Original Sin (MewGulf AU)

🌻Chapter 28

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Even when Gulf thought that it was all over, the end of the world refused to come. He thought dawn would never come again, but it did. Even in his despondent, nihilistic frame of mind, Gulf didn't forget to breath.

The next day, the weather was fair, betraying Gulf's emotional state. The air conditioner at the office was turned on high and Gulf could feel a chill on his skin.

"Is this everything for the deliveries today, Mister Fujiwara?"

The deliveries and mail that had arrived that day were distributed to each person's desk, but the most important delivery wasn't at Gulf's desk. Maybe it had accidentally been given to someone else.

"That's everything that's come so far. Do you want me to check again?"

"Yes, if you don't mind."

Kurahashi's corrected proof should have come, but he didn't say anything like that among his deliveries.

"I don't see anything special."

"That's odd."

The envelope would have been pretty big. Gulf didn't think it could get lost that easily. Maybe it had been misplaced.

Unfortunately, Kurahashi had already left and Gulf didn't know how to get in touch with him. He tried calling Kurahashi's cellphone, but he must have had it turned off because Gulf couldn't get ahold of him.

"Something the matter?" Makihara said.

Gulf shrugged, "Mister Kurahashi's proof corrections haven't arrived yet."

Instead, the department had received a faxed copy of thr shipping receipt for his proofs. Gulf tried entering the shipping number into the tracing service of the delivery company,but it returned no matching numbers. It was still early, so it was also possible that it hadn't been recorded yet, but Gulf was having some doubts. What if the proofs had been lost? Though Gulf didn't want to jinx it,the thought crossed his mind.

"Depending on the company and when the packages get sent, it can take a day or two to get here. Why not wait until tomorrow to see?"

"You're right."

Some part of Gulf remained unconvinced, but he couldn't do much work on an undelivered project, he had to let it go. If he'd known that it would happen like that, he would have gotten an emergency contact number from Kurahashi. That much should have been common sense.

Gulf had been thinking so much about Mew that he had let his diligence slide on an important project. That was why even had turned his back on Gulf. The thought of his own ineptitude depressed Gulf all over again.

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Gulf's worries proved well founded.

"The author's proofs still aren't here?" Makihara asked.

"No. They're looking into it, but they might actually be lost." Gulf bit his lips after answering Makihara's question.

Even after three days, Kurahashi's proofs hadn't arrived. The number on the receipt still didn't work and searching on the web didn't help either. Gulf had just called the store's headquarters and asked them to look into it.

"Any contact from Kurahashi?"

"I haven't been able to reach him. There was a death in the family that took him out of town and he's still not back."

"Man. Those country funerals can take forever."

Gulf's stomach tingled painfully with a terrible premonition. Kurahashi had been ahead of schedule, but if it took much longer to track down the package, they would have to push his release date back. Gulf wanted to avoid doing that since Kurahashi hadn't done anything wrong.