What I liked the most about Tousuke was how easy he was to read, but here what I saw was a very easily readable look of criticism, which was accompanied by a, “Come again? Sorry, I don’t catch your drift.”
“I mean, I told you it was stupid. I’ve thought about it though.” I punctuated my next words carefully in order to make them as easy as possible to understand. “I thought, there must be some idiot professionals, right? Like, if we gave Hiro’s name or Ten’s name, and gave our contact info, and told them, oh, we’ve taken over the register now, then someone might actually be stupid enough to give us the register instead.”
“You really think there’s anyone that stupid?”
“No idea. However…” I took out my phone and showed him the inbox on my burner account. “This is our only lead.” There, on the screen, was a whole list of e-mails that very kindly provided me with their company names and the names of their HR people, and their contact information. “Of course, maybe they’re all more capable than I take them for, and maybe they all have strong crisis management skills, and no one will actually take us up on that.”
“Only if we’re being optimistic.”
Exactly, I thought.
“But anyway, I think this is a pretty realistic approach. I’m gonna make some more burner accounts and give it a shot, but…you in? If I write up all the contents of the e-mails and everything, will you come with me to a net café or something and just help me send them out?” I looked Tousuke in the eye as I made this impassioned plea. He averted his eyes a moment, and then looked back at me.
“…All right. You are the commander, after all.”
I was relieved to have my friend’s assent, as well as some direction for the time being. It was fine if we didn’t have a real path, as long as we had a destination.
“Oh, and as a token of my appreciation, I won’t tell Pon-chan that you’re into her.”
“Uh, yeah, just…please don’t.”
How curious it was just then that it seemed like Tousuke had something caught in his throat.
Regarding what happened next, I think it will speed things along if I just start from the end. In summary: there was an idiot present.
Shockingly, even to me, one of the HR people I had sent messages to politely responded to me the very next day.
My e-mail to them had informed them that I had been newly appointed as the directory manager and was checking in on the present state of things, asking them to provide their current version of the register so that I could confirm everything. This HR person replied that they were using the latest version of the register as posted to a file-sharing service. They were even so kind as to include the URL.
The moment I got the mail, I called Tousuke. Tomorrow, we would meet at his place and formulate the next step of our plan.
“Sure, anytime tomorrow is fine. Trash pickup is tomorrow, so I’ll be up early.”
“I’ll pop by at some point then.”
“Sure thing!”
It was around noon when I rang a rather nonchalant-seeming Tousuke. I ate some convenience store noodles with shirasu as I chatted on the phone with him. My heart was smoldering with intensity. I had not yet accessed the URL that I had been provided, not wanting to be traced.
When I went to work that afternoon, I found that Kawahara-san and I were sharing a shift again. It seemed she had continued attending Moai meetings frequently since that fateful evening, and I could not help but smile as I greeted her, the corners of her own mouth far more upturned than before when she saw me.
“Something good happen to you, Tabata-san?”
“Huh? Oh, I found a silver angel in my Chocoball.”
“Whoa, seriously?”
Little else transpired during our shift beyond that conversational misdirection. As always, Kawahara-san was waiting outside in the parking lot to greet me; we said our farewells, and I headed home. I munched a convenience store bento as I sat down at my computer, checking through my various burner e-mails, when I found yet another sincere reply from an HR rep. Idiot, I muttered towards my LCD screen, but of course, the screen gave no response.
For some reason, that night, I had a dream about Pon-chan and Kawahara-san. The fact that I’d had such an odd dream meant that I was not sleeping well; I always felt a bit off on such mornings. There was not much that I could do about something that I had only dreamt, so I pushed through the off feeling to change my clothes and eat a pastry and lazily check my social media, finally leaving the house around ten.
The sun was harsher today than I expected, so I abandoned the idea of riding my bike, instead detouring to the subway station. I appreciated being able to bypass several kilometers of travel just by riding in an air-conditioned box for a few minutes, avoiding ending up drenched in sweat. I climbed the stairs back to the outside to find that the sun was still just as it had been several stations ago, bitter about the distance that still remained between here and Tousuke’s building. But obviously I lacked the financial means to demand that roofs be installed over every sidewalk in the area, so I would just have to bear with it. I resigned myself to walking in the blazing sun.
I had not walked along this road since the night I walked Kawahara-san home.
That evening, when I returned to collect my things, Pon-chan was still there. I wondered what the two of them had talked about while I was not around. When I showed up, they were just worried about Kawahara-san.
After a brief walk, I came upon the same FamilyMart that I had previously used as a save point. I stopped in again, picking up a bottle of tea to prevent myself from getting heatstroke, along with two canned coffees and two bags of snacks. I put in my chip card to pay, took my items, and stepped back outside. Just as I started heading towards Tousuke’s place, still cursing the sun, I halted.
On the opposite side of the roadway, Pon-chan was walking along the sidewalk, from the opposite direction from the station. She was looking at her phone and did not notice me.
What was she doing in a place like this? I thought she lived near a station that would require her to make a transfer to even end up around here. As I wondered whether I ought to call out to her, Pon-chan continued toward the station. Perhaps because she was sweating, somehow her makeup did not look as put-together as usual. Of course, there was no need for me to share that impression with her, so I quit watching her retreating form and returned to heading towards Tousuke’s place.
By the time I arrived at Tousuke’s apartment, which was rather upscale for a student, sweat was dripping down my back. Even just stepping into the shade of the entrance was enough to cool me down immensely.
I climbed a number of stairs up to Tousuke’s abode, which I had not visited in several days. I rang the intercom, hearing a noise from inside, followed by several seconds of apparently frantic activity. The door lock clacked open, and Tousuke appeared, wearing only his underpants and a towel around his neck.
“You’re early.”
“You in the middle of something?”
“Nah, I’m good.”
I followed him into the apartment. I removed my shoes and trailed after his naked back into the living room. I had been in this room many times before, but somehow it felt different.
There was a faint, sweet fragrance of something that was not soap or food.
“Ah.”
It occurred to me that several pieces of information I had acquired today were all fitting together, and a sound slipped from my mouth. I don’t know how it sounded to Tousuke, but he looked at my face.
“Kaede, I—”
“It’s cool,” I interrupted. “These sorts of things happen sometimes.”
Tousuke winced and said, “Well, guess so. Something like that…”
I borrowed the restroom to wash my hands, finding an empty contact case in the corner—something that Tousuke, with his perfect vision, had no need for.
I really should have teased him, but there was no time for that today.
I returned to the room and informed him of the snacks and coffee I had bought. Tousuke, now in shorts and a T-shirt, brought me some chilled juice instead. It felt like we were two friends settling in to play video games on our summer vacation, but in fact this was where our real battle began.