Mine took a drag, just to help it light up, held the smoke and taste of it on his tongue. As rarely as he took to it on his own time, it was only appropriate here. The ashtray still balanced Daigo’s unfinished cigarette, Mine gave it but a passing glance.
He looked up again, still at Daigo, face unchanged, and his thoughts had stayed in the same place too. 『 It’ll be done by the end of the week. 』 And that one was closing already; moving those funds was what took the most, and actual, time. Mine was patient with that, as much as he ought to, but to keep his promise he’d keep an eye on the flow, as per usual. In light of Daigo’s reply, though, he said more than he’d been asked to. It really had kept him here, he juggled the thought.
The cigarette kept burning away, as it was wont to do, till Mine tapped it into another ashtray on the lower table. He smoothed his tie down as he sat, across from Daigo. He just took another, expected drag, when Daigo extended the offer. 『 Ah, 』 He’d eat alone, wherever he went after leaving here, an even later dinner if he stayed another while. At the same time, Mine could have asked as well, if he had been the quicker. The first syllable of his answer hung in the air, pulled apart by thinking. 『 Thank you. 』 He accepted and bowed his head; meanwhile the faintly broken sternness of his expression recovered.
He reached for the ashtray again, Mine’s left hand stayed behind resting on his knee. 『 It has been a long day. 』 Mine didn’t complain, meant Daigo more than himself; meant just to let the small talk out, that suddenly sat on the tip of his tongue.
He hadn’t thought of the comment having himself included, but didn’t think of it as Mine complaining either. “That’s why I called you. I didn’t hear anything about you stepping out all day, so I’m just making sure you’re not forgetting about yourself.” As for the job being done in a week, he was fine with that. Nobody was trying to make any large deals and factions weren’t stepping all over each other; at least none that would concern the Tojo.
For a moment he stared at Mine and thought to himself, about to say something till the door had been knocked, followed by a couple of people stepping in with a large platter and the drinks he had mentioned, as well as some other things concealed in a bag. “Ah, thank you.” he pulled out some money from his wallet to just hand over despite not really having to, but he felt like it. He knew it wasn’t common, but even if they did work for him he still felt he should act as if it were a service fee.
As soon as the door was closed to just it being him and Mine in the room, he was glad there was a hot pot of water in case Mine didn’t want alcohol and rather have tea instead. As for Daigo, he filled his glass of whisky just halfway, thinking that was all he needed. There was a spare glass and a spare set of chopsticks for the simple platter. It was an arranged variety of sashimi. Although basic, it was quite large, a luxury really. He laughed faintly, “See what I mean by more than enough? Help yourself to as much as you want.” It was good and everything, but Daigo still had some of his bad habits, which was what the other bag that was more concealed was.
He had his whisky already, but he pulled out the usual Boss branded canned coffee he’d drink, as well as food he was sure his mother wouldn’t approve of, but Daigo was still the same person he was years ago deep down and that would be the person who ate fast food. He just had two burgers though, no fries or anything extra, but still junk compared to the healthier sashimi. Daigo had enough money to last himself a lifetime and then some, but sometimes cheap just tasted better after a long day. Rather than eating the expensive sashimi, he had food from Smile Burger to keep him sated instead. He wasn’t sure why he asked for more than one; just to take one home for later maybe, but he looked at Mine and offered the bag, “If you prefer, I have another one of these too.”
