Chapter 10 - ‘Tsubasa’
Chapter 2, Part 1
Novel Title: 融愛~Melt Down~ (Melted Love ~Melt Down~)
Author：風結子 沙野 (Fuyuko Sano)
Illustrator：雅良 水名瀬 (Masara Minase)
Translator: K (@kin0monogatari)
Protagonists: 葉越海理 (Yougoshi Kairi -MC), 葉越翼久 (Yougoshi Tasuku -ML)
*Please read at knoxt.space, the original site of translation. TQ*
֍֍֍
“Good morning, Yougoshi.”
As soon as he stepped onto the marketing floor, Tajima Aiko, who had joined the company in the same year, greeted him.
Even in a simple grey pantsuit, she looked glamorous, thanks to her striking features. Her slightly longer-than-shoulder-length hair was cut to fall naturally at the ends, giving her a lively appearance.
Aiko had a straightforward personality, making her a relaxed companion to interact with. It was almost like dealing with another guy.
She gave his upper arm a playful poke.
“You ditched the drinking party with Naofumi last weekend while we were on the move, didn’t you?”
She shot him a light glare.
“I was stumbling because I drank too much. So Tokiya took care of me and left with me.”
“Naofumi’s too sweet on you, Yougoshi. Way too sweet. After you left, I got stuck doing a duet with Sugano. It was the worst.”
“You have my pity.”
“Well, I refreshed myself in Kabukicho until morning afterward, though. Rekka took me to the best place ever. I went there again yesterday.”
“When Tajima talks about a good place in Kabukicho, it sounds like a soapland or a cabaret club.”
“Wow, how rude! No, it wasn’t. It was a host club called ‘Blossom’.”
Kairi’s hand froze as he placed his bag on his desk.
——Blossom? That’s the host club where Tasuku works.
A bad feeling crept up on him. Kairi glanced at Aiko. She lowered her voice and asked in a probing tone.
“Hey, Yougoshi, didn’t you say you have a younger brother working in the nightlife business?”
“…”
“That guy, Tsubasa, who’s in charge of Haruka, kinda looked like you.”
Tsubasa is Tsuku’s stage name. He doesn’t add his family name to it. He could deny it, but if Aiko met Tsubasa again, the truth might slip out in some unexpected way. Since it was Aiko, it would be better not to hide anything clumsily.
Kairi responded in a low voice, keeping it short.
“Tsubasa from ‘Blossom’ is my younger brother.”
“Ah, I knew it!”
“Did you tell anyone else that he might be my brother?”
“I wasn’t that sure. So I didn’t say anything to anyone. It’s better to keep it a secret, right?”
“If possible.”
“Got it.”
Kairi let out a small sigh.
“But how did you figure it out? We don’t really look alike.”
“I can tell. Your lip shape is exactly the same. The slight dip in the middle of your lower lip—it’s pretty distinctive.”
Most people wouldn’t notice something so minor, Kairi thought.
“A woman’s attention to detail is scary.”
Aiko gave a soft, slightly ironic smile on her glamorous face.
Then she gave Kairi a solid pat on the shoulder.
“You’ve got a meeting first thing today, right? Good luck.”
***
“I think we can position the Harvest Series as a strong brand in the strategy session today. But even though we don’t need to chase individual profits, I’d like to aim a bit higher with the numerical targets.”
Nakada from sales said this while scanning the proposal.
The Italian dish division is currently one of Sakuraba Foods’ key focuses. Even in the solid pasta industry, Sakuraba’s Harvest Series stands out.
With a collaboration between a renowned Italian chef and Sakuraba’s research department, the authentic flavours have been refined to suit Japanese tastes more delicately. In addition to cutting calories, promoting beautiful skin, and improving blood circulation, they’ve pushed the concept of ‘Pasta Therapy’, highlighting the benefits of specific herbs.
The plan to expand the Harvest Series into restaurant-style locations was about to be launched under Naofumi's project. Of course, the store could also effectively utilise other product lines like beverages and sweets, not just pasta.
One section of the store would host events like aromatherapy classes, massages, and yoga sessions, with plans to collaborate with women’s magazines by featuring columns. It turned out that the deputy editor of one such magazine was a senior from Naofumi’s university days. They still drank together a few times a year. Naofumi’s extensive network was being fully leveraged in his work.
“The ability to collect extensive preference statistics for each customer demographic is a huge strength. Plus, being able to pretest new products in-store is invaluable for us,” said Okawara from the research department. His eyes shining with excitement as his 'child,' the Harvest Series, prepared to take another step forward.
The candidate locations for the stores had already been selected, and the upper management was backing the project. However, to ensure formal approval at next week’s meeting, Kairi knew he’d be pulling late nights, possibly until the last train, for a while.
After leaving the small conference room, Kairi and Naofumi grabbed coffee at the break area.
“By the way, I heard Okawara-san doesn’t drink coffee. He says you need to keep your palate clean when dealing with the delicate scents and flavours of herbs.”
“Oh yeah, I know. He said that in front of the coffee department guys, and apparently it turned into a heated argument. I heard Okawara was the first to throw a punch.”
“Really? That mild-mannered Okawara-san?”
“That’s the kind of passion it takes to handle the hardcore work in the research department. Speaking of which, let’s have a drink with the research team sometime. Their stories are fascinating. I don’t understand 80% of what they say, but it’s still fun.”
“What’s that supposed to mean? Still, it sounds interesting.”
Naofumi was usually strict about separating work and personal life. Thanks to that, Kairi could stay focused on work without getting overly caught up in the fact that Naofumi had confessed and kissed him.
That said, this awkward in-between relationship was something that needed to be clarified sooner or later.
“Oh, excuse me for a moment,” Kairi said, checking his phone as it buzzed with a new message. It was an email from Tasuku. Since it was Thursday, Tasuku, who had taken the day off, would be making dinner. So he was asking what time Kairi would be home.
With Tasuku working nights as a host and Kairi working during the day, their schedules rarely aligned, despite living together. Sometimes, they wouldn’t see each other for days. That’s why they tried to have dinner together on Tasuku’s off days- Tuesdays and Thursdays.
֍֍֍
*Translator’s Note: This novel was published in 2014 so it’s only natural that it must have been written several years prior to that year. I think other countries might not be familiar with this, but back then, in Japan, we used email (known as Keitai Mail) to contact each other. This was the area before smartphones and all. It was the era of flip phones back then. SMS is short and expensive so it’s more efficient to text each other using Keitai Mail. It was super fun back then. We even have these specialised emojis with characters and all.
For example:
ꉂ೭(˵¯̴͒ꇴ¯̴͒˵)౨”
( ⑉¯ ꇴ ¯⑉ )ﾂﾝﾂﾝ
It was fun to experiment with these back then. Oh well, guess you guys should know how old I am at this point. Lol! These days though, in Japan, LINE is the most popular messenger app. -K
*GLOSSARY:
Onii-san / Onii-chan / Nii-san / Nii-chan / Aniki = (Big/Elder) Brother
☝🏻I’ll be using these throughout my translation.
Okay. Let me explain Tasuku’s nickname ‘Tsubasa’ as a host. Tasuku name in Japanese is spelled like this - 翼久. Now, if the kanji 翼 stood alone, it is ‘Tsubasa’ (wing) while 久 standing alone is ‘Hisashi’ (long time / eternity). Combining these two Kanjis, it’ll be ‘Tasuku’, normally. But there are other alternatives for it. But commonly, it is ‘Tasuku’. HOWEVER! ‘Tsubasa’, as the host name, here in the novel is written in katakana- ツバサ instead. As I have mentioned before, if it is written in katakana, the meaning behind the word is removed. It’s just a nickname. Just so you guys know. TMI, I know. Sorry.
Next update: 2025.01.05
֍֍֍
