The Choices That We Make

Present Day

Michiko watched as the workmen finished unloading the last of the crates of products into the loading areas near the back of Bar Micchan, mostly replenishing and restocking the store after the recent purchases, then signing off for delivery before bidding the driver farewell. Most of these were mundane labels; she was still waiting for the premium labels to arrive, though she knew some might take another few days.

She went back to the counter and opened up the ledger software to square away the numbers. It was all part of running an independent shop; something Otoosan was grooming her to do when the time was right. Growing up, she had learned mixology watching Otoosan and flambe cooking from Okaasan, as they used it as a means to upsell product to their customers, even letting her practice using non-alcoholic beverages. Now starting in college, she was taking economics and finance classes as a means to learn the money side of running a small business.

Her thoughts were interrupted by a phone call. Picking up, she recognized the number as coming from one of the larger wholesale distributors. "Hello"?

"Hello, is this Bar Micchan?"

"Yes, this is Bar Micchan, how can I help you?"

"I'm calling to confirm an order your bar placed with our warehouse? It's very unusual, so I thought it would be important to make sure that the order wasn't placed in error before shipping."

Michiko listened as the shipper read the order in groups. Had the order been the usual crates of cheap Shochu and Awamori, he wouldn't have bothered. But it wasn't everyday one got an order for multiple bottles of Yamazaki 25-year Old Single-Malt Whiskey*, Reikyo Crystal 0 Sake** and other labels of this caliber; that merited a special call. After confirming each item on the list, and verifying the payment information, the distributor confirmed the bottles would be shipped promptly and with the greatest of care. After a brief pause, he then asked an unusual follow-up. "So...is this going to be a regular, ongoing order?" Michiko could almost hear the money being counted in the other man's voice.

*approx 1.238M Yen per 750ml bottle
**approx 1.375M Yen per 500ml bottle

"My customer says this is for an upcoming set of high-profile VIP events that are going to be taking place in the area in the near future. I can't get into more specifics than that." Mostly because Mitsuha hasn't told me any , she thought with some concern. It couldn't be anything else, right? I mean... it's not like she's drinking it...

"Well...that seems very odd..." the supplier replied. "Our company provides a lot of products for these events. There's nothing upcoming on the social calendars in this area...at least nothing that would reflect these kinds of labels."

Michiko bit her lip before responding. "Well, she said she was still working on the details," she demurred. "She didn't say it was immediate... I'm sure she was just getting these for inventory because she thought these might be hard to get," she said with more conviction than she felt.

"Well...if your customer wants to keep buying this kind of product, let them know she doesn't need to buy them that far in advance," the supplier assured Michiko. Not that I mind selling it, of course , he didn't need to say, but Bar Micchan had been a good and steady customer for years and it was good business practice to take care of your regulars.

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Michiko hung up the phone and frowned. These last few days had been a roller-coaster of emotions that she couldn't have anticipated when she came back from her college break. Seeing Mitsuha in particular had brought back memories, both good and bad: Years of happiness and family, scholastic success and childhood pursuits, fond memories and laughter, a bright and prosperous future all but waiting to be shared between the two of them...all of which came crashing down so fast...that one, awful night...the night that we would always remember.

The next few months were a blur. She had desperately wanted to spend every waking moment to comfort Mitsuha in her moment of greatest need, but a variety of circumstances had stood in her way. Firstly, her parents insisted that her own studies had to stay on track. Objectively, a tiny part of her understood this, but inwardly, she was screaming in protest at the imposition. Then, there were Mitsuha's awful relatives; an Uncle and Aunt had shown up with papers in hand, claiming sole custody and ownership of her and her prodigious inheritance. It was only through second-hand sources Michiko had heard that Mitsuha had to fight them virtually on her own, both in custody court and face-to-face at times for her own independence. This was then followed up by a group of ruffians from school, who had heard of a rumor of an orphan with money and decided to prey on who they assumed would be an easy mark. By the time Mitsuha had been able to fend them off, her spirit had been spent. The only time Michiko saw Mitsuha was right after the University entrance exam scores had been posted. She saw her from across the courtyard; her expression showed she was a shell of the formerly vivacious dynamo she had been before. Michiko wanted to run up to comfort Mitsuha, but one look at her face shattered her resolve; she had to leave immediately as it took everything she had not to burst into tears right there in front of everyone.

For better or worse, Michiko's parents managed to pull her back emotionally from the brink, enrolling her in one of the city colleges. Time and distance, along with meeting of new classmates these past few months had managed to put a salve to the raw wounds, and for a time, she had begun to feel more like her old self again. It took nearly everything I had to pull myself together, and I had the help of my parents, and the distraction of college... so what was Mitsuha really up to all this time...? Just how did she fall into this...party and events planner career anyway... who did she meet to get her started...? She didn't question it when she first heard about it because she so desperately wanted Mitsuha to have the good fortune and back to her old self, but the more she was seeing, she more she was worried that she might have fallen in with some questionable people. Normal businesses don't throw around this kind of money, especially to someone who they just recruited, now that she thought about it. As much as she hated the idea that was growing in her head, she knew she would have to ask Mitsuha about what really happened when she saw her for their lunch date later.

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Mitsuha took some time going through her messages on her smartphone and her laptop, along with returning messages and mail that had been piling up since her absence. Being a resident of two worlds, she spent most of it in the Kingdom of Zegleus, especially these days during recent events of her rise to nobility, the granting of a fiefdom, and the fallout of the recent war. Nonetheless, she still wanted to maintain her presence here in Japan, so it was important to her to make an appearance now and then, letting everyone see that she was still around, maintaining her parents' house, collecting the mail and bills, and various sundry tasks as she had done many times before. However, up until now, it had been a fairly mundane task to her of bookkeeping; emotionally, there was really nothing for her but for sentimental reasons. With all the adventures she was having, she had allowed herself to believe there was no one left behind she really cared about. This trip, however, had reopened old wounds that she thought were left behind long ago.

Inside Tsuyoshi-oniichan's room, Mitsuha stacked up the boxes of goods into an arrangement in preparation to jump back to the Kingdom when one of the boxes knocked something off the shelf. She turned around and froze as she looked at the small, dusty trophy that had fallen on the floor marked "3rd place, Magic the Gathering 2x2 Tournament" dated six years ago. " You two were great...we all had fun! ", Tsuyoshi's voice echoed from her memory. The shared experience brought back all the times she shared with Tsuyoshi-oniichan and Micchan... the good and bad... the fun and laughter... she thought... all those nights studying together, playing board games together... every new hobby Tsuyoshi-oniichan would bring into their world that we would oftentimes roll our eyes at, but eventually would give in and validate just how much fun and knowledge it had brought into our lives...all of which came crashing down so fast...that one, awful night...the night that we would always remember.

The next few months were a blur. For six months, she was lost in a sea of torment all alone, with her greedy relatives snapping at her heels, hooligans at her doorstep, all in the pursuit of what little her family had left her. With all this going on, she had little to no time, nor the will left to do any serious studying, even though the entrance exam was looming. By the time the custody and security issues had finally been pushed back to a manageable level, she was forced to take the test completely unprepared. To no surprise, despite her natural intellect, she failed to achieve a passing grade, leading to an uncomfortable lecture from her school principal and teachers. They did sympathize with her situation, laying out where she could go from there, but to put it bluntly, her options at that point seemed bleak.

It was nothing short of an act of God that she was handed another chance at life; journeying to another land, along with being granted a tremendous boon in power. Seizing the opportunity, Mitsuha had completely reinvented herself for one goal; to build sufficient wealth and prosperity to secure a retirement for herself in both worlds. To that end, she had become almost a completely different person; leaving her old life behind. Mostly, it had been a good thing; she told herself. She had made new friends...practically a new family...found a new home and a world that had come to accept her, even love her. Because of this, she had almost all but forgotten that there was even anything left of her old life to be remembered... at least... until a couple of days ago.

So, what now , she wondered. She was supposed to meet up with Micchan for lunch at the local department store later that afternoon. She knew that Micchan was already having questions about the details of how her life turned out and her simple explanations were clearly not going to cut it with someone as sharp as her best friend from high school... so wait...who am I hiding from then...? Have I changed so much that I can't even trust the person I considered a sister since kindergarten...?