[@Stern Algorithm]

Vern's smile became a little more natural at Shizuka's response.  It was a wonderful relief to have someone as steady as her working here.  Though he did wish that he'd been better able to hide his stress.  He really hadn't wanted to talk about something so personal at work.  He really did try to keep his work and personal lives separate.  He knew that his employees had their own lives and worries to contend with.  It was bad form to bother them with his own personal issues.

But, he really didn't have anyone to talk to right now.  The only two acquaintances that he had, here in Shine City, had both vanished.  Yet, how do you explain to a younger woman who is also an employee of a company you own that you are a lonely, nearly thirty, man living in a apartment in an otherwise empty building and that your own neighbors didn't think it was worth your time or theirs for them to let you know that they were vanishing off the face of the earth.  Or rather, how do you explain that without sounding pathetic and losing face both personally and professionally.

"Thank you for your diligence, and your concern, Shizuka.  But... I'm afraid that there isn't really anything particularly unusual about my troubles."  Vern took a breath and set down his briefcase on the floor by the counter. "The simple fact is that there are more challenges than I originally anticipated when I bought this business.  Some with the building, some with other personnel.  And, a few unfortunate personal coincidences as well.  Perhaps I wasn't quite as prepared as I thought I was.  But, I'll be alright."

Being honest and direct while staying professional was a lot harder than he had thought it would be, especially since he had a very strong feeling that he could trust Shizuka implicitly with anything he wished to reveal.  And, he was so very tired.  He had maintained his other job, managing the small portion of the city's public janitorial personnel that maintained the park, as well as taking care of maintenance and cleaning of a three story house, his own apartment on the fourth floor of the same, and the recently vacated apartment next door where his neighbor used to live.  He also wasn't sleeping well.

The lighting here in the store and the uniform cap of his other job had managed to confuse the appearance of his face well enough that the dark circles under his eyes had been able to slowly darken without being noticed at either of his places of work, so far.  He raised one hand and rubbed the bridge of his nose as the first subtle throbs of a headache began to knock at the backdoor of his consciousness.  Some symptoms can't be hidden forever.