

“You don’t understand, the look in his eyes when he talked about being ‘young and in love’…”

“Hold on, is this the same Boss we’re talking about here?”

“Tomo, you got me into this mess and you’re going to get me out of it.”

“Alright alright, I’ll find someone to be your date for the night…now are you gonna tell me what you were up to for the last week?”

“I’d like to know myself.”

“You’re so weird man…but I like that about you.”

“Shut up.”

Once again within earshot of their usual energetic conversations, Tsuki sat even more curious than ever… “Taiyo the mystery man. Says he doesn’t have a girlfriend, but what happened to that ‘arcade girl’? And then he takes a week-long vacation but is being very coy about it. Hmmmm.”