"I believed things between me and Teresa were going great. I began thinking that maybe she was the girl for me, but that was before something happened and Teresa was the cause. After dating for about four or five months, it was all about to come to an end. It happened when I was meeting her for lunch." This is where Ichigo's love life takes a hard turn. As Teresa was sorting through some of her work, Ichigo met with her at a restaurant.
"Hey!" Teresa said as she was happy to see him. He walked right over and kissed him.
"Did you order yet?" Ichigo said as he had a seat across from her.
"Not yet. Go ahead and take a look at the menu. I need to make a quick call." Teresa said as she got up from the table and took her phone. Ichigo enjoyed the time he had with Teresa. He hasn't felt like this since Emily, but that was all about to change. As he grabbed a menu to order, he spotted Teresa's paperwork.
"I wonder what crazy idea she has now." Ichigo said as he decided to take a sneak at her work.
"I looked at Teresa's latest work, but this one I didn't like. I won't bore you with the details, but I will say that it wasn't going to look good because it was about the company I worked for at the time." Ichigo couldn't believe what he was reading. If something like this got out, it could ruin where he works.
"What are you doing?" Teresa asked as she came back and saw him reading her work.
"What is all this?" Ichigo said. Teresa was afraid something like this might happen. She sat down across from him and readied her explanations. "Teresa, this is about where I work. If this theory of yours gets out, it could be disastrous for the company."
"Ichigo... It's not a theory." Teresa said with Ichigo a little surprised. "That message I got the other night was from my friend who was helping me with this story. She helped confirm everything on there."
"Are you serious?" Ichigo said. "If you publish this story, the company could get sued. Many people could lose their jobs over this."
"I'm sorry you're upset about this. As a reporter, I have to share the truth." Teresa said. "This is the kind of story I've been waiting to uncover. I could get promoted for this."
"What about me?" Ichigo asked because he felt like he didn't even consider what this could mean to him. "I could be one of the people that loses their job."
"I be more than happy to help you find a new job. You can even live with me." Teresa said.
"But I can't just bail on Renji." Ichigo said as he was seeing the publishing of this story could be big trouble for him. "You can't give this to your boss."
"Ichigo, it's too late. I already showed it to him." Teresa said. Ichigo felt betrayed. It seems like Teresa didn't even consider him in any sort of decision.
"I see... Nice to know where I stand with you." Ichigo said. With a loss of appetite, Ichigo got up and walked out of there with Teresa feeling bad this all happened.
"Teresa and I broke up after that. She didn't seem to consider me before she made any big decisions. It's hard to continue a relationship when you don't really think about the other person."
...
Present Day
"Didn't consider you?" Kazui questioned as she and Ichika were shocked by what Ichigo told them. "She basically chose her career over you."
"I can't believe she did that." Ichika said.
"Mom, be honest. Did you do something like that?" Kazui said as he just had to know, but Orihime just remained silent. The suspense of not knowing which of the three is really her is getting to them.
"Well, don't cross her out just yet." Ichigo continued to taunt. "Remember that she did take care of her husband. Maybe she felt so bad about the whole thing that she might have decided to change careers." Hearing him talk like that some more made the two groan. They're not sure they'll be able to take much more of this.
"This is harder than learning about sex in school." Ichika complained.
"Still, I want to know what happens next." Kazui said. Knowing this whole story could change how he views his mother, he has to know how it ends until he figures out which one is really her. "What happened, Dad?"
"Well, it was just like I thought." Ichigo stated.
...
The Story
"When Teresa published her story, a lot of people lost their jobs and I was one of them. When you lose your job and your girlfriend at once, it's a tough time." Loosing his job and his girlfriend took a toll on Ichigo. He just sat in his apartment and felt miserable. Since he lost his job, he can't really pay to move to a new place. That means he feels like he's trapped in a dump.
"Come on, man. You can't just sit around and feel sorry for yourself." Renji said as he tried to cheer Ichigo up. "So your girlfriend went behind your back and caused you to lose your job. It's probably not all that bad."
"I was starting to really trust her like I trusted Emily." Ichigo said.
"Okay, you want some advice? Stop looking at the past." Renji said. "It's fine to be upset, but you can't do anything about the past. All you can do is try to move forward."
"Wrong. You can go up or down. I'm heading down." Ichigo said. A little hypocritical to say since he stood up. He grabbed a few beers with him and went up to the roof. All he wanted was to be left alone. He went up to the roof, sat there in the cold and dark, and had a few drinks. He just let his misery consume him and felt like there was nothing else he could do but get drunk until he doesn't feel sad anymore. He might be there for a while.
"Ichigo..." Ichigo looked and saw Emma there.
"Emma? What are you doing here?" Ichigo said.
"I've been calling you. Haven't you heard your phone?" Emma asked as she came over and sat next to him. "I came over and Renji said you've been up here. You lost your job. I'm worried about you."
"And to make it worse, it was my girlfriend who caused it." Ichigo said as he drank more beer. "Up here, I'm seeing this city filled with those who seem to have it all figured out and I've got nothing."
"That's not true." Emma said.
"What would you know?" Ichigo said.
"Excuse me?" Emma said. She knows Ichigo is probably drunk and is trying not to take the things he says so personally, but he might not make it easy.
"You're just like the rest of them." Ichigo claimed. "You seem to have it all figured out. You're supporting yourself, you're going to school, you don't seem to have any issues."
"That's not true. I don't have life figured out. No one really does." Emma said.
"Is that so? Tell that to all the millionaires, those who have their women, and those who seem to live it up!" Ichigo shouted at her. "Now, people who seem to hate their jobs have it over me! My last girlfriend cheated on me, this one just betrayed me, I lost my job, and I can't seem to stop getting screwed!"
"Ichigo, please try to clam down. I'm just trying to help." Emma said as she didn't like being yelled at by him.
"You want to help me? How could you possibly help me?!" Ichigo shouted. "Just get away from me!" Ichigo might have been drunk and angry, but Emma was still hurt by what he said. She just did what he said as he got up and just walked away.
"Emma was just trying to help me, but I acted like a jerk and yelled at her when I shouldn't have. I just stayed like that for about another week. I would have stayed like that if it weren't for your father, Ichika."
...
One Week Later
Ichigo continued rotting in his misery. He just stayed home, ate, slept, and drank for about a whole week. He was taking things rather hard. Renji saw him just sat there and couldn't take it anymore.
"That's it!" Renji said as he grabbed Ichigo by his shirt and lifted him off his feet.
"What are you doing?" Ichigo said. He was surprised when Renji slapped him without a warning. "Did you just slap me?"
"To actually slap some sense into you." Renji said. "It's been a week. Get over what happened."
"Renji..." "No!" Renji interrupted because he didn't want to hear anymore excuses.
"I get it. Loosing your job and your girlfriend was hard, but you can't keep stooping to such a low level." Renji said. "This is pathetic. This isn't you. When Emily cheated on you, you weren't this miserable." Renji was annoyed, but he began to calm down and tried feeling sympathetic. "Ichigo, life is hard. No one has it figured out. Yes, we lose jobs, we have heartbreak, but do you really want to keep going like this? If you keep looking back and hold on to it, you lose any chance of having the life you want."
"Really?" Ichigo said.
"Yes!" Renji said. "You might not get the life you dreamed of, but you can always figure something out! It's time to clean yourself up, get your act together, and get on with your life. No more feeling sorry for yourself. You also owe a great apology to Emma for how you treated her that night. I haven't seen her since that happened. Ichigo, is this really how you want to spend the rest of your life?" Ichigo took a moment and looked at himself and felt disgusted with himself.
"You're right." Ichigo said.
"You go, Dad." Ichika said.
"I literally slapped some sense in to him." Renji boasted.
"Well, it really did help me out. Renji got me to quit feeling sorry for myself."
...
Days Later
"Thanks to Renji, I started to put myself back together. I dusted myself off, got myself a new job, and was starting to get my life back on track. There was just one thing left I had to do."
"Hey, Emma." Ichigo said as he gave her a call. He still had to make things right with her. Since she didn't answer, he tried leaving her a message. "Listen, I'm sorry about what happened the last time we saw each other. I was upset about how things were going, but I was drunk and took it out on you. You were just trying to help. Meet me later tonight so I can try to make things right."
...
The Bar
Ichigo went to the bar, the same bar where Emma helped him out when he and Emily broke up. He's hoping Emma would show up, but he just sat there alone and there was no sign of her.
"Emma and I were suppose to meet. I waited for about an hour, but she never showed. I guess I hurt her more than I thought. I was about ready to give up, but something did happen." Ichigo was ready to just walk out of there. Ichigo hoped she would show, but it looks like she wasn't going to.
"Ichigo?" Ichigo heard someone say his name. He thought it was who he was hoping for, but it wasn't. It was someone he didn't expect to see.
"Emily...!" Ichigo said. The first girlfriend finally makes a comeback. Just as he tried to fix things with one situation, another one might have popped up. Is Emily's return a good thing or not?
