Cold Fever - Chapter 2 - Part 5
Spring
Come
Since work ended late, Fujishima headed
straight to the meeting station from the office. During the day, it was warm
enough to break a light sweat while sitting by the window, but the temperature
dropped sharply at night. The wind blowing was cold, and as Fujishima walked,
he pulled the front of his trench coat together.
At some point, Fujishima stopped in his tracks.
On the wall of a store that catered to young people’s fashion, a poster was
displayed. He stared at the poster, which bore the brand name "CRUX."
“Oh, hello.”
A voice called out, and Fujishima turned
around. A man with curly hair emerged from the store.
“We don’t have any of the limited-edition CRUX
items, but we’ve got other stuff you might like. Feel free to take a look.”
“No, I’m sorry…”
Fujishima quickly left. It had been almost a
month since the poster for the limited-edition items from CRUX, the accessory
brand founded by Kusuda and his brother, had been released. As soon as it was
launched, the nude poster for CRUX had been featured on variety shows. Kusuda
had told Fujishima that it became a hot topic, and the limited-edition items
sold out quickly. People had been speculating about the identity of the model
in the poster, but the frenzy had started to cool off recently. However, to Fujishima,
it all passed by like a breeze.
To be honest, he didn’t feel like the person in
the photos was really him. So, even when he heard people talking about the
poster, it felt like they were talking about a stranger. Apparently, Tohru felt
the same way, as he watched the excited variety shows with a cold, uninterested
look.
A tall man passed by in front of him. The man’s
build was very similar to Tohru’s, and Fujishima instinctively called out,
“Tohru.” The man stopped and turned around. He seemed to be about the same
height and age as Tohru, but his face was somewhat gentler.
“Oh, I’m sorry. I thought you were someone
else…”
The man gave a polite nod before continuing on,
disappearing into the crowd. Fujishima arrived at the meeting spot in front of
the station ten minutes early. As he looked around, he noticed a man who
resembled Tohru standing under the clock tower to his left. He almost called
out, but then realized it was the same man he had mistakenly approached
earlier.
The man seemed to be waiting for someone as
well, frequently glancing around. Eventually, his expectant expression
brightened into a smile. He raised his right hand and waved it energetically.
“Have you been waiting long?”
Fujishima initially thought he was meeting a
lover, but the person who approached the man was another man with short hair
and a sporty look. A silver camera case hanging from his shoulder caught
Fujishima’s eye. It was the same kind that Tohru owned. The man might have been
a photographer.
“Not at all,” the gentle-looking man replied
with a smile. The short-haired man murmured, “Hey, you smell different today,”
tilting his head.
“I changed it up a bit… Does it smell weird?”
The short-haired man said, “Nah, it’s fine,” as
they walked past Fujishima. As they did, Fujishima caught a whiff of the CRUX
limited-edition fragrance.
“What are you staring at?”
Before he realized it, the person he had been
waiting for was standing right next to him.
“...Just spacing out.”
Tohru tilted his head with a puzzled
expression.
“Are you tired?”
“I’m fine.”
Tohru leaned in to peer into Fujishima’s face,
then sighed.
“Well, let’s go. Let’s get something to eat.”
Tohru started walking ahead, cutting through
the crowd with a brisk pace. Fujishima struggled to keep up, but when he
started lagging behind, Tohru stopped and waited. After Fujishima caught up,
Tohru’s pace became noticeably slower.
…For a while now, the number of calls from
Tohru had been decreasing. While Fujishima was at work, Tohru used to call
every hour or two, but now it was down to once a day, or sometimes not at all.
Despite this, Tohru still diligently prepared
meals for him, morning and night. The meals were simple, mostly
vegetable-based, but the variety had increased. When Fujishima returned home,
Tohru would nag him like a child to “wash your hands and gargle,” which seemed
to have helped, as Fujishima didn’t catch a cold that winter.
As they walked into the alley where the
restaurant was located, they passed a pâtisserie on the corner. The glass case
inside was still filled with cakes. Fujishima, glancing at it out of the corner
of his eye, accidentally bumped into Tohru, who had stopped.
“What are you doing?”
“I… I’m sorry.”
Tohru stared intently at the glass case
Fujishima had been looking at.
“I’ll buy you some on the way back. I don’t
like sweets, but you do, right?”
Fujishima hesitated, unsure what to say, but eventually
muttered a quiet “...Yeah,” to which Tohru smiled and teased, “You’re just like
a little kid.”
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