Would my kind, honorable schoolmate like to join us?
Who says that? That your friend? Hop in! maybe. To which someone like Toyota might reply, Really? Let’s go! Except in reality, he stood two paces behind me and made no attempt to move.
“N-No, I’m good.”
“You sure? Okay, Sacchan, get in.”
Through the now open door, he pulled on my bag, practically dragging me into the car by force. Toyota waved at us with a fake smile. He made no attempt to save me. Then again, that easygoing attitude of his was why we were friends at all.
Then he spoke again. “Right, then. Farewell!”
Who says that? But just as the thought crossed my mind, he was already waving, sending the car down the road. The students gathered on the street reflexively waved back. It was a very posh wave.
I suspected it wasn’t the car that caught their attention, but rather the appearance of the person inside.
“Fasten your seat belt. Oh, and don’t tell anyone about our agreement. Even if I didn’t mention it until now,” he said, unbothered by my state of shock.
“Right.”
I decided to keep the fact I told Toyota this was my part-time job to myself. I guess if this is a scam, he wouldn’t want people knowing about it.
“You’re supposed to be my friend, so no one can know I’m paying you to be here. Also, you can be casual around me. We’re the same age, after all.”
“You’re also my employer.”
“Then I’ll make it a rule: No polite speech. Friends don’t speak like that. It’d be too obvious.”
“Eat my entire ass.”
“That’s the spirit.”
His smile was so obnoxious, I had to avert my eyes.
In the driver’s seat sat the woman who’d opened the door for me last night. Our eyes met in the rearview mirror, and she smiled at me.
“Since you’ll be spending time with me after school, do you mind if we pick you up each day?” he asked. “Your school happens to be on my way home anyway.”
“I’d rather you didn’t.”
“But this way you’d have more time to study. I saw your mock exams from last year, and they were pretty tragic. You’ve barely gone to school this year, right? You have a lot to catch up on.”
“Sounds like this isn’t up to me to decide...”
“This is your job, after all.”
“And that means you get to investigate my exam results from a year ago? That’s private information, you know.”
“I won’t do it again. I only needed them this time.”
His expression didn’t change. How much did he know? Money could buy you access to anything nowadays.
What else had he learned?
I briefly weighed the possibilities but soon realized that would get me nowhere. If he looked into my family, he’d know. If he approached me with that knowledge in mind, it wasn’t something I had to worry about.
Eventually the car arrived at the Nishikawa residence, effortlessly slipping through the automatic front gates, and I came face-to-face with the mansion for the second time. It seemed even more blindingly white than yesterday.
When we came to a stop, the front door opened as if on cue. A woman of remarkable resemblance greeted us, and I immediately knew she was related to my new employer. He urged me to get out of the car, and when I finally did, she smiled at me with a clear smile I already knew all too well.
“Welcome back, Sacchan. You too, Kadzuki.”
I practically flinched. Even the way she talked was similar. I didn’t have the energy to correct her about my name.
“Good to see you. Sacchan, this is my older sister,” he said, entering the mansion.
He removed his shoes, neatly tucked them away, put on his slippers, and just like that, he was gone. Only his sister and I remained.
“I’m Nishikawa Kasumi. Nice to meet you.”
“Yes, nice to meet you too,” I said, not quite sure what the point of this was.
She smiled wider and answered my unasked question. “I’ll be your private tutor from now on.”
I managed to keep myself from wincing. How was I supposed to study surrounded by these beautiful, upper-class faces?
Despite my exasperation, I proceeded to the living room that I’d passed through yesterday. There, I saw a little girl—perhaps old enough to be in kindergarten, I guessed—dart behind my “new friend.” They didn’t look alike. A distant relative, maybe?
As I pondered this, a voice came from behind me. “I’m back, Chisato. Did you say hello?”
It was the woman who’d picked me up from school. At that, the little girl bowed.
“I’m...Masudzuki Chisato.”
“And I’m Masudzuki Yuria.” Standing next to her, the driver lady bowed as well. “I apologize for the late introduction. I’m the Nishikawa family’s driver. This is my daughter.”
Masudzuki-san, her daughter, and Nishikawa’s sister all smiled, and it was like all three of them reflected his expression. Four perfectly alike smiles, altogether amplifying my dizziness.
“We’ll be spending lots of time together from now on, Sacchan.”
Five years of two hundred thousand yen per month—this offer had come at the perfect time. It wasn’t an unthinkably high sum, but it was out of reach for the average high school kid. It was enough to make a modest living, but a spending spree would eat up the budget for the month.
I could make more money living a normal high school life than working the graveyard shift doing physical labor.
That sounded too good to be true.
It was the best and the worst sort of work at the same time.
On our way home, Masudzuki-san addressed me from the driver’s seat. “Please don’t hate Kadzuki-san.”
I gave her a half-hearted acknowledgment from the back seat. I didn’t want to hear it.
“He’s a really good kid,” she added.
Again, I offered a noncommittal nod. I had no energy left; fatigue had made itself at home in my body. It was largely mental exhaustion. With help from the sister of that “really good kid,” I revisited material from middle school while he studied senior-level topics. Eventually, their parents came home. They had the same gentle aura and endlessly kind smiles that he did.
From there, I found myself joining them for dinner, having small talk, and listening to him play the piano. When I finally got to leave, it was past 9 p.m.
“Do good kids usually force their employees to drive people around this late?” I asked. It came out harsher than I’d intended.
It was as dark inside the car as it was outside.
I told him I could get home on my own, but he instructed Masudzuki-san to drive me. The road to hell is paved with good intentions. Such a fancy car pulling up to my run-down apartment building would only attract unwanted attention.
“Don’t worry about me. I enjoy this job, and I live right by the mansion. I have the Nishikawas to thank for that.”
I glanced into the rearview mirror, and Masudzuki-san’s smile reflected back at me. That same innocent smile as his...