Chapter 18

Hirano straightened his yukata and put his wig back on. “Sorry, Kagi, I took it too far there. Go catch up with your friend.” “Sure, no problem.” “And, uh, sorry you had to see that,” he said to the two accidental witnesses. “Don’t apologize! It was a feast for my eyes!” one of them called back. Whatever that was supposed to mean. Maybe she meant because Kagiura was so handsome. “Sorry. Guess I sort of killed the haunted-house mood.” Hirano rifled through Sasaki’s bag, which was sitting nearby, and helped himself to a couple of the candies inside, offering them to the two young ladies. “I hope you’ll take this candy with my apologies.” His makeup had been ruined when his wig came off, and he was trying to keep that side of his face hidden. He couldn’t help the sense that handing out candy while looking like that was horrific enough, but it wasn’t nice to scare people while you were trying to apologize. “Eep! I mean, sure.” The girl who’d cried out earlier still sounded a bit out of sorts. No sooner had Sasaki (aka Hanako) opened his bag after they got off their shift than he noticed something was wrong. “I sense I have fewer candies in here,” he said. “I gave a couple to some customers.” “And why would you do that?” Sasaki seemed awfully suspicious, considering he was always sharing his candies, but Hirano wasn’t sure exactly how much to tell him. He decided to give him the short version: “A bribe to shut them up.” He didn’t feel like talking about another guy falling on top of him. “That sounds awfully shady…” “Huh? No, it’s all aboveboard. That reminds me, give me another one. I’ll pay you for it.” “Ahhh, just take one. Anything but the milk flavor.” “No, I’ll definitely pay you for this one. This one’s for me personally.” Sasaki responded to Hirano’s insistence with an odd look. Suspicious, like there was something on his mind. “Is it just me, or are you acting a little funny, Hirano?” It felt distinctly weird to have a guy in makeup, grinning nonstop, say you seemed “a little funny.” “What? Why would you say that?” Hirano said. “It’s like you’re even better at looking after others than before.” Hirano realized that at this rate he was headed straight for a ribbing. “Dunno what you’re talking about.” He pointedly looked away and started digging in his wallet. There, some change. He held the coins out to Sasaki in exchange for the candy. There was plenty of it still in his bag. If Hirano was, as Sasaki said, getting better at looking after others, it was probably because of Kagiura. Living with him had taught Hirano that even when he was really worried about the guy, just telling him what to do didn’t have any effect. Plus, he’d learned about joy—and about gratitude. He’d started to think lately that the reason his parents could communicate so naturally and easily was because they’d been doing it since before he was born, sharing with each other and valuing each other. He should communicate those same things to his friends. “Oh yeah. You remember that thing before summer break?” Hirano was still a little bashful about it, but he decided he could tell Sasaki now and decided to forge ahead. “Hmm?” “The thing behind the dorm. You all healed up?” All but obsessed with finding the culprit and wrapping the matter up before summer break started, Hirano had completely forgotten to say what he was supposed to say to Sasaki. “What, that old thing? That’s been better for ages.” “Oh yeah? Well, thanks for helping out that underclassman.” Hirano was trying to sound casual, but Sasaki was openly amazed. “Never thought I’d hear something like that out of you, Hirano. Shock of the century!” “Aw, shaddup.”