Sanban-dori Street was adjacent to the entrance to the hotel. He found a seat in a small restaurant, took out his phone and Googled for information on the hotel. The Wikipedia page suggested that it had nearly a thousand rooms that were spread over thirty floors. Katsuro tapped his fingers against the edge of the table. He needed to know Sakura’s room number, and knew that there was no point in asking at the reception desk; the hotel would treat guest information as confidential and would not willingly provide it to a third party. He couldn’t very well force them to tell him, and he didn’t have the expertise to access their servers from outside the building.

He navigated back to Google and found a list of florists in the area. The Kabukien Flower Shop was five minutes away and its website advertised that it delivered to local businesses. Katsuro dialled the number for the store and waited to be connected. He kept an eye on the comings and goings through the entrance to the hotel as he ordered a bouquet of flowers to be delivered to Sakura Nishimoto, a guest staying at the Hotel Gracery, room number unknown. He paid for the flowers with a dummy credit card, thanked the woman at the store and ended the call.

He attracted the attention of the waitress, ordered a matcha parfait and tipped the woman generously when she returned with his food. The ice cream was served with sweet red adzuki beans, preserved chestnuts and chewy warabi mochi. Katsuro—who had always had a sweet tooth—took the long-handled spoon and slotted a scoop of the ice cream into his mouth. He had an hour or two to wait here while the flowers were being prepared, and knew that he wouldn’t have any problems with the waitress moving him along thanks to his generous tip.

He scooped out another mouthful and sucked the spoon clean as he watched the activity at the end of the street.

98

Milton walked from Hachirō’s restaurant to Gotanda Station and went down to the Yamanote Line, waiting for a train to take him north. The carriage was quiet and he found a spot at the back where he could sit without being disturbed. There, he ran through his plan again, probing and prodding it to ensure that he had considered all of its possible weaknesses. He had needed a place to meet Satoshi, and his knowledge of Tokyo was not strong enough for him to come up with a suitable location. He had asked Hachirō and realised that he had been fortunate with the date. The Sannō Matsuri was one of the three most important festivals in Tokyo, taking place over the course of a week with frequent parades and events centred around the Hie Shrine. It was underway now, and the main parade was scheduled for this afternoon.