‘All right, we’ll go together next time,’ Yoko said, flashing him a smile before leaving the room.

The door opened and closed with a creak. Shoji lay still on the bed. He wanted to smoke, but he couldn’t bring himself to get up and grab the cigarettes from the dressing table. A sense of unease crawled up his spine to the back of his neck. He’d forgotten something important, but what was it?

A gust of wind blew, and he turned to the window. The sky was clear, devoid of any clouds. The weather was pleasant, but Shoji felt unbearably lost and lonely.

•

Even after he woke, the emptiness lingered.

When Shoji had first moved back to Tokyo, he used to dream about Yoko a lot. But after a few weeks, it happened less and less, until the dreams finally stopped. Well, almost. Sometimes, out of the blue, he would still dream of Yoko. Like a mild Tokyo earthquake, the dreams were unexpected yet non-intrusive.

A few years had passed without him dreaming about her. Yet now it had happened again. He buried his face in his palms. Why was he still unable to move on? Shouldn’t he let her go now that he knew she was probably safe?

Getting up, he washed his face and brushed his teeth. His head hurt a little, probably from the lack of sleep. Good thing it was a Saturday so he could afford to take things easy. He changed into an old T-shirt and shorts. He wanted to drink some milk, but then recalled it had gone rancid. Luckily, he found a pack of Oreos and ate them for breakfast.

Shoji looked around his room. This place was such a mess. He rolled up his sleeves and decided to clean it up. He started by emptying the rubbish bin. Then he checked the fridge and removed everything that had gone bad, which was pretty much all the perishable items. He made a mental note to make a trip to the supermarket to stock up on essentials. Next, he dumped all the clothes into a huge laundry basket. They needed ironing. But before that, he ought to pick up those books and magazines. They were all over the place.

Yoshioka would laugh if he learned that Shoji had ended up spending his weekend tidying up his apartment. Then again, he probably couldn’t imagine an apartment that was as messy as this.

Shoji divided the books and magazines into two piles: throw away or keep. In the past, he had saved all his articles, but he started to wonder if there was any point, especially now that the pages had turned yellow. He couldn’t think of any use for them.

Picking through the items, he came across a white, hardcover book. ‘100th Anniversary’ was embossed on the cover in silver foil. He had brought the album back from Fukuoka when he visited a year ago.

29 Water Women

CHAPTER 29