FUTTARA DOSHABURI
part 7.
“You're trying to appeal to ordinary people, so if someone on the outside can't understand it properly, doesn't that mean it isn't very good?”
“…Maybe you're right.”
“It's a subtle difference, isn't it? Like trying to feed a hooked fish that doesn't want to eat.”
“I don't think that's quite it.”
Nakarai gave a small smile.
Hagiwara looked faintly dissatisfied as he reached for his glass, tracing absent-mindedly over the lines of text that had been corrected with white correction fluid.
“So...?”
“What?”
“This comment here. Wasn't it because someone had been drinking beer while writing it that it nearly caused a disaster?”
“…A junior employee.”
“Oh?”
“He'd had a little too much to drink.”
“That sounds about right.”
“Our section manager happened to walk past and asked, 'Is that Chief Shirota's report?'”
“…And?”
“'I know him, but... who was the woman you were walking with?'”
“What?”
“He replied, 'My wife. She's pregnant now, you know. We're expecting our fourth child.'”
“…I see.”
“So while he was writing the report, the department manager had looked over and jokingly said, 'You're still having affairs even though you're married?'”
“What did he mean?”
“I think what he wanted to say was that, since he already had a complete family, having sexual desire was perfectly normal.”
“…Ah.”
“I'd always imagined married people lost interest in that sort of thing, so I found myself unexpectedly sympathising with him.”
“Is that so?”
“I pictured the department manager saying, 'Please.'”
“…Please?”
“'Hagiwara, why don't you try it too? Get on all fours.'”
“…What?”
“He said it with a completely straight face.”
“That's awful.”
“He says things like that all the time. According to him, unless women suppress their sexual desires to some extent, men won't find them attractive. But if a man bows his head and says, 'Please,' he doesn't think that's attractive either.”
“…I don't think so either.”
Nakarai frowned.
“So, what you're saying is...”
“I wouldn't exactly call it a conclusion.”
“If that's the answer you've come up with...”
“…Then why are you still the way you are?”
Hagiwara couldn't answer. Had they really just been friends all this time? Everyone has their own preferences. Feelings don't suddenly change overnight.
Perhaps there wasn't some grand hidden meaning after all. Maybe it was simply instinct. Or maybe there was some small difference neither of them had noticed.
“…What is it?”
Their eyes met for a brief moment. Without thinking, Hagiwara immediately looked away.
“No, it's nothing. It just started sounding a bit too concrete.”
Hagiwara gave an awkward laugh.
“The more vividly I picture it, the less I should.”
The impulse born from desire had begun to draw him back towards thoughts of himself.
*This is what I wanted to talk about.*
*I want to understand it more clearly.*
“…Mm.”
“Maybe if I keep searching, I'll eventually figure it all out. I don't think I can honestly recommend it, though.”
He sifted through the scattered thoughts in his mind as though searching beneath a bed for something that had fallen.
What he wanted was to be able to speak honestly and without omission. Was Hagiwara really being honest with himself? The deeper he searched, the more he sank.
“I never thought I'd hear someone seriously say, 'I'm relying on you because you're an outsider.”
Nakarai laughed softly.
“But that's probably true.”
“Even a married couple can start over in their own minds.”
“That's true.”
“Even if you're husband and wife, you can't deny your own feelings. Marriage is really just a contract built around sex, isn't it? If two people can understand each other's feelings and live their lives together, surely that's what matters most.”
“…You've got a strange way of putting things.”
“Do I?”
“I don't think marriage is necessarily like that.”
“Then what do you think?”
“Well... society treats living together before marriage differently from being married. Doesn't that mean there's something only lovers are allowed to do that husbands and wives aren't?”
“…I wonder.”
“You don't sound very convinced.”
“It's not the body... it's more that... I don't want to deny the existence of my desire to hold the woman I love.”
“…Go on.”
“I want someone to acknowledge it. I want to hold her hand and walk through town. I want people to know that she's beside me. Like we're flowing together in the same current and that she's someone who'll never leave my side.”
He paused for a moment before continuing.
“Right now, it feels as though the main river has already flowed out to sea, leaving only a quiet backwater behind. It's like seeing a sign that says, 'Swimming prohibited. Sexual desire prohibited.' If I poured even a single cup of water from that backwater into the river, the whole thing would become faintly polluted. That's why I want it to remain exactly as it is.”
“…You're overthinking it.”
“Maybe.”
Hagiwara smiled sheepishly.
“I know that's what people probably think.”
“No...”
Nakarai shook his head.
“I was just thinking... maybe I understand what you mean.”
Hagiwara looked up.
“…Really?”
“So... shall we order one more?”
“Sure... but after that, we'd better head home.”
They finished off the last of the beer still clinging to the bottom of their glasses. Hagiwara laughed quietly, a little embarrassed.
“That's true... Me too.”
Nakarai picked up his glass.
The next time they met, Hagiwara was the one paying the bill. After that, it was Nakarai's turn again. Before long, they'd settled into that routine.
Stepping outside, the cool night breeze swept away the lingering warmth from the beer in his body.
As he waited at the pedestrian crossing, Nakarai let out a quiet sigh.
*Maybe there really aren't any adults who have everything figured out.*
*No... maybe everyone just feels the same way.*
As he lowered his gaze to the tips of his shoes, Nakarai noticed Hagiwara's feet beside his own.
Following them upward, his eyes travelled over Hagiwara's calm profile, lingering for a moment on the dark line of his eyelashes.
*He's frighteningly handsome.*
Not simply because he was a man. There was something about the quiet dignity in his composed face that drew people in.
Hearing Hagiwara talk about sex no longer felt uncomfortable. In fact, it was almost the opposite. The more he heard, the more he wanted to know.
Back when they had only exchanged emails, if he'd learnt his name or seen his face, he probably would've lost interest immediately.
But Hagiwara was different. Every week they met, he discovered another side of himself.
“…Hey.”
“Hm?”
“You've got a strange look on your face.”
Nakarai quickly looked away.
“Traffic lights have changed.”
He mumbled the excuse and stepped away from the crossing with the crowd.
*What was I just thinking?*
*I nearly admitted I'd become obsessed with GW.*
“Well, that wraps up this week's conversation.”
“…Yeah.”
Hagiwara nodded.
“That was a proper discussion.”
From now on, they'd ride the underground home.
After a while, Hagiwara said,
“I should probably apologise.”
“For what?”
“For saying all that nonsense earlier.”
“What nonsense?”
“You know... when I asked you to explain how a man with feelings for another man is supposed to deal with them.”
“…We weren't talking about men in general.”
“We weren't?”
“We were talking about you.”
“…Oh.”
“I was exhausted.”
Hagiwara muttered the words almost to himself. Nakarai couldn't help wondering if that was what had finally worn him down. But perhaps the real issue wasn't that Kazuaki disliked television. Perhaps what Kazuaki had unconsciously realised was something else entirely.
Nakarai wasn't simply irritated because Kazuaki didn't like television. He hadn't cared about the television itself.
No...What had stayed with him all this time was the expression in Kazuaki’s eyes when he'd looked at him. Perhaps, without realising it, Kazuaki had been trying to suppress his feelings for Nakarai.
It wasn't like that. If anything, Nakarai was the one who wanted more. He wanted Kazuaki to say, *"Go ahead."* He wanted him to nod. He wanted him to keep accepting his feelings.
Yet if Kazuaki misunderstood him, everything would be ruined.
By the time they reached the eighth floor and headed back to their apartment, a faint sense of unease had settled over him. It felt as though a thin, transparent membrane had formed between them.
*Maybe this is what Hagiwara meant.*
Perhaps keeping a certain distance from other people wasn't such a bad thing after all.
The moment he slid his key into the lock, those words suddenly came back to him.
*"The backwater."*
The image of a river splitting into two streams and quietly filling with water.
“What would happen if I stumbled across another affair?”
Kazuaki looked up from the magazine he'd been reading. It was a special feature on traditional crafts from northern Japan.
“What do you mean?”
“Nothing important.”
Without taking his eyes off the magazine, Kazuaki asked,
“What do you mean by 'having an affair'?”
“Hm?”
“You're saying the one who's cheating is the man. So if it were one of my male friends instead, would your answer be different?”
“…Well, I know Hagiwara.”
“So if I confirmed the situation with Hagiwara first and he said, 'No, that's not what's happening'...”
“Right.”
“You can't decide someone is cheating based only on seeing them walking arm in arm. There has to be some other evidence.”
“So... if they kissed?”
“No.”
“…Really?”
“I'd wonder why it made me suspicious.”
“…Why?”
“Because people don't automatically become guilty just because they do something that falls within the range of what's acceptable.”
“…I don't follow.”
“People laugh with friends of the opposite sex all the time. That doesn't mean they're cheating.”
“…I suppose.”
“For me, the question is where the feelings are.”
Nakarai lowered his eyes. It wasn't that he was deliberately avoiding the subject. He simply chose to express what he meant as mildly as possible. After all, it was Kazuaki.
“Even if all they did was touch a finger... or even if they never spoke again... if I felt something in my heart...”
He paused.
“…I don't think I could forgive it.”
The thoughts circling in his mind weren't something he could explain to anyone else.
“…Yeah.”
That was all he could manage. Perhaps it wasn't an affair after all. Perhaps it was simply a change of heart. The conversation came to an abrupt end.
The two-seater sofa facing the wall—the place where the television should have been—still held a large monochrome photograph. It wasn't an abstract image or an ordinary landscape.
Nakarai had no idea what it depicted, only that it had been taken with a famous camera manufacturer's flagship model. The sea stretched across the frame, dark and heavy beneath a pale grey sky.
No matter what kind of house it was displayed in, it wasn't the sort of photograph that immediately drew attention. It wasn't a photographer's self-indulgent statement, either. Perhaps that was exactly why Kazuaki liked it.
Even though he exhibited at design shows from time to time, he had no interest whatsoever in art itself. Paintings and photographs were merely tools, not something to admire for their own sake. Nakarai could understand that feeling all too well.
*So what role does it serve?*
The more he tried to think it through, the more it seemed to leave him with nothing but questions.
The day he'd casually glanced at Hagiwara's face, he'd caught the faintest trace of embarrassment crossing it. At the time, he'd thought nothing of it, but afterwards he kept replaying the expression in his mind.
*Why did he look embarrassed?*
Even now, he still couldn't answer that question. He looked at the photograph again. A single wall faced him, and beyond it spread a view like the one before him now.
The monochrome sea. The pale, blurred horizon. For the first time, he found himself wondering if perhaps it was a sea under the rain.
══[changbins_delulu_wife]══
That night, he dreamed of his parents for the first time in a long while.
The two of them were sitting side by side on the sofa facing the waves, watching television that floated on the grey surface of the water.
Nakarai watched them from a short distance away. The nostalgic glow spilling from the television blurred softly across the rippling sea.
*What are they watching?*
The thought drifted into his mind.
*Dad... Mum...*
As he was about to call out to them, no sound came from his throat. He couldn't take even a single step towards them.
The two of them continued watching television as though they hadn't noticed him. The water had already reached halfway up their bodies.
Even so, they remained close together. The tide continued to rise.
*Dad and Mum...*
The waves quietly swallowed the beach.
“…!”
He lifted his head. All he could see now were the backs of his parents' heads. His voice, strained as he tried to shout, was swallowed somewhere deep in his throat.
His hands and feet jerked violently, and it felt as though only the inside of his body had been shaken. It was the same sensation he always had after dreaming about falling from a great height.
He opened his eyes. Kazuaki was looking down at him with concern. His face was pale. Only then did Sei realise that he had been crying.
“Are you all right?” Kazuaki asked.
“…Mm.”
Sei rubbed his eyes and sat up, hugging the blanket tightly against himself. His heart was still racing.
*It was just a dream.*
He told himself that over and over, yet the sadness remained, leaving a dull ache deep in his stomach. At times like this, he wanted to crawl back into the futon and hide. Only then did he truly feel that he was still alive.
Every summer, he switched to a towel blanket. By winter, he was buried beneath a thick duvet. The seasons repeated themselves. Until he died, this house would probably stay exactly the same.
“What would you like to drink?”
Sei shook his head.
“I don't need anything.”
“The television?”
“No.”
Without the slightest hint of annoyance, Kazuaki simply replied,
“Alright.”
His gentle response only made Sei feel more conflicted.
*How can someone be this kind?*
*If it keeps going like this, I'll end up depending on him.*
As Sei sat there in silence, Kazuaki smiled faintly.
“I know what you want.”
“…You do?”
“You don't want a television.”
“…No.”
“You want me.”
For a moment, Sei almost laughed. It was such a ridiculous thing to say.
“That really was a cruel joke.”
“Don't say things like that.”
“I only said it because you're working.”
As Kazuaki lightly patted Sei's back, he added,
“If anything happens, just call me.”
“What could possibly happen? There's nothing in this flat except me.”
“You never know.”
The words hit him unexpectedly. His stomach tightened.
*If something happened…*
*Who would I call?*
Even though he wasn't in the same room, just knowing Kazuaki was nearby somehow eased the ache in his chest.
The warmth he'd been trying so hard to ignore quietly seeped into the emptiness inside him. He understood exactly how Sei felt.
Lifting his head, he glanced at his phone. He wanted to call. He wanted to carry on the conversation they'd had earlier. But if he did, the exchange would only continue over messages.
On a night like this, trying to reason through feelings with words alone wouldn't help.
He reached for his phone. Then, realising how absurdly late it was, he stopped. The dark room had become even quieter. The notification light blinked softly.
It was a message from Hagiwara. After taking one slow, deep breath, Sei opened it.
══[changbins_delulu_wife]══
**Hagiwara Kazuaki**
**Six trees, forty-two metres.**
It was only a title. Nothing more. For a moment, Sei had no idea what it meant. Then he smiled. About fifteen minutes earlier, Hagiwara had probably still been awake.
*Where is Kazuaki tonight?*
For a brief second, the thought crossed his mind. Perhaps he hadn't been able to sleep either. Perhaps he had simply wanted to send a message that didn't need explaining.
He wondered if there might be a balcony attached to the bedroom. If he could lean against the railing and open the window, he might be able to count the lights in the houses outside.
Hagiwara probably couldn't either. Perhaps neither of them could. So he sent another message.
> **It's bigger than I thought.**
A reply came almost immediately.
> **The Tower of Heaven?**
Just that brief exchange somehow left him feeling satisfied enough to sleep. With the sound of rain still playing through his earphones, he closed his eyes.
---
*Maybe I'm simply sleep-deprived.*
“…!”
His little toe struck the corner of the wardrobe.
The sharp pain shot from his toes through his entire body.
For an instant it flared into something far beyond ordinary pain.
He squeezed his eyes shut, one hand pressed against his lower back, waiting for the wave to pass.
“…Damn…”
He was certain he'd only clipped it lightly. There shouldn't have been any reason for it to hurt this much.
There wasn't any bleeding, but a neat horizontal crack had split the nail on his right little toe.
*What am I supposed to do now?*
*I don't want to go to work.*
*Did Kazuaki really stay beside me all night?*
*Or did he go back to his own room?*
His sleep had been fairly normal. He'd put on his shoes carefully, picked up his bag and left the house.
Remembering he had work, he'd sent a message saying,
> **I'm leaving now. Take care.**
He didn't know whether Kazuaki had trusted those words or not, but when he came home that evening there was already a reply waiting.
Just as always.
*Maybe it was only because I'd had a nightmare.*
*Maybe he was simply worried about me.*
There was no point going over the same thoughts again. His cracked toenail hurt enough already.
══[changbins_delulu_wife]══
He took the lift down to the twelfth floor, where the General Affairs Department was located. As he walked down the corridor, he heard a door close behind him.
“Morning.”
Someone brushed past him. Perhaps they had become close enough to exchange casual greetings.
Even so, he was startled when a hand suddenly caught hold of his wrist from behind.
“…What?”
“Hagiwara.”
The voice belonged to a woman. She must have been standing just beyond the lift. They'd crossed paths without noticing each other.
“…Didn't you say your Sales Department was on a different floor?”
“I did.”
Ignoring the confused question, Hagiwara looked down at his foot.
“Your foot.”
“My foot? What's wrong with it?”
“I recognised the way you walk.”
"..."
What had slipped from his lips wasn't something he wanted to say about the accident itself. It was the strange realisation that Hagiwara had treated him with such extraordinary kindness that caught him off guard.
He'd given him his contact details, told him to leave the foot alone, fussed over him, and even looked genuinely concerned.
Setting a hand against the door, Sei explained quietly.
"It's not as bad as it looks."
The nail had cracked. It hurt sharply whenever he put weight on it, but if he only walked a little, he could still manage.
"I wish I'd just gone to the hospital after work."
He hated hospitals. If possible, he'd rather keep soaking it in warm water until it healed on its own. The doctor had told him it would grow back eventually.
"It looked pretty painful."
"It was only for a second."
Hagiwara tilted his head slightly before saying,
"Well... if you go to a nail salon, they'll sort it out for you. My ex-girlfriend told me that after she split one of her nails."
"They'd fit me in after work if I made a reservation now?"
"If they're not full."
Sei took out his phone to make a booking, but Hagiwara stopped him.
"Hold on. Just say you're in pain. If you tell them that, they'll probably squeeze you in."
"Do men even go to nail salons?"
"More than you'd think these days."
"So... have you been?"
"Not me."
"Then how do you know?"
"My girlfriend. Well... ex-girlfriend."
"I see."
"My own girlfriend's foot, and another man's feet... that's completely different."
"Is it because it's work?"
"Exactly."
That answer sounded far more like Hagiwara.
Even though the warmth lingering in his body made the injured nail throb, it had been one... no, nearly two weeks since anyone had reached out to him so kindly.
"Really? You can tell just by the way someone walks? Depending on how you carry yourself, I can tell if your left leg or your lower back hurts."
"Huh?"
"Hagiwara notices things far more than I do."
He genuinely admired him.
After arranging the appointment at the nail salon, they parted ways.
"I'll just send a quick message."
As he walked through the corridor, he heard Hagiwara mutter quietly behind him,
"I'll leave work as it is for now."
As he got closer to the lift, a message arrived from Hagiwara.
The subject line read:
Morning Incident
According to the receptionist, they would be able to see him from half past seven that evening if he came straight after work.
The message also included the shop's address and a URL to the website. That was all the reservation details he needed.
He still had work to finish, and if he didn't keep moving, he felt his face would betray every emotion he was trying to hide.
Rather than worrying about other people noticing, he was more afraid that Hagiwara would see straight through him.
Sei leaned back in his chair and stretched his body. Deliberately recalling the reassuring strength of the hand that had reached after him, he slowly lowered his head.
══[changbins_delulu_wife]══
The salon occupied the first floor of a commercial building filled with shops and offices aimed at adults. It wasn't exactly seedy, but it was the sort of place you probably wouldn't wander into unless you had a reason.
The moment he stepped through the entrance, a woman at what looked more like a hotel reception desk than a beauty salon looked up and smiled.
"Mr Nakarai?"
"Yes."
She stood immediately.
"This way, please."
She led him to a private treatment room with practised ease. Unlike the other female staff, there wasn't a single wasted movement in the way she worked.
"Please leave your belongings over here. Would you mind hanging your jacket up?"
The room was decorated in soft white tones. There was a reclining chair like the sort found in a shampoo room, with a chrome side table and framed artwork on the walls. It was cleaner and more elegant than Sei had expected.
"Excuse me for the sudden request..."
The woman who introduced herself as Mizutani looked towards Hagiwara.
...No, towards the image of Hagiwara that Sei had unconsciously built up in his mind.
She had a cool, refined face that suited her profession. Her features weren't strikingly glamorous, but there was something quietly beautiful about her. She had the sort of calm elegance that made people relax around her.
"May I ask what happened to your toenail?"
She wasn't simply making conversation. -She was trying to understand the injury before beginning treatment.
"Actually... I caught it on something."
"I see."
"For customers having nail repairs on their toes, we usually recommend foot baths with aromatherapy. Do you have any favourite fragrance? Citrus? Floral?"
"I'm afraid I don't really know much about that."
"That's perfectly all right. We can simply wash your feet instead."
"That's fine."
"No, it really isn't."
Before he realised it, he'd already agreed to take off his shoes. Preparing for treatment, rather than surgery, shouldn't have made him this nervous.
As soon as his shoes were off, Sei let out a slow breath. How ridiculous.
He'd rejected perfectly good opportunities simply because he'd felt uncomfortable in the place itself. It reminded him of people who avoided relationships because of one painful experience.
"Please rest your foot here."
She placed his injured foot onto a cushioned support.
"I'll begin by cleaning the area."
She gently wiped his entire foot with an antiseptic wipe. As expected, this wasn't embarrassing in the slightest. A female colleague wouldn't think anything strange about it.
The moment her cool, gentle hand lightly touched him, his heart gave an unexpected jolt.
He instinctively pulled himself back together.
She was simply carrying out her job.
Normally, she probably wouldn't even look someone in the eye, let alone entrust herself to a stranger.
The downcast gaze, the natural make-up that looked beautiful without trying, the neatly gathered hair, the calm smile that somehow softened the harshness of adult life.
If he were to exaggerate it, he could almost describe her as "far above his station."
She was undeniably beautiful. Yet she hadn't tried to charm him in the slightest. That effortless perfection was precisely what made her seem even more out of reach. Perhaps that was why.
With her eyes lowered, she projected the quiet dignity of someone who naturally belonged among other people, making him feel she lived in a completely different world. No...
It wasn't that she was looking down on him. It was simply that there was no need for her to draw anyone in. That was the difference.
"Does it still hurt much?"
"Not as badly as before."
"Good."
She examined the split nail.
"The crack has reached this far. It should be all right if we reinforce it with acrylic resin before applying a protective coating, but I'd still like to disinfect it first."
She excused herself briefly, bought what she needed from the station kiosk, then returned with fresh supplies.
Changing into disposable gloves, she disinfected the wound with practised movements.
"It might sting a little."
He frowned.
"Sorry. I know it hurts."
"No... it's all right."
She looked up.
"You work in General Affairs, don't you?"
"Yes."
"I thought so. Your feet are beautifully looked after."
He couldn't tell whether he'd been complimented or not.
"My feet?"
"People who spend all day on their feet at work usually have much rougher skin. Yours are in excellent condition."
"I see..."
"If you don't mind me asking... would you like me to take care of the other foot while you're here?"
"I..."
He hesitated.
If someone had told him yesterday that he'd be sitting in a nail salon discussing moisturiser and foot care, he'd have laughed at them.
Yet here he was.
"I'm sorry if that sounded intrusive."
"No."
He hurriedly shook his head.
"I was just thinking... if this were acting, I'd probably still fail."
She blinked.
"...Acting?"
"I keep thinking that if I couldn't even answer naturally in a situation like this, I wouldn't be able to do my job properly either."
Kaori smiled gently.
"I don't think that's true."
Her voice was as soft and transparent as sugar dissolving into warm water.
She worked with complete confidence in what she was doing, leaving him unable to feel even slightly self-conscious.
"...You've got lovely eyes."
"Huh?"
She said it so naturally that he instinctively looked up. The moment their eyes met, Kaori smiled.
"I'm sorry. I suppose that's a strange thing to say all of a sudden."
"...Not at all."
"I simply thought you had the kind of eyes that make people want to look after you."
He found himself at a loss for words. It wasn't because she was flirting with him. It was simply an honest impression she'd voiced without thinking.
"If you keep making that face, people are going to misunderstand."
"...Misunderstand?"
"They'll think you're upset."
She laughed softly.
"Fortunately, I do this for a living, so I know the difference."
She carefully applied the acrylic resin over the damaged nail, building it up layer by layer.
"You don't seem like someone who's very good at relying on other people."
"...Do I really come across that way?"
"You apologise before asking for anything."
"..."
"You also thank people long before they've actually done anything."
"...I never realised."
"It's just a habit, isn't it?"
Sei gave a small, embarrassed smile.
"...Maybe."
She continued working while speaking.
"People like that often push themselves too hard. They don't realise how exhausted they are until they suddenly can't keep going anymore."
"..."
"So, if someone offers to help you, perhaps you should simply accept it."
"...I'll try."
"Good."
She finished smoothing the surface of the repaired nail before holding up his foot.
"All done."
It was difficult to believe the nail had been cracked only moments earlier. The repair blended in so naturally that it was almost impossible to tell where the damage had been.
"Incredible..."
"I'm glad you like it."
She smiled.
"Just don't overdo it for the next few days."
"I won't."
"If the pain gets worse, or the nail changes colour, please see a doctor straight away."
"I understand."
She bowed politely.
"Thank you very much for coming today."
Sei stood, put his shoes back on, and looked down at his repaired foot one last time.
A business card had already been placed neatly on the small side table. His damaged toenail had been painted a muted grey and marbled pink, disguising it well.
How had they managed to make it look like that? For the first time since the accident it didn't look injured anymore.
No matter how much he thought about it, Nakarai couldn't understand what Hagiwara's girlfriend disliked about him.
It was only natural that lovers saw faults in each other that no one else noticed. Even taking that into account, though... Hagiwara was a genuinely kind person.
Was she taking advantage of that because she knew he wasn't the type to complain?
"...What an awful woman."
Kaori looked up.
"Please wait just a little while for the acrylic to dry."
"Ah... okay."
The unpleasant thought that had crossed his mind immediately filled him with embarrassment.
He'd only heard one side of the story. As someone with no connection to either of them, he had no right to judge so carelessly.
Once the acrylic had dried, she buffed it until it shone. When she finished, it was almost impossible to tell the repaired nail apart from his own, aside from being ever so slightly thicker.
"...Amazing."
Kaori smiled at his obvious surprise.
"If it starts peeling, please come back anytime."
"How much do I owe you?"
"Oh, no. There's no charge. It's only a small repair."
"I couldn't possibly let you do it for free."
"I'd get told off by him if I did."
She smiled as she briskly packed away her tools.
*She's a lovely person,* he found himself thinking.
It wasn't that she'd refused to charge him because Hagiwara had asked. Nor did he believe Hagiwara would actually be angry if she'd accepted payment.
She had simply respected Hagiwara enough to be considerate towards Nakarai. Once he realised that, the tightness in his chest eased.
And yet, strangely, his heart felt even heavier than before.
*...Why?*
Unable to understand the reason himself, Nakarai thanked her politely before leaving the salon.
Without having to worry about putting weight on his right foot, walking felt wonderfully easy.
As he made his way home, he found himself thinking that coming here today had definitely been the right decision.