On the other hand, what of Kiso Nagio?……

"I'm sorry, but we can't hire you."

"Wha—?! Why the hell not?!"

Kiso was sitting in the conference room of a certain company.

Dressed in a suit, Kiso was undergoing an interview. ……after the commotion at the café.

Though Kiso had been arrested by the police and given a stern warning, for some reason he was released with little effort.

With no place to stay afterward, Kiso ultimately ended up living back with his parents.

Feeling it was embarrassing to remain in his parents' care indefinitely, he started job hunting, but……

"I heard you were fired from your previous publishing house. What happened there?"

"T-that… that's a long story…"

There was no way he could honestly confess that he had slept with an employee's wife and had been cheating on her with multiple other women.

Judging by the way you're stammering, it seems like you did something shady."

「T-that’s not true! I’m seriously not doing that kind of thing, I swear to God!»

But the interviewer's face twisted into an unpleasant grimace.

"What is with that attitude? And your language... was it really true that you had been a working professional?"

Reading between the lines that he was being looked down upon, Kisogawa felt a surge of indignation.

"I-I am! I'm a guy who worked for Takanawa, after all!?"

He tried to gain the upper hand by citing his employment history, but...

"What's the point, is it? You got fired, didn't you?"
"Ungh……!"

Kisogawa broke into a cold sweat under his arm, looking thoroughly confused.

(Why though?! Why does absolutely nothing ever go right for me?! Is this some kind of conspiracy? Someone's doing this on purpose!?)

No, the truth is far simpler: Kisogawa simply lacked any and all professional skills as an adult.

The interviewer let out a sigh and skimmed over the entry sheet.

"No particular achievements during your university years. Your grades are a total disaster. I still don't know how someone with this record managed to land a job at Takana. Oh, wait. You must have used some pretty underhanded methods, didn't you?"
"S-stop it! Shut up!"

Struck to the heart of the matter, Kisogawa blushed crimson and shouted.

“T-That’s just your own wild-assed speculation! What’s wrong with you? I came here thinking of joining this company, dammit!”

"...With an attitude like that, it's a wonder you even showed up for the interview." The interviewer sighed and said. "You may go now."

...After leaving the company, Kisogawa walked with heavy feet.

“Fuck! Why is everything going so wrong...”

In the twilight, Kisogawa let out a solitary sigh.

He had gone to interviews at publishers, including Kamimatsu... but all of them were a bust.

As he, the former deputy editor-in-chief, said, it was common knowledge throughout the industry that he had gotten into Takana-gawa through back doors.

So, thinking maybe they could at least look out for him, he tried general corporate jobs with no particular interest... but... The result was a bust.

Total wipeout. First, he got rejected in the application form stage.

Even if luck held up and he made it to an interview, it turned out like that from earlier.

“It used to be... not like this... Everything was going smoothly... damn it...” Kisogawa took out a hand mirror.

Being punched by Saburo had left his once-symmetrical face twisted out of shape.

His boasted-of high nose was broken, crooked like a witch's.

The area of his face where he'd been struck was dented in, matching the exact shape of a fist.

"Damn that asshole Terminator...! Next time I see him, I'm suing for damages! You goddamn scumbag!"

Either way, he no longer had the handsome face from before.

The advantage he held purely from his appearance had been completely stripped away.

A guy who was all about the surface—once you lose your pride in a pretty face...

you're just another goddamn bastard.

"Fuck... I need to land a job, but... my parents are staring at me like they want to throw up... I really need to get employed soon..."

Currently, he had no job and no woman willing to support him either. He was stuck in a situation where he had no choice but to rely on his parents.

Since getting fired from his previous company, the hostility from his family had been intense.

Because Kisogawa kept the reason for his dismissal secret, his parents' distrust toward their son seemed to be growing even stronger.

"Find a real job and get out of that goddamn parental home as fast as humanly possible... Huh, it's time for my shift."

Kisogawa headed to the family restaurant near his house.

If he kept walking like this, he'd be late by five minutes, but he’d make it in time.

"I mean, being five minutes late is no big deal, right? Plus, it's not my fault; the interview ran long..." ...But then. "Kisogawa-kun. You're fired."

"W-What the hell?! Why?! Manager!"

At the office of the family restaurant where he worked as a part-timer. The store manager spoke with a sigh.

"Since you started working here, how many times is this? This is your how-manyth lateness?"

Even when told it was the "how-manyth time," he'd been late so frequently that he couldn't even count anymore. "Man, you take this job way too lightly."

"I-n-It's not like I'm taking it lightly!"

Kisogawa argued back, but the manager looked at him coldly and said.

"No, you're mocking this job. You probably think a part-time gig isn't a 'real' job, right?"

"Huh? What are you talking about...?"

Kisogawa says this with a perfectly straight face.

"It's only natural, isn't it? A part-time gig at a chain restaurant like this—doesn't that count as low-level work?"

The manager had moved past anger to complete exasperation at Kisogawa's attitude.

"See, kid... Sure, for you it might just be 'part-time.' But from a societal perspective, this is a legitimate job in its own right. And yet, you're treating it with such contempt—this dismissive attitude toward your duties... I simply cannot tolerate such a lack of respect."

Therefore, he's fired... The manager delivered the verdict flatly.

"Tch...! Ah, fine, whatever. Thanks for everything~"

Getting fired from a part-time job didn't make Kisogawa panic. If anything, he was furious.

"What the hell? Some big-shot restaurant manager acting all high and mighty! I'm talking about a man who once worked for Takanawa Group! Why do I have to get looked down upon by some bottom-of-the-barrel loser like you!"

Kisogawa muttered curses as he left the restaurant.

"Well, it's not a big deal~ The city is packed with part-time jobs! I'll just find something decent whenever it suits me~" But... "Impossible." "Get lost." "Not an option."

...and thus, he failed three consecutive part-time job interviews.

"WAAAHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!"

Kisagawa sat on a park bench, scratching his head with a dry, rhythmic sound.

"Why's it not working out? Job hunting's a bust, and even the damn part-time interviews are falling through...!"

News of him getting fired from the fast-food joint had spread like wildfire in an instant.

That was because of Akita’s influence.

Kaito Akita, the paramount leader of the group, could bury Kisagawa in the dark with ease if he so chose. But he didn't.

Not to the man who had made such a mess of his granddaughter's romantic interest...

Just killing him would have been too easy. It wouldn't make this bastard suffer.

He would corner him slowly, slowly... force him to taste the pain.

That was the order Kaito had given.

"Kusunoki-kun. What are you doing out here, all alone...?" "M-Mama...?"

Kisagawa’s mother had happened to pass by after her shopping. "How did your interview go?" "...Shut up." "And the part-time job?" "I said shut up!"

Looking at her son, the mother understood everything.

"So you got fired... Typical, really. I've been telling you that since you were a kid." Kiso's mother scolded him.

"Riding on the coattails of your dad's pretty face... just like him, you'll end up getting tossed in [prison]. I've told you all this plenty, haven't I?"

Kiso's father was currently behind bars.

His mother had tried to raise him so he wouldn't follow the same path, but...

"Shut up, ya crazy bitch!"

Fuming, Kiso raised his voice. "Don't you ever tell me what to do!"

"How dare you talk to your mother like that!"

"Shut the fuck up! Shut up! Shut up!"

The stress of the entire day crashed over Kiso all at once.

His anger was vented at his foster mother.

"You bastards! None of you! Don't tell me what to do! Don't deny my worth! Me! You... fuck!" Seeing her son like that...

The mother looked at him with an eye full of pity.

"Don't look at me like that, you old hag!"

"Kusunoki. If you don't fix that attitude... you'll never be able to get a job again in your entire life."

Even her mother said the same thing. But...

"Shut up, shut up! I won't accept it! I'm not wrong! This society is the bad one for denying me! It's this damn society that can't see my true abilities..." "Kusunoki..." Smack...!

Only then did he realize his mother had slapped his cheek.

"Snap out of it already! You are... dead wrong!"

His mother desperately tried to correct her son's mistakes. He had a mother's love, yet... "S-shut up!" Crack!

Kisogawa punched his mother, sending her flying.

"You have no right to deny me, you're just a parent!"

Receiving such brutal treatment, his mother... trembled before saying the following.

"...Fine. I'm cutting off our ties as mother and son."

"What?! W-why would you say that!"

Kisogawa’s mother spoke to him with a cold gaze.

"I... no. I thought I’d try my best to love you, since you look so much like your father. But... I can't do it anymore. You're becoming more and more like him, inside and out. Honestly... I can't stand it."

Kisogawa’s mother turned on her heel and walked away from her son. "It's over. Goodbye."

"Wh- Wait! Mother!"

Tears streamed down Kisogawa's face in an undignified display as he clung to his mother's leg. Yes, he had no money and no job.

If he was cut off from his parent-child ties here...

...he would lose the only place he had to live.

"A- Are you going to abandon me!?! Your lovely son?!"

"...You used to be, yes. But now, you're just a worthless piece of trash."

His mother shook him off and tried to leave.

"Wait! Mother! Mom... bwaah!"

Kisogawa tripped over his own feet and collapsed onto the ground.

A taxi stopped in front of her and then immediately sped off.

"Wait! Wait for me, Mama! Maaaamaaaaaaa!"

...Kinugawa, abandoned by both society and his own mother.

His anguished cry echoed out, utterly futile.