Keigo was kind. That kindness hadn’t changed at all since they were kids. And that was exactly why Nagi had never made a point of deciding if she loved him or hated him. If she decided she loved him, he would become her boyfriend. If she decided she hated him, they would grow apart. There weren’t any other options. That was why both choices utterly terrified her.
“…Nagi… Hey, Nagi!”
She looked up with a start. Keigo was looking at her suspiciously from the other side of the open door.
“We’ve reached our floor.”
“Oh, s-sorry… Ack!”
As she hurriedly moved to step out of the elevator, the doors began to mercilessly slide shut, and without thinking, she stepped back. Clank! An arm reached out and stopped the doors just before they banged into her.
“Close call!” Keigo muttered in surprise, shielding her from the doors with his body. His massive shoulders and muscular neck were right in front of her eyes. He was so close she could feel his heat. She was aware of her own heart practically leaping out of her chest.
“Why are you so spacey?” he asked, looking at her with a wry smile.
“No reason! I’m sorry—thank you!” she said in an unnaturally loud voice before slipping quickly past him. There was no way she could scream, “Why?! Because of you!”
“I’ve never been inside a veterinary hospital before. Hope none of the dogs bark at me. What if I’m so tall I scare them?”
Two weeks had passed since the New Year, and both the office and the city were back in the swing of things. That day, Nagi was doing some routine server maintenance for Karasuma Veterinary Hospital, an account she’d had for a while, and Keigo was with her. She’d been there many times, so she was used to it, but Keigo seemed unusually anxious about the situation. It was totally like him to be worried about animals even though he was fearless with humans.
I want to be the special person you take for granted.
Nothing unusual had happened between them since he’d said those words to her. Nagi was hyperaware of him, such as in the elevator a moment ago, but he was acting exactly like he always did. She actually felt a little let down, though it was good that things weren’t terribly awkward between them, since they still had to be together at work.
“Happy New Year, Dr. Karasuma!”
Although the head vet was still in his early thirties, she’d heard the locals thought highly of him. She had a good impression of him herself, since he always took the time to graciously interact with service providers like herself even though she was sure he must be busy.
“Nice to meet you. My name is Yuuki, with Sync. System.”
“The pleasure’s mine. I’m Karasuma, the head vet here.”
Sliding Keigo’s business card into his chest pocket, Dr. Karasuma led them to the room where the server was kept, then returned to his work with a polite nod.
“Let’s get started,” Nagi said. Normally, she performed the server maintenance herself, but that day she had asked Keigo to come along and was supervising as he did the work. As she expected, he checked each item efficiently, and they finished in half the time she’d planned for.
They went to look for Dr. Karasuma to tell him they were done and found him with a nurse in a room filled with dozens of cages, most likely for animals admitted to the hospital.
“Pardon us, Dr. Karasuma. We’re finished looking over the system,” Nagi said, and he glanced up at them. The nurse was apparently done speaking with him, and she nodded and left the room.
“Thanks for your work today. By the way, Ms. Yoroizuka, I have a question for you.”
“Yes?” she asked, standing up a little straighter.
“I was wondering… Are you leaving the company to get married?”
“What?!” she blurted out loudly, completely caught off guard. “N-no, why do you ask?!”
“I thought that might be the reason Mr. Yuuki came along with you today…”
Since she usually did this work by herself, he must have thought she was training Keigo in preparation for quitting her job.
“Oh, no, not at all! I don’t even have anyone to marry!” she said, shaking her head emphatically. “From now on, Yuuki and I will be performing the maintenance together, and I’ll continue to handle your account just as I have in the past.”
“Ah, I see,” Dr. Karasuma said, looking relieved.
He saw them all the way to the back door when they left. Only once the hospital was out of sight did Keigo speak up.
“…You don’t have anyone to marry, huh?” he said suggestively. She pouted and glared at him.
“I didn’t lie, did I?”
“No,” he said, smiling slightly. “By the way, are you free this Sunday? Want to go see a movie together?”
He held out two tickets. The second Nagi saw the movie title printed on them, she let out a surprised yelp.
“No way!”
Incredibly, they were tickets to an advance screening of a yakuza film she was dying to see.
“I won the ticket lottery,” he said.
“That’s amazing! I entered, too, but I lost!”
“Thought so. You were clearly upset the day they announced the results.”
He flashed her a wry smile, and she could feel her face heating up. She’d found out she lost while at work and had momentarily escaped to the women’s bathroom to get over the shock. It was embarrassing enough that Saotome, who happened to come in at the same time, had gotten all worried over her, but even Keigo had noticed?
“So? Wanna go?” he asked. She nodded right away.
“I’d love to! Thanks! I really, really wanted to see this movie.”
“Glad to hear it. Should we meet there?”
“Sure! I can’t wait. I heard the director was really picky about the action scenes. I wonder how they came out. I bet they’re amazing!” she said breathlessly, before suddenly falling silent. Keigo was gazing at her with impossibly kind eyes. For some reason, she felt mortified. How could she have missed how he felt about her when he looked at her so sweetly like that?
“Um, so…,” she mumbled.
“Yeah?” he prompted, tilting his head.
“Maybe this is a dumb question, but…um, what made you want to date me…?”
Not to brag, but she had somehow captured the love of a single man for twenty-some years despite having no outstanding features to speak of. The only thing she had to boast about was that she’d always been a fast runner.
“Well…”
Nagi waited nervously for a few seconds while Keigo appeared to think about it. Finally, he turned toward her.
“I can tell you if you want, but I have so many reasons, you’d probably be put off.”
What? That many?
“………Okay, then never mind.”
Part of her wanted to know and part of her didn’t, but she figured his answer would make her faint with embarrassment, so she ultimately decided to pass.
“Should I e-mail them to you, then?”
“Like I said, never mind!” she snapped back, which made him laugh out loud.
“Hey!”
It was 12:40 PM on Sunday when Nagi arrived at the train station near the movie theater where they’d agreed to meet. She found Keigo already there, waving excitedly at her. She stared at him in disbelief.
“What?” he asked with a half smile as she walked toward him. He was wearing a caramel-colored sweater and a navy-blue Chesterfield coat. She glanced at her watch. Yep, no doubt about it. They’d agreed to meet at one, which meant she was twenty minutes early. Normally, she aimed to arrive about five minutes ahead of time. But that day, she had finished getting ready more quickly than expected, and since she couldn’t stand to sit around waiting, she’d decided to head out.
“…When did you get here?” she asked, a little grumpily. Somehow he’d managed to beat her there.
“Ten minutes before I figured you’d get here, considering you probably ran out of other things to do and left early.”
The way he saw through everything she did was maddening.
“It won’t be starting for a while, but should we go?” Keigo asked.