The Case Files of Jeweler Richard

Hey…I’m back…for the rest of Volume 2 since I’m going to drop this series. Hopefully I’ll finish this in the first half of the year. Like always, I have no schedule, just whenever I finish a part.

“And then he hit his jaw like he was gouging it out with one blow! When that happens, you lose your balance, so he fell on his backside and it was a one-shot KO. You don’t see such a brisk match like that everyday. It’s hard to do a powerful move cleanly. Just seeing it made me excited.”

The feel of Richard’s store changed completely when there were customers and when there weren’t. When there were customers, it was an efficient but homey customer reception space, but when there weren’t, it had an atmosphere like a private study room. I also talked as much as I wanted.

I was telling the beautiful store owner about a karate match. The karate school I used to attend still held tournaments with other schools of the same style once a summer and once a winter. That kind of thing could help students improve. It was a big event where you can see demonstrations by masters, but there was a need for manpower because of the large number of kids. I was recruited as an odd-jobs man, so I refereed several matches and came to the store just past noon today. The most exciting part was the brawl between the two masters at the end of the morning session.

“It wasn’t a match at all; more like a fight to the death. It was total eye candy. I thought they were just going to make me work for free, but when I was able to see that upper roundhouse kick, it’s more than enough! Ah…”

Richard was silent, drinking royal milk tea on the sofa.

Wasn’t this the first time that I was the only one talking this much?

“…You’re more into boxing, right? Martial arts aren’t really that interesting, sorry.”

“I am listening with great interest. But if I had to pick one…”

It is quite amusing to see you so talkative, he said.

Richard said in a mild voice, and then took another sip of the tea I made. Today’s teacake was some kind of donut covered in sugar that wasn’t too sweet. It tasted like honey. The wrapping paper was cute, with a retro locomotive flying through space drawn with a nostalgic touch. Apparently, this donut was supposed to be like one of the stars. It was an intricate thing.

“I don’t think I’m that quiet for you to say that…That upper roundhouse kick made me excited, so maybe that’s why?”

“It does not seem that that is your special move.”

“That’s a great deduction. If I could do that perfectly without holding anything back, I’d be a monster.”

But my senpai from middle school had a monster-like ability.

At the summer tournament that was an established practice every year, I was on the same team as my senpai two years older than me because I had a large build, and we took part in the class competition. As the one who competed in the first match, mine was one where I couldn’t afford to lose if we were aiming for the overall victory for the team, but I ended up being utterly beaten. Being the one who held us back from the very first match, I was depressed all by myself.

However, my senpai, the second athlete to compete, was up against a higher-ranked opponent who even our spartan shihan* must have thought was inevitable to lose to, but he won by KO with a spectacular upper roundhouse kick. It was a stunningly brilliant and unexpected instant victory. After bowing to his defeated opponent, my senpai went to me, whose eyes and mouth were wide open, and said this.

(TN: A shihan is an honorific used for martial arts instructors and there’s a process that needs to be taken before someone can use it.)

“He said, ‘I got them back for you’! I shiver every time I remember that, you know. That’s not a middle schooler line.”

“A crystallized memory that remains beautiful is more precious than any well-preserved antique.”

“You must have one or two as well. You know, fun memories from childhood.”

“And then? Are the two of you still good friends even now?”

“No, we went to different high schools, and both of us quit karate before we went off to university. I didn’t have a cell phone back then…”

When I responded that I would show up to help out today, I had hoped that I might be able to see my senpai. The days where we were fellow classmates and played video games until the sun went down were nostalgic. There were a lot of guys who were connected through a mailing list, but he wasn’t on it, so I wondered how he was doing now. Was he doing okay? If he had a job transfer to a remote place or something like that, we might never meet again.

Maybe he read something in the change in my expression, as Richard gulped down the stardust donut and told me I had nothing to worry about.

“There is such a thing as ‘happenstance’ in this world. If you have a strong desire to meet him—”

“—I’ll meet him eventually? Well, I hope so.”

“Whether that happenstance will come in the form you desire or not is a different matter.”

“Don’t threaten me. Oh, do you mean like that? Like Senpai already having a wife and children and doesn’t think of me as anything more than a ‘good memory’?”

“Hah…?”

Richard’s expression gradually changed. His brows creased together, he put his hand on his chin as though to cover his mouth, and he fell into silence. Was it something to think that much about? I was shocked when I reunited with a friend from high school the other day. I knew he didn’t go to university, but I never thought he would get married and become a doting father so quickly. I was pretty sure he thought of me as nothing more than space trash. Even though we used to see each other everyday and talked nonsense. Friendship was a fleeting thing.

“…Pardon me, but what do you mean by what you said?”

“Huh? It means exactly that?”

Richard stared fixedly at my face once again. I knew he was confused about something, but I didn’t know what. What was this about? I didn’t think he wanted to hold a staring contest with me.

I was puzzled, and Richard opened his mouth with a face of resolve.

“Directly asking about this sort of thing is contrary to my beliefs, but is it correct to take your words earlier to mean ‘I had an encounter with a person I used to be close with, who drastically changed from how they were before, and that deepened my sadness for our past friendship?’”

“What else could I mean?”

“…It is nothing. Some tea, please.”

While wondering what Richard was so confused about, I boiled some water with tea leaves. I realized that my parable was a bad one before the pot started burbling. Oh crap. But I was thankful that Richard confirmed it for me this time. Once before, I had bungled things up and made them go in a strange direction, and Richard had been angry with me. I wanted to avoid that kind of thing again. I had to thank him for taking precautions.

But, well, just this time, his misunderstanding wasn’t so far off the mark. In my first year of middle school, I pretty seriously thought that I could get married if it was with Senpai. I wondered if he would still be in touch with me if I had jokingly sold myself by saying that I was a good cook.