“…Huh? Reina?”
My feet stopped instinctively, and I turned around.
Standing there was a woman with a slender, tall build, dressed in a dark navy suit. She had almond-shaped eyes, a high bridge to her nose, and smoky-colored lipstick. With glossy long black hair and striking, well-defined features, she was the kind of person who commanded attention.
“…Saeko?”
“Ah! It is Reina. I had a feeling when we passed each other; I recognized your profile.”
The woman, Saeko Kirishima, let the corners of her mouth curl up into a soft, gentle smile.
It was a personable smile, the kind that put people at ease.
It must be easy to get through life when you’re born with a face like that, I thought vaguely.
“Reina, it’s been a while. Since university graduation?”
“I think we went out drinking once with the seminar group during my first year in the workforce.”
“Oh, did we? Well, whatever. Hey, do you have time after this? Come hang out with me for a bit.”
For a fleeting moment, Yuno’s face crossed my mind.
“Ah, I…”
“Just one drink. Look, that place over there looks good.”
Half-forced by the pull of her arm, I found myself stepping into a nearby izakaya before I knew it.
I had been in the same management seminar as Saeko in college.
Saeko was the type to talk to anyone without distinction; she had approached me, who always stayed alone in the seminar, with a cheerful and friendly demeanor.
It was on a night when Saeko was completely drunk at a seminar drinking party that she told me she liked women. She had whispered it into my ear without a hint of shame, telling me she dated all sorts of girls—at university, at bars, everywhere.
“Okay, two bottles and some edamame.”
As we sat side-by-side at the counter, Saeko placed the order with a practiced air.
The moment I took off my coat, a lingering scent of smoky, sweet perfume drifted past my nose.
I picked up my phone and sent a LIME message to Yuno: I’m drinking tonight, so I’ll be home late.
If I didn’t message her, she might set dinner on the table and sit there in the chair, silently waiting for me. When I imagined that image, I felt a faint prick in the depths of my chest. Truly, only a tiny bit.
“What’s that? A lover?”
Saeko glanced at me from the corner of her eye as she pulled a pack of cigarettes from her bag. With practiced movements, she put one in her mouth and brought the lighter’s flame to it.
“No. A housemate.”
“Huh, a housemate? I can’t imagine Reina living with someone.”
“It’s only temporary until my new place is decided.”
As the smoke drifted lazily, I found my own hand reaching out. I took a cigarette from my bag, put it to my lips, and lit it.
As I inhaled the smoke deep into my chest, I felt something that had been taut loosen just a little.
We poured beer into each other’s glasses and clinked them lightly.
“Cheers.”
The bitterness of the chilled beer slid smoothly down my throat.
A drink after work really is the best.
“I should send a message too.”
Saeko casually picked up her phone and made a call.
“A girlfriend?”
“Mm, something like that. It’s a recent thing.”
“Still cycling through them as usual?”
“Ahaha, what a way to put it. Well, I can’t exactly deny it.”
Saeko chuckled, turning her face away from me to slowly exhale a cloud of smoke.
Then, she picked up a piece of edamame and turned back to me as if remembering something.
“How’s work? You’re a CEO, right?”
“Yeah, pretty much.”
“Amazing, Reina. You were always a head above the rest back in the seminar.”
“You think? Maybe I just didn’t fit in.”
“Ah, yeah. That’s true.”
Saeko nodded vigorously, burst into a loud laugh, and then took a gulp of her beer.
I had made a self-deprecating comment intended as modesty, and she had affirmed it wholeheartedly, yet strangely, I wasn’t angry. Perhaps it was because of Saeko’s lightness.
“But things haven’t been going great lately. Employees keep quitting because of my pressure, the atmosphere on the floor is bad because everything is just a series of handovers, and on top of that, I failed to secure funding…”
After a light sigh, the words just flowed out of me.
Perhaps the combination of cigarettes and alcohol had hit the right spot; I realized my tongue had become loose.
Saeko gave a short “Heh” of acknowledgement, then spoke with a look of sudden inspiration.
“Hey, can I transfer to Reina’s company?”
“What?”
The words escaped me involuntarily.
“I’m not really enjoying my current job lately. It’s stable, sure, but it’s an old company and they won’t adopt any new methods. I feel like I’m suffocating.”
“…I appreciate that, but I don’t think I can pay as much as your current company.”
From what I’d heard since we reunited, Saeko was working as both a marketer and in sales at a major corporation. She was in a managerial position and should have been earning a decent income.
“Don’t worry about that. Let’s grow the company together, and then you can raise my salary. Right?”
Saeko slowly exhaled smoke and gave a soft smile.
Her eyes were gentle. They were the same eyes she had when she first spoke to me when I was isolated in the seminar.
—If a woman is looked at with such gentle eyes, well, it’s true that many would fall for her.
The thought crossed my mind.
“…Alright, I’ll be waiting. For you to transfer.”
I answered bluntly after finishing the ginger highball I’d ordered for my third round.
From there, we got carried away talking business, and before I knew it, my fifth glass was empty.
It might have been a while since I’d drank at such a fast pace.
Looking at the clock, it was past 10:00 PM.
I gathered my things and stood up.
“I have to get going.”
“Ehh, let’s keep going!”
“What are you talking about? I have work tomorrow.”
“Still as serious as ever. Well, whatever. I’ll go to a bar by myself.”
The “bar” Saeko mentioned was likely a lesbian bar.
She would find another “someone” for a single night there. The people who became Saeko’s girlfriends must suffer. The thought brought a wry smile to my lips.
I left the shop, waved “See ya,” and parted ways.
The cold outdoor air felt pleasant against my cheeks, which were flushed from the alcohol. I had drunk more than I intended.
Walking home, my steps were slightly unsteady.
When I returned home, the room was pitch black.
Yuno, wearing the oversized pajamas I had lent her, was perched on the sofa, tapping away at her phone. Only the faint light from the screen blurred into the darkness.
“Ah, welcome home, Oneesan.”
“You could at least turn on the lights.”
“Hmm, I just felt like this.”
I flicked the light switch on.
I took off my coat, hung it on a chair, took some tea from the fridge, and took a sip.
Yuno suddenly stood up. Without a word, she took my coat in her hand, brought her face close, and began to sniff it.
“…What are you doing?”
I asked with a suspicious look.
“The person you were drinking with today… was it a woman?”
Yuno paused for a moment as if thinking, then tilted her head and asked. Her eyes seemed to lack light.
“Yes, but why?”
At my response, Yuno murmured a small “I see,” and looked down at the coat once more.
Then, she fell silent again.
“Is something wrong with that?”
“…No. It’s nothing.”
Yuno shook her head and gave a soft smile.
The same innocent smile as always.
But for some reason, that expression from a moment ago remained etched in the corner of my mind.