２１ Ｍａｙ， Ｓａｋｏ Ａｉｚａｗａ
文字数 3,875文字
Our Relationship
It’s time for breakfast.
But he isn’t showing any signs of getting out of bed. Come on, get up, for goodness’ sake. I keep calling out to him, but he isn’t responding at all. Where has that manly guy who heads out to work early in the morning gone?
With no other options left, I go to the bedroom and look at this slob’s sleeping face. All he does when I tell him to get up is roll over reluctantly and moan, “Just a little while longer. . . . I don’t start work till ten this morning.”
He says that while scratching the stomach that’s showing under the shirt that’s turned up.
Oh, please.
I’m getting tired of this.
I wasn’t sure when our life had become this way.
I was happy at the beginning. I mean, he was staying home instead of leaving for work like he always did. We were spending so much more time together that I couldn’t even start to compare it to the way it had been in the past. We were enjoying our closed world to our heart’s content. We’d sit together, watch TV, and have fun being naughty until the wee hours without a care in the world. It was so wonderful that I wondered how long it would go on, praying that it would never end.
“Gee, it’s fantastic to work remotely.”
He’d say something like that and enjoy playing video games late at night, which was when I started to get irritated.
Look, there’s plenty of time. He could certainly do some housekeeping, couldn’t he? And he doesn’t seem to care about that remote work, either. This guy doesn’t work, and all he does is lounge around idling his time away. And when I want his attention, he starts to ignore me, saying he’s busy with his work. And if that isn’t enough, he ends up getting flirty with the female coworker on his computer screen. Boy, I never thought he’d be like this.
I think the reason why our relationship has changed may be because we’ve been spending too much time together. Because he’s been staying home all the time, I haven’t been able to enjoy my own time here. I can’t take naps the way I want, and I have to be careful about having a little snack behind his back. And since we live in a small place, I barely have a chance to relax on the couch. But on the other hand, if I try to go out, he’s always there to stop me. What right does he have to chain me down like this?
What exactly do I mean to you?
“Don’t look so unhappy. They say there’s a chance that you could get infected, too.”
Ignoring my protest, it appears that he has finally gotten in the mood to start working. He forces me to go to his desk with him.
“Stay in there for a while, okay?”
So, okay, he’s found a very comfortable box for me. I don’t want him to think that my mood is now going to improve. Oh, but this isn’t bad. All right, I’ll forgive you for now, but remember, you’re going to have breakfast ready at seven tomorrow as usual, okay?
Hey, are you listening?
“Okay, okay.”
My cries are in vain. He starts his computer and smiles as he says to me,
“Cats have such an easy life.”
Translated by Eriko Sugita/Arranged by TranNet KK
Sako Aizawa
Born in Saitama, 1983. Made his debut in 2009 with
It’s time for breakfast.
But he isn’t showing any signs of getting out of bed. Come on, get up, for goodness’ sake. I keep calling out to him, but he isn’t responding at all. Where has that manly guy who heads out to work early in the morning gone?
With no other options left, I go to the bedroom and look at this slob’s sleeping face. All he does when I tell him to get up is roll over reluctantly and moan, “Just a little while longer. . . . I don’t start work till ten this morning.”
He says that while scratching the stomach that’s showing under the shirt that’s turned up.
Oh, please.
I’m getting tired of this.
I wasn’t sure when our life had become this way.
I was happy at the beginning. I mean, he was staying home instead of leaving for work like he always did. We were spending so much more time together that I couldn’t even start to compare it to the way it had been in the past. We were enjoying our closed world to our heart’s content. We’d sit together, watch TV, and have fun being naughty until the wee hours without a care in the world. It was so wonderful that I wondered how long it would go on, praying that it would never end.
“Gee, it’s fantastic to work remotely.”
He’d say something like that and enjoy playing video games late at night, which was when I started to get irritated.
Look, there’s plenty of time. He could certainly do some housekeeping, couldn’t he? And he doesn’t seem to care about that remote work, either. This guy doesn’t work, and all he does is lounge around idling his time away. And when I want his attention, he starts to ignore me, saying he’s busy with his work. And if that isn’t enough, he ends up getting flirty with the female coworker on his computer screen. Boy, I never thought he’d be like this.
I think the reason why our relationship has changed may be because we’ve been spending too much time together. Because he’s been staying home all the time, I haven’t been able to enjoy my own time here. I can’t take naps the way I want, and I have to be careful about having a little snack behind his back. And since we live in a small place, I barely have a chance to relax on the couch. But on the other hand, if I try to go out, he’s always there to stop me. What right does he have to chain me down like this?
What exactly do I mean to you?
“Don’t look so unhappy. They say there’s a chance that you could get infected, too.”
Ignoring my protest, it appears that he has finally gotten in the mood to start working. He forces me to go to his desk with him.
“Stay in there for a while, okay?”
So, okay, he’s found a very comfortable box for me. I don’t want him to think that my mood is now going to improve. Oh, but this isn’t bad. All right, I’ll forgive you for now, but remember, you’re going to have breakfast ready at seven tomorrow as usual, okay?
Hey, are you listening?
“Okay, okay.”
My cries are in vain. He starts his computer and smiles as he says to me,
“Cats have such an easy life.”
Translated by Eriko Sugita/Arranged by TranNet KK
Sako Aizawa
Born in Saitama, 1983. Made his debut in 2009 with
Gozen
reiji
no
sandoriyon
(Cendrillon of midnight), for which he won the 19th Ayukawa Tetsuya Award. His novelMediumu:
Reibai
tantei
Jōzuka
Hisui
(Medium: Medium detective Hisui Jōzuka), won a triple-crowning of placing first in the KONOMYS (This mystery novel is amazing!) Award’s 2020 national rankings; first in the 2020 national rankings selected byHonkaku
misterī
besuto
10
(Orthodox mystery best 10); and Best Mystery 2019 in the 2019 Best Books list of the Apple Store. Drawing the minds of his characters with a deft hand, his works span multiple genres, including mysteries, young adult novels, as well as light novels.
