‘Smart, aren’t you?’ He chuckled. ‘But like I’ve said, I’ve got no intention of getting a new credit card.’

‘Then I need to keep talking to convince you.’

He burst into laughter.

‘Your name, is it real?’ Mizuki asked.

‘Hmmm. What do you think?’

‘I don’t know.’

‘One of the great things about staying in New York is that no one realises I share a name with a Japanese cartoon character.’

‘Good point.’

He laughed again. He seemed to be in a jovial mood and sounded like a kind person. Since he was a teacher, chances were he was older than her.

‘How old are you, Mr Goda?’

‘Old enough no one checks my ID in the cinema.’

‘Why are you always deflecting my questions?’

‘Why do you keep asking difficult questions?’ he teased her. ‘I’m sorry, but it looks like I’ve got to hang up now. My next class is going to start in fifteen minutes.’

‘Wait,’ she said. ‘Just one last question.’

‘Yes?’

‘Can I call you Giant?’

A brief silence. ‘What do you think?’

CHAPTER 7

YELLOW BUTTERFLIES

‘Have you ever fallen in love with someone before you saw them?’ Shoji asked.

Yoko gave him a puzzled look. ‘Is that possible?’

He shrugged, passing her a bowl of rice. ‘Maybe?’

Tonight’s dinner was grilled eel, egg roll, salad with ponzu dressing, and miso soup. Shoji had prepared everything but the salad. Of the two of them, he was the better cook.

‘I doubt it,’ Yoko eventually said. ‘In reality, you need to be reasonably physically attracted to the other person. I’m not saying your partner has to match your ideal image, but that there has to be a baseline of what you can accept.’

He bit his lip. ‘True.’

Yoko put down her chopsticks. ‘Hey, Shoji, what do you like about me?’

He looked at her for a long time before answering. ‘It’s hard to pinpoint one particular attribute. I like everything about you.’

She raised her eyebrow. ‘Everything?’

‘Uh-huh,’ he said with a smile. ‘For example, I like the way you fold your legs up in front of your chest whenever you’re watching TV, and how you always wear a T-shirt two sizes too big.’

She pretended to be offended. ‘Are you criticising me?’

‘I’m not,’ Shoji said, and laughed. ‘What I’m trying to say is, I like you the way you are. Everything about you is adorable.’

Averting her eyes, she picked up her chopsticks and continued eating.

‘What about you?’ Shoji asked. ‘What do you like about me?’

‘Uhm, everything.’

‘You’re just repeating my answer.’

She shrugged. He waited for her to say something, but she kept quiet. It wasn’t that he needed her to praise him, but sometimes he wished she could be more reassuring.

The clatter of the chopsticks and the sounds of the two of them slurping miso soup echoed in that tiny, old apartment.

•

‘It’s not easy for a woman to communicate her true feelings,’ Mizuki said.

Shoji tilted his head. ‘Is that so?’