Shining Light

Chapter 3

The regret of taking the job only seemed to get more severe the longer he stayed. When Choutsugai refused to let him leave (”I didn’t realise it would be your beloved inspector”; “You should appreciate a second chance with your childhood love”) he’d hoped, at some point, it would get easier.

But it didn’t. Kobayashi may have wasted half the roll of film looking at Shoutarou instead of the camera. No matter how badly Shoutarou wanted to avoid him, he felt like he’d hypnotised the man and no amount of hand clapping was undoing the spell. It was only with Choutsugai’s insistence and a well-placed Shoutarou that they’d gotten any good photos of husband and wife.

Eventually, even Choutsugai got sick of it.

“The sun is bad at the minute. Let’s wait five minutes then we can try again,” he said in his attempt at a customer service voice. Shoutarou could only guess he was a fantastic photographer because there was no way he got hired by attitude.

Shoutarou tried to fold the reflector, spotting Kobayashi approaching. It wouldn’t fold and he was struggling against his slippery hands.

“Tadashi!” Mrs Kobayashi shouted. Tadashi was running off in the other direction, ignoring his mother. Kobayashi still looked between Shoutarou and his wife a few times before giving up and returning to her. Shoutarou didn’t catch what they said, but Kobayashi ran off after Tadashi.

Thank you, Mrs Kobayashi, Tadashi.

Without the stress of an approaching Kobayashi, it was suddenly much easier to fold the reflector. He sighed in relief. Really, this wasn’t that bad.

“Kagome?” A voice called from right beside him, making him jump. Maybe he’d been a bit hopeful about not being approached by a Kobayashi. Mrs Kobayashi was looking down at the gravel with the tiniest frown on her otherwise neutral face.
“Yes?”
“May I speak with you for a moment?”
“…Mn,” Shoutarou nodded, letting her lead him over to a bench.

He knew what to expect from this conversation, at least. Everything Kobayashi had told him made his relationship with his family feel… strange. No doubt his wife felt the same.

“I’m sorry, I feel I know a lot more about you than you know about me,” she apologised, hands set perfectly on her lap. “I’m Kiyoko, Akira didn’t introduce us properly earlier. We got married a few years before Tadashi was born.”

Shoutarou could only nod in response.

“Akira has spoken very fondly of you over the years.”
“I see…”
“When we were engaged, he told me my mole reminded him of yours.”

Kobayashi…

“He’s called me by your name a few times. It seems to be a favourite of his.”
“Is that so…”
“He named our son after you.”

Kobayashi had told him that part already at least.

“He suggested it, but he filled in the forms, so I didn’t see which spelling he’d chosen.”

And didn’t know he’d chosen a character from Shoutarou’s name.

Silence fell between them. What was he meant to say to something like that? He had no explanation for Kobayashi’s actions. It had been years since they’d last seen each other and he’d never expected that what had happened had stuck with him so intensely. He’d expected to get lost in among all the other people who worshipped Kobayashi, and just be another one that wasn’t good enough to stay by his side.

That had made sense. That was who he was. Just another person in someone else’s story.

So, why was it that he hadn’t been forgotten?

“Kagome-san,” Kiyoko broke the silence again, raising her head to look straight ahead of her. “How long have you been dating my husband?”

Shoutarou’s heart stopped, the weight of it holding down any words that may have attempted to make their way out of his mouth.

“My husband lost interest in me after Tadashi was born. I always got the sense that our family was only ever an obligation that he’d completed. But he started to act strangely after a while. Something changed with him. There were months where he couldn’t even look me in the eye. Even now, he seems to have a guilty look about him.

“After all I’d heard about you, I could only assume.”

“We aren’t!” The words finally broke free, sending the weight of his heart plummeting. “I only met Kobayashi again a few days ago. We haven’t- we didn’t…” He found himself trailing off.

But Kiyoko just looked at him and waited until he continued.

“Mrs Kobayashi, I’m sorry, I don’t know what’s happening with your husband. I’m… I already have… someone I like. Someone else.”
“Oh,” she said, her face dropping. “Is that so.”

They both looked down at their laps, trying to avoid each other’s gaze. It had probably brought Kiyoko some solace that her husband was at least cheating on her with someone he… someone who meant something to him. Even if Shoutarou didn’t understand why Kobayashi cared so much for him. Learning that it was someone else, someone who didn’t have that connection.

He might have accidentally broken her heart.

Before he could think of anything to say to comfort her, the hero sirens blared.