How he got home again, Koutarou didn’t remember. Only the sensation of him sitting on the floor made him realize that he’d made it back.

– – –

Two days later, on Thursday, Koutarou got to the hospital early. Not that he’d been slacking off before, but now he pushed his translation work forward at an even faster pace. The very instant he was finished with this paper, he was going to pick up the next one.

He’d heard from Nagasaki that there were a lot of people looking for help with papers. The professor, and the doctors under him, to say nothing of the associate professors, all seemed to be having trouble making progress with their papers thanks to problems of language competence.

He knew the job wouldn’t last forever, but that was exactly why he wanted to earn money while he still could.

Basically no one else came into the conference room while Koutarou was using it. But as evening approached, the door opened without even a knock.

“Ah, still working, huh,” Nagasaki said in a jovial tone, appearing unexpectedly. He was wearing his white lab coat today again, so he must still have been on duty. “There’s no rush, you know, you don’t have to work yourself so hard, Seno.”

Nagasaki said it in a completely natural tone of voice. But Koutarou didn’t miss it, even with his nerves stretched as thin as they were.

“Seno? I’m Sakurai..”

It had been a while since Koutarou had been called by that name, and he didn’t respond. But if he hadn’t been vigilant about Nagasaki already, he might not have been able to answer so calmly.

“Not going to fall for something so rudimentary, huh.”

Nagasaki’s smile stayed bright. It seemed to have been just a diversionary tactic after all. Koutarou watched Nagasaki’s attitude calmly. He had no intention of giving himself away.

“You look exactly like this other researcher, so I wondered if there was any connection, that’s all. Koutarou Seno. The surnames are different, but you’ve got the same given names, huh.”

Nagasaki wasn’t boasting about anything, he spoke the facts as disinterestedly as always.

So the time had finally come. Koutarou had every intention of resigning himself to it, but now that the moment was here a hopelessness he’d never felt before attacked him.

How had Nagasaki found him? He wanted to know, but there was no way he could ask. Doing something like that would only wrap him in further suspicion.

Koutarou’s name and photograph had been published in industry magazines. So it wouldn’t have been that unusual for Koutarou’s photo to be circulating on the internet, and if that’s what Nagasaki had found, maybe there was nothing to be done.

“You have any connection to Koutarou Seno?”

“I don’t,” Koutarou answered at once, with no hesitation. It wasn’t outside the scope of questions he’d anticipated. Koutarou didn’t falter in his responses.

“Well, have you heard of Koutarou Seno?”

Nagasaki’s questions continued. But no matter what he asked, Koutarou would never admit it. Even if this was a pointless exchange, he had no choice but to keep it up until Nagasaki was convinced, in order to clear up his doubts.

“No I don’t.”

– – –

“You’re awfully late.”

When Koutarou got home, he was greeted by a worried Shuuji.

“I wanted to finish this paper quickly..”

Obsessed with that idea, he’d been working in a trance, and had completely forgotten the time. By the time he realized it, it was already past seven in the evening. If Koutarou had owned a cell phone, he’d have contacted Shuuji, but he couldn’t use the same one he’d had before, and he couldn’t sign a new contract. Shuuji had said that they could get another one under his name, but Koutarou had refused, saying it wasn’t necessary, since they were almost always together.

“They’re in that much of a rush for this paper?” Shuuji asked, to which Koutarou shook his head.

“Mr Nagasaki called me Seno today.”

Koutarou’s words left Shuuji speechless.

If they were going to have to leave town, he couldn’t hide it from Shuuji any more. Koutarou explained the details of what had happened when he was called out.

“He was fooled by those kind of lies?”

“He backed down right away, but I’m sure he doesn’t believe we’re unrelated.”

“Yeah, true. With the same face, and the same given name. It’s only natural that he wouldn’t believe that kind of coincidence.” Shuuji bit his lip, and closed his eyes, pained. “It’s because we were so particular about your name.”