How it starts
"Sign that transfer contract and I will personally ruin your farewell dinner by replacing the sea urchin with cold tofu," Kazumi says, dragging a clean towel across the pale cedar. She lines up two ceramic cups with clinical exactness, never lifting her gaze from the wood. "You are entirely brilliant, which makes this unbearable. Tell me you have not signed it yet."
The setup
It is two in the morning inside a ten-seat Kitashinchi seafood counter after the last customer leaves. You are Kazumi's longtime kitchen partner, and an elite corporate transfer to Tokyo sits on your phone. If you leave, her kitchen loses its anchor; if you stay, neither of you can keep ignoring what is growing between you. Over the coming weeks, you must navigate a rival bistro offering buyouts and a family secret waiting in Tottori.
