My Rental Boyfriend Is My Boss?! - Chapter 37

Chapter 37. What Would You Say To A Fox?

“Thanks for your hard work today.”

“Oh, Chief Editor Igarashi. Thank you for your hard work.”

In the evening, more than half of the people in the office were leaving the office at a regular time, which made no sense until now. As Kamijemori once said, all the employees except for Michiru had families and children of their own. The atmosphere in the office was somehow relaxed and calm, and she was surprised to see how different the atmosphere was between different magazines.

“You must be tired after the first day. Aren’t you going home yet?”

“Oh, I’m done with work, but I just got nostalgic.”

When Michiru was sorting through her files during the day, she found a back issue of Puka, a magazine Michiru used to read to herself when she was a child.

Michiru hadn’t seen it for years, but as soon as she saw the cover she knew it was the one.

“Oh, by the way, you’ve been looking at that for a while.”

“Yes, I know. The book my mother used to read to me was ‘Crumble’s Bear and the Fox in the Cave’. But memory is not so reliable, is it? When I read it now, I wonder what it was about.”

The story was different from the one she remembered. In Michiru’s memory, it was about a kind-hearted bear who was misunderstood by those around him, who took a fox who was alone in a cave outside and showed him a brighter world, and the two became best friends.

However, when Michiru read the story again, it was about a bear making up with a fox who had a fight with everyone.

As Michiru tilted her head and laughed at her memory, Igarashi picked up the magazine.

“Yeah? I read these books so many times that sometimes my mother makes up stories as she goes along.”

“Make up stories?”

“You know how children get bored when they read a book too many times? If you read a story too many times, the child gets bored, and the reader wants a change, so she made up a story on the spot. Nowadays, there are picture books with no words at the beginning in order to do that. That’s why the story that Oikawa remembers is probably one that her mother made up for her to read.”

“For me to hear…”

Michiru looked at the open page in Igarashi’s hand. The bear was calling out to the fox, which was shrinking at the back of the cave.

“What would Michiru say to the fox?”

Michiru wondered why her mother had asked her that question then.

“It’s been ten years since this magazine came out. It must have been very good for you to still remember the stories you heard then.”

“I wonder if it was.”

If her mother had changed the story so often, she must have heard many other stories. Michiru desperately searched her memory, but she couldn’t remember the other stories, or even the original story she had heard.

It was over ten years ago, so it was understandable that she couldn’t remember, but she could still remember one thing.

Maybe that story was something she made up to tell Michiru. Was it too much to think so?

‘Maybe it was…’

It might have been after Michiru went to the Christmas party that she heard that story.

Michiru was a child who didn’t talk even if she had something bad to say, but even so, her mother could always see through her, and even if she didn’t say anything, she was able to heal her hurt childhood heart.

‘In that case, that fox is me…?’

Michiru wondered if her mother was trying to tell her not to stay in the corner. It’s still a little hard for Michiru to understand now, but it was a little hard for her to understand even when she was a child.

As soon as Michiru thought of it, she started laughing.

“You should have told me directly.”

“Was it that difficult?”

“You’re right… I’ve always been an unsuspecting child.”

Igarashi narrowed her eyes with a loving expression. Her eyes were on the bear at hand.

“That’s what stories are about, they don’t tell you exactly what the answer is. If you just tell them the answer, no one will listen.”

“Is that so?”

“Yes, they do. They teach you how to try to change. You have to find the answers yourself.”

It was very similar to the sound of her mother’s voice in Michiru’s dream when she asked her what to say to the fox.

Michiru wondered what she would say to her now, when she was standing alone by the wall.

“You don’t have to become a wallflower yourself.”

When Michiru imagined it, for some reason, she heard the voice of Kamijemori, who had told her that one day.

She was sure he would say the same thing to an elementary school student because he was a man who does not change his treatment equally regardless of age, gender, or title. That’s true in a good way and a bad way.

“It’s just as Kamijemori said.”

As Michiru began to drift in a sea of thoughts, she suddenly looked up at the name Igarashi had mentioned. It was as if she had read Michiru’s mind, which made her flinch, but she kept her calm expression.

“… Huh?”

“It’s still a work in progress, but I’ve had some good experiences and I think I’ll be more useful here than I would be on my own.”

“Minoru is…”

Michiru didn’t know he thought that way.

Igarashi continued to talk to Michiru, who was puzzled.

“I was surprised because I had never heard Kamijemori talk about his own people in that way. You see, he didn’t seem to be interested in anyone at all, did he?”

“Yes, it looks like that, doesn’t it?”

“I wanted to change.”

Michiru remembered how he had told her on their first date in the park at night when the cherry blossoms were dancing.

“But it’s not that I’m not interested. It’s just that I’m not very good at expressing myself.”

He clumsily asks her out on dates, gets excited and rides roller coasters that he’s not good at, keeps a cute stuffed animal in his car, smiles lopsidedly when he’s drunk, holds hands that are surprisingly warm, gets caught easily when characters get involved, helps people in trouble, etc.

He’s that kind of person.

Michiru didn’t know how she forgot about him until now. But it didn’t really matter if he was a rental boyfriend or a boss.

‘That’s why I fell in love with him.’

Michiru wondered if she was helping him in any way when he told her he wanted to change.

‘But maybe it’s me who needs to change the most.’