「CHAPTER 1」
“It"s boring,” said the man sitting in front of him as he tossed the thick stack of
papers on the desk.
“Wha-!” Hearing that, Yos.h.i.+no Chiaki was immediately about to complain, but
squeezing his fists on his lap and grinding his teeth, he refrained from shouting at his
companion.
Calm down! Listen to what he has to say first......
He decided to hold back for now. There would be time to argue later. Yos.h.i.+no
gulped down the water placed before him in one go and waited for Hatori Yos.h.i.+yuki"s -
the editor in charge of him - explanation. Yos.h.i.+no Chiaki"s pen name was Yos.h.i.+kawa
Chiharu. He was a top-notch shoujo manga artist. He started drawing manga since he was
a student, and now the 28 year old was popular.
After Hatori glared at Yos.h.i.+no, he tapped at the storyboard with his finger and
spat out, “Were you writing this thinking it was good? What the h.e.l.l is this? It"s obvious
you thought that anything would pa.s.s since "The storyboard of the great manga artist
Yos.h.i.+kawa Chiharu sold one million copies." Don"t be arrogant, you idiot.”
“….,” Yos.h.i.+no was silent. He was furious at these words. He wrote the
storyboard with so much earnest, only to have it heavily criticized. There is no manga
artist who would not have his pride shattered in such situations. Yos.h.i.+no jumped up from
his chair with a clatter and confronted Hatori, shouting.
“When was I arrogant?! When did I do my work thinking it was good? Besides,
even if you are my childhood friend, you"re talking back to an author when you"re just an
editor. How can you speak to me that way?!”
But Hatori continued to reply coolly, “Talking back to an author? Speaking to you
that way? Ha! There"s your arrogance.”
Yos.h.i.+no swallowed hard, realizing he had said too much. He became quiet, at a
loss for words, as he sadly sat back down in his seat. This was a dispute which would
have attracted attention, but fortunately, it"s not that he always used this cafe for business
meetings at this time, rather he felt that usually few customers were here, just as there
was no one but the part-time clerk and the shop manager at the moment.
Since both the manager and the young part-time clerk have gotten completely
used to the bickering coming from Yos.h.i.+no and his companion, the quarrel did not
disturb the air in the cafe and the men remained absorbed in their work.
It"s boring...?
He couldn"t deny that this time even he, himself, had little confidence in the
storyboard. However, while he was pondering on it, it slowly began to make no sense to
him, but the deadline had come and before long the storyboard was due.
Where is it bad? I"ll quickly fix it for now, and then make him say it"s interesting.
Yos.h.i.+no was burning partially with a desire for revenge and looked over the
storyboard again.
Then after some time, Hatori spoke,”The theme isn"t bad. But, there"s too much
detail.”
“Huh?”
“I understand there are many things you want to draw. But are you thinking of the
readers when you"re drawing?”
“......Oh......”
Now that he mentioned it, Yos.h.i.+no thought Hatori was probably right. He wanted
to include this and that in his drawings, so it ended up messy. Yos.h.i.+no seized this
opportunity to work out the tangled story, and continued to be absorbed in fixing the
storyboard. While he was fixing the storyboard, Yos.h.i.+no stole a glance at Hatori.
Hatori was sipping coffee while looking over the ma.n.u.script with a frown. Even
though he was an editor, Hatori wore a suit and necktie. Yos.h.i.+no thought it seemed as if
he was displaying a serious character. Hatori did not have a das.h.i.+ng appearance, but he
was good-looking due to his double eyelids and clear-cut features. If he didn"t furrow his
brows, he would be quite a handsome man.
While Yos.h.i.+no was gazing at Hatori"s troublesome face, he was complaining to
himself in his head.
I mean, just because we"re childhood friends and don"t need to be on polite terms,
isn"t he speaking a little bit more superior to me?
Despite thinking that, Yos.h.i.+no couldn"t bring himself to say it. He was certain that
if he said anything he would be returned with words several times as harsh. Whenever
Hatori faced Yos.h.i.+no, he was cruel and gave out strict orders.
Did Hatori also do this to other writers?
Certainly Hatori"s pointers were correct and it was true that the storyboard became
interesting when he took Hatori"s advice. The strange thing was that Yos.h.i.+no was grateful
for it, without a doubt.
But... couldn"t he at least be a little bit more nicer to me?
Even if he thought that, he expected to be told "Don"t act like a spoiled brat", so in
the end he didn"t plan on saying it.
“This scene is important. But what are you doing getting rid of it by inserting a
gag?”
“Ah... I see. That"s right... Here?”
Sure enough, as if Hatori"s single advice had cleared up the fog, the solution
became clear for him.
His guesses are almost like he reads my mind – as if he knew I was worried just
now. How does he always know?
“What"s wrong? You still don"t get it?” Hatori called out to Yos.h.i.+no, because
Yos.h.i.+no"s hand had stopped moving and he was gazing off into s.p.a.ce.
“Shut up! I get it!”
After Yos.h.i.+no raised his voice and glared at Hatori, he remembered the
storyboard - which he had to do somehow - was above everything else and he quickly set
about making corrections on paper.
While he was working on it and wrecking his head in frustration, Hatori said to
him with a manner like he just remembered something - “That reminds me, you have
another offer for an autograph session from a bookstore. As usual, I"m going to refuse it,
but I thought I"d tell you just in case. You don"t want to do it, right? The autograph
session.”
“Yeah, thanks. Apologize to the bookstore for me.”
Autograph sessions were also one of the jobs for an author. No, it wasn"t really a
job. There was no reward in particular, even if you were stuck there the whole day, so
you could perhaps say it was more like a service rather than work.
However, the autograph sessions were the only chance for an author to be able to
connect with the readers who were on the other side of the page. Let"s say that it was the
most irreplaceable experience. Frankly speaking, even Yos.h.i.+no wanted to do the
autograph session. However, it was a problem that shoujo manga artist "Yos.h.i.+kawa
Chiharu" was a man.
Well, I wasn"t planning on hiding, but everyone misunderstood and thought I was
a woman. So I let it stay that way......
In addition, since his real name was "Chiaki", generally a girl"s name, it seemed
like even the editorial committee didn"t think he was a man. At the very most, probably
only the editor-in-chief –Takano - and Hatori knew this fact. Nowadays, it was not
unusual for a man to draw shoujo manga. Moreover, the first shoujo manga were nearly
all drawn by men artists, so he believed he didn"t have to be too worried about that.
Besides, the fact that a popular shoujo manga artist was a young man would
probably become popular with the public, so being a man shoujo manga artist was not
necessarily confined only to have a negative image.
Nevertheless, Yos.h.i.+no was a man for himself and wanted to avoid being exposed.
The majority of the readers were girls and thought "Yos.h.i.+kawa Chiharu" was a woman.
After they were so convinced that Yos.h.i.+no was a woman, they confided to him in fanletters.
If those readers found out that such sparkly shoujo manga was drawn by a man,
they would probably be very disappointed. It was much better to be thought of as a
delicate woman, who couldn"t show herself in front of people due to her being shy, than
let his fans be disappointed. That is what Yos.h.i.+no thought.
“I think it won"t ruin your image even if people found out you were a man.”
“But, don"t you think the readers can enjoy the manga more if they don"t know the
artist"s face?”
“I think they would rather prefer to see the artist"s face.”
“The artist"s face... The face of an average, ordinary man?”
Yos.h.i.+no looked closely at his own face in the reflection of the window. He wasn"t
sloppy, but he didn"t think he was a type that was fun to look at. His eyes were large but
they were droopy looking, and he had a baby face. Moreover, his hair was unkempt since
all he did was just fix his bed hair halfheartedly. Come to think of it, he had gone to the
hair salon and hadn"t been there since after the last time the deadline was near.
He was an indoor guy, so he was on the thin side. In addition to that, his body hair
was spa.r.s.e, so he only grew a little bit of fluffy facial hair. It really bothered him that he
had no manly features. Yos.h.i.+no was jealous of the man in front of him who didn"t look
like he exercised much but had a nice tall physique anyway.
“You wouldn"t understand that kind of thing. And, uh … well, it"s better that you
don"t appear much in front of people. It"s safer for me that way.
“Huh? What?”
Yos.h.i.+no asked him nonchalantly. He didn"t hear the words Hatori quietly added at
the end.
“Never mind. It"s nothing.” With that, Hatori once again dropped his glance at the
ma.n.u.script.
Yos.h.i.+no already experienced this. He knew he wouldn"t get an answer from
Hatori now no matter how much he questioned him, so he didn"t say anything further.
If he wants to say something, he should just come out and say it. No, why do I
want him to say it? I probably won"t be able to make a quick come back if he says any
more.
He thought back to Hatori"s reaction when he showed him the storyboard and
immediately took it back. On another note, his childhood friend Hatori had been friends
with him from about the time they were born, because they grew up together in the same
neighborhood. When they were in university, the departments they majored in were
different, but since they took the same route there, their friends.h.i.+p remained quite long
and inseparable.
“Anyway, you said you wanted to use fireworks or something in your next story,
right? After we get this published, why don"t we go to the fireworks display at the
riverbank near our neighborhood? We could collect data while we"re there.”
“I"ll go! I"ll go! I haven"t seen fireworks with you since high school! The road that
leads to the display is along a shopping mall, and if I remember correctly there are food
stands there! I want to eat a caramel apple!”
Up until the time they were high school students, Yos.h.i.+no went to the fireworks
display often with Hatori. He had forgotten when they stopped going there, and instead of
the fireworks rising one by one, the only memories which came floating into his head
were the food stands that he was crazy about back in those days.
“Ok. Except, I"m not buying you a caramel apple. You buy it yourself.”
“I said I"ll buy it myself!”
“In the meantime, if I don"t get the corrections for the storyboard, you can forget
about going. I think you can concentrate better if you do them at home,” said Hatori, and
went off toward the cash register holding the check.
“Ah! Wait up!”
He gathered up the papers scattered all over the desk, shoved them into his folder,
and ran after Hatori who finished paying and was trying to leave.
“Hey Tori, are you going back to the office after this?”
“No. I OK"ed the proofs. I was working on my day off today. This was my only
business meeting, so I"m going home now.”
Hearing his reply, Yos.h.i.+no made a small victory dance in his head.
“Well then, why don"t you come to my place? I"m craving for some of your warm
homemade cooking! I"ll finish the storyboard by the end of the day!”
As Yos.h.i.+no persuaded Hatori to cook him dinner in exchange for the storyboard,
Hatori wrinkled his forehead. At that very moment, from the look on his face, Yos.h.i.+no
could see he was troubled.
“Don"t make that face. I"ll make sure that you can say it"s interesting next time!
Okay?”
“...... All right.”
“YES! I"m so lucky!”
Finally Hatori gave in and it was decided that he would make dinner for him at
Yos.h.i.+no"s house. It"s been a while since Yos.h.i.+no had a decent meal and he was in high
spirits. Hatori"s homecooked meals were really delicious.
“Then, lets go to the supermarket.”
“Okay!”
His relations.h.i.+p with Hatori had become completely work related, however at this
moment he felt that they went back to being old friends. The sun was almost about to set
and somehow it appeared nostalgic to him.
* * * *
“You"re amazing!! The best! Your mother will be proud of you even when you"re
better than your future wife.” Yos.h.i.+no was overwhelmed with delight and praised Hatori
as he was eating the dinner Hatori had prepared for him. But the way Yos.h.i.+no had said it
was too exaggerated, so Hatori hit him on the head. “Oww! I"m complimenting
you......seriously!”
“Don"t play around. Hurry up and eat.”
With this cold reply given to him, Yos.h.i.+no resumed his meal unsatisfied.
It"s delicious as usual......
Yos.h.i.+no continued eating and was once again impressed with the meal placed
before him. All of Hatori"s meals tasted delicious and also looked appetizing. It seemed
Hatori was better at making j.a.panese food than Western food, but if it turns out Hatori is
indeed better at cooking than his future girlfriends, then the girls would have a hard time
competing with him.
“Come to think of it, I wonder if he has a girlfriend right now?
In the old days, Hatori would sometimes talk to him about his girlfriends, but now
he didn"t talk about such things at all and it didn"t look like there was even a sign that he
had a girlfriend at the time being.
“Hey Tori. Do you have a girlfriend right now?”
When something starts to bother Yos.h.i.+no, he doesn"t stop himself, so he blurted
out the question without thinking. Hatori was just about to start eating when his
chopsticks stopped in midair.
Oh, of course. I just randomly asked him.
Yos.h.i.+no was often scolded by Hatori with "You don"t say enough".
He thought many things to himself, but since he said only a fraction of it, people
around him couldn"t follow along with him. Because of that, he was often misunderstood.
And in turn, this also caused him to have arguments.
But even in this situation it was only Hatori who always deliberately stopped
Yos.h.i.+no from arguing with others. Hatori understood him probably because of their
lengthy friends.h.i.+p. However, Yos.h.i.+no thought it was because Hatori was mostly always
composed and smarter than anyone. Of course, occasionally Hatori irritated him, but
often times he was really glad he was his friend.
“......Why do you ask that?”
“No, it"s just you used to be super popular. Even now, you work for the best
publis.h.i.+ng company and I thought that maybe you have a girlfriend or something.”
Hatori"s cooking was so good that when Yos.h.i.+no spoke he said it with his mouth
full of food, causing Hatori to let out a small laugh.
“I"d like that. Thanks to someone though, I"ve been on a leash for a while now, so
I"m far from having free time to date. I don"t have time to find myself a partner. So what
are you going to do to make up for it?”
“Uh......”
Hatori"s voice held no bitterness, but he thought Hatori was right, so Yos.h.i.+no
suddenly felt ashamed. Nevertheless, even though he felt bad, he searched for an excuse
to say that perhaps it wasn"t only his fault.
“Well, that"s . . . It"s not just me. You know you have other authors to be in charge
of . . . “ Yos.h.i.+no avoided the question with a laugh, but was once again hit by Hatori.
“You"re the worst out of them all,” Hatori shot out a cold reply.
However, with regard to the slow progression of the ma.n.u.script, Yos.h.i.+no felt
guilty, so there was no room for him to argue back. How many times had he made Hatori
stay up all night with him? How many times had he made him apologize to the printers?
“ . . . . I"m sorry . . . “
If he said anything more, he might create problems for himself. Without giving it
anymore thought, Yos.h.i.+no decided to concentrate on eating.
Hatori quietly ate his dinner as well, but suddenly stopped his chopsticks and
softly muttered, “ . . . There is someone I like.”
“What!? Seriously!? That"s surprising... Tori has someone he likes...”
Hatori"s confession truly surprised him. As far as he could remember, Hatori was
never attached to any specific person or thing. Even if there were girls who dated Hatori,
they were the ones who always confessed to him and they were the ones who always
dumped him. The thing Hatori was most concerned with was that he really wanted to
work as an editor of a publis.h.i.+ng company.
For Tori to come to like someone... I wonder what sort of person she is?
Yos.h.i.+no"s curiosity grew, and he began to question him with interest.
“Did you already confess?”
“No.”
“Then, it"s one-sided?”
“I think so......”
Leaning forward, Yos.h.i.+no asked him eagerly. But contrary to his expectations,
Hatori didn"t want to talk much about it in great detail.
Even so, a one-sided love, huh?
What was a handsome man like Hatori hesitating about? If he confessed, certainly
it would all go well. When Hatori had been looking for a job at a publis.h.i.+ng company,
which was his only concern at that time, he was collecting information about the
companies as much as he could, so he was completely prepared for finding work. At the
time of the Employment Ice Age (a prolonged time period in j.a.pan when there was
unemployment), he received private offers from some companies. He decided to choose
the one, which appeared to be the best out of them all.
Or maybe he was being careful because it was his first true love?
Hatori had not expected this but for some reason Yos.h.i.+no was excited.
“Well? Well? What"s she like? Beautiful?”
“Beautiful...... perhaps more impudent,” Hatori acted strange, hesitating to speak,
and Yos.h.i.+no casually pried further.
“Really?! Really?! And?”
“. . . I don"t think I"ll get anything out of it,” Hatori was lost in his thoughts for
some time, then he sighed and it didn"t look like he would say anything further.
I wonder if I asked something wrong?
As the awkwardness filled the air, Yos.h.i.+no thought back to how he had been
inconsiderate. He couldn"t think of a way to break through this atmosphere, and only the
sound of them eating could be heard inside the room. If he knew it would turn out like
this, he wished he had turned on the T.V. earlier. Then at that moment, the doorbell rang.
“Who could that be at this hour?”
He wasn"t finished with the storyboard yet, so he had not called on his a.s.sistants.
No, supposing he had called on them, Yos.h.i.+no would not let them come this evening.
When he rose from his seat, thinking it was probably the delivery service or something,
the visitor entered the home without waiting for the owner"s response. It appeared he had
not locked the door.
“Chiaki! I bought volume fourteen of "Odd Chef: The Kan"!!” Yanase Yuu
stepped inside as if this was his own home. He always entered without permission, so
naturally Yos.h.i.+no was not angry with him, but with the long-awaited new issue of the
comic right in front of him, the tension he felt in the room immediately lifted.
“No way! It"s out already!? And that"s the limited edition!!”
Yos.h.i.+no was under pressure to meet the deadline, and had neglected to check the
release date for the new issue of the comic, so he accidentally missed the chance to
preorder it and looked at the book with envy. His heart beat with excitement.
“Hee-hee, it"s awesome, right?”
“It is! It is!!”
Yanase had been friends with Yos.h.i.+no and Hatori since middle school and now
worked as Yos.h.i.+no"s chief a.s.sistant. Yanase and Yos.h.i.+no aspired to become manga
artists, but Yanase gave up on that dream because he wasn"t talented enough and switched
to become a professional a.s.sistant, which still made use of his outstanding drawing skills.
He was beautiful, just like a cat with slanted eyes. At first glance, he didn"t appear to be
the type that likes manga, but the truth was that he was just as much of an otaku as
Yos.h.i.+no. In the old days, Yos.h.i.+no and Yanase bonded over this same hobby. When they
were university students, the two had lent each other comics and talked about them
enthusiastically. It was still like that now.
“Where did you buy it?
“The usual place. The store was almost closing, so I thought it was already too
late, but I went there just in case and I somehow got it.”
“You"re the best, Yuu! Lend it to me when you finish reading!!”
“I"m giving it to you. It"s your copy, Chiaki,” Yanase laughed. He had bought two
copies for himself, one for reading and the other for collection.
“Wow, really!? Thank you!” Yos.h.i.+no accepted Yanase"s kindness with grat.i.tude;
happily took the comic offered to him, and opened the package while standing.
Watching them intently Hatori cut in, “Yos.h.i.+no, that"s bad manners.”
“Ah, sorry,” Yos.h.i.+no apologized, but couldn"t take his eyes from the book.
He waited four months for the newly published "Odd Chef: The Kan’; there was
no way he could wait anymore. For the sake of reading everything in one go, he had to
hold himself back from reading each chapter in the monthly magazines. When Yos.h.i.+no
was completely absorbed in the comic, Yanase acted as if he just now noticed Hatori,
who continued his meal.
“Oh, you"re here too Hatori,” he called out to him.
“Unfortunately. Weren"t you at Satou"s studio?”
Was it just his imagination that it felt like Hatori"s tone of voice held some
unpleasantness? And Yanase"s voice also contained sarcasm, somehow.
“It looks like the storyboard got delayed and I"m ahead of schedule, so I"m going
there tomorrow. If you have time to just sit here, why don"t you urge Satou to hurry up
with the rough sketches?”
“You don"t have to tell me. I"m about to go there now.”
Yos.h.i.+no slowly began to drift away from the comic as he noticed that they
sounded like they were arguing. These two had known each other for a long time, but it
seemed like they couldn"t quite get along and it was impossible for them to be on good
speaking terms with one another. If it weren"t for him, they would not be speaking to each
other at all.
Um...... What"s with this atmosphere?
It was particularly hostile today. Usually, they made sure their relations.h.i.+p was
like that of a pair of cats, uninterested in each other.
“Yos.h.i.+no, I"ll be leaving now. I"m sorry I can"t clean up. When you"re finished
with the storyboard corrections, send them to my office.”
“Ah, okay.”
Hatori wasn"t done with dinner, but did not have an excuse to stay if he was told
there was work to be done elsewhere.
“Then, take care,” Hatori said briefly, took a last bite of the meal, and left.
“That guy is as busy as always! Oh, as long as I"m already here, I want to discuss
work. When should I come in next time? As usual, it"s up to you, so send me the schedule
when you can.”
Yanase"s art skills were superb and as an a.s.sistant, he was in high demand
everywhere. He was Yos.h.i.+no"s old childhood friend, and Yos.h.i.+no was quite thankful that
Yanase always gave him first priority.
“Ah, wait a sec.”
A while ago, he had arranged a rough schedule with Hatori. He compared the
calender with the schedule in his notebook, and began to write down the days he wanted
Yanase to come in.
“...... So, he made all this food?
“Yeah, I asked him to. I"ve been dying for some decent food lately. After that, he
did my laundry, too.”
Yos.h.i.+no answered without giving it too much thought as he handed Yanase the
piece of paper he had just finished writing the schedule on.
While Yanase was looking it over, he asked him suspiciously, “...... Again?”
“Yeah,” Yos.h.i.+no nodded as if to say it was only natural.
“Hm...... Aren"t you relying on Hatori too much?”
“. . . . . . “
After a few minutes, Yos.h.i.+no considered replying casually to him, but Yanase
had attacked his weak spot. He was startled by how accurate Yanase"s point was, so he
was at a loss for words and couldn"t argue back.
It certainly was exactly as Yanase had pointed out. He really did have the
tendency to rely on Hatori too much. His childhood friend Hatori was in charge of him
and Yos.h.i.+no had not planned to work with him, but Yos.h.i.+no would never have received
the same treatment like he got from Hatori if editor"s from other companies were in
charge of him. He felt slightly disgusted with himself, even though another person had
pointed this out to him.
I"m so useless......
From the beginning, he took it for granted that Hatori a.s.sisted him without being
asked to. Hatori cooked for him and did his laundry; and Yos.h.i.+no couldn"t get by without
him. Yos.h.i.+no"s shoulders slumped; he looked miserable. Then Yanase, who was looking
at the schedule, suddenly asked, “...... Hey, about this schedule, are you doing the
corrections for the storyboard today, the ones Hatori talked about a while ago?”
“Yeah, actually......”
Like always, he was just barely making progress with the storyboard; he scoffed
at himself. Yanase picked his bag up from the floor and fixed it on his shoulder, as he
said, “All right then, I"ll go home for today. I don"t want to get in your way.”
“Ah... Sorry you had to come all the way here for me.”
“No, I"ll see you all the time next week. I"m satisfied for now.”
“Wha-?”
“Take a break and read the comic.”
“Ah, okay. Thank you...”
What in a world did he mean by “satisfied”?
Yos.h.i.+no didn"t quite understand what he had meant and he tilted his head to one
side as he saw Yanase off at the front door.
“Do I really rely on him too much......?”
Yanase"s comment from a while ago bothered him, but the word “reliance”
bothered him much more. Yanase was always around him and Hatori, so naturally he
must be right about this. Yos.h.i.+no slowly went back to the dinning room and collapsed in
the dinning chair.
“But then, what should I do?”
However, if he thought about his relations.h.i.+p with Hatori, as author and editor, he
could probably say it was getting too personal, but if he considered their relations.h.i.+p as
friends, he felt like it was becoming more distant than before. Certainly, that was due to
their positions as author and editor. Besides, Hatori had other authors to be in charge of,
so Yos.h.i.+no was conscious of the fact that Hatori can"t favor only him. It was a matter of
course, no doubt about it.
“That"s why Tori never complains. I"m to blame......”
He was aware of this and thought perhaps he should change his att.i.tude. Surely
the line between friends.h.i.+p and work was becoming indefinite, and this complicated
relations.h.i.+p with Hatori was turning into “reliance”, just like Yanase told him it was.
Still, we"re not fighting now, so it"ll be strange to change my att.i.tude all of a
sudden. What in the world should I do?
Lately, all they talked about was work. The only times they saw each other was
during business meetings and when the deadline was approaching.
“Come to think of it, he doesn"t talk about himself......”
Ever since Hatori became an in charge of Yos.h.i.+no, he had not talked about his
own private life. It was probably because work is naturally a workingman"s top priority,
but even though, ever since they were both university students, every time Hatori fell in
love and said ‘There is someone I like’ - just like he did a while ago - he always told
Yos.h.i.+no when he started seeing that someone and when they broke up. In those days,
Hatori thought that there was no need to tell him such things in detail, but Hatori was
honest and perhaps thought that he should tell it to his best friend, Yos.h.i.+no. Now Hatori
had stopped discussing such trivial things; this was proof he had grown up.
Well, it is strange that we are 28 years old and our relations.h.i.+p is still the same
as when we were university students. It has to change...... It"s a little sad though.
He looked at the side dishes left on top of the dinning room table and sighed. He
tried to eat one of them but somehow it didn"t feel as delicious as it had a while ago.
“I see... So there"s someone he likes......” Muttering to himself unconsciously, it
strangely began to weigh heavily upon Yos.h.i.+no"s mind.
What kind of person did Hatori like?
Hatori had not told him anything, but was it someone that Yos.h.i.+no knew? One by
one, the questions popped into his head and he remembered the dejection in Hatori"s
voice.
“But he said he won"t get anything out of it......”
Did the person he like already have a lover?
It"s not like him to steal someone else"s love. Instead of thinking about his own
happiness, Hatori thought about the happiness of his loved ones. That"s the kind of man
Hatori was; serious as far as being too serious, strict, and trustworthy. If Hatori didn"t feel
like talking about it, Yos.h.i.+no had no choice but to deal with it, but he wanted to help. For
some reason Yos.h.i.+no didn"t feel at peace in his heart.