Chapter 3

I WAS LOUNGING IN THE ROOM for a bit after getting back from the baths when I remembered something. I got up and picked up my jeans from where I’d left them folded in a corner of the room, then grabbed the keys from the back pocket.

“Sorry, I forgot something in the car,” I said. “Mai-tan wanted me to bring it in before dinner. I’m gonna go grab it now.”

Hibiki looked up at me from where he stood in the middle of the room as he read the hotel pamphlet through his glasses.

“Knowing Mai-san, it’s probably something big and elaborate, right? I’ll come help,” he said. It was a very Hibiki thing to do.

“Nah, I can handle it,” I said. “It’s just a board game—the Game of Life.”

“Oh my god… She would, wouldn’t she…”

I asked him to let Taiga-san know why I’d stepped out, once he got back from his smoke break on the roof.

I entered the hallway wearing my haori—it felt more like a table cloth than a piece of clothing, in terms of texture. When I pulled out my cell phone to check my notifications, I saw I had a new LINE message:

Houston, we have a problem: The girls are convinced I have a crush on Hibiki.

It had been a long time since I got a text message that sounded like it was written by a high school girl. I typed out a quick reply:

And that’s a problem how?

Please tell me you don’t think so too, Karin, she replied.

Hell no. You really think I’d agree to this operation if I did? I just meant I don’t think it’s really a problem if the other girls have the wrong idea.

She sent a LINE sticker of some character I didn’t know looking shocked. I mean, if said wrong ideas have the potential to muck things up? Yeah, it’s a problem!

Hey, all it means is that there’s a chance Hibiki feels the same way. Which would be good for our purposes.

I didn’t ask for this!

Well, you got it, so you might as well use it to your advantage. You did want to be the villain here, after all.

There was no immediate reply to this, but I wasn’t sure if that was because my message gave her pause, or if she was in a group setting where she couldn’t just be on her phone the whole time. By the time I got to the main entrance and threw on some wooden sandals, I got back a blunt, Yeah, and nothing more. I didn’t want her to take my grilling too hard, so I toned down what I was planning to say in my next message.

In all fairness, I think most people would probably jump to that conclusion after hearing you went over and cried yourself to sleep at his place, lol. Then I asked if she had anything else to report before heading outside. It was definitely brisk out, as expected, but nothing my freshly hot-spring-warmed body couldn’t handle.

I clip-clopped my way across the parking lot and unlocked the van, then grabbed the beige tote bag from the trunk. The Game of Life box inside felt a lot smaller now than it had when I was a kid—something I’d been rather surprised by when the package first arrived on my doorstep the other day. It wasn’t a playground jungle gym or anything, so where did it get off shrinking on me in my old age?

After locking the car, I checked my phone again to find a new reply.

Mai thinks you’re an upstanding, devoted husband, by the way.

Well, now. That’s awfully kind of her to say.

Though they both said you’d look better without the beard.

Haven’t we as a society progressed beyond the point where it’s acceptable to make fun of people for their appearance?

Hey, those were their words, not mine!

Well, you can let them know I said that, then.

With that, I clip-clopped my way back toward the hotel. The staff members were currently in the process of ushering a family with kids inside, so I tried to keep a low profile as I sidled past them into the building. The slippers I’d left in the entryway had been moved off to the side and laid neatly facing this direction for my return.

“Karin.”

After returning my wooden sandals, I heard a voice call my name as I was walking through the main lobby. I turned to look and saw Hibiki and Taiga-san perusing the shelves of sake bottles for sale.

We’d been friends for eleven years now, so I knew all too well that they hadn’t come down here to the hotel store purely out of boredom. Knowing Hibiki, he’d probably assumed there was more stuff to bring in from the car than I let on and wanted to help. At the very least, I was sure the thought had at least crossed his mind, even if he’d been planning to come check out the alcohol selection regardless.

I didn’t very much care for the type of person I’d become since agreeing to this operation, always trying to overanalyze my good friend’s every last thought and action. But I tried to view this newfound self-hatred as the penance for letting two of my good friends fester in an unsustainable status quo for so long. I lifted the tote bag up to show I’d acquired my quarry, then joined up with them.

“Why, hello there, boys. Fancy seeing you here.”

In almost no time at all, the women in our party graced us with their presence as well. I assumed they were just bored and trying to kill time until dinner. I made eye contact with Chizuru, who was clutching her phone tightly in one hand.

“Pretty well stocked, aren’t they?” she said, trying to act natural as she walked up to the shelves alongside me. It was true: For such an old-fashioned inn, they sure had a lot more junk food and snacks than I was expecting. Normally, a place like this would only carry fancy, local stuff. They also had a varied, reasonably priced selection of alcohol. Perhaps it was because there weren’t any convenience stores nearby.

“I think our two rich-ass senseis should have to buy us all something,” I proposed.

“Agreed,” said Chizuru.

“Ha!” exclaimed Hibiki, who was standing within earshot. “Do you think we make, like, thirty million yen a year or something?”

After discussing what to buy as a group, we picked out some local treats and a few different types of booze, then checked out. It was a bit on the pricey side, but thankfully our other resident sensei—the girl whose art had been selling like crazy lately—said she’d cover it and whipped out her credit card. I was less sure how to feel when she added she’d be paying for it with my company’s money. People liked to say that mixing work and friendship was no big deal, but in my opinion that only applied when you were on equal standing. When one party was effectively completely subservient to the other, it could definitely make things feel a bit awkward in a casual setting.

Since Hanao had been the one to pay, the women took the treats and drinks up to their room. I carried the board game that would serve us our evening’s entertainment up to the men’s room. Mai-tan and I had booked a somewhat larger room for the men: We could use it as a hangout spot for the group, and if any of the women got tired, they could head back to their own room to call it a night.

The other guys and I sat down around the room’s low table for the time being. The legless floor chairs here were more comfortable than my gaming chair at home. Since we had a bit more time to kill, I showed the two of them the cover artwork Hanao had done for a novel my company was publishing.

“Man… That woman’s use of color is borderline psychotic, I tell ya,” Taiga-san remarked. To be sure, it was her distinctive coloring style that had originally caught my superior’s eye. Though obviously we hadn’t used the word “psychotic” when pitching her to the author or in marketing materials for the book.

“Could someone remind me again what Hanao’s kids’ names were?” asked Hibiki, as he grabbed the small teapot from the table and rose to his feet. “I totally forgot. Feel like they were pretty basic, though, which is probably why.”

“Word of advice, Sensei,” I offered. “Be careful you don’t call her kids’ names ‘basic’ to her face. Parents don’t like that one bit.”

“Good point. Wow, you’re so thoughtful and progressive, Karin. Maybe I should have used the word ‘commonplace’ instead.”

“Honestly, I feel like we should just ditch names entirely and start giving kids ID numbers from now on. Sometimes, our education system telling every kid they’re special does more harm than good,” Taiga-san opined—sarcastically, I hoped. “You want kids, Karin?”

“Feel like it’s not a great time for that right now. Both me and the wife are always leaving on business trips. How ’bout you, Taiga-san?”

“Doesn’t matter what I want, if my partner doesn’t want ’em.”

“Lucky you have a partner, at least,” complained Hibiki as he brought the teapot back with hot water. “Guess I’m the only one here who’s terminally single. You guys want tea?”

I had no idea why he was playing the forever alone card right now—it was almost like he was asking for us to tease him even more about the Chizuru anecdote like everyone had done at the rest stop. I did gratefully take him up on his offer of tea, though.

“Better make sure to find someone who’s okay with Chizuru-san crashing on your couch like a freeloading drunk every other week,” advised Taiga-san. Hibiki had to have seen this response coming, based on the way the conversation was going, yet he burst out laughing like it was the funniest comeback in the world.

“Hell no—are you kidding? I’m not gonna let my place turn into a rehab center for recovering alcoholics.”

He was sticking to his cover story, even when she wasn’t around to hear him.

“Time and place for everything, I guess,” mumbled Taiga-san. Apparently, he wasn’t interested in pressing Hibiki on this any further, so he just spouted a random string of words that made no sense whatsoever before taking a sip of his tea. Since it seemed like neither of them particularly wanted kids, I tried to get the conversation back on track by shifting its focus.

“What about Mai-tan?” I asked. “You think she wants kids?”

“Dunno, but I feel like she’d make a really good mother,” said Hibiki. On this point, he and I could agree.

As we enjoyed our tea, the topic eventually drifted to what we’d been up to in our spare time recently. Hibiki had apparently gotten into mountain climbing after being invited on a fairly rigorous hike by one of his superiors. He talked about how it was a totally eye-opening experience for him to test his fitness like that, surrounded by nature, as a guy who typically only worked out at the gym. Taiga-san, meanwhile, had been devoting himself pretty hard to fishing lately. He’d gone on a trip to catch sea bream on his friend’s boat pretty recently. From the mountains to the sea, it seemed these two were both getting more outdoorsy. I, on the other hand, had been a layabout, staying at home and playing open world games. So much so that, on my last day off, I completely forgot to heat up my wife’s bathwater, and she scolded me when she got home.

“Guess married life comes with its own pros and cons,” mused Hibiki.

“I try to tell myself I knew what I was signing up for, but it definitely comes with its fair share of tradeoffs,” I admitted.

“Damn. Not sure I’ll ever be ready to sign my life away like that,” he replied.

“For the right person, you will.”

I tried to pick those words carefully, to plant a tiny seed in Hibiki’s head—but what I ended up with felt so bland and insipid it almost made my plain tea taste sweet by comparison.

Once there was a lull in the conversation, I got up and took a peek inside the mini fridge in the corner of the room. Inside were three beer cans, some orange juice, and a few bottles of water, along with a little placard stating all drinks were complimentary. After discovering another notice that said we could rent out a variety of tabletop games at the front desk, we decided to spend our time until dinner playing mahjong and drinking free beer.

Even though I made a hell of a lot more now than I did back in college, losing five dollars in a game of mahjong stung just as bad.