The two clinked glasses and took a sip. Not many places had such good liquor. Jinya would miss this milk hall—not enough for it to be a lingering regret, but enough. He drank with that thought in mind. The liquor was good enough to stand on its own.
After they drank silently for some time, the manager spoke up and said, “Everyone’s gone and disappeared, huh?”
If the sex workers were in the business of granting dreams, then the two of them must have been in the vestiges of those dreams just then. They drank face-to-face in the milk hall that had once given happy nights to many men. There was nothing romantic between the two, but things were far from dull.
“Do you wish they stayed?” Jinya asked.
“Hardly. Everyone left because they were satisfied. I’m happy for them.”
The manager took a hearty sip from his glass. The way he drank told Jinya he was being truthful.
“In the past, I hated how I was always saying goodbye as everyone left. I felt like I was being left behind.”
He looked down at his bad leg. To others, he seemed like a capable man, but he’d once been stricken with inferiority complexes. He had been lost for a long time, but he eventually climbed out of the hole he was in through his own strength.
“I’ve changed, though. Everyone’s gone, but I don’t feel any sadness. Because this time, I wanted to stay here. I wanted to see this shop through to the very, very end.”
The Prostitution Prevention Law almost stopped him, but by wandering into the Dove District that shouldn’t have existed, he managed to follow through on the first decision he had made for himself.
“That’s why I’m happy. I’ve been able to see my choice through to completion.”
It might seem like a small thing to be proud of, but to him, it was everything.
“I see,” Jinya replied. He didn’t say it outright, but the manager could tell he was happy for him. The two shared a smile and drank, comforted by the warmth gliding down their throats. Jinya mused, “In the end, just what was this place?”
He’d known how the Dove District worked from the very start, but he couldn’t find its core no matter how much he searched. Even Nanao’s ability turned out not to be the cause. The Dove District that shouldn’t have existed had to originate from something. Even now that this place was moments from unraveling, that last mystery still evaded him.
“A dream, perhaps,” the manager said. He, who had no special ability or connection to the supernatural whatsoever, didn’t even need a second to think before he answered Jinya’s question.
“Why a dream?”
“Because the real Dove District was never such a wonderful place. The girls were always on edge, fighting for clients, and there were men who looked down on sex workers and treated them as nothing more than outlets for their desires. Girls were even sold into the business by their parents, and countless men tried to exploit those who lived here. Yet life in this Dove District was fun, like only the beautiful parts had been gathered.”
There was more to the gaudy world of red-light districts than what was on the surface. But not a hint of what might’ve once lain beneath that surface could be found here. This beautiful, spotless Dove District was something like a dream.
The manager continued. “That’s why I’m sure this is all a dream. The Dove District was praised as the finest around, only to be abandoned suddenly. Not wanting to change, it must have wished to remain as it was and slumbered ever since. The first to carry lingering regrets might just be the Dove District itself.”
The Dove District was once an icon of its era, but time saw it abandoned. Perhaps the district itself had wished for its glory days to continue and invited in those women and men who couldn’t live anywhere else while it was at it. That was why this place had none of its former darkness, only a bright, ephemeral dream lit by pink neon signs.
“An abandoned district’s dream, huh?” mused Jinya. It was a theory with no evidence, something said carelessly over drinks and impossible to verify, but he felt it would be fine to simply let that be the answer. The truth would remain unknown, but letting cold logic explain everything was dull. He had wandered into the Dove District’s dream and found something precious there—wasn’t that good enough? “Not bad,” he said.
“Right? Being able to say you met someone in a dream is romantic,” the manager said. “Oh, but I’m sure you’d rather have met somebody more charming than I.”
“Nonsense. You’re a good man, and I was lucky to meet you.”
“Why, I’m flattered. My tastes lie elsewhere, though.”
“What a coincidence. Mine do as well.”
Their exchange was smooth, almost like it had been arranged beforehand. They broke out into laughter together. Their voices were the only ones to be heard in the milk hall, which remained absent of its usual customers and waitresses.
“Oh dear. How long has it been since I last laughed like this?” After their laughter subsided, the manager took a deep breath and closed his eyes. He then exhaled as if he’d been freed from all his lingering regrets. “Thank you. You were a great customer to have.”
And that was it. The ice in his glass rang out with a crack, and then he was gone.
“Thank you. I managed to enjoy some good whiskey because of you.” Jinya drank down the last of his whiskey.
Dreams were no more than dreams, but a warmth different from the one that was now gliding down his throat would remain with him.