Lovers in Tokyo

On the other side, Nao was aimlessly walking around Tokyo. He didn’t know what he wanted to do. Truthfully, he felt relieved after he heard her point of view and he could feel his heart start to beat enthusiastically again. However, even if he moved out and started to work for overseas companies and magazines, he was still connected to Ai. The thought of Anna finding out the truth scared him but he knew she wouldn’t care. Actually, she didn’t seem to care about anything regarding him and it made him even more excited. She wasn’t looking for a reason anymore and she definitely wasn’t a child anymore.

He coincidentally passed by a book store. At first he just continued to walk, glancing from the corner of his eye as just being a sight. When he remembered the book she cared about so much, he chose to give it a shot and eventually read the first chapters, like she told him to.

The store wasn’t packed but there were many teenage girls talking about a popular romance novel. The girls weren’t easy to ignore and they were standing exactly in front of the poster. It was hard to catch glimpse of cover. He did, though. His height helped a lot in that case. He reached with his right long arm and grabbed a book from the higher shelves. He inspected it slowly. The cover was pink and in the middle was a picture of bench. There was a boy sitting on the left and a girl on the right. They were both looking at the sunrise. It looked somewhat pretty. The pale pink gave an air of feminine touch but not too much so that boys could read it too. He turned it and read the backside.

“Lovers in Tokyo. It’s about the fate of a man and a woman who met one d-“His eyes widened when he started to read the summary. His eyes moved to the writer’s information. “Anna” Somehow it didn’t surprise him.

Early in the morning, he wasn’t sure if he had the courage to visit her. He assumed she still lived in the same apartment. That address have been imprinted in his mind for a while. He was scared that she might close the door and tell him into a very blunt way to get out. But soomething inside his heart was encouraging him to give it a shot.

“Decision, decisions”

He needed to clear his head but he also wanted to have her in sight. He knew she was caught up into that movie. He finally knew why it was so personal for her but he wasn’t sure how he will get around the studio without people getting suspicious. Even he was surprised by how many plans he came up with just to be around her. It wouldn’t take much until he would have to leave again so he wanted to make the best out of it; even if it meant he had to piss her off.

Anna was completely ignorant. When she was working, no one and nothing had the courage to interfere. She was irascible and would give a feeling to back off or get mentally affected. She was indeed a woman of words. She knew how to compose lines that would have subliminal meanings. Watanabe-san was impressed by her talent and intellectual ability. She was very smart but she lacked emotions.

“Anna-san” When Watanabe-san asked her to meet him in the break room, she expected him to start talking about the script. “Have you ever been in love?” That question got her unprepared. She couldn’t think fast enough of a lie and she couldn’t comprehend what it had to do with the process of correcting the script.

“I don’t see the connection here” Watanabe-san sighed and placed his hands on her shoulders. She didn’t hate skin ship but she wasn’t a fan of old men doing that either.

“You should give your heart a break. I read your book and it was wonderful but it doesn't have the same feel as the script. There’s no real emotion into it. Maybe you had heavier feelings when you wrote it originally but now it lost the fantasy” She raised an eyebrow and backed off a little so he could take his hands off her shoulders.

“Are you saying my ideas are too realistic?” The older man nodded. “But isn’t that the idea of it? It has to be realistic so people can find themselves into it. That’s why I wanted to meet the actors. Nana and Taka’s relationship is-“

“Complicated. I figured that out by myself. Do you think you can change your vision a little?” She scoffed.

“I- how do you plan to change my vision?” She was just partially curious. The other part was scared that he might think about some stupid, romantic idea.

“Why don’t you try to live with a man?” Her eyes widened.

“What?!”

“What?!”

Takeshi was even more surprised than she was. After the small and stunning conversation she had with Watanabe-san, the first person who crossed paths with her was the rookie designer. He pulled her into his ‘laboratory’ and somehow he got her to spill the beans out.

“Yes” She was sitting at one of the makeup tables, playing with the mascara.

“You know” Looking at her he could see why the scriptwriter asked her such a personal and weird question. She wasn’t the kind of woman who would fall in love easily. She needed a man who could handle her. That was easier said than done. “What if I move in with you? I’m a man”

“Yeah, right” Anna seemed more offended by the offer than Takeshi looked by the response. “We’ve known each other for more than four years. It wouldn’t count” He still wasn’t convinced.

She lived half of her life in a house with two men: her father and her brother. However, in her daily College life, she knew more guys than girls. She was usually despised because of her blunt attitude. In fact, she still had a superior demeanor who would tick people off but she learned how to control it and it made a big difference.

“Then I guess we should get you a man” She didn’t like his idea. She didn’t like the situation whatsoever. “What about Kyoya? He’s young and he’s still in College! He can teach you how they do it no-Ow!” From the second he started to talk she knew it was a bad idea. She threw the mascara at him. She hit him straight in the forehead.

“I don’t need a man” She got up and walked to the door.

She was ready to open it but someone did it before she had the chance. Unfortunately, the door was opening to the inside, so it hit her straight in the head. Even worse was the man who did it.

“I’m looking for Nakamura Takeshi?” The voice irritated Anna to no end.

That man was the most infuriating person she ever met! Takeshi pointed at himself. They weren’t very different. While she was rubbing her nose she watched the two men interact. Takeshi seemed to have forgotten about her existence and was happily enjoying his conversation with the equally tall new acquaintance.

Truthfully, she tried to get out of the room without getting noticed. When she was the closest to freedom, Takeshi called her back. Nao figured he hit someone when he entered but he never thought it was her. For a moment, he looked apologetically. It didn’t last long.

“Anna! Come here and meet Nao! He’s going to help us around” The designer looked enthusiastic. Nao had a mischievous glint into his eyes. She narrowed her eyes at him and slowly made her way back.

“Oh, yay” Her excitement was obviously incomparable to her friend’s. “And what are you going to do? Photo shoots?” It was more meant to be an insult but Nao didn’t seem offended.

“Actually, I heard they’re going to start filming this weekend. I’m really excited. He’s going to prepare the cover and other additional pictures for the media. I heard the director say something about having a photographer help Matsumoto-kun improve. Taka from Lovers in Tokyo is a photographer, you know”

He was completely oblivious to the way Anna tensed for a moment. Nao smirked. He spent the whole night reading her book. It kind of hurt. While they were telepathically trying to intimidate each other, Takeshi just got an idea; the idea who changed a lot between Anna and Nao.

“Why don’t you ask Nao to help you?” The idea struck something inside both of them. Anna narrowed her eyes at her male friend and shook her head.

“Not in a million years. No, not while I’m alive” She desperately wanted to get back to the life where he wasn’t involved in. She started to believe that those four years were brighter than the present.

“What do you need help with, Anna-chan?” Her expression was insanely amusing for Nao. He was trying hardly not to laugh. Her left eye was twitching. She was fuming, he could remark that much.

“It’s ok. I can handle it by myself” Takeshi ignored her.

“Not going to happen. So” He turned to Nao and started to plan everything. “Do you have a place to stay? Anna has some emotional problem that kind of connects to her work. I’m sure the world would kindly thank you if you could make this woman to loosen up!” She wasn’t going to have a word on Takeshi’s plan. He wasn’t sure if it was a good idea to enter the lion’s cage, but he couldn’t ignore the offer either.

“Sure”

Anna was on the verge of mentally collapse. He started to think more seriously about that.

“Who knows? Maybe the story will change its course” She knew he read her book and she knew he was going to make it up for the past years. They weren’t just two strangers anymore. They weren’t characters from a book either. They were two people whose lives just got intertwined for real.