“You both look well. How are you and the old man getting along, mama? From the looks of your place, I’d say quite well.”
“Oh, we get by. It’s so nice to see you again! To what do we owe the honor?”
“Nothing much, I just wanted to see your faces again,” Kudo replied, with a glance at Yasuko. He was scratching the tip of his nose—an old habit. Yasuko remembered that was something he did when he was feeling particularly shy about something.
Kudo had been a regular at the club in Akasaka when Yasuko first started working there. He had always asked for her at the club, and once or twice, they had even gone to dinner before her shift started. Sometimes, when club hours were over, they had gone out drinking. When she had moved on to Club Marian in Kinshicho to escape Togashi, Kudo was the only customer she had told. He’d quickly become a regular at her new workplace. He was also the first she had told when she quit Marian. She remembered the sad look on his face. “Work hard, and be happy,” he had said.
She hadn’t seen him since.
Yonazawa came out from the back of the shop, and soon they were all exchanging old stories. The two men knew each other well, both having been regulars at Club Marian.
After they had all talked for a while, Sayoko suggested that Yasuko leave early so that she and Kudo could go out for tea. Yonazawa nodded in assent.
Yasuko looked at Kudo.
“Only if you have time?” he asked. Of course, he had probably come close to closing time with this in mind.
“Just for a little while, then,” she replied, smiling.
They left the shop, walking toward Shin-Ohashi Road.
“Truth be told, I’d rather be taking you out to dinner, but I’ll let you off the hook today. I’m sure your daughter’s expecting you at home,” Kudo said as they walked. She had told him about her daughter shortly after getting to know him at Akasaka.
“Speaking of which, how’s your son?”
“Great. He’s a senior already. Makes my head hurt just thinking about college exams,” he said, grimacing for effect.
Kudo was the manager of a small printing company. He lived in Osaki, in southern Tokyo, with his wife and son.
They went into a coffee shop along the road. Yasuko avoided the family restaurant near the intersection where she had met with Togashi.
“I went to Marian to ask after you,” Kudo told her. “I remember you telling me that you were going to work at a lunch box place with mama Sayoko after you quit, but I didn’t know where that was.”
“You just remembered me, out of the blue?”
“Yeah, well, not exactly.” Kudo lit a cigarette. “I heard about the murder on the news, and started to worry about you. Sorry to hear about your ex.”
“Oh … I’m surprised you knew it was him.”
Kudo chuckled, blowing out smoke. “Of course I knew it was him. The name ‘Togashi’ was right up there on the screen, and I’d never forget that face.”
“… I’m sorry.”
“Nothing for you to apologize about,” Kudo laughed, waving his hand dismissively.
She knew Kudo had a thing for her, of course. In truth, she was rather fond of him, too. Yet their relationship had always been strictly platonic. On more than one occasion he had invited her to join him at a hotel, but she had always refused as pleasantly as she could. She lacked the courage to have an affair with a man who was married with children, and she was, at the time, married, too, though she hid that from Kudo and her other customers.
Kudo had finally met Togashi once when seeing Yasuko home. She always had the taxi drop her off a short distance from her apartment, and that night was no exception. But she had left her cigarette case behind in the taxi. Kudo had discovered it and followed her out of the taxi to return it. He had seen her go inside the apartment, so he’d knocked on the door. But when the door opened, it wasn’t Yasuko, but a stranger who had answered—Togashi.
Togashi had been drunk. When he saw Kudo standing there outside the door, breathless, he had immediately assumed it was one of her customers who just couldn’t take no for an answer. Before Kudo could even explain himself, Togashi had flown into a rage and started throwing punches. If Yasuko hadn’t come out of the shower to stop them, there was no knowing how far it would have gone.
A few days later, Yasuko took Togashi with her to Kudo’s workplace to apologize. Togashi had been on his best behavior. He knew full well what would happen if Kudo filed a police report.
Yet Kudo had shown no rancor. All he had done was warn Togashi that he couldn’t let his wife work at nightclubs forever. Although Togashi clearly didn’t appreciate the criticism, he’d said nothing in return and merely bowed his head.
Even after that, Kudo had continued coming to the club as usual, always treating Yasuko exactly the same as before. But they had never met outside of club hours again.
As time wore on, every once in a while, Kudo had asked about Togashi when no one else was around—usually about whether he had found work. All Yasuko had been able to do was shake her head.
Kudo had been the first to notice when Togashi grew more violent. She had done the best she could to hide the bruises with makeup, but while it might have been good enough to deceive most customers, she never fooled him.
You should get an attorney, I’ll pay for it, he once offered.
Now, years later, as they sat down with their coffee, Kudo looked over her shoulder and asked, “So, what about this whole thing? I hope you didn’t get caught up in it?”
“Well, the police have been by a few times, but that’s about all.”
“I figured they might,” Kudo said with a sigh.
“It’s really nothing to worry about,” Yasuko assured him, laughing.
“And the media haven’t been after you as well?”
“No, not at all.”
“Well, that’s good news, at least. I didn’t think Togashi’s murder was the kind of spectacular event that the media hounds tend to jump on, but you never know. If you were having trouble with them, I thought there might be something I could do to help.”
“Thank you. You’re too kind, as always.”
Kudo blushed. Looking down at the table, he reached for his coffee cup. “Well, I’m just glad to hear that you didn’t have anything to do with it.”
“Of course I didn’t. What, you thought I did?”
“Not like that. As soon as I heard the news, I was worried about you. Someone murdered your ex, after all. I don’t know who killed him or for what reason, I was just worried that it might come back around to you somehow.”
“Sayoko said the same. You all worry far too much on my account.”
“Well, seeing how good you look, I’m starting to think that maybe I was worrying about the whole thing a bit too much. You’ve been divorced from him for a few years now, too. Had you seen him recently?”
“Seen him?”
“Yeah, Togashi.”
“Not at all,” she replied, feeling the muscles in her face tighten.
Thankfully, Kudo switched topics and began talking about his life. The economy was in a downturn, but his company had managed to tread water so far. When he talked about his home life, he only mentioned his son. This had always been the case. Yasuko knew nothing about Kudo’s relationship with his wife, though she had always imagined them getting along well. One thing Yasuko had discovered during her time working as a hostess was that men who were good listeners and truly cared about other people’s problems generally came from happy homes.
When they left the coffee shop, it was raining.