Jitsu -A different story-

That sound was not at all strange for Shizune since it was actually her cell phone, she did not take long to take and see who was calling her, although Kazumi's words a second later perhaps had the answer to that mystery.

"I'll guess. Kurono?" Kazumi this time chose to pour herself a cup of sake to change her taste a little and began to taste it after asking Shizune the question while the latter had just seen the name of the contact and it was precisely Kurono. "Haha. Don't worry about me, go ahead and answer. I'm sure you'll take your time; I will continue waiting for Akira-san."

Shizune was thinking for a second about deciding on Kazumi's words worried her for some reason, but in the end, she apologized and went to her room before answering the call and bringing the cell phone to her ear.

"Kurono?" She hadn't heard any words when she answered the call, so she thought of asking about him.

"I didn't wake you up, did I?" Despite the question, Shizune felt a calm that was difficult to describe once she heard the voice of the person that she had missed so much these days.

"Don't worry, I was still awake. Did something happen?"

"Actually yes, that's why I needed to talk to you." Kurono's voice became serious when he said those words, and Shizune must have said that she was a little worried, but in reality, Kurono didn't stop after saying that. "I really miss you, Shizune."

Although Shizune felt that Kurono was being a little cruel by trying to worry her with his words, the last thing he said was enough for her to forget all that and instead feel her heart begin to beat and a smile adorn her face due to affection with which Kurono had just said that.

"I miss you a lot too, you have no idea how much…" Shizune didn't take long to return those same feelings as she moved towards the bed and got a little more comfortable.

"You know? When I made these kinds of trips, I didn't feel anything, it was just focusing on work and waiting for the moment to return home, but now that I have you with me, I don't want them to become common." Kurono was expressing his sincere thoughts, these days that he had been away from Shizune, they had only shown him even more how important Shizune was to him and that he didn't want to be away from her for so long.

"Hehe. Let's hope that's the case, but it's part of the job after all. When you're back we have to make sure we have fun and spend a lot of time together, okay?" Shizune felt a little calmer knowing Kurono's thoughts and she was also imagining everything they could do when he returned. "By the way, how have things been going for you and Akio?

"Everything is going smoothly, it seems that the estimation and production of the new sake are in order and continue to develop as planned, you can have my word that Akio-kun is putting effort into all of this and is not slacking off. If everything goes well, we'll probably come back next week." Shizune was glad that everything was going well despite already knowing what had happened in the last few days due to the calls with Kurono, although she actually focused more on the words that they could come back soon, and that made her even happier.

"I see, Rena will be happy about it too…" After that talk, Shizune took it upon herself to explain to Kurono that she, Rena, Akira, and Kazumi had thrown a small party. The fact that Akira was there was not a surprise since Shizune had told him days ago. She told him what she had been doing lately and that she was having fun with everyone.

"I guess Kazumi-nee wanted to liven things up a bit, didn't she?" Kurono simply guessed what Kazumi had done since he knew her quite well, as well as her tendency to make the celebrations "fun", so he told Shizune to be careful about going overboard and not let herself be fooled by Kazumi.

"Don't worry, everything is quiet around here... Your call made me very happy." Shizune could only imagine where and what Kurono was doing these days, it was a feeling that made her miss him whenever she focused on it, so having these moments with him despite the distance was reassuring.

"I feel the same way, I will try to come back as soon as possible, although I suppose I should say goodbye for now, I don't want to keep you busy for too long." Both Kurono and Shizune could spend hours talking this way, but both he and she understood that they had to say goodbye.

"Yes, I also think you should go to sleep so you can rest, it's already quite late and I wouldn't want something bad to happen to you because of it." Kurono laughed a little at the latter, but still thanked Shizune for her concern.

"I'll make sure to go to bed after the call, but there's one last thing I want to tell you."

"What is it?" Shizune was curious about the last thing Kurono would say to her, although from what she heard a second later, she knew that she had fallen into his trap.

"I love you, Shizune." And repeating that warm feeling in her chest upon hearing that, Shizune could only say something simple but that was enough to respond to Kurono's words.

"I love you too… I love you too much." And sharing those little words, they both said goodbye for that day. "Sigh…"

Right after that, Shizune couldn't help but let out a sigh, she had left her cell phone on the side of the bed while she lay down, and brought her hand between her chest, with which she could feel the beating of her heart.

"Kurono…" Shizune was in a state in which she couldn't stop thinking about Kurono, all that feeling had accumulated at that precise moment due to the call she had had and hearing those displays of love and affection from him. She really wanted him to be there with her.

The memories that she shared with him, all full of happiness and that were precious to her did not stop repeating themselves, she looked forward to the day Kurono would return, and with all that, it was impossible that some other feelings were not presenting themselves in her mind, which made her feel in a somewhat peculiar way...