‘Only about ten minutes,’ said Takashi. ‘Kenji, you know Haruka, and this is her friend Yuriko.’
‘Nice to meet you, Yuriko,’ said Kenji.
Akiko lifted her leg like a deer and removed a pebble from her stiletto. Takashi marvelled at the way that she could balance on one foot with so much ease.
‘Is Masaya’s tavern far from here?’ Haruka asked him.
‘No. Follow me, everyone. We’ll be there in five minutes,’ Takashi said.
‘Good – I’m freezing,’ said Yuriko.
‘Yes, it is cold isn’t it?’ Takashi said, ‘but I’d stand for hours in this weather to wait to eat at Masaya’s tavern. The food and the atmosphere are fantastic there.’
They headed down the street. Takashi walked slightly ahead, like a tour guide, and the other four followed. They had to wind their way past the shops that were still open. There was a buzz of people everywhere.
Haruka, Yuriko and Takashi couldn’t help stealing glances at Akiko on the way to the bar. She was obviously expensively dressed and extremely stylish, but she looked a little out of place for Shimokitazawa. This town was full of students and jeans were without doubt the uniform of choice around here. Akiko was wearing a tight, fitted navy leather jacket and matching micro mini skirt with bare legs that managed her high heels with unbelievable ease. Takashi thought that she could easily have been mistaken for a high-class hostess from Roppongi who entertained in bars.
They walked past a McDonald’s and a Las Vegas Pachinko parlour before they reached Masaya’s tavern. His izakaya was situated in a side street off the main strip. A huge neon light announced the tavern’s name – ‘Enya’. This was easy to see from the main road. A glowing lantern with the same name hung proudly by the entrance.
A waitress greeted them at the counter, which was decorated with artificial flames and a fish tank bursting with bright silver fish. The tavern had a very relaxed feel about it, and that was perfect for an izakaya. They knew that it would be a fun evening, and they would soon be enjoying tasty appetisers and plenty to drink. They were led to one of the booths lined with leather lounges and a solid wooden table, just right for five people at a squeeze. Above them, a huge round paper lantern glowed, a buzzer was conveniently fixed to the wall for them to call the waitress at any time and the menus were laid out waiting for them to order throughout the evening.
Haruka removed her heavy wool coat. Underneath, she was wearing a black cardigan and a silky, white blouse over faded bootleg jeans. She looked relaxed and happy.
They ordered beer, shochu rice wine and soft drinks between them. Kenji and Akiko had the honours of ordering the food for all of them and soon they were sinking their teeth into appetisers such as spinach, tomato and bacon salad, sashimi, a variety of grilled yakitori chicken pieces on skewers, pan-fried pepper steak, and shrimps with mayonnaise as well as fried squid.
Not knowing that they were there, Masaya walked past the table and did a double take. He was so surprised to see them that he fell back a few steps and tripped on the partition between the booths. He swiftly jumped back up again and everyone applauded him for his quick recovery. Masaya had obviously never expected his Ginza surprise to be reciprocated.
‘I can’t believe it. You nearly didn’t recognise us,’ Takashi teased him.
Masaya nodded towards Akiko. ‘I saw her first,’ he said, ‘But then I heard Kenji’s laugh, and it made me stop when I recognised his voice. Good to see you all.’
Masaya surveyed the group and then rested his eyes on Akiko. ‘Isn’t anyone going to introduce me?’ he asked.
‘This is Akiko, Kenji’s friend,’ said Takashi.
Akiko looked directly at Masaya. Her long stare made him blush. ‘How is the food?’ Masaya stammered, pointing at their table.
‘Delicious,’ Takashi replied.
‘Great. Please enjoy. I’ll come back later. I have to see what’s happening in the kitchen.’ Masaya said. He turned and scurried out towards the back of the tavern.
Halfway through the meal, Takashi pulled Kenji aside. ‘Who is this woman?’ he asked him. ‘Is it your new girlfriend and by the way, how old is she?’
‘She comes into my restaurant every week by herself and so I asked her out a couple of weeks ago, and we’ve been dating ever since,’ replied Kenji. ‘She works as a personal assistant for a fashion company in Ginza.’
‘She’s almost old enough to be your mum,’ Takashi teased Kenji.
He laughed. ‘Don’t be silly, she’s only thirty-three,’ he said.
‘Only thirty-three,’ Takashi exclaimed as his mouth fell open.
‘I like her maturity,’ Kenji replied, looking a bit awkward. They stood for a couple of minutes in silence.
‘I have some exciting news to tell you, Takashi,’ said Kenji, taking a picture of a motorbike out of his pocket and handing it to him to inspect. ‘I’m buying a high-performance Ducati bike in the morning – take a look at this,’ he said.
Takashi looked at the speed machine on the page in awe. ‘That’s a very cool bike, Kenji,’ he said, wishing he could own this beautiful red piece of machinery.
‘I should be able to get to work and back home quicker on that, don’t you think?’ said Kenji, taking the picture back and sliding it into his back pocket.
‘You mean you’ll be able to see more girlfriends in one day, speeding through Tokyo!’ Takashi replied.
‘Talking of girls, what’s happening with Haruka? Something has to happen soon. I’m tired of hearing you say, ‘we’re just friends’,’ Kenji said to Takashi.
‘I can never find the right time to be alone with her and give her a kiss,’ he replied with a long face.
‘You don’t wait for the right time – you decide that you’re going to kiss her and you kiss her. It’s that easy. Now I want you to make it your number one mission to kiss her before the night ends. You could even make her jealous by flirting with my date. I don’t mind a bit,’ Kenji said with a broad smile.
‘What seems so easy to you is a lot more difficult for me, Kenji,’ Takashi replied.
Whether Kenji was half-joking or half-serious was difficult to tell, but Takashi realised he had to take action and soon, or he was going to miss out on the golden opportunity. Kenji gave him a big grin and a wink and they returned to the table.
Akiko was sitting on one side waiting for Kenji and Haruka and Yuriko were asking her all kinds of make-up and fashion questions. By the way they were speaking to her and taking mental notes, they both obviously thought that she was stunning and wanted to know all her secrets. Takashi looked at Akiko and he thought her make-up was really overdone, as well as her clothes, and he was not happy that she was taking up so much of Haruka’s attention. They’d all had a few drinks and Takashi kept waiting for the right moment to move in and intercept their conversation as he sat beside Haruka.
Suddenly, they all turned around and looked at the booth beside them. Loud laughs and a commotion were coming from that direction. Three foreigners, talking loudly in English and obviously quite inebriated and in high spirits, were sitting themselves down at the adjacent table. Takashi had learnt English at school, but he couldn’t understand very much of their conversation at all. He turned his head again and saw three young foreign men in rugby shirts and ripped jeans laughing and shoving each other’s shoulders. One of the boys had golden-coloured hair and freckles. He’d never seen hair so light, except on television.
‘Look at the guy with the golden hair,’ Takashi said to Kenji, nodding at the young man. ‘I’ve seen a lot of blonde foreigners at the Yokosuka Naval Base near my parents’ house, but I’ve never seen anyone as fair as him.’
‘I wish my hair was blonde like that,’ Kenji replied with eyes wide open.
The golden-haired foreign boy made his way over to their table. Takashi looked at Kenji. He thought that maybe the boy understood Japanese and had heard what they’d said.
‘Does anyone speak English?’ the golden-haired boy
asked them in English, carefully enunciating each word for their benefit.
Yuriko pulled at Haruka’s shirt. ‘You work for an English conversation school. You speak to him,’ she said to Haruka.
‘Yes,’ Haruka said in English to the foreign boy.
‘We … do … not … understand … Japanese,’ the golden haired boy said carefully to Haruka.
‘Ye … s,’ said Haruka.
‘We … don’t understand… the … menu. It’s … in Japanese … what should … we eat?’ he said in English that even Takashi could comprehend.
‘I … understand,’ said Haruka to the foreign boy. She pressed the buzzer for the waitress, who appeared immediately.
‘Do you have an English menu?’ Haruka asked her.
‘No,’ the waitress replied, looking at the golden-haired boy with a worried expression.
The foreign boy pointed at the food on their table, circling the top of each plate with his forefinger. ‘We will eat this,’ he announced.
Haruka nodded.
‘They’ll eat the same food as us,’ Haruka said to the waitress.
‘The same food – yes?’ Haruka asked the foreign boy in English.
‘Yes… yes,’ he replied. The golden-haired boy looked very pleased with himself. He returned to his table, and his friends clapped and patted him on the back.
‘Well done!’ the whole group said to Haruka in unison, and she blushed from all the compliments.
It was then that Takashi hoped to have a word with Akiko in his attempt to make Haruka jealous, at the same time hoping that it would not backfire.
‘Hey, Akiko – everyone has been commenting on your hair. May I say it really is very beautiful. Maybe you should try modelling,’ he said trying not to cringe, thinking his comments may have come across a little bit too heavy.
However, Akiko seemed very pleased and offered Takashi a beaming smile as she placed her hand on his knee and said, ‘Oh Kenji, your friend is sooo cute.’
With her hand on his knee, Takashi’s whole body tensed up, and he couldn’t utter a word. Looking at Haruka, he noticed her eyes travel back and forth from Akiko’s face to her hand on his knee and then back to her face.
Did I notice a slight glimmer of jealousy in her eyes? Takashi thought to himself. He still couldn’t talk or move a muscle, but he spotted Kenji in the corner having a marvellous time watching the whole scenario. Akiko removed her hand from Takashi’s knee and he blew a sigh of relief.
Yuriko jumped up and tried to squeeze in beside Takashi and Kenji. ‘How long have you two known each other?’ Yuriko asked them.
‘About five or six years,’ replied Kenji. ‘We went to school together.’
Takashi wasn’t in the mood to make small talk with Yuriko, so he excused himself and went to the bathroom, leaving Yuriko to chat with Kenji. A few minutes later, when he returned to the table, he sat down again next to Haruka. Everyone was talking about what they should do for New Year’s Eve. Masaya had come over to take a break. It was not so busy at that time and many of his customers had left.
‘Let’s drive to the Izu Peninsula for New Year’s Eve to watch the sunrise,’ Masaya said, topping up their drinks.
Masaya had recently been given a brand new Honda Prelude, and Kenji and Takashi had both been eager to take a ride in it.
‘Sounds like a terrific idea,’ everybody agreed.
‘My older brother Taroo has a BMW, and he’d be happy to take some of us up there,’ Yuriko said.
Takashi’s eyes lit up. BMW was his favourite car. That’s the smartest thing that’s come out of her mouth since I met her, Takashi thought. If only he owned an amazing car like a BMW or a Porsche, maybe then he would have more opportunities to be with Haruka.
‘How about my brother and I take Haruka and Takashi?’ Yuriko said.
‘And I’ll take Momo-chan, Kenji and Akiko,’ Masaya added.
Everyone ordered another drink and they toasted this idea.
It was getting late and Kenji offered to take Yuriko and Akiko home. He was clever enough to suggest that Takashi look after Haruka.
Takashi turned to her. ‘It’s really late, Haruka … it’ll be light in a few hours. Would you like to wait at my place until the morning?’
‘Okay,’ she replied sheepishly.
Takashi couldn’t tell whether she blushed deeply because she was flattered when she said this one simple word – which made his heart beat faster – or whether the colour of her cheeks was the effect of the alcohol.
The two of them called a taxi and shared a breezy cab ride back to Takashi’s apartment in Kawasaki. Haruka was cold and curled up close to him in the back of the taxi as they drove through the streets. He put his arm around her and, unaware of the driver, they stared out at the lights against the dark night. He felt like he could’ve held her like this until the morning.
But back at the apartment it was Takashi’s turn to blush. He opened the door and the smell of cigarettes filled the small room. He’d forgotten to tidy up before he’d left to go to Shimokitazawa.
Haruka untied her shoes and Takashi grabbed clothes and underwear and shoved them under the bed. They took off their coats and Haruka offered to make them green tea. Sitting down at the table, Takashi noticed that the cigarette stench was coming from the ashtray he’d left full of butt ends. He quickly emptied it outside.
Back inside, he slipped a Ryuichi Sakamoto CD into the stereo. The gentle, instrumental backdrop created a dreamlike mood.
‘The food was delicious tonight, didn’t you think so?’ said Haruka.
‘Yes, it was,’ Takashi replied. The scent of her familiar jasmine perfume filled him with desire.
She poured water into the kettle. ‘Do you have any biscuits or crackers?’ she asked.
‘Yes, I have some rice crackers,’ he said. He took some rice crackers from an open packet and put them on a plate on the coffee table.
‘Did you notice Yuriko had only one yakitori stick throughout the whole meal tonight?’ said Haruka.
‘I saw her pretending to eat. She kept playing with her food,’ Takashi replied. ‘What’s wrong with her?’
‘She has a serious problem. There’s lots of reasons she won’t eat,’ said Haruka.
‘Would you like to watch television?’ Takashi asked her. He wanted to change the subject. He knew that talking about Yuriko would only depress Haruka.
‘No, the music’s fine,’ Haruka replied softly. She’d finished making the tea and she handed him his cup.
‘Are you cold?’ asked Takashi. ‘I’ll turn on the kotatsu,’ he said.
Takashi flicked the switch on to heat up their feet. His toes were still numb from the taxi ride. The driver had kept the front passenger window slightly open in the car, and it hadn’t occurred to him to ask him to close it. Haruka nibbled on a rice cracker.
‘I was really impressed by the way you spoke English tonight,’ Takashi said to her.
‘You’re too kind,’ she said. ‘I don’t think my English is very good.’
Haruka finished her cracker and moved closer to him. She’d taken off her cardigan and the silk on her sleeve brushed against his right arm. Her signature scent of jasmine was more intoxicating than anything that he’d sipped earlier. He reached over to get her a cushion, but when he turned back to her, she was lying down, and she’d curled into a ball obviously falling asleep. Takashi gently placed the cushion under her head. Putting his arm around her shoulders, he pulled her towards him and kissed her cheek. She took his hand and squeezed it gently. He waited, hoping she would return his kiss, but she didn’t stir. They went to sleep. Takashi would have liked to take it further, but he was content just to hold her while she slept until the morning.
Takashi woke up at about ten a.m. and saw that he was alone. He looked at the nicotine-stained walls. Just a few hours earlier, they had been the only witness to his affections. Memories of the night before were so hazy. Being there with Haruka was like a dream. A note on the tab
le read:
“Thank you – I had a great time – love Haruka.”
He smiled, remembering how lovely it was to hold her all night.
An hour or two passed, and he decided to call Kenji to tell him the news about the previous night with Haruka. He was hoping he could share with him his ever-growing feeling towards her, but Kenji didn’t pick up his phone when he called. Of course, Takashi thought to himself, he was probably having lunch with his family. For a moment, he’d forgotten it was Sunday.
Takashi sent him a text message: “Everything went well with Haruka – did you stay at Akiko’s?”
Before long, Kenji sent a message back: “I’m happy it’s working out with Haruka. I was a bit tired of Akiko, so I took her straight home. I made sure Yuriko got home safely as well. I’m having lunch with the family now. Let’s speak soon.”
Takashi thought of his family enjoying their Sunday in Yokosuka. He’d been meaning to go and see them again for a while now. He decided that it would be best if he left it for a while. His father liked spending his Sundays sleeping off a busy week, and his mother would have felt obliged to cook for him if he’d shown up.
CHAPTER 14
A precipice in front, a wolf behind
It was just before nine p.m. on the thirty-first of December, the last night of the year. Takashi was sitting on the bottom step that led up to his apartment. He was waiting for Yuriko’s older brother to pick him up to take them all to Izu for their New Year’s celebration. The cold was brushing against his cheeks, but it felt good. He thought that he must have looked a bit silly sitting by himself all wrapped up in layers of clothing with a wide grin on his face. He was looking forward to spending several hours in the back of a BMW with Haruka next to him, as they were chauffeur-driven by Yuriko’s brother Taroo to the peninsula to watch the sunrise.
Soon a pair of bright headlights came towards him. Takashi jumped up and watched the white BMW approaching approvingly. Yuriko and her brother smiled at him from the front seats. He craned his neck to look for Haruka in the back. He was happy to see her sitting in the middle back seat. He’d been half afraid that she wouldn’t have been able to make it.
Tokyo Hearts: A Japanese Love Story Page 13