Tokyo Hearts: A Japanese Love Story (2 page)

It suddenly occurred to Takashi that it was only because of Haruka’s total lack of intimidation that she was so often able to pass through crowds unnoticed. Today, however, her anonymity was soon disclosed.

‘Hi there, Takashi,’ she said. ‘I just….’ Haruka tripped on the leg of the table, dropped her shopping bag and lost her balance as she bumped her knee against the table’s corner. Her handbag also fell open onto the lounge and Takashi reached out to steady her. The waiter with the black 1960s-style glasses ran over to assist her, asking over and over again if she was all right. The couple at the table opposite, the young girl and the much older man, turned to watch her stumble for a moment before returning to their own private conversation.

‘Are you okay now?’ Takashi asked, concerned that she might have bruised her leg.

‘Fine, thanks,’ she replied with a self-conscious laugh. She rubbed her left shin. Haruka’s purse and keys had fallen out. Takashi returned them to her and she put them back inside her handbag and zipped it safely shut.

Takashi looked at her beautiful face. Her eyes were sweetly expressive and her lips were rosy. She took off her white linen jacket and sat down, smoothing her cream skirt over and under her knees. It looked like she was going to say something and then she stopped herself. She said nothing. It was only the flush of her cheeks and the way her lips curled up slightly at each corner in parentheses that told Takashi how happy she was to see him again.

‘Thanks for coming,’ Takashi said to her. He was grateful that she was there. Every time they were meant to meet, he was always afraid she’d change her mind at the last minute and fail to show up. He often felt that she was just too good to be true, and somehow he didn’t deserve her company.

‘I always like meeting up with you,’ said Haruka. ‘You look well.’

‘I had a shower and a shave before I came out. I wanted to look good for you … by the way – are my sideburns straight?’ Takashi asked her, turning his head from side to side for her to inspect them.

‘They’re perfect,’ said Haruka. She leant forward and touched each side of his face softly with her left index finger and nodded her head approvingly.

‘Great. I was worried they weren’t the same length,’ said Takashi, blushing deeply as he felt her stroke each side of his face. ‘It’s warm in here, don’t you think?’ he said to her, trying to find an excuse for the sudden rush of colour in his cheeks.

‘Yes, you’re right,’ replied Haruka, whose face was also tinged in pink.

‘You’ve been shopping?’ Takashi asked her, nodding at the Yohji Yamamoto bag at her side.

‘I bought a new skirt after work,’ replied Haruka. ‘I needed new clothes for the summer and I’ve had my eye on this for a couple of months.’ She pulled the material out for Takashi to admire. ‘Feel this material … it’s so soft … and this navy colour is just right … and look at the stitching.’

‘How much was it? It looks expensive,’ said Takashi.

‘That’s the beauty of it – it doesn’t look cheap,’ replied Haruka.

‘But you could buy a skirt in one of the small boutiques in Harajuku for half the price,’ said Takashi.

‘But no one can create the asymmetric designs like Yamamoto, and look at the embroidery and the quality of the fabric. This will last me twenty years, and it will never go out of fashion,’ said Haruka.

She was so convinced she’d made a good purchase that Takashi could not find the words to contradict her.

The waitress approached with an extra glass of iced water and Haruka ordered an iced tea. Her voice was soft and silky. When the tea arrived, she sat quietly and nodded as Takashi told her about his studies at university. He really wanted to discuss the ex-boyfriend her father had mentioned during his phone call with him on Monday. However, it did not seem to be the right time or place and he was afraid of upsetting a perfectly happy Thursday evening. Instead, he decided to continue sharing his feelings about his studies and his future. He knew she would be supportive.

‘It won’t be long before I finish university and I feel that so many unusual changes are happening,’ said Takashi. ‘I sometimes feel that instead of going forward, I feel like I’m going backwards in time.’

‘What do you mean, Takashi?’ asked Haruka.

‘Well, I’ve cut my long hair short again. I’ve stripped the blonde out of it and now I have a hairstyle just like I used to wear it in my junior high school days.’

‘I like it either way,’ said Haruka.

‘Thanks,’ Takashi said. ‘But I feel that my faded jeans and lumberjack boots look stupid with this conservative hairstyle. What makes it even worse is that my mother is delighted with the new look and she said that I look like my father, minus the grey!’ They both threw their heads back at the same time and laughed together at his comment.

‘It’s not all bad, though, Haruka,’ said Takashi. ‘I don’t really care if I’ve started to resemble my father. I suppose it’s time that I started growing up. I knew that I’d have to conform for the future. My mother says I need to consider my responsibilities.’

‘You might start wearing a very conservative shirt and tie and then go out and buy a people carrier!’ said Haruka. They laughed again as Takashi tried to imagine this.

Takashi lowered his voice and went on to tell Haruka that his only regret was that he already felt a slight distance between his high school friends and himself. Akira had been abroad for three years now; he was studying in America. Masaya had just opened a tavern in Shimokitazawa financed by his father, and Kenji was working full time at his family’s restaurant in the exclusive Ginza district. All three of his friends had much more exciting lives, and they were doing exactly what they wanted to do whenever they wanted to do it.

‘When I started at university, I had high hopes of doing really well and enjoying my course,’ Takashi said. ‘But I didn’t expect the Marketing exams to be so difficult. I try to prepare for them, but on the days I plan to do a lot of study, I realise by the evening that I’ve only completed a small part of what I’d hoped to get through.’

Takashi had never been a shy or reserved person, but in contrast to the spirited enthusiasm he shared with his high school friends, he now felt that the burden of his studies had taken away his hopes for a brighter future.

‘I’m sure you’ll be fine,’ said Haruka. ‘I remember you doing really well in first year at university. Do you remember the time you helped me prepare for a Logistics exam? You spent hours going through it in the university library with me and you grasped the concepts so much better than I did. I think you’re being too hard on yourself.’

‘Thanks, Haruka. What are your plans for the future?’ he asked her. Every girl Takashi had dated over the last couple of years either wanted to travel or start a course of study. Haruka was a modern girl. Surely she, too, had exciting plans for the next few years.

‘I’ve decided that I want to settle down, get married and have children,’ replied Haruka with such surety that it took him by surprise.

Marriage and children
! Takashi was impressed – very impressed. This girl was not into playing games with him or anyone else. He looked into her eyes and saw a maturity and warmth. Up until now, he’d seen Haruka as a very pretty girl that he’d wanted to take out even show off to his friends, but now, looking into her eyes, he wondered whether he wanted more than that. There was a connection here that made him feel closer to her, and for the first time he felt completely at ease with a woman.

‘Do you want to know what I dream about when I think about the future?’ Haruka asked him.

‘Definitely, tell me,’ Takashi replied.

‘Like a lot of girls, I have big dreams for my wedding day. I’d really like to get married in a Western-style Vera Wang wedding dress or maybe a gown by Eri Matsui – I went with a friend who was getting married to her studio in Aoyama and I was blown away by some of her designs. They’re mathematically engineered, so the dresses have an ethereal, floating effect. I’ve put a lot of thought into this, Takashi, and I think I’d also like to wear a pure white silk shiro-maku wedding kimono for the ceremony. Afterwards, I’d put on a colourful and elaborate red uchikake for the wedding reception … maybe embroidered with plum blossoms or cranes,’ she said.

‘I think you’d look beautiful in a kimono,’ Takashi told her.

‘On top of this, I’d like the long silk obi sash to be made from intricate brocade,’ she continued, ‘and it would be so fine that it would cost at least twice as much as the kimono.’

‘Very expensive, but I’m sure that would be very nice … and where would you like to live?’ Takashi asked.

‘As you know, I’ve grown up in
fune so I’m not sure if I’d like to live right in the centre of Tokyo, but I would like a house in a good area where I could easily get into Tokyo.’

‘I completely understand that, having grown up in Yokosuka,’ he replied.

‘And I’d like to live in a two-storey detached house with a pretty Japanese garden – I don’t mind if the garden is small,’ continued Haruka.

‘A garage would be good, too – somewhere to park the car,’ said Takashi.

‘Yes, and there would be a tall, thick hedge around the garden to protect our privacy, and the house would have all the conveniences of a Western house, but it would also have some Japanese features. There would be Western-style furniture in some of the rooms, but there would also be two or three tatami rooms, and in the bathroom, there would be a Japanese ofuro bath.’

Takashi’s heart was beating loudly in his chest. He was sure Haruka had just said the garden hedge in her dream house needed to protect
their
privacy. Maybe she could see him in her future, just as he could see her in his.

‘Haruka, how about you and I….’

Haruka interrupted. ‘Did you feel that? It felt like an earthquake.’ She held onto the edge of the table with one hand and grabbed Takashi’s hand with the other.

‘Yes, you’re right,’ said Takashi. The floor beneath them had definitely shuddered. He’d wanted to talk about their friendship moving on to the next level, but he was just as happy to be holding Haruka’s hand, if only for a couple of minutes. Her fingers felt soft and fragile. Her gentle clutch made him feel like her protector. The room vibrated once again, but not enough to scare Takashi. He looked at Haruka’s concerned face and smiled at her with reassurance. Everyone in the café was tense, and the room fell silent for a minute as they all waited to see what might happen next. The rumbling soon dissipated and Haruka took back her hand. Takashi would have liked to hold onto her hand for the rest of the evening.

‘I’ll be back in a moment,’ Haruka said, nodding towards the ladies’ room.

‘Okay,’ Takashi said softly. ‘But come straight back if you feel any more tremors.’

The waiter came over to fill up their glasses of water and as he did so, Takashi noticed a white envelope on the floor by his feet.
Junko – Shibuya
was written across it. It was open and he picked it up and counted five ¥10,000 notes inside. It must have belonged to Haruka and fallen out of her bag when she tripped.

Five minutes later, Haruka came back to the table. Takashi looked up to see her, her mouth open with disbelief, staring at the envelope that he was waving in the air from the lounge where he was waiting for her.

‘Does this belong to you?’ Takashi asked her with a grin.

‘Yes, it’s really important,’ she replied. ‘I have to take it to Shibuya in the morning before work. Where’d you find it?’

‘I just picked it up off the floor. It must have fallen out of your bag when you tripped.’

‘You’re the best, Takashi, thanks so much,’ she said to him.

Anyone loves flattery, but because it came from Haruka, he was delighted.

‘It looks like there won’t be any major earthquakes tonight. Are you okay now?’ he asked her.

‘I’m fine, thanks,’ she replied.

Takashi still wanted to talk to her further about matters of the heart. He really wanted her to fill in the details about the ex-boyfriend and also find out about how she felt about him.

‘Tell me, what are you doing on the weekend?’ he asked, hoping she might shine a light on this mystery man from Kyoto and if she was planning to go out with him. ‘Are you spending time with anyone interesting?’

‘My mother and I have our Ikebana flower arrangement class on Saturday,’ she replied. ‘What about you, Takashi? What are your plans for the weekend?’

It was going to be more difficult than he thought trying to find out about this guy from Kyoto. He’d have to be more direct, but in doing so, he’d have to gently steer the conversation away from his life in order to find out more about her plans.

‘I have to go out to Yokosuka and visit my grandmother,’ said Takashi, realising as he said this that it would be difficult to change the flow of conversation from grandmothers to her love interests.

‘Didn’t you once tell me that your grandmother in Yokosuka is your only surviving grandparent?’ asked Haruka.

‘Yes, you have a good memory, Haruka,’ said Takashi. ‘I guess I feel a sense of duty towards her. I never enjoy visiting her, but I feel I’m forced to by my parents. Last time I went to see her, she looked so fragile and I felt sorry for her, but it’s always so difficult to please her. Even though my mother and I bend over backwards to try and make her happy, we can never do anything right in her eyes. She’s not all bad though, she does dote on my father, so she is capable of kindness. Anyway, that’s my plans for the weekend. It will be pretty boring.’