Chapter 2

Shizuma walked through the doors into place of employment, Burgerland, and saw the familiar sight of her fellow low level workers with hats and nametags. Being over an hour late, her coworkers took no notice to her, being deep inside their work.

"Shizuma, Shizuma, what will I do with you?" Shizuma swung around to notice her boss looming below her. He was a stout man, about a foot and a half shorter than Shizuma, with a balding head, and a scrunched, wrinkly face. He glared at Shizuma, his angry eyes staring her down. "Late and horribly out of dress," he stated with a grimace. "I mean, look at you! You're not wearing your uniform, and you know the rules about hair! If it is below the shoulders, it gets tied back, and another thing, the very most important thing to wear is a smile and you….."

Shizuma tuned out the complaining of her boss, who always got on her case and made Shizuma's time at this job a living hell. She realized that the reason she hated her job so much was because of the lack of respect she got there. As Etoile back in school, people greatly respected and looked up to her, now people treated her like dirt. In a way, Shizuma was glad she was about to get fired. She could then get away from her asshole boss and rude customers, and she could regain a bit of the self-respect she had lost from working there.

"Shizuma! Shizuma! Are you even listening to me?" Shizuma snapped out of her deep train of thought. She then noticed the many people in the restaurant staring at the two of them. "See what you did Shizuma?" her boss muttered, grabbing Shizuma's forearm, "You've made a scene, let's continue our little conversation in my office," he gritted his teeth and tightened his grip on Shizuma's arm, leading her briskly to the office. While half-walking-half-being-dragged behind the counter, Shizuma slipped on the damp floor, and fell to the ground, looking like more of a fool than she already did.

"Get up, you clumsy bitch," Shizuma's boss said. Shizuma struggled to her feet, although was tired of being told what to do by a shithead like him. She continued to stumble behind her boss to the office, at arrival. Her boss sat in his leather chair as Shizuma stood.

"So, you have been late twice before, and you know what happens on strike three," he began, and then added in a condescending tone, "Or do you Japanese not understand the rules of baseball?" He chuckled at his rude joke, while Shizuma glared at him. "Oh, don't look at me like that, you want to keep your job, don't you? Oh, who am I kidding there is no way you could keep your job after this. Well, there is one thing you could do…" The last line was said with a devious, evil grin. Shizuma was worried by his tone of voice. This request could be anything, but it didn't matter.

"You know what shithead? You don't have to fire me! I don't want to deal with your shit for another second. I quit." Although this choice of words wasn't the best for a future job reference, he deserved everything she said, and it felt pretty damn good to say it. After her choice words, Shizuma stomped out of the office, out of the restaurant, and down the street, never looking back.

As she walked in no particular direction, she thought about her actions from the past 24 hours, the way she hurt Nagisa (she cringed at the very thought of the event) and how she shouted at her boss. She had been on edge lately. It was obvious to her now. But what was wrong with her? Had old memories come back to hurt her? She hailed a cab and made her way back to her apartment. On the way, she considered the ghosts of her past, the events that she wished desperately to forget. She knew she had to tell someone.

Upon entering her apartment, Shizuma immediately noticed a rush of cold air, the apartment was freezing. She knew this was because she turned the heater off, and it was nearing winter, but she somehow felt that this coldness was not only in the room, but in her heart, without Nagisa.

She decided it was time that she talked to Nagisa again, and deeply apologize for what happened. She took her cell phone out of her pocket, and dialed Nagisa's phone number. But she couldn't bring herself to press TALK. What could I even say to her? Shizuma wondered, I'm sorry I physically assaulted you, let's be together again! She knew it wouldn't be that easy. She played a possibilities of how the conversation could go in her head, trying to decide which one would be best. She decided, however, that her apology should not be rehearsed; it should be spontaneous, coming directly from the heart. After minutes, she finally worked up the nerve to make the call, as she pressed TALK and placed the phone next to her ear.

Ring . . . . . ring. . . . The waiting was killing her. She had no idea what she should say or what was going to happen. After several rings, the phone went to voicemail. This prompted Shizuma to debate whether or not she should leave a voicemail. During her period of hesitation, the voice mail automatically started. The message went like this:

"Erm. . . .hi. . .Nagisa. .uh…..we should probably bring to attention the what happened last night and um, I'm really…." She hung up the phone before she could finish her sentence. Just the simple phone call caused her to break a sweat, and she felt very nervous about Nagisa getting her pathetic message.

She had no energy to make lunch for herself, so she just sat on the couch, staring into space, with her silver hair covering her eyes. She did this for hours, repeating two scenes in her head over and over again, the dream with Kaori, and what happened with Nagisa afterwards. It felt like the end of everything for her, her relation with Nagisa was broken, she lost her job, and worst of all the event of her past that she refused to acknowledge. .

Her thinking continued until she finally reached peaceful sleep. But even then, she dreamt of her and Nagisa in the forest, the first time they had met. As Shizuma was about the reach in kiss her forehead, Shizuma awoke at a loud ringing noise. After a few seconds, she realized the cell phone was ringing. Shizuma heaved herself up and went to answer it. She wondered who was calling her, she thought it might be Nagisa (a thought which highly worried her) or that it was a random friend of hers that she didn't care about that much. She had a lot of those; she was popular in her college, having many friends and few real enemies. That aspect of her life was positive, but hardly mattered with other things to think about.

"Hello?" Shizuma said groggily.

"Hello Shizuma," the voice replied. Shizuma couldn't believe her ears about who was calling her. They hadn't talked to each other at all since St. Miator. There was absolutely no reason Shizuma could think that this person would call her, or even have her number.

"We need to talk," Miyuki Rokujō said.