Episode 38: Asakura-san’s Confession
Asakura-san had invited me out for dinner again. This must be the fifth time by now. We’d grown comfortable enough with each other that I no longer felt the nervousness I had in the beginning. Today’s spot was an izakaya near the office.
“Nagi-san, over here, over here.”
Stepping into the restaurant, Asakura-san was already seated. As stylishly put-together as ever, a muted-tone dress, tastefully effortless accessories. A gin and tonic already sitting on the table.
It’s still a little strange to me that someone this urbane and polished would want to drink with someone like me, who couldn’t even pretend to be fashionable.
“Ah, good work today. Thanks for inviting me again.”
“Not at all. I’ve been looking forward to it too.”
Asakura-san smiled warmly. Still as beautiful a smile as ever, I thought, taking the counter seat beside her.
We ordered draft beer and toasted.
Once the toast was done, Asakura-san pulled a vape out of her bag.
A thin stream of vapor curled upward. The gesture looked oddly sultry, and I found myself looking away on reflex.
“Oh, right, Nagi-san, how’d that proposal turn out?”
“Ah, yes. Thanks to your advice, it looks like it’s going to pass.”
“Good. You seemed nervous about it at first, but you really did see it through properly.”
Asakura-san tilted her glass. Watching that elegant gesture, I took a sip of my own beer too.
As the drinks flowed, the conversation drifted from work to her hobby, movies.
Talking animatedly about a Korean film she’d watched recently, Asakura-san looked genuinely alive.
“You should watch it too, Nagi-san. You’ll definitely get hooked.”
“Is that right? I’ll rent it sometime, then.”
I answered while lifting my second drink, a highball. The carbonation’s sting went down my throat.
For a moment, I found myself wondering what Hanamori was up to right now. Was she off having dinner with someone today too.
“Oh, there’s an interesting movie on the streaming service too.”
Saying that, Asakura-san leaned in close and showed me her phone screen. Her hand lightly grazed mine. Maybe because we’d grown closer, but the physical touches had been getting a little more frequent lately.
“Ah, r-right.”
Seeing me flustered, Asakura-san laughed softly. She brought the vape back to her lips and slowly exhaled a thin stream of smoke. Her profile lit by the restaurant lights.
Watching Asakura-san bring her glass to her lips, Hanamori’s smiling face floated up in my head.
“Nagi-san, you’re honest and cute, aren’t you.”
“Eh? N-not really.”
“No, really. I think you’re lovely.”
Asakura-san laughed softly, then her expression turned a little serious. She set down her glass and looked straight at me.
“Nagi-san.”
She said it, gazing at me intently.
“…Yes.”
I took a sip of my highball, trying to steady myself somehow.
“Can I say something? Actually… there’s something I want to tell you.”
…Ah, here it comes.
My heart suddenly started pounding hard.
“Eh…? Ah, yes…”
“I’ve been meaning to say this for a while, but the timing never seemed right.”
Asakura-san’s expression was soft, but there was something tense about it too. Wait, hold on. I need to mentally prepare myself…!
(This flow, this has to be it. Asakura-san really does… about me…)
I nearly shouted it inside my own head. Is this really that kind of thing?
But. But I’m…!
The whole time, Hanamori’s face kept surfacing in my mind. Her sulky expression, her genuine unguarded laugh, her faintly wistful profile. One after another, flashing through my head.
“Nagi-san, I…”
The instant Asakura-san tried to continue—
Something inside me snapped.
“Wai—! Uh, ah, um, Asakura-san! I…!”
I found myself standing up without meaning to, the table jolting. My highball glass nearly toppled over. I could see nearby customers looking over, a little startled.
“Eh?”
Asakura-san’s eyes went wide.
“I’m sorry, I…! I’m happy about your feelings, Asakura-san, but…!”
“Eh…?”
Asakura-san froze completely, vape still in hand.
But, but I have to say it. I owe it to Asakura-san, who’s been so kind to me, to properly tell her.
“You’re beautiful, and stylish, and good at your job, and kind, Asakura-san… I really do think you’re wonderful, but…!”
“………”
“Actually, there’s someone I like…!”
“…”
Asakura-san’s eyes seemed to darken. I couldn’t read her expression. Ah, I really have hurt her. But I have to turn her down properly.
I can’t lie about how I feel about Hanamori.
“So, I can’t return your feelings, Asakura-san… I’m truly, deeply sorry…!”
Thinking about Asakura-san’s feelings, my chest throbbed with pain, tears welling up despite myself. I bowed my head deeply.
Maybe my voice had been too loud, because it felt like the customers around us were looking over, but I didn’t have room to care about that.
Silence.
A few seconds felt like an eternity.
“Fufufu… um, Nagi-san?”
Lifting my head, Asakura-san was laughing with an expression impossible to place. A thin stream of smoke rose from her vape.
Picking up her glass, she was laughing softly, shoulders shaking.
“Eh…?”
“…That’s not really what this is about, actually.”
Asakura-san laughed softly.
“………………………Huh?”
A dumbfounded sound slipped out of me. My brain refused to process it. Eh? Eh? What does that mean? This wasn’t a confession?
Asakura-san propped her elbow on the table, resting her cheek on one hand, watching me with a grin. Her eyes were unmistakably enjoying this. She took a sip of her gin and tonic.
“Fufu… well, but, I got a very, very clear picture that you like Hanamori-san, Nagi-san.”
“Hanamori-sa…!? N-no, no! That’s not it! Wait, wait!? I didn’t even say her name just now, did I!?”
Full panic. My underarms were sweating buckets. I tried to deny it desperately, but it was too late. Completely, thoroughly caught. …Wait, more importantly, how does she even know!?
To calm myself down, I sat back in my chair and downed the rest of my highball in one go.
“Ehh? Not her? Then who is it?”
Asakura-san asked, elegant vape between her lips, with a teasing edge in her voice.
That composed, overflowing-with-amusement smile felt, right now, genuinely infuriating.
“Eh, um… that’s…”
“You don’t need to hide it anymore. I’ve known from the start, fufu.”
Asakura-san exhaled another stream of vapor. It seemed to wrap around my thoroughly confused head.
“Ugh… I’m sorry.”
Complete surrender. My face was burning with embarrassment. I stared at my empty highball glass.
“Eh, so then… what was the thing you wanted to tell me…?”
I need to steer this back on track. At this rate my humiliation’s only going to keep compounding.
Asakura-san set her vape down on a small dish, set her cocktail glass aside too, and smiled softly.
“So, actually,”
This time it was a genuinely happy, joyful smile.
“I’m getting married.”
“…………EEEEEHHHH!?!?”