"What is this salt?"
"Is it weird?"
"No, it's quite good. I wonder where you bought it?"
"It's in the specialty store on the Tokyo Skytree."
"Tokyo Skytree? Why are you going there?"
"...."
As Nifuji faced Fuji's curious eyes, he hesitated for a while, since if he said that he was on a date, it was kind of wrong, as he went there with the rental girlfriend service instead of his real girlfriend, so—
"I just happened to be nearby in the area after work, and I was curious, so I bought one."
"Hmm... where did you work?"
"It's there..."
"Oh!"
This was probably the most common way for the topic of conversation, which was a job, a family, a dream, or a recreation.
Nifuji often used those topics, especially toward his clients, boss, and superiors, for the most part, as they worked the best, and when he could gain what they liked the most, they would talk endlessly without stopping.
Still, even so, he wasn't sure how to talk when they boasted about their beautiful young wife.
After all, what could he say?
Could he say that their wives were so beautiful that they were attracted to them?
It would be amazing if he wasn't blacklisted, or even worse, beaten up.
Yet, being beaten up was better since that way, he could imagine that he could have material for blackmail, so whether they wanted to or not, they would be under his control.
Was it dirty?
It was, but frankly, it was the most common thing, especially in the world of entertainment, where many young people wished to replace the old, and the old wanted to be at the top forever, kicking away all the young people.
Living is a competition.
The modern world might have erased the war more or less, and people's lives have become much longer, but it doesn't mean that their battle is over. It was just that the shape of the battle had changed.
To be better, Nifuji, as a salaryman, had to take away the clients from other salarymen, but he had to do this if he wanted to live.
However, what about Fuji?
As a writer, did she have her own battles?
Or did she live on a passive income from her book?
"Of course." Fuji sighed. "People think that writing a book is a passive income, since as long as I write a book, I will get the royalty from the previous books, but it won't work that way, since after a moment of heat, the sales will drop and I have to continue to write a book, and even if I write a book, there is no guarantee, the sales will be the same, or it might even fail.
"Everything I have poured into the book—sweat, tears, and blood—and in the end, it won't guarantee that it will be successful."
Fuji sipped her tea and said with a helpless sigh, "Sometimes, I want to be a cat instead of a human, as I can sleep, eat, and play as I wish."
"...." Nifuji.
Probably, because she had no one that she could talk to, she talked freely with Nifuji, who was curious about her profession.
As for her tanuki?
She treated it like her child, so of course, in front of it, she didn't want to complain and maintain her image and dignity as an adult instead of being seen as childish or pathetic.
Yet, Nifuji also agreed that, like Fuji, he wanted a moment of peace, where he had no need to do anything and just did nothing.
"Then again, if we do nothing, it feels terrible."
"You said that again."
The two looked at each other and smiled.
Compared to the freedom that came from doing nothing (no jobs), this busyness that they felt was better, even if it gave them stress, yet a little dose of stress was fine in life, as it became our driving force to do better.
More was too dangerous, thought.
Then again, was there anyone with a stress-free life in this world?
"I have heard that some people will work so hard till death, then at the end of the day, on a single day, those people will scream or do something crazy to feel better."
"Have you done that before?"
"No."
"...." Nifuji.
Still, he thought for a while and said, "I think that it is hard for us to take the courage to take a break."
"The courage to take a break?" Fuji looked at Nifuji with confusion.
"I mean... most of us are afraid since in many cases, if we take a break, we will lose many things, whether it is our clients, the progress of our projects, profits, or many other things since during those days when we take a break, the people around us are working hard, so we feel like... we might be left behind."
"I understand that..."
While Fuji didn't really want to agree or admit it, she agreed that sometimes, she was just overwhelmed by everything and just stared at the screen of her laptop without doing anything, yet even so, she didn't stop and continued to stare at her laptop, even if nothing would come out, even if she forced herself.
To solve that, what should she do?
"To take a break, to do nothing."
"Just nothing?"
"Well, it can be anything."
"Such as?"
"Going to the public bath, enjoying an onsen, and drinking a beer in the afternoon, and many others..."
"What a devil's temptations..." Fuji gulped as she had never imagined doing those guilty pleasures when everyone was working hard on their jobs.
Nifuji was the same, as it was impossible for him to do all of those things that he mentioned above, especially when he was just a salaryman who worked from nine till night, since it was common knowledge that even if the work ended at five in the evening, he needed to stay at least one or two hours at the office to work.
Then again, he felt that there was a known job paradox.
One was a boring job, yet stable, and the other was an interesting job, yet unstable.
Which one was better?
No one was sure, but everything depended on the personality and all, as no one was sure.
Yet, without a doubt, at this moment, whether it was Fuji or Nifuji, the two of them needed to take a break, so—
"Do you want to take a break next time?" Fuji took the initiative to invite him out.
"...."
What should Nifuji say?
As someone with two girlfriends, could he agree to the invitation of a beautiful woman?
Well—
"Okay."
Yup, let's just take a break, as for work, and the system, let's just forget it for a bit and enjoy our moment.
Still, as they thought of their interesting time together, the tanuki stared at the two with a smile as it stole their food, munching it happily.
"...." 2x
Nifuji and Fuji stared at the bubbly, cute tanuki before they looked at each other with a smile.
Their meeting was short, yet they felt like they had something to look forward to.
---
Frankly, it might be weird for some people, but when you have a certain basis in the relationship, even if it isn't love, when the chance is given, with just a day, it is possible to do activities that only a lover that have spent time together for so long.
Also, I feel so strange after writing a thesis proposal and then writing smut, but I know you all are waiting, so I will do my best!