When I called out to her with “Excuse me, but could you be…”, just as I expected, Kanzaki Nozomi-san was an acquaintance of Takatsuki-san. The thread of tension was cut, and from her, who had burst into tears, we learned the inside information on Takatsuki-san's rampage last night. He barged into the dinner party and relentlessly drank, disappeared before they knew it, and didn't return even when the club closed. The owner was furious and kept repeating that he was fired.

Worried, after the club closed Nozomi-san asked around everywhere, and ascertained that a bartender was taken to the hospital, as well as the hospital he was taken to. He‘s so stupid that I‘m going pale, Nozomi-san cursed as she cried.

I don‘t understand at all why he would do something like that. He should have told me if he was dissatisfied with me about something. I don‘t know what to do anymore. Before Nozomi-san, who had broken down crying, my boss got down on a knee. She, seeing Richard's face, blushed with bewilderment and asked if he was from a club somewhere.

On the bench in front of the nurse station, we made advance arrangements. It was a strategy meeting.

The proponent was Richard.

The one who gave the green light was Nozomi-san.

The executor of the plan was me.

The details were simple. I would just wear the mantle of his lifesaver and have him talk about everything.

To be honest, from the start I wasn't all that enthusiastic about it. There was the possibility that things that would make me wish I hadn't heard them would come out. Nozomi-san would be the one who was hurt by that.

However, from beginning to end, Richard watched me with calm eyes.

It felt weird to feel like this, even though we hadn't known each other for that long, but I felt that this man didn't want to and couldn't do anything that would thoughtlessly push people down into unhappiness. I had a hunch that Richard had already predicted things to some extent at the time of the idea's proposition.

Spurred on by Nozomi-san to “let him have it,” I prepared myself. If this was the result, it was not that bad.

“Hey.” Inside the elevator, which was sizeable enough to accommodate a large bed as it was, I called to Richard.

“You were somewhat troubled after Takatsuki-san left the store. Did you by any chance predict that this would happen?”

“Certainly not. Your lack of learning ability is always astonis.h.i.+ng to me. Without learning your lesson at all, it is all ‘Drinking party since it's Friday' for you.”

“I'll have you know that I properly took a bath and changed clothes today.”

I put my hands on my hips and threw my head back, and Richard turned the other way. His face was reflected in the mirror. His mouth was smiling.

“Did you know he wasn't a real host?”

“People who work in a respectable field do not indiscreetly boast about their own job. He was like a small insect enthralled by the flame of a candle and clamouring to go there together.”

“You were thinking that while talking about gems? You're scary…”

“I was thinking disgraceful things.”

Afterwards, Richard had been doing some thinking on his own. He said that he had a feeling that what Takatsuki-san wanted was not a gemstone.

“So what did he want in the end? I guess he really just wanted hosts.”

“I do not think so. What he wants deep down is not jewelry, but to feel like he was himself, who is wearing the jewelry and powered-up.”

“Power up, like a magic item in a game?”

“It is not magic, but stories about people who usually do not wear jewelry changing their behavior when they do wear some are common. I believe it is because they become more conscious than usual of themselves wearing the jewelry and the gazes of others when they act. I am saying that beautiful stones only have the ‘power' to be beautiful.”

“Do you mean effect? If it's a woman, she would become graceful and well-mannered?”

“Or their att.i.tude gets bigger, or they spend money extravagantly.”

“Aren't those really bad effects?”

“There are also of course good influences. Athletes' lucky charms and crown jewelry that are said to bring wisdom are at the foremost among them. In any event, humans are creatures who stretch themselves in the direction they desire. Jewelry can be good catalysts, not engines. The driving force is only one's heart.”

“…That sounds scary.”

“Indeed.”

Takatsuki-san had carefreely laughed about it, but it wasn't funny at all when he could have died with one wrong step.

Next to me, who was shuddering from thinking back on the feeling of high tension from last night, Richard matter-of-factly continued to talk.

“Who does what and where, there is no doubt that it is the responsibility of that person, but as a jewelry lover, I want to prevent cases where beautiful stones make people unhappy as much as possible. I would like to thank you for your unbelievably strong luck.”

I dropped my shoulders. I didn't think there were many part-timers that come with bonuses like this.

In front of the elevator that arrived on the first floor, there was an old person in pajamas and a young person who looked like their attendant waiting. It was a bit funny to see them look identically shocked at Richard's face when the doors opened. We left the hospital just like that. I wondered if Nozomi-san would cry herself out before long.

“…By the way, you said that the original meaning of amethyst wasn't ‘not get drunk' but ‘not let one get drunk.' I honestly don't know how they are different.”

“Do you have an interest in Greek grammar? Active voice, pa.s.sive voice.”

“Nope! Not that much!”

The jeweler gave a quick lecture while we headed for the hospital's underground parking garage. In eras when everyone believed gems had magical effects, the amethyst was an amulet that protected its owner from drunken frenzies. That was why it “does not let the owner get drunk.”

No matter how many millennia you go back, as long as there was alcohol in the world, people would almost certainly suffer from drinking too much. It was fun to drink moderately. The guard of reason turned soft and lenient. But it was h.e.l.l when you drank too much. That was why I wanted someone to protect me.

It was selfish, but my wish was sincere.

When Takatsuki-san encountered the amethyst at the Ginza store, he surely must have been thinking about Nozomi-san. Judging from our conversation earlier, he didn't want her to get drunk and wanted to protect her, so he rushed to her. I thought that the way it took to get there was the worst, but at least the results weren't bad.

“Who did you say was the protector G.o.d of wine…Bacchus-san? He's not a very motivated protector G.o.d, is he.”

“Another name for Bacchus is Dionysus, and he is a pa.s.sionate G.o.d who is not lacking in anecdotes of him getting drunk and breaking into banquets. It can be said that his prayer was answered extremely well in a sense.”

“…It's definitely better to not tell that to your customers.”

Why would you say something so obvious? Richard asked in amazement. He pressed the b.u.t.ton on his car keys in the parking lot, there was a beep-beep sound, and Richard's car woke up. This might be my chance.

“…Ah, I'm feeling good since the morning today. Don't you feel like your heart has been purified when you see someone's love going smoothly? You helped out, right, the cupid operation was a success! Man, I wonder what those two are going to do from now on.”

“I thought this outside the hospital room as well, but you do not have the talent to be an actor.”

“Tanimoto-san and I would surely also do well together, if only we had a matchmaker who was intelligent and had a strong sense of duty…”

“Love is also said to be a cold of the soul. By the power of the gemstone that does not get drunk, I pray that it will not instantly subside. Well, everything said to be the real thing after they are seen as they are, and in the first place, I think that your love is a problem from before when you are only thinking about satisfying your vanity.”

“Just for a little bit, honest. Just for a little bit.”

“Will you return to the store by train?”

Richard asked me, with his elbow on the car's roof, as I was about to climb into the pa.s.senger's side. I felt like I saw that unapproachable, “you're on your own” face last week. I guess no really did mean no.

“…Got it.”

“Good.”

The car's height was low, and the windows were big. From my seat, Tokyo looked like a forest filled with iron trees. The expressway was the belly of a dragon, looking up from below. The groups of cars were tiny and stout bugs industriously labouring on the forest floor. I wondered how it all looked to Richard.

I wondered what would Tanimoto-san say.

Even if I pa.s.sed the national civil service examination in one shot, I knew I probably wouldn't be able to buy a Jaguar, but just once if it was possible, I wanted to share with her this indescribable and lax roller coaster-like experience. I wanted to experience and enjoy the feeling of the world we should know well transforming into a different world with her. She might only say “Huh, what” though.

Maybe, she would gently, happily smile at me.

After checking the location of our surroundings, I went on the offensive once more.

“Hey, Richard, you know…”

“Too long-winded. If you continue to talk any more than that, I will throw you out here.”

“The sweets they sell on the first floor of this hotel are really good, you know! They have mango mousse and pa.s.sion fruit cream-filled rolls!”

The Jaguar stopped without a sound.

It was a large hotel that possessed a concert hall next door. It was extremely high cla.s.s. Speaking of why I knew about those things even though I had never stayed or entered there, well, it was either knowledge I obtained from last Christmas, when the only thing I was not lacking in was research so that I would be okay when I got a girlfriend, or the remnants of sad memories.

I observed Richard's face. I did not keep running errands for him just for show. The public stance of it was to stimulate conversation with the customers, but I knew. That when Richard ate the remaining sweets, he leaned forward on the sofa a little, and closed his eyes from emotion.

The jeweler with a pale beauty peered into my face, looking like he was making a deal with the devil, and thrust his hand into his breast pocket. He swiftly took out the billfold from his black leather wallet and quickly drew out three one-thousand-yen bills.

“…The store's location.”

“I know where it is.”

“The time.”

“I just need ten minutes.”

“Five.”

“Got it.”

“Up to three.”

“‘With pleasure!', boss!”

“Please do not forget the receipt.”

After I checked the front and back, I made the sportscar fly out. Thank you, thank you, me from last year. If a time machine was ever invented, I wanted someone to secretly tell you that you, girlfriend-less, that your lonely net surfing would be rewarded in time. I wanted to save you from crying in vain.

The customer who came that day was a man from the Maldives, and as he happily talked with Richard in a language I didn't understand at all, they ate the tropical-flavored mousse I bought.

On next week's working day, Richard showed me an email. It was an enquiry about jewelry remaking, and the name at the end was a joint signature. A photo was attached. In front of a vineyard with green mountains in the background, a couple with out-of-place brown hair was photographed with smiles on their faces.

It seemed that the amethyst pendant would be remade into a ring in the near future.