Vol 5 Chapter 10 (1/2)

CHAPTER 10

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“d.a.m.n, it’s starting to come down huh…”

On his way back to the office from his lunch break, rain had started falling in little droplets—likely a forewarning of the typhoon bearing down on the region. It was apparently a pretty big storm, and all of the news outlets were delivering warnings to their viewers, with the weather forecast announcing that the storm would reach its peak late that evening.

This, coupled with the strong gusts he’d been battling since that morning, made it feel well and truly like a storm was approaching. Yokozawa was starting to regret leaving without an umbrella that morning, but it probably wouldn’t have done him much good with all this wind anyway.

Breaking into a jog as he approached the office, hoping to beat the rain, he nearly b.u.mped into someone who’d been exiting the building at the same time. “Oh, I’m so sorry, please ex—ah…”

“Yokozawa?” His unfortunate victim, standing there in the open automatic doors, was Kiris.h.i.+ma—who’d only avoided a collision by smoothly slipping out of the way just before they ran into one another. “Watch it; didn’t they teach you not to run in the halls?”

“This isn’t a hall, and—where are you going?”

“Lunch break. Thought I’d pick something up before the weather got nasty.”

“It’s already coming down,” he reminded, bursting Kiris.h.i.+ma’s bubble. The only reason he’d been running here in the first place had been because of the rain.

“Seriously? s.h.i.+t—and me without an umbrella…” The gla.s.s of the automatic doors at the front entry way was peppered with droplets blown about by the wind, giving off an irregular sound. The storm hadn’t begun in earnest yet, but in another hour or so, it would really start pouring.

“The wind’s too strong for an umbrella anyway; you might be able to get off easy if you head out now, though?” It’d probably be easier to just make a break for it than to walk slowly being buffeted about by the wind anyway.

“Nah, it’s too much of a pain to go outside now…”

“Huh? Then what’re you gonna do about lunch?”

“I’m full to bursting just from seeing your lovely face.”

“Yeah yeah, enough with the sleeptalk, get going.” There was no reason for him to babble that sort of c.r.a.p here of all places; he just could not keep his mouth shut, it seemed.

“Man, what am I gonna do… I don’t wanna get wet…” Kiris.h.i.+ma mused, his arms crossed, and Yokozawa reflected silently that he should just go now instead of wasting time thinking about going.

“If you’re gonna whine so much about not wanting to get wet, then hail a cab.”

“Even if I tried that, it’s not like one’s just gonna appear out of thin air in this weath—ooh, there’s one now!”

Yokozawa turned to follow Kiris.h.i.+ma’s gaze, only to see a taxi had pulled up to the front entrance with almost eerie timing. The pa.s.senger paid his fare and exited the cab—then headed right for them.

Yokozawa opened his mouth to ask Kiris.h.i.+ma if he shouldn’t take the now-empty taxi himself—but Kiris.h.i.+ma had turned his attentions instead to the man who’d just stepped through the automatic doors. “Yasuda?!”

“…Hm?”

“d.a.m.n, it feels like it’s been ages! How many months since we last met?”

“Hey there, Kiris.h.i.+ma. Guess it’s been three, four months? What’re you doing around here?” the man returned, expression relatively even throughout the exchange. He seemed friendly with Kiris.h.i.+ma, and the employee badge he held in his hand seemed to suggest he was a Marukawa Shoten employee, but Yokozawa had never seen him before.

“I could ask you the same thing. I figured wild horses couldn’t drag you into the office.”

“Hey, it’s not like I want to be here, but the president himself called me up and said if I didn’t show my face around these parts now and then, he’d can me.”

“So you finally got told, did ya? But even so, surely you didn’t have to come in on the day of a typhoon, right?”

“Just my bad luck that the day I said I’d be here happened to be today. I’ve been really off my game lately…” the man named Yasuda reflected glumly, shoulders slumping slightly. Yet Yokozawa still found himself captivated less by the clearly affected gesture—and more by the exquisite good looks of the man doing it.

His glossy black hair was so skillfully set it looked like a wig, and the frameless gla.s.ses perched atop a slender nose—far from hidingthe graceful shape of his face—actually accentuated it. He seemed about as tall as Yokozawa but gave off the complete opposite impression from the rather intimidating Yokozawa. In fact, he seemed to have an air about him that more closely resembled Kiris.h.i.+ma.

If such an attractive man were to hang around the office, there was no doubt he’d instantly become the focus of gossip among the women of the building. And yet Yokozawa still had absolutely no recollection of meeting the man before.

“Well we’ll be done with our work on the anime soon, which means the next project will start up shortly after, so I’m planning on pounding out the budget while I’m here.”

“Next project? When did that get the green light?”

“When was it… Quite a while back—I’ve honestly forgotten now! Oh—right, the first volume will be done soon.”

“About time! How’s it looking?” It seemed they’d s.h.i.+fted now from discussion of the present state of affairs to more general work topics. Yokozawa could see no visible end to the conversation, the atmosphere between the two clearly that of old friends.

“Heh, who do you think you’re talking to? I’m the one who made it, so it’s perfect, of course! Oh, but…who do we have here? One of your lackeys?”

Yokozawa had been sitting there gaping stupidly at the pair as they spoke, having no opportunity to get a word in edgewise even if he’d wanted to, and grew fl.u.s.tered when the conversation was suddenly turned his way. “Oh—no, I’m not a subordinate…”

He always panicked when asked to describe his relations.h.i.+p with Kiris.h.i.+ma; in the workplace, Kiris.h.i.+ma was technically a superior, but because they were in different divisions, he wasn’t really Yokozawa’s boss. If the person asking had been someone uninvolved in their work, he could’ve probably explained their relations.h.i.+p as that of friendly sempai-kouhai, but even that didn’t quite cover it.

“Oh right—you two haven’t met, have you? This is Yokozawa from Sales; he’s known as the ‘Wild Bear’—so surely you’ve heard of him?”

Yokozawa didn’t quite approve of being introduced like that to someone who’d never met him before—especially when he’d lately been working on not having such a sharp, gruff att.i.tude.

“Ah, yeah, I’ve heard of you. Everyone says you’ve got some great sales instincts. So that’s you, huh? I’m Yasuda—I make anime.” He delivered his introduction with a smile, the corners of his lips lifting, and when he offered Yokozawa a business card, Yokozawa took it out of habit—and then his eyes widened when he took one look at the name on the card.

Yasuda Gou, the greatest, most sought-after anime producer in the entire company. Yokozawa was more than familiar with both the man’s name as well as his work, but it was the first time he’d ever spoken with the man. He seemed more phantom than human, cloistering himself away on projects and rarely showing his face in the office. He hated being around other people, and since he rarely showed up at official functions, Yokozawa had never even seen apicture of the man.

“Surely you’ve heard of this guy, right? He’s the producer of the Za Kan series. We joined up about the same time, but he hardly ever comes into the office. You know, you’re kind of an urban legend around here.”

“How rude! I’m working myself to the bone for the good of this company, I’ll have you know.” Being a contemporary of Kiris.h.i.+ma’s would put the man in his mid 30s, then—but while their business was full of people who didn’t really look their age, Yasuda seemedparticularly younger than what Yokozawa a.s.sumed his age to be.

With his looks, he could easily pa.s.s for early 20s, but he carried himself with an air that none of the newbie recruits could have pulled off. Perhaps this was what people meant when they said someone was ‘charismatic’.

Kiris.h.i.+ma’s comment about Yasuda being little more than an urban legend hadn’t been overstatement, though. Indeed, everything Yokozawa had ever heard about Yasuda had been so far-fetched he’d been hard-pressed to believe it.

“Yeah, but your ‘for the good of the company’ just translates to ‘for the good of yourself’, right? You refuse to take on any projects you don’t find interesting!”

“Hey, the company still winds up making a profit in the end, so it’s fine! And it’s not that I only take on projects I find interesting, it’s that I only take on those that I find worthy of doing.”

“Still as br.i.m.m.i.n.g with confidence as ever, I see. Though I guess that’s what makes you you.”

“You’re the last person I want to hear that from.” They laughed as they sniped at one another, each clearly acknowledging the other’s talents, and while Yokozawa wouldn’t go so far as to say it made him feel left out, it still felt a bit like he had no place here.

“That reminds me—is it true there’s gonna be a new character appearing in Za Kan? You’ve gotta tell me these things in advance! We’ve still got the TV anime to do after the movie comes out—and now I’ll have to rethink the flow of things.”

“h.e.l.l no, there’s no new characters. Who told you that?”

“The company president.”

“I guess I mentioned in a meeting at one point that there might be an opportunity for new characters to crop up in the future, but when the h.e.l.l did it become a done deal?” He’d probably just let his imagination run wild when Kiris.h.i.+ma had brought up talk of future happenings. Isaka—the president of Marukawa Shoten—was a rather creative sort, and bold as well, and Yokozawa looked up to him, but his way of getting carried away with things was one of his few flaws. Those around him very often got caught up in his hare-brained schemes, and the company-wide fair they were preparing for at the moment had been all Isaka’s idea.

Plans were proceeding nicely, but they could do little more than simply pray that no wrenches were thrown into the works. The more people involved in a project, the more likely it became that someone would screw up somewhere. Even something as simple as a missed call could lead to a huge c.o.c.k-up, so Yokozawa couldn’t rest for even a moment, seeing as he was in charge of everything.

The literature division which had been their only major bottleneck so far finally seemed to be easing up, so it might be best to just stick with the plan he’d started with, but if Yokozawa didn’t work to keep everyone in line, they’d never be able to pull this off. Counting off in his head the issues he still needed to get taken care of, he felt a sharp pain forming in the pit of his stomach.

“—right, Yokozawa?”

“…Huh? Oh, sorry—I wasn’t listening.” His thoughts dispersed as he was drawn unwittingly into the conversation.

Kiris.h.i.+ma started to repeat his question—before his brows drew together. “Hey, are you feeling okay? What’d you have for lunch?”

At the concerned gaze directed his way, Yokozawa realized he’d been ma.s.saging his midsection. “It’s just a bit of a stomachache.” Which wasn’t entirely a lie, though the source of the unease wasn’t his lunch. He’d been able to wolf down pretty much anything in his younger years without experiencing any ill effects, but it seemed he was no match for stress.

“I thought the Wild Bear was being unusually quiet today—but I see it’s just an upset stomach.”

“As I said, I’m not that.”

“Well, so long as you’re not just being shy. Which reminds me—why are you and Kiris.h.i.+ma here so close?”

“Huh?” The question came utterly out of the blue, and Yokozawa blinked stupidly. What had made him ask that?

“Ah—let me rephrase, I was just wondering what brought you two together. You’re in different divisions, and there’s an age gap as well—and yet you seem really close.”

Yokozawa felt a shudder ripple through him at the rather innocent question. It was true enough that, initially, people had found it strange for them to be around each other, but most seemed to have grown accustomed to it by now, such that no one really noticed nowadays.

“Oh, well—I mean, I’m in charge of comics sales, so…” And that was, truthfully, the only point of connection he’d had with Kiris.h.i.+ma before. They’d only ever interacted in meetings and briefings, never going out drinking or anything like that.

Perhaps his unease had shown on his face, for Yasuda pressed even further, “And…that’s all?”

“Wh—what are you trying to say? There’s really no particular reason…”

“Really?”

“I’d certainly like to know why you’re being so persistent in asking!”

“Because I’m curious.”

“I’m afraid I don’t follow.” Yokozawa felt his hackles rising at Yasuda’s poor manners, and despite knowing he needed to do something about the way his temper flared so easily, he didn’t see that happening today.

“Well, I mean—you two are an item, right?”

“………?!” The color immediately fled his face at Yasuda’s comment. It hadn’t been a question—more a confirmation of something he clearly already understood to be true.

Yokozawa’s mind went blank at the suddenness, and Kiris.h.i.+ma confirmed smoothly, “Ooh, so you realized, did you?”

“I knew it! Looks like I’ve still got it. Oh—sorry, I’ve gotta run. If I’m late today, they’ll toss me out on my a.s.s for sure.”

“Well hang in there and try not to let the nit-picking get to you.”

“Leave it to me—I’m used to it!” And with a wave of his hand, Yasuda headed for the elevator.

“Oh yeah, Yasuda—let’s get drinks sometime soon. I should have some time after we get a working print of Volume 1 rolling.”

“Sure, if I feel like it.”

Blankly watching as Yasuda left, Yokozawa made an effort to organize his thoughts before breaking out into a full-fledged panic. It seemed he was the only one taking this seriously. “Oi, what the h.e.l.l do you think you were doing, admitting to it?!” Even though Yasuda twigging to their relations.h.i.+p had been seemingly unavoidable, Yokozawa couldn’t fathom what on earth had made Kiris.h.i.+ma so casually acknowledge it.

“Nah, it’s fine. Don’t sweat it. He’s not the type to go blabbing about it. You can trust him.”

But whether the man was trustworthy or not was not the issue here. “That’s not what I was—”

“Ah, looks like the rain’s letting up a little. I’m gonna head out to try and make a dash for some lunch. Good luck with work!”

“Hey—wait!” But the hand he reached out grabbed onto nothing, hanging sadly in mid-air. Kiris.h.i.+ma darted out the front doors, leaving Yokozawa standing alone in the entryway.

“Are you not going home yet, Yokozawa-san?” Henmi called out a bit worriedly, having just finished his own preparations to leave.

“I’ll go after I’ve finished with this. You go on.”

“All right then, I’ll be taking my leave first! You should try not to stay too late.”

“Yeah yeah, I know. Take care heading home.” He didn’t bother looking up from the computer screen, sending Henmi off with words alone.

He released a quiet sigh, the sales floor now silent. The reason he hadn’t made much progress today was because he was still hung up on what Yasuda had mentioned earlier that afternoon.

”You two are an item, right?”

It hadn’t sounded like teasing, just pointing out the obvious—yet his heart had felt like it was going to stop in his chest, all the same.

Given how confident Kiris.h.i.+ma had seemed about the matter, he supposed the man could be trusted, but most normal people wouldn’t just blurt out a comment on so delicate a matter. Still—that wasn’t what he was worried about, really.

What concerned him most…was himself.

Only a short while ago, Iokawa had also twigged to his relations.h.i.+p with Kiris.h.i.+ma, and that compounded with this now made him worry…if perhaps he was just that easy to read. That two people in a row, now, had picked up on their relations.h.i.+p…strongly suggested there was some deeper reason at play. Perhaps Yasuda had noted a change in Kiris.h.i.+ma after seeing him for the first time in a while, or maybe there had been something in the atmosphere between himself and Kiris.h.i.+ma.

“………”

He likely wouldn’t be able to solve this mystery without speaking to the man himself, as Yokozawa was clearly not going to get anywhere stewing over this himself. And yet, when might he possibly run into Yasuda again? This was the first time he’d met the man since he’d started working at Marukawa, after all, which meant it might be years before they met again.

“What the h.e.l.l am I gonna do…” he muttered to himself.

He saved the files he’d just finished working on and glanced up, realizing that he was now completely alone on the sales floor. He’d thought it had gotten quiet, but it seemed this was merely a product of everyone else going home for the day. All of the lights aside from that on his own works.p.a.ce had already been doused. It was here that he recalled that all employees had been urged to head home early in advance of the incoming typhoon.

A glance at the clock showed that a fair amount of time had pa.s.sed since Henmi had left. He’d probably wasted more time lost in his thoughts than actually doing any work, when he thought about it.

He looked out the window, seeing that the weather had grown quite a bit fouler than he’d expected it to, and the rain slapping against the window panes blurred the form of the buildings across the way. The wind howled like the cry of some wild animal from far away.

He opened an internet browser to check the status, only to find that several train lines and roads had already been closed down. His own train line that would take him home had been one of the first to go, apparently. He doubted he’d be able to easily hail a taxi in this weather, and even if he tried to take the long way home tonight, it would be no easy trip. He’d completely lost his chance to make it home this evening.

“Guess there’s no helping it. I’ll have to stay the night here.” He’d suffer no damage from not being able to take a bath for oneevening, and it wouldn’t be his first time spending the night at the office. When he’d first started out, he’d burned the midnight oil on several occasions in preparation for events. In fact, he was sure he still had a blanket tucked away somewhere here, and as he stood to go and search for it, his phone began ringing.

He glanced at the caller ID, then answered. “Yes, this is Yokozawa.”

”I heard you stayed at the office pretty late—did you manage to make it home okay?”

It seemed Kiris.h.i.+ma had called him up out of worry; his overattentiveness had initially been uncomfortable, rendering Yokozawa unable to accept it without protest, but now he actually felt relatively at ease in dealing with this side of the man.

“No, I’m still at the office.”

”You mean you haven’t left yet?!” Kiris.h.i.+ma was clearly not happy with Yokozawa’s response, probably not having expected it. Truthfully though, Yokozawa hadn’t intended on staying this late himself.

“Sorry—I kind of missed my chance to make a break for it.” It was all he could really say, and while he knew it made him sound like an idiot, it was the truth.

If Sorata had still been in his apartment, he probably would have gone to great lengths in order to make it home, but at least with the Kiris.h.i.+mas watching over Sorata now, he didn’t have to worry about that.

”So what’re you gonna do? The trains are all stopped now, you realize.”

“I’d probably wind up having to cool my heels somewhere, even if I left now, so I’m just going to stay here. One night won’t hurt anything.” Here inside the office, he wouldn’t have chance to meet with any unfortunate accidents, and while it wasn’t the ideal location for resting, it was enough to be out of the rain.

”…Good grief, guess there’s no helping it then. Just be a good boy and wait patiently, then.”

And with that, Kiris.h.i.+ma cut the line, leaving only an artificial digital buzz. “…What the heck was that?” ‘Be a good boy and wait’? What did that mean? He wasn’t some unruly child, so there was no chance of him rus.h.i.+ng out into the storm or anything like that.

Stretching his neck, he returned his focus to the rest of his work. If he could just finish up the doc.u.ments he had before him, then everything else would come together smoothly, and reminding himself not to waste time thinking about things that didn’t matter at the moment, he forced himself to focus on his computer before him.

His concentration snapped next because of the gurgling of his stomach, reminding him loudly that he hadn’t eaten in some time—not since lunch.

“—“

It would be cruel to order take-out in this weather. He’d often ordered delivery curry in the past; the shop he and his coworkers had often patronized used large portions of ingredients and was quick to deliver, so it had easily become a favorite.

“I’m starving…”

“Yeah, I figured you would be—which is why I brought you a snack.”

“—?!” He’d meant the comment to be directed to himself and nearly leapt from his chair when someone actually responded—turning to find Kiris.h.i.+ma standing before him. “Wh—what the h.e.l.l are you doing here?!” His clothing was rather casual, given that he’d already headed home for the day.

An umbrella glistening with drops of water hung from one hand, and the fabric of his clothes had changed colors where the rain had soaked through. His hair, damp and ruffled, must have been annoying him, for he shook his head lightly as he complained, “Ugh, I hate getting wet…”

He slipped the umbrella he held into a stand by the door, pulling from a picnic bag a towel he must have brought from home and wiping his head vigorously with it.

“Then why the h.e.l.l did you come all the way back to the office? If you forgot something, I’m sure it could’ve waited til tomorrow.”

“Idiot, I came to get you, since you said you couldn’t make it home.” Which meant his earlier admonition to ‘be a good boy and wait patiently’ had been code for ‘I’m coming to get you, so wait for me.’

“…I told you I was going to stay the night here!”

“But won’t you be lonely, all by yourself?”

“I’m not a child. And what about Hiyo?”

“She’s at home.”

“You mean you asked your mother to watch her again?” Hiyori understood well enough that her father had to work, but didn’t they need some father-daughter time together now and then? And on top of that, there was the evening’s weather; she might be feeling lonely without her father around on such a stormy night.

“She was going to come over tonight anyway. Said something about discussing Hiyori’s costume.”

“Costume?”

“There’s something going on for Halloween, I think.” Which reminded Yokozawa—Halloween was coming up at the end of the month, an event that had somehow become rather common in j.a.pan of late. While it was mostly used for commercial benefits by businesses, there were some places where parades were held, and theme parks and such often allowed visitors to wear costumes on that day alone.

j.a.panese people seemed to love taking all sorts of things and turning them around into fun events, and there was no mistaking the fact that children would love the opportunity to dress up in costumes and receive candy. He wondered what sort of costume Hiyori planned on wearing.

“And you don’t need to be involved in those discussions?”

“Hey, the sponsor shouldn’t stick his nose in where it doesn’t belong.”

“See, you say those kinds of things, but really you just don’t want to be around when girls are gabbing, right?”

“Well I guess you could put it like that, if you wanted to. I really don’t want them asking me for advice, after all. But d.a.m.n—this rain’s not letting up, is it…”

“Not like we can help it; it’s a typhoon. It’ll probably keep up like this until morning.” The weather report he’d checked earlier had said it was slowing down since making landfall in the Kantou region where they were situated, and while sunny skies were supposed to return by the next morning, the report had urged viewers not to go outside that night.

“Wonder if it’d be a bad idea trying to head home in the car…”

“Well, we should probably at least wait a bit and see how things pan out.” It wasn’t like they couldn’t make it home now, but heavy rain would make it difficult to see the road, and the gusts might bring debris their way as well.

“Guess we might have to make an all-nighter of it then…”

“Which is why you shouldn’t have come.”

“…Well I was kind of worried about you.”

“Huh?”