Nearly one year has passed
since Hayato's and Kristal's night of passion.
He's a billionaire.
He can have any woman he wants.
So why can't he get that
BBE (big beautiful elf)
out of his head?
HAYATO
The first day of Christmas
When I step into the elevator of our GoNoToRobo Shiba district headquarters, George Michael, though dead, is still complaining about the poor decisions he made with his heart last Christmas.
I met Kristal in January, not last Christmas. But for the first time, I find myself sympathizing with his yearly lament. At least it’s not “California Dreamin’”—
Oh hell, I’m thinking of her again. For what feels like the millionth time this year, I have to forcibly re-direct my thoughts from that incredible one-night-stand. I push the memory of Kristal’s sweet, shy smile out of my mind and start making mental notes for this morning’s stand-up meeting with my brother, Norio, and our GoNoToRobo co-founder, Go Rodriguez.
Go is the Chief Technical Officer of our co-founded enterprise, while I’m the CEO, and my brother, No, is the president. But those are merely titles, and none of us bother to adhere to them during our weekly Tuesday stand-up, which is technically Monday for my brother since Tokyo is seventeen hours in front of Portland, where my brother runs our U.S. offices.
Tuesdays are usually the worse part of this job since I must get up early to make it to Go’s office by five a.m. But I believe today’s meeting should go fairly fast since Go is from the States. Christmas is more of a fun, cutesy event day for the mostly non-Christian Japanese. Many school children have the day off, but it’s not considered a national holiday like New Year is. Go and I decided to give our mostly Japanese, Korean, Chinese, and Indian workers from December 30th to January 3rd off, with the option to use December 25th as a vacation day for Go and the other Western members of our company.
Go was technically off today. But he’d decided to come into the office anyway, this morning for our meeting with Norio. He’d said he also wanted to get a few things squared away with his stateside locations while it was still Christmas Eve over there before they all went dark on Christmas Day. But I’m sure Go will be eager to return home to his wife, Nyla, and their three daughters. Well, not sure of it. With Go, it’s often hard to tell whether he’s doing something out of real desire or because it’s already been outlined in one of his infamous plans. But either way, this meeting is only scheduled to go until 5:30 a.m., and I doubt today’s agenda involves letting it extend much beyond that.
Chris, the blond assistant Go brought over with him from Portland, must have decided to take the day off, as well. His usual post is abandoned when I arrive in Go’s office, leaving me free to go right in, which I decide to do when I see his open door.
I’m a couple of minutes early, but maybe we can call Norio now and get the morning’s business out of the way so that Go can return home to his Christmas morn—
I stop short in the open doorway, my heart freezing…then dropping to my feet.
At first, I simply stare, unable to believe the image I’m seeing on the computer monitor, which sits on a desk directly behind the man Go is currently meeting with via the prototype of the touchscreen wall we plan to launch to market in the coming year.
I don’t recognize the man speaking about some engineering problem too technical for me to understand just in passing. He’s most likely someone from Go Robotics or GoX, the two other companies Go founded, on his way to becoming a tech billionaire. But I do recognize one of the two black women in the picture on the man’s monitor.
It’s Kristal. Kristal Kringle!
She has a drum strapped around her neck, and she’s wearing a pair of manga character leggings and a red top as opposed to a holly green dress and biker shorts, but other than that, she looks exactly the way I remember her, including the elf hat on top of her head. She doesn’t seem to want the camera’s attention. The woman standing beside her beams and makes a heart with her hands while Kristal smiles shyly with her eyes cast downward.
It’s the same smile that’s been haunting me since January.
My mouth dries, and memories of that night flood through my mind as I come further into Go’s office without knocking to ask, “Who is that? Who is that woman on your computer screen?”
The man startles and turns to look over his shoulder…just as the image fades to one of just him and the woman who was beaming in the last photo. She’s smiling brightly in this one, too. This time on the opposite side of a tandem bike stopped on the San Francisco Bay Bridge. But she’s no longer wearing an elf hat.
“Ah, that’s my wife, actually,” the man answered. “We took that trip shortly after I asked her to marry—”
“No, not that woman. The one in the picture before that, the other woman in the elf hat,” I say impatiently, cutting him off again and probably killing any overall impression he has of the Japanese as an unfailingly polite people.
The man blinks, looking a bit baffled, but answers, “Oh, if she was wearing an elf hat, then it was most likely one of my wife’s innumerous cousins—speaking of which, I should ring off. I told my wife I’d help her prepare for tomorrow night’s holiday party with her family. But Go, I’ll send you a full report on that propulsion issue as soon as we’re back from break after the new year. And Mr. Nakamura, it was an honor to meet you, even briefly. We here at GoX very much admire the work coming out of GoNoToRobo. Real cutting edge stuff. If you’re ever in San Francisco, please let me know, and perhaps we might meet up for drinks.”
“Thank you for your invitation,” I answer. “But would you mind telling me more about your wife’s cousin? Is her name—”
The screen suddenly blinks to black.
What in the…
My eyes cut over to Go, who has his mobile out and, apparently, used it to kill the call.
“Why…why did you do that?” I demand, anger and confusion coursing through me.
Go looks to the side as if he’s not quite sure I’m asking him a serious question. “Because small talk with my Chief Project Manager isn’t in today’s plan,” he answers, his voice its usual monotone.
Usually, I don’t mind how impolite Go is by both Japanese and American standards. But today…
“I needed more information from…” I struggle, then have to ask, “May I have his name? I must get in contact with him.”
“Hugh Edgeworth,” Go supplies. “But why do you need to get in contact with him? None of our GoNoTo projects require propulsion or a metals skill set.”
I can all but hear my father’s voice in my head, commanding me to let this go, lest I shame myself in front of an important business associate—a Western one at that. But another wave of stomach-twisting desperation courses through me as I reply, “Go-san, please, it is a long story. May I have his contact information?”
“Yes,” Go answers.
I bow. “Thank—”
“After our stand-up with No.”
Blast. Not until after the meeting with my brother (whose Western friends call him No), I’ll need to call Go’s assistant at home to get the number for Hugh’s work phone.
Fortunately, Chris does not seem bothered to be contacted at home early on Christmas Day.
“Would you like me to put you through?” Chris asks in near-perfect Japanese, as accommodating to sudden and strange requests as Go is not—which is probably why the famously awkward tech billionaire brought him over with him to Tokyo.
“Dôzo arigato,” I answer, my heart beating wildly in my chest as I give him the go-ahead.
Only to have Chris return to the line a few moments later to say, “I am sorry, but he is not answering his work mobile. Would you like for me to keep trying him back until I get him?”
I tell him yes again, but many hours later, Chris still cannot get an answer. “I’m really sorry about this. I can see that the phone is on and even moving around, but unfortunately, a few of our stateside employees have made it a policy not to answer and sometimes even mute all notifications from their work phones once they have left for the day. And even more, unfortunately, the GoX offices are closed until January 2nd. Is it very important? If so, I can access his employee records to see if I can get ahold of a personal cell phone number.”
No, it was not important. Not technically. But I find myself recalling what Edgeworth had said about helping his wife prepare for tomorrow night’s Christmas party with her family.
Her family, which most likely includes Kristal.
“Yes, see if you can track down a number for his personal cell phone. Also, could you keep tracking his work phone for the next twelve hours or so?”