“Yes, I do actually,” Isshiki said, nodding. As if being wary of Yukinoshita and Yuigahama, she motioned to me and whispered, “Senpai, can I bother you for a second?”
“Huh? Yeah… sure…” I sent a look to Yukinoshita and Yuigahama telling them to head on home first and they nodded back. With Isshiki pulling me along by my sleeve, we approached the window at the end of the hallway.
The sky was colored in twilight and the wind that slapped the window seemed cold. With her back facing the window, Isshiki apprehensively asked, “Um, senpai, what’s going on with the work I asked you for help with before? I’d like to come to a decision on it already…”
“Hm, yeah. I got it. I’ll do something about it.”
Hearing “work” caused me to respond mostly with the motivation that a corporate slave would have. It’s kind of a problem if I have to talk about work on my way home. Today’s Service Club business hours were over. Please come back another day with your request. It’s cold and I want to go home.
I turned around after giving a vague, lukewarm response and Isshiki’s voice came at me from behind. “Oh. Then, is it okay if we meet tomorrow at ten in the morning in front of Chiba Station?”
“Huh? Tomorrow?” I turned around instinctively and checked.
Tomorrow was a day off. The Hikigaya household adopted the system of two full days of weekly holidays. So if I was told to rest, I was going to rest. However, the problem was that the Service Club adopted the system of two days of weekly holiday. These two systems happened to be different. The more you know. Anyway, that means whenever Service Club duties were brought up, I had this feeling of needing to work even on Saturdays and Sundays. On second thought, that’s not even a system of two days of weekly holiday, is it? What’s with this sweatshop club…?
“No, I don’t think tomorrow’s going to work…”
I gave an appropriate response for the time being to ensure my weekends and Isshiki moved her index finger to her chin and tilted her head. “But I doubt there’s anything to do though?”
“Don’t give me that, you think I’d know…?”
It’s been bugging me every time, but why does Isshiki always talk under the assumption I knew everything? Like I’d know what her plans were. I don’t know everything, I just know what I know.1
After telling her, Isshiki slyly puffed her cheeks. “I mean, it’s senpai we’re talking about.”
“Oh, you were talking about me… Wait, why is this about me now? Isn’t this kind of weird? Well, you’re right that I don’t have anything to do though…”
“See, I knew it. In that case, I’ll be counting on you tomorrow. I’m looking forward to seeing you in action, senpai! I’ll be excusing myself now.”
“S-Sure…”
Isshiki made a bright smile, ended the conversation, and waved her hands in goodbye. Gosh! Irohasu, that’s such a nice smile! Your face was telling me you wouldn’t let me say no, ask any questions, or check over the details with you at all!
Aw crap, did I make some kinda promise or something…? If she mentioned work, I think Isshiki should’ve asked me for help with something… Aw crap, I, like, totally ain’t got a clue, man…
Having been coerced by Isshiki’s smile, I started walking towards the entrance.
After walking a few steps, I glanced around back at Isshiki and she was still waving her hand with a smile.
Well, it’s me we’re talking about here. It’s possible she was just saying something whatever was necessary for the time being like I did earlier. In fact, that seems like the only possibility. The details were the issue…
But unable to remember a single thing, I buried my face into my scarf and puffed while thinking, but nothing ultimately came to mind.
I wracked my brain while heading to the entrance and I could see Yuigahama and Yukinoshita idly chatting in place. It looks like I made them wait for me.
“Ahh, sorry. You guys could’ve just gone home without me…” I said.
Yuigahama vigorously spun around when I called out to them. In that moment, she dragged Yukinoshita along with her, still holding onto her. You know what she reminded me of? Like a dog who suddenly started moving around on its own in the middle of a walk.
“We weren’t exactly waiting. Like, it’s just after Yukinon and I were talking, we kinda stood around… right?”
“…I suppose.” Yukinoshita abruptly turned her face away when Yuigahama asked her. Seeing her act like that was similar to a cat who disliked being hugged.
“Oh. Well, you know… thanks for that.”
I thanked them and they both shook their heads. Seeing their truly trivial gestures was oddly embarrassing that I walked out after slipping on my loafers.
When we made it outside, it was already dark around us. It may have been nearing the first day of spring, but it looks like we had to wait a little longer before the day got longer.
As we headed to the main gate from the entrance, Yuigahama walked beside me. “What did Iroha-chan say?”
“Well, I really don’t know… Apparently it’s for work, but I really don’t know…”
“That’s not a very clear explanation…” Yukinoshita said with disbelief and a smile, walking a step from behind us.
However, it’s a frequent occurrence for work to not come with very good explanations. As a matter of fact, the current Service Club activities were more or less given no explanation whatsoever… Though, since I had undergone situations where having an explanation beforehand would’ve made everything much easier, having reports, communication, and consultations were really important, after all.
Heck, you didn’t even need to work as long you had those. Imagine if some important person told you something, you could just snap back at him with, “I made sure to report, communicate, and consult with you, didn’t I!?” You might be able to avoid responsibility that way!
So with that in mind, let’s try to skip out on work tomorrow, too!