“Huh…” “Kid, you’re sounding more and more like Kei.” “Huh?” “I bet you’re gonna grow up to be so boring.” “Huh?!” Natsumi got up from the sofa, briskly tying her long hair back with an elastic. “Better not talk like that around the sunshine girl you finally managed to find, or she might not like you so much anymore. You’ve got a date today, right?” “Huh? No, it’s not a date or anything; it’s more like I’m making sure… Or apologizing, or…making a suggestion…” As I faltered, Natsumi pulled on a black suit jacket, so that she looked (unusually for her) like a sharp working adult. She always wore casual clothes that exposed a lot of arm and leg, so she seemed almost like a different person now. “Huh? What’s the occasion, Ms. Natsumi?” “I’m going job hunting.” “Huh?!” Job hunting?! “—Wait, what about the office?!” “This is just a temp thing until I find something better,” she replied, and I could tell that wasn’t the whole story. She fluttered a hand at me and left the office. I stared at the door she’d disappeared through, stunned, suddenly feeling left behind. No, she has to be joking, right? I thought hastily. “Wait, I’ve gotta go, too!” I said aloud to erase the slight unease I felt, then got up from the sofa. Believe it or not, the girl didn’t have a smartphone or a cell phone. As a result, she’d given me only a small handwritten note. Checking the directions she’d carefully printed by hand, I got off at Tabata Station. When I climbed the stairs at the end of the platform, as the instructions had told me to, I found a small unmanned ticket gate with a row of just three turnstiles. I’d had the idea that all ticket gates on the Yamanote Line were as spacious as tennis courts and as crowded as a party, and the hush at this one startled me. Page 52 Goldenagato | mp4directs.com