If I wanted to match the price of the neck warmer, I could buy two or three. But which should I choose…?
“What would Ayase like…?”
I didn’t know much about fragrances, and I had no idea which ones Ayase preferred. But I did remember the advice my best friend, Maru, once gave me.
“If you have a crush on someone, it’s important to let that person see that you’re making an effort.”
I had to put myself in the recipient’s shoes when buying them a gift. Of course, no matter how hard I tried, we’d always be different people, and it was impossible to understand another person completely. That was why Ayase and I had discussed what we wanted in advance.
But even though we both knew what to get—a neck warmer and soap—that was only the bare minimum. By itself, it still wasn’t sufficient.
Without thinking, I began to trace my collar with my left hand. I was wearing the neck warmer Ayase had given me one week earlier. I knew she hadn’t bought me just any old neck warmer. She’d probably thought about the color, pattern, and material. And I was sure she’d been thinking about me the whole time she was choosing it…
How? Well, consider the color. It resembled the shades I often wore. In fact, it seemed chosen to suit the clothes she’d picked out for me when we went shopping together the other day. Back then, she’d mentioned that plain colors were easier to match, and the neck warmer, too, was plain with no pattern.
It was obvious she’d spent time thinking about her choice. And so I needed to do the same. Not just any fancy soap would do.
I tried to recall the clothes and accessories she usually wore. In that case, maybe something in a bright color would suit her.
I started to reach for a flashy soap carved with a rose pattern when I stopped myself and thought a little more.
Ayase always said that fashion was her armor. When would she be using this soap, exactly? She was consistently the last to take a bath at night. First, she finished studying, then she’d relax and take a soak in the tub before bed. Did she really need to be cool and flashy at a time like that?
I glanced around the sales floor. Some of the soaps were carved with elaborate designs, but others were simple and closer to the classic rectangular shape.
After mulling it over, I bought three soaps: chamomile, lavender, and lemongrass. All of them were herbs well-known to help a person relax. I also bought something called a soap saver that was displayed next to them. At first, I’d thought it was a bag to store the soaps, but according to the instructions, you were meant to use it to work up a lather.
I took everything to the cash register, told the clerk they were gifts for someone’s birthday, and asked her to wrap them for me. The woman behind the counter smiled and said, “Of course.” It was the same clerk who had approached me earlier.
She pulled floral wrapping paper out of a drawer. It wasn’t in Christmas colors but was still obviously meant for gifts—or so I assumed. She glanced at me briefly to make sure I was happy with the choice.
I nodded, and she began carefully removing the price tags. Then she placed the soaps in a gift box before wrapping them.
As I watched the clerk wrap the box with graceful, practiced motions, I recalled how much trouble I’d had wrapping gifts back at the bookstore. I’d probably be doing a lot of that again today after prep school. I silently thanked her for doing such a good job, then paid the bill and left.
Once prep school was over, I took my bike to work.
I got changed, then peeked into the back office and saw that there were a lot of part-timers sharing my shift. A big group of us had been mobilized to combat the holiday crowd. In addition to Ayase, Yomiuri, and me, there were three other people on the schedule. It looked like our manager had noticed the growing crowds as Christmas approached and brought in reinforcements.
As expected, the sales floor was once again bustling. We had no time to talk as we spread out into the store and behind the cash registers.
After a while, it was time for a short break. I just happened to wind up alone with Yomiuri in the back office.
“Um, Yomiuri… Can I talk to you for a minute?” I asked.
“It’ll cost you one hundred yen for every three minutes.”
“…How about I get you a coffee sometime instead?”
“You know, kiddo, I think you’re starting to understand how this world works. Now, what’s up with Saki?”
My heart started beating faster. How did she know what I wanted to ask about?
“Being the wise woman I am, I can see right through a young man like you. Come on, spill it. What do you want to know? How to book a hotel room? Isn’t it a little too soon for you guys? Make sure you do it safely when you do it, okay?”
“Please don’t say ‘do’ like that. It sounds ten times filthier.”
Yomiuri was talking like an old man again. It wasn’t the seventies anymore. Heck, it wasn’t even the nineties. These days, comments like that were pure sexual harassment.
…But that wasn’t what I wanted to talk about. I should have known it would be impossible to get to the point in three minutes when dealing with Yomiuri. Maybe I could manage in six minutes, then I’d only have to get her two coffees…
“So, um, anyway. Do you know of any Western-style restaurants nearby that serve good beef stew?”
“Beef stew? I see, I see. So you’ve finally gotten a taste for red meat.”
“Why are you making that sound so dirty? I just mean the food.”
I glared at her, and she finally gave it some thought. “Hmm, well… A Western-style restaurant, huh? Sure, I know a few places—the expensive one Professor Kudou took us to once, as well as some more reasonable options. Do you have any other preferences besides good beef stew?”
“Well, I’m still a high school student, so I’d like to keep it casual and affordable…”
“I see, I see.”
“But I want it to be something a little special. A nice surprise.”
“A tall order. And I suppose that means there’s a person you want to surprise. I see right through you.” A dark grin appeared on Yomiuri’s face. “You must be planning to take Saki out to dinner on her birthday, huh? That’s tomorrow, if I recall.”
“Well, yeah.”
“How lovely! A date at a nice restaurant. Wonderful.”
“I’m just doing something nice for my sister, okay? So, uh, I’d be very grateful if you could give me some advice as someone more experienced in the ways of the world.”
“Humble today, aren’t we? Good boy. Oh, so that’s why you took the shift that gets off at six tomorrow! I see, I see. You must be thinking of somewhere in a fifteen-minute radius of the bookstore. Then you’d have dinner from around six thirty to eight PM…”