c1 (2/2)
”We didn't get to see him, so I'll pay for you”
”Arigatou”
Endou gave hi the bill, theseat guy who got on his nerves passed him buy He looked like a steady customer, since he friendly told the cashi+er, ”Put it on my tab”
Before he left, Kouichi looked around the room onceEven from far away, he could see the scheduler on top of the table
”It's him”
His heart jumped He stared at the lasses Kouichi's eyes opened wider It's him Theabout ”Takahashi+”
”No way”
He iving hie looks, so he rushed out of the store
”Do you want to hang out?”
Endou, aiting for hi heart couldn't be cal to him, but he was preoccupied He turned back to look after walking a little He was able to see neither the er
”U about before Is he really a teacher at Touzai High?”
”Definitely”
”What's his full name?”
”Takahashi+ Hiro Hirokazu, or so like that Why?”
Endou cocked her head He was the one anted to ask, ”Why?” He had no idea what the heck was going on Kouichi received a letter from an office worker named ”Itou Hirokazu” But the man over there was his school's teacher, ”Takahashi+” Was it a mere coincidence that he had left a scheduler on top of his table? Or His head was getting muddled up
”Hey, do you want to check out that store over there?”
Endou held his hand He should have been happy at this situation, but because of the unanswered questions, he couldn't be excited at all As if she was dragging hi, Kouichi walked by Endou's side
After watching a ether at the park, the sun started to set They backtracked the road they had taken and headed back to the station
When they reached the coffee shop in question, Kouichi lifted his lowered head without thinking
In the lasses It was the man He nervously ducked his head
He bought a train ticket at the station It was only a piece of paper, but it was strangely heavy
”I' to quickly run and get it, so go on ahead”
Endou lowered her head slightly
”Really? Then I'o See you tomorrow”
After seeing her off to the platforain Theby theHe looked at his watch He had made him wait nearly four hours
He felt really uncohts couldn't reach the , either
Just how long is he going to wait?
Kouichi was upset over even the thirty minutes that Endou had made him wait Even if he went into the store andhe could say was, ”I have no intention of going out with you” If he said that afterto be majorly pissed off
”I shouldn't have came”
He softly muttered to hi uilty
”I'ive up and leave soon”
He said as if reassuring himself and turned around After he took three steps, he turned back The i wouldn't leave histo s slowly took him to the coffee shop He stopped in front of the store He decided that no ize to hi came up, and he had to tell hi out with hied on the door
At the same time, someone pushed the door open froer, so the person at the other side got dragged to the outside, holding on to the door handle The man looked startled at the door that was suddenly pulled open When his eyes ized
”I'm sorry”
He couldn't speak It was the man
He was the man that he forced to wait like there is no tomorrow He looked confused when Kouichi stood like a statue, unable to move
”I'd like to go outside Pardon me, but”
”Oh! My bad”
He quickly stood aside The man passed Kouichi and slowly descended the stairs He suddenly stopped in the aze that had been staring at his back crashed together
”Please forgive me if I am mistaken, but could you possibly be Satomi-san?”
His voice was low and gentle
”Yes”
He couldn't lie Theonly corners of his lips
”Nice to ht you were unable to lad that we did not pass each other by”
”Ah, u late”
”If it is all right with you, shall we go somewhere else?”
There was no way that Kouichi was able to say that he wanted to leave
The place that the ht across the street They sat together at the corner seat On top of the hard wooden seat, Kouichi was very nervous
Thethe menu towards Kouichi,
”Would you like to eat anything?”
”I, I'ry”
He didn't feel like eating, and he didn't want to stay for a long time, either
”Would coffee be all right with you?”
”Yes”
Kouichi lowered his head, doing his best not to meet his eyes with the man He felt so unco
To tell the truth, he wanted to run away and go ho He looked like he had no intention of speaking, either He felt like they were not going to go anywhere if he didn't speak up, so he determinely opened his lips
”Um Uh”
”But”
They spoke at the same time They stared at each other, their mouths half-opened
”Go ahead, Satomi-san”
”No, uh, you first, Itou-san”
They tried to let each other speak first, and they ended up being silent again Kouichi wanted to cry Just why did he have to sit down and stare a gay guy in the face like this, drinking tea with hiely sorry for him and wished that he just went home
The waitress brought two cups of coffee As if he had been waiting for it, Kouichi took a sip Of course the glass of water that he had initially received was e thirsty
”Ah, um, I”
At Kouichi's voice, thethe coffee jumped up The knock-back caused the spoon to fall on top of the saucer
Crash!+
The noise rang loudly, so the man suddenly blushed
”I'm sorry Please continue”
The ers were clutching so tightly so that the tips beca a little For the first time he realized that the man was also nervous
”I' late”
At Kouichi's words the man lifted his face His slender oval face looked a little anal, but it didn't have any special features He looked like he would be a quiet, weakly man If he had a class with him, he wouldn't have hated hiotten close to
”I ca time And I just decided upon the date and hour without considering your schedule, so I'm sorry Aren't you busy?”
Theforced to wait, but he quickly lied so that he wouldn't be troubled His kindness pressed heavil upon Kouichi, so he becaain
”You said you were in your fourth year of university, right, Satomi-san?”
The man continued to talk to him
”At first I hesitated in speaking to you, because you seeh school student”
”Eh, aah I hear that often”
As if not noticing how he trailed off his words like he was avoiding the topic, the man continued
”What is your major at the university?”
He felt cold sweat running down his back Major? Whatcame up in his mind
”Um japanese literature I like Natsume Soseki, so”
Kakimoto was the one who said he enjoyed Soseki Kouichi only knew the first part of the 「I Am a Cat」that he learned in class
”I also like Soseki”
He'll dig hi about liteature He shouldn't give the man an opportunity to talk
Forcibly cutting off the , he threw him a question
”What kind of work do you do, Itou-san?”
The aze
”I am in the Sales Department”
He lied in a small voice
”That's impressive”
”Not at all The place where I work at gives more slack coraduation thesis difficult?”
”Not really”
It was like a fox and raccoon tricking each other Why did he have to keep up with these painful lies and talk about things that were so transparent? He started to beco themselves, they bore with endless conversation saturated with lies
But it beca to talk TheKouichi's reaction to everything, and his weak personality got on his nerves even more
”This is stupid”
When Kouichi softlyas if he had been paused
The
”It's boring talking to ht?”
He asked as if tossing the question He was being rude The man's ansas so small that he couldn't quite catch it
”What did you say?”
He finally heard the voice that barely reached his ears
”That's not true”
They both becalance at his watch told him that it was just a little after 8 PM
”May I leave now?”
”Ah, go ahead I' you up until such late hours”
Before Kouichi stood up, the rabbed the check
”I'll pay for what I drank, so”
The man shook his head to Kouichi's words
”I've forced you to come, so I will pay”
At his stubborn voice he thought it would be annoying to argue with him, so he let the man pay
”Thank you for the drink”
”I'm the one who troubled you”
The ized to Kouichi He bowed his head so ize to him
”Then Bye”
He felt like he had pretty much done his duty, so he felt more relieved and he started for the station
”I want to ain”
He turned back At Kouichi's surprised face the aze
”If it's not too much trouble for you”
He must have known from his attitude that he had no chance But he still says he wanted to ain Was he a dense person after all? Or did he already know, but he was just pretending to be ignorant to his feelings?
Noas the time to say that it was just a joke, that this was a one-tis were concerned, Kouichi had the upperhand
”Ah, but I”
The man's head was lowered, and the ends of his shoulders were shaking His unnaturally tight-fisted hands hite at the tips He realized just now that the et hurt When he realized that, he couldn't continue his words Kouichi reht?” when he confessed to her with all his heart He couldn't tell her that he was being serious, so he just ended it like a joke, but for a while, everytime he saw her his heart would ache painfully
The es of his lips were pushed up to reseely clouded
”I' so troubleso with me today”
”Do you want to meet up one more time?”
He couldn't take back the words that he had blurted out The man looked at Kouichi idened eyes, and then slowly dropped his gaze
”You don't have to care about s”
He knew that Kouichi wanted to say that this was the first and last ti this only because he was feeling sorry for hioodbye”, either
”Let me know your phone number”
That wasat him dazedly hurriedly took out his scheduler and wrote his phone nurabbed it Just like that, they said goodbye to each other and parted
And Kouichi realized on his way back The man didn't ask for Kouichi's phone number Of course he wanted to know He said hiain
If Kouichi had no intention of ain On the train heading back home, Kouchi really, really felt bad towards the s above all others
< to=”” be=”” continued=””>
I was tryingstyle and feelings in the text, so ave that up Iabout, and I was the translator o;; So fro to take liberty with the text and concentrate on getting theof the words across to you After all, it's impossible to convey the exact beauty of the words if you don't read the original yourself japanese is not English and vice versa o;;
It was very fast and very easy and very fun typing this out in standard New York colloquial dialogue (I tried to ers and Itou very forinal Itou uses a fors around, so if there is anything you don't understand, let me know o;;
Also, if you speak japanese and you have the original book/o, ”you practically rewrote the story -_-;;” XD XD XD;;;;;;