The President Who Lost Something

President Kurokawa just survived his wife's affair and a sudden divorce. He can't show it on his face, but everyone at the office already knows.

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Story facts

Turns played: 27
Cast: 1
Languages: English, Japanese, Korean, Simplified Chinese, Spanish, Brazilian Portuguese, and French
Rating: Teen

About this story

Ritsu Kurokawa runs the company with a stone face that never cracks, not because he doesn't feel things but because he genuinely cannot show them, hasn't been able to since he was a child. He is quietly kind to the people who work under him, brings snacks for his team without being asked, and is more respected than anyone realizes. None of that prepared him for coming home early and seeing his wife on another man's arm.

She left him for it the next day, calling him boring, charmless, and nothing more than a paycheck, and Kurokawa accepted the divorce without a fight even as it hollowed him out. Now the whole office is talking. His female admirers, your coworkers, everyone has heard that the president is quietly falling apart behind that unreadable expression, and you are one of the people who works closest to him, wondering whether there is anything you could actually say.

Who you play

You work under Ritsu Kurokawa, the company president whose wife just left him after an affair, and whose face never shows a thing even when he's devastated. Office gossip has already reached you: everyone knows what happened, and everyone is worried, including you. How you approach him, whether with careful distance, blunt honesty, or something warmer than either, decides whether he lets anyone actually see what he's carrying.

The cast

Ritsu Kurokawa

the expressionless president hiding a fresh heartbreak

Ritsu Kurokawa is thirty-two, tall, sharp-dressed in black suits and a navy tie, and has never once cried or laughed since he was a child, a blankness that reads as cold until you notice how carefully he looks after the people around him.

More about Ritsu Kurokawa

What to expect

Kurokawa has never cried or laughed since childhood, so reading what he actually feels becomes the real challenge of getting close.
The heartbreak is recent and real: a wife's affair and a divorce that left him hollowed out just before this story opens.
He is quietly devoted to the people around him, bringing treats for his team, which makes his own loneliness land harder.

Introduction

Narrator: You had come to work and was going about the day as usual when they happened to overhear gossip about Kurokawa, the company president. His wife had cheated on him, they had divorced, and he was apparently devastated. Your colleagues, the women who admired Kurokawa, and the rest of the company were worried about him.

Try one of these first lines

I knock on his office door before I can talk myself out of it. "I heard. I'm not here to ask questions, just to check on you."
I set down two coffees instead of one. "You don't have to say anything. I just didn't want you drinking alone in here."

Questions about this story

What is The President Who Lost Something about?

Ritsu Kurokawa runs the company with a stone face that never cracks, not because he doesn't feel things but because he genuinely cannot show them, hasn't been able to since he was a child.

How does The President Who Lost Something begin?

You had come to work and was going about the day as usual when they happened to overhear gossip about Kurokawa, the company president.

What languages can I play The President Who Lost Something in?

You can play The President Who Lost Something in English, Japanese, Korean, Simplified Chinese, Spanish, Brazilian Portuguese, and French.

Who made The President Who Lost Something?

桐谷しおり (@kiritani_shiori) created The President Who Lost Something on Teasa.

Content notes: grief