The Hardworking

In a renowned IT company building, the company workers had just ended their work and turned off their computers. One by one, they got out of the building to return to their home. The janitor turned off the rest of the lights on all the floors in the building, and only one particular room was still lit.

A middle-aged man then came inside the said room. He then noticed his coworker, who was still glued to his monitor. He was shaking his head at this coworker of his that known as a workaholic person. He also recalled that this guy never complained about his work. Instead, he will ask their bosses to get more jobs. Sometimes he would also ask another coworker if he could help with their task.

While some jerks took this guy's kindness and hardworking as granted and dumped their work on him, the rest of the employees pretty much respected the guy. Being hardworking and never complaining about his work, he also earned the adoration of their superior. He broke the record of the fastest achiever in their company. He became a team leader at twenty-three and climbed to the manager position at twenty-five. The middle-aged man then chuckled at himself because he became manager after spending his entire career at the company. In contrast, this young man became his equal at such a young age.

His peers always asked if he was ever jealous of this guy. He would be lying if he said he was never jealous of the guy, but the more he knew about this young man, the more he grew fond of him. He even felt like his elder or even the young man's father. This guy, being a workaholic, often forgot to take a rest. This behavior somehow awakened a fatherly instinct inside him. If only my actual son was this diligent, he often thought. Or, if only I have a daughter, I will marry her to him.

With fondness in his eyes, he looked at the young man. He then walked up to the young man's desk and tapped his shoulder. "Hey! Ogami-kun, still working at this hour, huh?"

The young man listlessly looked over his shoulder. Then he said, " Oh, Suzuki-Senpai... you not home yet?"

"I just finished meeting with the boss regarding the new project..." The middle-aged man stopped mid-sentence because he noticed the young man Ogami Rekka's complexion. His eyes were hollowed with big dark circles below them. He looked so thin and malnourished. Even a blind man could tell that this guy was overworking again. "Rekka...You."

"What it is, Senpai?"

"When last time you rest?" Asked the Senpai with concern.

"I haven't gotten home since Monday." Replied Rekka.

"Since Monday?" Asked Suzuki, the middle-aged man, again for confirmation.

"Yes, Monday"

'Today is Tuesday, so this guy worked for two days straight. For his standard, that's quite mild, to be honest.' Thought Suzuki.

He reminded Rekka to rest appropriately between rests and not forget to eat before saying goodbye to him.

After he left Rekka, he took the elevator down to the basement, where he parked his car. On the way to his car, he then met an old woman. The woman was the company janitor. She was so sweet, and everyone liked her, himself included. He then spent some time to greeted the old lady.

"Sasaki-san" Greeted Suzuki

"Ara, Suzuki-san, you left late tonight."

"Yes, I was in a meeting with the higher-up and just finished by now." He replied respectfully.

Even though his position in the company was higher than a mere janitor, he still talked respectfully to this old lady. Undoubtedly she was a woman worthy of every respect. She worked hard and earnestly so she could send her children to higher education. Even though her children already have jobs, she still works as a janitor because she does not want to burden them.

"Sasaki-san, you are already so old, yet you are more passionate about your work than the youngster nowadays. I can't stop admiring you, Sasaki-san."

"Stop praising me, Suzuki-san. I am not that great."

"I am not kidding when I said I only respect a few people my entire life, and two of them are in this company. You and Ogami-kun." Said Suzuki.

"Well, the boy is a very charming and hardworking person. Only people with bad thoughts are the ones that do not like him. Speaking about Ogami-san,... Suzuki-san, could you please ask him to stop working?" pleaded Sasaki.

The middle-aged manager was smiling after hearing the old lady's words. 'That boy is truly loved by good people.

"Let him be, Sasaki-san. It's not the first time he worked overtime. And it is just two days only. It was much worst before when he was still under my department."

"Two days? ... What are you talking about, Suzuki-san. That boy has never left the office since last week. Today will be the ninth day."

"... You are joking, right?"

"This old lady can't joke anymore, Suzuki-kun. He didn't even go home at weekends. If I didn't send him foods, he probably didn't eat too."

Suzuki took a moment to process Sasaki's words. He then realized Rekka's complexion was bad despite only two days of overtime. "That brat! And why did nobody tell me anything about this?! We got to stop that brat from working anymore, or he will risk his life."

The two of them then rushed back to where Rekka was. Only to find the young man fell down from his chair. The two-person panicked and went to the body. But it was too late. The body was already cold, he was not breathing, and his heart stopped beating.

Ogami Rekka, a Genius, and a hardworking programmer, were dead from overworking.

=======

"What do we do with him? Why do you even bring him back in the first place! You know we cannot feed another mouth in our family, especially an injured stranger!"

In a house in a village, two people had a heated argument. They were brother and sister. They constantly had a fight so much that other villagers were immune to their bickering. Today was such a day. Especially when the brother brought an unconscious person home that he found when hunting in the forest. The sister was mad at him because they barely had anything to eat daily, yet her brother brought a stranger into their house.

It was not like the sister was a petty person that ignored the person in need. It was just their situation that they could not afford to help others. Their mother died when they were little, and their father was conscripted as a soldier. The tension with their neighboring kingdom intensified, forcing their kingdom to conscript more soldiers to defend their border. Fortunately, the brother was exempted from the duty because the kingdom valued their father, the hunters' leader, as a skilled archer and valuable recruit.

"I can't just pretend I didn't see him and left him alone to be beast dinner! Our father would be mad if he knew it!" Said the brother

"Yes... Our father that left us to starve!" Replied the sister in contempt.

"Rania!" Shouted the brother. His father was his role model and the person he respected the most in this world. He could not let anyone bad-mouthing his father, even if the person was his own sister. And he also knew that his sister did not really mean it when she said it.

"Sorry... I...I am just tired."

Without their knowledge, their bickering and shouting made the unconscious man that lay in the bedroom woke up. The man, still confused about the whole situation, was sitting on the bed edge, trying to make sense of it.

"Where ... am I?" whispered the man.

'The last thing I remember, I was working on the deadline, and then Suzuki-Senpai said hello before he left. And then.... and then what? I can't remember a single thing afterward. And where it is? I certainly not the office nor it is my room. Judging the people fighting outside, it is certainly not a hospital either. Am I kidnapped? For what? My family was ordinary, and I don't think I ever offended someone so much that they wanted to kidnap me. Not that I know at least.'

"Wait a minute, the language they use... it's not Japanese. I don't even recognize this language. But why do I understand what they say?"

The man was Ogami Rekka, a Genius, and a hardworking programmer, that were dead from overworking. He was still wearing the unkempt shirt that he wore when he died. It was wrinkled all over, but it did not smell at all. Even though he did not get back home for the past week, the office has a living quarter for overtime workers in the building. So he still took a shower daily and changed his clothing every other day.

After pondering for a couple of minutes, he decided to ask the sibling outside about his question. They seemed to be friendly people from the conversation he had heard before. The brother seems to be the one that found him in the forest and brought him back to their home. He was thankful for this brother's kindness in not leaving him in the woods to be a ferocious beast's feed instead. Not that he knew why he was inside one, to begin with.

He went out of the bedroom and was greeted by this simple, homey interior design. He suspected it when he was in the bedroom. The interior design and the furniture in this house were quite old. Not in the sense of neglect, but it looked like something came from the western middle ages.

Then he saw the two fighting siblings standing in the kitchen. He came closer to the couple and then said, "Sumimasen..."

The sibling stopped their fight and looked at the person speaking in a strange language. The brother looked relieved, while the sister looked annoyed at him. But both of them were also confused at the word Rekka said.

"(in English) Excuse me...?"

The sibling still looked confused. They looked at each other and asked if they knew what this man talked about.

"*sigh*...What even I expected?" whispered Rekka in a low voice, still speaking in Japanese. Then he resigned to his fate and asked the sibling again in this unknown language that he somehow understood.

"Can... ye... you... unda...understand me now?" Said Rekka in an awkward manner of speech.

"Uhmm ... yes, we can understand you. I am glad that you are awake now." Said the brother.

"Yes... WE are relieved that you are awake. I think you have your family worried, so you can go now." Said the sister rudely.

Rekka could only smile wryly. Even though the sister was very rude as she practically ceased him out of her house, he also understood their situation was not very well.

"Rania!" The brother was mad at his rude sister. She was usually not this rude to anyone. Maybe because of the heated argument from before, this little sister of his became like this.

"hmmph!" Rania, the sister, only harrumphed at her brother's word and left the kitchen to her room.

"Rania!" The brother shouted at his sister, leaving back before sighing and smiling apologetically at his guest. "I am sorry for my sister's behavior. She usually not this rude."

"No problem, I understand. And for helping bring me out of the forest, thank you... hmm..."

"Ah, where is my manner. Let me introduce myself. My name is Randy, and my little sister's name is Rania. Nice to meet ya."

"Ah, nice to meet you, Randy. My name is Ogami Rekka."

After he introduced himself, Rekka saw that Randy's expression was changing drastically. He then asked Rekka. "By any chance, are you a noble?"

Rekka was also surprised by Randy's statement. He was from an ordinary family. He was not from a noble family, or he was?

Randy misunderstood Rekka's silence as confirmation, then groveled on the ground. He begged Rekka's forgiveness, " Milord, please forgive this one sister. She was having a bad time because of our father's conscription into the army. Please, I beg your forgiveness and mercy."

"Wait ...wait ...wait! I am not a noble, Randy. Please get up." Said Rekka, startled by Randy's sudden outburst.

"You... are not noble?" Randy asked and then realized something else. "Thinking of it, no noble family goes by the name Rekka. Are you really not a noble?"

"No, I am not a noble. I come from an ordinary family. Why did you think I am a noble in the first place?"

"Because only noble have a family name?" He was confused by Rekka's question. As it was common knowledge that everyone knew. "But I also didn't remember any noble family going by Rekka."

"Ah, that is my first name. My family name is Ogami. You can call me Rekka."

Now both of them calmed down, and Rekka realized something weird. Noble in this age? That's odd. Before Rekka could ask anything else, Randy spook again.

"Family name and then first name. Now come think about your face and that naming system, Rekka. Are you from The East Continent?"

"East Continent?"

"My father talked about it when I was little. The story of the East continent. He said that people of the East have small eyes and yellowish skin like you!"

"That... I think I lost some of my memories when I passed out in the forest. So Randy, can I ask you to tell me something."

Then Rekka asked Randy about all things. About this village, this country or kingdom, and the situation and everything. The more Randy talked, the more Rekka frowned. Until the last, he asked Randy the most crucial question.

"Randy, do you know Earth?"