Holmes of Kyoto: Volume 8 (eBook)

Mai Mochizuki (Autor)

eBook Download: EPUB

2022
250 Seiten
J-Novel Heart (Verlag)
978-1-7183-7662-5 (ISBN)

Infos

Aoi has graduated from high school and successfully enrolled in her top pick, Kyoto Prefectural University. Kiyotaka has completed grad school too, and their relationship can finally deepen-or so they thought, but the owner orders Kiyotaka to learn more about the world by working outside of Kyoto! His first placement is at Shokado Garden Art Museum in Yawata City. One weekend, Aoi and Kaori secretly pay his workplace a visit to see how he's faring, but as it turns out, an unexpected incident is awaiting them there!

Textauszug

Prologue

“The cherry blossoms are in bloom.”

This phrase contains several meanings beyond the literal one. It represents the end of the cold winter and the welcoming of spring. It represents the beauty of cherry blossoms and the state of mind where one rejoices in their blooming. In other words, blooming cherry blossoms evoke feelings of happiness and celebration—and that’s exactly the state I’m in right now. This spring, I became a student at my top pick, Kyoto Prefectural University.

“Aoi!”

A familiar voice called out from behind me as I passed through the university gate. I turned around and saw my best friend, Kaori Miyashita, waving at me with a big grin on her face.

“Hey, Kaori.”

Kaori had gotten into the same school as me. Well, she’d actually been aiming for KPU earlier than I had. Considering she had gone from a private middle school to a public high school out of concern for her family’s financial situation, it made sense that she would choose a public university as well.

She was wearing a cute, simple dress that gave off a very “female university student” vibe. It was refreshing to see her wearing something other than a school uniform on a school campus.

“Morning,” I said. “That’s a nice dress.”

“Thanks. I really had no idea what to wear, though. I’m already starting to think it was easier when we had uniforms.”

“I know. Don’t give up on the first day, though.”

“Yeah, you’re right. We’re finally university students now, huh?” she said enthusiastically, looking up at the school building.

I nodded. The entrance ceremony had been last Friday, and today was the first day of school.

I’m a university student now. The thought made my heart leap, but I couldn’t afford to be complacent. I was majoring in history in the Faculty of Letters, with the goal of obtaining a curator certification.

“We’re in different departments, but let’s both do our best,” said Kaori.

“Yeah.”

Kaori was majoring in European and American linguistic cultures. Since her family owned a kimono fabric store, she’d spent most of her life surrounded by Japanese culture. Because of that, she admired foreign cultures a lot. “Learning about foreign countries gives you a better understanding of your own country, and I’m thinking of studying overseas one day,” she’d said with a radiant smile. It had motivated me to work harder as well.

“Oh, are you joining any clubs?” she asked as we walked.

“I’m not sure. What about you?”

“I’m thinking of joining the club for Western-style flower arrangement.”

“Not ikebana?”

“Yeah. I’ve been learning ikebana for a long time, so I want to try arranging flowers with more freedom now.”

“That sounds perfect for you.”

Kaori liked arranging flowers, and she used to attend ikebana class with Saori. However, after her family’s expansion into Roppongi failed and money had become tight, she’d quit the lessons for their sake. Later, when Saori was selected as Saio-dai, their store gained a lot of publicity and was able to turn its financial situation around.

“Do you want to join it with me?” she asked.

“It sounds interesting, but I still have work.”

“Oh, I see. Kura can’t manage without you.”

She smiled teasingly and I blushed. I’d been working at the antique store in Teramachi-Sanjo for two years. But still...

“That’s not true. They don’t need me.” I shook my head, embarrassed. But then I remembered something. “Wait, I take that back.”

“Huh?”

“Apparently, they do need me right now. It’s only temporary, though. Kura’s dangerously understaffed.”

“Why? Didn’t Holmes finish grad school and take over the shop?” Kaori tilted her head.

Kiyotaka “Holmes” Yagashira had been working at Kura while completing his studies. This spring, he had finished grad school and was ready to formally inherit Kura and take over the store’s operations. I had been planning to study hard so that I could help him in the future, but...

“Holmes’s succession was postponed,” I murmured.

Kaori blinked in surprise. “What do you mean? Oh, was he missing credits?” She seemed to find it believable.

I chuckled and said, “No, Holmes did finish grad school.”

“Oh yeah?”

“Yeah. To be honest, I was concerned about his credits too, but you know how careful he is.”

Kaori nodded. “So what’s the issue?”

“Well...” I sighed.

Holmes had said that after finishing grad school, he wanted to turn Kura into an antique cafe. I had assumed he’d be carrying out that plan now and had intended on helping out in any way I could. I was so looking forward to building the new store with him...but life isn’t that easy.

***

It was the beginning of April, before university began. I was working at Kura that day, diligently cleaning the store. As usual, Holmes was doing the accounting at the counter. It was quiet aside from the sound of pen on paper and the soft background music. Most of the time, there was jazz music playing, but today it was classical. The playlist included Vivaldi’s “Spring” and Mendelssohn’s “Spring Song.” The small display window was decorated with cherry blossom-themed hanging scrolls and tea bowls, giving the store a very spring-like atmosphere.

Time passed uneventfully until the door chime suddenly rang. I immediately looked up and saw an elderly man wearing a stylish kimono and hat.

“Hey, Aoi, good work today.” He smiled at me.

“Hello, Owner.”

It was Seiji Yagashira, the owner of the store. He came inside, took a heap of papers out of his bag, and dropped it on the counter. “Ahh, that was too heavy for my old bones.” He rolled his neck.

Holmes looked down at the pile of papers and frowned. “What is this?”

“The places you’re going to,” the owner said nonchalantly, plopping himself down on the armchair.

“What?”

Holmes picked up the documents with a dubious look on his face. I craned my neck to peek at them. The topmost page said “UED Consulting” on it.

“UED Consulting?” I asked. I’ve never heard of them before.

“It’s a company that Ueda manages,” Holmes explained, not looking up from the documents. “He said it’s an abbreviation of United Export Dynamics, but it’s clearly just the ‘UED’ in ‘Ueda.’”

“That does sound like something he’d do.” From what I’d heard, Ueda ran many businesses, including a management consulting company in Osaka.

The rest of the page detailed the company’s location, a job description, and a term length of three months. The other pages were for other places, like museums, hotels, and Komatsu’s detective agency. One of them even said “Akihito Kajiwara.” The term lengths ranged from two weeks to three months.

“What exactly is this?” Holmes asked, shifting his gaze to the owner. His cold eyes made me shudder.

“As you can see, it’s training,” the owner said, taking a folding fan out of his pocket, opening it, and fanning himself.

“Training?”

“Yep. You were born and raised in Kyoto, and you followed me into this world at an early age. That’s why you know so much about antiques at your age, and I’ll give you credit for that.” He nodded and gave Holmes a sharp look. “But that’s all you have. You don’t know enough about the outside world. You’re a naive kid who’s never lived outside of Kyoto. I can’t let you take over the shop like that. You gotta get out there and learn. So, I asked everyone I knew if they could hire you for a short time, and this is what I ended up with. Good thing there were a lot of takers.” He rubbed his hands together and smiled proudly.

“If that was your plan, why didn’t you tell me in advance?” Holmes frowned at the suddenness of it all.

The owner stuck out his chest and said, “Couldn’t. I just came up with the idea the other day.”

Holmes stared at him, dumbfounded.

“When I realized you weren’t gonna be a student no more, I suddenly thought, ‘This is bad.’ Must’ve been my instinct kicking in.”

“Instinct?” Holmes muttered quietly. He stroked his chin and said, “I’m fine without your concern. I’ve been all around the world with you, after all.”

“That ain’t the same. Right now, you’re a sheltered son. As they say, ‘the frog in the well knows nothing of the ocean.’”

“After ‘the frog in the well knows nothing of the ocean’ comes, ‘but it knows of the blue sky.’ In this industry, don’t you think it makes sense to delve deep while still knowing that the sky is blue?” Holmes smiled.

The owner’s eyebrow twitched. “Don’t you have any ambition?”

“Of course I do. It might be inside that ‘well’ you speak of. If I have to learn something else, it’s going to be what I want to learn.”

The owner stood up without saying anything and glared at him. He didn’t shout or raise his fist, but he gave off a...

Produkt-Details

• Erscheint lt. Verlag: 17.2.2022
• Reihe/Serie: Holmes of Kyoto
• Reihe/Serie: Holmes of Kyoto
• Übersetzer: Minna Lin
• Sprache: englisch
• Themenwelt: Literatur ► Krimi / Thriller / Horror ► Krimi / Thriller
• Schlagworte: Cozy Mystery • Drama • female protagonist • History • Japan • Light Novel • Mystery • Romance • Slice of Life
• ISBN-10: 1-7183-7662-6 / 1718376626
• ISBN-13: 978-1-7183-7662-5 / 9781718376625