Chapter Twenty-Three: My Craft:

“What is your craft?” Don asked me three days later.

“Huh?” I asked.

“Your craft. What is one thing that you can do to help make ends meet?” he asked. I opened my mouth but paused. I did learn some skills in the defense force. I doubted those would count. Who would shoot a gun legally in civilian life? (Well, there was the police force. That won’t work because I don’t have the training.)

“I’m not sure, why?” I asked.

“Come on, man. You must have something,” he said. I gave him an odd look.

“Are you trying to tell me something here?” I asked.

“No,” Don said. It felt like there was something that he wasn’t telling me. There was that nervous tick in his voice that I’ve come to notice. I lowered my pen.

“Is something bothering you?” I asked. His boss froze.

“Bothering me?” he asked. “No.”

“Okay…” I said. He went back to his paperwork on the desk. There wasn’t anything else I could do to get him to talk. I made that mistake once and got shut down for it. Still, I had questions. If I wasn’t going to get the answers from Don, I would have to get them some other way. Lucky for me, I knew how.

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Another lunch, I found Miyukizi in the office. She turned her head when I stood in the doorway.

“Oh, Okawa-san,” she said. “Did you need something?” I stepped into the office.

“Is everything okay?” I asked. Miyukizi cocked her head to the side.

“Wrong?” she asked. She took a moment to think. “Not to my knowledge. Why do you ask?”

“Does Don seem like he’s okay?” I asked.

“As far as I know, yes,” she said.

“Hm…” I said. Miyukizi came in with her own question.

“Is something the matter?” she asked. I shook my head.

“I don’t know,” I said. “Excuse me.” I bowed and turned away. Okay, that was a bust. Now what?

As I thought about what I should do next, Don’s question came back into my mind. What was my craft? That seemed like a weird thing to ask. I never thought about my “craft” before. Why would I? I was just getting by in life.

I slowed down my steps. That wasn’t going to be enough anymore. I had to do better. My future with Yumi and her family called for it. Maybe it was time to look for another job. Her family would say that I didn’t have to go out of my way to do it, but that didn’t feel right. I felt like it was time to pull my weight around that house. I had military experience behind me. Don did talk about a couple of security jobs being open around Shinjuku. I could look into that. I thought more about this as I walked back to the front desk.

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“I’m home,” I said at the end of the day. I stood in the doorway and took off my shoes.

“Welcome back,” Yumi said as she poked her head out from the kitchen doorway. She walked out into the living room. “How was your day?”

“Good,” I said. I looked up once I put my shoes away nice and neat. “I was thinking about getting a second job.” She raised her eyebrow as she gave me a funny look.

“Why?” she asked.

“Don asked me what my craft was today,” I said. “I did some thinking and I think I might know what that is.” I walked over to my fiancée. It always threw me how much I towered over her. Yumi’s head came up to my chest. I smiled as I took her by the cheeks.

“I figured that my experience in the Defense Forces could get me a ship working in security,” I said.