【Mustard】Combined for a long time must be divided

Higuchi Ichiyo is a man of action, and he started to prepare immediately when he said that he would be reinstated. When he was at work the next morning, Kajii Keijiro saw her carrying the materials back and forth between the two departments—it must be too hard work, Kajii thought worriedly, So what is Atsushi Nakajima going to do?

After Atsushi Nakajima left yesterday afternoon, he never came back. The three of them got together and finally went to the office by Hirotsu Liunang to ask, "Manager, where did Nakajima-kun go?"

Higuchi Ichiyo was just the opposite of Nakajima Atsushi. She didn't leave after she arrived at the company and started helping with the office, so she was also listening when Hirotsu entered.

Akutagawa Ryunosuke leaned over his desk and wrote, without raising his head: "I'm absent from work."

"..." Guangjin Liulang smacked in his heart, Atsushi Nakajima not only hung up their phone, but also hung up Akutagawa's phone together. After all, he was still young and courageous.

In fact, there is another situation, it may be that Atsushi Nakajima is favored and arrogant, but Hirotsu Liulang thinks that Atsushi Nakajima is not such a character, so he was stimulated so that he never heard from him.

He regards himself as an elder, and when facing young people like Akutagawa Ryunosuke and Nakajima Atsushi, he still unconsciously wants to persuade him to help; but now that Higuchi Ichiyo is also present, Hirotsu doesn't know which way he should turn , After stopping for a long time, he sighed and stroked his beard.

"Manager, please listen to my advice. It is best not to delay the resolution of the matter. Quantitative changes lead to qualitative changes. Everyone is the same on this point."

Akutagawa Ryunosuke didn't know if he was listening, but just nodded.

"I know."

Since he said that he knew that there was a high probability that he really understood, Guangjin Liulang felt that he didn't need to say anything more, so he saluted and slowly left the office.

He didn't take up much time, but Higuchi Ichiyo firmly memorized this little episode. She blinked her beautiful eyes and looked out suspiciously, then immediately brought her attention back to her eyes.

That trainee secretary...

She vaguely gave birth to a strange feeling.

When everyone thought that Atsushi Nakajima would disappear for a few days, Atsushi Nakajima, who was much-anticipated before the check-in time, came in belatedly in time.

As soon as he entered the door, he was spotted by the sharp-eyed Tachihara Michizo, who immediately went up to meet him: "Nakajima, are you... all right?"

"...What could be the matter?" Atsushi Nakajima looked at him in a daze.

"As for the matter between you and Manager Akutagawa, and Higuchi!" Li Yuan gestured anxiously to him, "I really didn't have time to notify you in advance yesterday, what are your plans for the future?"

"..."

Atsushi Nakajima stood there frowning and didn't say a word, but perhaps because Michizao Tachihara's eyes were too sincere - and a little silly guilty - Atsushi finally spoke helplessly.

"It's okay, I know what's going on. I have to go to Akutagawa now, and I'm leaving first."

After speaking, he patted Tachihara Michizo on the shoulder and left. The latter stood still and watched him go away, and sighed unconsciously.

"What are you sighing about?"

Liyuan turned his head and found Liulang Guangjin standing next to him, stroking his beard and squinting his eyes to look at the figure of Atsushi Nakajima as he walked further and further away for an unknown how long.

"I'm just sighing for Atsushi Nakajima. You said he's a nice guy, so why did this matter happen. It's okay if Higuchi is not good, but she's also a nice guy, alas..."

This kung fu Kajii Keijiro appeared out of nowhere, and interjected: "Didn't you think Higuchi was annoying before?"

"Then she's really annoying!" Michizao Tachihara was suddenly reminded of this matter, and suddenly felt a little heartbroken, "Wherever you go, talk about Akutagawa, and whoever you change won't be annoying? But one thing to say, she is true to Akutagawa, everyone You can see it."

He was right, so it was rare for the other two to refute or laugh, and they all began to think deeply.

Finally Kajii said, "Let's watch. There's nothing we can say or do, so just watch."

One of the parties they planned to watch to the end passed through the long corridor between the office area and the administrative manager's private office, and stood in front of the door with a calm face and knocked on the door; soon there was a "come in" from the door, But it wasn't Akutagawa Ryunosuke's voice.

Higuchi Kazuyo was indeed there. After Nakajima Atsushi entered the door, he glanced at her first, nodded to her, and then walked in front of Akutagawa.

Akutagawa, who had been working with his head down all the time, got up and leaned on the sofa chair to look at him, folded his hands on his crossed legs: "Is it enough to be absent from work?"

"I'm on leave," Atsushi Nakajima said.

"Absent from work at three o'clock and asked for leave at seven o'clock? That's called a survival confirmation notice, not a leave request."

"Then you can deduct your wages." Dun said a little indifferently.

He didn't directly contradict Akutagawa like this before. Although he was at odds with Akutagawa Ryunosuke in essence, he was serious about his work, and he would never say things like "deduction of wages" indifferently like this——

"Is that how you talk to your boss?"

Akutagawa Ryunosuke asked.

"..." Atsushi Nakajima had a lot of thoughts in his mind. He was confused, hesitant, and frightened, but none of them showed on his face. He looked at the outstanding man in front of him who was likely to be liked by him, and he didn't respond to this question after all. Daily bickering questions.

I like him, but in this room, there are people who like him more than me.

No capital, not qualified, he judged himself almost instantly when facing Higuchi Ichiyo, he likes to be worthless in front of love, if this is the case, he should be the one who should leave as soon as possible.

——But when he was actually facing Ryunosuke Akutagawa, he couldn't say anything more.

He turned out to like Akutagawa a little more than he imagined.

But that's it, Atsushi Nakajima thought, his courage can only support him so far.

"Since Ms. Higuchi is here, there shouldn't be anything I need to do here, right?" He asked, and then he confirmed the answer by himself, and then said: "Then I'll go outside. Call me if you need anything. "

"Ah..." Ichiyo Higuchi was suddenly mentioned by name, and he spoke softly, but soon realized that the other party didn't want her to join the conversation, so he restrained his voice again.

After Nakajima Atsushi finished speaking, he opened the door and walked out without looking back. He didn't even explain why he entered the office. Ryunosuke Akutagawa kept staring at his back behind the translucent glass, and even lost his mind for a while.

...Something feels wrong, he thought.

"That... senior?"

Higuchi Ichiyo called him cautiously, and pushed the freshly brewed Blue Mountain coffee towards him.

Akutagawa paused, recovered from his own thoughts, and thanked Higuchi lightly.When he picked up the cup of coffee, he knew in his heart that it was made by Higuchi according to his original taste. Blue Mountain coffee was added with sugar, which happened to be three yuan. He should be familiar with this taste—but he frowned unconsciously when he swallowed raised eyebrows.

too bitter.

Coffee with sugar, without any discordant factors, he has been used to this taste for nearly three years, and Higuchi Kazuyo never slackened in matters related to him, but it was too bitter, as if something was missing. sad.

Akutagawa Ryunosuke was rarely distracted twice during office hours.

Higuchi Ichiyo saw that he just took a sip and stared at the cup without making a sound. He was confused for a moment, so he bit his lip and confirmed anxiously: "Is there any problem, Akutagawa-senpai?"

Akutagawa couldn't tell what the problem was, he blinked his eyes slowly twice, when Higuchi Ichiyo almost thought she would not get an answer, Akutagawa Ryunosuke finally said:

"—Next time add milk and go in."

He said.

Sure enough, Atsushi Nakajima didn't step into Akutagawa Ryunosuke's office all morning. He has a separate desk in the office area of ​​ordinary employees. After leaving Akutagawa's place, he has been sitting at the desk to sort out what he has done for the other party during this time. Various schedules, some long-term projects have not been completed, and he intends to transfer the unfinished ones to Higuchi.

In fact, when he went to Akutagawa in the morning, he planned to tell him everything about his plan to be transferred back to his original job. Yesterday he met Osamu Dazai in the smoking area. Just simply laughed.

"Yes, if Dunjun really thinks so."

But when he stood in front of the other party, he unknowingly gave up telling the plan—it should be okay not to say it, after all, they are all in the same company, as long as they don’t affect the work process, even if they leave without saying goodbye Make any waves.

It doesn’t make any sense to think about it. Atsushi Nakajima feels that it’s not suitable for him to immerse himself in grief. Although he is still flustered and restless, he still dare not let himself be controlled by these emotions, because once he indulges himself, he will be unscrupulous. Grief would make him feel like he was back in his lonely, dark past again—everything he'd done was to get out, and he couldn't go back there.

He can't look back and pity his past self for anyone's sake.

But these emotions still affected him to some extent. Atsushi Nakajima was immersed in his work until his lunch break. When he looked up, he found that people were walking around, probably going to eat and rest.

Dun sighed, stretched his waist and stood up from his seat, staring at the computer screen for a long time was a little tired, so he decided to go to the bathroom to wash his face first.

The bathroom was very quiet. When Atsushi Nakajima turned on the faucet at the sink in the outer room, he was the only one making a splashing sound, which seemed a bit lonely.Atsushi Nakajima thought so in his heart, and laughed at himself, thinking too much, maybe he should take a vacation.

Dun took his hands away from the automatic sink, took out a paper towel to dry his face, then bent down and threw the waste paper into the wastebasket; when he raised his head, through the huge mirror, Dun Minmin noticed that someone seemed to be going to the toilet. walking this way-

The man walked in and was stunned when he saw Atsushi Nakajima.

It's Ichiyo Higuchi.

The two were not familiar with each other, so it was impossible to strike up a conversation casually, not to mention that Atsushi Nakajima always felt a little withdrawn when facing Higuchi Ichiyo, so he just smiled at Higuchi and planned to leave.It's just that Higuchi Ichiyo suddenly called him to stop:

"Wait a minute... Mr. Nakajima."

Out of politeness, Atsushi Nakajima didn't pretend that he didn't hear the hesitant call, but his heart did feel empty. He turned his back to Ichiyo Higuchi and adjusted his expression before turning around with a smile.

"Is there a problem?"

"...This is about Akutagawa-senpai..."

"You don't need to worry about work," Atsushi Nakajima smiled impeccably, "I've already sorted out all the handover materials, and I can get them to Mr. Nakaya for stamping by tomorrow morning at the latest."

"That's right." Higuchi Kazuyo nodded, "Thank you for your hard work."

"It's okay, it's what I should do. If there's nothing else, I'll go first?"

Atsushi Nakajima felt sweaty in his palms, he had a feeling of uneasiness, not dangerous enough, but enough to make him uneasy.He didn't know where the source was, it might be himself, but more likely it was Ichiyo Higuchi in front of him, all Atsushi wanted to do now was to get away from her as soon as possible, otherwise even the air here would make him feel suffocated.

Higuchi didn't answer at first, and she also had an anxious expression as if she was struggling; but seeing Atsushi Nakajima was about to turn around and leave, she opened her mouth in desperation: "Please wait a moment, there is one more thing I want to ask you ...do you like milk?"

"Milk...?" Nakajima Atsushi was a little confused, "I...it's okay. But speaking of it, Akutagawa seems to like it a little recently, maybe because I've been buying it a while ago."

Higuchi Ichiyo's pupils dilated a little, but his eyes became a little dim.

"Really," she said, "Really."

"If there's nothing wrong..."

"I will not give up my predecessors to anyone."

Atsushi Nakajima, who was interrupted directly by such force, didn't even react for a while.He asked blankly, "What?"

"I won't give up my senior to anyone," Ichiyo Higuchi stared straight at him, with a firm expression but anxious eyes, "Even if I want to grab it, I won't let it go."

She couldn't tell how she noticed that strange and ambiguous aura, maybe it was just intuition, maybe she was wrong, maybe the facts were completely different, but she was inexplicably certain that if she didn't say it here now, she would What will be lost.

It doesn't matter if she makes a mistake, she won't be afraid of anything in this world except Ryunosuke Akutagawa's rejection.

Stared at by such eyes, Atsushi Nakajima's brain was blank for a moment, but when he realized the true meaning of that sentence, there was only one sentence in his mind that repeated back and forth: She knew it, she actually knew it.

But it was too late to declare war, Atsushi Nakajima thought, it doesn’t make much sense to tell me now, the one who will lose from the very beginning is me, always has been.

I didn't want to rob you.

"I didn't intend to rob you," so he said, with a bitter and forced smile, "I can't compare with you, Miss Higuchi."

After hearing these words, Higuchi Ichiyo's expression didn't relax as he imagined, but fell more and more vacillating between sadness and compassion, and even looked at his expression as if he was about to cry.

She is indeed a very beautiful girl, and I feel sorry for her.Atsushi Nakajima didn't understand why she reacted like this, but now that he had already decided to give up, he couldn't bear to make such a persistent girl suffer anymore, so he shook his head:

"You don't need to do this, Ms. Higuchi. I have already contacted Mr. Dazai, and I will return to my original position soon, and will not stay with Akutagawa again; besides..."

He paused.

"Besides, I don't have the feelings for Akutagawa as you imagined. I don't like him."

Then he told the biggest lie of his life so far with all his strength.

He never knew that lying would hurt, not enough to kill him, but the blunt knife wandered carelessly in his heart, and the sense of emptiness in the air brought him unprecedented fear.Of course Atsushi Nakajima likes Akutagawa Ryunosuke, more than all the feelings that represent liking that he can give now, but it also means that what he can give is nothing more than that, far from enough.

It is impossible for him to ask others to cherish this kind of incomplete and incomplete love.

Higuchi Ichiyo's tense body relaxed slightly, and her expression finally became sad following his words.

"I'm sorry..." She was at a loss, "I just... thank you."

Finally, the girl raised her bright brown pupils and repeated firmly but slowly: "Thank you."

Thank him for his concession, thank him for his kindness that he is unwilling to inflict a little malice on himself.

Thank him for being willing to withdraw from the life of another person she also loves deeply when he is clearly in love.

After saying these words to Ichiyo Higuchi, Atsushi Nakajima felt that the strength in his body was almost drained. He didn't know how he walked back to his seat, and he didn't know who completed the rest for him in his body. In short, when the phone call came in, he realized that he was almost out of touch with the real world. In fact, self-deception is such a useful skill. Unfortunately, Atsushi Nakajima is not proficient enough to apply what he has learned. Being affected by those things related to Akutagawa Ryunosuke moved the whole body.

Osamu Dazai's name was written on the call display, and Atsushi Nakajima had a premonition that this call would be about his next whereabouts, so he sneaked back to the toilet with the phone, found a cubicle at random and locked the door behind him.

It took a long time for him to rush from the seat to the toilet, which caused Osamu Dazai to joke nonchalantly: "I thought you wouldn't answer it, and the phone rang for too long."

"...I just asked you to wait a little longer. When you first came here, you hung up my phone without saying anything."

"Ah, Atsushi-kun still remembers that incident." Osamu Dazai obviously didn't take this accusation to heart, "You were still with Akutagawa-kun at that time."

The misunderstanding brought about by the saying "together" is really a bit big, but it's a pity that Atsushi Nakajima is not in the mood to correct them one by one. He is really tired, and every memory about Akutagawa Ryunosuke makes him feel tired. It would be nice to mention it again.

"When can I transfer back?" he asked bluntly.

"..." Osamu Dazai was silent for a while.

"You really think about it?"

"Really. Well thought out."

"Then my answer is that you can do it anytime. It's just that, Dunjun, human beings are such contradictory creatures, sometimes it's better to follow the choice of the heart—"

"I know. But it's okay."

He rarely interrupted Osamu Dazai rudely, but this time he did so firmly.

"I'll go back to the business department right away, and I hope everyone won't have any prejudice against me."

Osamu Dazai smiled lightly on the other end of the phone.

"We welcome you back anytime, Dun-jun."

The phone call didn't last long. Atsushi Nakajima reckoned the time and it wasn't suspicious, so he took a long breath and opened the door bolt and stepped out——

"Where do you want to go back?"

Standing in front of him was Ryunosuke Akutagawa who made him lose all his troops and armor.The man with calm and profound eyes blocked the way and asked in a calm voice.

TBC