Vol 1 Chapter 3 (1/2)
CHAPTER 3
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“Yokozawa-san, are you not going home yet?”
“Hm? Ah, yeah… There are still a few things I want to take care of.”
“I see. Well, then I’m off.”
“Good work today.”
Waving Henmi off as he took his leave for the day, Yokozawa leaned back in his chair and exhaled softly. There was hardly anyone left in the sales department, and most of those that were still around were making plans to leave. Given that, as a rule, overtime wasn’t approved, more than half of the lights on the sales floor had already been turned off.
It had been a while since Yokozawa had stayed this late at work. Kiris.h.i.+ma usually had him finis.h.i.+ng up and being ready to leave early, but today he had yet to receive any such instructions.
“…Oh, right. It’s the end of the cycle, isn’t it?”
The reason Kiris.h.i.+ma hadn’t yet arrived to meet him must have been because the magazine hadn’t yet been sent off to the printers. If he was busy, it would probably be better to go to his place on a different day.
Since that first night he’d been taken to Kiris.h.i.+ma’s house, he’d started dropping by quite regularly. Some nights Hiyori made them dinner, and others they enjoyed leftovers cooked by Kiris.h.i.+ma’s mother. And given how frequently he’d been coming over, he’d grown quite close with Hiyori now.
He’d already bought a treat for her today, having picked it up while out on his sales calls: a basket of colorful macarons he’d bought at an underground department store’s bakery floor. There was no way a little girl wouldn’t love getting a cute treat like this.
Readying himself to head home, he made his way to Kiris.h.i.+ma’s floor, planning to just leave Hiyori’s present with him and then leave for the day. He boarded the elevator and pressed the b.u.t.ton to head two floors up.
Given the late hour and that many of them had different release dates or had already finished their submissions, a good half of the editing division had already left for the day. Stepping into the j.a.pun editing area towards the back of the floor, he found Kiris.h.i.+ma hunched over the editor-in-chief’s desk, perusing a proof and looking exhausted.
“Geez, aren’t you finished yet?”
At Yokozawa’s voice, Kiris.h.i.+ma rubbed at the corners of his eyes and responded, “You think I want to still be here? One of the authors broke her deadline really seriously and the proof still isn’t done.”
“What the h.e.l.l’s with that? Why didn’t you just drop her and fill the s.p.a.ce with some submat?” Whenever an author wasn’t able to meet their deadline, the ripple effect tended to hit hard down the production line. They ran the risk of being late with deliveries to editors, the printers, and—if they were particularly unlucky—distributers too, so it would eventually become a problem for the sales department as well.
“Don’t talk like that. It wasn’t like she wanted to be late. I wouldn’t cut her any slack if she’d just p.i.s.sed around and broke her deadline.”
“Then what’s wrong? Was she sick?”
“It’s her dog. Apparently he came down with something suddenly, and between taking him to the vet and all, she had to push back working on her ma.n.u.script.”
“That’s just—”
“I know, I know. You wanna say something like you’re too soft on your authors, right? But when I thought about what I’d have done if it had been Hiyori that got sick…I couldn’t do it. It was my decision to wait, so I let all the editors who’d already finished their work go home. I couldn’t make them hang around just for me.”
“………”
Yokozawa had always heard that Kiris.h.i.+ma was very businesslike at work, and that he was a stickler for punctuality. The reason so many authors liked him must be because of times like this, when he showed intense compa.s.sion. Every author, no matter how stubborn, would listen to Kiris.h.i.+ma, if no others—not because they trusted his skills as an editor, but because they believed in him as a person, undoubtedly.
Kiris.h.i.+ma set the proof he’d been reading down on his desk and dug around in his pocket, eventually pulling out his house key and handing it to Yokozawa. “So, that’s how it is—would you mind heading home without me, then?”
“Ah, I’ll pa.s.s today. You can take Hiyo her treat when you leave.”
“Do you have other plans or something?”
“Plans…? Well, no, but I can’t exactly go over to your place when you’re not there, can I?” Granted, he was already well-acquainted with Kiris.h.i.+ma’s mother, but he felt uncomfortable just going over unannounced. And more than that, there really was no reason he should be going over almost every day in the first place.
“If you don’t have anything else to do, it’d actually really help if you could go. My parents are off on a trip with the neighborhood a.s.sociation right now, so Hiyo’s home alone tonight.”
“What the—then why didn’t you say so sooner?! What the h.e.l.l are you thinking leaving a little girl home alone?!” Leaving aside the fact that Hiyori was rather level-headed for her age, it didn’t change the fact that she was still just ten years old. There was little worry of any strangers getting into the apartment, given the building’s security, but it was still worrisome to leave her all alone.
An outsider might have thought this an overreaction on Yokozawa’s part, but he understood well that children felt lonelier than adults imagined when left by themselves to watch the house. Yokozawa’s own parents were in fine health, but they both worked, and Yokozawa had been a latchkey child when he was younger; for this reason, he understood how lonely it could get for a child left by themselves until late at night.
“It’s not like I could help it—I thought I’d be done already. I already told her I’d be late, and I’m sure she’d be fine even if I left her on her own tonight, but—”
“Yeah yeah just hand over the key already!” s.n.a.t.c.hing the key from Kiris.h.i.+ma, he quickly made his exit.
“I’m counting on you, thanks!”
“Phone Hiyo and let her know I’m coming!” Tossing back this final groused command, he hurried on to Kiris.h.i.+ma’s house.
“Welcome, Oniichan!”
Hiyori met Yokozawa in the genkan wearing an ap.r.o.n with a rabbit character printed on it and her hair in twin braids. Seeing that he was out of breath from running all the way from the station, she made a funny face.
“Oniichan—did you run all the way here? Ah! Did you need to use the bathroom maybe?”
“…I hurried because I heard you were here all alone.” Seeing her confused expression, now Yokozawa felt a bit embarra.s.sed. Maybe he’d been a bit over-worried.
“Papa said you were headed home first—so you came because you were worried about me? I’m fine on my own you know! I can watch the house and lock up all by myself~ But I’m still really happy you came!”
Yokozawa’s expression softened at her carefree smile. “So nothing happened while you were here alone?”
“Nope, nothing at all! I was over at Yuki-chan’s place until evening, after all.”
“Is Yuki-chan a friend from school?”
“My best friend in my cla.s.s! She lives one floor above here. I had some pudding her mama made for a snack earlier. And then—” Apparently she couldn’t help wanting to babble on about her whole day. Everything that she held back telling Kiris.h.i.+ma because he was her father, she spoke to Yokozawa about with abandon. She probably saw him as a friend now.
Listening to her carry on with no signs of stopping, they headed into the house properly, and Yokozawa slipped on the slippers that by now had pretty much been labeled his own. Without his even realizing it, the number of items in this apartment that were ‘for Yokozawa’ had started to grow. Hiyori had prepared Yokozawa his own chopsticks and rice bowl, and he even had a designated seat at the dinner table now.
“Oh—right right. I brought something for you. Sorry if any of them are broken from running here.” He’d completely forgotten about the bag he held while running here. But even if some of them were broken, these were macarons, so they weren’t inedible by any means.
“What kind of candy is this?”
“They’re called macarons. Apparently they make them a lot in France. I bought them because they had a lot of pretty colors.”
“They’re really cute! It’s almost a waste to eat them!” Hiyori pulled out a clear jar wrapped with a ribbon. Thankfully, despite the way he’d handled it, it didn’t appear that any of the contents were broken.
“If you like them, I can always bring more again. So feel free to dig in.”
“Then we can have some together later! Thanks so much, Oniichan!”
“You’re very welcome.”
Maybe the reason she was able to say she was fine and behave this excitedly was because she hadn’t even realized she was lonely. Children tended to put up a brave front so as not to worry their parents. Hiding their feelings like that, they eventually convince themselves that they really feel that way.
“You sure are cute, Hiyo.” He couldn’t help the comment that slipped from his mouth when he felt his heart a.s.saulted by Hiyori’s lovable expression.
She flushed brightly at his compliment. “Eeh? What’re you saying, Oniichan? Ah!! Papa’s way of speaking has rubbed off on you!” Her suspicion perhaps sprang from the fact that the compliment was even more embarra.s.sing than if Kiris.h.i.+ma had said it.
“I said you were cute because I think you’re cute, that’s all.”
“You don’t have to say those kinds of things, geez!” She was all the more cute with her cheeks puffed out in anger, and Yokozawa let out a loud bark of laughter. It had been ages since he’d been able to laugh like this.
“I can’t believe you’d laugh at me!”
“Sorry, sorry. I’m really sorry… Ah, you’re wearing an ap.r.o.n—does that mean you’re cooking something?” While it was a fairly obvious change in topic, Hiyori just gasped in surprise.
“Oh, right! I’m making dinner! I’m still peeling the vegetables, but you’re going to eat, right?”
“What are you making?” Despite her ten years, Hiyori was quite the cook. Apparently she helped with dinner preparations whenever her grandmother cooked for them, too.
“Today I’m doing a recipe we learned in home ec—nikujaga! I did pretty well in cla.s.s, so I thought I’d be able to cook it fine on my own. I even bought meat from the grocery store myself!”
“Sounds delicious. Would you like me to help?” She could probably make it fine on her own, but dinner would be ready sooner if they worked together.
“Really? Can you cook, Oniichan?”
“What’re you saying? I’ve been living on my own for a long time, I’ll have you know. I can make the basics at least. How about I make some stewed pork and bring it over next time?”
“Awesome! I want to try some! You’re so lucky… Papa can’t cook at all! He can’t even peel an apple properly!”
It was probably the first time he’d heard her complain about her father, and Yokozawa recalled now that he’d never seen Kiris.h.i.+ma in the kitchen once except for traveling to and from the refrigerator for a beer.
“That’s pretty bad, I’ll admit. But you made curry for us the other night—who taught you?”
“Grandma! I help her out all the time. Ooh! Can you make pudding, Oniichan?” She really must have liked that pudding her friend’s mother made for her today.
“Pudding’s simple. It’s just a bunch of mixing and steaming.”
“Wow! Teach me next time??”
While he’d never made pudding from scratch before, he had made egg custard and figured the basic technique had to be the same. Making a mental note to look up a recipe later, he recalled the reason they’d started this conversation in the first place. “All in due time. If we don’t focus on this nikujaga of yours first, we’ll never have dinner.” They likely had the ingredients in the fridge right now, but pudding was far from a proper evening meal.
“Oh yeah—I’m getting hungry, too… Ah! Wait a minute, Oniichan!”