Adachi to Shimamura - Volume 6 - Chapter 3.2

Bonus chapter: "Hino: The Returned" 

"Oooh! Hinooo!" 
"I see, I see. You love me, huh? Got it. Now, let go." 
I really wish she wouldn't cling onto me while I was changing clothes. Not only did it make doing so quite difficult, some pieces of clothing that I didn't intend to remove got dangerously close to falling off as well. 
Not in my wildest dreams had I expected her to have been waiting to ambush me in my own room as I returned home. 
"Call me Nagafuji, the faithful dog." 
"Stop pinching my butt, you dog." 
"I talked to the maid and she let me in." 
People all remembered each other's faces, huh? Meanwhile, Nagafuji continued rubbing hers against my backside. 
What a moron. Seriously. 
"See? You're the only one with a terrible memory." 
"Ooooh!" 
"Shut up already." 
Ordering her to at least let me finish putting my clothes on first, I kicked Nagafuji off me. She put up surprisingly little resistance as she fell to the floor. Had she perhaps grown accustomed to clinging onto me? Likely so. I watched as she rolled across the room in a terribly clumsy manner. She then returned, her movements not the slightest bit more refined. What part of her body was it that kept getting stuck? Don't even ask. 
Good grief. And here I'd been with my own plans of going over to her place. 
"Did you have fun in Hawaii?" 
"Hmm, I guess. It wasn't that much different from the usual." 
I'd seen a few locals take care of a small shark that had swum to shore and yelled something to the effect of "My dinner!" as they dragged it off, but other than that, it'd been very peaceful. I hadn't really done any sightseeing to speak of—unless you wanted to count the numerous trips to the hotel's private beach and pool, that was. We had merely travelled there to escape the summer's heat, simple as that. 
Every now and then, a series of fast-paced footsteps could be heard from the direction of the hallway. Without fail, these footsteps were always accompanied by a figure resembling one of my older brothers being cast on the sliding door that faced outwards. They'd acted so awfully busy during the trip, and even now that we were back home, just refused to calm down. I suppose you could say it was the price you paid for having a large family. Whatever the case, being forced to put up with them was a massive pain. It was for this reason exactly that I'd wanted to take refuge at Nagafuji's place, but sadly, the girl had not taken this fact into consideration when making her decision to instead come here herself. 
"Did you really want to see me that bad?" 
"Yep." 
"Hmph." 
I should've learned this a long time ago, but these sorts of jokes went way over Nagafuji's head. 
Saying anything here would've been super embarrassing. As such, I fell completely silent. 
Facing the sliding door and the sounds of cicadas that could be heard coming from the other side of it, I put on my shirt. 
There hadn't been any cicadas over in Hawaii, and hearing them now, it truly let me know that I was back home. 
It was almost as if I had been under a completely different sky. 
Whenever I went on a vacation with my family, I always found it easier to get a clear picture of what had just happened after we returned home compared to when we were actually there. I wasn't quite sure why, I just felt that way. Was it perhaps the case that I was only able to view the situation in its entirety once I'd first distanced myself from it? Possibly. 
Despite Nagafuji's efforts to stop me, I was at last able to change my clothes. And yet, the girl looked disappointed. 
"That's not a kimono." 
"Of course it isn't. No way am I wearing a kimono when it's this hot outside." 
Those were put on hold till cooler days came. I didn't really see what the problem was; even after the season changed, we'd still be here, both of us. 
"Oh, right." 
All of a sudden, Nagafuji sprang up and raised her hand. 
"What?" 
"I was thinking about getting a job at your house." 
"Huh?" 
Most of the time, I was able to tell what she meant with her strange remarks, but here? I had not the slightest clue. 
A job? At our house? 

"And what exactly do you mean by that?" 
"What do I mean? That I'm gonna get a job here." 
Her reply did not answer any of my questions. If anything, I was left even more confused. 
The business our family conducted was hardly the sort you could get involved with just like that. Plus, as far as her personality was concerned, Nagafuji was clearly not cut out for it. Not in the slightest. So then, what else could she mean? Was she planning on marrying Goushirou? No, no. No way. That was obviously out of the question. Or was it? 
I found the whole situation kinda annoying. It really pissed me off. Just gag it out already, I wanted to yell at her. 
Perhaps able to sense my intense leer, Nagafuji went ahead and added the following explanation: 
"If I became your maid, I'd be able to spend every day with you." 
"Oh, that's what you mean? Hmm... No. No, no, no." 
Waving my hand from side to side, I flatly refused her. 
"Why?" 
"Because... Because you wouldn't be able to do anything." 
In addition, although my parents could be tolerant towards our guests, as for those who worked for them, not so much. There was also the fact that my brothers would be bossing her around. Something about that didn't sit right with me. 
Nagafuji ought to be herself. 
"I don't think so. Every house needs their own Nagafuji." 
She followed this statement by pointing at herself. My heart leapt, and not in a fun way. 
"Hmm..." 
"It's just, I feel like I'm gonna get bored without you, Hino. Bored and lonely. All my time will be wasted." 
With each point she made, Nagafuji bent a finger. She was left with all of them down by the end of it, which was quite strange considering that by my math, she'd only listed out three reasons. 
"See? None of it is good. None." 
"......" 
The light coming in through the sliding door painted her fingers—or rather, the one finger she was now holding up—in its shine, the shadow it cast spreading across the floor like a clock's hand. This hand was frozen, stuck indicating a single moment of time. Something about it quite resembled the sceneries of summer. 
While we'd been off visiting Hawaii, I'd felt time move extremely slowly. Whenever the cool wind blew over me, both myself and the world would take but a single step forward. Conversely, back in Japan, summers appeared almost corrupted, as if time itself had been shut inside the cage of sunlight. And yet, there was something about casting myself into said corruption that I occasionally found quite pleasant. 
"Anyway. Oooh! Hinooo!" 
As if she had suddenly remembered something, Nagafuji wrapped her arms around me. She squeezed me tight, all the while rubbing her jaw against the top of my head. It wasn't that different from how you would show fondness to a pet dog. 
Seriously, she was so... So... 
There, embraced by her, the rest of that sentence refused to come out. 
"You feel kinda warm. Is this the sunlight of Hawaii?" 
"Yep. You got it", I replied, feigning negligence. There was something about the paleness of her wrists which held my head that I found to be strangely charming. 
This was a sensation that couldn't be found in Hawaii, but instead, only existed within Nagafuji's arms. 
Yeah. That's how it was. 

Today's Adachi 

"We're putting out a food stand at the festival next week. Be there." 
"Sorry, but I can't. I already have something planned that day" I stated bluntly, refusing the shop manager's demand. "It's very, very important." 
There was no way I was ever going to give up here. She could fire me if she wanted to, but I wasn't going. 
"Hmm..." the old woman mumbled as she stared at me with a troubled look on her face. There, all of a sudden, a girl wearing a China dress emerged from deeper within the restaurant. Oh, right. She worked here as well. And, technically, I was her superior. 
"I'll leave it to you." 
Bowing my head, I was somehow able to push this responsibility onto the girl. The irritation I'd felt, all those horrible sensations, I had no plans of ever experiencing them again. 
And thus, an obstacle threatening my reason for living was removed. 
Alright.