Verse 2
Chihayafuru / Even when the gods
Kamiyo mo kikazu / Held sway in the ancient days,
Tatsuta-gawa / I have never heard
Kara kurenai ni / That water gleamed with autumn red
Mizu kukuru to wa / As it does in Tatsuta's river
- Ariwara no Narihira Ason (poem 17 of the Hyakunin Isshu)
Chihaya watched the monotonous scenery whizz by in swirls of blue sky and green fields as she and Chitose sat across the photographer and his assistant on the bullet train. The make-up artist, wardrobe selector, and lighting assistant were sitting somewhere behind them. All the while, the photographer's assistant, Miina, chattered about whatever she felt was relevant in the fashion industry of today. The photographer, Seiji Ihara, most likely used to tuning her out, sat with his arms folded and eyes closed behind a pair of expensive sunglasses. Chitose joined in the superficial conversation when she could, and Chihaya was ignored by everyone for the most part. Her earphone buds continuously chanted the karuta poetry of the Hyakunin Isshu from her iPod.
"Wow, Chitose, I really love your nail polish! Is that the new color from Shu Uemura?"
"Of course!" her sister clucked. "But, what I really want is that new skin cream from SK-II! But alas, it costs a small fortune!"
"I know. It's supposed to have a breakthrough secret ingredient that's as expensive as gold," chatted Miina. "It's a good thing our make-up artist uses SK-II brand products a lot. I can get free samples from her."
"Lucky!"
"Tell me about it," smiled the assistant. "As soon as we get back to Tokyo I'm going to hit Ginza's Mitsukoshi. They're having a make-up party until sunset. The magazine gave me two tickets. You want to come?"
"Are you kidding? Of course I do!" exclaimed Chitose excitedly. "I hope the shoot goes well, then we can get back early. Where exactly are we going?"
"Chihayafuru kamiyo mo kikazu tatsuta-gawa; Kara kurenai ni mizu kukuru to wa," the reader chanted musically into Chihaya's ear buds.
"Oh, didn't I tell you in my text message? Echizen, in Fukui."
A sudden flash of red splashed across Chihaya's view as the train slowed and pulled into the station and passed a billboard. The product was some sort of brandy, but the background behind the caramel colored glass was a spray of bright autumn maple leaves.
Fukui? Chihaya's ears perked up. Sure enough a electronic billboard on a wall of the station listed "Fukui Town" among the destinations. Chihaya could feel her heart pounding in her chest and the blood rush to her face as her hands inadvertently touched the window by her seat. She sat frozen while the entourage was waking up its members and gathering its bundles to get off the train. A driver and van would be waiting for them.
"Since you're doing a advertisement spread for Genji Foods Enterprises, Ihara-san thought Echizen would be a perfect place," said Miina as they stepped off the train.
"Huh? Why is that?" asked Chitose.
"Murasaki Shikibu's father was governor of Echizen Province during the Heian Period,"said Chihaya, nonchalantly as she carried one of Chitose's duffels over her shoulder. It was, in fact, the subject of a recent lecture by Kana-chan when Chihaya asked who Murasaki Shikibu was. Kana gave her a stern earful after that, lasting a whole 10 minutes.
"Not bad," smiled Ihara, patting Chihaya on the shoulder before he started flagging down their driver to help them with their baggage.
"Who?" whispered Chitose in her younger sister's ear, to avoid looking stupid in front of Ihara-san, popular for his recent fashion spreads in AneCam magazine.
"The lady who wrote 'The Tale of Genji,'" whispered Chihaya back at her.
"Oh," said Chitose, finally getting it. "How the heck do you know these things?" asked Chitose, her eye brow twitching with annoyance. "You used to be among the bottom 5 in rank during your freshman year." Chihaya shrugged as she handed over the duffel to the driver, Yamada-san.
"Yamada-san," she asked suddenly. "Is there a bookstore near the station?"
"Yeah, there is. It's on the next street from the one facing the station, on your right,"said the driver in his Kansai dialect. The accent made Chihaya's heart skip a beat. Chihaya looked over to Miina and Ihara-san's direction. They were discussing which photo-shoot location to go to first. One set would come from an area where the ocean could be seen from the background, another where rice paddies could be seen in the background and the third would be a random shoot at the park where the cherry blossoms were still in bloom.
"Will we be leaving in the next 10 minutes?" she asked anxiously.
"Nah, it will take us at least 15 minutes to get all this stuff into the car," Yamada-san replied. "I couldn't double park in front so I had to park further away."
"What's with you?" demanded Chitose. She noticed her sister's cheeks were flushed.
"I have to go see something," Chihaya responded vaguely.
"Pick up the latest AneCam for me, will you?" her sister ordered, handing her a few bills. "I have to make a good impression with Ihara-san." With that, Chihaya made a mad dash out of the station, down the street and disappeared around the corner.
"She's fast," commented Miina, coming back to the rest of the group to help with the photography equipment. "I wish I was still in the springtime of youth. That's the look of a girl in love."
"Chihaya?" asked Chitose incredulously. "Pfft. Never."
-000-
Passersby eyed the fashionable Tokyo city girl curiously. She looked as though she had just stepped out of a fashion magazine. Tall and slender, her proportions were that of a model and her clothes seemed to be name brand. In the mid-morning sun, a soft light fell over her, highlighting her long, undone straight hair. Her taupe, lightweight overcoat was pinched in the back to accentuate her feminine shape while a soft pink, tube neck sweater highlighted the paleness of her skin. Her long legs were covered in a pair of white jeans with brass brads and small zippers on the sides. A pair of droopy, black suede ankle boots with fringe topped off the ensemble.
She stood still as a statue outside of the bookstore, just far enough so that the motion sensors of the sliding doors did not detect her presence. A woman and her young son entered the store and Chihaya's acute sense of hearing heard a familiar voice call out, "Irashaimase." She had no idea why her heart was beating so hard in her chest that it hurt. It occurred to her that her heart could stop entirely if she heard his voice again.
Just as an elderly couple approached the entrance, a housewife was exiting and Chihaya's legs hurried behind the couple to mingle into that little crowd. Before he could look up and say, "Irashaimase" again, Chihaya hurried past the people in line and dipped behind the magazine shelf at the back of the store and crouched down. She felt as though all her extremities had gone numb.
"C-can I help you miss?" asked a voice. Chihaya looked up to see a rotund, otaku-looking man wearing a bookstore apron with a tag that said 'manager.' He was blushing slightly as he eyed the magazines next to her. Chihaya looked down and nearly fainted when she realized she was in the porn section. A red flush colored her from head to toe.
"Sorry!" she exclaimed. "I...um..." She was suddenly saved by her cell phone ringing at her. Chihaya picked it up to hear her sister barking for her to come back. She closed the cell phone while her sister was in mid-sentence.
"I have to go," Chihaya said, disappointed. She gave one quick glance towards the cashier and let out a little sigh. The manager raised his eyebrow quizzically. Chihaya exited the store as quickly and stealthily as possible; this time hiding in between the mother and son she had seen enter earlier and two chatty girls.
"Maido arigato gozaimashita," said Arata politely as they left. From the corner of his glasses, he thought he saw mixed into the crowd the face of someone he knew, but when he looked again, the face was already already gone.
"That's odd," said his manager leaning against the counter, as there were no more customers up front to wait upon.
"What is?" asked Arata emotionlessly as he closed the register again. He was used to the inane comments of his manager by now.
"There was this beautiful girl in the store, crouching down behind the porn shelf looking at you."
"What are you talking about?" asked Arata in disbelief. "Are you mixing your adult RPG with reality again?"
"Hmph!" he snorted. "I was seriously overworked that week. You don't understand what it's like to be me."
"Right, right," answered Arata, completely disinterested.
His manager came closer and said in a low, serious tone, "You didn't break any hearts recently or anything like that, did you?"
"No one's ever confessed to me," responded Arata honestly.
"Really?" asked his manager in disbelief. "Not even that little stalker neighbor of yours who always comes here to buy a book?"
"Yuu?" asked Arata incredulously. "She's just a friend."
"That's what people say until they go all 'Fatal Attraction' on you. But getting back to this girl," he continued. "She looked really familiar to me, like I've seen her face somewhere," his manager insisted. "A fashionable city girl, the way she was dressed. Straight hair, cute." He scratched the back of his head as he walked away from the counter.
"Ah!" he exclaimed in a sudden revelation. "She looked just like Chitose Ayase, but with a smaller chest!"
The stack of back order papers slipped out of Arata's hands and fluttered down onto the counter. Immediately, he rushed out the front entrance, nearly catching his shop apron on one of the sliding doors as they could not open fast enough, and scanned down both directions of the sidewalk. She was nowhere in sight.
Automatically he pulled out his cell phone from his pocket and checked the screen. There were no missed calls. Was it really her or was he just imagining things?
No. It had to have been her, he thought. But what is she doing here? And why would she hide? He furrowed his brow in thought. Arata looked at the blank screen again. His fingers automatically pushed the menu and scrolled down to the name and number he already knew by heart. He texted a message. If it had not been her, then this was just an excuse to text her.
What are you doing? he asked. There was no immediate response. Arata wondered if she was at the Shiranami Society practicing, as she usually did on Sunday mornings. As he stepped back into the shop, he received a response.
I'm sitting in a van. The response was a bit more cryptic than her usual messages. But then again, he knew her better than almost anyone. Without her having to say so, he concluded she was not at the Shiranami Society and that she was actually on the road.
Where are you going? he texted in return.
I'm not sure. Again, a cryptic response.
Not sure? How can she not be sure where she was going? Arata sighed and smiled wryly. Doing things on a whim, as usual.
Looks like it's Asuwayama Park, first.
He couldn't resist the question any longer. Did you come see me just now?
There was a bit of a delay between the question and the answer.
Yes.
Why were you hiding? And in the porn section, no less...
I wasn't hiding! And THAT was an accident *_*
Arata chuckled. His manager peered over his shoulder to see the context of the texts but Arata closed the cell phone before that. "I'm on my break time. I'd appreciate it if you'd respect my privacy," he said cooly.
"Tch. Stingy," muttered his manager getting back behind the counter. "It couldn't be your girlfriend? You don't have one...do you?" he asked, as an afterthought.
"She's not my girlfriend," Arata admitted before hanging up his apron on the rack and grabbing his bag from under the counter. "She-" he hesitated, "means more to me than that. I'm taking my lunch early." With that passive-aggressive tone, he left his manager in jaw-gaping disbelief.
"I knew you were going to become a man someday!" he called out after him.