Type: Novel Translation
Title: Yokozawa Takafumi no Baai 5
Series: Sekai-ichi Hatsukoi
Author/Circle: Nakamura Shungiku, Fujisaki Miyako
Rating: PG
Language: English
Forum Discussion: HERE
Notes: You can also view the book in-progress on Pressbooks for what’s likely a more pleasant reading experience!
Chapter 9 (cont.)
By the time they reached the apartments, the sky was washed over with a warm orange color. Yokozawa pulled into the complex garage, calling out to the pair beside him in the silence that fell after he cut the engine, “…Hey, we’re home.”
“…Huh? We’re already here? I fell asleep?” Hiyori blinked blearily at Yokozawa’s voice, glancing around at her surroundings, and Yokozawa’s eyes crinkled with mirth at the endearing reaction.
“You both conked out the moment I put the car in gear.” She’d likely been exhausted from a combination of having been entrusted with such a great responsibility as well as attending festivities she wasn’t used to experiencing. She’d immediately fallen silent when the car had pulled out–just as he’d expected, her battery had finally died.
He’d held off much conversation to keep from waking her–and in short order, the sounds of Kirishima’s soft snores had reached his ears from the passenger seat. Like father, like daughter, he’d supposed, given how alike they looked when asleep, their heads cocked at the same angle against the window providing an amusing image. If he hadn’t been driving, he would would have liked to snap a picture for posterity.
“Wow, I feel like I had a nice little snooze, too.” Kirishima twisted his neck around to relax his stiff muscles, looking rather refreshed, and Yokozawa recalled hearing that short naps were perfect for relieving fatigue.
“I’m sure you’re both exhausted. No staying up late tonight–head straight to bed.”
“Yessir~” Hiyori responded primly with perfect manners.
“Thanks, Yokozawa; you really helped by playing chauffeur today.”
“No, it’s fine; being able to drive in to work helped me out as well.” Commuting by car was generally frowned upon by the company, but it was allowed for employees coming in on their day off or for special reasons. As such, workers heading to the office on weekends and holidays typically did so by car.
Kirishima slid out of the passenger seat and turned to open the rear passenger door, extending his hand to the still-groggy Hiyori. “Your hand, milady.”
“Hehee, I kinda feel like a princess!”
“It’s still my job to escort you, for now.”
Yokozawa supposed that Kirishima had entertained his own share of thoughts watching the bride be handed off to her new husband today. Hiyori politely took his hand and hopped out of the car. While she might start rebelling a bit as she entered puberty, for now, there were no such signs of discord–and if someone had asked her who her most favorite person in the whole wide world was, she’d probably still answer ‘my dad’.
If he ignored the parts where Kirishima was kind of a slob and utterly hopeless in the kitchen, he really was an ideal father. He gave 110% at the office but still made time for his family, and while he was strict with his child, he still considered her own feelings thoughtfully.
His basic ‘ingredients’ were already good, so when you compounded that with the fact that he took pride in what he wore and how he looked, it was little surprise that Hiyori’s classmates saw him as a ‘cool dad’. She seemed genuinely pleased whenever he praised her and never missed an opportunity to relate this fact to Yokozawa.
“I wonder if Sora-chan’s waiting for us~”
“He’s been alone since this morning, so he’s probably in a pissy mood. He’s so spoiled with Hiyo.” While Sorata had always played it rather cool with Yokozawa, he seemed to become a completely different animal when he was around Hiyori, utterly at ease and eager to have her fawn over him.
“That’s ’cause we’re good friends!”
“He’s been really cold with me lately; I’ll call out to him and he won’t even lift his head to look at me.” Often times he’d just stay curled up on the little seat he’d claimed as his own and just flick his ears in response.
“He’s just shy~ He likes to go check out the genkan a lot on days when you don’t come, Oniichan! He’s definitely thinking something like I wonder if he’ll come today…!”
“Wait, seriously?” It was strange, hearing what Sorata was like when Yokozawa wasn’t around.
“Sounds like he’s a tsundere–just like his owner.”
“I’m not a tsundere!” He made a sour face at the disturbing turn the conversation was taking and entered the lobby of the apartment complex. As they opened the autolock and stepped through, they found a young girl about Hiyori’s age waiting for the elevator.
“Ah, Saho-chan!”
“Hiyo-chan?”
It seemed they were friends, and Hiyori quickly jogged over to greet the young girl. The girl, apparently acquainted with Kirishima as well, offered a polite greeting to him. “Good evening, Hiyo-chan’s father.”
“Evening.”
The ‘Saho’ girl seemed brimming with curiosity over Hiyori’s outfit. “Hey…what’s with the dress? It’s super cute!”
“We went to a relative’s wedding today. I got to wear this ’cause I helped out with the ceremony.”
“Wow, that sounds like fun! You’re so lucky…all I got to do today was take practice exams at cram school. It was a total wash…” The large bookbag hanging from the girl’s back was likely jam-packed with all sorts of study materials. Yokozawa himself had started attending cram school rather early on in elementary school–likely in large part because his parents were more comfortable that way than leaving him on his own at home. It helped that the lessons at cram school were a lot easier to digest than those in his regular classes, and he recalled enjoying being able to make friends with students from other schools.
“Oh right…you go to cram school. Must be rough!”
“Yeah, but I’m working hard to get into a school I really want to go to! Oh–are we at the 5th floor already? Well, see ya later!” The elevator drew to a stop, and when the doors opened, Saho darted off with a backwards wave to Hiyori.
As the doors closed again, Yokozawa asked, “A classmate?”
“No, not anymore–we were in the same class in 4th grade, but we got separated when classes changed this year.” Her voice sounded a bit disheartened, and her spirits seemed lower. She’d been rather upbeat until just a moment ago, so the shift in dynamics was a bit concerning. He hadn’t noticed anything in their conversation that might explain the mood change, but something could have conceivably transpired that he, as a man, hadn’t picked up on.
While he wanted to press for the reason behind Hiyori’s torn expression, he understood that sometimes people just wanted to be left alone. As he was pondering whether or not he ought to confront her, though, they arrived at the Kirishimas’ apartment.
“Sora-chan, we’re back~!” As if he’d sensed their arrival, Sorata was already waiting for them in the genkan. He quickly wound himself about Hiyori’s legs, begging to be picked up–which Hiyori did, with a Thanks for watching the apartment!, and he narrowed his eyes in happy satisfaction.
“What’re we doing for dinner?”
“I’m actually still kinda full from earlier, so how about we push it back a bit? Oh–unless you were hungry?”
“I had a snack before I met up with you two at the hotel, so I’m fine for now.”
“Then how about around 8? Let’s just throw something together.” Dinner was generally taken relatively early in the Kirishima home, for Hiyori’s sake, but when Yokozawa considered his meal times before he’d met the pair, 8 PM was still rather early for him.
“You say ‘just throw something together’, when you won’t even be making the damn meal.”
“And you have my eternal gratitude for that–hey, what’s wrong, Hiyo?”
“Eh?”
“You’re making a weird face–it’s all wrinkly riiiight here.” He pressed a finger between his brows, approaching the issue head on where Yokozawa had been dithering about unsure if he should say anything or not.
Hiyori’s hands immediately went to her own brows at her father’s comment. “Huh, I am?”
“You worrying about something?”
Yokozawa wondered if it was really a good idea to be so blunt, but while he worried about the direction of the conversation, Hiyori voiced her concerns with some hesitation. “Well, it’s not really that I’m worrying or anything… I was just thinking that maybe it would be a good idea for me to go to cram school too…”
“What’s with that all of a sudden; your grades are fine without cram school, aren’t they?” While she’d had difficulties with math, Hiyori was generally good with her studies. Kirishima usually looked over her work, too, and Yokozawa helped her out with the subjects she found confusing. If she were aiming to take exams to enter a school of her choice, then sure, some sort of specialized study sessions might be in order, but she should have no trouble making it into a local public school.
“Well, Saho-chan’s going, and there are other kids in my class who’ve started going now that we’re in the second semester, too. They’ve said they’re going to try and get into a private school.”
It sounded like her classroom environment had changed a bit after summer vacation. Once kids entered 5th grade, they tended to focus more on cram school sessions than club practice.
“Ah…yeah, I guess you’re about at that age huh… Wow, time sure does fly. One more year and you’ll be in middle school.”
Middle school… at Kirishima’s softly spoken words, Yokozawa felt himself get a bit choked up as well. Hiyori was a bit small for her age, but she was growing day by day. He’d been so enthralled with how she looked in her dress that he hadn’t noticed she’d actually gotten a bit taller of late as well–once she hit her growth spurt, she would shoot up like a weed.
“Yeah; I mean, I’ve still got more than a year left, but I was just wondering if it was such a good idea to be taking things so easy…”
“Well, what do you want to do? Do you want to take middle school exams?”
“Mm…I dunno. I don’t want to be separated from all my friends, but…” The hesitation and confusion were evident in her voice; it seemed she still hadn’t made up her mind yet. All of her worries and concerns about the changes around her had apparently been brought to the forefront of her mind on running into her friend coming home from cram school.
“Then–why not take a trial cram school course? I’m pretty sure they have those sorts of things. We can even get a tour of a private middle school too, if you want. Can’t very well make up your mind if you’ve never tried it, right?”
“You don’t mind?”
“C’mon, what’re you holding back for? Of course I don’t mind. If there’s something you want to do, you should just go for it. You might find it’s not really for you, but that’s still way better than regretting never trying it at all.”
“Thanks, Dad!”
“Given your grades, I’m sure you’ll be able to pull it off, even starting this late. You’re not really attending any other practice sessions right now, so cram school might be good for you.”
“He’s got a point,” Yokozawa concurred. He recalled, as a child, feeling like he’d had all the time in the world, but looking back now, he often wished he’d tried so many other things. Whenever an opportunity to try something new presented itself, it was always a good idea to just go for it.
“Well, for now, how about we get the documentation together? And why don’t you talk to your friend about it?”
“‘Kay, I’ll do that!” Seemingly relieved to have her concerns resolved at last, Hiyori’s usual bright expression returned to her features–settling Yokozawa’s nerves as well. “Did you ever have anything you wished you’d done as a kid, Dad?”
“Me? Not really, since I pretty much did whatever I wanted, but if I had to say something…I do sometimes wish I hadn’t goofed off as much and read some more books. Reading the same book as a kid and an adult feels completely different, after all.”
“It does?”
“Adults and kids have different imaginations. I’m kinda jealous of you, having so many books you can still read and enjoy like that. But–what the heck are we all doing still standing around like this? Run and get changed, and I’ll get everything set up so we can show Yokozawa the video I took of you earlier.”
“‘Kay!” She set Sorata back onto the floor and then hurried into her room to change out of her dress.
As he watched her leave, Yokozawa remarked softly, “…Girls sure do think deeply about things.” Thinking back to when he had been her age, he couldn’t recall ever really being concerned about the future. He’d gone to cram school, but memories of chatting with friends before and after the lessons and sharing stupid, funny stories were starker than any actual learning.
He’d often been asked what he wanted to be when he grew up, but when he’d answered ‘an office worker’, he’d always been met with shock. Still, he maintained that it hadn’t just been a random, half-assed choice; seeing his parents both working so hard, he’d really come to appreciate the importance of a hard day’s work. In that sense, he’d truly looked up to them in his own way as a child.
“Well, they mature faster than boys. But still…Hiyori as a middle school student… I feel like just the other day she was still calling me Papa…” Kirishima reminisced, staring off into space. One year might feel long to a child, but to the adults watching over that child, it would pass by in a flash. They’d probably be taken aback by how fast she’d grow up.
“She’s gonna be an adult before you know it; you’ll probably have to give her away at the altar pretty soon, huh?” Even discounting his obvious bias, Yokozawa maintained that Hiyori was quite cute. She could be a little ditzy at times, but she was serious and straightforward and had a kind, gentle personality. Recalling that there was already a young man pining after her, he was sure that her popularity among classmates would only grow with time. It would be quite a chore to ensure that no nasty little bugs approached her.
“Well I’m not giving her away to any half-assed men.”
“As I recall, you previously said you’d never give her away period…” Yokozawa remarked, noting the shift in Kirishima’s words from before. What had changed in his mindset between now and then?
“Well, I do want to see her as a bride…and I guess I’ve started thinking that maybe I wouldn’t mind giving my blessing to a man I approved of. But–still, I can’t imagine there are too many of those floating around.”
“Uh, I’m pretty sure the first problem would be finding a man Hiyori approves of–and those are probably even rarer.” The closest man in Hiyori’s life right now was her own father–Kirishima. Whether he realized it or not, he’d inadvertently set the bar for all subsequent suitors rather high. Men who weren’t a better match than Kirishima–or at least as good as–were never even going to ping Hiyori’s radar.
“What makes you say that?” Kirishima asked in genuine confusion at Yokozawa’s bitter smile.
“…You seriously don’t know? Wow, you are really thick when it comes to that daughter of yours…”
“Hey–you’re the last person I want to hear shit like that from.”
“Daughters hardly ever go for any man they don’t think can outstrip their fathers. So don’t worry–she’ll nab a good man. Someone just like you.”
“Me?” Yokozawa had assumed this would thrill Kirishima, but instead, the man’s expression grew serious.
“What, you don’t want her bringing home someone like yourself?”
“Of course not. I’d go gray with worry if she showed up with some flake of a guy whose only saving grace was his silver tongue.”
“…So you do have some self-awareness.” He was flabbergasted by how seriously Kirishima was speaking his concerns; it seemed he really was worried about this issue–but he could hardly say as such to some flake of a guy whose only saving grace was his silver tongue, as it were.
“Shit…what the hell am I gonna do if she brings home someone like me?”
“Sounds to me like it’s the father who’s got bigger things to worry about now…” Yokozawa chuckled, taking in Kirishima’s expression as he held his head and agonized over future possibilities. He’d never accept her bringing home a good-for-nothing, but it would prove equally difficult for him to welcome with open arms someone breathtakingly charming. “Then what kind of man would you like to see her with?”
“I dunno…I guess if I had a choice, I’d want her with someone kinda like you.”
“Me?” His eyes went wide with shock at the unexpected admission, never having expected his name to come up in this conversation.
“You’re good with office work, but you can handle yourself around the house as well–but you’re not so good that she’d have to worry about you cheating on her. She could do a lot worse than someone like you for a husband.”
“Well thanks.” He wasn’t sure some parts of that interlude had been entirely complimentary, but knew that if he pressed, Kirishima would probably say something ridiculous.
“She’s my daughter; maybe we have similar tastes. But if she were to fall in love with you, then…”
He quickly fixed Kirishima with an unamused gaze, not liking the direction the conversation was trending. “Idiot; Hiyo has more than her fair share of men to choose from.”
“You seriously don’t understand your own self-worth. Shall we ask Hiyo later for confirmation?”
“Absolutely not! What if it makes her uncomfortable!”
Conversations like this, discussing the future with Kirishima, still left Yokozawa feeling rather odd. He actually had someone here he could talk about his future with…and that, in and of itself, was something of a miracle.
Falling in love with someone was something anyone could do on their own–but for the other person to love you back? Well that…was all up to fate. No matter how hard you worked to make them look at you, to care for you, it was ultimately that person’s own decision as to whether or not you merited their affections. And while you might feel flattered when approached by someone you had feelings for yourself, receiving such attentions from someone you didn’t care for would amount to little more than an annoyance.
Initially, he’d seen Kirishima as nothing more than a frustrating irritation of a man. With the threat of blackmail over a certain image floating over his head, Yokozawa hadn’t had much choice in the matter, with Kirishima’s meddlesome, shameless actions grating on his every nerve.
But he felt now that it was that overwhelming irritation that had him thinking about nothing but Kirishima Kirishima Kirishima day in and day out, until before he realized it, the man had become an amazingly important part of Yokozawa. He’d been shocked at the feelings that had crept inside without his noticing, putting down roots and sprouting into full blossom, and hadn’t been able to accept it initially. But the more stubbornly he tried to deny the feelings, the more he’d been forced to accept that there was no way to excuse them.
Kirishima leaned forward, bringing their faces close and dropping his voice to whisper into Yokozawa’s ear, “…Well, even if she did fall for you, I’ve got no intention of giving you up.”
“Huh?”
“I’m saying you’re mine.”
“Y…you don’t have to…go out of your way to say stuff like that all the time.” He elbowed the leering Kirishima in the chest to push him out of the way, stepping back to place some space between them. Despite the serious mien he’d been wearing before, he now seemed back in his usual spirits.
Yokozawa still couldn’t fathom why on earth Kirishima had chosen him, and while he knew that sometimes human emotions were just illogical, his own self-doubt and lack of confidence sometimes led him to crave a reason he could agree with.
Maybe with time, these doubts would ease–the more time they spent together, the deeper these bonds would become.
“Time…huh…”
It was here that he felt something tug insistently within his chest–but he couldn’t quite place his finger on what.
“You say something?”
“Ah–no, nothing. Hey, you’d better get a move on, Hiyo’ll be back any second. Shouldn’t you get changed, too?”
“Oh yeah, guess so. Shouldn’t be standing around talking like this.” He tugged at his necktie, turning to head into his room.
His attempt to cover up his mumblings to himself reminded Yokozawa here of the promise Kirishima had made to Hiyori. “We just need to hook up the recording device to the TV, right? I’ll take care of it, if you want.” If they didn’t hurry and get ready, Hiyori would finish changing.
“Yeah, sorry–do you mind? The instruction manual should be underneath.”
“Got it.” He probably just needed to move the recording to the player, and as he quickly ran his eyes over the manual, the strange heaviness in his chest he’d felt early dissipated into nothingness.
To be continued…