Vol 1 Chapter 2 (2/2)

“But—what do you mean ‘that’s enough’? We can’t exactly take it back, you know!” It was impossible to recover information that had already been leaked. Yokozawa felt himself growing even more fl.u.s.tered than the ever-composed Kiris.h.i.+ma.

“Then—why not just play it up as an advance marketing ploy?”

“Advanced marketing?”

“Say you leaked a little info to get people excited. Everything works out nicely then, don’t you think? We’ve gotta get sales up on the magazines and comics too, after all, so I’ll just have the people in my office tell whoever calls up the editing department that the full details will be available there. Thankfully, none of the really big points got out, so for now, I’ll have the author and the anime development people accept it.”

Yokozawa was absolutely dumbfounded at Kiris.h.i.+ma’s suggestion. He’d never imagined that the editing people would be the ones to come up with a plan to fix this mess.

“…Wait, are you…covering for me?”

“What else does it look like? Be grateful—oh, and that’s another one you owe me.”

Truthfully, he’d really wanted to avoid racking up any more debts with Kiris.h.i.+ma, but now was not the time to fall prey to his own pride and obstinance. He had to take care of the mess he’d created first, and he nodded to Kiris.h.i.+ma.

“It was my fault. I really…do feel terrible about this.”

“If you really feel bad, then try being a bit cuter about it.”

“Huh?” Despite his earnest apology, Kiris.h.i.+ma was now suggesting something he didn’t understand at all, with a completely serious face.

“It’s ‘I do apologize.’ Go on—try it out.”

He got gooseb.u.mps at the revolting tone the guy used, and more than Kiris.h.i.+ma’s tone being disgusting, there was no way that Yokozawa could be expected to say it cutely given his voice and looks. Unable to stand it anymore, Yokozawa snapped, “Who the h.e.l.lis saying that?” Kiris.h.i.+ma released a laugh at the shout, and Yokozawa felt his irritation returning at this att.i.tude. “Stop laughing!”

“There you go—that’s more like it! Everyone around you falls apart when the wild bear acts all depressed.”

“…Huh?” Had he been…trying to cheer Yokozawa up? The moment he realized this, his face went red. He was humiliated that the guy had not only noticed, but gone out of his way to make him feel better.

Realizing, though, that he was the one at fault, he couldn’t exactly gripe at the guy to mind his own business. Growing all the more uncomfortable with the situation, he had no choice but to keep his mouth shut.

“Anyways—for now, tell the other guys down in sales that I really b.i.t.c.hed you out. You can pay me back by selling twice as many new and back issues of my series as usual.”

“Twice as many? Who the h.e.l.l do you think I am? Even if you didn’t ask, I’d still sell more than that!” With this harsh retort, the uncomfortable feelings from before blew away.

“That’s the spirit! Ah—right right, come grab a bite to eat with me after work today. And make sure you’re ready to go by 6, no matter what.”

“…Fine.” The fact that he’d gone out of his way to emphasize a time seemed to imply he had some sort of plan in the works. But given Yokozawa’s weakened position, he didn’t have any choice but to go ahead and accept the invitation anyways.

“So? Just where are we off to today?”

“You’ll find out when we get there. Today I’m gonna let you eat the best food in the entire world, so look forward to it~”

“Huh?” was Yokozawa’s indifferent response to Kiris.h.i.+ma’s better than usual mood. If they were going to just have dinner, anywhere was fine, really—and yet Kiris.h.i.+ma continued to lead them away from the station. After work, they’d boarded the train and ridden for a good 20 minutes before disembarking, only to continue walking even further with no goal in sight.

Yokozawa had dug into his work with the intent to clear his reputation and wound up finis.h.i.+ng everything he’d planned for the day by 5:30. Just as he was reflecting in annoyance that this made it seem like he was actually looking forward to his plans with Kiris.h.i.+ma, he received a text from the man himself.

/Looks like I’ll be a little longer, so wait for me at the station. If you manage to get done early, buy three green tea-flavored Bavarian cream puffs./

Despite being quite puzzled by the message, Yokozawa did as asked, but he still didn’t know what he was supposed to do with this thing he held in his hands now. Was Kiris.h.i.+ma going to eat them, perhaps? But—thinking back on their meals together so far, he hadn’t seemed particularly fond of sweet things in the least. There was the possibility that he just thought liking sweet things didn’t suit him, and so he’d hidden it, but it was impossible to be sure.

“We’re eating in this residential area?”

“Just keep your mouth shut and follow me.” Kiris.h.i.+ma ducked inside a rather normal-looking apartment building. He opened the autolock with a pa.s.scode and headed for the elevator. Maybe there was a restaurant operating out of one of the rooms here? He couldn’t even begin to imagine where they were going, but seeing as Kiris.h.i.+ma had instructed him to just shut up and follow along, he couldn’t ask any more.

“Well, here we are!”

“This is…?”

The building seemed to be set up as a family-type housing complex, with each section cordoned off by a small gate that came up to about waist-height. In the entryway of the room they’d stopped in front of, there was a light-blue child’s bike leaning against the wall. The questions started piling even higher in Yokozawa’s mind at the sight of this item that seemed absolutely steeped in personal lifestyle-ness.

Yokozawa s.h.i.+fted his gaze around, trying to see if perhaps the restaurant’s name was written anywhere. He finally noticed a nameplate underneath a carelessly hung up jump rope—Kiris.h.i.+ma.

“This is—your place?”

“Yup. It’s not very tidy—but there’s at least enough s.p.a.ce to have dinner, so don’t worry.”

He never would have imagined that he’d be taken to the guy’s home. Kiris.h.i.+ma opened up the gate into the front entryway with a key he pulled from his pocket and called out towards a room where a light was on, “Hiyo, I’m home!”

“Welcome back! Oh, do we have a guest, Papa?”

“Papa?!” His voice rang out shrilly at the unfamiliar word. He glanced back and forth at the man and little girl before him, comparing them. They didn’t look alike in the least, but the gaze which Kiris.h.i.+ma wore now was gentler than Yokozawa had ever seen him look at anyone else before.

It seemed the bicycle out front was his daughter’s. If one thought about it, this whole situation wasn’t all that strange, but perhaps because he already had an initial impression of Kiris.h.i.+ma, Yokozawa had never fathomed the possibility that Kiris.h.i.+ma was a father.

“What, is there a problem with my being a papa?”

“I—no, that’s…not what I meant…”

Standing before them, prim and proper, was a little girl of about ten, her hair up in a ponytail. Her big brown eyes were fringed with long lashes and looked like they were going to overflow with every blink, and her rosy cheeks were round and full.

Yokozawa had been, suffice it to say, shocked when he found he’d been taken to Kiris.h.i.+ma’s house, but even more surprising was the fact that he had a daughter this old. Seeing Yokozawa’s hesitation, Kiris.h.i.+ma introduced the girl.

“This is my daughter Hiyori; she’s ten years old. And this man here is Yokozawa; we work in the same company. He may look like this—but he’s still in his 20s, so don’t go around calling him ojisan or anything, ‘kay?”

“Got it! Can I call you ‘Yokozawa-oniichan’?”

“Uh…sure…”

Hiyori then proceeded to give a proper greeting to the still befuddled Yokozawa, bowing her head shortly. “It’s a pleasure to meet you. I’m Kiris.h.i.+ma Hiyori! Thank you for always taking care of Papa!”

“Ah—yes, I’ll be taking advantage of your kindness tonight. I’m Yokozawa Takafumi.” Caught up in the moment, Yokozawa gave his own proper introductions.

Seeing how impressed Yokozawa was with how well she handled herself for her age, Kiris.h.i.+ma jumped in with, “Hiyori—he doesn’t take care of me. I’m the one who has to take care of him.”

“Papa! Don’t say such childish things!”

“Geez, it’s just a joke! Oh—right, Yokozawa? Don’t you have a present for Hiyori?”

“Huh? Ah—oh, this?” Apparently the green tea-flavored Bavarian cream puffs he’d been made to buy earlier were for Hiyori. When he held the bag out for her at Kiris.h.i.+ma’s prompting, her expression instantly brightened.

“Uwaah!! Green tea-flavored Bavarian cream puffs! I love these! Thank you, Yokozawa-oniichan!!”

“Oh—I’m glad you like them.”

“I’ll put them in the fridge for now, then we can each have one for dessert!”

She cradled the paper bag to her chest as if it were a precious item. Seeing the way Yokozawa watched her with a smile on his face, Kiris.h.i.+ma sought his agreement on the situation with an unusually gentle voice. “My Hiyori’s pretty cute, huh?”

“Geez, Papa! Stop sounding like a stupidly doting dad! I’m going to finish up dinner preparations—so have a beer or something while you wait!”

“Yes ma’am~”

Hiyori flushed at Kiris.h.i.+ma’s words and fled into the kitchen. Even Yokozawa couldn’t help grinning at the sight.

“I’ll admit—she’s so cute I never would’ve pegged her as your kid.”

At his words, laced with thinly veiled sarcasm, Kiris.h.i.+ma s.h.i.+fted his features into a pleased expression one wouldn’t have imagined him capable of given his usually cool demeanor. “She takes after her mother. I’m never letting her get married.”

Even Kiris.h.i.+ma became a typical doting parent once safely behind the walls of his own home, apparently.

Yokozawa found himself grasping for a response, faced for the first time with Kiris.h.i.+ma’s fatherly side. ”So…what about your wife? Is she out shopping or something?” He had only just now considered the fact that there was a wife involved. Wearing a wedding ring, and with a daughter to boot—that meant there had to be a mother around somewhere.

At this, he realized—Kiris.h.i.+ma being a married man…meant that he’d been cheating with Yokozawa the other night, hadn’t he? Despite the fact that Yokozawa hadn’t really had any choice in the matter, he most definitely did not want to face the guy’s wife right now.

Then, just as his chest started to throb with the pain of guilt, Kiris.h.i.+ma responded, surprise evident in his voice, “…Wait, you didn’t know? I don’t have a wife.”

“Huh?”

“And—just so you know, we didn’t get divorced. She died of illness, before Hiyori was old enough to even remember her.”

“…I’m sorry. That was really insensitive of me to ask.”

Kiris.h.i.+ma probably spoke so casually of the matter because he didn’t want to make Yokozawa feel uncomfortable. He’d probably been asked that same question a dozen times over before, after all.

“It’s not a big deal. It all happened around when you’d just entered the company anyways; it’s not strange that you didn’t know.”

And suddenly…things made a lot more sense. The reason he always left work early—except for just before the end of a cycle—despite being the editor-in-chief, and always came in to the office early…must have been because he was coordinating his work schedule with raising his daughter.

“Geez, use your head; do you really think I’d have cheated on my wife with you?”

“Well I couldn’t tell—you’ve still got your ring on after all!” It was humiliating the way the guy saw right through him like that—but it was Kiris.h.i.+ma’s fault for not explaining properly and making Yokozawa read too much into the situation in the first place.

At this implication-laden complaint, Kiris.h.i.+ma came back with an unexpected response. “…What, are you jealous? If you want me to take it off—all you have to do is ask. I just wear it to keep authors from asking stupid questions.”

“I never suggested that!” Yokozawa wished the guy would stop a.s.suming he was jealous. He felt like an idiot for feeling sorry for Kiris.h.i.+ma in the first place now.

“Come on, you don’t have to blush.”

“I’m not blus.h.i.+ng.” As he found himself getting worked up dealing with Kiris.h.i.+ma teasing him, Hiyori stuck her head out into the genkan, having now finished preparing dinner and grown tired of waiting for them.

“Papa! Yokozawa-oniichan! Dinner’s ready! How long are you two going to hang around in the genkan?”

“We’re coming—just wait a minute. Come on, don’t keep Hiyo waiting.”

“You’re the one who started a conversation here!” he snapped at Kiris.h.i.+ma’s comment dripping with feigned innocence. Following behind Kiris.h.i.+ma, who laughed him off easily, they proceeded into the living-dining area.

All around the room, the walls were decorated here and there with Hiyori’s drawings and paintings. Combined with the soft pastel walls, it was an atmosphere worlds away from what Yokozawa had imagined of Kiris.h.i.+ma.

“What does she do when she’s here alone?”

“My parents live nearby, so if I have to work late, she stays with them. My mother comes over from time to time and makes dinner, too.”

“Why not live with them?”

“If I did that, I’d wind up just sponging off of them for sure. Living this far away is just right, as I see it. Ah—you can sit over there.”

When they reached the table, they found a pot full of delicious-smelling curry. Provoked by the scent, Yokozawa recalled that he was absolutely famished. He hadn’t had anything since that afternoon, when he’d wolfed down a riceball he’d bought at a conbini while making his rounds.

“Yokozawa-oniichan, do you want a beer? Or oolong tea?”

“Have a beer. You’ve got the day off tomorrow, after all. If you drink too much, you can just spend the night.”

“I’ll pa.s.s, thanks. Could I get some oolong tea?”

“Eeh?? You should spend the night~!”

Yokozawa’s chest hurt at the pitiful face Hiyori directed at him, but he was rather reluctant to stay the night at Kiris.h.i.+ma’s place. To keep things from worsening, he quickly used his pet cat as an excuse. “I’ve got a cat waiting for me at home. Maybe next time?”

Hiyori’s eyes brightened, and she latched onto the word cat. “You’ve got a kitty?! What’s its name??”

“Sorata. He wasn’t really my cat at first, but well, some things happened. He’s over ten years old now, though, so he’s an old cat. You like cats?”

“Yup!! I love them! You’re so lucky… I want a pet cat, but Papa always says I’d never be able to take care of it…”

“Hey, I never said you couldn’t have one. I said I didn’t mind so long as you think you could take care of it properly on your own. I’ve got a hard enough time taking care of myself, after all.”

Taking pity on Hiyori’s unhappy expression, Yokozawa couldn’t help issuing an invitation: “Then—would you like to come over and see him sometime?”

“Can I??” An excited expression blossomed on Hiyori’s face. It was a smile that felt like the sun in Spring, just as her name suggested, and Yokozawa felt his heart warm just from looking at it.

Getting closer to Hiyori…meant his relations.h.i.+p with Kiris.h.i.+ma would deepen as well. He knew it wasn’t wise to get any more deeply involved with the guy, but he found himself willing to do most anything when faced with someone as cute as this.

“I don’t mind, but…I’m not sure if your papa will agree or not.”

“Papa?? Can I go see the kitty at Yokozawa-oniichan’s house??”

“Hmm, I dunno… I suppose that’ll depend on your grades from third semester.” Kiris.h.i.+ma issued his conditions to Hiyori, who’d begged him in the sweetest voice she could muster.

“Geh…ah, okay…I’ll do my best…”

“It’s simple enough, isn’t it? All you have to do is raise your math grades.”

“Maybe you find it simple, Papa, but it’s hard for me!” Apparently Hiyori wasn’t all that good at math, and she made a face of disgust, as if being forced to eat something she disliked.

Taking pity on her, Yokozawa offered, “Then, would you like me to teach you?”

“Really?! Could you help me with my homework later?? There’s one I can’t understand no matter how hard I try!”

“Okay then—it’ll be my thanks for dinner.”

Watching Yokozawa and Hiyori making their arrangements, Kiris.h.i.+ma couldn’t help popping in with, “Can you even teach?”

“Of course I can; I was a home tutor part-time during college.” Of course, all of his students had feared his grueling, demonic way of teaching, but given that their grades went up nevertheless, he’d been well recommended by all of their parents. And he’d only been particularly hard on the ones who weren’t putting forth any effort anyways; there was no sense in buckling down on someone already doing their best.

“Okay! It’s a date then, Oniichan!”

“Right right.” He executed a pinky-promise with her little, twig-like finger, honestly fearful that if he put even the slightest force into it he’d break it.

“Oops! I forgot to put out the salad! Wait just a minute!”

“All right—don’t drop the plate running, though!” While she was in the kitchen, Kiris.h.i.+ma commented amusedly, “Geez, you wouldn’t expect it, but you’re really good with kids. Don’t tell me—animals like you too, huh?”

“That’s cause animals and kids both see people for who they are on the inside.” He hadn’t ever been around any other animals, so he couldn’t be sure, but he at least had never met a dog or cat that didn’t like him. The ones who were always too afraid to even approach him were always adult humans.

“You do realize that by saying that you’re admitting that you’re scary at first glance, right?”

“Shut up.” He knew perfectly well that he had an intimidating mien and equally intimidating voice—but it wasn’t as if there were anything he could do about it. If he smiled too much, it would probably just make others uncomfortable, and using an ingratiating tone was just unthinkable.

“Well—it’s nice that you and Hiyo seem like you’ll get along. Made it worth it bringing you here. Feel free to get closer with her.”

“You sure you want that? What if I come up to you later and tell you Hiyo and I are getting married?”

“Hmm, yeah…you’re gay, after all. It’d wind up being an unrequited love for Hiyo then, huh… Ah well, such is life.”

“I told you: I’m not gay—”

“Geez, I’m starving! Hiyo~ we’re gonna start on the curry, okay?”

“Okay! There’s lots left over, so eat as much as you want!”

“Here, you too. Itadakimasu!”

Having his rant cut off by Kiris.h.i.+ma left him feeling a bit of indigestion, but he was too hungry for that to be a problem, so he quietly picked up his spoon without comment. “…Itadakimasu.”

He dug into the roux and rice together, lifting a bite to his mouth. The roux contained chicken, carrots, potatoes, and a bit of quail egg. Perhaps it had been made to suit Hiyori’s taste, for it was a sweet flavor that was steeped in a cozy gentleness.

He could cook for himself perfectly well, but since joining Marukawa, he’d found less and less time to cook at home. Snacks were easy enough to make, but he tended to eat his meals almost wholly outside. Even though he knew it was bad for his body, it was more troublesome than anything to worry about it, so he couldn’t bring himself to spend the time in the kitchen.

Back during college, although he hadn’t had much money, there’d been a certain someone at his side whom he had to make sure ate properly. So every day he’d made meals which were perfectly balanced nutrient-wise. Thanks to that, he’d grown quite skilled in the kitchen, but nowadays he was rather rusty.

“Papa, Yokozawa-oniichan, how’s my curry?” Hiyori sounded a bit worried, toddling in from the kitchen carrying the salad.

“Delicious. Yokozawa—Hiyo’s special curry’s pretty tasty, huh?”

Yokozawa couldn’t help the small chuckle that escaped him at Kiris.h.i.+ma’s expression. Their coworkers and authors they worked for would probably never imagine that j.a.pun‘s editor-in-chief could look like this. Keeping his shoulders from shaking, he nodded. “Definitely the best in the entire world.”

At Yokozawa’s words, Kiris.h.i.+ma smiled broadly. “See? Just like I told you.”

“Thank goodness! Oniichan, eat as much as you like, okay??” Hiyori was even happier than Kiris.h.i.+ma, and her smile lit up her whole face.