A man built entirely around duty meets someone who makes him want to be careless, and the show knows exactly how catastrophic that collision is. Chiharu doesn't get a slow realization that love matters more than work. He gets ambushed by it at a bar, then has to choose. The romance here isn't a subplot softening the edges of a professional life. It's the thing that makes him terrified enough to run.

Chiharu is a wizard who heads the counter-measure division at the magic department, one of the few people able to use magic, and his days are hectic. At his favorite bar he meets Toyohi, a frank and friendly young man who has always dreamed of becoming a wizard, and the two get along right away. On the walk home, Toyohi suddenly confesses his love. Chiharu is caught off guard at first, but he gradually falls into step with Toyohi, and they start spending more time together. After a mistake at work, Chiharu resolves to throw himself into his job and pushes Toyohi away. He also worries that magic is all he has, and that Toyohi loves only the wizard, not the man. The result is a short fantasy romance.