Nino aimed to be in the top since his parents had retired from their position with Sho and Aiba working loyally by his side. Those two never left him since he refused to let them leave his house. He needed much more company and support since after graduating college and earning his parent’s company as a congratulatory gift. They promised him they that they wouldn’t interfere in his business and that he could run it anyway he wanted-- so he asked them to turn it into a gaming company. Content and completely stress free, Nino relaxed back into his sleek and comfortable fines of his chair.

He was proud of himself at the fact that his business had been running properly. With Sho managing his appointments, meetings, shipments, most of the stuff that he couldn’t handle all to himself and while Aiba was working fine as his secretary. He allowed the two to visit each other everyday after they had proudly announced that they have gotten together in senior year of high school. Nino was happy for them, but more jealous that they have found each other because of his own doing.

And he learned to get along better with Aiba because all he ever did was bring him smiles and laughter. He couldn’t stand to hate him knowing that his friend was nothing but nice and innocent to him. Besides, Sho would kill him if he did something wrong to his Aiba.

“Sakurai,” Nino buzzed the manager through the company phone, “Are there any meetings that I am to be concerned with today?”

He could hear the rustling of paper and the sound of Sho’s favorite pen tapping on the desk. “None that I know of. Right now…you have nothing.”

“Really?” Nino asked surprised that his schedule had finally been cleared. And since he was CEO, he happily dismissed Sho and Aiba to go on a date, while he alone trekked outside of his building.

He realized that he had missed the sun so much since all he did was stay inside his building. Sometimes, he even slept in his office when he had to stay overnight just trying to finish and see if the games were as good as he had hoped.

Everywhere he walked, there were posters and advertisements, thanks to Sho, about the new games he had recently released. He felt at ease seeing the kids and teens, and even some adults lining up just for his games.

As he watched the kids run in and out of the store with huge smiles on their faces, he remembered being as excited as them when he bought his first game. It was before he moved to Osaka, on his sixth birthday, that his parents decided to buy him a game boy. After playing with the first game they had bought him, he was hungry for more and wanted even more games. It was until he moved into their old house down the streets in the unknown of Tokyo that he had stopped wanting them for a reason; but that was all too long ago. Now he was focused on work and his own living.

Slipping his hands in his pocket, he continued walking to wherever his feet led him. He was not afraid of getting lost since he could just use his phone to find his way, or Sho and Aiba can come pick him up. Since the sun was out, it was summer, and he was in a good mood, he went inside an open bakery to watch the baker bake some goods.

Nino heard of this place from his employees, saying how good it was and how popular it was with the young people. He grabbed the closest seat he could find and ordered himself a cup of cappuccino without whip cream. When his drink arrived, he thanked the waitress and saluted at her direction. He heard her giggle, but he ignored her once he laid eyes on the baker doing his work.

His back was facing him, but he can tell the man was skilled. He was tossing the dough around and kneading it with his hands until he guessed that it became really soft. When the baker put the dough aside, he grabbed another batch and did the same with it. After a couple of doughs done, the baker moved to his left and Nino followed him a little.

He watched him poke the dough a little until it had risen again. He remember reading somewhere that if the dough rises after poking it hard, then it meant that it was ready. After the baker had done the same to the others, he watched him put the dough inside the oven to bake. Nino didn’t mind waiting for it for hours as long as it had finished. He wanted to taste it himself to see if it was as good as his female employees had said.

After waiting for about three hours, he turned around to see the baker pulling out the tray. The nice fresh smell of baked bread was really good and made him even more hungry. He watched the baker pile it on a basket and Nino stood up wanting to grab a handful. When the basket was placed on the counter, Nino stood up ready to take his wallet out unaware of a small picture that fell out.

“Excuse me, can I buy a bread?” Nino asked the cashier standing securely behind the register as if she was ready to defend herself from a robbery. But it was seldom that punks came and crashed bakeries, putting a gun on the cashier’s head, and telling him/her to put the money in the bag.

The woman nodded her head and smiled at him. He smiled back causing the woman to giggle like the waitress. He didn’t mind people looking at him because he knew that he was good looking since birth.

“That’ll be 500 yen,” the woman said after handing him a bag of fresh baked bread.  

“Thank you,” Nino gave her a 1000 yen and took the bag from her hands. “Keep the change…” Nino looked for her badge and winked when he saw what he was looking for, “…Maya.” With that done, Nino left the store hearing the women in the bakery giggling loud enough for him to hear.

Just as he was about to take a turn to the right, he felt something on his shoulder and was turned around by force. His bread almost fell out of his hands, but was caught by the person who had rudely forced him around.

“Give me--”

“K-Kazu? Is it really you?”

He looked up at the mention of his name knowing that there was no one who knew him personally except for his employees. No one, not even Sho and Aiba called him Kazu except for--

“Satoshi…” Nino gasped as he laid eyes on his long lost chubby friend who was holding the picture of themselves as kids.

TBC