The Beautiful Kuudere Woman Who Always Reads Books While Standing Next to Me at the Laundromat Turns Out to Be the Vice President of One of Our Clients
TechFrontier’s new personnel system project is still a work in progress. That day, we were holed up in the conference room, continuing to coordinate with representatives from each team on team design, evaluation systems, and operational flows.
As the meeting reached its climax, Tanaka san began searching for an HDMI cable to project the screen.
Tsukishima san, sitting directly across from me, reached out and handed Tanaka san the end of the cable.
“Tanaka san, here you go.”
Tanaka Jun, who was present, uttered a complex sound that seemed both impressed and apologetic.
“Tsukishima san, I’m sorry…thank you.”
“Nn. Let’s continue, then.”
Tsukishima san replied without changing her expression and immediately returned her attention to the main topic of discussion. As I watched the whole scene out of the corner of my eye, I felt a slight uneasiness about Tanaka san’s words, “I’m sorry.”
The meeting ended without incident, and the participants filed out of the conference room. While I was putting my PC away in my bag, Tsukishima san, who was helping with the cleanup, brought me a set of leftover materials.
“Minato san, what should we do with the remaining materials? Should we dispose of them here?”
It was a natural and subtle gesture of consideration. It was more like the intimate “Tsukishima san” I occasionally saw at the laundromat than the “Vice President Tsukishima” at work.
I may have let my guard down because of that sense of distance.
“Oh, yeah. Thanks—-“
I said that much and then realized my mistake. I had accidentally slipped into the casual tone I used at the coin laundry.
“…Oh, thank you, Tsukishima san ! That’s a big help !”
I hurriedly corrected myself to use honorific language and bowed deeply. But it was too late. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Tanaka Jun, who was still in the conference room, smiling as if he had found something amusing.
It was over… Within an hour, another new, outlandish rumor would surely be spreading through the company network.
Tsukishima san seemed completely oblivious to my inner turmoil. As she walked toward the entrance of the conference room, her back seemed to sway slightly, as if she were enjoying herself. But that was probably just my imagination.
I hurriedly left the TechFrontier office before any more mistakes slipped out.
◆
And that night, feeling a little awkward, I opened the door to the usual coin laundry. Tsukishima san was already sitting at her usual spot, quietly reading a book.
I sat down next to her without making a sound and started my washing machine. For a while, we both focused on our reading, and a quiet time flowed through the store.
Surprisingly, it was Tsukishima san who broke the silence.
“Hey, Minato san.”
she said quietly without looking up from her book.
“After today’s meeting, Tanaka san asked me, ‘Are you the type who starts using casual language once you get used to someone? Or is there a reason why you accidentally use casual language?'”
“Tsukishima san does it too, and Tanaka san does it casually as well.””
“That’s true…well, that’s fine, but Minato san is still acting like my ex-boyfriend. You casually say things like ‘thank you’. Fufu…you’re too careless.”
Tsukishima san wasn’t angry, but rather seemed to think it was a fun incident, smiling wryly.
“…Ah…sorry…I was just relaxed after the meeting ended…”
“It’s okay, you don’t have to apologize.”
“But Tsukishima san did too ! When I was asked, ‘Can I dispose of it?’, I just.”
“Fufu…I was also too relaxed. But you know, at that moment, I thought…”
Tsukishima san closed the book with a thud and turned to face me.
“‘Sorry’ and ‘thank you’ are very similar, but they’re completely different, aren’t they?”
“….What do you mean?”
“Japanese people tend to use the word ‘Sorry, thank you’ to cover both, don’t they? Like Tanaka san during the meeting. What do you think about that? ‘Sorry, thank you’ is a very versatile function that accepts both requests for gratitude and apology, but the return value is too ambiguous. The recipient has to figure out from the context whether it’s gratitude or an apology.”
Her perspective was unique as usual, but it somehow made sense to me.
“Yeah…when you want to express gratitude but someone says ‘Sorry thank you.’ it feels like you’re making them feel guilty, and that can be a bit awkward.”
“Right? ‘Sorry, thank you’ is like a function that catches exceptions for now. Ideally, you should implement specific exception handling based on the type of error—whether it’s gratitude or an apology.”
She continued passionately, as if discussing system specifications. Her large eyes stared straight at me.
“So…”
Tsukishima san suddenly lowered her voice slightly.
“People who can say ‘thank you’ properly are great, aren’t they?”
Those words reached my ears as if in slow motion.
“People who can express their emotions directly with positive words, without wrapping them in roundabout language. I think that takes a lot of courage.”
I was speechless. Her words felt like they were affirming my awkward “thank you…” after that meeting.
“…I agree. It’s nice when someone like Tsukishima san can express it properly…”
When I finally managed to squeeze out those words, Tsukishima san looked slightly surprised, then quickly turned away. Her ears seemed to be slightly red.
“…I didn’t say it just for you. It’s a general observation.”
That obvious attempt to hide her embarrassment was somehow endearing, and I couldn’t help but laugh.
“Yeah. Then, from now on, I’ll make a point of using the word ‘thank you’ more often. Especially to you, Tsukishima san.”
“…Do as you like.”
She muttered brusquely and opened her book again. But I didn’t miss the slight smile on her lips.
◆
After finishing the laundry, we left the laundromat. The air outside was a little chilly.
“See you later. …Minato san. Good night.”
Tsukishima san said in a small voice as we parted.
“Yeah. See you next week. …Tsukishima san. Thank you. Not for anything in particular, though.”
“Fufu……thanks for the random thanks. It’s helpful.”
“Otaku-style thanks.”
“Thanks a lot !”
“Deep gratitude, huh !?”
“Thanks.”
” Modern style thanks…hey, what’s with the sudden change? You’re being so funny at the last minute.”
“…I’m just stalling.”
“That’s the kind of thing that gets booed in soccer.”
“Well…maybe we’ll do the extra time another time. It’s late today. Thanks for always hanging out with me.”
Tsukishima san smiled, carried her belongings behind her back, and walked toward her home, swaying her bag back and forth.
Maigetsu