IGNORE THE LIGHT, CHOICES

"Hisao… Hisao… Hisao…" Hisao was suddenly awoken by a familiar voice calling out his name. However, he couldn't see anything but darkness. The voice persisted, but he still couldn't identify who it was. He searched his surroundings, he noticed a bright light shining in a corner. Just as he was about to go to the voice, someone grabbed his hand and pulled him away from the light.

 "Who? Who… Who is this? Is that you, love?" He tried to guess who grabbed his hand as he was pulled out of the light. He thought it was that lady who was the one taking his hand. In the dark, a figure appears and he sees a woman who holds his hand.

 "A… Asukaa" He knew that figure very well and was surprised the person who took him away and pulled him out of the light was Asuka.

 "Mr. Watanabe, what are you doing there? You should not be there. There is nothing there. You have to come with me. I'll take you to a safe place." Asuka convinces him not to enter the light and follows her to safety.

 "Where… Where are we going? Is this place not safe? What is this place? Where are we?"He wonders where they are and why this place is not safe. Asuka kept quiet without saying anything else and took him somewhere in the darkness. The surrounding area was so pitch black that they couldn't see anything except see each other. It was strange, but it was all they could see.

 "Hisao…" He hears the voice again calling his name, he tries to turn around to look at the light back. He recognized the voice. A lady who claimed to be his soul mate. He tried to let go of Asuka's hand and wanted to go towards the voice again.

 "Don't look behind Mr. Watanabe. You will get lost if you let go of my hand."Asuka forbade him to let go of her hand and go towards the light. Without question or objection, he ignored the light and followed Asuka there without hesitation. After a few minutes of walking, she suddenly stopped in front of one building and the building was Yamada Bar, but the bar looked too old, and nobody was there except them. It was not like what he remembered. What he remembers Yamada Bar used to be some fancy place with many VIP people.

 "Ahhhh... I miss this place. Don't you Mr. Watanabe. Come on, Mr. Watanabe. Let's get in." She breathed a sigh of relief when they finally reached the place, she still held his hand and led him into the bar. He just nodded and followed her into the bar without any doubt. However, the bar was too quiet, and the interior appeared dilapidated when they got into it. He started to feel weird about it. 

 "Hello! Is anybody here?" His voice echoed inside the bar. He started to feel suspicious about that bar. The bar looks so empty. It seems like the bar has been abandoned and worn. There is no one there except them both in there. They both still held hands together, Asuka suddenly let go of his hand and walked away from him without saying anything.

 "A… Asuka." He wondered why she suddenly let go of his hand, he was afraid she'd left him in a place like this. So, he tried to call out her name to make her wait for him. When she heard him call her name, she suddenly stopped to move.

 "Hehehehe… Mr. Watanabe, do you love me?" When she stopped to move, she suddenly laughed and asked him whether he loved her or not.

 "Wha…What? What do you mean?" He feels curious about Asuka's question. He started to feel scared and anxious about Asuka's behavior.

 "You don't, right? You must think I'm just a dirty whore. Hehehehehehe!!" Asuka continues to laugh out loud and turns her head to him without her body turning around too.

 "A… Asuka. Wha… What happened to you? Are you okay? What's wrong with you?" Hisao started to feel scared of Asuka as she kept laughing without getting tired. Suddenly, she stopped laughing and transformed herself into a monstrous creature. She had long hair that covered her face completely, she became huge and terrifying.

 "ARRRGGGGHHH!! NO! NO! DON'T COME CLOSE TO ME! NO! ARRRGGGGHHH!!!" Hisao let out a blood-curdling scream when a monstrous creature wanted to come close to him. But then, he suddenly woke up from his nightmare, still screaming in terror until he couldn't breathe properly. His chest felt tight due to the fear that lingered from the dream.

 "What… What's wrong Mr. Watanabe? Are you having a nightmare, Mr. Watanabe? Don't worry, I'm right here with you. Nothing will hurt you." Asuka suddenly woke up from her sleep when she heard him screaming out of sudden, and she tried to calm him out of his fears.

 "AARRGGGHHH!! NO! NO! GO AWAY! DON'T HURT ME!!" He becomes more frightened when he sees the one who hugged him is Asuka. She is trying to calm him down and make him quiet from screaming out loud in the early morning.

"What… What's wrong Mr. Watanabe? It's me, Asuka. I'll never hurt you." She tried to make him calm once again and tried to hold his hand, but he pushed her away.

"What's wrong in here? What happens? What is this noise about? Don't you see it's 5 am now? Why is he screaming like that Asuka?" Youta suddenly appears and wonders about what happened in that room out of sudden in the early morning.

"I… I don't know! He… He suddenly woke up and screamed like that. He even tries to punch my face!" She tried to explain what suddenly happened.

"Hisao… Oi, Hisao!" Youta came to Hisao and tried to wake him up, but he couldn't stand his scream.

"PAGGH!!" A loud slap was heard and Hisao jerked away from his nightmare. A strong slap from Youta made him startled and wake up.

"Finally. There you are. Are you awake now, Hisao? What is happening? Nightmare?" Youta asked about Hisao's condition, but he was still in shock and startled, and he just nodded his head without saying anything.

"Put some clothes on now. You are naked and it hurts my eyes. Please come with me. I'll give you some tea to relax." Hisao just nodded and went to wear his clothes and go with Youta without looking back at Asuka.

Chiyoda, Tokyo – At the Hiroshi Associate.

 "Haaaa…" Hisao sighed as he slumped back in his chair, looking out the window. He picked up his phone and saw several missed calls and messages from his friend Yuuma. He opens the last message from Yuuma but is puzzled by its contents - it only contains two words in Roman words that he can't decipher. However, he chose not to think about it and instead resumed staring at the view outside the window. The sky looked serene. He shielded his eyes from the bright sun. It reminded him of his dream last night.

 "Hisao… Hisao…" He recalls the voice that came through the light in his dream. He knew that voice was her voice, the lady who always kept running in his mind. He felt so regretful for not following his heart towards the light.

 "What happen… What happens if I… I follow the light and do not follow Asuka to the bar. What if I meet her in that light? What if that nightmare turns into a sweet dream for me? If I can meet her once again it is a good thing that happened to me" Hisao keeps questioning himself about what if in that dream, he chooses to go through to the light and starts to feel curious about it. He might be able to meet her once again even only in a dream if he chooses towards the light and not following Asuka to go to the bar.

 "A path you take is not a fate but is your choice." Out of the blue, Hisao remembers what Yuuma said to him while they were both relaxing in the living room of Yuuma's house and he started to miss his best friend.

 "Every journey we take in life is a choice we make, not fate. Like the road we walk, every path has twists and turns that we must go through. Challenges and obstacles are a part of every journey we must face and overcome. Every path has its ups and downs, and we must choose which direction we take, whether it's left, right, front, or rear. We need to consider our options before deciding. Once we choose our way, it'll become our destiny. It's important to realize that every path has a dark side that we cannot see with our own eyes. We have the choice to remain in the darkness and allow it to consume us or choose to stand and move forward into the light. However, it's not easy to make that choice, as we may fall into darkness when we try to stand up and move forward. As humans, we all make mistakes in life, and sometimes those mistakes can be so severe that they haunt us for the rest of our lives. We may feel like we can't forgive ourselves for what we've done, and even those around us may find it hard to forgive us. We may try a hundred times to stand up and move forward, but the darkness keeps following us and dragging us down until we feel hopeless. The worst part is that we may choose to remain in the darkness because we feel it's our fate. However, remember that our fate is in our own hands, we have the power to change it. We can choose to stay in the darkness and let it consume us, or we can choose to fight it and move towards the light. The choice is ours." Yuuma gave serious deep advice to Hisao with implied words. He knew his best friend might not understand what he just said right now but he knew his genius best friend would cover it out once he was on his journey.

"Errmm… It's so deep and I wonder what it means." Hisao frowned as he stared deep into his mind and tried to understand what his best friend was saying. Yuuma smiled slyly when he saw Hisao swimming in his mind to search and explore for the answer to Yuuma's deep advice.

"So, which choice do you take when you go through your journey, Hisao?" After all the deep talk, Yuuma asked Hisao what he'd do in his journey. Hisao keeps looking for the answer with a focused and serious look. Even though he is a genius guy he can't get the answer to Yuuma's questions and what is behind the long and deep advice he gave just now.

"What path should I take, Yuuma? What choice do I need to make? What is the meaning of your message?" Hisao looked at his hand while he kept questioning Yuuma in his thoughts. He wondered the meaning of Yuuma's text and why he kept calling him. It's unusual for Yuuma to call him several times. He has been wondering whether he had an emergency to call him.

"Hisao, what are you staring at?" Suddenly, all the thoughts disappeared when someone greeted him. Hisao turned back and saw his colleague who was standing behind him. A woman with short black hair and wearing a black suit with a short skirt looked at him in amazement. She wonders what he keeps staring at when the sun is so serene in the sky.

"What are you looking at? Is it something outside?" That woman came close to him to see what he staring at. She keeps wondering what Hisao does, and she looks outside the window as he does but sadly she doesn't see anything weird or curious.

"Arr… Nothing. I take a nap. What do you want, Hanna? Do you have a problem with your work? Just say a word and I'll help you." Hisao suddenly feels strange and wonders what she wants from him. He feels so embarrassed when she gets too close to him. He feels restless in that situation.

"Oh, don't worry it is not about work. I only want to ask are you free tonight?" Hanna turned herself towards him and asked him about his schedule tonight.

"W…why? Why you asked?" Hisao feels suspicious and awkward when Hanna suddenly asks out. He tried to pull himself away from her for he felt a little comfortable with the conversation.

"Oh, no. It's not like I want to ask you out. Mr. Hiroshi wants to celebrate your achievement this month. So, Mr. Hiroshi wants to know if you are free tonight." Hanna saw he was not comfortable when she was too close to him. She became so embarrassed and tried to make him not think badly of her. She tried to deny that she was trying to tempt him and explained to him about her real agenda.

"Err… I don't know. I don't feel good today but where are we celebrating it?" Hisao reasoned that he didn't feel like going out tonight. However, he wondered where they wanted to celebrate. He thinks this is not a time for him to celebrate something like that. He feels uneasy with what he has done right now. Something had been ghosting him. He didn't want the bad situation that happened to him before would happen to him once again. He is scared that if that situation happens again his career will be destroyed this time.

"At the Yamada Bar. I heard they have a karaoke set in the VIP room, am I right?" Mr. Hiroshi suddenly interrupted their conversations and hugged him on the shoulder. He is so excited to go to the party tonight.

"I… I think so but" Hisao was shocked when someone suddenly hugged him at the shoulder. However, he knew if he went tonight his situation would be worse from now and he tried to give an excuse to him not to go.

"Oh, come on, Hisao! The owner is your best friend. He must not feel bothered by us. Besides he counts on us for his business. If it's not because of us, his business will never become bigger like now, am I right?" Mr. Hiroshi tries to persuade and convince him to go to the party tonight for the celebration.

"But… I don't feel good, Mr. Hiroshi. I think you can go without me." Hisao still tries to give an excuse.

"It won't be fun without you. You're the star of the celebration. How can we celebrate without you?" Again, Mr. Hiroshi keeps convincing Hisao to go with them tonight.

"Errr… Okay, then. You are the boss." Hisao ate the bait.

"Yess!!! We'll celebrate its extravagance today!" Mr. Hiroshi feels so excited about it.