I wished I could’ve erased the last two months and lived in that moment forever. Izakaya Jūshi exploded with laughter as a big party behind us ordered another round of drinks and settled into a story about ice fishing. I had no idea ice fishing was so funny, but apparently it was a laugh. December had moved into full swing, and with the temperatures falling below freezing into the coming week, the local lake would be crawling with fishers.
“Do you fish, Mei-chan?” Etsuko lifted her voice from across the table while the men behind us yammered away. Yasahiro, my new boyfriend seated next to me, squeezed my hand under the table.
I sipped my beer. “No. I like to eat fish, but I don’t like to catch them. It’s not my thing.”
“Hisashi and I love to fish during the summer. Sometimes he takes off an extra weekend a month to come with me.”
“Sometimes,” Hisashi said, waggling his head back and forth. “I’m hoping next year that won’t be an issue anymore.”
Etsuko turned to beam at Hisashi, her face wide with a broad smile. She swiped her bangs to the side and leaned in to rest her chin on Hisashi’s shoulder. “His job has been talking about moving him to this district in the spring. It’s a great opportunity. We’re planning to buy a house together.”
“Really? That’s fantastic news,” Yasahiro said, lifting his glass so we can toast to Hisashi.
“Yeah. There are a lot of new roads and unmapped areas around here. We have a lot of work to do on bolstering the satellite mapping system.”
Hisashi worked for a popular GPS mapping company. Because of Japan’s erratic house numbering system, extensive train system, and roadway infrastructure, the mapping companies were always hard at work updating to make everything easier for their subscribers. He worked in the Chiba office, to the east of Tokyo, but had been hoping to move for the last couple of years. When he came to visit Etsuko the first weekend of every month, it took him almost three hours to travel to Chikata. But he came as regular as clockwork because he loved her.
“I’m so happy about this. It’s about time. Maybe we can finally get married,” Etsuko said, and Hisashi smiled at her before kissing her forehead. I got the feeling this was something they’d both wanted for a long time because neither of them made a fuss about her mentioning marriage.
Etsuko had lived in Chikata all her life. She and Hisashi were high school sweethearts, dated through college, and had been apart for the last three years. Etsuko worked at Izakaya Jūshi Sunday through Thursday with her family but thought about moving to Chiba with him. Her family, though, wanted her here. So the two came up with this arrangement. They talked on the phone every night, he came to visit her the first weekend every month, and she traveled to him the third weekend. The routine worked for them.
I, on the other hand, could only spend a few days without seeing Yasahiro before I got the itch to see him so badly I couldn’t sit still. I loved being close to him, talking to him, confiding in him, even though our physical relationship hadn’t progressed any further than hand holding and cheek kissing since I was in the hospital. Yasahiro was careful with me, taking baby steps knowing that I felt betrayed and vulnerable when my former boyfriend, Tama, tried to kill me. And these were the only kind of dates we’d had since then, too — double or group dates. We only had alone time at his restaurant, Sawayaka, between lunch and dinner shifts. It wasn’t very intimate, but I took what I could get. Yasahiro was busy with work, and I was unemployed, so I did my best to bend to his schedule.
“I’m super happy for the two of you.” I raised my glass to Etsuko and Hisashi, and Yasahiro rested his hand on my knee.
“I’m happy for you and Yasahiro. I’m always glad to see the two of you when you come in here.” Etsuko winked at me, and I stopped a blush by drinking more beer. “It’s too bad Hisa-kun is only here once a month. I wish we could hang out together more.”
“I’m sorry I wasn’t around the last time you were in town, Hisashi-san.”
He waved me off. “Don’t worry about it. Etsuko told me you were in the hospital. I’m glad you’re better.”
“Me too.”
Etsuko reached into her bag and pulled out a phone that lit up and rang with an incoming call. She held her finger up in the air as she glanced at the screen. “Just a moment. I’m going to take this outside.” She jumped up from the table and headed out the front door, pressing the pink, owl-embossed phone to her ear. A little owl charm dangled from the case as she walked away. I returned my focus to the table, but Yasahiro and Hisashi were now talking about baseball, one subject I couldn’t hack. Baseball bored the heck out of me. I glanced down at my beer, but my attention was drawn to Etsuko’s phone sitting on the table. Huh?
Movement outside caught my eye so I stared at Etsuko talking on her phone. She must’ve had two phones? Her face turned from happy into a frown, her eyebrows pulled together. And although it was only eight degrees outside, she wasn’t clutching her arms around herself to keep warm. Making chopping motions with her hand and raising her voice to whomever was on the other side of the conversation, she paced back and forth. I strained my hearing, hoping to catch a word or two, but the men next to us were too loud to hear anything. Etsuko finished off her conversation but didn’t re-enter the izakaya right away. She stayed on her phone for a while, typing out something, her fingers and thumbs flying across the touchscreen.
When she turned towards the door, I returned my attention to the table. I didn’t want her to think I was spying on her.
She sat down and sighed, sipping on her beer before rubbing her hands together to warm them.
“Everything okay?” I whispered, not wanting to draw attention to her if she didn’t want to mention it. The guys were too involved in their baseball conversation to notice, though.
She returned her smile to her face, less bright than it used to be. “Fine. Everything’s fine. Are they talking about baseball again?” She rolled her eyes. “Hey, did you watch this week’s episode of I Love Tokyo Legend? It was so good!”
Etsuko and I had a fondness for detective shows on Asahi TV and this was our new favorite.
The door to the izakaya swung open before I could answer her and in came Kumi and Goro. Kumi and Etsuko had known each other since high school, so they were all a big group of friends that I’d only recently become a member of since I’d moved back home. I waved them over and Kumi sat down next to me and Goro next to Etsuko.
“We were just about to talk about I Love Tokyo Legend,” Etsuko squealed to Kumi.
Goro rolled his eyes. “Switch places with me Etsuko, so I don’t have to talk about these shows.” Goro, the police officer, couldn’t stand detective shows. He watched them and all he could do was pick out the errors and exclaim, “That’s not how it’s done!” Kumi had banned him from watching.
“Fine, but don’t get Hisa-kun riled up about the Lions. You know he’s a diehard Swallows fan, and I’m the one that has to hear about it forever if you continue to bash his team.”
“I cannot make any promises,” Goro said, switching seats.
I smiled at my new group of friends, placing my hand on Yasahiro’s knee under the table and squeezing. He smiled at me before I got sucked into gossiping about TV. I may not have had much in life, but at least I had some girlfriends to gossip with.
Etsuko took another look at her phone as the screen lit up with a message. She frowned before turning it off and dropping it into her purse.
“Let’s order another round of drinks first.” She raised her hand to catch her brother’s eye, and then we descended into a serious discussion of ghosts and local legends and whether we believed them or not.
I totally believed, but that’s just the kind of person I was.
