“Hey, Mutou—”

I look up from my box and its contents. “Kobayashi?”

He’s standing in the doorway, leaning on one foot, holding onto the jamb with the other hand. It’s like he ran here and stopped himself by grabbing on. His face relaxes somewhat. “Ah. I see you already heard.”

“Yep.” I return to picking my personal possessions out from the rest of the contents of my desk and loading them into the box. “I got the email too. ‘All funding has been terminated. Please take your belongings by the end of the day. Keycards—’”

“You can stop now.” He’s wandered into my office, hands pocketed, as I’ve been talking. “I’m shocked enough as it is.”

I look back up to him quizzically. “Really?”

“Aren’t you?”

Continuing my task, I shrug slightly. “No. I’ve been waiting for the other shoe to drop for a month or so now.”

“Hmph. You always were good at spotting patterns before the rest of us.”

It always feels awkward being praised by a colleague like that. I try to smile to show some appreciation, though. “Thanks.”

“So… you must have plans already, then?”

“Hmm… Not as much as I should.” I go back to loading. “I’m thinking of going into teaching. It’s got to be more stable work than this.”

“Hah. You’re probably right, there. Less stressful, too. Beats the scramble for grant money I’m facing now.” His face shows an uncharacteristic amount of worry. “But what about your research?”

“Oh…” I sigh and box my tiny framed photo of Mayumi. “I’m sure I’ll get back to it eventually. It’s not a very sexy area of physics, so I doubt anyone will poach it anytime soon.”

There’s a lengthy pause while I grab my last few items and double-check the drawers.

Finally he speaks again, and softly. “Teaching. Funny, I can’t really picture you doing that.”

Smiling faintly at the photo resting in the box, I close the flaps. “I have other reasons, too.”

“Reasons…?”

I put on my coat and heft the box onto my hip under one arm, then walk toward the exit, stopping next to Kobayashi so I can pat his shoulder. “Reasons. That’s a story that’ll have to wait for some other time, though.”

“You sure? Sounds perfect for now, actually. A bunch of us are going to drown our sorrows down at the pub in about half an hour. You wanna join us?”

A drink? Goodness knows I could use one. Or three. But I would just as soon skip the boo-hooing. “I… I better not. Bad habit for a family man to get into.”

“Habit? It’s just today…” The disappointment on his face is clear.

“Some other time, okay?” I do my best to look cheerful. It was never my strong suit, though. “You have my contact info. Keep in touch, huh?”

“Oh, uh… sure, sure! See ya ’round, Mutou.” He pats my shoulder in return and puts on a cheerful expression too.

I’m sure he’s feeling as insincere as I am at this moment; it’s not clear we’ll ever meet again. But never mind. I just want to get away from here right now. I shake his hand and then hurry on.

Quickly making my way out of the facility, I dutifully drop off my keycard as ordered, and do my best to avoid any long goodbyes. Nervousness stays with me till the bus picks me up; luckily, I don’t see anyone I recognize. Getting out quickly helped there, I suppose.

Though it’s an unaccustomed early hour for it, I catch my usual train, and sit under a heating vent to counter the cold as it carries me ever closer to home.

Home. Where I’ll be breaking the bad news to Mayumi. How will she take it? Even though she’s not in science, she knows how it is as a career from my occasional rants about it. I did that even before we were married, so she knew what she was signing up for, going in. Still, though. With a relatively new baby at home, this won’t be a pleasant prospect. It wouldn’t be even if the baby weren’t—

No. Don’t think about that now. You’ll just overwhelm yourself. Think about something else. But what? Hmm. How about teaching? Well, it’s not like I was lying to Kobayashi. I have been thinking about it, and how I kinda miss it. A little. It doesn’t have the prestige of hard science, but prestige isn’t everything. And helping the next generation by imparting knowledge directly to them is noble too.

Ah, my stop. Lucky I didn’t miss it today. That would annoy me even more than the other times it’s happened.

After exiting the train station, I begin the walk home. I’m still not completely sold on this neighborhood, even after a couple of years here, but I must admit that being near the train line has its advantages, like now — one less bus ride. On the other hand, it just means I’ll be facing Mayumi with the bad news that much sooner.

Well, here’s home. No point in delaying now. I continue to our floor, then our door. Fumbling with my keys single-handedly for a moment, I drop them with a jangly thud. What a fitting punctuation to this trip. I squat down to retrieve them, and the sound of footsteps approaches from behind the door.

It opens just as I’m standing back up. “Akio? You’re home? At this hour?” Mayumi’s eyes meet mine, and the cheer on her face says she suspects nothing amiss; she’s just glad to see me.

That warms my heart, but makes me feel all the worse for what I have to tell her. “Yeah. Uh.” I make a move to enter the apartment, and she reacts by reaching for the box.

“What’s this? A present for me~?” That teasing tone I’ve come to love. She carries it to the side table and starts opening it before I can catch her.

“Uhp— that’s…”

The curious look on her face as she scans the contents makes my heart sink. “What’s all this…?”

I give a tired sigh. “It’s my stuff from work. The project was defunded. Everyone was sent home.”

She creases her brow at me, looking disappointed. “Aw~. So suddenly? And you were making good progress, weren’t you?”

“Mmm, more or less, yeah.” I avert my gaze and feel my ears burning. Why is it suddenly so hot in here?

“Tsk. I’m sorry, dear.”

My coat half-off, I look up at her with mild surprise. She’s sorry? “You are?” I shut the door and change into my slippers as I finish hanging up my coat.

“Sure! I know how passionate you are about your work.” She approaches me, places her hands on my chest, and leans into me, looking up at my face sympathetically.

I sigh again, this time in relief, and embrace her. “I was worried you’d be… I dunno…”

“What?”

Hesitating, I shake my head. “Well, you know… we have a child now, and…” I shrug a little.

“Don’t worry. We’ll be all right. We’ll make it be all right!” The cheerful smile she gives me buoys me like nothing else could right now.

“Hah. I guess I shouldn’t have worried about your reaction, at least. You always have been good in a crisis.”

“You know my philosophy. As long as we have love, we can handle anything.” She inches up on tiptoes, her eyes half-lidded, her lips expectant.

I oblige, gladly. It’s a kiss I needed right now more than I realized. Even if I have to hunch way down to make it happen.

Breaking it off momentarily, she puts on a mock-annoyed face. “Tsk. Why do you have to be so tall?” She kisses me again, less annoyed-looking. “And dark?” And again, with a slight smile. “And handsome?” Again, beaming.

I feel my cheeks heating up with each kiss. “Mayumi, c’mon…”

“What~?” She delivers one last peck, then relents, going flat-footed again and stepping back. “Don’t you feel better now?”

“Well, yes.” I can’t help but smile back. “But we do have to think seriously about what to do.”

She sighs and puts her hands on her hips, gazing off toward nothing in particular. “True, true… I suppose it could be time for me to go back to work. It has been almost a year now…”

“Actually… I’ve been thinking about going into teaching.”

Her eyes swing back to mine. “Really?”

I nod. “I liked it well enough whenever I did it back in grad school. And it’s probably more stable.” I almost sound rehearsed as I say this. Maybe I shouldn’t have practiced this conversation in my head so much.

“Thinking more about future generations now that you have a kid, hmm?” That mild teasing tone again.

I shrug as airily as I can manage. “Maybe!”

She raises her hand. “Mr. Mutou, Mr. Mutou, I have a question!”

Chuckling, I grin at her playfulness. She must be doing all she can to help my mood. I look sidelong at her, skeptically. Finally, I relent, pointing to her. “Yes?”

She lowers her hand and clasps both behind her back. “Why are you so dreamy?”

The abruptness of it makes me blush again. “What is thaaat…”

Her face looks more serious. Slightly. “You will have to deal with that kind of thing, you know.” She slowly turns on her heel and holds up an index finger as she strolls into the living room. “Better get used~ to it…”

She may have a point there. Real teachers must have to put up with that quite a bit, though I’m doubtful about how likely I am to induce it.

I follow along after her. “Speaking of future generations, how is Kenta?”

“Oh… pretty well today.” There’s a note of concern in her voice.

I nod. I can’t blame her for that tone, or for that qualifier, “today”. We’ve only been living with the diagnosis for a couple of months now, following what was supposed to be a routine check-up. Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome, Type 4, they said. The words are etched into my mind by now, along with all the details. Thin skin, easily bruised; fragile blood vessels; shortened life expectancy. Genetic; no cure; treatment is supportive and palliative only. In other words, not much can be done but being careful, and delicately patching him up as best they can if something decides to go wrong. No one told me this explicitly, but from checking into it myself at the time, I know I might expect to outlive him. It’s a depressing thought.

“Akio…?”

I snap out of my brief reverie. “Ah, sorry. I was just wondering if… if a teacher’s salary will be good enough from now on…” Not entirely true, but not entirely false, either.

She folds her arms, looking determined. “I told you, didn’t I? We’ll figure it out!”

“But—”

“No buts! If we both have to work, or we have to take more training for better lines of work, or whatever, we’ll do that. As long as we have love, we’ll handle it.”

Giving a smile, I pause. “Hey. Thanks.”

“Huh?”

“For being so great.”

She gives me a crooked smile back. “Flatterer.” Purposefully, she turns for the kitchen. “Now go and change, I’ll make something special for dinner, to cheer us up. And finally we can have dinner at a normal time. I won’t miss those long hours of yours!”

“Good point…”

She dons her apron and begins tying the back. “You know, this cooking might take awhile, so I could use some help… and it would be a shame if someone kept interrupting me with lewd advances…” The gleam in her eye tells me this playful sarcasm is more of a suggestion. “Or vice versa…”

Maybe everything will be all right, at that.