Going Out (1)
"Chika-chika."
The next morning, I was brushing my teeth through a fog of leftover sleep when a ringtone cut through the bathroom.
♪♬♩
So my phone still remembered how to do its job. Hearing from anyone even once a day was rare enough.
I picked up with the toothbrush still parked in my mouth.
Master
Master? What was he doing calling this early? He ought to have been at the office by now.
"Mmph-mmph. Moshi moshi?"
"Ah— Yukino?"
"Yes, Master. What's going on this early in the morning?"
"Early in the morning...? No. That isn't the point."
Just how late was it supposed to be, for him to sound like that? I checked the screen. Eleven a.m. Was that not early?
I had only just gotten up, and I had been quietly proud of myself for rising at a decent hour.
Not that the hour was what mattered. Maybe I was imagining it, but the voice on the other end sounded distinctly cornered.
"I'm really sorry to ask, but could I trouble you for a favor?"
"Of course. Between us? Anytime."
"...Between us?"
"Yes! Our unbreakable master-and-disciple bond! Teacher and student! You're my master!"
The declaration must have landed harder than I expected, because Master went quiet for a stretch.
"...Right. Anyway, it's urgent."
"Hai. What's going on?"
"When I left for work this morning, I grabbed the wrong documents. I have a meeting first thing this afternoon, and I can't walk in without the file..."
"So you need me to bring the papers over."
He let out a sigh that sounded thoroughly ashamed of itself, but he didn't deny it.
"Yes. Would that be possible?"
"Of course. Consider yourself lucky watashi happens to be home!"
The truth was I almost never left the house. He didn't know that and call me on purpose... did he?
"Thank you! I'll text you the details."
"Ryoukai~."
I hung up, washed up in a hurry, and by the time I was done, Master's texts had already come in.
I ran a rough clock in my head. It was 11:10 now. If I grabbed the file and caught a cab... even allowing for the distance to his company, I would make it before lunch was over.
Lunch at an office ran from twelve to one, right? I had never actually worked in one. Still, school and the army had both eaten at twelve, so it was probably the same.
In a situation like this, showing up in whatever I had slept in would not make a great impression. Suppose I ran into one of Master's coworkers.
Tsk. Who's that sloppy-looking woman? What? She's Employee Bae's acquaintance?!
What if he ended up getting iced out over it?
What? Things like that don't happen at companies?
How would I know! I have never set foot in an office in my life. I am unemployed!
Which meant I needed to look at least halfway presentable. I stood in front of the closet, dithered for a moment, and pulled one outfit free.
"This should be enough, right?"
There was no time to linger. I hurried out and went straight next door, punching in the code Master had sent.
Standing there like that left me with a strangely guilty feeling, as if I were a burglar. What if someone happened to walk by and got the wrong idea?
Then I would have to wave my hands and start explaining, naturally.
"Ah, it isn't like that! Do I live here? Well— no, I don't..."
"We're family! Family with whom? ...Eh? I'm not his wife... Oh. Thank you...?"
Yeah. That future did not look promising.
I was probably going to need rehearsal for the next time something this sudden dropped on my head, so I wouldn't stand there stammering.
He would change the password later, wouldn't he? If a stranger knew the code to my place, I would not be able to sleep.
I opened the door. Naturally, no one was home. Master was at the office, and Little Hana would be at kindergarten by now.
Stepping into someone else's empty apartment sent a pointless little shiver through me. The fact that he had handed over the code so readily— did that mean he trusted me that much?
I shoved the thought aside. Get the papers and get out.
Following his directions, I went into the large bedroom at the very back.
Come to think of it, this was my first time in Master's room. Whenever I came over, I only ever saw the kitchen, the living room, and Little Hana's room. There had never been a reason to step in here.
The first look at Master's bedroom was... ordinary.
Not that I had been expecting anything in particular. It was so thoroughly ordinary, though, that the air went out of the moment a little.
He had said the documents would be on the dresser.
"Ah— found them!"
I scooped up the file and turned to leave. That was when something in the corner of the dresser caught my eye, and my whole body stopped.
"Ah..."
A photograph of a happy-looking couple. The man was a face I knew. The woman was someone I had never seen.
And yet there was no missing how much she looked like Hana.
I picked the picture up and looked closer.
"She's beautiful..."
Master was smiling with his whole face. That smile was so happy it was almost dazzling, brighter than anyone else's in the world— and maybe that was why my eyes kept drifting back to it, whether I meant them to or not.
Word came that Yukino was almost there, so Hyunsoo went down to the first floor of the building to wait for her.
Someone came toward him.
"Assistant Manager!"
"Ah, Shin-hye."
It was Yoo Shin-hye, the new hire who had joined only recently. Bright, capable, and easy on the eyes, she had already collected more than a few admirers among the men in the office— and she was especially warm toward Hyunsoo, her senior.
"Heading out for lunch?"
"Hehe. I was actually looking for you, Assistant Manager. I was thinking we could eat together."
"Ah... I'd like that. But I've got something urgent right now."
"Do you? How long will it take? If it isn't too long, I'll wait!"
Hyunsoo could only offer an awkward smile. He would rather not have his coworkers see him meeting Yukino. It made no difference to him personally— but there were not many women who would enjoy being linked to a single father with a child.
That was when someone at the front entrance shot a hand into the air and came pattering straight toward them.
"Master!"
"Ah, Yukino, you ma—"
He turned toward the familiar voice, ready to greet her, and his mouth simply locked in place.
Any man who saw Yukino as she was just then would have done the same.
A softly swaying white dress, and long, straight black hair fine as silk, set off a purity and delicacy so complete it stole the thought right out of a person's head. Everyone on the first floor was looking at her and only her.
Could a celebrity walking in have commanded that kind of presence? A celebrity might have been more conventionally beautiful. They would not have been able to touch whatever it was she had.
Yukino, apparently so used to stares that they no longer registered, went straight to Hyunsoo.
"Here!"
"......"
"Master?"
"...Ah. Thank you."
"Come on. Between us, this is nothing!"
He had heard the same line that morning. He could not have said why it landed so differently now.
Hyunsoo slapped his own cheek hard and gave his head a violent shake, trying to drag himself back to earth. She watched him, worry creeping into her eyes.
"...You're not mad that I was late, are you?"
"Late? Not at all. And I don't get angry."
"That's a relief! Um, but, Master..."
"Yes."
Yukino hesitated, reading his face, then leaned in so suddenly they were nearly touching. Her scent hit him, dizzying. She whispered.
"Watashi doesn't have any money... Like, none at all... Hing."
The air went out of the moment at once. Not that he had been hoping for anything in particular. He just had not expected that. Hyunsoo felt briefly disgusted with himself for whatever it was he had been waiting to hear.
Fortunately, he at least managed to come back to his senses. The other men in the lobby were still caught on her and showed no sign of climbing out. Looking at their faces, they did not seem to want to.
"Assistant Manager?"
"...Ah, Shin-hye."
"So you two know each other, I see."
The girl who had spoken was suddenly using a much cooler voice than before. Hyunsoo did not catch it, but any woman would have seen what sat in her eyes: a hard, bright jealousy, and something like inferiority under it. Yukino, of course, did not have the faintest idea.
"Well then, I'll go have lunch. See you later."
In the end it was the new hire who stepped away first. Once she was gone, Yukino blinked her round eyes from one of them to the other.
"...Did watashi do something wrong?"
"Uh. Well. I don't think so?"
After that, it went as smoothly as a face-to-face deal off a secondhand app. She handed over the documents. Hyunsoo paid her for the trip.
She made no attempt to refuse the two gold-colored bills.
"Ehehe..."
If anything, she let out a frankly mercenary little laugh once they were in her hands— and even that, to everyone watching, only looked cute.
"I'll be going then! You ganbare too, Master!"
"W-wait!"
Hyunsoo caught her as she turned to leave, hesitated a beat, and then offered it carefully.
"...Would you like to have lunch before you go?"
"Lunch? Hmm..."
"It's on me."
"What are you standing around for!? Why aren't we leaving already!"