“What’cha reading?” “The job manual. Kido brought it to me and said it would probably be best if I went through it and memorized it beforehand.” Amane was looking over the work handbook that had been compiled into a binder. It had been handed to him along with the suggestion that he would be better able to prepare himself if he knew what was there before starting the job. Itsuki seemed to notice and came over to talk to him. Everything he needed to know to do his job was there, from the basics of customer service to the menus, the way to use various utensils, the names of different coffee beans, and how each variety tasted. He had learned the basics for the culture festival, so it wasn’t particularly difficult for him to learn how to treat customers or to study the menus. However, he had to memorize the varieties, flavor profiles, and origins of all the coffee the café served so he could explain them properly when asked by a customer. That took more effort than he’d expected, so he’d decided to read over them whenever he had a spare moment. “Are you allowed to take something like that outside?” “It’s really just the explanations of customer service and how to use the utensils, so it’s no problem, Kido said. She told me it’s not like there are any company secrets in here or anything, so she got permission to let me take it. She figured it would also be better for the café if I learned the job quickly.” Ayaka probably only gave him so much attention because she felt responsible after having introduced him, but Amane also thought it showed she had confidence he would be able to memorize everything properly. He couldn’t expect to depend entirely on Souji, who would be working with him, so he figured he probably ought to get up to speed as quickly as possible to be useful at the café. After all, if he didn’t, he would never be able to invite Mahiru to the café, so to live up to his girlfriend’s expectations, he had been reading the manual very seriously. Mahiru usually approached Amane during breaks, but perhaps she could tell he was focused on something because she had disappeared off somewhere instead of coming over to see him. Amane turned his gaze away from Itsuki and back to the lines of text in the manual, deliberately etching them into his mind, and Itsuki let out an exasperated sigh. “You’re so serious about things like that, Amane. I mean, I know the driving force behind it is love, but still.” “Shut up.” He had his reasons, and he wasn’t going to deny them, but embarrassment won out when someone else spelled it out like that, so he snapped at Itsuki. But Itsuki didn’t seem cowed by Amane’s brusque tone and was still grinning. “Oh, to think that quiet loner Amane has changed so much… Love is a mighty thing! People really can change, I guess.” “What are you hoping to accomplish by teasing me this much? Are you trying to make me mad?” “No, no. There’s just something kind of…dazzling about you.” “Go be dazzled somewhere else. Hang around, and you’ll lose your chance to come see where I work.” “So mean! You’ve got to let me see what you look like at work, too!” “You’re one to talk. You’ve never let me come see you at work even once.” Itsuki was teasing Amane, but Amane knew Itsuki also worked a part-time job. However, Amane didn’t know where he worked or what job it was. Itsuki was fundamentally a frank and open guy, but for some reason, he rarely talked about the fact that he had a job. Amane had gotten the sense that, although it wasn’t necessarily a secret, Itsuki didn’t want people to ask about it, so he wasn’t planning to prod him more than necessary. But he figured it was all right to give him one little poke. Amane looked up from his manual and stared at Itsuki, who was evading the point with a faint smile. “Oh, me? Well, I…” “You keep saying you want to come to my workplace, yet you’ve never taken me to where you work, and you haven’t even told me where it is.” “Nya-ha-ha, there was never any need to tell you.” “When you put it that way, you’re right, but it makes me worry you might be doing some kind of shady job.” “No way, I would never!” “Well then, what have you been doing?” “Uh, well, okay. I work as a florist. At the shop of someone I know.” “…You sell flowers?” That occupation had been completely outside Amane’s expectations, and when he looked surprised despite himself, Itsuki made an uncomfortable-looking face. “Come on, I thought you would say that. That’s why I didn’t tell you. I knew you would say it doesn’t suit me.” “I wouldn’t say that, but…you’ve never mentioned anything about flowers even once, have you?” “I’ve never had the opportunity, for one thing. And I’m not that knowledgeable about them yet, either… I mean, I’ve handled flowers for flower-arranging class and stuff, and my dad said I could work there, so I’m doing it. That’s the only place he gave me permission to work a part-time job.” Itsuki scoffed, revealing his anger. It was clear who it was directed toward. He didn’t have to say anything. All Amane could do was frown. At Amane’s school, students had to petition the school and receive permission from their guardians to start a part-time job. Luckily for Amane, he had gotten permission from his father, so he’d been able to get his petition approved quite quickly. But in Itsuki’s case, his father, Daiki, had probably been an obstruction. Daiki, who was strict even from Amane’s perspective, seemed to be the type of person who wouldn’t endorse the idea of students, who were supposed to be studying, getting jobs in the first place. Or rather, from how Itsuki grumbled, it sounded like he had actually been rejected initially. “Even to get him to compromise on this, I had to stand my ground and force the issue.” Amane decided it was probably best not to ask how much effort it had taken to get Daiki to give in. “You know, I don’t have any complaints about the flowers, but I don’t like being ordered around. I’m already a high schooler, right? I don’t know why he’s unhappy about me saving money so I can spend it however I want. The shop owner is even an acquaintance of my dad’s, so I know he reports on me, too. Although I’ve got the owner’s sympathy, so they’re probably pretty bland reports.” “If you’re going that far to hold down a job, that must mean there’s something you really want, huh?” The Itsuki that Amane knew was not the type to make extravagant purchases. Even the sums he used for leisure were relatively modest. He occasionally spent money on fast food or karaoke, but other than that, as far as Amane had seen, he didn’t spend much. And anyway, it sounded like he received his own spending money, including lunch money, meaning he got a reasonably large amount. In that case, Amane thought there must be some big thing Itsuki wanted to get, but he quickly shook his head. “Nah, I’m saving up now so I’ll be okay even after I leave home.” “…Sorry.” Amane had put his foot right into something he’d been determined to avoid, so he apologized earnestly and got a bitter smile in response. “I knew you were going to apologize for asking. That’s why I didn’t say anything. This is all because I’m so stubborn, and I think I’d have to agree if you said I was rushing things.” After checking to ensure Chitose wasn’t in the classroom, Amane lowered his voice and asked, “…You’ve still been having problems with your dad, even after what happened?” Thanks to the fact that their classmates were chatting fairly loudly, Amane’s voice only reached Itsuki, who was close beside him. He kept his voice low, fearing their conversation might leak out to Chitose through their classmates. Itsuki grinned broadly at Amane’s consideration. Amane knew it wasn’t a happy smile, but it was coming from a troubled place, which was painful to him. “Nothing’s changed at all! Although, since I fought with him so much after middle school graduation and up through the start of high school, we weren’t talking much to begin with anyway.” As Amane might have expected, it sounded like the fact they hardly talked even at home was ongoing. Amane had been worried things might have gotten strained because he had butted in where he didn’t belong at the culture festival, but seeing how Itsuki was acting, that didn’t seem to be the case. “My parents still control my life while I’m a student, so if they really wanted to limit me, there’d be nothing I could do because I’m still a minor. I figure I’ll have less trouble if I’m prepared.” “…Still, I don’t think even your dad would be so inhumane as to use your school tuition and living expenses as tools to force you to listen to him…” Certainly, Daiki seemed like an uncompromising, unwavering type of person. Even an outsider like Amane could tell, although it seemed harsh to say so. But at the same time, Daiki also seemed like a person with a very strong sense of responsibility and was a respectable adult. If Daiki had been the type to restrict everything to bend his son to his will, then even Amane would probably have protested rather than hold back because he was an outsider. But the fact was that, even though there were certain restrictions in place, he didn’t go so far as to coerce Itsuki to do anything. They had come to an impasse, but Daiki was unlikely to do anything to force Itsuki to comply with his wishes. Itsuki must have known that, too, because he let out a heavy, exasperated sigh. “My dad is just as stubborn as me, but, as a person, I don’t think he’d do anything too extreme, you know? That said, if something happened and I needed to get away from him quickly, I figured I’d be helpless if I didn’t have some funds of my own. For better or worse, I understand very well how stubborn my dad can be.” “…You can be difficult, too, you know.” “I do know. But this is how I am.” Itsuki, who always seemed flippant but had prudent and unshakable convictions, tried to act aloof as he said this, but it was obvious his words were built on a foundation of severe distress. Amane could see he possessed a certain type of stubbornness, which meant he wouldn’t yield, even to his father’s words. He knew this was absolutely not the moment to tell Itsuki he resembled his father, so Amane just smiled in his heart. He could see Chitose casually strolling over to them, apparently back from her errand, so he reverted to his usual expression. “What’s going on over here? What are you talking about with such serious expressions?” “Hmm? I was just complaining that we won’t be able to hang out much since Amane will be busy with work, too.” Completely shielding Chitose from their conversation, Itsuki smiled broadly and quickly suggested a different topic, so Amane got on board with it and continued the ruse. “Well,” he said, “I’ve kind of got a lot of shifts, so I don’t know…” “You’re right to worry,” Chitose said. “If you start spending all your time at work, I’m gonna swoop in and steal lonely Mahiru’s heart, you hear?” “I wouldn’t like that, so I’ll be really careful not to ignore Mahiru.” “Mm, good, you do that.” “Don’t get carried away, now.” “Oww!” Chitose’s attitude revealed she had her personal opinion about Mahiru’s situation, and when Amane poked her forehead with the tip of his finger, she staggered and wailed dramatically. “Itsukiii!” Itsuki cackled with laughter and consoled Chitose by stroking her head. It seemed like Amane and Itsuki had gotten away with avoiding any questions about their earlier behavior. Chitose, who was sulking adorably and holding her forehead even though he hadn’t put much force behind the poke, stuck her tongue out when Amane’s eyes landed on her. “Don’t look at me with that face, geez!” “It’s your own fault for being so bossy, Chitose.” “Oh, what do you care? It’s between me and Mahiru anyway. More importantly, we expect you to eventually invite us to the café!” “I don’t want to invite you at all anymore.” “What?! But we want to see our friend in all his glory!” “Can you promise not to make fun of me or sit there with a goofy grin?” Chitose averted her eyes, so he glared at her hard. From the look on her face, her thoughts were quickly becoming preoccupied with something else. “Those sorts of things… No, I don’t think I’ll do them.” “And you think I’m going to trust you when you can’t even look me in the eye and say that?” “Come on! You’ve never given us your customer service smile before, Amane. I want to see it and Yuuta’s, too!” “Ah-ha-ha, same here!” Yuuta must have seen that Amane and the others were gathered together, and he had come over to join the group at some point. He nodded, wearing a gentle smile. For some reason, Yuuta had also joined in. Amane stood there with his cheek twitching. He didn’t know what Yuuta was thinking. “I’m sure you must have seen my customer service smile the other day…” “Mahiru was there, so that was a revised version, and it wasn’t directed at us, either.” “Now, look…” “It’s fine, it’s fine. What do you say, Yuuta?” “Sure!” “Why are you colluding with her on something like that? It’s not fair, is it, for me to be the only one who gets stared at and laughed at… I thought we could go through it together, but you’ve got club activities, Kadowaki. You don’t even have a job!” Yuuta, the track club ace, was busy with club activities, so naturally, he didn’t have time for a part-time job. Even though the track-and-field club at their school maintained a very reasonable training schedule that wasn’t too demanding, if he started working part-time on his days off school, it would wear him out. If Amane had been in Yuuta’s position, he definitely wouldn’t have taken a job. Incidentally, Chitose did not seem to have gotten permission to work from her parents. It sounded like they had discussed it extensively and concluded there was no way she had the time and energy to spare for a job when they were worried about her schoolwork even at the best of times. Amane was in no position to be critical of other people, but considering Chitose’s grades weren’t all that good, what her parents had said seemed quite reasonable. “Yuuta, you definitely seem like you’d be a good fit for service-type jobs,” Chitose said. “Kadowaki’s always smiling and conducts himself politely, so I can imagine it pretty easily,” Amane agreed. “Setting aside the question of whether I’m actually going to get a job, smiling all the time makes the whole room brighter. Isn’t that nice?” “Well, sure, I guess. Whenever you’re smiling, everyone around you naturally starts smiling, too… Well, they get cheerful…? I guess.” “Why was that a question?” “Who knows?” Some people, guys and girls, were more burdened with jealousy than anything else. But that wasn’t Yuuta’s fault, and it was something he seemed to try not to think about. Recently, in their classroom, both the envy toward Yuuta and the scramble for his attention had calmed somewhat, but he still seemed to be receiving many come-ons from girls in other classes who liked him. Amane gazed at Yuuta. He was again keenly aware being popular must be a tough gig. For instance, if Yuuta started working at a café, it would definitely make him popular even outside their school. Amane could imagine women would start visiting his workplace frequently, so it was unlikely Yuuta would try working part-time. “Well, at any rate, I’m hoping Fujimiya gets comfortable enough in his job to invite us all soon.” “…So you’re excited to go, too, Kadowaki?” “Sure, well, it’s like this. If my friend goes through all the trouble to get a job, I want to see it, right? Right, Itsuki?” “Eep, Yuuta’s putting pressure on me.” Amane had figured if Itsuki hadn’t told him where he worked until just now, he had probably not told Yuuta, either, and sure enough, it sounded like he hadn’t. Chitose must have known exactly where Itsuki worked because she sounded exasperated. She said, “Itsuki doesn’t even want me to get anywhere near the place,” and stared at him as well. She didn’t seem inclined to offer him any help. “That’s because I don’t want you to see me working so seriously!” “You basically just admitted you usually never take anything seriously, though.” “That’s because I’m not a serious dude!” “…I don’t know…” It was true Itsuki was always kidding and messing around, but everyone there knew that was not all there was to him. For that very reason, Yuuta’s smile also looked faintly bitter. He seemed a little exasperated with Itsuki, but being who he was, he wasn’t going to say anything and just shrugged once. Yuuta soon reverted to his usual smile and turned his gaze on Amane. “In any case, I’m looking forward to seeing you work a part-time job, Fujimiya.” “…Your smile’s kind of scary, though.” “Ah-ha-ha!” Yuuta looked at Amane and warned him not to leave him out when the time came. Amane shivered and sidestepped the pressure, saying, “That’s a long way off anyway.”
Chapter 161
16 min read