Chapter 3: Chapter 3 – It’s the Most Insufferable Time of the Year

Four days until Christmas, while most of the World gears up for a festive celebration Japan is one of the few that doesn’t prioritize the holiday

At 12:40 Haru slouches at her computer typing away as she takes existing information & rewrites it for her manager to look over, with all the information conveniently on the web she just needs to change every word of it. Sadly, this is life for her even during late December while the youngsters have Christmas on their minds. “Good thing I don’t like Christmas” she justifies as she puts up with her job

Occasionally giving her arms a stretch but other than that Haru sits in the same position for hours on end stuck in a dull office with dozens of others doing the same, joy hasn’t really found its way here

During this time much strength is needed to keep her eyelids from shutting from tiredness, not that they cover such deep eyes anymore. Light radiates from the computer screen & into her lifeless green eyes but all she does is types away like nothing changes

???: “Mochizuki San!”

From across the office, a thundering male voice is heard causing a few office workers to look up for the first time of the day to discreetly see Haru’s reaction to her name being called

Haru: *Groans*

She lets out a slight groan as she stiffens her lips while tightening her posture, the voice came from the other side of the office where the manager keeps his private workplace walled off from the rest of the office

???: “Mochizuki San!!”

The man calling is Ōtani Buchou (大谷部長), the manager of this floor. He peeks his bold head out to call Haru again with more anger in his voice before retreating behind his wall to wait for her. Other co-workers remain seating, silently picking up the speed at which they work so as not to incur the wrath of their superior

Meanwhile, Haru gets out of her chair & pulls her office blazer down to straighten wrinkles, as she stands a wave of dizziness hits her. Despite feeling disorientated she turns away from her desk & starts walking with a slight limp from her sleeping foot, “I know Buchou has found a fault in my work like he always does, his expectations are way too high so it’s to be expected that this happens” what fills everyone with fear just fills Haru with contempt as she proceeds halfway to his workstation

Her dismal eyes catch glimpses of her co-workers, their faces buried in their computers clearly ignoring her presence. “Wish I could ignore Buchou’s presence, he’s a tornado of bad decisions” with defiance in her eyes Haru tries to get all her negative thoughts about him out of her mind. “Slight problem, if I get all the negative thoughts out of my mind there won’t be any thoughts regarding Buchou left”

Nevertheless, Haru persists towards Buchou’s slightly open door, struggling to keep her balance as she sluggishly walks like a zombie. She presses her palm against the door’s glass window for support as she slouches, taking a deep breath before entering

Haru: “Buchou, how may I help?”

She comes into his private workplace with light forged on her face & a straight posture to keep appearances positive

The interior walls are just as flat & lifeless as the exterior ones only populated by a meager single poster displaying a traditional Japanese painting which serves as the background to a generic cooperate slogan that causes Haru’s nostrils to flare as her blood boils but in this environment, she could only gaze upon such a message as though it were gospel

To do less of that she passes promptly to face her boss who sits behind his large desk made of smooth black cherry wooden planks held together by two grey metal frames on each side, at the center of this desk is an older laptop surrounded by stationary equipment & behind all that is the bulging dictator known as Ōtani Buchou

Parked snugly on his comfortable wheelie chair with extra pillows for his fat bolding head

Buchou: “I’ve read your last week’s reports & I found something atrocious, can you guess what that could be?”

He says with a calm demeanour contrasting the fury he let out to lure this Oni in Human form into his lair

Haru: “I don’t, please may I know what I did wrong?”

She speaks kindly putting on that false face expressing warmth & generosity, “the amount of mental scaffolding in need to keep up this persona in front of him is completely draining”

Buchou: “It deeply worries me that one of my employees doesn’t remember the report she plagiarized last week”

Every word coming out of this brute’s mouth hit Haru’s ears like nails causing her fingertips to twitch suddenly, she places her arms behind her back & grips her hands together to prevent the rageful twitching from being noticeable. As for Buchou’s accusation Haru’s mind goes into a frenzy over, “plagiarized! How could I? this is preposterous! I take steps to make sure plagiarism is impossible, who does he think he is!?”

Haru: “plagiarized? I can assure you that I would do nothing of the sort”

Her uncontrolled state of mind & pure total antipathy for her Buchou does not get past the makeup she wears to defend herself from these allegations

Haru: “I’ve downloaded plagiarism-detecting software on my computer which checks my reports as I’m writing them”

Buchou: “Well rid your device of it! I have compared your report to ones of our competitors & it was as clear as day that one was clearly copying from the other”

Not getting the level of obedience he’s looking for the Buchou gets out of his chair & gives his flawed reasoning, a sliver of Haru’s defenses becomes damaged after she sees him getting out of his marshmallow chair

Haru: “Have you checked the dates they were uploaded?”

Noticing the flaw in his logic, Haru attempts to calmly point out his wrongdoing in a way that makes this engagement conclude the fastest

Buchou: “Oh no…of course, I have! I’m not an infant”

He starts with sarcasm, aiming his gaze up with a face expressing realization before immediately switching to a more vengeful version of his usual character & then likening a silly mistake like that to a developing child. "So he thinks children are just stupid, this swine has no principles” that last statement struck a nerve in Haru’s core, enough to clench her lips & raise her cheeks

Ōtani Buchou took a moment to breathe as he lowered his behind back into his seat

Buchou: “I need you to write another one just for me, so I can prove you haven’t been plagiarizing”

He says waving his hands the way one would swat a fly. When confronted with this level of disrespect Haru would normally fight back but when it’s the man holding her career like a string in one hand & a pair of scissors in the other she keeps her composure

Haru: “I’ve written dozens of reports over the past few days, I can simply Email them to you”

She tries offering a suitable option but that falls on deaf ears as he keeps his eyes on his laptop

Buchou: “What do you take me for? As the man in charge of this entire floor, I’m too busy to read all of them”

He says while Haru remains standing with a dead expression & dull eyes ready to close under the weight of the pressure

Buchou: “Just do the task I asked…neigh commanded of you”

After that all Haru could do is politely bow before exiting the room, concealing her face by turning in the other direction. “How dare such a gluttonous blob talk to me like that, he has no idea how quickly I could sleigh him where he sits” she thinks as she opens the door

| Kacha |

The door closes with an irritable clank, “but I have to stay hidden for the sake of my World” she justifies her lack of action against her boss in that thought

“You cannot expose the Monsters living within Human society” she was always told growing up, “to blend in & not disrupt harmony is how you protect your fellow Monsters”. For that reason, she stays put under the thumb of a Human whether her boss at work or the Humans applying pressure to her outside of work. To Haru, it has become a never-ending spiral to protect others, especially the girls under her roof

As she marches to her computer with a flaming aura, she starts digging for the report she wrote weeks ago. She’s able to find it within minutes but as for her sources time is of the essence, hurriedly she creates a separate folder for the sources & goes on a hunt to locate them hopefully before the clock strikes 13:00 which is the deadline she’s put for herself, the time she must get back to working on the reports she was already doing. “So tedious” her mind repeats as she works

--

| Kacha! |

The bathroom door loudly shuts, “I can’t believe I spent so much time looking over that old report for that imbecile” she torments herself as she walks to the wall of mirrors. She leans forward planting her hands on the rim of the basin for support as she stares into her reflection

Her eyes stare intensely at her face seemingly depleted of life with grey bags under her dull eyes & the many strands of hair sticking out of place, “I can’t go back out there looking like this” she concluded

Her hands reach for the tap in front but her arm stops mid-air, she is hesitant to touch the half wheel to turn the water on. This action is paired with a brief look at the other taps along this wall, she abruptly turns around to see that the room is empty as all the stalls were either wide open or vacant. “No sudden appearances from that slime girl at this moment, I hope”

After confirming she’s alone the water starts to flow at the turn on the tap, she cups both hands under the water for a few seconds before splashing all of it on her tired face. Hoping it can bring back enough energy to get through the rest of the day

Haru shuts the water off after some slashes to her face, she takes this moment to gaze at her sorrowful state once more. The first thing that her eyes pick up is how grey her cheeks are

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Haru: *Gasps*

“My skin is visibly grey!” she gasps while raising her right hand to cup her mouth shut, eyes widen as a sense of panic overrides her thoughts, “maybe the Potion has worn off, I need to take another dose but I don’t have a bottle with me” as she jumps to that conclusion her eyes look up to see the top of her head in the mirror

Haru: “Phew”

She takes a momentary sigh of relief after seeing that red horns are not protruding from her forehead, even feeling it to make sure. “That’s a huge relief” she thinks to herself

A starts to smile before looking slightly longer at her skin tone in the mirror, “Oh I’m exhausted so that’s why there’s no colour in my skin” as soon as she realizes the smile disappears leaving Haru looking forlorn

With that devastating recognition, she exits the bathroom & heads back to her desk to finish working

Once Haru arrives at her desk she takes her seat & turns to her computer, after reading some of the sources of information for her old report she comes to a shocking truth. “The competitor & I were using the same sources to write our reports” she figures out how they can be so similar in some small details leading her to draft a new one this time using other sources displaying the same information

Haru: “Hmph”

She let out a slight expression of satisfaction with a small grin & improved posture as she begins typing faster, hoping to get all this done before she leaves for the day

But her mood immediately takes a turn for the worst when she swiftly glances at the bottom right corner of the screen & sees the time

*16:33*

Her eyes fixate on the time before she turns right to see that the sun had already gone down & all she sees in the windows is the reflection of the office with darkness as a backdrop

Noticing how dark it has gotten so quickly Haru bangs her head against the table in a loud thud before taking it right back up & commencing with the work, “it’s incredibly dark out there, one reason why I hate this time of year” she ponders while typing what feels like the same thing over & over again

Nevertheless, Haru soldiers on

--

The clock strikes 17:34 & Haru is still at her desk only this time writing different reports, “they eventually blur into the same mesh of paragraphs anyway” she thinks while reading over her work

Her eyes dance across the screen as she reads before they hit the sight of an empty office mug on her desk, “hang on? Is that my mug from this morning” she wonders while picking it up & sniffing it

The dated nutty fragrance of coffee indicates that it was from the morning, with that as an answer to Haru’s question she gets up to take it to the dishwasher in the kitchen. Limping along the way with her sleeping right leg

When she makes it to the kitchen entrance she catches a glimpse of something, at the end of the hallway she sees two familiar faces. One young & vibrant, a girl no taller than her with long blonde hair standing next to a male co-worker. “Is that Sakurako Douhai?” she questions

Haru walks a bit away from the kitchen to get a better view of whom she’s standing with but pauses at the sight of him, “That’s Kiichi Kun!!” her heart races & cheeks finally get some colour as she uncontrollably blushes after seeing the tall, handsome Kiichi with his clean-cut hair & solid physique under that tight shirt

In no time Haru spots a lanky potted plant to her left, she decisively pounces behind it & hopes they didn’t catch her glaring. “I should go & talk to them but looking like this it’ll be embarrassing” she thinks while seeing how charming & youthful Sakurako is around Kiichi, that’s a view burning its way into Haru’s mind as elements of her Oni background flair up

A blazing fury grows within Haru as she sees the two get closer & smile into each other’s eyes like some young couple, “Back off Sakurako! His delightful smirk is for me only” she wishes to shout across the room to them but realizing her position hiding behind a plant like a school child Haru. She vacates the premises

Sakurako: “Coffee sounds lovely, I’d love to go”

Just as Haru makes her way back to the kitchen she overhears what appears to be an accepted invitation to a meet after work, from the way it was said Kiichi would have been the one to ask. Coming to that comprehension Haru marches into the kitchen, places her mug into the dishwasher & stares at the sink, eyes wide open & lips quivering

Her cold existence in this lifeless setting got even colder as she crosses her arms while her mind Defcon 3, “I guess his mind is made up, he likes Sakurako then” her mind swiftly jumps to all sorts of conclusions. “It’s understandable, how could he notice someone like me? We’re the same age & both at the same level career-wise, I’m hardly wife material which I’m sure he wants in a partner” with that thought Haru pushes herself back to her desk, dragging her feet as she does so. “I wish I could fit that housewife mold he wants”

--

It's 19:20 & the temperature outside has dropped to -2C but Haru only realizes when it hits her cheeks as soon as she steps out of the comforting warmth of the heated office building, tightening her navy-blue jacket before setting off into the streets of downtown Shintoshin  

The cold air becomes her only companion as she heads for the train station, despite the clouds above being as black as coal the intersecting roads are fully lit with bustling cars, towering streetlamps & occasional Christmas lights

Haru avoids interacting with them as she marches down the sidewalk with a clear objective, “getting home as quickly as possible” this thought dominates her mind as she forces all memories of this day to be forgotten

She turns into a busy street teeming with salarymen & other kinds of office workers meeting up with huge grins as they laugh down the streets, chanting holiday cheers in a loud volume. “They’re acting intoxicated before even reaching an Izakaya” she notices

But as the crowds get larger Haru’s pace begins to slow, she gradually walks while minding her own business yet one thing enters her mind. “They all look so happy, everyone seems to get along here. I bet that’s where they’re going” this thought only puts the image of Kiichi with Sakurako back into her mind

At this moment she freezes, her hair moving in the wind is the only part of her body that’s mobile while the rest of her physique just stops. She lowers her gaze to the concrete sidewalk, smooth & wet is the surface she stands on

A dreary night yet these crowds find a way to enjoy themselves in each other’s company while Haru remains still not interacting with anyone, her stiff posture contrasting the outgoing & relaxed demeanour of the others. Of course, Haru will always be an outsider in this World, always hiding the greatest aspect of herself. Never able to fully open up to those in her life, even if they’re monsters like her

It was at this moment that surrounded by vast numbers of people Haru felt truly alone, as this feeling swelled in her soul she picked up her pace & marched through the party keeping her head down to not bring attention to herself

She buries her face into the collar of her jacket as tiny sniffles form, “look at me, on the brink of tears in public. Atleast let me get away from this lot first” she orders herself to hastily get out of this mass so she applies more power to her legs & walks faster, suddenly bumping into someone before bursting through the edge of the crowd

Pedestrian: “Oy watch it!”

That person shouts but Haru keeps walking with both arms tucked deep in her jacket pockets, not even acknowledging she shoved someone by mistake

Finally, she turns a corner & sees that she’s alone on this street. It is here where Haru allows a few tears to run down her frozen cheeks

Haru: “It’s not fair”

She whispers while continuing her journey to the station, “everyone around me is always happy but I get nothing” her mind spirals into a pit of despair

Slowing down Haru notices something to her right, lit up in the window of a shop is a festive advert displaying a Western family. Happy wife, husband & two bright children enjoying their Christmas tree. To Haru, this seems like an unobtainable fantasy. “& companies will sell this artificial image of happiness to drive their value up” she tells herself while staring at their brightly lit faces with healthy jawlines & colourful skin

Haru: “Why do I bother pretending at this point?”

She asks out loud, standing in such a deserted street with no one to hear her plight

| Potsu potsu |

Tiny droplets fall to the ground & Haru’s hair, this is swiftly followed by a larger amount of water turning the sidewalk into a wetter tripping hazard

| Zaa zaa |

Haru can only put her hood up & squeeze herself tighter for warmth while marching faster, this is what she does. “The station isn’t that far away” she thinks as the rain drenches her jacket & makes her cheeks red in the cold

As she walks forward two lights appear in front of her, they start small but gradually get larger until Haru identifies it as an oncoming vehicle picking up speed

| Ban! |

Instantaneously the car splashes a wave of water onto the sidewalk Haru stands on as it passes at great speed leaving her soaking, the frigid rain left Haru shivering. This made the pain within her heart grow rapidly as she could not say a way out of her misery

Haru: *Sobbing*

All she could do is keep moving even if the pain swells beyond her control & emotions reached breaking point, “I definitely need a tub of sake after all this”

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