m that he was truly worthless.?If I was going to be rejected anyway,?he would think,?I shouldn’t have submitted my CV in the first place. I shouldn’t have gone in for an interview at all.But he knew things didn’t quite work like that.

“Maybe I’ll go back to the country,” he muttered to the wood-panelled ceiling.

“Go back? Like, during the holidays?” said a voice beside him. Matsuoka was still awake.

“No, not like that. I meant maybe I should just go back to the country for good.”

Matsuoka fell silent.

“I’m just kidding, though,” Hirosue added. He could not go back. There were no jobs back home, realistically speaking. And he was not going to fall back under the care of his parents at this age.

“Is your hometown far away, Hirosue?”

“It’s in an inconvenient place, so it takes two hours by bullet train from Tokyo, then about forty minutes on the local line.”

“It’s a town on the harbour, right?”

“Yeah. Their seafood is great. My family back home runs a business that handles processed fish products. My parents are still doing well, but my older brother and his wife have taken over the business from them.”

“I’d like to go there once.”

“Sure, but there’s nothing to see. ―Your hometown is in Tokyo, right?”

“In the suburbs.”

“Do you ever go back home?”

“Not really. My younger brother just got married last year and they’re living at home. I only go back during Obon and the new year.”

Hirosue’s consciousness gradually faded while they talked, and before he knew it, it was morning. They took a morning bath and ate a luxurious breakfast fit for kings. After checking out, they took a leisurely stroll around the area of the inn before heading home.

Hirosue enjoyed his trip so much, he would give it full points. Matsuoka was a lot less talkative on the way home, but Hirosue figured he was tired from driving by himself, and did not try to force a conversation with him.