Ayane arrived afterwards and introduced him. Hiromi was surprised to hear they had met at a singles party. She had no idea Ayane attended that kind of event.
Looking back on it now, she realized that her interest in Yoshitaka began that day. She remembered clearly feeling a pang of something remarkably like jealousy when Ayane told her they were dating.
If their meeting had happened some other way – if Ayane had shown up with him – Hiromi was sure she would’ve felt differently. It was that time they had spent together, just the two of them, before she knew who he was, that had planted the seed of her later feelings.
Once love began to grow, even though it might remain a fragile thing, it was hard to quench entirely. Once Ayane married, Hiromi began visiting the house, feeling even closer than before to Yoshitaka. The times when they were alone together became more frequent.
Of course, Hiromi had never confessed her feelings. That would only cause trouble, she’d thought; and she had never really considered a relationship, not even as a remote possibility. It was enough for her at that time to feel like part of the Mashiba family.
But somehow, she thought, somehow he knew. Her feelings must’ve shown through, despite her attempts to hide them. Gradually, the way he acted around her began to change. Where he used to look at her like a younger sister, now there was something else in his eyes. And it would have been a lie to say she wasn’t elated when she saw it.
She gazed around the room. She’d been working right here one night about three months ago when Yoshitaka called. ‘Ayane was telling me that you’ve been eating late these days. It must be pretty busy at the school.’
He was late getting off work himself, and there was a ramen place he’d been meaning to check out. He invited her along.
She was hungry, so she said yes, and Yoshitaka came to pick her up.
She didn’t remember the taste of the ramen. Maybe it wasn’t so good – or maybe it was because they’d sat side by side at the counter, and every time he took a bite, his elbow would brush against her shoulder. That touch was all she remembered.
Yoshitaka drove her to her apartment afterwards. He stopped the outside and smiled at her. ‘Maybe we can go and get ramen again some time soon?’
‘Sure thing, anytime,’ she told him.
‘Thanks. You’re a pleasure to be with.’
‘Really?’
‘Yeah,’ he said. ‘I guess I’ve just been tired a lot here and here,’ he said, pointing at his head and his chest in turn. ‘Being with you is a relief from that.’ Then a serious look came over his face. ‘Thanks for joining me tonight. I had fun.’
‘Me, too,’ she said; and he reached his arm around her shoulders and pulled her gently towards him. She let herself be drawn in. Their kiss felt completely natural, completely right.
‘Good night,’ he said.
‘Good night,’ she replied.
Her heart was soaring so high that night she had trouble getting to sleep. But not once did she feel like she had made a mistake. All they had done was create a little secret for them to share – that was how she thought of it.
Soon,Yoshitaka was all she could think about. His presence loomed large in her mind, accompanying her throughout her day. Maybe if they hadn’t met again her fever would’ve passed in time. But he kept calling her, with increasing frequency. And she kept staying later at the school, even when she had nothing to do, just to wait for his calls.
Like a balloon cut from its string, her heart was lofting out of reach. It was not until they crossed that final line in a relationship between a man and a woman that she thought for the first time she was doing something wrong. But the words Yoshitaka told her that night were strong enough to whisk away her unease.
‘I’m askingAyane for a divorce,’ he said. ‘We made a promise that if, after a year, we were still without a child, then we would dissolve our marriage. We still have three months left, but my hopes aren’t very high. I can tell it’s not going to work.’
His words were cold, but nothing could have lifted Hiromi’s spirits higher. That’s how far I’d fallen, she thought now. That’s how thoughtless I’d become.
In retrospect, it was obvious they’d committed a monumental betrayal. How could Ayane not hate her? Maybe Ayane killed him after all. Maybe she wants to kill me, too. Hiromi wouldn’t have been all that surprised if Ayane’s kindness towards her was just an act, a kind of camouflage to conceal her murderous intent.
But Ayane had an alibi, and it didn’t sound like the police suspected her; so maybe it really wasn’t she.
Hiromi wondered if there was anyone else who hated Yoshitaka enough to kill him. The thought gave her yet another reason to be depressed: here she was, pregnant with the man’s baby, and she knew so little about him.
Utsumi’s arrival roused her from her bleak reverie. The detective was wearing a dark suit, and she sat in the chair where Ayane had been sitting only thirty minutes before, apologizing again for the trouble.
‘I just don’t think asking me questions is going to get you anywhere in your investigation,’ Hiromi told her. ‘The truth is, I don’t really know that much about Mr Mashiba.’
‘And yet you had a relationship?’
Hiromi’s mouth tightened. ‘I knew what kind of person he was, but that’s not what you need now, is it? You need to know about his past, or his troubles at work, and I don’t know any of that.’
‘Actually, knowing what kind of person Mr Mashiba was is very important for our investigation. But I didn’t come here to talk about anything difficult like that today. I wanted to ask you about things that are more everyday.’
‘What do you mean, everyday?’
‘Like, about Mr and Mrs Mashiba’s daily lives. You are the one who knew both of them best.’
‘Actually, I would think Mrs Mashiba would know better than I. Shouldn’t you be talking to her?’
Utsumi smiled. ‘It’s hard to get an objective view of someone’s life by asking them directly.’
Hiromi sighed. ‘So what is it you want to know?’
‘I understand that you began visiting the Mashibas’ house soon after they were married. Can you tell me how often you were there?’
‘Well, it varied, but if I had to guess, I’d say it was about once or twice a month on average.’
‘Any particular days?’
‘No, nothing as formal as that. Though I guess I was there on Sundays more than any other day. That’s when the school was closed.’
‘So Mr Mashiba was usually home on the Sundays you visited?’
‘Usually, yes.’
‘Did you two talk much then?’
‘Sometimes, but usually, Mr Mashiba would be in his study. Apparently he worked from home on the weekends. Besides,’ Hiromi said, a bit defensively, ‘I usually only visited the house because I had something to go over with Ayane. It wasn’t just a social call.’ She didn’t want the detective to think that she had been going to see Yoshitaka.
‘Where would you meet with Mrs Mashiba when you visited?’
‘The living room.’
‘Always?’
‘Yes, pretty much. Does it matter?’
‘Did you ever drink tea or coffee while you were together?’
‘There was always something.’
‘Was it ever you who made it on those occasions?’
‘Sometimes. Like when Ayane was busy making something else.’
‘You told us that she taught you how to make coffee at their house, which is why you followed her directions on the morning of Mr Mashiba’s death.’
‘Yes.’ Hiromi took a sharp breath. ‘I can’t believe we’re talking about the coffee again. How many times have we gone over this?’