by Imari Jade
Kioshi quietly gathered up his pajamas, opened the adjoining door to their rooms and went to take a shower in Cristal’s room so he wouldn’t disturb her. Afterwards, he turned off the television and crawled into bed with her.
Cristal woke up and kissed him.
“What are you doing back so soon?” he asked her.
“I missed you,” Cristal said.
All the anger flew right out of him. Kioshi kissed her this time. “Welcome back,” he said. “I’ve missed you too.” He closed his eyes and went to sleep.
****
Satoshi was glad that Cristal had decided to make an early night of it. The party Yi-jun had talked them into attending was just a simple gathering of the cast from the movie he was working on. It had turned out pretty dull so Kenshin volunteered to drive Cristal back so she could rest.
But that didn’t stop the rest of them from checking out some of Barcelona’s popular night spots. They ended up at a small club that wasn’t too crowded. They were in disguise but they still drew a lot of attention, probably by being the only Japanese guys in the building. The club specialized in rhythm and blues music. The band on stage had a great sound and they sang in both Spanish and English. Satoshi had a few nojitos and found a couple of lovely ladies to dance with before they decided to leave.
The next club they went to featured soul music. They drunk a couple more nojitos and other cocktails and they all got a chance to get on the floor and dance some more.
Satoshi decided to go use the men’s room.
“Wait, I’ll go with you,” Yi-jun said. “Sorry about the party being so dull.”
“It got us out of the hotel room,” Satoshi said. “How long are you going to be in town?”
“I’m leaving in the morning,” Yi-jun said.
Satoshi entered the stall and Yi-jun entered the one next to his. They both exited around the same time and met at the sink. Yi-jun’s cell phone buzzed with a message while he washed his hands. He pulled it out of his pocket and put it on the sink so he could dry his hands.
Satoshi looked down at the display. The message was from Akemi. It buzzed again with a message telling Yi-jun that she had arrived in Barcelona safely. That really pissed him off since her father hadn’t allowed her to accompany him on tour. If Yi-jun knew Akemi hadn’t accompanied him to Spain, why did he ask about her earlier? Yi-jun was the type of person who could fuck with you with a serious face.
Yi-jun tossed the paper towel into the can and picked up the phone. He texted something back while Satoshi dried his hands. Yi-jun’s facial expression didn’t change, nor did he look bothered that he was texting the young woman Satoshi was dating. “I better get back to my hotel. I’m expecting a guest.”
“Where are you staying?” Satoshi asked.
“At the Waldorf.”
That was the same hotel they were staying at. No wonder Yi-jun knew so much about their itinerary. “Okay,” Satoshi said. “I’ll tell the others that you have to leave.” Yi-jun had been driving around in a rental car so he didn’t need Kenshin to take him back.
“I’ll see you the next time I’m in Osaka,” Yi-jun said, bumping fists with him.
“Okay,” Satoshi said to him. But he didn’t mean it. He was growing tired of Yi-jun and his antics, and if Akemi showed up at the hotel that was the end of their friendship too. Of all the women in the world Satoshi couldn’t understand why Yi-jun felt the need to only mess with the one’s he was interested in.
Yi-jun left the men’s room first and Satoshi followed a minute or so later. He walked back to the table and told the others that Yi-jun had left.
“Maybe we should leave too,” Yori said. “Because Masaaki has a lot of things planned for us to do later.”
“Yeah,” Satoshi said. But he just wanted to get back to the hotel for another reason. He didn’t know if Yi-jun was picking Akemi up at the airport or if she would take a cab. But he planned on being there to see her.
Akemi arrived by taxi about an hour after Aomori had returned to the hotel. She came with a large piece of luggage and Yi-jun met her in the lobby. Satoshi hung in the shadows so they couldn’t see him. The two lovers kissed passionately when they met, and then Yi-jun took her towards the elevator and probably up to his room after that. Satoshi knew that Akemi didn’t have a reservation under her name because she hadn’t stopped at the desk to check in.
That did it for him. His relationship with her and friendship with Yi-jun had finally come to an end. He came out of hiding and headed for the elevator. He rode up to his floor. Check out for Yi-jun would be at ten in the morning. Satoshi planned to be back down in the lobby when he left.
Satoshi went downstairs the following morning and waited until Yi-jun and Akemi appeared at the registration desk. Akemi had her hair pulled back in a pony-tail and wearing a different outfit than she had on earlier this morning when she arrived.
Satoshi waited until Yi-jun had checked out and then followed them outside.
“Hello, Akemi.”
Both Akemi and Yi-jun looked surprised to see him.
“What are you doing here?” Akemi asked him.
“I was about to ask you the same thing,” Satoshi said.
She couldn’t think of a lie fast enough.
“You wouldn’t accompany me on tour, but you could find a way to fly to Spain to be with Yi-jun.”
“It’s not what you think,” Yi-jun said to him.
“Then what is it?” Satoshi asked.
Yi-jun couldn’t think of a quick excuse either.
“Exactly,” Satoshi said. “She flew in to see you because the two of you have been having an affair behind my back for a long time. And the bad part about this is that both of you are so selfish that you probably don’t think what you’re doing is wrong. It’s over.” Satoshi turned to walk away.
“Wait,” Yi-jun called out after him. “I’ll call you later.”
“Don’t bother,” Satoshi said to him. “Our friendship is over too.”
Cristal stood in the lobby, watching the whole thing. “So you finally caught them.”
Satoshi nodded. He and Cristal had discussed this at Harper’s New Year’s Eve party a year or so ago. That was before she went public with her relationship with Kioshi. Satoshi sighed. He had such rotten luck with women.
“Look at it this way,” Cristal said. “At least you’re free to date other women now.”
They watched Yi-jun and Akemi drive away in the rental car.
“It’s going to be so funny when Akemi’s father really finds out the truth about Yi-jun,” Satoshi said.
“Some of us had to find out the hard way,” Cristal said as they walked toward the restaurant where they were meeting their friends for breakfast.
“Sorry,” Satoshi said. “I thought I was doing a nice thing for a friend. Instead, it turned out to be one of the biggest mistakes of my life.”
“Yeah, I know. It was my fault too. I was just trying to make you jealous enough to tell me that you loved me, but you never did.”
“I wanted to,” Satoshi said. “But something kept stopping me.”
“That’s because you are still in love with Shaundra.”
Satoshi nodded. “I just don’t know why I can’t let her go.”
“Because you’re stubborn,” Cristal said.
“Yeah, I keep hoping that Shaundra will divorce Ichiro so I can finally have her.”
“And what if that never happens?” Cristal asked.
“Then I will marry your daughter,” Satoshi teased.
“What makes you think I’m carrying a girl?”
“Because Shaundra had the boys and we need a little girl to spoil.” He paused. “When are you going to tell Kioshi he’s going to be a father?”
Cristal shrugged. “I don’t know. I’m so scared. Something like this could mess up his career. You know how the fan girls love him.”
“It’s his baby too, Cristal. Don’t make a decision without him.”
****
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Hiroyuki had to put his hand over Izanagi’s mouth to keep him from saying anything when the two of them overheard the conversation between Cristal and Satoshi just now. Kioshi had sent them to spy on Cristal since she wasn’t in his or her suite when he woke up this morning. And they had heard way too much. Cristal was pregnant by Kioshi and he didn’t know a thing about it. Hot damn. There was finally some excitement attached to their tour. So far it had been mediocre at best and mainly because Aomori were acting like adults and not getting into any trouble.
He drug Izanagi away before they could be spotted. “You have to promise me that you won’t say a thing to anyone. Not even Ki.”
The elevator door opened and he pushed Izanagi inside.
“No wonder she’s been sick for a long time,” Izanagi said after the doors closed. “Kioshi is going to be so excited.”
“We can’t tell him,” Hiroyuki warned. “It’s Cristal’s secret and she should be the one who tells him.”
“Like your secret?” Izanagi asked.
Izanagi meant his homosexual relationship with Shiro. Hiroyuki nodded. “Sometimes things are best left unsaid.”
“I understand,” Izanagi said. “But I am still so happy for them.” He paused. “I wonder why she hasn’t told him yet. Do you suppose she’s thinking about not having it?”
Izanagi might not look it, but he was very smart.
Hiroyuki nodded. “It is a big decision. Cristal is older than he is and you heard her say that it might hurt his career.”
“I think the fans will love him even more,” Izanagi said. “They will love the fact that someone so young conquered the Amazon princess.” The elevator door opened on their floor. “What are we going to tell him when he asked what we saw?”
“We’re going to tell him about Akemi and Yi-jun Lee. What a tramp. She flew all the way to Barcelona to be with Yi-jun and to cheat on Satoshi.” Hiroyuki chuckled. “It’s always so much better when it’s happening to Aomori and not us.”
“You’re so mean,” Izanagi said as they walked toward their rooms.
“I’ll see you at breakfast,” Hiroyuki said.
Izanagi waved goodbye and entered his room.
Hiroyuki entered his and found Shiro waiting for him dressed in only a towel. Hiroyuki put the Do Not Disturb sign on the door, closed it and then locked it securely.
Chapter Ten
Tricia was all packed up by the time Kevin showed up at her door. Both of them wore blue jeans, short-sleeved T-shirts and tennis shoes for their outing. The cab that had brought Kevin over waited for them at the curb. Kevin helped her put her luggage in the trunk next to his and they climbed inside. The taxi took them to the Osaka station in the Umeda district. Kevin paid the driver and they rolled their luggage inside of the recently remodeled station.
Tricia looked around. The station had a large glass roof which gave the place a lot of light and made it feel huge. Inside, there was a lot of little shops where travelers could eat, shop or have some recreation while they waited for their train to arrive. She and Kevin peeped inside the window of one of the department stores on the north side. “We’ll just have to come here one of these days and shop,” Tricia said to Kevin.
There was even a healing garden just right outside the lobby that offered a small space and beautiful views to anyone who ventured out and sat on some of the benches to relax.
They would be traveling to the southern part of Osaka to Sumiyoshi Taisha first. So they had to take the Nankai Main Line and then transfer to another train at the Nankai Namba station. The ride would be less than ten minutes and cost about two-hundred and ten yen. Kevin wanted to take her to visit a couple of temples and Tricia couldn’t wait to see them.
Their train finally arrived and they had to stand with their luggage because the seats were all taken. Tricia didn’t mind. She often rode public transportation back in New York when Kevin was too busy to chauffer her around. After reaching their destination they boarded another cab that took them to their hotel. They checked in, went up to store their luggage and were back out the door to pick up the car Kevin had rented for them. Their first stop—the Sumiyoshi Grand Shrine. Kevin had picked up a couple of pamphlets and would act as tour guide for her.
“This is supposed to be one of Japan’s oldest shrines,” Kevin said as they walked around the red and white structure. “It’s from the third century.”
Tricia liked the Japanese structures with their straight roofs and forked finials. The entrance was under a gable and the place was surrounded by a wooden fence.
“These Shinto gods are supposed to protect travelers, fishermen, and sailors at sea,” Kevin continued.
“That would explain why they’re so close to the harbor,” Tricia said.
They walked through the four main halls of the shrine along with some other visitors and kind of eavesdropped on the conversations when they talked about the shrine’s history. Outside they crossed a beautiful Saruhashi Bridge which formed an arch over a little pond.
Osaka Castle was next on their list. There were a lot of people there too. The castle, Tricia learned, had been destroyed and rebuilt a couple of times and was recently updated in the late 1990s. The castle now housed an informative museum about its history. The castle’s exterior was surrounded by a brick wall, secondary citadels, gates and moats. They also got a chance to visit the Nishinomaru Gardens, with its six-hundred cherry trees, a tea house and the former Osaka Guest House.
“This is a popular spot during the cherry-blossom season,” Kevin said. “But we just missed it in April.”
“My mother told me that she fell in love with Ichiro beneath a cherry-blossom tree,” Tricia told Kevin as they walked.
Kevin pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose. “Really?”
Tricia nodded. “It’s the tree in the side-yard at the farmhouse.”
“I often wonder why they call it that,” Kevin said. “They’re not farmers and there aren’t any crops there.”
Tricia shrugged. “Who knows why they do half of the things that they do?”
They sat down beneath a cherry tree to rest.
“I’d like to come here when the cherry blossoms are in bloom,” Tricia said. “I bet it is so pretty.”
“I’ll put it in my calendar to bring you back here next April, if you’re still in Osaka.”
“Why wouldn’t I be?” Tricia asked.
“I know you only came here to be with my brother.”
“That’s not true,” Tricia said. “I missed my mother too.” She paused. “Damien came to see me the other night.”
“I know. You texted me, remember? What happened?” Kevin asked.
“He wants me to apologize to Barbara.”
“What? The woman started with you,” Kevin said. “My brother is an asshole.”
Tricia nodded. “I refused and then we argued and he stormed out of the house.”
“You didn’t run after him?” Kevin asked.
“Hell no,” Tricia said smiling. “I’m not wrong about this. If he’s too stupid to see Barbara for who she really is, he is welcome to have her.”
Kevin stood up and helped Tricia off the ground. “I’m hungry. Let’s go find a good place to eat.”
They ended up in a little restaurant near their next stop at the Shitennoji temple. The waitresses were friendly and they didn’t have to wait too long for the meal. The atmosphere reminded Tricia a lot of the one back at the Yoshida Restaurant. There were a lot of families eating together and soft Japanese music played in the background. They ate miso soup and a combination of fried rice. Kevin didn’t want to fill up because they still had a lot of walking to do and places to see. They both had tea to go with their meal.
The Shitennoji was another old temple and the first one built by the state. The main buildings too had burned down a couple of times throughout the centuries but had been rebuilt. They toured the outside area first and entered the Gokuraku-jodo Garden. It felt like paradise surrounded by l
ush greenery and streams and more cherry blossom trees. Kevin took a picture of her as she sat down on a bench beneath one of them.
“What are you doing?” Tricia asked.
“Making memories,” Kevin explained. “You need something to show your children.”
“What children?” Tricia asked as she stood up.
“The ones you’re going to have some day.”
Tricia chuckled. “So not going to happen.”
“Don’t you want kids?” Kevin asked.
“Sure, but I planned to have them with Damien. Things are looking pretty bleak now.”
“It’s not like he’s the only man on this earth,” Kevin said as they walked.
“Okay, let’s make a plan,” Tricia said. “If I’m not married to Damien by the time I turn thirty, then you and I will start a family.”
“What happens if I’m married by then?” Kevin asked.
Tricia chuckled. “Then I’ll be your child’s godmother.”
“You can always be my woman on the side,” Kevin said.
“No way,” Tricia said. “You know I don’t like sharing.”
They got in line and entered the temple with the rest of the tourists and visitors.
Their day ended with a stop off at Minoh Park in a forested valley on the outskirts of Osaka.
“This is supposed to be the best place to see the leaves change color in the fall,” Kevin said as he found a parking spot.
“But it isn’t fall,” Tricia reminded him.
“Use your imagination,” Kevin said as they got out of the car.
Tricia was glad that she wore tennis shoes because it was here where they had to do even more walking and climbing hills. They joined some other visitors on the main hiking trail and walked three miles through a valley along the Minoh River. Tricia didn’t mind the trek because she needed some exercise. And the Minoh Waterfall was simply breathtaking. It was thirty-three miles high and the park’s natural main attraction. It had taken about forty-five minutes to arrive there and well worth the trip. They had passed by several other temple buildings along the way. Kevin took every opportunity to take a picture of her. Tricia, in return, pulled out her camera and took pictures of him. And they got one of the other people with them to take a couple of pictures of her and Kevin together too. They made the trek back down, got into the car and headed for the hotel.
