Last Stop Tokyo

by James Buckler

  ‘How did we afford this place?’ Alex asked.

  Hiro didn’t reply. He sounded the car horn and waited. The front door opened and two young women stepped outside into the sunlight. They waved excitedly towards the car. It was Yuko and Kyumi.

  ‘Okaeri nasai!’ they shouted in unison, their voices high and bright. They sounded excited to have visitors, as if they had waited a long time for their guests’ arrival.

  ‘There’s your surprise,’ Hiro said. ‘Two little geisha to spoil us for the weekend and make you forget your troubles. Make you forget your own name if you’re not careful.’

  Alex had grown suspicious of unexpected company. ‘I’m not sure I’ve got the energy for this,’ he said. ‘I just need some peace and quiet to get my head together.’

  ‘Don’t worry. You can relax here. These girls know how to help you do that.’

  ‘They own this house?’

  ‘It belongs to one of Kyumi’s regulars. He’s out of the country for a while.’

  ‘And he’s given us permission to use the place while he’s away?’

  Hiro gave a broad, mischievous smile. ‘Don’t worry. It’s just a weekend place. His home is in Saitama. Come on. Let’s go and see what’s inside.’

  The interior was vast. The living room had a cathedral ceiling reaching up to timbered rafters and a huge granite chimney breast with the head of a stag mounted above the mantelpiece. There were certificates and diplomas hanging on the walls from research institutes all over the world and framed letters of gratitude from charitable institutions.

  ‘Who is this guy?’ Alex asked. ‘Some kind of philanthropist?’

  Kyumi shrugged. ‘He was a surgeon but he’s retired now,’ she said. ‘He’s in Hawaii on a sailing trip until the end of next week. He brings me here all the time in the summer. He won’t mind us using the place while he’s away.’

  There was a note of disbelief in her voice, as if she were trying to convince herself.

  ‘What about his family?’ Alex asked. ‘What happens if they turn up and find us here?’

  Kyumi shook her head. ‘There’s no chance of that,’ she said. ‘He never brings them to Karuizawa. Not with the kind of things he likes to do here.’

  They walked out on to the sun terrace at the back of the house. Yuko had made a jug of grapefruit sour. She poured drinks for everyone and passed them round.

  ‘Kanpai,’ she said, and touched her glass to Alex’s.

  ‘Cheers,’ he replied. ‘Thank you for this.’

  ‘How have you been?’ she asked. ‘It’s been a while since I last saw you.’

  Alex could tell that she knew the answer already. Hiro must have enjoyed telling her, he thought.

  ‘I’ve been good,’ he lied, not wanting to explain himself. ‘How are things with you?’

  ‘So so. My father died.’ Her voice was flat and emotionless.

  Alex put down his glass. ‘I’m sorry to hear that. When did it happen?’

  ‘Ten days ago.’

  ‘You must be very upset.’

  ‘It’s okay. He was old and he’d been sick for a long time. Even my mother wasn’t too unhappy.’

  ‘You look well, at least.’

  ‘Thank you,’ she said. ‘I think you’ve lost weight since I last saw you.’

  ‘I’ve been fasting.’

  Yuko laughed. ‘I’ll cook dinner soon and fatten you up a little.’

  ‘I’d like that,’ Alex said.

  Yuko filled his glass and Alex sipped it slowly. The house stood alone, surrounded by pine forest, with no other buildings close by. The manicured lawn was dotted with fallen pine cones dried to husks in the sun. Alex felt the mountain breeze blow over him. The flagstones on the patio were warm beneath his feet. He could feel the tension drifting away. The girls changed into bathing suits and lay out on sunloungers by the pool. Hiro took a seat next to him and poured himself a drink.

  ‘I thought you were still mad at me,’ Alex said.

  ‘About Naoko?’

  ‘Yes.’

  ‘I am,’ Hiro said. ‘But after all you’ve been through it wouldn’t be fair to argue with you now.’

  ‘I should have listened to you. I’m sorry.’

  ‘I’ve known her a long time. I could have told you it wouldn’t end well. But no one could have predicted how crazy you both managed to get.’

  Alex felt uncomfortable being chastised after all that had happened. He had changed now, seen a side of life in Japan that Hiro had no idea of. Survived the cell block and the prison yard at Ushigome. It seemed strange to be confronted on the old terms of their friendship, with him always cast as the junior partner but he knew he needed to hold his tongue. There was one more favour he needed to ask from Hiro now.

  Alex took a breath before he spoke. ‘There’s something I haven’t told you,’ he said. ‘I’m in more trouble.’

  ‘What do you mean?’

  ‘I had to borrow money to buy my way out of jail. I need to pay it back quickly.’

  ‘How much?’

  ‘Five million yen.’

  Hiro gave a low whistle of surprise. ‘Where did you get hold of that much cash at short notice?’

  ‘There were some Japanese guys in there who were eager to lend it to me.’

  Hiro looked at Alex from the corner of his eye. ‘Yakuza?’ he asked.

  ‘I don’t know. But I’m wary of owing them money for too long. There was a fight inside the cell block one day – a man had been warned by them to keep away. They took offence when he didn’t listen. He was slashed with a razor.’

  ‘This sounds serious, Alex. Why didn’t you ask me? I would have lent you the money.’

  ‘I wasn’t allowed to make a single phone call all the time I was inside. There were no visitors either. Not even a lawyer. I was lost in there, Hiro. And I did what I had to do to get out. But I need your help now. I want to borrow the money from you and pay these people back. Then I’ll be in your debt instead of theirs.’

  ‘Of course,’ Hiro said without hesitation. ‘I’ll get you the money as soon as we go back to Tokyo.’

  Alex’s face softened with relief. ‘You don’t want to think it over? It’s a lot of money.’

  ‘There’s nothing to think over. I’m happy to be able to help.’

  ‘Thanks, Hiro. I’m really grateful.’

  ‘The only thing I ask is that you stay away from Naoko.’

  Hiro said the words quickly, as if even he knew his request was too high-handed; the arrogant assumption that he could order people around because he had money. Alex wanted to tell him to forget the whole deal but he stopped himself. There was no other way to find that amount of cash at short notice, and he knew he was in danger as long as he was in debt to Jun and his friends. Naoko’s message made it clear that she thought it was over between them anyway. He made a simple calculation.

  ‘Okay,’ he said. ‘If that’s what you want, then I won’t contact her again.’

  As he said the words, Alex felt hollow inside. Hiro couldn’t contain his satisfaction. He beamed with victory.

  ‘Forget about her. That’s my advice,’ he said. ‘Now just do what you should have done in the first place. Get your comfort where it’s easy.’

  Hiro pointed over to the girls lying in the sun. They were on their backs, with the straps of their bikinis unfastened from their shoulders, their skin slick with sunscreen. Hiro stood and crept up behind them. Scooping up a handful of water from the pool, he edged closer and tossed it over them. The girls shrieked in surprise. Alex watched and leaned back against his chair. The sun was streaking down through the branches above him as they swayed in the breeze. He was starting to feel dizzy from the cocktails. He thought of Naoko and wondered where she was and what she was doing now. There was no point going over it again so he tried to think of nothing. He listened to the sound of the water moving back and forth as it reflected from the tiles at the side of the pool. The sound of water, just like the night in the templ
e garden, falling from the waterfall into the bamboo pipe. It seemed such a long time ago that a wave of sorrow, almost grief, came over him. He stood and walked to the water’s edge and dived in, swimming down to the cool tiles at the bottom of the pool.

  Yuko cooked nabe on a small stove set on the table in the dining room. It was a broth of vegetables and tofu and when they had eaten most of it she added rice and egg to the pot and beat it together. After dinner, they finished the sake and Kyumi found a bottle of vintage sho-chu. It was unopened, still sealed in its wooden casket. She twisted off the cork and poured four tall glasses. Kyumi was drunk now and wanted to show off the house. She took Hiro by the arm and dragged him from room to room, proudly describing each piece of furniture as if it were her own. She could see Hiro was soon losing interest.

  ‘Let me show you what the good professor likes to use the house for when we’re alone,’ she said.

  The girls locked themselves inside the master bedroom and when they appeared Kyumi was wearing a full, white wedding gown with a taffeta veil and a long silk train that Yuko carried behind her like a bridesmaid. She paraded up and down the length of the living room in short, unsteady steps.

  ‘It’s his daughter’s,’ Kyumi said. ‘Her wedding was in the town last year. It’s considered very exclusive to be married in Karuizawa. The Emperor met his wife nearby so it’s a sign of good breeding. I’d like to be married here one day, I think.’

  Hiro began to laugh and Kyumi sounded hurt.

  ‘What’s so funny?’ she said. ‘I will find a husband one day.’

  ‘I think you might be looking in the wrong places,’ he said.

  She turned to him and lifted the veil. Her face was grey and pallid and her lips were white, her eyes blackened with make-up to look like a corpse.

  ‘Honto?’ Hiro said. ‘What did you do that for?’

  Kyumi shrugged. ‘It’s what the professor likes. He plays his daughter’s wedding video on the cinema screen while I lie there with my arms folded across my chest. He sobs his heart out once he’s finished but it’s the only thing that gets him going. I’ve tried everything else, believe me. Maybe it’s what happens when you’re surrounded by books all day long.’

  Hiro looked to Alex. ‘This guy sounds a bit crazy to me.’

  Kyumi smiled ruefully. ‘You’re all crazy. Every one of you.’

  The smile left her face and tears began to flow over the make-up, leaving black, inky trails down her cheeks. She gathered up the train of the wedding dress and ran from the house and jumped into the pool. The layers of the wedding dress fluttered under the water like the skirts of a jellyfish as she surfaced.

  ‘This isn’t fair!’ she shouted. ‘I’m never going to wear a beautiful dress like this for real. No man wants to marry me. They only want to fuck me.’ She was floundering in the pool, lit up in the darkness, her voice coming in sobs.

  ‘Take care of her, Hiro,’ Alex said. ‘She’s too drunk.’

  Hiro stood and walked to the poolside and jumped in, laughing. Alex walked around the veranda to the other side of the house. He felt like being alone. He could hear Kyumi’s voice, full of tears, crying that she would never be forgiven. She was wrong, he thought. Whoever really cared for her would find nothing to forgive. There was no malice or betrayal in her. She was honest about her motives, even if they were shallow and trivial. That wasn’t impossible to forgive. Not like selling out someone who loved you just to save yourself. Not like fabricating your whole life.

  He took a seat on a wooden bench in the formal garden, facing out towards the great pinnacles of the mountain range lit up by the stars. An immense night hung above him. A meteor descended, streaking brightly through the dark canopy. An airliner flashed its navigation lights as it passed to the north. There was a chorus of nocturnal calls from the forest and the creaking of timber as it swayed in the wind. He thought about turning and running, going straight to the airport for the next flight back to London, but there was no point. Despite everything that had happened, he still had nothing to go back for.

  There were footsteps and Alex looked behind him. Yuko was approaching with two glasses and the bottle of sho-chu.

  ‘Do you want me to go?’ she asked.

  ‘Come and sit beside me,’ Alex said.

  She moved in close to him and he placed an arm around her shoulder.

  ‘I don’t like Tokyo any more,’ Yuko said.

  Alex felt her breath against his neck. ‘Why not?’

  ‘I don’t know really. I don’t have any reason to be there now.’

  ‘You have the family business to run.’

  ‘I don’t want to be a businesswoman. It’s too hard.’

  ‘What will you do?’

  ‘I think I will sell the shop and my mother and I will move away.’

  ‘Where will you go?’

  ‘I don’t know. Somewhere quiet.’

  They stared out at the night in silence for a while and Alex felt her body rise and fall as she breathed. He could sense her thinking beside him.

  ‘It’s hard on your own, isn’t it?’ she said.

  ‘Yes,’ Alex said. ‘It is.’

  ‘You must miss your family. Being so far away from home.’

  ‘Not really. I miss my brother, I suppose.’

  ‘I miss him. My father. There’s so much I wish I could say to him now.’

  ‘You always miss people when you know you’ll never see them again.’

  ‘Shall we talk about something else?’ Yuko asked.

  ‘Maybe we should just sit here for a while.’

  ‘Are you comfortable with me?’

  ‘Yes,’ Alex said. ‘Very comfortable.’

  He looked down at her and, soon, she was sleeping. He thought about carrying her back into the house but didn’t want to wake her. He took a long drink from the bottle of sho-chu and sat in the darkness, watching the passage of the stars.

  When he woke, it was dawn and a pale light was rising over the trees. Yuko was beside him, holding his phone to her ear.

  ‘Hello?’ she said, and waited. ‘Hello? Is anyone there?’

  She handed the phone to Alex but the line was dead.

  ‘Who was that?’ he asked.

  She looked concerned. ‘I don’t know. I only answered it because it was so early. You were asleep and I thought it might be an emergency. I could hear someone breathing, I think it was a woman. I tried to speak to her but she just hung up.’

  20

  THE MONEY WAS inside her bag, still sealed in the envelope Inspector Saito had delivered to her. It had always been Naoko’s intention to hand the whole package back to Alex unopened. That chance was gone now, she thought.

  When she came out of the station into the midday heat, the boulevard was busy with people walking in the shade of the tall zelkova trees. The shops near Omotesando station were cheap and kitsch, not what she wanted at all. She walked in confident strides, heading towards the signs for Gucci, Louis Vuitton and Dior in the distance.

  It had been 5.51 a.m. when she called his number. Too early for it to be another tenant in his guesthouse or a teacher at the school that had answered. It had to be someone intimate at that hour, someone comfortable answering his phone who had no expectation of hearing another female voice. At 5.51 it had to be someone he was sharing a bed with. Naoko couldn’t find a way to figure it otherwise.

  She started modestly. In Tsuichi Chimaru she found a selection of new-season dresses she liked and took them to the fitting room. She tried them on and chose the two that suited her best and carried them to the counter. It was as they were being folded and she took the money from the envelope that Naoko remembered her goal. She was there to spend it all, not to use restraint. From then on, she was possessed.

  She held her head high as she entered the most exclusive boutiques, free of her usual fear of being overawed by the outlandish price tags. YSL, Jil Sander, Ferragamo, Ralph Lauren. She bought a bias-cut skirt from Céline and a blouse with a foliage pa
ttern from Comme des Garçons. She bought underwear sets and formal shoes. Clothes she knew she would never wear, clothes that she wasn’t even sure fitted her, anything to get rid of the money. Spending so freely was alien to her nature and by the afternoon it had started to become distasteful. She decided her final purchase would be a gift for Hiro’s mother. A scarf from Hermès would be suitable, she thought. In the store, she found a silk square in bright blue, bordered with white and gold and printed with a pattern of cranes in flight. She was tired now and ready to leave, but as she passed the Chanel shop and noticed the window display, she couldn’t resist.

  The jacket was on a mannequin, softly lit from below. It was vintage, in black with brass buttons, the stitching perfect on the seams and pockets. When she went inside and asked to try it on, the assistant looked dubious at first. But as she saw the armful of branded bags Naoko was carrying and her look of determination, she relented and fetched the jacket from the display. In the fitting room, Naoko remembered the voice she had heard, young and girlish, calling out to her hesitantly down the telephone line. She paid for the jacket with a thick stack of ten-thousand-yen notes and a thrilling sense of satisfaction.

  Yukiko closed the door and led Naoko out on to the balcony so they could sit in the shade. Naoko set her shopping at her feet. She noticed how frail Yukiko was looking. She was wearing a thin yukata and a sun hat that was too big. She had to keep reaching up to push the brim back from her face. The birdcage hanging from the balcony rafters was empty and the door was open.

  ‘What happened to your songbird?’ Naoko asked.

  Yukiko shrugged. ‘It’s gone. It flew away yesterday.’

  ‘Why did you leave the cage open?’

  ‘He was restless. It seemed cruel to leave him in there alone.’

  Naoko looked out from the balcony, across the rooftops and rail tracks of Asakusa. ‘I wonder where he is now? He’s probably out there trying to mate with the local pigeons.’

  ‘If I leave the door open, he’ll come back eventually. He looks the type.’