Chapter Seventeen #2
“When one of us gets up in time. It’s never Amy, as you might have guessed.
I’ve always been an early riser, even during summer break.
I’m gonna miss the guy when I head off to college, so I’m kinda making the most of him.
How are things? Haven’t seen you for a few days.
You been able to get out to see everything you want to? ”
“Yeah, I guess so. I’m working my way through my hit list.”
“I’m sorry I haven’t been a great host until now, I’ve been catching up with all my buddies before college starts in the fall. I will be better, I promise.”
“Oh don’t worry. It must be super weird having me, some stranger, staying in your house. I don’t want to get in your way.” Her cheeks started to color from embarrassment, but she tried to hold his gaze.
“Nah, we’ve done that sort of thing before.
We get sent off by my folks to old friends in this place and that, and you just need to turn on the charm, right?
And be polite and then they just kind of let you do what you want.
Isn’t that what you’re doing?” He winked at her and cocked his head to the side.
A couple her parents’ age waved to Ryo, calling something out in Japanese. Ryo turned, took his glasses off, and bowed as he responded in Japanese.
“Are you feeling awkward with us?” he asked as he switched his attention back to her.
“No, I don’t think I do. It’s just like I’m subletting a room or whatever, isn’t it?”
“Right. Sure. I guess I never thought of it that way. Well, some of us are going out tomorrow night and you should come out too. It’ll be way more fun than the last time. So come along.”
“I don’t know, I guess…”
“Leave it with me, okay? Shinpai shinaide. That means don’t worry about it.”
“Okay, sure. How’s Amy? I haven’t seen her the last couple days.”
“Good, I think. I haven’t seen her either.
She’s seeing some guy I think. Her summer romance probably.
I didn’t like that bar I picked you up from the other night, Bar Zero Zero?
I know Amy likes to go there with Mona, but I get a weird, seedy vibe from there.
I’ve told her. Don’t go there again, okay? ”
“Okay.” She felt a rush of pleasure at the thought of him looking out for her safety.
“Oh yeah, have you been to the fish market yet?”
“No, I haven’t. I’m kind of nervous to go alone.”
“No no, we’ll go. It’s best to go after you’re out one night. And then you can see the awesome auctions and eat the best sushi for breakfast. The food is nothing like you’ve ever tasted. Are you good with sushi?”
“I think so.”
“All right, I gotta go. See you tomorrow.” He kissed her on both cheeks and she mistimed the turn of her face. He laughed and ran in the other direction, whistling for Genji, who charged after him, jumping up in the air with joy.
The monks walked out slowly to the front of the shrine, acknowledging the visitors with a quick bow of the head.
They shuffled in socked feet, soundless, across the floorboards.
Their heads were shaved, shining beneath the glint of the metal bell above them.
The sun’s beams were almost blinding as they bounced off the bell in strobes like lasers.
Kit washed her hands in the water barrel at the foot of the stone steps.
She ran the cool water over her wrists a few times over, had to stop herself from splashing her hot face with it, and walked up to stand under the arched shrine front.
She gathered the coins from her pockets.
Their worth was still unclear to her, but she threw them into the rectangular box, clapped her hands, and felt droplets flick back into her face.
She looked around to see if she had splashed anyone else.
What was she praying for? For Ryo to message her?
For Dave to realize she was gone? For college to start, but nothing to change?
To find out about her birth mother? What was she hoping to find in Tokyo?
Just as he had said he would, the next day, Ryo arranged the evening and her tour of the Toyosu Fish Market.
He warned his parents they wouldn’t be home until morning.
She wondered whether the Buchanans would tell her mother about her staying out all night with their son.
It seemed like something Sally should know.
But this time it was different. Kit was by Ryo’s side all night, and the friends he’d invited along were always at their periphery—or so it seemed.
He was attentive in the same way he was in his own home the night of the party.
When they sat down at a table in the bar, he wiped down the surface of the table and pulled the chair out for her to sit on.
Small plates of food were ordered and put in the middle of the table, but she had no appetite.
Sabrina would have said Your heart is full, Kitso.
The music was loud but Ryo took care of ordering and always leaned in to speak in her ear.
When he returned with drinks, she watched the effect he had on the people around him.
She thought she saw most women cast a furtive glance toward him.
It made the hairs on her neck spring up when he touched her arm or playfully threw his arm around her.
He was her host and maybe something more.
By 3:00 a.m., Amy had still not joined them.
“She’s probably just fallen asleep. She looked so tired this morning,” he said, glancing at his Tag Heuer watch. “Another drink?”
Kit had already asked Ryo’s friend what his name was twice and forgotten it again, so she couldn’t ask anymore, but the girl was Donna.
Kit could remember this because Donna had taken a visceral dislike to her.
She was slight, with wavy, shoulder-length hair and a small button nose.
She drank a lot, always ordered the same vodka soda with ice and lemon, and swirled her straw in the liquid, lifting it and sucking on the end while staring at Ryo.
When Ryo would touch Kit’s arm during a story, she sucked on the straw for longer, eyes open, shifting from curiosity to the colder edges of a glare.
Donna giggled with her hand over her mouth when Ryo or his friend whose name Kit couldn’t remember joked, but Donna’s eyes stayed still and cold whenever Kit spoke.
Her responses to Kit’s questions were single words and were never reciprocated with another question.
It’s your turn now to ask something, Kit thought as she looked at Donna with expectation and then gave up.
“We’re gonna go to this last bar, then we’ll head to the market, okay? I’m going to get some cigarettes. Come with me?” Ryo said to Kit. She nodded and accepted his hand when he reached for hers.
The streetlights outside the club were still bright, and she needed to squint to get used to the light. His grip on her hand was firm, and she felt him leading her with purpose toward the convenience store. Kit worried that her palms were getting sweaty.
“You okay there?” he asked.
“I’m fine. It’s just the lights. The bar is so dark, you know?” Kit could taste the vodka in the back of her throat and the sweetness of the Coke starting to turn bitter. She was conscious of the alcohol on her breath.
“Do you have any gum?” she asked.
“Sure. Here.” He passed her a packet with his other hand. He always seemed to be chewing gum, and even though he’d been smoking Mild Sevens, she could faintly smell the aftershave on his clothes.
“Let’s get a Pocari Sweat or something. It helps you hydrate,” he said.
They crossed the road, and she wondered whether the girls who passed, giggling as they looked at him, assumed she was with him. She pulled her blouse up at the front and wished she’d worn a better bra, not this plain white one.
The electric bell sounded as they walked into the convenience store, and she heard the welcome announcement in Japanese over the intercom.
“I love these stores so much. All these cute snacks, they’re just full of so many weird and wonderful things,” she said, hovering around the busy packaging of the sweet section.
“Oh man, you have to try these. They’re the best,” he said and picked up a packet of candy with HI-CHEW written across the pink and purple packaging.
“You like candy?” she asked, surprised.
“Oh yeah, and Japanese candy is the best, seriously. Although I love Reese’s Pieces too.”
“I should have brought you some.”
“Well, we can gorge on them when I’m there for college and we meet up, ’kay?” He was paying at the counter, and the girl behind the cashier stared at both of them.
“Deal,” Kit replied quietly and wished she knew what to say. But her mind was blank.
She thought of their friendship extending beyond the summer and tried to picture him in Chestnut Hill.
What would Sabrina say if she saw Ryo? His dark eyes, the way his biceps bulged out of the polo he wore, the collar flicked up.
He was so different from any boy they had known at CHA.
His hands were dry, nails perfectly clean and short, and suntanned.
She thought of them on her body for a moment and felt herself clench her thighs.
She followed him out of the store, looking at the packet of sweets he’d handed her, and as they walked across the street, he held her hand again.
His jeans hung by his hip bones, and she wanted to find him too short.
She searched for something to repulse her, to make her distant and detached from him in some way. But she found nothing.
He ordered shots back at the bar where his friends were waiting for them.
She licked the salt off her hand and threw it back, sucking on the lemon for as long as possible to clear away the taste of cheap tequila.
She danced and sweated through her blouse, her makeup melted away.
They walked out of the club at four in the morning into a dark night.
Ryo, his two friends, Donna, and Kit walked through the deserted streets.
Kit looked up at the windows of what must have been apartments and thought of the people sleeping inside.
Her feet hurt as they walked and walked, and she swigged at her bottle of water.
Soon, the others were ahead of them on the broad boulevards of Minami Azabu.
Ryo pulled her back and put his hands around her face.
His mouth was soft against hers; the mint and his aftershave lingered in her own mouth.
His tongue pressed into her mouth, gently at first, then more insistent.
She allowed herself to lean into his chest. She felt herself rising above, looking down on herself with him; it didn’t matter who was there, who walked past. There were only the two of them at that moment.
He kissed her mouth again, his hands on her collarbones, her face.
“I had to do it before we get to the market.” He kissed her hand, and she followed.