Lovers in Tokyo

The walk home consisted of silence; complete and utter silence in which Nao was completely ignorant to his surroundings while Anna was neutral. She didn’t feel awkward, worried and definitely not sorry. The wind started to pick up a little and it sent chills down her spine. It was the end of summer so she guessed it was the time for cold and rain. Thinking about that, she started to think how Rosie was doing on her own. In clubs at night, sleeping and trying to work at day. She suddenly got really curious and couldn’t wait to call her younger friend.

When she was ready to walk the stairs to her apartment building, someone grabbed her hand and pulled her into a back hug.

“I’m sorry”

Nao had a tight grip on her small body. Even though she had the force to get out from his arms, she simply stood still. “I’m sorry I left” Anna’s eyes widened and her heart started to beat faster. Even though he recognized his fault, even though he sounded hurt and sorrowful, it didn’t matter anymore.

“Maybe you should have done it 4 years ago. Now, there’s no remorse.” S

he struggled out of his grip and walked inside. In front of the stairs, while the wind started to pick a harsher pace, Nao remained in the same state he left Anna. All alone.

The morning of a new day came maybe too fast. The weather outside changed rather fast. Black clouds were covering the sky where just a few hours earlier, was sunny and clear. Thankfully, Anna had a free day so she could sulk in peace in her completely disorganized apartment. It was just her anyway so she didn’t see the point in cleaning up. Anyway, it wasn’t even that messy. The living room was pretty clean, except the books sprawled on half of the couch, the papers on the table and the mug. In the kitchen was…hell. It looked like a tornado just took place. The sink was full of dirty dishes and the contents of the fridge were half outside and half inside. Her room, except the unmade bed, was clean and so was the bathroom.

When someone knocked in that morning, she thought Takeshi chose to visit her, or maybe it was Mizuki’s date again, looking for more information about the surgeon. Fortunately, it was the land lady who looked troubled. Unfortunately, she started to talk about a man.

“Will you come and take a look at him? I found him early in the morning on the stairs. He looked cold so I brought him in. Right now he’s sleeping on the couch in my apartment. He looked like such a nice man.” That was definitely a different way to spend the morning.

“You left a man sleep on your couch? What if he was a thief?!”

She didn’t mean to exaggerate but she started to have few ideas of who that man was. One of them wasn’t good at all. Miss Tsubaki wasn’t a woman who would leave a problem slide easily so there was no way out of that one. She had to go and identify whoever there was.

“I was worried. He doesn’t look like a bad person” Miss Tsubaki added while she dragged the younger woman to her living room. There was nothing wrong, the place was tidy and there was indeed a familiar face sleeping peacefully on the green couch.

“Why did you come to me?”

She was really curious about that too. It was just her in the whole building. The reason was simple. The older woman had seen the man before.

“I saw him a few years ago walking out of your apartment…” It all came down to Anna. It must have been when he left. “I remembered him because he looked really sad while closing the door. He even hesitated.” That was new information for her ears. She rubbed her forehead and sighed. It was going to be difficult to ignore him,

Silently, she walked closer to him. She leaned in to his face and narrowed her eyes at him.

“You’re really a pain in the ass” She cracked a smile while saying that,

He looked tired even with his eyes closed. She could just wonder how many sleepless nights he gathered. She was going to find out soon enough. One hand grabbed the pillow and the other the cover and with a bright smirk she pulled them.

“Wake up Sleeping Beauty! You’re not in Kansas anymore!”

It ended up with a groaning and fussy Nao on the floor at her feet. “Come on. I’m taking you to the dark side” She was amused by how much he must have hated her in that moment. It was rather obvious he was swearing at her in his mind because he was glaring.

After he thanked Miss Tsubaki for the unthinkable act of taking a stranger in your house and letting him sleep in your living room, he followed Anna to her own place. She didn’t look happy but she didn’t look mad either. Nao was another story. He was dressed in the same clothes as the other day, his hair was stuck in every possible direction, his eyes were smaller than usually and the halos were prominent.

Without much thinking, he walked towards her couch, while rubbing his back like an old man, making Anna chuckle, and got comfortable.

“I’m glad you got accustomed so fast to a foreign place.” He groaned, his face planted on the sofa.

“I like the dark side.”

He continued, snuggling his face into the softness. Anna rolled her eyes and went in the kitchen. She wasn’t going to beat him out of her apartment because sincerely, she felt like those were the most relaxing moments he had in a while. Even though they got through some bad times, she didn’t hate him. At least, not yet. While waiting for the water to boil, she started to think more about the script. Maybe she was too insensitive when she asked for some bits to be erased. The novel was about love and the faith people get into it.

“Maybe I should go on more blind dates” She mumbled, turning the oven off.

She poured the coffee in two clean cups and walked to Nao. He was awake. She figured that out in the moment he raised his head, the hot beverage smelling heavenly. She didn’t feel like getting his feet off so she placed both cups and herself on the short table.

“What?” Even if he wasn’t looking at her, he could feel the intense stare she held on him.

Slowly, he sat up and grabbed his mug. The coffee went really well down his neck. The weather got really bad over the night.

“Should I ask you first why are you so tired or should I ask why you acted like an immature brat and spent half the night on the stairs, outside?” He rubbed his eyes and groaned.

“I prefer the first one” There was no response. Anna was patiently waiting for him to continue. “I work as a photographer. I have a project here in Tokyo, that’s why I came in the first place. I need to take beautiful pictures of the citizens. It’s part of a bigger international project. I first went to Australia and now I’m here. I have to take pictures of places too so I will have to leave for the countryside too. It’s a lot of work and a lot of stress.” He stopped and sipped from his cup,

“Continue”

She didn’t seem to have anything to comment, yet. She just wanted to know the whole reason. Work is not a good enough reason for her.

“I’m in the middle of a divorce. My divorce. My father wants me to think more about this decision while my wife wants me to visit, for some reason.” He never told her he was married.

He completely forgot. For him it wasn’t a big deal and she didn’t look fazed at all.

“I know. Chris told me”

He narrowed his eyes at her, trying to figure what she was thinking. It didn’t really work. She was simply watching him. Her green eyes were getting him to simply stare at his reflection in them. “That doesn’t mean you have to take a break from it like a beggar”

“I wasn’t” He placed the cup back down and rubbed his neck. “No one ever made me feel like that. I never knew I could feel so miserable by just a few words. I wanted to think”

“In the middle of the night, in front my house?” He shrugged. “You’re shameless” He scoffed.

“Look who’s talking! I’m not the famous one who started to play with food” That was a good response but he was right.

She was the daughter of a big business man and she did bring just trouble to her father, be it in childhood or in her adult years. She skipped the times she could lose her cool long before they met.

“You’re a loser”

She got up and walked into her room. Nao blinked a few times, unsure of what was happening. While she took her time doing whatever, his eyes traveled around the small apartment. He couldn’t see much of the kitchen but he could definitely feel the books occupying half of the couch, his feet resting on them earlier, or the papers on the table. He started to chuckle and shook his head.

“If I’m a loser than you’re the most disorganized woman in the world.”

“I am”

He didn’t expect a response to his statement. Also, he didn’t expect the script thrown on his lap. “Read it” His face was imitating his thoughts.

“You said you want to help right?” He didn’t have the time to respond. She crossed her arms in front of her chest. “You’re going to help me with my little impediment and I will help you take amazing pictures for your project. That way we will both have a benefit”

“What’s my benefit? You don’t know how to take good pictures” She raised an eyebrow.

“You don’t know anything about romance either. You’ve been caught up into loneliness all this time. You’ve never been in love but I’m not complaining, am I?” He was amazed by her theory. It didn’t make sense at all. Her mind worked in a questionable way but he wasn’t going to back off.