November’s story starring the Red clan with a cameo by Awashima.
Kusanagi Thanksgiving Day by Miyazawa Tatsuki
On that day, all Awashima Seri had ordered was quite common gin fizz.
“Check please,” she said, and Kusanagi, who was polishing a gla.s.s behind the counter, couldn’t help his surprised expression as he lifted his head.
“What, are you leaving already? And here I’ve prepared a c.o.c.ktail of roasted sweet potato and anko specially for you, Seri-chan.”
“…” Awashima stopped in her tracks on her way to the door and, after a 2 second pause, replied, “…A shame.” She breathed out a sigh full of regret and sadder than her polite statement indicated. “But I have an early morning tomorrow, and before then I still need to finish the report I am to submit to an overseas investigation agency.”
“Report?”
“Yes, that’s right. I had to ask Fushimi-kun arrive early as well, for his English language knowledge and legal expertise.”
“I see. I guess he’s having it rough, too, huh.”
Kusanagi shifted his eyes to glance at the calendar, hanging on the bar’s wall. It was something that he would get every year from the Kamamoto liquor store, a business Kamamoto Rikio’s family ran, in lieu of the New Year card. The calendar featured various brands of the world’s beer on its month pages. Kusanagi found tomorrow’s date with his eyes. It was written in red to better show that it was supposed to be a day off.
“The rest of the world is having a day off tomorrow though,” he remarked more to himself in sympathy and awe.
Awashima smiled.
“There are plenty of jobs like ours though. We’re not the only ones suffering.”
Awashima’s words were clean cut and eloquent. Kusanagi flashed a smile of his own as he calculated the check.
“That’s true. Alright then, good luck at work.”
“Thanks. I’ll be sure to order the roasted sweet potato c.o.c.ktail next time.”
With that, Awashima exited the bar, leaving behind a faint scent of perfume and one final look of subtly smiling eyes.
Kusanagi’s mood improved for some reason or other as he started on the task of washing dishes while humming to himself.
From some gossip, he had a grasp on how Scepter 4 operated. Although occasionally the troops did find themselves at the mercy of peculiarities of their professional duties and their boss’ eccentricities, nonetheless they all were highly motivated to do their work to the best of their ability. (Seri-chan who always treated her work with all seriousness was really a girl to kill for)
Kusanagi’s good mood didn’t last long though.
The door bell resounded, and Homura members noisily crowded into the bar.
“Ah, Kusanagi-san, ‘sup.” Spearheading them was Kamamoto with his impressive build. He hoisted up in the air the plastic bags he held in his hands to greet Kusanagi. The bags were tightly packed with cans of shochu highball and beer and whatnot.
“Hey, move it already! Dontcha stand in the way when you’re so d.a.m.n huge!” The one to non-too-gently push Kamamoto out of the way with a foot to make his way inside was Yata. He looked inebriated and his face was red. “C"mon, let’s drink some more, Kamamoto!” Wrapping an arm around Kamamoto’s waist, he wobblingly dragged him towards one of the couches in the back of bar.
After the two, Chitose, Dewa, Bandou, Fujishima and a few more showed up on the doorstep, each with an armful of drinks and snacks.
“Hey, what’s this commotion about?” Kusanagi called out to them with annoyance written on his face.
“Ahh, Kusanagi-san, you see, we were drinking at a different place, and then we decided we should come here and have another drinking party here too, so can you lend us a corner for that? We brought our own drinks and snacks,” answered Totsuka from behind the line of the newcomers, grinning all the while. Although he didn’t look as plainly drunk as the others, his face with regular features was slightly flushed red.
“I don’t really mind.” It wasn’t anything new. “Did something happen to warrant a drinking party?”
“Uh-huh. San-chan’s set a personal record for holding one job, and we decided to celebrate it.”
“…That’s your pretext? No, wait, hold on a second. For how long has he been working that job, again?”
“Half a year. Amazing, right?” After nodding his head like he seriously admired that achievement with all his heart, Totsuka followed the others.
Kusanagi just stood there in blank amazement.
“Yeah, San-chan, that’s just amazing!”
“Yup, seriously awesome. My record is like 4 months at most.”
“I don’t even have a job at the moment.”
“Yeah, dude, same here.”
“Well, guys, let’s drink. We got no plans for tomorrow anyway.”
“I’ve a shift, but whatever, let’s just drink the night away!”
Kusanagi’s ears registered bits and pieces of the jovial conversation, topped off with a “Cheers!” as his guests toasted. How carefree.
“…Uuuugh.” A long and heavy sigh escaped Kusanagi’s lips at that. He felt the hopeless mindset gap all the more keenly because it was only earlier that he had talked to Awashima and witnessed her br.i.m.m.i.n.g with genuine dedication to her work.
In the end, they were partying until early morning, pa.s.sing out cold one by one. They had skipped the morning entirely, indulging in sleep, and only started finally waking up in small groups by noon.
The next thing they knew was that Kusanagi was nowhere to be found, replaced by Suoh sprawled on the couch. The redhead lay face up, with one knee up and one hand on his forehead to block sunlight. Strangely enough, his form was exuding strength and pa.s.sion.
Seeing their king relaxed and peacefully sleeping made the rest feel awash in pleasant languidness. So drinking some water to help deal with the intoxication, yawning and stretching, they started recalling the previous night.
If memory served, around 1 a.m. in the morning, Kusanagi had finally officially closed his establishment for the night and gone home with a strangely listless gait, and then, as far they the Homura members managed to recall, around 3 a.m. Suoh, who apparently was out drinking somewhere else, staggered in and joined the party.
Meanwhile, Anna came down from the second floor, took milk out of the fridge, poured herself a gla.s.s, and, taking a seat next to Suoh, started to silently sip the contents.
It was clear that she was used to it - to the bleary atmosphere and characteristic smell filling the place after a drinking party. So Totsuka, nursing a bottle of mineral water, wisely brought up another subject - of Kusanagi’s state last night.
“Kusanagi-san didn’t look too energetic, did he,” he said.
Last night, Totsuka was going through shochu diluted with hot water (pickled plum flavored) at a rather fast pace, but not a trace of inebriation could be detected in him anymore. In contrast, Yata, suffering from a 2 days worth hangover, was forcefully pressing both palms to his temples in an attempt to relieve his headache.
“Maybe he’s simply too busy lately?”
“Ahh, maybe he is,” Totsuka replied nonchalantly.
“Is Kusanagi-san that busy?” asked Homura’s youngest in terms of time of joining member, Eric, in wonder. He took a look around bar HOMRA before continuing, “Can’t say I’ve ever seen a big influx of customers here. If anything, I even wondered how this place stays afloat at all, if I’m honest.”
The senior members let a few unintentional chuckles slip out at the question as they smiled.
“Well, no wonder, I guess, if you look only at this bar. Except this place is something like Kusanagi-san’s hobby,” Chitose explained.
“You see,” Dewa spoke up seeing how Eric’s expression was still that of puzzlement, “in addition to this bar, Kusanagi-san owns 2 more bars, only they, uh, turn up far more profit. He also runs an Italian restaurant and a high cla.s.s j.a.panese cuisine restaurant.”
“!” Erick stared at him in amazement.
“Apparently, it all started when he rented from some relatives a plot of land to run an eatery, then invested the profit he had gained in stocks or something and multiplied it, and now he owns pretty big chunks of land,” Kamamoto explained further, grabbing a handful of leftover potato chips with one hand and tossing them into his mouth and chewing as he spoke. “My old man told me that in the Shuzume-cho Kusanagi-san has a reputation of a skilled and shrewd young businessman.”
“Well yeah, the apartment building he lives in is a prestigious one, too,” Bandou added. “No wonder he’s so popular with ladies.” The quiet statement oozed envy.
“At night, Kusanagi-san may stand here as a bartender, but during day he has to be the manager and proprietor,” Totsuka, who knew Kusanagi the longest, put the final stroke to the subject.
Eric now looked like the information had sunk in. Nodding deeply, he replied, “I see now. Then again, if you think about, it means the only one properly working here is Kusanagi-san.”
All the present fell dead silent. The sudden ringing quiet immediately alerted Eric to his mistake of touching upon a very sensitive subject. Except, the Homura members proved to be impossibly and persistently carefree.
“Well yeah, I guess.”
“Wait, didn’t you have a job?”
“You mean, at the factory? Nope, I quit it recently. At the moment, I’m a part-timer at a restaurant and a clerk at an arcade at the same time.”
Someone sent a quick glance Suoh’s way. “Come to think of it, what about Mikoto-san?”
“Of course he doesn’t work!” someone else shouted. “He’s our king, for f.u.c.k’s sake!” That was cried out angrily. The words were convincing.
“King has some inheritance left to him by his grandfather, and he’s basically a person who doesn’t use up a lot of money anyway,” Totsuka smiled.
“Looks like we all here are admirably unemployed, eh.” The person who said those words of truth was the resident champion at changing part-time jobs at the drop of a hat.
“Come to think of it,” Kamamoto suddenly spoke up, “today’s Labor Thanksgiving Day. It’s mostly thanks to Kusanagi-san that Homura is even running economically, so how about we start a party to thank Kusanagi-san for his pains?”
“I see,” Yata took a little time to consider the proposal. “That’s a good idea - we can’t celebrate Labor Thanksgiving Day, but we can Kusanagi Thanksgiving Day instead!”
That got everyone excited. Even Anna, the only one who drank milk, nodded a few times.
By the time when Suoh woke up, bar HOMRA was strangely decorated for something of a mix between Christmas, Halloween and Tanabata and complete with a banner reading "Kusanagi-san, thank you for always working!’
And when Kusanagi came to the bar in the evening as usual, and saw a drinking party in progress with himself used as a pretext for it, the expression that settled on his face then was a cross between exhaustion, annoyance, misery and just a little bit of joy.
T/N: I’m inclined to consider this one an AU story. You see, according tothe timeline, Yata turns 20 (the legal drinking age in j.a.pan) only afterTotsuka and Suoh’s deaths, and according to other side material like themanga, he appears to first drink alcohol when Kusanagi pours it for himfor his 20th birthday - again, obviously well after Suoh and Totsuka’sdeaths. So this story brings in a contradiction.
Also, I don’t know what to think about Kusanagi’s financial status. He never looked or sounded thatwell off as the story makes him out to be. And well, if it’s still true, then Kusanagi really is in a verywrong clan, almost any other clan would be a better match for a guy likethat, and probably - and surprisingly - the Gold clan would be the best place for him.