Let’s Build a Castle
SHIMAMURA TYPICALLY SPENT the weekend turning to goo on the sofa. I enjoyed watching that immensely; it was really cute. On one such occasion, as I sat beside her and chuckled to myself, she raised a hand lazily in my direction. “Adachi, do you have any goals right now?”
“Goals?” I repeated.
“Like, at your job. Anything you’re working toward?” The question might’ve sounded serious if it came from someone who wasn’t flailing her limbs despondently. “I was thinking maybe that’s what I need to motivate myself in my career.”
“Um…I don’t really think about that kind of stuff.” At work, the only thing I thought about was Shimamura—no different from when we were together, really. It was a miracle I got any work done at all.
“Now that our trip overseas is behind us, it feels like we’ve checked everything off the list, you know?”
“True… Hmm…”
It occurred to me that I’d rarely seen Shimamura genuinely motivated to do anything. I generally pictured her shrugging with a smile. While I loved that about her, I knew better than anyone that she could contain multitudes. If she had a passionate side, I wouldn’t miss that for the world. Perhaps that was my goal in life: to hunt down every last piece of the Shimamura puzzle.
“Okay… What if we start our own company?” I suggested offhandedly. After all, that seemed like the logical next step after we’d accumulated enough professional experience and personal savings.
Her sleepy eyes widened…and then she melted right off the sofa.
“That sounds kind of cool,” she remarked from the floor. Considering her present pose, I was mildly surprised to hear that she was on board. “Our own company, huh?” Smiling, she propped herself up on her elbow.
Oh god, she’s considering it? I was joking!
She glanced around the condo, then grinned, kicking her legs in the air. “Our own little kingdom, just the two of us.”
“What?”
“We’d basically have our own country and our own castle! I think that sounds nice.”
A kingdom. A castle. A place for just us. Admittedly, I liked the thought of it too. “Yeah, it does.”
“All right, then! We’ll start our own company!” She raised her fists into the air. With her legs already bent at the knee, she looked like a curled shrimp. “Which of us will be CEO?”
“Oh, uh…you, I guess.”
“Then we’ll call it the Shimamura Company!”
“I think that’s already taken…”
This idea was a dream in every sense—silly, lofty, detached from reality. Still, trifling as it was, I took comfort in a cozy weekend chat like this.
Granted, was there any guarantee this would actually happen? Of course not. But that was kind of the point, after all.
No Comments Yet
Post a new comment
Register or Login