Category: Hamehara

Mizukami Ayaka is the company’s self-appointed crusader. Ayaka is the kind of employee who lives by the rulebook, When she sees Takahashi Yuya chatting a little too closely with Takano Chitose, her internal alarm bells blare. She steps in immediately, citing a visual breach of personal space and reminding him, for what feels like the hundredth time, that such behavior falls under the category of harassment. She swoops in, delivering a sharp, almost theatrical rebuke: “That’s harassment! I’ve told you before!” She cites the “visual perception” of the act, regardless of intent, and tacks on a reminder of the company’s strict compliance policy. In her mind, she is the guardian of workplace morality.

During a mandatory “harassment prevention” seminar, she traps Yuya in a conference room, one-on-one. She lectures him with cold, robotic efficiency, oblivious to the storm she is provoking. She sits in her comfortable, moral high-ground, believing her words are shield.

Yuya, finally reaching his breaking point, asks a single, venomous question: “Is this harassment?” Before she could formulate a response, his hand lands on her chest. The irony is a bitter poison. Ayaka, the expert on policy, is completely paralyzed.