C2 Part57

Parsed with an automated reader. The content accuracy is not guranteed.

I get

scared when my cane is grabbed, he tried to explain in a fading

voice, but he was sure it hadn’t reached anyone’s ears.

“……ever

since then, I haven’t spoken much with any of my coworkers.”

The

day after that incident no one would speak to him. It was a workplace

with a lot of women to begin with. Making an enemy of one woman may

have made being spurned inevitable. His only saving grace was his

department wasn’t one that required much conversation with others.

However, the one who had the most opportunities to have even the most

limited “conversations” with was Yamauchi. Dealing with her sighs and

sharp tone she didn’t even try to conceal was rough until he got used

to it. Yamauchi would say things like, he’s a burden, and, even though

he doesn’t work as much as us, he still gets paid the same wages, as

she passed by his seat behind him, but he swallowed down his words.

Kusamakura didn’t say anything when Tatsumi got quiet.

—……huh,

is he still beside me?

He became uneasy when Kusamakura didn’t

say a word. Him “disappearing” could have just meant he had moved away

from the blind Tatsumi without saying anything. Tatsumi couldn’t

sense where he was. Even though he couldn’t see, he turned his face

toward where Kusamakura should have been.

“Aah.”

Kusamakura responded quietly to Tatsumi’s gesture.