Day 1: Mail

It was long past sunset when Takagi dragged himself through the front door of his small apartment pausing only to check the mail. He groaned when he saw all the mail waiting for his attention. Juggling the mail and his briefcase as he changed into the house slippers was tricky but something he learned to master long ago.

His feet dragged as he made his way to the kitchen. Carelessly, he dropped the mail on a sizable pile on the kitchen counter. The growing size of the pile caused Takagi to wince. He just knew that there were bills in that pile and they needed to be taken care of very soon.

With a sigh, he picked up the pile and moved it to the table and began to sort it. Halfway through the pile, his stomach reminded him that he had not eaten in sometime. The paperwork from the morning forced him to take a short, early lunch and it was now well past supper time.

A short trip to the kitchen relieved his hunger pangs but also revealed that there was not a whole lot to eat. Supper consisted of two day old takeout and some stale French bread. Takagi resolved to go shopping in the morning. The heavy workload left him too exhausted of late to day any serious shopping and he was tired of eating on the run. He wanted to groan again when he came back the table and the mail waiting on it for him.

Takagi was very grateful that he had the next day off. But he was not looking forward to all the errands and chores he needed to do. That was one reason to take care of the mail tonight. Anything done tonight meant a little easier day off before he returned to work. If a person or two had decided to take their vacations later, the workload would have been lighter but with five people out of the office, the workload became heavy. And with Sato gone, too, he was missing one of the highlights of his work days.

The pile of mail refused to disappear or take care of itself despite the glare he was sending at it. With a heartfelt sigh, he returned to the task of sorting.

"Let's see what there is. Bill, bill, junk mail, junk mail, bill, magazine, post card, bill, bill, junk ma... Post card?" he said, feeling puzzled. It was the picture of a forested mountain in winter and 'Hokkaido' written across the bottom in calligraphy.

Turing it over, he saw a familiar scrawl that brought a smile to his face.

Takagi-kun, it began,

I hope they haven't been overworking you. I know that I'm not the only taking vacation. Hang in there! I'm sending you a souvenir. And don't tell Yumi!

-Miwako Sato

Takagi read the short message a few more times before putting the card in its own pile. He stared at it happily before turning his attention back to the pile of mail. The task of sorting it did not seem quite so onerous any longer.

Day 2: Trance

Morning dawned too early for Takagi. A bird decided that the best place to start its morning song outside Takagi's bedroom window, not just outside his window but clinging to the almost nonexistent sill. The bursts of song were interrupted briefly as the bird would peck the occasional insect off the sill but after half an hour, Takagi decided that trying to wait out the bird was not worth the wait.

The only redeeming thing today, he thought as he stumbled to his small bathroom, is that I do not have to go to work feeling like a zombie. Not that it is going to count for a whole lot today if I don't get to bed early.

A quick, and cold, shower, woke him and he dressed quickly. A trip to the kitchen showed the same unappetizing food. While Takagi did not want to eat out, there were few options. He asked himself how long it had been since he last went grocery shopping and could only draw up a blank. The upside was that he could start with the errands. With any luck, he thought, the afternoon will be free.

It was a stretch but Takagi was just able to fit in all his errands and shopping before lunch. He was not bothered about eating lunch at two and was pleased to be able to plop down in front of the television and go into a trance as he watched it.

He was startled out of his trance two hours later by the doorbell ringing. He hopped up and promptly jumped around because of the pins and needles feeling in his feet. "I'll be there in a moment!" he yelled.

Still limping a little from the pain, he opened the door to find deliveryman there with a package. "Takagi Wataru-san?" the deliveryman said. Takagi nodded yes and grabbed his hanko off the small stand by the door. Stamping the form the delivery man handed him, Takagi gave it back and took the medium sized package.

Takagi took the package to the kitchen. Is this the package Sato-san said she was going to send? he wondered. He shook it slightly and frowned when the muffled movement told him nothing about its contents.

Retrieving a pair of scissors from a draw, he opened the package and laughed when he saw what it was. It was basically a care package stuffed full of food only found in Hokkaido.

Inside, there was a short note.

Takagi-kun, now you can't complain about not having any food around! I'm sorry about the size. I went a little overboard. There is something special on the bottom.

He began to take out the food. There were types ranging from ramen to cookies to cheese. At the bottom of the box was a small box. He gently lifted it out of the package. It was a small carved box. Opening it up, he found a small, carved fish on a necklace. A piece of paper fluttered out that explained it was a charm for good luck.

Takagi was touched and found himself putting it on without thinking. He found himself remembering what Sato told him before she left on vacation. "Takagi-kun, look out for yourself. Don't rush headlong into things. I don't want you to get hurt." That last part she had said in almost a whisper and he had promised her that he would look out for himself.

Takagi was amused at her lack of confidence in him. That was the only reason for all the food. He also knew the charm was out of her fear for him. He resolved to take extra care of himself, so she would not worry.

There was one minor thing bothering him. "I thought the package would have shown up more than a day after the postcard," he muttered to himself as he snagged the postcard off the refrigerator. It was postmarked almost a week earlier and the package four days ago. He shook his head, "It must have gotten lost in a bag somewhere." I'm glad the card came first, otherwise I would not be able to keep it secret. Yumi would know. I can tell her about the card as a reason for being happy. Everyone will accept that.

After picking out one of the desserts Sato sent to go with his supper, he put the rest of the food away and ate supper. Over dessert, he pulled out some files for a case he was working on. Tomorrow, he was supposed to go to the wake to question some suspects. The was evidence pointing to someone in that family to hiring thugs to intimidate some business rivals.

"Tomorrow is going to be an interesting day," Takagi told himself.

A hanko is a personal seal with the family name that commonly used in place of a signature in Japan http://en.