“Are you a college student?”
“Yeah. Sophomore.”
I thought of asking her at which school, but didn’t. It was irrelevant, and there were other things I wanted to ask her about more. “So that’s how you came back to Tokyo.”
“I really wanted to stay in Sendai. It didn’t even have to be Sendai, I wanted to attend a college outside of Tokyo. But when they told me to come back, I had no choice. Because they’ve been taking care of me.”
“Mr. Katsuragi told you to come?”
“Yeah. Well, I know what Papa was thinking, basically.”
“What do you mean?”
“To put it simply, he started worrying about the future. He wants to hurry and marry me off to someone. To do that, he needs to keep me close, right?”
“I see.” It was strange enough, but I understood. “So, unable to bear your current life, you ran away. Climbing over that wall.”
“You get it now?”
“I grasp the circumstances. But did you really hate it that much? You didn’t get along with everyone at home?”
“I can’t say I didn’t.” She tried to take out another cigarette, but it seemed her previous one had been the last. She crushed the empty box in her hand. “This isn’t ‘Cinderella,’ and it’s not like I was bullied. But I’ve experienced plenty of invisible malice. In the end, I wasn’t really family. No matter how many years passed, I couldn’t blend in. For their part, they never accepted me. If I weren’t there, they’d be a perfect family. When I’m there, it’s like I’m an actress in a soap opera. Everything I say and do is fake, and it’s so suffocating.” She looked at me. “Do you see?”
“Somehow,” I answered. “What about you? Are your feelings about the Katsuragis all negative? Regarding your new mother, for instance?”
“That’s a mean question.” She took a long breath. “You think I could come to like them? People who kept ignoring me? Smiling all the while. With smiling masks.”
Well put, I admired. “What about the daughter? Um, I guess I should say your half-sister.”
“Oh, her.” Juri closed her mouth and inclined her head. Her face said she was choosing her words. Still wearing that expression she answered, “I hate her.”
Chapter 3
When I checked into the Kayabacho Polar Hotel, it was past midnight. It was a business hotel that acquaintances of mine patronized when they came to Tokyo, so if I showed my face at the front desk, they’d be accommodating. Tonight I had Juri wait behind the stairs and went through the procedures.
“Well, I don’t have any intention of being complicit with you running away from home, but you trusted me and told me a lot of stuff, so I’ll treat you.”
After getting into the room, I put the key on top of the tiny desk. The room only had a small single bed, a TV, the desk, and a refrigerator.
“For the time being, I’ve rented it out for two nights. Checkout is the day after tomorrow at noon.” Saying so, I glanced at the clock. “It’s already past midnight, so I should say tomorrow,” I corrected myself.
“Why for two nights?”
“Just in case. Sleep well for tonight, and then if you feel like going home, go whenever you like. But when you do, give me a ring.”
“What you mean is, if I’m not going home, I should stay put.”
“It’s late, so for now just sleep well. Let’s talk again tomorrow.” I started heading to the door, but stopped and turned around. “Um, you have money, right?”
She looked away at that. Her eyelashes fluttered.
“You tried to stay in a hotel without any?”
“I have a card.”
“Hah, a family card.” I pulled out two ten-thousand-yen bills from my wallet. “Anyway, I’ll leave this. In case of an emergency.”
“I don’t need it.”
“Then you can just leave it here.” I put the ten-thousand-yen bills on top of the TV and put the remote on it as a paperweight. “See you tomorrow. I’ll pray you’ll come to your senses. Let me tell you, as soon as a family card is reported you won’t be able to use it. Without money, just what are you thinking of doing?”
Not waiting for Juri’s reply, I did head to the door this time. When I turned the knob, she spoke to me from behind.
“I should have helped myself.”
At her one liner, I turned around again. “What was that?”
“I ought to have grabbed some money. If not cash, then something valuable. A diamond or whatever. Then I wouldn’t have had to worry for a while.”
“Goes to show how impulsive you were. Tomorrow you’ll change your mind. Anyway, for now, I’m not contacting Mr. Katsuragi.”
“I won’t ever go back home.”
“Well, take your time thinking it over.”
“I have a little bit of a claim to that household’s fortune, don’t I?”
I was taken aback for a moment by her off-kilter question. I shrugged. “Probably. But you’d need to keep being their daughter.”
“You mean if I leave, then I wouldn’t?”
“Who knows. But thinking about that now is meaningless. You wouldn’t inherit anything until Mr. Katsuragi passes away. That’s decades in the future.”
“I heard there’s a way to before anyone dies.”
“You mean an advance? It’s not impossible, but that would be for Mr. Katsuragi to decide. I don’t know about you demanding one. Either way, you’d have to go home first.”
She’d realized she was penniless and was remembering only now the enormity of what she was losing. That she’d worry about her fortune as a runaway had to be Katsutoshi Katsuragi’s blood in her.
I turned the doorknob. “Well, goodnight.”
“Wait a second.”
I turned around with the door still slightly ajar. “What now?”
“Could I ask you for a favor?” She pulled her chin in and looked up at me. It was a face she hadn’t shown until now.
“Depends on what it is.”
“It’s nothing difficult. First, call home and just tell them I’m with you.”
“That’s all you want?”
“After that, I want you to go get money. Tell them that I’m not going home and that I need enough money to live off of.”
I shut the door. If anyone heard this, it could spell trouble. Then, studying Juri’s face to make sure she wasn’t kidding, I spread my arms and said, “Are you serious? Or are you pulling my leg?”
“If I called, they’d just tell me to come home.”
“It’d be the same if I called. They’d tell me to hurry up and bring their daughter home if I had the time to be making a stupid call. I told you earlier, but Mr. Katsuragi is an important client of ours. Even setting you up here is an act of betrayal.”
“You could just say that I don’t want to go home.”
“Like that would convince him. In the worst case, I’d end up being accused of kidnapping you.”
“Then how about you say it’s a kidnapping?”
“Huh?”
“Without introducing yourself, just say: If you want your daughter back, prepare ten million yen in cash.”
I squatted and peered at her face from below. “Are you sane?”
“I’m not going home, okay, and I need money. I’m ready to do anything.”
“I think I see.” I threw up my arms halfway, nodding. “Might I recommend a cold shower? It seems like this has gotten you all fired up.”
It seemed like Juri still wanted to say something, but I ignored her and left the room.
The hotel was a ten-minute walk from my condo. Turning over my conversation with Juri in my mind, I walked down the nighttime streets. I’d had quite a bit to drink since early in the evening, but I wasn’t feeling the least bit intoxicated. Talking with her had been just that stimulating.