Vol 4 Chapter 6 (1/2)

CHAPTER 6

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Reaching behind himself to lock the deadbolt into place, Yokozawa Takafumi slipped off his loafers using his heels. “I’m home,” he called out to the empty apartment as he groped about for the light switch, a sight he’d grown used to of late. While he’d previously found this a rather lonely state of affairs, these days he had a picture frame given to him by Hiyori to keep him company–a collage of pictures she’d snapped during their summer trip along with a few of Sorata as well.

Just one glance at the frame, decorated gaudily with rhinestones and cute stickers, filled Yokozawa with affection, and while it was admittedly a bit embarra.s.sing to have pictures including himselfsitting around his room, it still left the whole s.p.a.ce feeling just a touch brighter.

It was strange, though, how Sorata seemed to adopt such a dignified expression when posing for pictures for Hiyori; he’d always seemed so blasé around Yokozawa. Smiling to himself as he reminisced, he tugged his tie loose from his collar and rifled through his bag with his free hand, intent on taking care of preparations for the next day before settling in for a bath. When he peeked into his bag, though, he froze, dumbfounded.

“I…forgot it.”

He’d meant to retrieve his cell phone to let it charge overnight–only to find it wasn’t where he usually stowed it. He had returned home to his apartment after having dinner at the Kiris.h.i.+mas’ place–so he must have left it there. While he likely would’ve never given its absence a second thought if he hadn’t noticed it missing in the first place, the moment he’d realized he’d left it somewhere, he felt overcome with a strange sense of anxiety.

If he’d noticed sooner, he could’ve gone back to retrieve it while on his way home–but there was simply no time to do so now. Granted, he hardly ever received any calls or texts in the middle of the night on a weeknight, and any emergency contact from his family would come through his landline–he could surely go one night without his cell phone without the world falling apart. So while it would likely come back to bite him one way or another, having Kiris.h.i.+ma bring the phone to him the next morning at the office was obviously the most logical route to take.

Taking his notebook in hand, he flipped through to find Kiris.h.i.+ma’s home phone number and called using his landline, noting to himself that it was probably a good idea in the future to keep the guy’s cell phone number and email address jotted down somewhere for unexpected circ.u.mstances such as this.

“Yes, Kiris.h.i.+ma residence!”

“Ah–Hiyo? It’s me, Yokozawa.” Hiyori had been the first to answer the phone. Almost forgetting to announce himself, so used to calling via cell phone as he was, he frantically rea.s.sured her of who he was.

“Oniichan? What’s wrong? You never call on the house phone!” He couldn’t blame her for being confused; he’d only moments ago told her good night and taken his leave.

“Sorry–I think I left my cell phone at your place. You don’t see it around, do you?”

“Mmm, it’s not on the table… I’ll go look for it! Here’s Dad in the mean time! Hey, Dad–Oniichan’s on the house phone!”

“The house phone?”

“Yeah, he forgot his cell phone, he says. Here you go!”

Kiris.h.i.+ma took the phone from his daughter after a bit of back and forth. “So, you forgot your cell phone? Pretty lame slip-up for you.”

“Yeah yeah, stuff it. I thought I had it in my bag.” He paused to go back over the chain of events in his mind. He’d placed the device in his bag–but then he’d heard the sound announcing a new message and taken it out again.

“Well, I don’t see it. Where’d you leave it?”

“I’m pretty sure it should be over by the sofa. It’s not under the cus.h.i.+ons or anything, is it?” He remembered at least checking his messages in the Kiris.h.i.+mas’ living room. When he’d tapped out a response to the message, Kiris.h.i.+ma had griped at him not to do work during off-hours, adding in a grating lecturing tone, “It’s because you go and respond that they send you s.h.i.+t like that at all hours of the night.” And while Yokozawa did agree that he had a point, his mind was filled with thoughts of work 24-7. He understood that it would probably be more efficient to have an on-off switch like Kiris.h.i.+ma, but if it were really so easy to just ‘turn off’ like that, he would’ve done so long ago.

Their exchange back then had forced thoughts of his cell phone from his mind, and he’d likely set it down somewhere and completely forgotten about it.

“It’s not under the cus.h.i.+ons–and not buried in any cracks either. Hiyo–mind ringing up Yokozawa’s cell phone for me?”

“You just want me to dial his number?” A moment after she asked this, Yokozawa caught the sound of his own ringtone echoing over the receiver. As he’d suspected, it was somewhere in the Kiris.h.i.+mas’ apartment.

“Hiyo, can you tell where it’s coming from?”

“It’s coming from the sofa… I can hear it around here. What about you, Dad?”

“Ah–found it! Why the heck was Sorata on top of it…?” He could hear Kiris.h.i.+ma offering an apology tinged with laughter over the phone, likely to placate Sorata who’d just had his nap disturbed.

“Thanks.”

“I’ll bring it down to the sales floor first thing in the morning. You’ll probably be there earlier than me, after all, right?”

“Just call me when you get there and I’ll come up and get it from you myself.” It was bad enough he’d had to ask the guy to bring in something he forgot; to make him bring the thing all the way to Yokozawa in person was just too much.

“Why waste time calling your extension? It’d be faster for me to just go there when I arrive.”

“It’s not like there’s a huge difference in effort either way.”

“Oh? Or what–maybe you don’t want me showing my face on your floor–is that it?”

“That’s not what…” Try as he might to deny it vocally, though…the guy was kind of right. Most everyone in the company now knew that Yokozawa and Kiris.h.i.+ma were close, but they still had the details of their relations.h.i.+p under wraps–and Yokozawa had no intention of making that public knowledge any time soon. Plus, there was also the fact that Yokozawa had a few coworkers who seemed oblivious and carefree at first glance but who could be surprisingly sharp on occasion; he couldn’t deny that he’d rather they not see the two of them interacting. “Just–would you mind at least checking to see if I’ve gotten any new messages?”

“Tut tut, someone’s being careless–asking another person for that kind of thing. You never know if I might just open a random message that catches my interest.”

“Not like I’ve got any texts I give a s.h.i.+t about you seeing.” Most of the settings on his cell phone were still in their default state; he hardly ever used the camera, and had no special ringtones or such set either. All he cared about was being able to make calls and send messages. All of the images in the photo folder were ones he’d been sent by Hiyori, even.

“…Ugh, what a boring-a.s.s wallpaper. Want me to change it to a photo of my gorgeous self?” He could practically hear the leer in Kiris.h.i.+ma’s voice, and understanding fully well that the guy was only suggesting that to rile Yokozawa up, he opted not to get dragged along so easily tonight.

“Do whatever you want. I’ll just change it back later.”

“Y’know, you’ve been far less endearingly charming than usual lately.”

“Fine by me.” Trying to find anything remotely ‘cute’ or ‘endearing’ about Yokozawa in the first place was demented, in his opinion, and Kiris.h.i.+ma was likely the only person in the world benevolent enough to deem him as such. It would really be a weight off of Yokozawa’s shoulders if the guy would up and realize how ‘peculiar’ his tastes ran.

“Aww, don’t be like that. Though I have to admit, your contrary nature is–in and of itself–charming in its own way.”

“I’m not being contrary–I’m telling you exactly what I feel!” He fought the urge to cradle his head in his hands at the unexpected response from Kiris.h.i.+ma. It was times like this he wondered just where he’d gone wrong in life to get to where he was–but then something would always happen that would move him deeply, and he’d be reminded that there were always pros and cons to falling this hard for someone.

“C’mon, don’t get p.i.s.sed. I was only teasing you a bit.”

“You…” Yokozawa’s face twitched at the shameless excuse, begging the question of just how was that ‘a bit’?

Perhaps sensing that he was in danger of very seriously tempting Yokozawa’s ire, Kiris.h.i.+ma forcibly switched topics with, “Oh right–I was supposed to be checking your phone… I don’t see any new messages or calls. Besides–I can’t imagine anyone’d be messaging you at this hour.”

“I do get emergency requests for confirmation sometimes.”

“Do that s.h.i.+t the next day, then. You’ve managed to lose your phone for an evening–take a break from work, why don’t you?”

“Not like I can help it! It’s just–how I am!” His personality type was less ‘sensitive’ and more just flat-out ‘high-strung,’ and as things were, he’d rather be in a position to use his private time to take care of matters as soon as they became an issue than to stand there later saying If only I had done this…; it was just better this way for maintaining sanity all around.

“Well just–try to tone down the ‘workaholic’ side a bit, all right? You’ll work yourself into an early grave pus.h.i.+ng yourself like this all the time.”

Being the b.u.t.t of Kiris.h.i.+ma’s teasing all the time made these odd moments where he expressed genuine concern all the more awkward, and Yokozawa covered his embarra.s.sment with a sharp end to the topic of conversation: “Don’t be dramatic; just–bring me the phone tomorrow?”

“Yeah yeah, okay.”

“Then…Good night.”

“Good night; see you tomorrow.” It was slightly strange–and a little awkward to boot–trading such benign niceties over the phone, and with a twinge of regret, Yokozawa softly replaced the receiver in its cradle.

“Is Yokozawa here?” It was rounding 9 AM when Kiris.h.i.+ma appeared on the sales floor.

“What’s wrong, Kiris.h.i.+ma-san? Is there…something the matter?” Office hours on the sales floor were set, so most members of the staff were already at their desks–but hardly any of those working flex hours had made it into the office yet. Kiris.h.i.+ma was always one of the first to arrive at the office, eager to get a bit of work underway, but today he’d arrived particularly early, leaving Henmi to panic in a.s.sumption that something had happened again.

“Here for a delivery, as so ordered by Yokozawa.”

At Kiris.h.i.+ma’s phrasing, Henmi’s eyes flashed wide. “He orderedyou?!”

“…Kiris.h.i.+ma-san, would you please mind not using such scandalous turns of phrase that might be misconstrued by listeners…? I did notorder you, I kindly asked you.” Yokozawa had to clamp down on the urge to release his rage verbally, instead lacing his words with a polite air. Were he to act on those urges, he’d just wind up seeming all the more childish in comparison to Kiris.h.i.+ma to those around them. He knew he adopted a rather c.o.c.ky, proud att.i.tude when interacting with Kiris.h.i.+ma in private, but a good portion of the reasoning for that could be chalked up to Kiris.h.i.+ma’s incessant provocation.

“Eh, what’s the difference? Here–your cell phone. Try not to forget it again, would you?”

“Th–thanks…” The way Kiris.h.i.+ma casually pa.s.sed over the phone threw Yokozawa off his game; he’d been thoroughly prepared for a good round of teasing, but Kiris.h.i.+ma seemed to withdraw rather easily this time.

“Well, catch you later. I’ll contact you about the fair later on.” And with a wave, he departed.

“Whew, that gave me a shock! I was shaking in my boots here, worried we’d screwed up again!” Henmi released a sigh of relief, apparently having been anxious that he’d committed some monumental screw-up without realizing it.

“You tryin’ to tell me you screw up that often?”

“Of course not! But I can’t say for 100% that I haven’t messed up somewhere unknowingly… Like before, you know?” At this, Yokozawa recalled how the entire sales staff had wound up having to clean up after a former staff member–now transferred to an affiliate company–had utterly bungled a project. While part of the fault had lain with them for not catching on to his mismanagement sooner, they’d all been utterly overwhelmed at the time. By this point, though, they’d managed to settle everything and get back to standard operations, but at the time, every single member of the sales department had wandered around in a pale stupor.

“Have some confidence in your work. I’ve got your back; I’m not going to let anything like that happen again.” This was, in a way, a form of self-suggestion; Yokozawa was himself only human, after all, and he couldn’t say for 100% certain that he’d never screw up either. But regardless, they needed to all of them have a bit more confidence in their work. Most unforeseen disasters occurred as a result of negligence, and while he had difficult completely separating his private life from that in the workplace, maintaining a constant level of vigilance could only help decrease the incidence of such careless errors.

“That reminds me, Yokozawa-san… Where did you forget your cell phone? It’s really not like you to just forget things.”

“What’s it matter where I forgot it?” It just figured the guy would once again latch on to something annoying, he grumbled to himself, and when he averted his eyes, Henmi demonstrated his sharp sense of intuition.

“Ah! Wait, did you go to Kiris.h.i.+ma-san’s place again?? Man, I’m so jealous! I wish you’d invite me along too sometime!” Henmi seemed to have some sort of admiration for Kiris.h.i.+ma, commenting at odd moments about how he wanted to be like Kiris.h.i.+ma when he grew up. While Yokozawa wanted to counter this with reminders that hewas ‘grown up’ already, he couldn’t bring himself to crush Henmi’s dreams for no reason at all, instead letting him babble on as he pleased.

After all, the only reason Henmi looked up to Kiris.h.i.+ma was because he didn’t know the guy’s true nature. Ever since the two had grown closer, Yokozawa had found himself shocked on a fair few occasions; Kiris.h.i.+ma had a surprisingly childish side to himself, with an annoying personality that led him to find true enjoyment in teasing Yokozawa.

“Then why not tell him yourself?”

“I could never be so shameless! I still get nervous just standing in front of the guy!” He had a point; so long as Kiris.h.i.+ma kept his mouth shut, he oozed this strange air of intimidation–which was perhaps why he made it a point to be as casual as possible at work.

“Sucks for you, then.”

“EH?! B–but you’re supposed to say stuff like, ‘Well then just leave it to me’ at times like this, aren’t you?!”

“h.e.l.l no. Now stop babbling and get back to work.” Henmi’s shoulders slumped at Yokozawa’s sound rejection, and he headed back to his desk.