Yukoku, Roberu. SunTempo Bar.

Of course I know him. Friends in highschool and college. I dropped out, but he pulled through. God, I remember his face in exam seasons. Looked like more caffeine than man. Unforgettable, but boy, he was proud of the results. Maybe too proud. I think It was maybe late 2018 that we met up. I was working as a bar assistant and he was working as a talent hunter for Cover corp. It’s not the prettiest job, but it’s a way of getting a foot in the door, he said. For what? He didn’t know it yet, but he would use the experience in management to his advantage. He put out a good word for me later and that’s how I got the gig myself, actually.

Uh, well, he used to come by the bar every Friday, and I mean every single Friday. Down the years he became part of my routine. He’d have his beer, and unwind for a bit. Now this I remember from him very well, he never lets anyone in on what’s wrong. Whenever something troubled him, he referred to it neutrally. ‘Had to fix something at work, a misunderstanding with one of the talents’ and left it at that. No names, nothing.

Each work day seemed to take weeks off his lifetime. The poor bastard had grown duller, more gray. He told me that being one of the managers was like working 24/7, because even if you’re not on the clock, you’re thinking of your job, of excel sheets, of meetings, of emails and all that.

One day, he showed up, asked for his beer, and grunted. He was looking like he used to during college again, distressed, with the empty eyes of a castaway. I asked him ‘What’s up?’ out of courtesy, thinking he’d just give me the same ‘Nothing’ and drink in silence. But after a deep sigh, he spoke.

‘Hoshimachi. She’s like a kid, but twice as irritable.’

He rambled on and on about her like he was a caretaker. ‘Never thought I’d use a college degree to tell an adult to eat her veggies’, he said. Tough luck, but that’s part of the job, I said. Anon grunted in acknowledgement. I figured he didn’t want to listen to anything I had to say, so I just let him drink in peace.

Then, after that, every week that he came, he came to complain about Susei. The two were like a box of matchsticks and dynamite. Anon was never, what do you call it? Troublesome? Argumentative? He just shrugged everything off and went on with his life, but with Susei, he fixed on every little impassé they faced. Suisei wants the perms for this and that, she wants to see how her new outfits’ coming along, she’s mad because of the colors of the buttons, she’s mad at him for locking her credit card so she wouldn’t spend it on gacha.

Madness, those two.

So, one day he comes in, the usual happens, and I tell him he complains about her like a married man did about his wife.

I knew he could ask to be assigned a new talent, that happened plenty of times within Holostars, but no, he always had an excuse for why he didn’t ditch her. Either he was so far in a project with her he just had to finish it, or the schedule was too tight, or the higher ups wanted him to do it, I don’t know. I never knew much about the management side of things, so I figure only half of his excuses were bullshit. One thing for sure, Anon was quite the workaholic, and he pulled through with all of the things that he said ‘Were sending one step closer to blowing his brains out’.

One night, he was late. Or so I thought. He was sulking in one of the corners of the bar and I just hadn’t noticed him. Like the shadow of a ghost.

There he was, sinking into his arms, lost looking at his hands. I figured it was the usual, so I did the usual. Got him his drink, tapped on his shoulder, asked what’s up. Anon refused the can of his sweet bitter beverage. Why do I remember that? Well, he drank like he breathed. He wasn’t one to turn down the opportunity to drink.

Now I knew something had happened. I waged whether I should’ve pried in or not, if he didn’t want to tell me, I shouldn’t know, but Anon, much to my surprise, he was the one who let me in.

As I thought, it was about Suisei. Glassy eyed, Anon said he didn’t know what to do over and over. Must’ve been a good 15 minutes of him rambling on and on but sayin nothing, I had no idea what had happened. He spun the can on its bottom, he read the labels and the information like he was searching for something else. Wordlessly he got up and said he needed to be by himself.

So, next week, the unthinkable happened. Anon didn’t come to the bar, for the first time in four years. I held out hope until midnight and he gave no signs of life. It felt so wrong to not have him sit there complaining, I was about to call him to check up on him. Same thing happens next week. There and then, as soon as I got home I called him, twice. At first he didn’t pick up. The second time he apologized and told me he was busy. I felt relieved to know he was okay, at least. Who knows, maybe he was kicking the habit. Haha.

So after that, eh, New year’s eve came and went. Suddenly it was 2023. At the end of January he showed up again. He asked for his drink, and gulped it in silence with a big smile in his face. No explanations, nothing. Then, I guess he didn’t owe me one either.

What’s got you in such a good mood, I asked him. Nothing, he replied. Something that had him smiling like an idiot, and that made the bags under his eyes disappear like magic.

‘Suichan outdid herself. I’m so proud.’ He spoke.

‘You? Talking good things about that girl? Who are you and where’s Anon?’

‘Right here.’ He smiled.