Ito Seigo

"Uh, Mr. Ito, I'm sorry to inform you that you don't meet our hiring requirements. Thank you for interviewing with us, and we hope you find a job you're happy with soon."

Beep.

Ito Seigo casually set his phone aside, picked up his chopsticks, peeled back the lid of the instant noodles on the table, and slurped them down without even worrying about how hot they were.

After finishing in a few bites, he let out a long breath, stood up, went to the bathroom to wash his hands, and wiped his mouth.

He stood with his head lowered in front of the mirror for a while before slowly lifting it. A mottled, ugly face appeared in the glass.

Beside the mirror was a photograph of a handsome young man with a sunny smile.

He grinned.

The face in the mirror looked as ferocious as a demon from hell come to the mortal world. The saying that a face without a smile was ugly had lost all meaning when it came to him.

The smile gradually faded from his face.

Without an expression, he was at his most handsome.

He left the bathroom, tidied up the trash on the table, and went into his room.

The room was tidy and had nothing especially noteworthy in it. The only thing that caught the eye was a little pink bear in a cape beside the bed, with the word "Hero" on its belly.

Sitting down at his desk, he saw a conspicuous photograph of a man and a woman together at the beach. He ran a finger over the woman's face, then gently turned the frame facedown.

He opened his computer, found a website's homepage, and clicked on it. Among the many sections, he found a small link with his name on it.

["White Dragon of the Fire" discharged today, says he has no regrets about saving lives!]

The mouse stopped. His lips moved, but he said nothing. Then he clicked through.

He skimmed the article and went straight to the comments.

A glance at the dates showed that several days had passed. There were only a handful of comments.

[Glad the hero is safe.]

[He only saved one person. We should be thanking the firefighters instead.]

[I heard he wasted time saving someone else and failed to save his own parents. I wonder if that's true.]

[What an unfilial son~]

Ito Seigo hurriedly tried to close the page, but clicked on an ad instead. After several more clicks, he finally managed to shut down the website.

He clenched his fist against his thigh, breathing heavily. It took several minutes before he put his hand back on the mouse.

He opened Twitter and logged into his account.

The latest post was a photo taken outside the hospital, captioned: I've been discharged.

There were only a few comments, all wishing him well.

The farther back he scrolled, the more comments there were.

The most popular post showed someone's candid shot of him, wearing a filthy, blackened white shirt, carrying a little girl out through the apartment entrance. You could even see the smoke swirling in his wake. Another photo showed him wrapped up like a mummy, accompanied by the caption: I have no regrets.

Strictly speaking, he hadn't posted those tweets himself. His girlfriend at the time had.

There were tens of thousands of comments. People condemned and reported the malicious ones, while the well-wishes racked up likes.

He read them carefully, one after another, the corners of his mouth lifting without him realizing it.

After a long while, he reluctantly logged out and opened his messages.

[I hope you stay safe and well from now on.]

His ex-girlfriend had sent it today.

Ito Seigo typed out a reply, then deleted it. After agonizing over it several times, he finally sent: [You too.]

He checked his other contacts. No one had reached out to him.

Neither had she.

He opened the chat history and synced it. The latest message was from three months ago.

[Big brother, when are you getting out of the hospital? Let's play together then! Mom and Dad said they'd take me to visit you in a few days!]

[Soon. Sounds good.]

[Kitten nodding.jpg,]

He hesitated, but didn't send a message.

Maybe her parents were just busy and had forgotten, he told himself.

He closed Twitter, opened a job-search site, and looked for work that might suit him.

He had a disability rating, so some companies were specifically willing to hire people like him to benefit from preferential policies. But because of his unusual appearance, many of the interested companies had backed out. Still, with insurance payouts and some subsidies, he wasn't short of money for now.

Maybe he should work freelance? His body wasn't suited to fast-paced jobs anymore, anyway.

Knock, knock, knock.

Someone knocked at the door.

Ito Seigo was a little puzzled. He hadn't told anyone his address. The only person who probably knew it was his ex-girlfriend.

He peered through the peephole. Standing outside was a man who looked like an ordinary office worker. Ito didn't know him, and he didn't look the least bit familiar.

He pulled away from the peephole, but then, as if something had occurred to him, he looked again.

There was something strange about the man's face, but Ito couldn't put his finger on what. If he had to describe it, he'd say it looked somehow out of place.

He suddenly laughed at himself.

What right did he have to judge anyone else's appearance? He was a monster himself.

"Who are you looking for?" Ito Seigo called through the door.

"Hello, I'm Kurishimoro. Is this Ito Seigo's home? I'm from a news agency. There's something I'd like to discuss with you."

Ito Seigo looked puzzled. What a bizarre name. It sounded just like "The Faker." Had his family not noticed when they chose it?

Still, he opened the door. Since the man was from a news agency, he probably already knew what Ito looked like. There was no need to warn him.

"Wasn't it Mr. Tanaka who came last time?" Ito Seigo asked as he ushered the man into the living room and poured him a glass of water.

The man took the glass, drank a sip, and gave an utterly bizarre smile. "Ito Seigo, do you really have no regrets?"

Ito Seigo's expression changed. He stared hard at the man whose name sounded just like The Faker.

The man kept up his unsettling smile and twisted the knife. "I wonder if you dream about your father late at night—"

"Get out! Get the hell out of my home!"

Rage made the mottling on Ito Seigo's face twist and writhe. Even the flush spread unevenly, like patches of red sores and spots.

He pointed furiously at the door, his face contorted, like a demon from hell ready to devour someone.

Unfortunately, the man in front of him wasn't afraid. He even calmly took another sip of water.

"Do you know? After interviewing you, Mr. Tanaka also interviewed the Fujiwara family." He suddenly revealed something Ito Seigo cared about deeply.

Mr. Tanaka had interviewed the Fujiwara family? Was it because he'd been discharged? Did that mean they knew he was out of the hospital?

His expression stiffened. For a moment, he didn't know how to respond.

"But the material wasn't quite suitable, so in the end, it wasn't included."

As he spoke, Kurishimoro took a long, narrow object from inside his coat. Ito Seigo recognized it: Mr. Tanaka's voice recorder.

"You can listen, or you can choose not to."

Kurishimoro then took out an unknown object and placed it on the table.

"But if you regret it, you can eat this."