Vol 3 Chapter 7 (1/2)

CHAPTER 7

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“Yokozawa-san—everyone’s going out to eat together after this. Would you like to join us?” Henmi called, glancing up from his cell phone as Yokozawa prepared to leave.

“Where are you going?”

“The same shop as always. I’ve got a coupon—but it expires at the end of this month, so. Oh—and if you go in a group of four or more, you get an even bigger discount, so we’re gathering a group together.”

“All right then—I’ll stay for a bite. But just so you know—I’m not treating you.” With the vacation retreat, he’d spent quite a bit more money than he’d planned on this month, and while he would’ve liked to have played the indulgent sempai, he had to hold off until payday.

“Yes yes, I know. Everyone’s wallets are feeling a bit lonely around this time of the month.”

“Is everyone ready to head out?”

“Three have responded so far—ooh, wait, might have caught another…” Henmi’s cell phone flashed brightly, likely indicating a response from another person he’d invited out to eat.

“…Hm?” From Yokozawa’s bag as well, his cellphone buzzed in manner mode to indicate an incoming message. He scrambled to pull it out, checking the display—only to find it was Kiris.h.i.+ma calling. If he recalled correctly, the man had said he’d be out of the office on meetings with an author today, so it was odd of him to go out of his way to call Yokozawa at a time like this. “Yes, Yokozawa speaking,” he answered, tone suspicious, and the voice that came back to him sounded a bit frantic.

“Hey—can you speak right now?”

“I was about to head out to grab a bite for dinner—what’s wrong?”

“Sorry, but could you come meet me?”

“And I asked you what’s wrong?” Kiris.h.i.+ma’s att.i.tude seemed a bit different from usual, sending a chill through his chest. Maybe he was wrapped up in more trouble like before—his mind was filled with nothing but thoughts of worst-case-scenarios.

“I’ll tell you when you get here. I’ll text you where to meet, so just get your a.s.s over here ASAP.”

And leaving Yokozawa no room to protest, he cut the line, the only sound still echoing from the cell phone receiver the robotic drone of a phone line being cut.

“What’s wrong?”

“I…don’t really know.” Yokozawa had merely been called out with absolutely no further details given. And yet—he couldn’t imagine that Kiris.h.i.+ma would call like that for no reason whatsoever.

“Who was it from?”

Not bothering to respond to Henmi’s question, Yokozawa stood, bag and coat in hand. “Sorry—I’ll have to join you for dinner some other time.”

“Wha—Yokozawa-san?!”

There was no point in sitting around here wracking his mind over the matter, so tamping down any feelings tending toward worry and anxiety, he dashed off to the address included in the text message he’d just received.

“That…was as tasty as all the reviews touted this place to be.”

“True—it was definitely delicious…but are you sure you don’t want me to pay for anything?”

“I keep telling you—it’s my apology for worrying you. Just sit down, shut up, and let me treat you.” Kiris.h.i.+ma’s ‘emergency’ had turned out to be little more than a way to get Yokozawa to join him for dinner. Truthfully, this was supposed to be a reception for an author—but the author’s condition had been a bit dubious, so they’d parted ways after having a simple discussion meeting. Then it had simply been decided that if they were going to have to pay to cancel everything anyways, they may as well just enjoy the meal. In that way it had been decided that the pair would have dinner together.

So while there had indeed been some form of trouble, the whole thing had been somewhat anticlimactic to Yokozawa, who’d rushed overcertain that something horrible had happened. But it seemed the entire point of not explaining why he needed Yokozawa to come had been purely to convince Yokozawa to come—so the plan had apparently worked.

Still, if things hadn’t worked out the way they had, they’d likely never have found themselves sitting here enjoying dinner in a three-star restaurant of a high-cla.s.s hotel like this. Yokozawa had been a bit starstruck initially, but he’d found himself able to settle down and enjoy the meal, nonetheless.

Their reservations had them sitting at a table near the windows, looking out over the nighttime scenery. They were surrounded on all sides by couples sharing meals together, which left Yokozawa feeling more than a little awkward, so he settled for pretending he was simply there on business.

He’d told himself that the only reason he’d been called out like this was likely because Kiris.h.i.+ma had hoped to lessen the financial impact of having to foot the bill for such a high-priced dinner, but Kiris.h.i.+ma had settled the bill entirely on his own. When Kiris.h.i.+ma refused to even tell him the total, Yokozawa had tried to get him to take what he figured was about what his half of the meal had cost, but he’d been turned down.

“Hey—where are we going? This isn’t the lobby floor yet,” he protested when the elevator drew to a stop, figuring Kiris.h.i.+ma must have accidentally pressed the wrong b.u.t.ton. He tried to call Kiris.h.i.+ma back into the car as he stepped out onto one of the floors for the hotel’s guest rooms, but Kiris.h.i.+ma simply turned to regard him, making no efforts to get back in the elevator.

“This floor’ll do fine.”

“…What’re you talking about?”

“Can’t you at least just do what I ask when we’re out on a date?”

“Huh? What the h.e.l.l are you talking about—a date?” He grew confused at the strange choice of words, before scrambling to catch up to Kiris.h.i.+ma, who resolutely plodded ahead.

“A date’s a date, you know. Now—after you, my good sir.” Kiris.h.i.+ma swiped a card key to open the door of a room marked 2411, pressing the door open to invite Yokozawa inside.

“…And just why do you have a hotel room key?”

“Stop asking questions and just get inside.” At Yokozawa’s suspicious expression, Kiris.h.i.+ma pressed his back to force him into the dark room, and the lights flickered on immediately at this, illuminating everything in a soft glow. Given the expansive roominess, this was likely a rather high-grade room, and that his thoughts immediately drifted toward I wonder how much this place runs a night… was testament to the fact that he was indeed a commoner.

“What—did you reserve this room for the author as well? You sure you shouldn’t have just canceled the reservation for the room at least, if not the meal?”

At Yokozawa’s comment, Kiris.h.i.+ma released a beleaguered sigh. “Would you get a f.u.c.king clue already? Why would they put up one author staying a single night in a two-bed room?”

“Wait—you mean you actually reserved this room yourself?”

“Well, I figured it was a wasted opportunity to eat dinner in such a nice hotel and then go straight home, right? Plus, it’s kinda nice—all romantic like this.”

“…You’re such an idiot,” he muttered in shock at Kiris.h.i.+ma, who winked at him knowingly.

“Says the guy who’d never book a hotel room with me if I didn’t pull stunts like this.”

“So then—was all that tripe about not wanting to cancel dinner just another excuse?”

“Nah—that was real. But what an opportunity, right? I figured it was worth it and booked a room while I was waiting for you. Ooh—check it out. Pretty rare for them to be shooting off fireworks at this hour…”

Yokozawa glanced out the window, following Kiris.h.i.+ma’s own gaze, and in the distance he could see fireworks being launched into the air. The sight of fireworks blooming against the night scenery amidst the hills and valleys of the skyline was refres.h.i.+ng.

“What festival are those for? A little late for fireworks, isn’t it?”

“Given the area—probably k.u.ma Park, don’t you think? They always shoot them off before closing the park every day.” At this explanation, Yokozawa recalled how they’d visited the park—just the three of them—at the beginning of the month. They’d left before it was time for the fireworks display, but they’d promised Hiyori they’d come back to watch them together some other time.

“…Wait—stop trying to change the subject. We could’ve easily made it home in a half hour, so why the h.e.l.l are we stuck spending the night at a hotel like this?”

“C’mon, it’s fine—I just wanted to be able to relax and talk with you.”

“You can do that just fine at home.”

“Hiyo’s at home, though.”

“Then we could do it at my place.”

“Yeah—but you’re a h.e.l.l of a lot more open and honest when you’re dropped in an unfamiliar situation. You’ve been ha.s.sling me all this time—but you’re hiding something from me as well, aren’t you?”

“Me? Hiding something? What the h.e.l.l are you on about?”

“You’ve just…lately you’ve been looking like you really want to tell me something.”

“That’s…” And here, he realized on his own what this something was that he was supposedly hiding. Except he wasn’t actually hidinganything, per se—it was only…he couldn’t find the right moment to address it.

“…What, it’s something you can’t discuss with me?”

“It’s not that I can’t—I just…never could bring it up, that’s all.” h.e.l.l, he never would’ve imagined that the very person he wanted to press on the issue would in turn press him for an explanation. But—maybe this was a good chance; without it coming to this, he would’ve admittedly found it difficult to broach the subject on his own. “The whole…marriage interview thing. It was bugging me, that’s all.”

“Huh?”

“I heard from one of the girls at work—that a superior of yours brought up the subject of a marriage interview with you. And how since it was the daughter of a prominent business a.s.sociate, you couldn’t turn it down…” And while it may have seemed like and incredibly big deal to Yokozawa at the time, putting it into words like this was…just embarra.s.sing. It was pathetic how he’d gotten so worked up over a simple marriage interview request.

At his admission, Kiris.h.i.+ma gaped at him in confused shock for a long moment—before at last releasing a loud explosion of laughter. “What the h.e.l.l—that’s what you’ve had your panties in a twist about? Ah, I get it now—that explains why you’ve had this weird expression on your face all this time…”

“Don’t—f.u.c.king laugh at me!” he snapped at Kiris.h.i.+ma who continued to laugh at Yokozawa’s expense.

“You’re such an idiot—I turned that interview down ages ago. I didn’t even look at any pictures of the woman.”