“I’ll be back there as soon as I can,” Mitsuhiro replied before ending the call.
He wasn’t just worried about his wife. This fulfilling, exciting work had just been rudely interrupted, and he was angry. Who cared if it smelled bad? This was an important assignment he was chasing. Ever since she got pregnant, Miyoko had constantly been complaining about one thing or another. Couldn’t she put up with something smelling bad for a little bit?
On the other hand, he was also shocked at himself for thinking that way. She was experiencing a whole wealth of physical changes all at once—how could he just order her not to change? Mitsuhiro had assorted ways to escape his stresses, but Miyoko didn’t. In fact, she was always the type who went out of her way not to cause trouble for her husband—and Mitsuhiro himself didn’t want to just stop caring about his wife and children like his father did. At least, that’s what he thought. Used to think.
Mitsuhiro sat there confused, unable to understand why he was so angry with Miyoko, when Kosuke leaned forward from the back seat.
“You can’t help it. It’s natural to get angry at times like this. Here you are, the breadwinner of the family, out handling a huge job, and now you’re having to deal with all these stupid complaints.”
“I know, right? It pisses me off.”
“Well, you’re partly to blame yourself. You’ve been spoiling your wife and child. Discipline is important, you know? It’s what you need if you want to keep a household running smoothly. You have to think of it as part of your job and do it properly, or else you’ll get interrupted like this when you’re doing something really important.”
“Yeah. I hear you. I’ll try.”
Kosuke smiled and patted Mitsuhiro on the shoulder, then leaned back in his rear seat.
Mitsuhiro took a deep breath to calm himself. A pleasant smell emanated from the fast-food bag on his lap. It made him hungry, but apparently, he wasn’t going to be afforded the luxury of having a decent meal in peace today, so he plopped the bag on the passenger seat and called Takenaka.
“Wow. Okay. Yeah, no helping that,” Takenaka said with a sigh. “Gotta wonder if it was too early for you to have two kids, huh?”
Mitsuhiro apologized and ended the call. Then he was struck by the urge to ask Takenaka what he meant by that last comment. When would be the right time to have two kids? Miyoko was in her thirties now. What did he mean, too early? He trusted his boss a lot, and now he was saying that it was wrong for employees to enjoy having a family? That really stuck in his craw. It was probably just a frustrated slip of the tongue, yes, but that slip was more than enough to shake his trust in Takenaka.
After returning the company car to the parking lot, he went to the office to bring back the time sheet and sign out early, then went home without saying goodbye to anyone. He was still angry as he rode the train, holding the bag with his now-cold burger combo. The only thing that saved him was Kosuke’s presence nearby.
“Y’know, back in the day, people mocked men who couldn’t discipline their families. You know what your bosses are gonna think if you just spoil your wife and kids, right? But I gotta say, your boss has some problems, too. Relying on you alone for such an important task like this…”
“Maybe I should ask for more staff? I thought I could handle this alone…”
“Really, everybody in your department should be attending to that hole, you know. Everybody in your whole damn company. That’s how important it is. And that’s why you should take the initiative here and set an example for everyone else, okay? Then the tide will really turn. Everyone will wanna be like you. You’ll be the one who moves the whole company.”
Kosuke’s words had a powerful effect on Mitsuhiro. Now he felt like the board of directors, not his boss, had given him this very special assignment.
“All right. I’ll do my best, Dad.”
He got off the train and hurried out of the station. He was worried about Sae being alone, but he also wanted to get to the burger in his bag as soon as possible.
Really, why didn’t they just take Sae to the hospital with them in the first place? Did his mother-in-law want to say she had a granddaughter without actually putting in any of the work required to raise her? He stewed over it as he entered the condo building. He noticed that same parched, desiccated smell as he passed through the automatic doors—it was pretty intense, in fact—but he didn’t pay much attention to it. Instead of fear, he felt anger and hunger—and thirst.
Part of him knew he wasn’t in a very stable mental state, but he believed he’d calm down after talking to Sae and eating at home.
As soon as he opened the door to his condo, he was struck by the same strange burning smell as the night before and saw smoke drifting from the ceiling of the hallway. He threw down everything he was holding and ran over in his shoes, almost bumping into Sae as she came out of the living room crying.
“Sae! What’s wrong?” he asked, holding her. But Sae flinched and stiffened in his arms. She stared up at him, and her expression was full of fear.
She wasn’t afraid of what was happening in the apartment but of the man in front of her. Mitsuhiro had just yelled loudly at her yesterday, and she was afraid of being yelled at again. So she froze, unable to explain what was happening.
He understood well how she felt. He had been the same when he was a child.
Discipline. He felt like Kosuke was standing right behind him, telling him to do it. Discipline her now. It’s your fault she started that fire.
He had to put it out. His rational mind attempted to push aside his anxious feelings. There was a fire somewhere in the house. If he didn’t put it out before the alarm or the sprinklers went off, it’d become a huge scene.
“Sae, go outside and wait for me.”
Mitsuhiro let go of Sae’s hand. Then, just like yesterday, he took the fire extinguisher out from the shoe rack, covered his mouth with his jacket sleeve, and rushed into the living room. He had learned in a company-evacuation drill that toxic gas rises up from the floor, so he quickly looked around the room, keeping his head as low as possible. He immediately found the source of the crackling sound and smoke.
It was the electric fan. He had no idea one of those could ever catch fire.
Mitsuhiro stopped pressing his jacket sleeve against his face, pulled the pin out of the fire extinguisher, aimed the nozzle at the fan, and squeezed the lever. He sprayed it out from a distance at first, closing in as the fire died down.
Once it was out, he set down the extinguisher and unplugged the fan itself. Clenching his lips tightly to hold his breath, he opened all the windows, along with the sliding door leading to the balcony, and went to the kitchen to turn the exhaust fan up to maximum.
Breathing heavily under the roaring fan, he grimaced at the unpleasant smell. The air was filled with it—burning metal, plastic, and carpet, along with that now-familiar distinct, intensely dry smell. Returning to the living room, he confirmed once more that the fan was no longer burning. However, just like the microwave last night, that unmistakable, crematorium-like smell was clearly emanating from the fan.
Hot, fresh air blew in through the window. Still grimacing, he thought again about how weird it was that the fan had caught fire. Come to think of it, he remembered hearing on the news that fans could catch fire after being left unmaintained for years and years…but he didn’t think the fan in this place was that old. They’d better contact the manufacturer. Maybe it was defective and a recall was in order.
With that in mind, Mitsuhiro cranked the AC to the lowest temperature possible and set the AC’s fan speed to maximum. Miyoko had always insisted that they use the electric fan in conjunction with the AC to help it cool more efficiently. Sae had probably left the fan on all day, since she thought that was the normal thing to do.
“Daddy, are you okay?” Sae timidly called out from the hallway. She was standing with half her body hidden behind the door, looking scared that she was about to get scolded.
You told her to stay outside! Kosuke grimly pointed out right next to him. She can’t do what she’s told. That’s why the fan caught fire. You have to be careful with fire. Get it through her head already.