Episode 23: The Sales Car Is Hell
Just past noon, the day before the business trip.
Hanamori and I were out on sales rounds in the car.
Hanamori sat staring out the window, not saying a single word.
“…Two clients on today’s list, right?”
I spoke up out of sheer awkwardness, and got a single “Yes” back.
Her gaze stayed fixed on the scenery through the glass.
Zero apparent interest in conversation.
Only the sound of the AC filled the car, unnaturally loud.
…Awkward.
She’s been like this since yesterday. Hanamori’s attitude is clearly off.
Did I do something? I genuinely can’t think of anything.
At every red light, I glanced sideways at her.
Hanamori, still fixed on the window. Unreadable expression.
A Buddha statue? No, a Buddha statue’s probably got more range than this.
“…What about lunch?”
“Whatever.”
“Stop at a convenience store?”
“Either’s fine.”
Her replies were so cold it was almost funny.
At the next red light, I finally said it.
“…Hanamori-san. Did I… do something?”
“Nothing.”
“No, but you’re obviously being cold.”
“Maybe it’s just your imagination.”
“‘My imagination’… you’ve been like this since yesterday.”
My grip on the wheel tightened, little by little.
Hanamori finally turned to face me.
Her eyes were shockingly cold.
Like the Arctic Ocean in the dead of winter. I could practically freeze from it.
“Asami-san, do you really, genuinely not understand?”
“Eh?”
Her voice pitch dropped, much lower than before.
“…Yeah. Sorry, I don’t.”
Hanamori let out a long sigh.
“…Then, never mind. Forget it.”
“Eh, wait a second.”
“What.”
“No, I mean…”
The words wouldn’t come.
I didn’t know what “forget it” even meant here.
But I didn’t want to leave it like this.
“…It bothers me.”
“Huh?”
Hanamori’s brow twitched slightly.
“I said, it bothers me. You acting like this.”
“Why does it bother you?”
“Eh?”
“It’s not affecting work. So it should be fine, shouldn’t it?”
Hanamori’s voice cut in, cold and sharp.
“Besides, this is my own problem. It has nothing to do with you, Asami-san.”
“No, but…”
“What is it. You’re being pushy.”
Hanamori’s eyes stared straight at me.
That gaze hurt.
“…Why it bothers me, I don’t…”
“…”
“I don’t even know. Me either.”
“Huh?”
“I said I don’t know, didn’t I.”
My voice rose without meaning to.
“I don’t know why it bothers me. Not even myself.”
“…”
“But I don’t want to leave it like this… I’m sorry, I really want you to tell me.”
Hanamori went quiet.
Staring straight at me.
No expression. Her true intent, unreadable.
A horn honked from behind. The light had turned green.
I hit the gas in a panic. The car lurched forward a little too fast.
Silence.
The sound of the AC.
Construction noise, far off.
A sound like my stomach twisting.
A sound like my chest throbbing with pain.
Hanamori let out a small sigh.
“…Glad you got to have drinks with Asakura-san last Friday.”
That one line froze me solid.
Ah.
That.
Disgust at my own obliviousness stabbed through me.
“…That was, um, sorry.”
“Sorry?”
Hanamori’s voice went even colder.
“When I asked if it was with Asakura-san.”
“………”
“You blurted out ‘no’ before you could stop yourself.”
“Blurted out?”
“No, I mean…”
“Something you feel guilty about?”
Hanamori’s eyes stared straight at me.
That gaze hurt.
“It’s not like it’s any of my business whether the two of you go for drinks.”
“Hanamori-san…”
“Good for you, getting to drink with someone you like.”
Every single word came out sharp, thorny.
Expressionless, eyes dead.
Scary. Genuinely scary.
“…No, that’s not it, I said—”
“What’s not it. Never mind, it’s fine.”
“No, it’s not fine—”
“Turn right, up ahead.”
Hanamori relayed the GPS instruction in a tone of pure business communication.
Zero interest in conversation left.
I turned right, as she’d said.
…Huh?
A vague sense of wrongness.
I checked the GPS.
Completely off route.
We’d definitely taken a wrong turn somewhere.
“…Hey, Hanamori-san.”
“What.”
“Isn’t this the wrong way?”
“Eh?”
For the first time, Hanamori’s face went flustered.
She checked her phone, checked the GPS, looked out the window.
“…Ah.”
“‘Ah’ isn’t really the response I wanted here.”
“Sorry, that left turn back there was the one.”
“‘That left turn was the one’…”
My voice rose without meaning to.
The GPS announced, in its flat mechanical voice, “Recalculating route.”
Looking at the newly displayed arrival time, Hanamori let out an “eh,” then muttered.
“…We’re not going to make the appointment time.”
“Huh?”
“It’s set for two o’clock, right? This says we’ll arrive at two-fifteen.”
“Ah…”
Hanamori’s face went pale.
“I need to call the client…”
Just as she was pulling out her phone, irritation got the better of me, and it slipped out before I could stop it.
“I mean, seriously, why’d you get the turn wrong…”
“Isn’t it just as much your fault, for not watching the GPS properly before turning?”
“You said ‘turn right’ with total confidence, Hanamori-san.”
“Huh? Why’s that my responsibility?”
With every exchange, the air got worse and worse.
And then Hanamori spat it out.
“…Ugh. This is exactly why I didn’t want to be paired with you for sales.”
“Excuse me?”
My voice cracked without meaning to.
“I didn’t want to be paired with you either, Hanamori-san!”
“Then you should’ve just refused from the start!”
“There’s no way I could refuse! It’s work!”
“Same goes for me!”
We were fully arguing now.
The temperature inside the car spiked, on the verge of boiling over.
The frozen air from a moment ago felt like a lie.
Hanamori suddenly fell silent.
Took a single deep breath.
And then, quietly, said:
“…I’m going to ask them to dissolve the sales pairing.”
“…Eh?”
For a second, my mind went blank.
Dissolve?
The pairing… dissolved?
“That’d probably be better for you too, Asami-san.”
Hanamori’s voice was strangely calm.
The anger from a moment ago had vanished, like it had never been there.
“I can’t keep breathing the same air as you anymore, Asami-san.”
Something in my chest gave a sharp stab of pain.
Can’t anymore.
She’s saying that much?
Without meaning to, false bravado slipped out of my mouth.
“…Huh? So what? Go ahead and say it! Say it, then!”
My voice was shaking.
Whether it was anger or something else, I couldn’t tell, even myself.
“I’d get more done on sales without you around too, honestly.”
Hanamori turned to face the window.
Completely turned away.
I gripped the wheel tighter too.
Whatever. I don’t care anymore.
After driving a while longer, I made a U-turn and got back on the original route.
Silence.
The sound of the AC.
A siren, far off.
The air in the car was the worst it had ever been.
Our relationship, too, was at its worst point yet.
Further apart than we’d ever been, even before we were paired up for sales. Even before that kiss.
…Wait, ugh.
Why am I remembering that kiss right now, of all times.
I don’t want to remember it. And yet, of all moments, it comes back unbearably vivid, unbearably real.
My face went hot, slowly.
My grip tightened on the wheel.
Hanamori’s gaze stayed fixed on the window, as before. She said nothing more.
We’d just arrive at the client’s, do the work, and go home.
That’s all.
That’s all it should be.
And yet, something deep in my chest stayed rough, unsettled, the whole time.
That evening, doing final checks for the trip at my desk, Tamura-san approached with an apologetic look.
“Asami-san, Hanamori-san, got a minute?”
“Yes?”
“What’s wrong?”
We both looked up at once.
Tamura-san’s brows drooped, genuinely apologetic.
“…Sorry. I can’t make the trip tomorrow.”
““Eh?””
Hanamori’s and my voices overlapped.
“A trouble situation came up with an existing major client. I’ve got to go apologize in person tomorrow, on short notice. Their executives are involved on that account, I can’t step away from it.”
Silence.
“So, I know it’s a lot to ask… but could the two of you handle tomorrow’s trip together?”
““Eh””
Our voices overlapped again. Why.
(Ugh, this is the worst. Absolutely the worst.)
I wilted internally.
Tamura-san not being there meant zero buffer.
Just me and Hanamori, alone.
Having to endure that frozen atmosphere for an entire overnight trip.
“…Understood.”
It’s work, no choice.
I answered, forcing myself to sound calm.
Glancing sideways, Hanamori stayed silent, looking down.
If this were normal Hanamori, she’d probably be going, “Ehh~? Tamura-san can’t come~? So lonely~,” “But since it’s Tamura-san asking, I’ll do my best, okay~♡” in that calculated, saccharine voice.
But right now, she said nothing.
Just stared down, lips pressed together.
“I’m really sorry. But you’re both excellent at what you do, I know you’ll be fine.”
Tamura-san smiled, trying to reassure us, but it didn’t help at all. That wasn’t the problem here.
“We’ll do our best.”
“…Yes.”
Hanamori’s voice was unusually small.
After Tamura-san left, the silence continued.
Just Hanamori and me.
“…Well then, Shinagawa Station tomorrow at nine, okay?”
I spoke up first, avoiding eye contact with Hanamori.
Hanamori didn’t look up, just gave a small nod.
I couldn’t even tell what expression she was wearing.
Neither of us, at that moment, had any way of knowing what “major incident” was about to happen on this trip.