Chapter Fifteen — Gin-san (Part Two)

I knew he'd be here at this time.

One day, Shun opened the back door and spotted Captain Silver in the distance, smoking a cigarette.

Shun had done his share of reckless things back when he was a student.

Sasaki worries too much.

And so, following his natural tendency to act first and think later, Shun walked toward the captain.

“Hello.”

“...”

“Is it really okay to be smoking here at this time of day?”

“...Me?”

The voice was exactly as Shun had imagined.

A little rough.

A little husky.

And somehow cool.

Shun felt a small bead of sweat form on his forehead.

“I'd like to smoke too, but my bosses are pretty strict about it.”

He gave the man an awkward smile.

Without a word, the man held out one of his cigarettes.

“If anyone gives you trouble, blame me.”

He paused.

“They won't yell at you then.”

Shun was slightly caught off guard.

Mostly because everything was unfolding almost exactly the way he had imagined.

“Well, then... don't mind if I do.”

He shamelessly accepted the cigarette.

“Man, this tastes good.”

“...Yeah.”

“It's a tough world for smokers these days.”

“...”

The man exhaled slowly.

“Still... you're unusual.”

He glanced at Shun.

“Not many young guys come up and talk to me.”

Shun hesitated.

Then coughed.

“Have you heard anything about me?”

The man looked at him.

“People probably don't say very nice things.”

“...No. Not really.”

Shun forced a smile.

“I just thought you looked kind of... enviable.”

Was that a mistake?

Maybe I should've kept my mouth shut.

An awkward silence followed.

Eventually, the man finished his cigarette first.

He pulled a small portable ashtray from his pocket and put out the cigarette.

“You got one?”

“Oh. Yeah, I do.”

“What department are you in?”

“The Second Factory.”

Shun answered.

“I work on the lathes. Still learning.”

“Yamashiro's place?”

“Yes.”

“Hm.”

The man nodded slightly.

“So that's where you are.”

Then, dragging his left leg slightly behind him, he walked away.

---

The next day, Shun went looking for Handa again.

“...”

“Hello.”

Handa looked at him as if they had never met before.

Then he said nothing.

Captain Silver's in a bad mood today.

“I'm on my way to the Third Factory to pick up some parts.”

He added quickly.

“Just happened to be passing by.”

Handa gave him a brief look, then blew smoke toward the sky with an expression that suggested he wasn't particularly interested.

“Well... see you.”

---

About a week later, Shun had completely forgotten the awkwardness of their last meeting.

He walked right up to Captain Silver again.

“Hello. Hot every day, isn't it?”

“Oh.”

Handa glanced at him.

“You again.”

“Yep.”

“You came because you wanted a cigarette.”

“You can tell?”

“Hmph.”

The man laughed through his nose.

---

About a month later, Shun had stopped thinking of him as Captain Silver.

In his mind, he had become Gin-san.

Of course, only in Shun's mind.

Handa was a quiet man.

He never asked Shun much about himself.

But then again, he never volunteered much about his own life either.

There was only one thing Shun had discovered that Handa seemed genuinely interested in.

Mahjong.

Fortunately, Shun had once spent so much time in mahjong parlors during college that he had occasionally skipped classes altogether.

That gave them one small thing in common.

Whenever they smoked together, they talked almost entirely about mahjong.

But the way Handa talked about it was fascinating.

To Shun, mahjong had always been little more than an extension of the games that college students played for fun.

But when Handa talked about it, you could almost hear the sound of the tiles.

You could feel the air in the room.

“You can tell everything from the discarded tiles.”

“People say that a lot.”

“Heh.”

Handa smiled slightly.

“Most people just look at the obvious stuff.”

He tapped his cigarette.

“I watch habits.”

“Habits in the discarded tiles?”

Shun tilted his head.

“That's pretty hardcore.”

“Hardcore?”

Handa looked at him.

“That's an interesting word.”

He shook his head.

“No. There's nothing 'hardcore' about it.”

“If you've got some kind of secret technique, teach me.”

“Teach you?”

Handa laughed.

“There's no secret technique.”

He paused.

“And even if there was, why the hell would I teach you?”

“Come on.”

Shun grinned.

“You want to teach me.”

“Why?”

“Well... aren't we kind of like master and apprentice by now?”

“What the hell are you talking about?”

Handa laughed, looking genuinely exasperated.

...

By then, Shun had already begun looking forward to seeing him.