The Night Visitor
In a vague dream, I realized that it was a dream. It was a dream that I had seen several times.
"Why does Satou-san get fired!?" (MC)
I was yelling at my father in that dream.
At that time, I was a senior in high school. Satou-san was a subordinate of the company where my father was a manager. Since it was a company in rural area, the company was small when I was little, and I got to know who was Satou-san. By the way, Satou-san"s son was my cla.s.smate since I was a junior high school student.
"What you should do if he can"t go to university?" (MC)
Satou was my close friend. We were in the same club in junior high school, and he was a good friend. When he came to school with a pale face, he started talking to me.
His father was fired, and he told me that the company, that he served for more than twenty years, fired without giving the retirement money. By the way. Satou was aiming to enter medical school.
It had been decided that medical school cost a lot of money. Satou had finally entered the public medical school with his academic achievement, but the university wasn"t kind enough to say "Please come to our university because we are giving you a scholars.h.i.+ps that you don"t have to pay back".
"Didn"t you know that he was caught stealing things from the company? Of course, I fired him." (Father)
That was what my father told me. Since I didn"t hear anything from Satou, it was my first time hearing about this.
"What did he steal?" (MC)
I thought Satou-san embezzled money by the accounting process. Plus, I thought that it would be impossible for a high school student to do so.
"It was nails and metal fixtures." (Father)
At that time, my father sounded like he was proud of himself as a manager.
"Nails and metal fixtures? How much did he steal?" (MC)
My father"s company had become large until now. Therefore, it wasn"t impossible for Satou-san, who was a senior employee, to flush millions of yen from nails and fixtures.
"Well, it was used to make a dog house… so I guess about 10000 yen?" (Father)
When I thought about it, my father was bad at numbers of 10000 yen, so I was thinking he just made up the number. The nails and the metal fixtures used for dog house weren"t going to cost 10000 yen. In fact, it would have been around 2000 yen. There was a possibility that it would be around 5000 yen.
"Did you fire him because he used the company"s equipment?" (MC)
"Of course. Theft is theft." (Father)
It was true, but I wasn"t convinced.
"There are also other things like salary cut. You don"t have to fire him?" (MC)
"Kids shouldn"t meddle in the company!" (Father)
I figured this out later that Satou-san was in charge of the site, but he wasn"t good at managing his subordinates even though he had worked for long time. He didn"t have the ability to manage, so my father fired him off.
Of course it was bad thing to mix company and private business when Satou-san took the company"s equipment to his family and used it. But, as for my father, he fired Satou-san with that excuse. When Satou-san was interrogated, he was recommended to confess. So, they recorded it, and they called the police. They deliberately put out Satou-san"s name. Then, he was caught for theft, he was dismissed due to disciplinary action.
In case of disciplinary dismissal, it wasn"t necessary to pay the retirement benefit based on the employment act.
As I expected, when I recalled this, my father didn"t seem to be an honest manager.
Eventually, Satou gave up entering university. He stopped studying for the exam in November, and went for job hunting, but it was late time of the year to find a job. Eventually, he graduated from high school with empty eyes.
After my mother died, his relations.h.i.+p with women became harsh and he barely go back home around this time. The year I graduated from college, my father realized that I didn"t intend to take over the business. So, he sold it and earned the money to play for the rest of his life. He also changed job to become a gambler. Then, he met a southeast Asean woman who I didn"t know where they met, and they went to Philippines or somewhere together. He waved his wallet with small amount of money inside, and he was killed by a robber. He died.
—
"…" (Yuri)
When I woke up, I was sweating all over my body.
My head hurt like having a hangover.
"…" (Yuri)
"Am I dreaming?"
I saw that bad dream again.
In the fireplace, the firewood that was about to disappear was red. The room was warm, but I felt a bit cold and came to my senses. When I opened the window, a cold wind blew through my body. The outside was still pitch black.
After having bad dreams for more than seven years, I could remember the knowledge of the past. By relying on the light of the nightlight, I wrote in the book some of the science mechanism that I remembered.
The chills were gone as I was writing. Then, as I went to bed again to sleep, I heard a noise from the entrance.
"Who is it at such time?"
I opened the door and headed to the entrance. It wasn"t a mistake since there was a sound.
"Who is it?" (Yuri)
When I asked that, the words "I am Shun, a servant of Hou Household" were returned.
"I see."
"Do you have business with my father?" (Yuri)
If it was business, I could think nothing but it was for my father.
"Yes, that"s right." (Shun)
"I can"t open the door on my own. I will wake up my father right away." (Yuri)
"Thank you." (Shun)
I went to my parents" bedroom.
In the bedroom, Rook and Suzuya were sleeping sleeping side by side. I put my hand over Rook"s body.
"Otou-san, please wake up." (Yuri)
Even if I shook him, he didn"t wake up at all.
"Wake up." (Yuri)
I called him while making the shaking stronger. It might be faster if I hit him.
"Hmm… Yuri? What"s wrong?" (Suzuya)
Suzuya, who was sleeping next to him, woke up first.
"There is someone comes at the front door. He said that he was coming from the main house." (Yuri)
When I said so, Suzuya quickly got up in the dark.
"Dear, wake up." (Suzuya)
It wasn"t a loud voice. It was a voice that was clearly lower than my voice.
However, while saying "Hmm… is it morning already?", Rook immediately woke up.
"What the heck with this couple?"
"Father. Shun-san from the main house is at the front door. Since I couldn"t let him enter the house alone, he is waiting outside. Please hurry up and go." (Yuri)
Rook"s expression changed and he got up from the bed.
—
"What"s wrong? I mean at this kind of time." (Rook)
When Rook opened the door, there was a small man with a pale face.
"I"m not sure how to say this…" (Shun)
"Get in." (Rook)
The was a bit snow piled outside. The snow didn"t piled up too much in this region. The air was dried and cold, but it could become severe cold in the winter. Now, it was in the early of winter.
"Excuse me, I"m coming in." (Shun)
Rook lit the oil in the oil pan and stuck it in the firewood of the stove. Then, he moved the fire from the wick. The fire spread in the meantime. Suzuya gave him hot water, and lit up another fire.
"First off, show me your limbs." (Rook)
"They are fine." (Shun)
"I will decide that. It seems you aren"t sure yourself." (Rook)
"…I got it." (Shun)
Shun took off his gloves and his socks. The fingers was pure white and it looked like a corpse. Rook gripped Shun"s hand, and he slowly ma.s.saged it. Then he grasped the toes with slightly bad smell without hesitation, and ma.s.saged it as well.
"The toes are… fine. The hands are more dangerous, but it will be alright if you hold the hot water." (Rook)
"…I"m indebted." (Shun)
When riding the Galloping Bird, the legs were surprisingly warm because half of it was covered with the feather. However, the hands holding the reins got cold.
It wasn"t probably cold enough to get frostbite anyway. That was good.
"So, what is it?" (Rook)
Rook asked while wiping his dirty hands.
"The expedition team has returned." (Shun)
Shun said it with a gloomy expression, and that made Rook stiffed.
"Is Brother safe?" (Rook)
He quickly changed and asked that.
But, Shun shook his head.
"He died in battle." (Shun)
For a moment, the inside of my head turned blank.
"…Oi, stop joking." (Rook)
"I"m sorry, I"m not. It is only hearsay since there is no remains, but Gouk-sama certainly died." (Shun)
"No remains?"
"…What is that? What do you mean that there is no remains?" (Rook)
It seemed that Rook also had the similar question as me.
"Goux-sama rode the Eagle King Rook-sama provided and he splendidly accomplished the a.s.sault with the Eagle King." (Shun)
"…" (Rook)
Rook held his breath.
"…Is that so? Did he manage to accomplish it?" (Rook)
"Yes." (Shun)
Shun gave the affirmation and seemed to be in tears.
"What is the a.s.sault of the Eagle King?"
The mood here told me something was unusual, but I couldn"t keep up with the story.
"Is the war situation bad?" (Rook)
"Yes. The expedition team lost half of the number in the battle field. It is said that there were surrounded by the main force of the Kilghina Kingdom in the fortress. On that occasion, Gouk-sama launched the a.s.sault of the Eagle King together with the Heavenly Knights of the expedition team. Then, the army pulled out…" (Shun)
"I… see." (Rook)
Rook, who was informed about his brother"s death, looked grieved even though it was moderate.
"…I came here to invite Rook-sama to the relative meeting to be held tomorrow…" (Shun)
"I understand. I will go." (Rook)
As Rook said so, Suzuya told the tea was ready and brought it here.
"And, if you like, you can have this too." (Suzuya)
A hard-baked bread was warmed and served. It must have been baked over a fire along with the tea. There were also jam and b.u.t.ter.
"…I really appreciate it. I haven"t eat anything today." (Shun)
Shun immediately at the bread, as if he was really hungry.
"…From morning?" (Rook)
"Yes. I was in a hurry." (Shun)
Since the time was currently before dawn, I wasn"t sure what he was talking about. In this country, there was very little circulation of mechanical watch, and people didn"t care much about the time after the sun went down. In other words, the tomorrow"s relative meeting would be on the day after the night was over.
"Whatever it is, that was too dangerous. It"s strange that you didn"t die." (Rook)
"That"s true."
Riding a horse or a Galloping Bird in the middle of the night is different from driving a car on the main road at night. Cars had headlamps, but horses and Galloping Birds did not. Moreover, the roads weren"t maintained.
If people moved in such a cold night, the head could become dizzy due to the cold. In addition, if they collapsed, the possibility of freezing to death was high. It was similar to when I drowned and died. When I was exposed to cold with empty belly and lower blood sugar level, the body froze since it had no fuel to burn.
"That is reasonable. I think people in the mansion said something when I headed out, but… I forgot." (Shun)
"We have a guest room. After you finish eating, drink distilled liquor and go to bed right away." (Rook)
"No, I…" (Shun)
"If you don"t sleep, you"ll stay here tomorrow. It"s troubling if you to fall from the bird and die." (Rook)
"…I understand. I accept your offer, and I will take a rest." (Shun)
Rook firmly ordered him.
He brought his favorite gla.s.s, and poured alcohol. He did that on the brim, and gave it to Shun.
"You must drink the alcohol. You can"t go to sleep when your body core is cold." (Rook)
"…Thank you for your concern, I really appreciate it." (Shun)
Even if the body wasn"t cold, he probably couldn"t sleep in such a situation. However, that alcohol made him forget it.
—
TLN:
Satou-san is the subordinate of MC"s father while Satou (without honorific -san) is his cla.s.smate.