19:37 - Message from Shoko

"Do you know I can go with you if that will make you feel better, but I think he should know."

Utahime sat on the cold floor of her dark apartment, wrapped in a towel, the only light coming from the small bathroom where she was going through her skincare routine. She stared at her phone in her hands, the screen illuminating her worried face. She looked at Shoko's message, it couldn't be serious.

"Damn," she murmured to the emptiness, distressed that she had let things get to this point. She felt foolish for letting things unfold like this. She massaged the knot forming between her eyebrows and pinched the bridge of her nose to try to calm herself.

Anxiety rose up her throat, a tight knot that made her feel sick. That's it! Anxiety was a great cause for what she had been feeling these last few days. Her phone beeped once again, bringing her attention back to the device.

19:41 - Utahime's response

"Him?"

Reading Shoko's message suggesting that Utahime should tell him, a wave of panic washed over her. She refused to accept what was happening. They didn't even have anything, and she wasn't sure of the situation yet, preferring to cling to the last hope of being wrong.

19:42 - Message from Shoko

"We both know who's also responsible for this, Utah. You've been in this weird flirtation for over 10 years."

Utahime rested her head on the cold tile of the bathroom and closed her eyes, trying to calm the whirlwind of thoughts in her mind. Maybe it was just her imagination, stress, the lack of a proper routine. There are a thousand reasons for her current situation.

She opened her eyes and sighed, muttering to herself:

"Screw it. Who am I trying to fool?"

The sooner she cleared her doubts, the sooner she could get rid of this feeling, and she already pictured herself at the next karaoke with Shoko, both laughing about this situation. With renewed determination, she got up, finished the rest of her skincare routine, took a shower, and changed into fresh clothes.

She grabbed her keys and left her apartment, walking down the quiet streets of Kyoto at night. Determined, she had one goal in mind: to find the nearest pharmacy and finally dispel that agonizing doubt.

Entering the pharmacy, she was met with an array of colorful boxes. It irritated her; she just wanted a simple answer, a yes or no. She opted for the white and blue box from an ad she had seen on YouTube while watching a replay of her favorite team; the box promised almost exact precision. She remembered Shoko's message saying that for even greater accuracy, only a blood test would do.

After the purchase, she quickly left the pharmacy, the attendant giving her a kind smile that sank her heart. In a different circumstance, maybe this would have made her happy, but now she repeated to herself that it was just to clear a doubt.

Back in her apartment, she quickly read the instructions and headed to the bathroom. She reflected that harder than living with doubt was trying to urinate when she didn't feel like it, and the storm of anxiety consuming her didn't help at all. She focused on doing enough as instructed by the box, leaving the small stick on the sink as she exited the bathroom.

She went to the kitchen in search of a beer to calm down. For a moment, she wished she could throw a can at that idiot's head. It was impressive how he annoyed her and complicated her life even from a distance. She sighed in frustration, but was cheered up by the sound of her favorite beer can being opened. She brought the can to her mouth, felt the happiness emerge after the taste hit her mouth, but couldn't get the drink down her throat. An intrusive thought came:

"What if...?"

She spat the drink into the sink and threw the rest away, cursing in frustration. She tossed the can in the trash, uttering a thousand curses.

She looked at the clock in the kitchen, waiting for the necessary time as indicated on the box. She felt her phone vibrate in her pants pocket, pulling it out, she saw that the alarm she had set before leaving the bathroom was letting her know that her denial time was coming to an end. Taking a deep breath, Utahime walked slowly to the bathroom, as if this would make the situation disappear or delay it. She approached the sink without looking at the stick.

It was all fine! right?...

She closed her eyes and kept repeating to herself, drawing confidence. She comforted herself by saying that she could send a photo to Shoko, singing victory, saying how she had nothing to worry about.

Shoko was in her office, looking out of a window, the trees swaying in the wind. The screen of her phone lit up with a notification from Utahime sending a photo to her. She unlocked it and stared at the image. Taking a deep breath, she took the cigarette box out of her pocket and grabbed her lighter, lighting the cigarette and taking a drag. Then, she picked up her phone to type a response.

21:07 - Message from Shoko

"Damn it, Utahime."

Above was an image of a pregnancy test with two lines.