Chapter Text
(Note: This is a sequel fic to Falling In. This story could be read as a standalone because the first chapter pretty much recaps the previous story's plot, but reading the former fic is still recommended. Thanks for your interest!)
何もかも上手く行かない もどかしさに
I'm frustrated because nothing goes as it should
The billiard hall wasn't exactly located at the far end of the city, but it was still a long way from the office and the traffic, if summarized in a single word, could be best described as hellish. Such circumstances lowered the possibilities of coming across anyone from work there, or at the very least, coming across anyone by chance, and that was the very same reason Sugimoto Saichi was holding their after office meeting in that place. Deep down, he'd secretly hoped that so much hassle would discourage his colleagues from coming, but he was proved to have underestimated them in that regard.
"There you are!" Shiraishi cried as he entered the hall with Tanigaki, Tsukishima and Koito in tow and spotted him at the bar.
"Didn't you have anything better to do on a Friday night?" Sugimoto snapped, gulping down the contents of the bottle of beer he was holding. "You sure took your time to arrive. I've been waiting here since forever."
"That's your fault. Couldn't find anywhere farther to meet, could you," Koito complained. "There are billiard halls near the office."
"And why would I want to booze near the office?" Sugimoto asked. "I'm not fucking entertaining the idea of drinking with the same people I have to see every single day at work. Right now, I'm not even entertaining the idea of seeing your faces, and you're supposed to be my friends!"
"Yes, we suppose we are," Koito said with matching enthusiasm.
"Sugimoto, as far as I remember, you're the one who told us to come," Tsukishima pointed out.
"I told you to go fuck yourselves," Sugimoto corrected. "Nicely, of course. Just as I nicely asked you to stop harassing me about m-my m-marriage..." He practically spat blood along with the last two words. "And I added you'd have to wait until the weekend to booze like no tomorrow because you wouldn't find another way to get me to talk."
"I'd have willingly gone to any bar in the city just to get the story from you. I'd have even volunteered to be buried with you in the deepest shit," Shiraishi confessed, "but you're so obviously drowning there already."
"Don't get into your head that we care about you," Koito warned. "I'm just here because I could do with some information regarding that bastard of your husband. If I have to hate people, I'd rather do it for a good and well-informed reason."
"I don't see why you'd need to know more about him for that," Sugimoto said. "You're welcome to try and hit him in the back of the head with the weapon of your choice if that makes you feel better."
"Director Tsurumi forbade him from trying anything like that," Tanigaki remarked.
"Okay then," Shiraishi politely interrupted. "Since we're all enjoying each other's company here at That Billiard Hall At The End Of The Freaking Known World, let's get some beers and have a good laugh at our personal misfortunes. Starting with Sugimoto's, of course. He has the honor."
"I don't know how you're supposed to be my friends," Sugimoto questioned, "but I've got table 13 reserved. Let's go."
"Why the 13?" Koito asked. "Oh, let me guess. It reminds you of your smiling brother-in-law, maybe?"
"It's the farthest table in this hall," Sugimoto pointed out with annoyance.
Shiraishi loudly asked the bar staff for a round of drinks for their table as Sugimoto finished his beer and placed the empty bottle on the bar. Before he could head to the table he'd reserved an hour ago, though, Tsukishima stopped him in his tracks.
"Sugimoto. Is it true, then?"
"Yes."
"You married Ogata," Koito provided for good measure.
"I don't get if that's a question, a statement, or the beginning of a story of horror and death," Sugimoto said.
"The last one," all the others told him.
"Then yeah, I did," Sugimoto confirmed. "I married that son of a bitch called Ogata Hyakunosuke earlier this week."
His four friends knew it already, as they'd found out the very same Monday, barely a few hours after the ominous act had been perpetrated. But hearing it again and having the verbal confirmation of the fact disturbed them all the same.
"Make it two rounds for table 13 instead, please!" Shiraishi asked the staff again.
"Make it three!" Sugimoto corrected.
"And you've got some rounds on you already," Tanigaki laughed.
"I don't think I've ever appreciated booze more than in this very moment."
"But if you obviously don't even appreciate your own life," Shiraishi scoffed. "If you weren't feeling like living anymore, there were less execrable ways to self-destruct. Marrying Ogata is by far the worst I can think of."
"Exactly that. If you were considering suicide, how did you come up with the idea of marrying Ogata as part of your options?" Koito joined in. "You could have just shot yourself in the head. Period."
"Marrying Ogata is like planning a suicide in the short term, but on stages. Like shooting yourself fatally, only that starting from the feet up," Tsukishima commented. "You'd be the first suicide that managed to kill themselves after the 20th shot."
"Tanigaki, you're the one who gets along with Ogata at work," Koito said. "Or rather, you're the only one who doesn't hate him. Don't you have anything to add?"
Tanigaki pondered on the situation for a moment.
"Poison would be effective, too," he said at last.
"We completely agree," Koito and Tsukishima said.
The alleged five friends headed to table 13, the farthest one in the hall; as they put aside their work suitcases and loosened their neckties, their three rounds of drinks were efficiently served. They drank the first round before even picking up their cues.
"Hey, hold it!" Koito cried upon inspecting the table. "What are these holes for?!"
"Don't tell me you only play Carom Billiards," Sugimoto complained. "What's wrong? Rich kids don't know how to play Pool?"
"Argh, shut up," Koito said. "I'm an expert in Carom Billiards in all its disciplines, including the non-official hybrid variant of the Three-Cushion and the Artistic Billiards. A monkey with a stick like you couldn't possibly grasp the true reach of the geniality I'm talking about."
"What the fuck?!" Sugimoto snapped. "Expert in Artistic Three-Cushion Billiards? Does that thing even exist?[1]"
"Oh? What's wrong? Don't think you can keep up with me?" Koito taunted.
"Grrr, zip it," Sugimoto growled. "Let's play 8-Ball."
"We can't," Shiraishi pointed out. "We're five people here."
"We're five people, but Koito isn't playing," Sugimoto explained. "So we're set with two 2-people teams: Innovation versus Credit and Debt Collection."
"Kindly fuck yourself," Koito told him.
"How about we play a free 8-Ball[2] of five people?" Tanigaki suggested. "That's the hybrid variant of Straight Pool and 8-Ball," he provided upon noticing Koito didn't seem to be following.
"Sounds good to me," Sugimoto agreed.
"Finish the second round of drinks while I explain the rules to Koito," Tsukishima offered as an excitable Koito hugged him.
"Never die on me, Tsukishima!" Koito was saying.
"And I thought he only had eyes for Director Tsurumi," Tanigaki said.
"He'd probably gorge his eyes out himself for not feeling worthy of beholding Director Tsurumi's dazzling self," Sugimoto commented.
As Tsukishima was engrossed in an explanation of the rules of Pool with Koito, Sugimoto, Shiraishi and Tanigaki drank their beers across the table.
"When you asked to leave 30 minutes earlier and ran away from the office, I actually thought the invitation to play billiards had been nothing more than a sweet joke on your part," Shiraishi said. "Why did you come on your own? You could have waited for us."
"I didn't want to meet Ogata on my way out," Sugimoto confessed.
"What's with that?" Shiraishi snapped. "You've been married for five days and you're already avoiding him?"
"Grrr, shut up," Sugimoto grunted. "He was meeting Hanazawa from floor 13 this evening. I'm sure he'd have clung to my neck, fucking choke me to oblivion and resuscitate me later just to repeat the drill all night long if that meant he had an excuse not to see his brother."
"The gossip that you married Ogata is old news in the office by now. It's obvious that Hanazawa already knows."
"Yeah, that's it," Sugimoto corroborated. "Hanazawa even invited me to dinner tomorrow evening to talk about it, but the point isn't whether he knows or not. It's about Ogata telling him."
"I'm surprised Ogata agreed to it," Tanigaki said. "He hates talking to his brother."
"Ogata hates too many things."
"Does that mean you made him do it?" Shiraishi asked.
"I didn't make him do anything," Sugimoto retorted, sipping his beer. "I just... insisted a little."
"Let me be surprised now because you insisted and he didn't attempt homicide at you," Tanigaki cordially joked.
"I did the insisting when he was driving in the road. He tried anything and it'd have been a 2-body count instead of just 1 for the car accident report."
"I don't think the risk of self-destruction will be enough to stop Ogata," Shiraishi pondered. "Okay, down with that booze now, that I need you a lot more drunken to start with the questions."
"I'm starting to think I might need new friends," Sugimoto spat.
"Argh, you're a different man now, Saichi-chan," Shiraishi said. "It's so true that marriage changes people. Sad."
"Marriage isn't the problem here. The problem is the fucking son of a bitch I married."
"The problem is obviously you for marrying said fucking son of a bitch," Shiraishi countered. "What happened? Don't tell me you didn't see the fine print. You're an expert in contracts. Or did you sign with your eyes closed so you didn't have to read Ogata's name in the marriage certificate? I mean, that certificate must have asked you to sign 20 times in a row as a minimum. Something like, 'Do you wish to marry Ogata Hyakunosuke? Are you sure? Are you sure that you are sure? Do you confirm that you are sure that you are sure that you want to really do it?'"
"Grrr, just shut up."
"You're growling more than usual tonight," Tanigaki noticed.
"Maybe because I'm more fucked up than usual tonight."
"Should be a side effect of being married to Ogata."
"Death sounds to me like another plausible side effect."
"And it'd be a pity, because we all know dead people don't tell stories," Shiraishi said. "So down with the third round because we still need you very drunken and even more talkative."
"Why don't you go ask my husband if you're so fucking curious? I bet you wouldn't have to beg him. He loves to open his damn mouth and fuck my whole existence up."
"And would you believe anything coming out of Ogata's mouth?"
"No."
"Then hurry up and drink already."
Ogata had no intention to hurry up things now that life had lost most of its appeal to him, given the circumstances. He'd been smoking nonstop for the past two hours, seated on one of the sofas in Director Tsurumi's office, the only place in a 3-floor perimeter where smoking was possible without the risk of setting off the fire alarms. But his main reason to be holed up there was that his brother wouldn't seek him out in that particular place.
That Friday, the whole Innovation Department senior staff had vacated the office as soon as the clock hit 6, leaving the chief analyst as the only one who stayed behind his desk. Such circumstances would have surprised the department chief, Director Tsurumi, hadn't the situation been plainly logical as well: nobody else would entertain the idea of spending quality time alone with Ogata. Director Tsurumi made no inquiries and, before leaving the place, gave his permission to Ogata to stay in his office and smoke a couple of cigarettes. A couple that became a couple of tens as time passed.
Ogata blew out a smoke cloud at the empty space in front of him and finished his twentieth cigarette. Upon checking the hour on his wristwatch and realizing it was 8pm already, he made up his mind: after two hours thoroughly poisoning his lungs, he was ready to stand up and go meet his brother.
Ogata headed to Basement 2 for his car and found a small folded piece of paper on the windshield. He hesitated to pick it up, as it could very well be a message from his brother. Yuusaku had his phone number, but after moving to the same city and asking for a transfer to the same company branch, he didn't send him any text messages or call him anymore. Instead, he went to Ogata's office to personally talk to him, or left him handwritten messages.
Yuusaku cherished any opportunity to be close to him. Clearly, he was the only one of the two brothers who rejoiced at the idea.
The piece of paper could be a message from Sugimoto, though, and that possibility was attractive enough to risk picking it up. Ogata reached for it, unfolded it and read, "Damn shitty cat, behave."
Ogata smiled. Of course he'd mind his manners around his brother as long as that meant he could later demand a compensation from his husband for his good behavior.
Behind the wheel, Ogata sighed in resignation. In all honesty, he'd rather spend the night with Sugimoto for a bout of sex of the marital kind. But he'd promised he'd talk to Yuusaku and, even though it was against his very nature to keep true to his word, he didn't want to give Sugimoto any excuses to call off their plans in bed.
He started the car and left to meet his brother.
"Wait a minute!" Shiraishi cut off. "Did you just meet Ogata in a bar and... that was it?"
"Shiraishi, Sugimoto has just begun," Tsukishima pointed out. "I'd wait for him to finish the story before shooting him down with questions."
"I know, I know. But... Does it make any sense to you? I mean, he said he just left the office, wanted to have a drink, met him, everything started from that point on. I MEAN, who the fuck goes to a bar, spots Ogata there and doesn't run to the farthest available place where booze is served after that?!"
"Sugimoto obviously likes extreme situations," Tanigaki joked.
"Says the only guy in the vicinity of anywhere who's happy to work with Ogata," Shiraishi accused.
"Ogata is a great analyst. Probably the best in the city," Tanigaki explained. "Anyone in the same area would look forward to working with him."
"I'm aware of that part," Shiraishi admitted. "I'm not questioning his credentials as a chief analyst. I'm questioning his capabilities as a human being! Besides, I didn't say nobody wanted to work with him, but that you were the only one who showed any happiness about the prospect."
"Hanazawa does, too."
"That man is going to be shot to death from behind," Shiraishi predicted somberly. "But you, Tanigaki... I want to believe that, on account of your hard work, Ogata will be considerate enough to shoot you from the front."
"Yeah, I think so, too," Sugimoto supported the idea.
"Sugimoto, what are you talking about? You've just painted yourself a target," Tsukishima told him. "You painted yourself yellow in front of a black wall and shouted at the bystanders to take their best shots at you."
"Grrr, shut up."
It was Koito's turn to cut off the group's divagation.
"I agree with all of you, if anybody cares. And then," he pressed, "what?"
"And then, nothing," Sugimoto finished anticlimactically. "That's the end of the story."
"What?" Shiraishi snapped. "So you're saying you went to a bar, met Ogata, the end?"
"Do you need me to tell you what we did after leaving the bar?"
"NO!" Everyone else cried.
"In any case, that'd explain how you ended up having... casual meetings from time to time." Tsukishima said. "It doesn't explain how you ended up marrying him."
"MAR~RY~ING," Shiraishi emphasized.
"I know," Sugimoto grudgingly said, gulping down his beer. He'd lost track of how many rounds he'd had already. "Guess it all became more than casual meetings over time."
"Over time?" Koito repeated. "How much time, exactly?"
"Eight months."
"EIGHT MONTHS?!" Everyone else cried again.
"Sugimoto, that's not precisely a short period of time," Tsukishima remarked after some seconds of pondering.
"Did you know a rabbit can have like 80 kits in the same time?" Shiraishi commented.
"That's true," Tanigaki corroborated as the only one in the group who'd grown up in the countryside.
"Why the heck are you comparing my time seeing Ogata with breeding rabbits? Fuck."
"Because the only thing I can think you and Ogata could have tried during all that time is sex like rabbits. Just don't give me any mental images," Shiraishi was quick to add. "What, you telling me now you had romantic dates with chocolates and flowers, exchanged anniversary gifts and spent the day in an amusement park?"
Sugimoto kept sipping his beer.
"He hasn't denied it," Tanigaki pointed out after a few more seconds of radio silence.
"Well, fuck me sideways," Shiraishi snapped. "You can't be serious..."
Sugimoto gulped his beer as he blushed slightly, but not from the alcohol.
"We did," he said at last. "One of those, I mean."
"DON'T FUCK WITH ME," Shiraishi said, incredulous.
"DON'T ASK ME ANYTHING THEN," Sugimoto countered.
"B-But... I mean... You..." Shiraishi stammered. "Then... that really means you... do have a pseudonormal relationship with Ogata..."
"Yeah," Sugimoto confirmed. "Pseudonormal."
"I thought you were lying when you said Asirpa was happy with the idea of you marrying," Shiraishi pondered. "Come to think of it, maybe she has witnessed that pseudonormality already..."
"Who's Asirpa?" Koito and Tsukishima asked at the same time.
"The girl Sugimoto is thinking of adopting," Tanigaki explained.
"WHAT?!"
As soon as Sugimoto finished with his current beer, Shiraishi handed him a newly opened bottle.
"Does that mean Asirpa has already met him?" Tanigaki asked.
"She has," Sugimoto replied. "And she likes him."
"How about Ogata?"
"Same. It's mutual."
"Stop there!" Koito barged in. "You're thinking of adopting a girl? That girl has already met Ogata and she likes him? And that bastard likes the girl, too?!"
"Yeah. Exactly as you said. "
"Is the girl all right?" Tsukishima wanted to know.
"Yeah, fuck! Asirpa is perfectly normal! The only abnormal thing about all of this is Ogata being nice to her. Maybe... too nice."
"Wait," Shiraishi interrupted, catching on. "So you're saying that you... are jealous."
"What?!" Sugimoto spat. "Of course I'm not! How could I be jealous of Ogata if he and Asirpa barely know each other?!"
"Oh~" Shiraishi said, unabated. "So Hyakunosuke Papa is Asirpa's favorite."
"I'M KILLING YOU!"
If Ogata didn't keep his impulses in check, he could end up killing his brother any day now.
He'd arrived at the restaurant three hours late, only to find his brother was unflinchingly waiting for him and ready to shower him with a neverending source of happiness, one that made him brilliantly shine. Hanazawa Yuusaku gave a proper name to the source of natural light shining upon them all, and it was his.
Ogata thought of turning on his heels and leaving, but he was there already. Maybe putting up with a little happiness would prove to be not that harmful after all.
"Brother!" Yuusaku greeted, standing up and showing an even broader smile. "Thank you very much for coming."
"Hello, Yuusaku."
Ogata seated himself and noticed there was a single glass of water on the table, full to the brim. It was to be expected: his dearest younger brother wouldn't have dinner without him. He wouldn't even have a drop of water, in fact. He hadn't called him in spite of his lateness or had made any inquiry once he arrived, either.
"I'll order something for you right away," Yuusaku offered. "Is it all right if we order dinner at a later time? Or would you rather have dinner now?"
Owing to the anxiety Ogata had been feeling towards this meeting, he hadn't eaten anything since the previous day. Apart from the 20 cigarettes he'd smoked before coming, he'd just had a couple of cups of coffee at the office.
"Whatever you like," Ogata said. "I'm sure you're hungry from all the waiting."
"Not at all," Yuusaku said, smiling. "Don't worry about me, Brother."
"Of course I don't," Ogata told him, a crooked smile in his lips.
Yuusaku's only reply was another smile. One true and sincere smile.
"I married Sugimoto," Ogata said, choosing to address the topic at hand rather than prolong the already terrible fraternal dinner.
"Congratulations. I can only pray for your happiness."
Happiness. The word had never hold any meaning for Ogata, but in Yuusaku's lips, it acquired a sense of actual worth. He was sincerely happy for him. Yuusaku actually and thoroughly wished for his happiness. The man in front of him was a true and pure existence.
And the brighter he shone, the darker and deeper the shadow behind Ogata became.
"I suppose you already knew."
"It makes me happy to hear it from you all the same."
"I see," Ogata said. "I don't want our father to know a thing."
"I won't tell him a word, in that case."
"I don't want you to invite Sugimoto out, either."
"I understand," Yuusaku complied. "We had plans for tomorrow, though. I don't like the idea of calling off the dinner just the day before."
"I'll tell him."
"Then everything is all right, isn't it?"
"Of course it is."
"No, it isn't!" Sugimoto snapped. "Nothing is right! That bastard Ogata turned out to be a damn spoiled cat that wants to monopolize all my time. And all those shitty and sarcastic comments about being jealous... He really meant it! And don't get me started on his mythomania!"
"His mythomania is the less harmful of all the conditions he suffers from," Tsukishima told him. "And, besides, why are you making a list just now? I can't believe you just found out five days ago."
"And to beat it all, this damn rich kid does know how to play Pool!" Sugimoto went on with his string of complaints, not really paying too much attention.
"Pool turned out to be more fun than I thought," Koito said, applying chalk to his cue tip. "Striped 10 in the upper right pocket."
"10?" Shiraishi repeated. "Hey, Koito, call the solid 6 instead. It's in a better angle. 10 isn't going to be..."
"Pocketed," Koito announced after clearing the play.
"You can start explaining what the fuck you did," Sugimoto demanded Tsukishima.
"I simply laid out the rules to him," Tsukishima said. "It's by his own merits that he's this good playing on a Pool table."
"Yeah, sure," Sugimoto spat. "Enough explanation, thank you very much. I don't want to know on what other horizontal surfaces he happens to be this good for you."
Tsukishima choked on his drink and Koito had such a bad miscue, he sent the ball flying off their table: it grazed one of Sugimoto's ears and landed on the Pool table behind him.
"Watch it, you almost hit me!" Sugimoto yelled.
"It's your fault for distracting me!"
"Fuck that!"
"Koito, apologize for this," Tsukishima asked him gently. "Sugimoto is immortal, so he doesn't matter. I mean the people from the other table."
Koito heeded Tsukishima's words with good grace and walked up to the other table to fetch his flying ball and apologize, offering a round of drinks that the others accepted without complaints.
"Are you serious?" Tanigaki asked, almost shocked.
"You work with them and are finding out just now?" Shiraishi asked back.
"Not even Tanigaki knew?" Sugimoto asked in turn. "Sorry about that. I opened my big mouth without thinking."
"Don't worry about it," Tsukishima settled. "I'm trusting Tanigaki to keep his silence."
"Of course!" Tanigaki reassured.
"I forgot that you and Koito are in a deeper shit than me," Sugimoto said.
"What are you talking about? You're the one who married Ogata. Tell me about your definition of what a fucking situation is, then," Tsukishima laughed.
"Fucking, fuckable, already very fucked up," Shiraishi supplied. "Just helping with some terms for your vocabulary."
"Does that mean you're also married?" Tanigaki inquired.
"We aren't. We're just dating in secret."
"Why in secret?"
"Because we like our jobs," Tsukishima said. "According to one of the contract clauses, no sentimental liaisons of any kind are allowed between members of the company staff."
"Right," Tanigaki recalled. "I also had to read the contract before signing it and somehow forgot about it. But wait... Sugimoto, why did you marry, then? You're compelled to notify Human Resources now."
"The clause specifies it must be staff employed under the same circumstances and working conditions as stated in the contract," Sugimoto said, as he did remember the contract by heart.
"Sugimoto and Ogata work in separate departments under contracts with different restrictions and benefits," Tsukishima added. "They're making good use of a legal gap."
"Making good use, huh," Sugimoto repeated. "Yeah, sure."
"Let's see if you can put your marriage contract to some good use," Shiraishi laughed. "You're the affected party, sorry, the oh so fortunate spouse. If you got married, that means you're getting something good out of all this in return. Contracts are your specialty: you must know that the proposal loses its worth if the agreement doesn't report a benefit for both parties."
"And so, I've been benefited with a fucking jealous husband thirsting for attention."
"You know, things sound bad already and you haven't even spent a week married."
"Pretty bad already, yeah," Sugimoto said.
"Having regrets?"
"No," Sugimoto replied. "Not yet," he corrected himself.
Koito came back to their table in that moment and joined the conversation.
"Back at the office, Ogata said you were the one who proposed," he recalled.
"Unbelievably, he wasn't lying," Sugimoto admitted. "It was me."
"Regretting it?"
"Not yet," Sugimoto repeated.
"How reassuring."
"You're aware that you're trying your hardest to make us believe all of this is Ogata's fault because he made you do it, right?" Shiraishi loudly voiced.
"He didn't make me do anything!" Sugimoto snapped. "He just insisted a lot."
"Insisted a lot?" Koito repeated after him. "And what the fuck does that mean? That he talked you into doing as he said?"
"Things aren't that simple," Sugimoto grunted.
"It seems to me that you two are too proud to acknowledge what you really want," Tsukishima jabbed.
Sugimoto tightened his fingers around the bottle he was holding so hard, the glass creaked under the pressure. Tsukishima's remark had hit home the hardest.
"What a pain in the ass[3]." Tsukishima sighed. "I'll order another round and something to eat."
To Ogata's amazement and Yuusaku's rejoicing, both shared a rather nice and quiet meal, if only because they didn't have many more verbal exchanges during the dinner.
"Brother, I'm thinking of requesting an extension of my staying at this branch," Yuusaku announced once they finished eating.
"Are you asking me for permission?"
"I'd like to know what you think of it."
"I think that you should go back to your own branch," Ogata said. "You've spent too much time with us already. Doesn't your branch miss your wonderful and impeccable professional performance?"
"They have many able people in staff. They can do without me."
"Same here."
"Should I go back?"
Ogata opened his mouth for an instant retort, but he then remembered Sugimoto's handwritten note.
"Do whatever you want," he said at last.
"Then I'll stay here for a little longer," Yuusaku said with a big smile.
"Then I'll see you at the office." Ogata stood up.
Yuusaku stood up as well and offered to walk him to his car, but Ogata simply turned on his heels and walked off. Yuusaku didn't try to follow him: they had had a brief but nice dinner, and that was enough for both of them.
Once outside the restaurant, Ogata lit up a cigarette before getting in his car and reaching for his cellphone to make a call.
"Ogata?" Sugimoto said as he picked up.
"Where are you?"
"Somewhere. Did you meet Hanazawa?"
"Of course."
"He still breathes?"
"He's still and very happily breathing," Ogata reported. "Where are you? I want to see you."
"We'll see each other tomorrow."
"I want to see you tonight."
"Tomorrow," Sugimoto repeated. "We agreed I'd go to your place tomorrow."
"I remember."
"See you tomorrow, then. Bye."
"What was that?" Shiraishi asked as soon as Sugimoto came back from the bar terrace. "Phone call from the very jealous husband?"
"Grrr..."
"What?" Koito chimed in. "You forgot to ask for permission to come?"
"GRRR..."
"Was it Ogata?" Tanigaki asked. "Wasn't he meeting Hanazawa? Is Hanazawa okay?"
"He says he is."
"And did you believe him?"
"He sounded annoyed, so I'm assuming Hanazawa is okay. A shot to the back of Hanazawa's head would make Ogata sound happy instead."
Forty minutes and several more drinks later, Sugimoto's cellphone vibrated again in his pocket.
"Now what?" Sugimoto complained loudly after reading Ogata's name on the screen.
"Is it Ogata?" Koito asked. "Do you want me to pick up and ask him for permission in your stead? I'm offering."
"Fuck off!"
Sugimoto answered the call as he stepped onto the terrace for the second time.
"Ogata?"
"Where are you?"
"Still somewhere. Why are you calling me again?"
"Because you aren't at home."
"Wait..." Sugimoto connected the dots. "Shitty Ogata, don't tell me you're at my place right now."
"I am."
"Why?"
"I told you I wanted to see you tonight."
"And I told you we'd see each other tomorrow!"
"Where are you?"
"In a bar."
"By yourself?"
"With Shiraishi and the others."
"Who are the others?"
"Ogata, just go back to your place and sleep," Sugimoto told him. The situation was starting to get to him.
"Are you spending the night out?" Ogata asked. The situation had gotten to him a lot quicker.
"No," Sugimoto said, managing to overachieve Ogata in his irritation. "I'm going home, but later."
"I'll go meet you."
"No."
"I'll go meet you," Ogata repeated. "Where are you?"
"Go fuck yourself."
Sugimoto hung up and turned off his cellphone. He strode away from the terrace, but instead of going back to the Pool table, he made a detour for the restroom first to wash and stick his whole head under the faucet on the sink.
Some time afterward, Sugimoto emerged from the restroom with a face better suited to a man who had survived an instance of drowning, but barely.
"The fuck happened to you?" Shiraishi asked him when he got back to their Pool table. "Are you okay?"
"No," Sugimoto angrily retorted. "At least the beer is cold," he added, reaching for one of the bottles on the table.
Five hours later, the five friends said their goodbyes at the billiards hall entrance and parted ways. To Sugimoto's annoyance, Koito had won all their games; as he bested Sugimoto by just one or two points in several of those games, they ended up playing the rematch of the rematch of the rematch. Koito had also won at their rounds of drinks and, in fact, was the only one of the group who was standing up perfectly straight by the end of the night.
Tsukishima and Koito had left their cars parked at the basement back in the office building along with Tanigaki's motorbike, so they called taxis to pick them up. Tsukishima and Koito left together; Tanigaki and Shiraishi, on the other hand, took the same taxi as their houses were located in the same general direction. Sugimoto was left to board a taxi alone, as nobody else lived in his vicinity; without anyone else to keep him company and quite drunken, he fell asleep halfway home.
The taxi driver calling out to him woke him some time later.
"Excuse me, sir. We've arrived at your destination. Where shall I park?"
Sugimoto was about to give the taxi driver some directions, but clicked his tongue in annoyance when he looked around and recognized the car parked in front of his house.
"Doesn't matter," he said. "Here's okay."
After paying for the taxi, Sugimoto covered the short distance to his house. In front of it, a black Jaguar was parked; leaning on the closed door on the driver's side, its owner was smoking.
"Ogata, what are you doing here?"
"I wanted to see you," Ogata said, putting out his cigarette.
"I told you we'd meet tomorrow."
"And it's already tomorrow," Ogata informed him. "3am Saturday morning."
"I don't want to know how long you've been standing here. But however long it was, this is on you. You should have gone back to your place."
"You should have told me where you were."
"I did. "
"You told me you were in a bar with Shiraishi and the others."
"And that's precisely where I was. What else did you want? The address to go and check yourself if I was there for real?"
"Yes."
"Go fuck yourself."
Sugimoto made to walk past him, but Ogata grabbed him by the arm and stopped him. They briefly tugged at each other and Ogata won the upper hand, if only because Sugimoto was too drunken to put up too much of a fight.
"Why didn't you tell me you were going out with them?"
"Because it was my business."
"It was mine, too."
"Your business had to do with talking to Hanazawa. I had my own business to take care of."
It was only then that Ogata understood.
Sugimoto took advantage of Ogata's seemingly startlement to jerk free of his hold, but the latter reached out to him again before he could even take a few steps away. This time, however, Ogata just tugged at his coat, as though he was asking for a little attention.
Ogata was just beginning to understand that, just as he'd met Yuusaku to talk to him about his sudden marriage, it was completely logical for Sugimoto to do the same: go out with his friends, tell them about his marriage, talk about his plans of adopting Asirpa.
"You should have told me," Ogata murmured.
"And you should apologize, but I know you won't."
"You should have told me," Ogata insisted. He was too proud to admit he did owe Sugimoto an apology for being so fucking jealous. "I get you had things you wanted to tell them, but you should have told me anyway. I could have picked you up."
"No need."
"You shouldn't have turned off your cellphone, either."
"I didn't think you weren't going to get the message," Sugimoto grunted. "We had nothing else to talk about and you should have gone back to your place. You can't show up in my place whenever you want to do whatever you want."
"Why not?"
"Because!" Sugimoto wriggled out of Ogata's hold.
"I gave you the copy of the keys to my place," Ogata argued. "You should have given me a copy of yours, too."
"That's a different matter."
"Fuck you."
"Haven't you already."
Sugimoto awkwardly fished for his keys in his pocket, giving them a look when he finally produced them. Until a few weeks ago, going back home always filled him with a sense of peace and abatement; as for lately, though, making it to his doorstep only managed to make him feel like being buried in the deepest shit.
He'd only wanted to be able to live on his own terms; the fulfillment he sought was something he should find on his own, too.
He didn't need anybody else.
He didn't want to rely on anybody else to feel at ease.
Then, what? What was he supposed to have been done?
Maybe he should have indulged Ogata with all the fucking explanations he wanted to hear. Maybe he should have told him where he was so he could go meet him and put his jealous feelings to rest. Maybe he shouldn't have turned off his cellphone. Maybe he should have given him a copy of his keys.
Fuck all of this, he thought.
"Sugimoto..."
"Ogata," Sugimoto suddenly said, "maybe I shouldn't have asked you to marry me."
Ogata said nothing. He stood still in his place after hearing those words.
"We agreed to meet tomorrow, and it's tomorrow already," Sugimoto went on, though he seemed to be rather talking to himself. "That means we've met already. We don't need to see each other later."
"..."
"Go home," Sugimoto told Ogata. "With some luck, we'll see each other at work next week."
That said, Sugimoto opened the door and stepped into the house.
Ogata stayed outside, staring at the door as it closed in front of him.