I’d been restless all day.
I’d felt fidgety since the moment I woke up in the morning, and I was distracted all afternoon during my shift at the bookstore.
Time passed in the blink of an eye. It was already only half an hour until the end of my shift at six PM.
As Christmas got closer and closer, the number of people out and about in Shibuya continued to increase. I felt a little guilty for taking off early when the store was so busy.
The second half of December held all sorts of special tribulations for bookstores. Wholesale deliveries came a to a halt over the end-of-year holidays, which meant new releases had been moved up from the end of the month and were already on sale. In other words, we had more books out at once than any other time of the year.
November and December were always like this in publishing. I’d heard authors and editors were forced into a hellish schedule full of tears and apologies, and the result was a load of extra work for booksellers.
Say we were used to ten new books coming out in a week for a certain demographic, and now we had to deal with twenty. We’d run out of space on our shelves unless we came up with tricks to make everything fit, and we’d have to create twice as many POP displays.
Meanwhile, customers would show up as usual, unaware of the special circumstances, and wind up confused. That meant even more work helping them out…
If some people were living it up over the holidays, other people were working up a sweat, putting in twice the effort. That was just how the world was.
All I could do was thank them. It was my turn today, but I hoped I’d be able to help someone else when they were having fun.
That was when I remembered that it was Yomiuri who had taken Ayase’s and my shift that day. I started sorting the shelves before I headed out, thinking it was the least I could do to reduce the work for those who came after us.
Once it was time to leave, I headed into the back office.
“Huh?”
But when I opened the door, I found someone I hadn’t expected to see: Yomiuri.
Several of the part-timers starting at six were already on the sales floor, and I hadn’t expected to find her here so late.
“This is unusual,” I said.
“Are you going to ask me if I’m ditching work?”
“Oh, no, of course not.”
“‘Get the heck out of here,’ you say? How cruel. Waaah, waaahh. ♪”
“You definitely aren’t crying.”
“Hee-hee.”
It doesn’t matter what I say; she always finds a way to tease me.
“Haah.”
As I sighed, the door creaked, and Ayase stepped in. “Huh? Yomiuri? Aren’t you on shift now?”
“How mean! I swear I’m not skipping.”
“Oh, so you’re just running late.”
“That’s not it, either. I’ve been waiting for you, Saki! Get over here. I wanted to give you your present.” She pulled Ayase by the hand over to the women’s locker room.
“Huh?! What?!”
“Don’t worry. Leave everything to ole Uncle Yomiuri.”
Finally admitting she’s basically an old man, huh? But that wasn’t important right now. I couldn’t believe how bold she was being. Her shift had started already, and the manager was right there behind his desk, watching the whole thing.
“Are you sure you’re okay with this?” I asked him.
“Well, I can’t run this place without her,” he said with a wry smile.
“I see…”
“I’m counting it as a teamwork exercise.”
Yomiuri must be vital to this place’s operation.
It seemed she really was just handing Ayase her present, though. She came right back out of the changing room, gave me a casual wave, then headed out onto the sales floor. Her grin left me with an uneasy feeling.
A little while later, Ayase emerged from the changing room in her street clothes, and we clocked out and left the bookstore.
It was a little after six by the time we left, but the reservation was for six thirty, so we still had plenty of time.
Ayase and I headed for the restaurant.
I raised the topic of Yomiuri’s gift as we walked, but Ayase kept her words vague and wouldn’t tell me what it was. Maybe it was something she didn’t want to talk about. But even Yomiuri wouldn’t give a coworker something like that…would she…?
“Is this it?”
“Hmm?”
Before I realized it, we’d reached our destination. Ayase looked uneasy as she glanced at the signs on the wall of the building.
“These places look expensive. Are you sure?”
“I think they’re aimed at families. You’d be surprised how reasonably priced they are.”
The upper floor of the building was full of restaurants serving Japanese, Western, and Chinese cuisine. I searched the floor map for the name of the restaurant I’d booked and found it. It was right in front of us, surrounded by wooden partitions.
“Oh, here we are.”
The interior was brightly lit, with a relaxed atmosphere. It was nice and spacious, and the tables were pleasantly far apart. I was used to noisy fast-food joints, so this place was like another world to me.
Like I’d said to Ayase, the clientele was mostly young couples and families with children. It was a little more upscale than a typical family eatery but more relaxed than a fancy hotel restaurant.
“This is my first time at a place like this,” said Ayase. “I’d never come here on my own.”
“Well, it’s your birthday. Why not go for something nice?”
I gave my name to the approaching waiter, and he led us to our table. We sat down facing each other.
“But why here?” she asked. “Is it famous?”
“Oh, well… Umm.”
Why did revealing a surprise make me so nervous? It was much easier to maintain a poker face when you wanted to keep a secret.
“I heard they served great beef stew.”
Ayase had looked a bit sleepy up until then; maybe she was exhausted from work. But when I said “beef stew,” her eyes opened wide.
“What…?”
“Uh… I heard it was your favorite.”
Could her tastes have changed? As she stared at me in a daze, I began to panic.
“How did you know?”
“Sorry, I asked Akiko to tell me in secret.”
I’d wanted to surprise her, since she already knew what her present would be. That said, I didn’t want to do anything that would annoy her.
When I told her that, Ayase gaped for a few moments, then she frowned.
“It isn’t fair.”
“Huh?”
“It isn’t fair for you to do this when I didn’t have the chance.”
“Oh, um… Sorry, I guess.”
“I wanted to surprise you, too.”
“Oh…”
That made sense. This was Ayase, after all—the girl who always wanted to give more when it came to give-and-take. Getting a nice surprise without being able to give one was sure to upset her.
But I’d never seen her pout and say something was unfair before. In the past, she never would have been so honest with me. Did that mean she’d started letting her guard down when we were together? When I thought about it that way, even her sulking was cute.