Chapter 73
Transfer
Elyna sat at the kitchen table, the scent from an oversteeped Earl Grey greeting her as she settled.
Her mother’s posture was tense, her expression controlled. A ray of light caught a strand of silver threading through Katrine’s blond hair, a testament to the years rolling past. Elyna took a sip of her teacup and bit back a grimace; the air was so charged that she knew something was coming.
Do not show weakness, even if her tea can peel paint.
“I’ve spoken to my HR,” her mother said, her voice as frosty as the shores she was born on. “I’m being transferred to Boston to manage a new section on mycotherapy. We’re leaving in June.”
Elyna’s heart missed a beat. Then another. Leaving Japan… Leaving? The words hung between them. Her fingers tightened around the teacup as her stomach sank. She blinked, her brain refusing to process the very idea of packing her suitcases, leaving it all behind.
“What?” Perhaps if she asked again, the words would start to make sense.
“They didn’t renew your contract, right?”
As usual, Katrine’s speech went straight for the wound.
Anxiety rose, unbidden, reminding Elyna that even though the Vice Principal had promised her a future in the kōkō, he’d not approached her yet.
The school year was just officially finishing; the pace was brutal when it came to logistics. Surely it would…
“Katayū-sensei said—”
“Perhaps, but that place is not good for growth anyway,” her mother snapped. She lifted her cup to her lips, as if this were a trifle item on the agenda.
Elyna sprang out of her seat, the chair screeching against the wooden floor. She winced at the noise, and planted her hands on the table. The furniture was solid underneath her palms, a stable anchor. “Mum, no. I can’t … why? Why now?”
Her mother pursed her lips and set her teacup down. Those calculating clear eyes pierced Elyna through and through. “You’re wasted here. We could plan a brilliant career for you. You’ve got time to catch up for a private university, you could go into…”
The possibilities were drowned by the roaring in Elyna’s ears. The truth suddenly exploded with devastating clarity. Katrine never intended to stay. Like a strategist, she had uprooted her from the cottage while pulling strings to extract them both from Japan.
Does my hard work not matter at all?
Elyna bit back tears. The words caught in her throat and she yowled her frustration. The cry surprised Katrine; cold blue eyes blinked at her, uncomprehending. “It’s not like you can stay here your whole life…”
The casual dismissal felt like a slap. “Why ever not? I love it here!” She was almost screaming now, the words torn from her chest, raw and desperate. Katrine seemed taken aback, as if the idea was so preposterous that it never registered in her mind.
“Loving it and making a life are different things, right? I loved Italy, and so did you.” She looked destabilised by Elyna’s emotional outburst, but unable to understand it. The business woman reached out, hand extending clumsily to grab her daughter’s. But Elyna was too enraged to allow it.
Ten years. I’ve chatted everyone’s ear off for ten bloody years.
Where was her mother when she excitedly talked about the Hanami? About manga and the Boshin War? When she’d gushed over her temple visit in Hokkaidō, and the Kendō nationals, and… Had she ever listened?
“I want to stay. I want to become an English teacher here, perhaps a literature assistant.”
Disapproval descended upon her mother’s features. “Don’t be ridiculous, Elyna. You’re intelligent. You should switch to science, or engineering. Something that pays well. You need a career out there, not … this.”
This. Something you can spit in people’s faces.
Elyna’s heart hammered against her ribs as panic set in, grabbing her insides and wringing them raw. “No!” her voice cracked. “I’m not leaving. This is where I want to be.”
“Out of the question.” The words fell like a guillotine. A sharp cut to the future she’d been working so hard to build. Elyna felt her heart shatter in a thousand pieces, but she couldn’t see a way out.
The walls of the flat closed in, suffocating. Trapped. She needed to…
“Elyna…”
She grabbed her bag from the sofa, hands shaking as she checked for her phone. Her mother’s voice followed her, sharp with concern, but Elyna was already out the door. The sound of footsteps echoed behind her, urgent. Probably Katrine snapping into action.
But she couldn’t stay here, with that decision hanging over her head.
I need to get out. Breathe. Breathe. I can’t. God, it hurts.
An Hour Later
The flat door closed behind them ominously, the gloomy silence that had settled between them replaced by music others might have called noise. Her head snapped up, eyes stinging, but mind clearing.
“Isn’t that… Maiden’s Senjutsu?” she breathed in awe. The irony didn’t escape her. Iron Maiden, British extraordinaire, had delved into the samurai legends in their last album.
Kazuki sent her a helpless look; he’d rushed in the streets to intercept her after receiving her call. Heedless of disapproving looks, he’d held her close while she expelled her sorrow before they reached his building. His expression betrayed how helpless he felt, right now.
“Oi, mate,” came a voice from the kitchen. “it’s your turn to…”
They both turned to find Fujimoto standing there, wearing a heavy metal t-shirt that had seen better days. His features fell when he spotted Elyna’s state, and Kazuki’s long face. “Something wrong?”
Elyna exhaled slowly to try and loosen the familiar knot in her chest; in her back, a warm hand guided her gently to the kitchen counter.
“Eriksen-san has decided to move to the States with her daughter in tow.”
In tow. Hauled like cargo, again. The wording fits.
A humourless laugh burst from the physics teacher. “Oh, fuck that.”
Elyna blinked, eyes wide. She’d just barged in without any manners. Wiping the mess of tears from her face with her sleeve, she bowed. “Gomen nasai, Fujimoto-sensei.”
The man scoffed derisively. “None of that. Sit, kid.”
“It’s alright, Elyna.” Kazuki guided her to a chair, settling next to her. Fujimoto plopped on the seat across from her as a kiss landed at her temple, a tender gesture that calmed her mind. “I’m sorry for barging in there,” she apologised. “I felt like I couldn’t breathe in that flat.”
“I get it,” Fujimoto retorted. “Sometimes we need to take a little distance to think more clearly.”
Kazuki offered to brew tea, and she could only nod, mind spiralling downwards again. What to do, against the iceberg that was her mother? Like an ice floe, she would drift across continents, taking her family with her whether they wanted it or not.
The only way out was to jump into the dark waters of the arctic. The whistle of the boiler screeched as Fujimoto watched her, head supported by a nonchalant hand. Behind his thick glasses, he saw way too much.
“So, what did she say?” he asked.
“That I should go into science. Or something that pays more than teaching.”
Fujimoto straightened so fast that she feared for his spine.
“Something that pays more?! Oh, fuck those assholes! These damn engineers and businessmen, looking down their noses at teachers like we’re some kind of pest. Like we don’t fucking shape people!
They wouldn’t be engineers if we weren’t here in the first place, teaching them about freaking Kepler when they can’t align two equations! ”
“Shin,” Kazuki scolded his flatmate, probably appalled. But Elyna found Fujimoto’s anger inspiring.
A cup of green tea landed in her hands; she took a deep whiff of it, savouring its fragrance.
It was Kazuki’s Mao Feng, a blend that brought her solace.
She almost snorted in her cup: the British lady had turned fully Japanese, ditching black tea for soothing green.
Nothing to do with the amino acids that Kazuki once mentioned.
A steady hand returned to her back. Fujimoto’s gaze blazed. “Listen to me, kid. You wanna be a teacher? You be a teacher. You’re a goddamn natural, you know that? Katayū-kun says you’re brilliant at supporting him and he doesn’t just hand out praise like that.”
“OK?” A beat of silence stretched between them; Elyna took a long, calming sip. Is it really possible? “I don’t even know where to start,” was her gloomy response, almost like a pouty teenager.
Fujimoto’s voice was stern. “Are you going to give up before you even tried?” A challenge burnt in his eyes. One that said are you going to give up on my friend too? Kazuki’s hand splayed wide across her spine, a gesture of silent support. Elyna’s tongue was stuck, hackles rising at the accusation.
“Every decision is your own,” Fujimoto pressed.
She let out a bitter laugh that sounded absolutely disrespectful. “It’s not that simple.”
“Yeah, I know. But what is, huh?” His easy surrender surprised her.
Folding himself over the kitchen table, the man trapped her in his dark gaze.
“Look, just make it realistic. If you want to stay here, you gotta plan for it. Figure out what you need, where you’d go, how you’d live. Hold a budget, stuff like that.”
Numbers. He was talking numbers, and logistics. A hand grabbed hers, squeezing tight. As if he held fast enough, she might not slip through his fingers.
“Listen, Elyna,” Kazuki started, calling both their attention. “If you have to go… I’ll wait for you.”
Eyes stinging, she looked up. Confused. What was he saying? She caught a mighty frown on Fujimoto’s face; Kazuki ignored him, trapping her in his earnest gaze.
“I mean it. If you need to leave for a few years and build a career overseas, I’ll be here when you come back. We’ll make it work, Lyna.”
Fujimoto huffed, and Kazuki held up a hand to stall him. Awaiting her answer. Jaw agape, Elyna stared and stared. He was thirty years old, for God’s sake! How long did he expect to wait? What if she never came back? Elyna glared, eyes filling with fury.