Part 3

Instrumental break

The morning went like usual, Atsushi and Junko walked to the office together and talked about work and about food and about the weather, things were pretty normal. But when they entered the office, they immediately heard the sounds of Kirokugakari and Osamu arguing in her office.
Junko just shrugged and put her bag in her place, sat down and started working on her paperwork, but Atsushi was curious.

"We have a really small window, it's already been over a week, God."
"That window closed the moment he set foot in this office, you'll just upset her."
"It won't upset her, it'll be fun – "
Osamu and Kirokugakari both looked at Atsushi when he stood at the door and tilted his head.
"Are you guys alright?" he asked.

Osamu's eyes lit up.
"Atsushi-kun, perfect timing! Come in, close the door behind you, we need you for a minute!"
"Um...ok..." Atsushi stepped inside and closed the door like he was told. He walked over to Kirokugakari's desk, where the two were sitting. Osamu was holding a weirdly shaped case in his hands, and Kirokugakari was writing in her book. They both looked at Atsushi, one with a delighted smile, the other with an angry scowl.

"What's this about?" he asked.
"We need you to give this to Junko." Osamu opened the case and handed him what was inside, a ukulele.

Wait, what?

"Wait, what?" Atsushi stared at the small instrument, confused.
"It's an experiment. Now go over there and ask her to play for you."
"An... experiment?"
"No," Kirokugakari snorted, "Dazai is just over-reaching because he thinks he's a wizard."
"Don't listen to her Atsushi-kun, she'll play it if you ask. She used to play guitar."
"But she doesn't anymore, she won't do it." Kirokugakari slammed her fist against her book and some ink from her pen splattered on the page a little bit.
"She will if Atsushi-kun asks." Osamu said.

Atsushi took the ukulele in his hands and looked at it for a moment.
He only saw things like that in ads in the newspaper, holding a real instrument was weird.
He didn't know those things come in red.

"Where did you even get this?"
"Not important."
"Why doesn't she play anymore? And why would she play if I ask?"
"She doesn't play because she doesn't play, stop being stupid, stupid." Kirokugakari shot at him.
"But she will for you, because you're the office Best Boy™. You're new and you don't have any ulterior motive, she won't feel threatened." Osamu dismissed Kirokugakari with a wave of his hand.
"She will." Kirokugakari mumbled under her breath.
"...threatened?" Atsushi was even more confused.
"Don't overthink it, just give it a shot." Osamu gave him a little shove.

Atsushi reluctantly opened the door and stepped out of Kirokugakari's office with the ukulele in his hands and walked over to Junko in awkward half-steps.

He wasn't exactly sure what he was doing. He gave the two one final nervous look, they both glared at him, so he decided to just dive in.

"Hey, Furuta-san."
"Hmm?" she put down her work and looked at him.
"Umm... is the ukulele like a guitar?"
"There are some similarities, but they're not the same. Why?"
"Well...." he glanced back over at Osamu, who just made a 'go on' motion and winked at him. He turned back to look at Junko. She smiled at him calmly.

This felt really stupid.

"Uh, can you play the ukulele?"
"Can I... play?" Junko tilted her head, her smile transformed into a crooked, nervous, confused expression. "I'm not sure." She said. "I mean, I used to, but my hands aren't really steady nowadays."
"Would you try?" he handed her the instrument. She looked at it. She looked nervous. Then she looked up at Atsushi.
"I... suppose I could..."

She took it.

Kirokugakari dropped her pen.
Osamu dropped the case.
They both ran to stand at the door.

Junko took the wooden instruments in her hand, and like magic, something in the air changed. All the nervousness from a few seconds ago dissolved in an instant. Her fingers found their rightful place round the neck of it, and the body was cradled in her arm like it was a newborn baby. She strummed, carefully examining the sound that filled the room, then fiddled with the tuning heads until she was satisfied, then strummed again and made a pleased hum.

"You play the ukulele?" Akiko looked up from her magazine, Junko nodded at her.
"What, did your school band have a role for that?" Doppo inquired.
"They had only one ukulele in the music room, but nobody really cared for it." herr eyes were directed at the instrument in her hands, but her attention was somewhere else. "But having an instrument that never gets played was a little sad, so, you know."
Both Akiko and Doppo made an "ohh" sound, as if that vague explanation made perfect sense to them.

Atsushi had no idea Junko was in a school band, he also never thought about her in the context of school, or any context other than the agency.
Come to think of it, Atsushi didn't know anything about Junko's life outside of the agency.

Most of her life revolved around the agency, or so it seems, but what was the rest of it like?

"Working hard is important, but feeling good is important too." she played a few notes.

"Any requests?" she looked over at Ranpo, who by that point put down his bag of snacks and had his eyes open and looking straight at her.
"Can you play that one song I like from that one game I like?" Ranpo leaned forward in his chair, resting his chin on his desk, his eyes made direct eye contact with Junko.

"That game you like... oh, that one, I believe it was, Bm, D, Bm, D..." she started playing something.

It was the first time Atsushi ever witnessed anyone playing an instrument, and it was majestic.

The cords spilled into the room and drowned the sound of typing and talking in the distance, and when she started humming and tapping her foot to the beat, it felt like everything outside of that office ceased to exist.

He never knew how much he wanted to learn to play music before, but apparently, he did.

"But there's no point crying over every mistake," Ranpo joined in and started singing, "you just keep on trying till you run out of cake~" Junko didn't join the singing, but she started moving from side to side to the melody.

"Fine, you're a wizard. Never betting anyone ever again." Kirokugakari handed Osamu three 10,000¥ bills.
"Good job, kid~" Osamu smiled at Atsushi and handed him one of the bills.

"What's...going on?" Atsushi tried asking Osamu, but he was just staring at Junko. He looked absolutely mesmerised.
"Not a clue, it's my first time seeing her play."

Despite apparently losing a bet, Kirokugakari didn't look as angry as she usually did. She ran over to Ranpo and jumped into his arms, he got out of his chair and they started prancing around. Junko took notice of that and changed her tune to something more cheerful and upbeat, and the two just danced around the office like little children.

It was a weird day.
But it was fun.