The first day of the month had finally come. Outside, the beginnings of spring began to stir. Hiroyuki walked to his train stop. As he did so, he turned around to see Jiro working diligently. Warmed by the sight, Hiroyuki planned to surprise Jiro tonight.
Today was payday. Hiroyuki wanted to use his paycheck to take Jiro out to eat. Because in these past several days, the groceries had been paid with Jiro's money. Hiroyuki had funds from this paycheck and additionally, the wrong deduction from the previous month would now be reimbursed in the same paycheck.
In a good mood, Hiroyuki wasn't even bothered by the troublesome affairs at work. No matter how the human resource department warned employees not to date coworkers, but inevitably, people could not control their emotions. The dire results when the relationship turns sour would be left to the human resource department, specifically Hiroyuki, to clean up. This is why Hiroyuki hated it when he wasn't in control of his feelings.
Coworkers who break up or worse, who suspected their boyfriend or girlfriend of cheating, would expose all the drama at work. This would lead to rumors and the ostracization of the cheating boyfriend or girlfriend.
Luckily, the company Hiroyuki worked for, required all employees to reveal their office romance. The employees would also have to fill out a form and sign it. The form basically absolves the company of all liability. This is to prevent vengeful employees from crying sexual harassment to get their ex in trouble or fired from work.
Today, it was the classic affair of "he said, she said." Tadomitsu, a young lady in the marketing department began dating Ono, the young man hired in the security department. Tadomitsu accused Ono of disobeying company rules, while Ono claimed she was lying in order to get him into trouble because she thought he was cheating on her with another female employee.
After unraveling the problem, it turned out, with the help of the other female employee that Ono wasn't cheating. Of course, Tadomitsu recanted her accusation. Hiroyuki gave her a written warning for falsely reporting her coworker, while sternly reprimanding her. He dismissed her, but asked Ono to stay to finish up the paperwork.
Once she left, Hiroyuki turned to Ono and said, "Are you sure you still want to date such a vindictive woman?"
Ono laughed. "What can I do? She treats me well in private. I suppose you can say this misunderstanding was all because she loves me too much."
Hiroyuki shook his head. Really, people in love could be so blind to the truth. He was glad he wasn't like Ono.
At close of business, Hiroyuki rushed home. He found Jiro munching on a bag of his favorite snacks.
"Don't fill up on snacks," Hiroyuki said. "Tonight, let's go out for shabu-shabu."
Jiro rolled up the open end of the snack bag and put a snack clip on it, saving it for later. The clip would help the snacks remain fresh. Then he washed his hands and changed into appropriate clothes for going out.
He was so excited, the entire way there, Jiro kept asking, "How much further?"
"Almost there," Hiroyuki placatingly replied.
This was their first time going out to eat together. The mood was good.