He didn’t think anyone would understand this way of thinking even if he tried to explain.
When they were leaving the store the following day after finishing work, Endo said, “Hurry up and get in,” jerking his chin towards his car.
Usually they went their separate ways in front of the store and Kodai walked home to his apartment, but perhaps Endo was showing him uncharacteristic kindness due to the cold.
“Thanks.”
He got on happily but the car sped off in the opposite direction to his house.
“Eh? Where are we going?”
“My dad cooked with the daikon and gobo from yesterday so he told me to bring you over.”
He had just been thinking about his guilt towards Endo’s father so this took him aback.
“Wait, wait! I’m sorry but today I have errands-”
“You got in so leisurely, where did these errands come from?”
“Well, I thought you were going to drop me home.”
“Who do you think you are?”
“Uh, well….”
“If you have errands, then why don’t you tell my dad directly?”
“It would be even more rude for me to go all the way to your house just to say I have things to do.”
“I don’t care. That’s between you and my dad.”
“Wait a second, En-chan. You would be the worst husband when it comes to mother-in-law-daughter-in-law conflicts.”
“Are you the daughter-in-law in that situation?”
“No, no, that’s not…”
Since they beat rush hour and the road was clear, they arrived at Endo’s home in no time at all.
The cosy house in a small residential area was already unlocked without needing to press the intercom. Kodai followed Endo as he opened the door and entered. As soon as he stepped through the door frame, Endo’s father came out.
Endo inherited his height from his father, didn’t he? These days, people in their fifties overall looked pretty youthful but Endo’s father had a slim frame and looked plenty young. His hair mixed with grey hairs looked pretty snappy as well.
The thing that really stood out from Endo was his father’s friendly smile. His smile formed wrinkles on his cheeks and made him quite charming.
“Masui-kun, welcome. Come in, come in.”
“Apparently, Masui has things to do.”
Kodai became flustered at Endo’s un-sugarcoated phrase.
“No, no, it’s nothing important. I wanted to try your cooking so I came!”
Endo was probably looking at him disdainfully because of his sudden change of heart.
“Eh, really? Are you sure it’s nothing important?”
If he looked past his guilt for liking Endo, Kodai actually loved his father’s personality, so much he would actually like to meet with him every day, so he didn’t want him to think that he was trying to avoid him by making excuses all the time.
“I was supposed to call my girlfriend, but it’ll be fine after I get home so…”
If he was actually dating someone, Kodai probably wouldn’t be the type to purposefully say something like that. The reason he said ‘girlfriend’ was to put up a line of defence that would be easy for himself and the other person to understand. Endo was only a friend.
Endo may not have even considered Kodai to be that much.
“Isn’t that something important? If you like, you can go to that room and talk to her to your heart’s content.”
“No, no, I’m really fine! Rather, I’m kind of hungry. Thank you for your invitation!”
He was a man living alone, but Endo’s father’s house was quite neat. According to the story he had heard before, Endo’s father had always been in charge of the main housework because his mother was busier than his father who worked at the government office.
On the table were two pots of buri daikon with burdock root and furofuki daikon submerged in a clear broth.
“It became a full-course daikon meal.”
“Wow, it looks delicious!”
“Which would you like? Beer or Japanese sake?”
“Ah, well, I would feel bad being the only one drinking since En-chan isn’t.”
“Why are you assuming I won’t?”
“I mean, you have to drop me home.”
“Assuming that I’ll drive you home is quite shameless.”
“Eh, are you telling me to walk home?”
Endo’s father burst out laughing at their argument.
“You two really are like a comedy duo, aren’t you?”
Endo’s father placed a glass in front of Kodai and didn’t wait for his agreement before he started to pour.
Well, it’s not like the distance to his house was unwalkable and he probably would warm up slightly if he was tipsy. Kodai gratefully drank the beer.
Endo’s father’s cooking was amazing.
“The flavour is sunken into the buri daikon and it’s so good. It goes well with the gobo too.”
“You see, adding gobo to it was my wife’s idea. She preferred the furofuki daikon miso soup to be sweeter.” Endo’s father happily explained this and that until he suddenly made a face like he was coming back to his senses.
“Sorry, sorry. I keep on going on about her, Shintaro gets fed up with it too.”
“No, it’s okay. It’s a beautiful story. My parents weren’t on good terms with each other so it’s heartwarming and admiring.”
“I used to fight with my wife all the time, but when she died, I felt quite lonely. Well, I’m still thankful that this grumpy son of mine came home.”
That grumpy son was quietly eating by himself.
“He looks like this but he has a kind side as well. 9 years ago, when we found out about her sickness and we were talking about whether she would be able to continue working, he dropped out of his university and enrolled into a technical school.”
“Eh, that was the reason?”
“Don’t make it out to be some type of inspiring story. I just couldn’t see the point of continuing at university.”
“She complained that it was a waste since he had gotten accepted into the university out loud, but behind the scenes, she was very glad.”
Endo’s father made a face like he remembered something funny and leaned towards Kodai.
“Last year, when Shintaro suddenly announced that he was going to come back and inherit her shop, I thought for sure he would bring home a wife or something. I told all of our relatives.”
“Sorry, he actually brought back a filthy guy.”
“No, no, I’m grateful he brought back such a good guy like you Masui-kun. Shintaro getting a girlfriend is like a fantasy.”
“Fantasy?”
“He’s unpopular with the ladies, isn’t he?”
Kodai shook his head, mouth full of daikon.
“No way! How could someone so handsome be unpopular!? At our old store, he had so many clients and he was even interviewed for magazines and scouted by entertainment agencies. In any case, he’s totally popular!”
“No, it’s not about the arrangements of his facial features, I’m talking about his personality. I can’t even count the number of girls he made cry as a kid. He was so unfriendly to even the girls who treated him nicely that it put my wife on edge.”
“Ahhh, I can imagine that.”
He agreed without thinking, but since it’s different than when talking directly to the person of discussion and rude to say in front of his father, he panickedly added more.
“But, I think it is kinder to say directly what you think rather than get someone’s hopes up.”
Actually, that part of Endo saved him. If he was someone that made Kodai think he had a chance, his heart would go crazy and he wouldn’t be able to stay by his side. He was able to stay with him because he knew that Endo falling for him was 120% not going to happen.
When thinking like that, his own masochism became laughable.
“With this personality, he may be alone for the rest of my life. Not only for marriage, but even the store staff won’t be around eventually.”
“It’s an industry with a low employee retention rate so there’s not much that can be done.”
“Masui-kun, you’re quite kind. You should call your girlfriend over here, and continue to help Shintaro out forever.”
“Shut up. Don’t just go on about other people right in front of them,” Endo said with a sour expression.
“En-chan, don’t tell your dad to shut up.”
“You also need to stop talking, and don’t call me En-chan.”
“Sorry, boss.”
“….. Shut up.”
Kodai exchanged a glance with his father that said, he’s angry, isn’t he? and smiled together.
Even if their meanings were different, Endo was important to the both of them so it was an intimate smile.
He felt happy and his heart became soft and warm, as well as slightly suffocating.
He wished he could stay with this family forever.
Though, of course, he understood that would be like a pipe dream.
Just as Kodai made to leave, Endo’s father put the remaining food into a tupperware container and handed it over.
“I feel sorry for taking this home, even though I came empty-handed.”
“I’m just glad you came. Come over around once a week.”
“Thank you!”
“Say the truth. That it would be annoying.” Kodai hit Endo with the back of his hand like a comedian after hearing his heartless remark as they walked to the front door.
“Don’t lump me in with yourself, En-chan.”
“Yes, truly. It would be better if you came without Shintaro, Masui-kun.”
“Really? Then, maybe I’ll come visit without warning.”
As he went along with the pace of the conversation, Kodai’s chest became overcast with self-disgust. He said these things now, but if another invitation came along, he would definitely lay out excuses and decline. Endo probably knew this and would be looking at him with contempt.
As soon as he stepped one foot out of the warm house, he could feel the stabbing dry winter air.
It would take about 30-40 minutes to walk from Endo’s childhood home to Kodai’s apartment. He felt like he was going to freeze down to his core, but he thought that he may warm up as he walked. He looked up at the star-filled sky…. Until his thoughts got interrupted by the noise of Endo’s car being unlocked.
Kodai turned around surprised. “Aren’t you sleeping here?”
“Why would I?”
“Are you going to drive under the influence?”
“I didn’t drink?”
“Huh, you didn’t?”
Because of their small argument at dinner, Kodai had thought for sure that Endo was also drinking but, now that he thought of it, he only grabbed sparkling water from the cooler. He remembered this as he watched Endo’s back as he opened the driver’s seat door.
“If you want to walk, feel free,” he said coldly, looking back at Kodai standing around absentmindedly.
“Wait a second. This is where you’re supposed to invite me in for a ride.” Kodai quickly got into the passenger’s seat.
Endo said nothing and started the car.
The early winter air was clear and they could see many stars even through the windshield.
Years later, tens of years later, even such normal nights would surely become a beautiful, unforgettable memory.
At that time, Kodai would remember this night wherever he was. Endo’s expressionless profile, the blinking stars and the smell of daikon leaking from the tupperware.
Kodai felt embarrassed by his sudden sentimental emotions and quickly shook them away, before saying in a cheerful voice, “You know, I always thought that peoples’ personalities were heavily influenced by genes or their childhood environment, but it’s totally different in your case, isn’t it?”
“Are you dissing my dad?”
“Why would you even think that? I’m more wondering what happened to you,” he laughed, rearranging his legs. “How did such a warm and fun father give birth to a son like you?”
“It’s not like he gave birth to me.”
“Don’t take it so literally.”
“You should stop breathing. You reek of alcohol.”
“I’ll die if I stop.”
He remembered Endo’s father’s words as they got into their usual groove of conversation.
That he couldn’t remember the number of girls he made cry.
Well, that made sense. Kodai didn’t know his history with girls, but with that attitude, unless she was strong-willed or an extreme masochist, he felt like there weren’t many girls Endo would be able to date.
Could he call a guy like that a tsundere? Well, in Endo’s case, there was zero dere.
“…. If someone was in the tsundere category, but had no dere, what could you call them?” Kodai was tipsy and his thoughts felt loose, and he accidently said what he meant to say in his head out loud.
Endo let out a perplexed, “Huh? What’s a tsundere without dere?
“No, that’s what I’m asking. By the way, I’m talking about you.”
The traffic light had just turned red and the car stopped, so Endo looked over in his default displeased expression.
“I’m always dere.”
Kodai’s eyes widened and he burst out laughing.
“What the hell, hilarious! This is the first day I’ve heard a joke from you, En-chan. I’m marking today as your ‘first joke anniversary’.”
“Shut up,” Endo grumbled.
The stars in the night sky twinkled as if they were laughing.
He thought that these fun times should continue forever.
But, he knew that they couldn’t, so he also thought they should be put to an end.
1 thought on “Chapter 3.2”
Aww, I love Endos Dad! I also want someone who invites me to dinner once a week lol Their convo was also sweet.
“Are you going to drink under the influence?” Slip of the … fingers!