The Case Files of Jeweler Richard

After showing spinel necklaces to a customer who stopped by as they were returning home from shopping at a department store, I cleaned the store and said goodbye to Richard, then I headed to Shimbashi Station as usual. It was six p.m. on a Saturday. It was relatively less crowded compared to weekdays, but even so, the figure of someone in a suit stood out. There was no impression that this was a town for young people. This was a town for people who worked.

A giant locomotive wheel was displayed nearby, in front of the ticket gate for the non-Shinkansen train. I couldn’t take my eyes off the other guy in the gray suit, when usually I would go right past him.

“…Hase-senpai?”

The one who did that upper roundhouse kick, the one who I eternally looked up to. While thinking why this timing, I stared intently at Senpai. Close-cropped dyed brown hair just like back then, and sharp and balanced* features like that of a tired rock musician. I didn’t think I was mistaken. However, he didn’t look very good. He looked tired, or like he got old all at once.

(TN: It took me a while to come up with a translation for this because it was kind of hard for me to understand what めりはり meant at first in this context, but I think it’s referring to how Hase’s face isn’t, like, flat? Like it has a lot of ridges and valleys or something like that?)

I didn’t know if I should call out to him or not. It was funny. I could just call him Senpai and go and give him a punch. That’s what I’ve always done. But how many years ago was “always”?

As I was at a loss, the man in the suit noticed my gaze and looked at me. That look in his eyes, as though discouraging a strange opponent, convinced me. There was no mistake, it was Hase-senpai. I never won against him once no matter how many times I practiced with him. I widened my eyes, Senpai also seemed to realize and came closer to me, exclaiming, “Oh!” In that instant, his face looked about ten years younger.

“Seigi! It’s me, Hase Keigo, from karate! You remember me?”

“How, how could I forget?”

“You do remember me!”

I was intensely relieved. Crap. The adrenaline was pouring out of my brain. O gracious Richard. It seemed that there really was such a thing as happenstance.

Hase-senpai laughed happily just with the two of us slapping each other’s backs. When I told him that today was the day of the summer tournament at the dojo, and that I had been thinking about him since it was a long time since he dropped by, he rubbed my head and told me I was in great shape as ever. I felt a bit like crying.

“What year in university are you in now? Second year? You’ll be busy with job hunting soon, right?”

“No, not yet…huh? Senpai, didn’t you go to university? Aren’t you a fourth year?”

“I had some family circumstances, so I dropped out last year and got a job. But I’m doing pretty well. You should study while you still can. Are you free today? Have you eaten dinner yet? I’ll treat you.”

“Thanks for the food!”

Hase-senpai took me to an expensive yakiniku restaurant in the station building. The waiter was wearing a kappogi apron* and there was a charcoal fire flickering in the bowl on the table.

“Keep eating. This is the pride of a working adult.”

“Senpai, thank you very much!”

“You don’t have to call me Senpai anymore, you know.”

“Then, what should I call you?”

“Like, Hase-san or something.”

“That’s so cool!”

“How is using “san” cool? Fine, you can call me Senpai. Call me Senpai for the rest of my life. It’s refreshing, since I’ve been called by so many weird nicknames lately.”

“Like the ‘King of Destruction’?”

“That’s from my dojo days, isn’t it?”

There was a ton of things I wanted to talk about, but Senpai kept taking more and more meat, so I was so busy grilling, eating and talking that I choked every now and then. It would probably be hard to get the smell of smoke out of my clothes. I didn’t care.

I talked about all the things that happened in the time I didn’t see Hase-senpai, so much that it was practically an onslaught. About how my beloved Grandma died, how I was living alone now, and that I was taking economics at Kasaba University. And then I talked about the gemstones. I didn’t talk about Richard.  I told him the story of how I found the true owner of the ring I got from Grandma. I had told Hase-senpai a bit about my Grandma’s situation. It was at most about how my mom and grandmother didn’t get along with each other, though.

Hase-senpai wasn’t the type to cut through all the hassle and sort it out like Richard, but he was the big brotherly type who would never push me away, and I’ve been helped by him a lot.

“Heh. So, the ring you inherited from your grandma was, uh, a find? The true owner was living in Kobe? Man, what a crazy story.”

“I was shocked too. I guess you could call it…happenstance.”

“Come on, you sound like an old man. But it’s such a waste. You would have had a fortune if you just kept it.”

“No, they didn’t take it. The other person told me, ‘I want you to have it.’”

You still have it? Hase-senpai said, his eyes widening. I nodded, embarrassed. You really never know what will happen in this world. Senpai looked like he didn’t believe me for a while, but when the oil that dripped from net made a sizzling sound, he hurriedly evacuated his meat to his plate. The tongues of pork will get burned.

“I’m stunned, they must have been filthy rich. You sure are lucky. As expected of ‘Seigi.’”

“Oh no, that’s embarrassing.”

“So, how much did you sell that ring for?”

Huh?

Before I could understand what he was saying, Senpai held out the plate of tongues to me. After I took two and ate them, I told him that I didn’t sell the ring and that I kept it with me. It was a memento of Grandma. And thankfully, I was not in a position where I needed money urgently.

Senpai had a strange expression on his face while for a minute, but then nodded with an “Ah.”

“I see…oh, sorry. I was just wondering if I could ask you for some advice.”

“About what?”

“About gemstones. Ah, it’s nothing. Eat, eat.”

“Um, you know! I think I can give you advice! Ask me anything.”

“What’s with you, you’re acting so slick it’s scary.”

“This is also happenstance, you know!”

While laughing, Senpai asked me if I knew a good jewelry store. When I asked if he was buying or selling, he looked a bit sour before he laughed and said he was buying.

“Are you getting married? Congratulations!”

“Don’t ask about that kind of thing. There’s an issue of privacy.”

“Sorry…then, I guess it’s better to go to a department store or something?”

“I want a specialist shop, if possible. Someplace where the staff has a good eye.”

What should I do. If I introduced Étranger here, it would be difficult to say I worked part-time there. Senpai might think I was making a sales promotion to him who I haven’t seen in a long time. He’d say I was motivated by profit. I didn’t want that. Richard wasn’t the type of person who did greedy business, and I believed that his eyes were also top-notch, but the timing was tricky.

I recommended several jewelry stores in Ginza—I’ve never been in them, but I’ve passed by them and got excited thinking about how they were Richard’s business rivals, so I window shopped—and nonchalantly mixed in Étranger’s name at the end. I didn’t think it was very likely that he would come to our store. But I would be very happy if he did. I was sure I would be there, but it wasn’t a bad idea to casually serve him royal milk tea and make Senpai burst into laughter. Perhaps his girlfriend would be next to him. Just imagining it made me incredibly happy.

Even as I kept eating so much delicious meat, Senpai never looked displeased or sour, telling me to eat more, and finally paid for it all with his credit card.

“Senpai, that was delicious. I’ll make it up to you next time.”

“Don’t worry about it. Anyways, do you always use Shimbashi Station around this time on Saturdays?”

“I do, but…”

“Really? Then, how about we have dinner next week too? I’d be so happy to talk to you. Being a working adult is lonely, y’know, you don’t have anyone to eat with even if you have money.”

“I’m really happy too! Should I invite the guys from the dojo too? Some of them seem to have spare time.”

“It’s fine, I don’t want to bother them. I’m fine with just you.”

“…Okay!”

I didn’t think there was anyone who would think of an invitation from Hase-senpai as a bother, but if Senpai wanted to treat me, then that’s a different story. Maybe another time. The sun set, and the whiteness of the fluorescent lamps when we arrived at the ticket gates in front of the station made my eyes hurt. The station started to get crowded around this time.

“Well, see you next week.”

“Yeah! See you again here next week!”

I bowed deeply and saw Senpai off. We had also exchanged email addresses. We could decide the meeting time suitably. Looking up at the sky that could be seen from the gaps between the buildings, I sighed. Today was a good day. It really was a good day.