After the ghost – aka the earthquake – problem, the orphanage was a complete mess. Midori masterfully organized the children to work together so they could have a proper room to sleep in that night. Some took brooms and swept the floors, others were in charge of throwing out what had been broken, and the older ones helped put the furniture back in its places.
Coalt and Ayame were no exception; they arranged a couch and laid the unconscious Toya there before each one could move to a different task. They helped to prepare a meal for the hungry battalion of growing children, and started work on fixing the rooms. Meanwhile, Kairi stood by the little boy's side. He was a small child who had just been possessed by a ghost; he was exhausted after the experience, and she didn't want him to be alone when he woke up.
In the center of the activities, the old woman thought her grey hair was about to become pure white out of worry. She wasn't sure the little money she had saved would be enough to cover all of the broken goods and repairs. She expected the worst of the damage to be concentrated on the first floor, where the ghost had spent the most time.
When he had finished helping some of the boys carry a load of debris outside, Coalt went to talk with her.
"My memory and sight aren't bad yet. When I went upstairs, there were a lot of broken things. Please, bring all of them down," she asked Coalt, but the boy shook his head.
"No need to throw them all away. Some things only have minor damage. I can fix them."
Midori rose one eyebrow, incredulous. "You can fix them?"
Coalt nodded and told a girl to not take that broken chair outside. "Yes, as long as it's not severely damaged, I can do something about it. Fixing broken chair legs or doors is quite easy. I just need the proper tools: nails, screws, and a few other things," the young man explained. "Practically all of the doors and windows are fine, except for the broken glass. Beds, chairs, tables, cupboards - most of them aren't that bad. There is no need to throw them all out."
The old woman's eyes sparkled with youthful excitement. "You can?! Oh, what a joy! It will help so much if I don't need to buy everything anew." Midori trapped Coalt in a bear-hug, surprising the boy yet again with her strength for someone of her age.
Ayame came out of the kitchen with a plastic bag filled with broken dishes and stopped in her tracks when she saw Midori hugging Coalt. "What's happened?"
"Oh, my dear, did you know this gentleman said he will fix the house?" Midori said excitedly. "He can do everything! Finally I'll be able to have my orphanage as good as new!"
The older boy scratched his head, unsure if the old woman misunderstood him. "Erm... I didn't say I'm going to fix everything. There are some things I can't do. Also-"
"Please, come here every night to work on the house! You'll help to take the burden off of the children. They need to focus on their studies. Think about them!"
Ayame and Coalt sighed at the woman's behavior. The girl knew Midori would use whatever opportunity she could get to improve the orphanage, and the boy felt bad for refusing her, even though he couldn't do all of what she was asking him for.
"I'm sorry. I don't have free time during the day or night."
"You work all day long?" Midori frowned. She couldn't ask him to give up his job.
That is when something crossed Ayame's mind. "Coalt, you'll need to free your night time eventually, especially now that we are alone. I'm not sure if we can keep waiting for the weekends to make a move." She had a good point. If they could use their night time to look for a way to recover their friends, maybe they could solve this problem faster.
"I know, but it's not that easy." Coalt looked down.
"You're working on those two jobs to be able to live here, right?" Ayame asked him and he nodded. It wasn't like he could get any important job with good pay while he was a recent immigrant with no contacts - even if he had the work-visa and everything else normal in his passport, he didn't know anyone important, and nobody knew about him. He had thought he could rely on a friend from his father to help him establish there, but he ended up with a door shut in his face when he first arrived in Japan.
"If you need a better job, I will see if I can get something for you!"
Coalt looked at her in surprise. "How?"
"I have contacts. I can ask my boss if he knows of other restaurants or chefs that need workers, and give a good impression of you," she said with a smile. "Of course, it may not work. But if you can get a better job, you can come here on some nights to help Midori. What do you think?"
"Yes, that might work." Coalt would appreciate it very much. He turned to the old woman and made it clear. "If I can free my nights, I can come here a few times during the week. For today, I'll fix what I can, but it won't be much. Be sure to keep all this furniture; you don't need to throw everything away."
"Thank you! Thank you so much!" The woman hugged the boy again. "You donating your time for the orphanage is greatly appreciated!"
"Gah!" Coalt soon discovered he couldn't judge Midori like one would judge a book by its cover. She was a healthy older woman, and as strong as a bear.
After the quick chat, they returned their focus to recovering the old building as fast as possible. Ayame salvaged as much food as she could and helped to prepare dinner for everyone. Meanwhile, Midori followed Coalt to tell him what the most important things to fix first were. He did his best for not knowing when he could come back to finish the rest. Because of the herd of children coming and going to talk with Midori, the two didn't have an opportunity to tell her their story about the other ring bearers.
The old woman felt something at her feet and when she looked down, Kairi was leaning on her.
"Oh, you're back already? Where is Toya?" The cat answered with a meow and the little boy walked up to Midori. "There you are. Have you rested well?"
The boy rubbed his eyes, still sleepy. "I was scared. What happened?"
"No need to be scared. The earthquake is over," the woman said, and patted his head.
"Earthquake?" Toya was confused. His attention then turned to the tall young man, who was fixing a door back in its place after changing out the twisted screws for new ones.
"This one was easy. The closet here has the same problem. If the wood isn't damaged, I can just change the screws, too, and-" He crossed eyes with the small boy. "Oh, you're awake." Coalt found it weird that the boy kept staring at him. Little Toya walked to him and raised his arms, but Coalt wasn't sure what it meant. "Er..."
Midori giggled at the boy's reaction. "I think Toya wants you to hold him. He likes tall people to carry him, so he can be up high."
Coalt shook his head and kept working. "Sorry. I'm busy now."
When he turned his back to them, Midori held the little boy up and placed him on Coalt's back.
"Hey, wait! What are you doing?" he complained when he felt the boy grasp his hands on his shoulders. The moment Midori released Toya, he managed to climb up Coalt's back and sit on his shoulders, his arms now holding his head. Coalt turned to Midori, who was laughing at how fast the boy got a hold on the young man.
"You have done enough for tonight, Coalt. Let's go downstairs. Ayame and the others must have finished dinner." Midori wanted him to stop and Toya was the perfect excuse. The brunette tried to get the boy off, but it was like he was glued on him.
"Hey, help me get him off!" he complained, but the old woman let the little boy have some adventure seeing the world from a very different point of view.
And like that, the weekend passed by quickly. Their attempt to rescue the others from the Gods' realm had been unsuccessful, but they left feeling good about all the work they had done to help Midori and the children of the orphanage.
A week passed swiftly, and it was Saturday again before they knew it.
Ayame's offer to help Coalt find a better job came to fruition faster than she had expected. She had talked to her boss and chef, along with other people from her workplace, and she managed to find a good contact for Coalt.
She asked him to meet her a few hours before the interview to be sure that everything would go well. She was excited with the idea that Coalt might get a slightly better job, but in no way had she forgotten about her friends lost in another dimension. The fact was if Coalt could get this new job, they would have more time to spend searching during the week.
When Coalt arrived at their meeting place, Ayame jumped up and hugged him, excited.
"Good morning, Ayame." Coalt was pleased by her energetic welcome. He smiled, glad to see that she was happy, and greeted her back with a peck on the lips. He always found it funny how she would blush whenever they kissed in a public place.
"You got the message about the interview, right?" Ayame saw him nod before she would proceed. "I want to give you some tips for the interview. That's why I asked you to come early."
Ayame wanted to be sure Coalt would get this new job. It would make things better for him, and for them. The girl took him to the restaurant that was looking for a multi-tasking person, a description that Coalt fit pretty well.
She showed him how to get there, and they walked around the surroundings streets while Ayame gave him some suggestions about his behavior during the interview. Coalt found it amusing, because his main worry was different. He wondered if his accent or lack of vocabulary might get in the way. At this point he was speaking Japanese pretty well, but he wasn't fluent, and would still stumble over some words here and there.
Suddenly, a cold breeze interrupted their talk and made him sneeze loudly.
"Whoa, sorry about that. It's just that it's cold today," he said while rubbing his hands against his arms to get them warmer.
The girl looked doubtfully at him because she wasn't feeling cold at all. It was autumn, and winter was coming soon, but the weather was still very pleasant. Then she remembered that Coalt wasn't used to cold weather. This drew her attention to his clothing; Coalt usually wore common pants and shirts - the olive-green pants were his favorite, and his shirts didn't vary much between white, black, dark blue, and red. He had a jacket with him sometimes, but the fabric was light and didn't seem to provide much warmth in lower temperatures.
"Wait a minute, Coalt. Do you have a jacket or something warmer with you?"
The boy sneezed again, getting annoyed with his nose. "No. I never had much other than one jacket."
"You knew you were coming to a colder country and you didn't buy winter clothes?" Ayame had her hands on her hips, not believing Coalt would avoid buying proper clothes to save money.
"It would be pointless. You've seen my jacket; the winter clothes from my home country would be useless here." The brunette scratched his head, admitting, "I know I'll have to buy a new winter wardrobe, I'm just trying to postpone it as long as possible."
Ayame checked the time on her cellphone and looked at him with determination. "We have enough time!" She grabbed his hand and dashed through the streets.
"Hey! Wait. Time for what?" The girl dragged him into a clothing store, which answered Coalt's question. "Erm, it's okay, Ayame. We can buy it later." He didn't want to look for clothes right now, but she wouldn't let him escape.
"First of all, first impressions are always important! You have to always be well-dressed in any interview."
"I know, but-"
"Second! What is the point of getting a new job if you'll get sick right afterwards? Don't worry, Coalt. It won't take long." She smiled and winked at him. "I'll help you pay for them. Think of it as a gift."
The boy sighed and complied with her will. They didn't have much time, so they focused on nice casual-dress clothes and warm ones. Some were his suggestions, but most were Ayame's. It was expected that the girl wanted him to try on many shirts, especially in colors other than black and white. Coalt wasn't sure he would like those, but he tried them along with a few he chose, nonetheless.
Once he tried on something that he had liked, he would show Ayame and get her approval. In the end, he didn't choose the dress pants, since he felt it would be overly formal - especially for the job he was applying for. Still, he liked one long-sleeved, white dress shirt, along with other casual clothes, like a nice and warm faux-leather jacket, a plain long-sleeved black shirt, and dark-grey jeans. Ayame loved the wide open collar of the black shirt, but kept that note to herself. At last, she added a black scarf as a final touch.
Coalt looked at the new item, unsure. "Oh, I have never used one of these."
"Never? Really? I think you'll like it. It will keep your neck warm and you'll feel much better during the winter." Coalt wasn't sure about it, but he decided to buy the scarf and give it a try like she had suggested.
At the cash register, Coalt mourned at the price of everything. He tried to be very selective, but he was buying more pieces than he had imagined.
"Leave it to me! I'm buying those for you." Ayame stepped in, but Coalt refused.
"No way! I'm paying for them!" Coalt stood in front of the girl, with his wallet already in hand.
"Hey, I told you I'm buying those as a gift!" she complained.
"Nope."
"Don't be stubborn, Coalt! Let me pay for these!" Ayame tried to step in again, with her chin set stubbornly. "I'm buying those for you!"
"No, I don't want to be in debt to you!"
"It's not debt if it's a gift!"
"Yes, it is!"
The cashier was watching the two go back and forth, unamused. "What about splitting it in half?" she suggested in a monotone voice.
"Fine!" both replied in unison and hit the table with their share of the money.
Coalt went to change into his new grey pants and black long-sleeved shirt before they left the store. Ayame sighed in frustration after their silly outburst.
"That was so stubborn of you," she told him through the dressing-room door.
"I already told you, I hate being in debt."
"I know, but you should also accept gifts instead of worrying so much." The girl crossed her arms and turned away. She wanted to do something nice for him, but it didn't feel like he had recognized it at all.
The boy noticed that Ayame was feeling down and when he came out of the dressing room, he wrapped his arms around her from behind, surprising her.
"Thank you, Ayame. You're already helping me a lot." He meant not only the clothes, but the job interview as well. He was thankful for all of her support and this made the girl smile.
When they exited the store and were walking up the pavement again, another chilly breeze made Coalt shiver. They were walking close together, and feeling him shake with cold, Ayame took the scarf from the shopping bag and handed it to him.
"Oh right, try this. It should be enough for you today."
Coalt nodded and wrapped it around his neck. However, the scarf wouldn't stay still because of the constant wind. He tried again and again, but he couldn't get it right.
Ayame giggled, taking the scarf from his hands. "You can do a small knot if you wrap it this way."
She showed him that there were other ways to use the scarf than just wrapping it around the neck. She did it so automatically that she had forgotten for a moment how close they were. Ayame raised her head to say it was done, but instead, she blushed lightly when Coalt bent down and placed his lips over hers, thanking her again. For a moment, she forgot that others might be looking at them. She didn't care.
Suddenly, her phone began to chime and the girl gasped, hooking her arm on Coalt's and dragging him back toward the interview place.
"Oh, no! That was my alarm. You're supposed to be there now! We had better run!"