Chapter 1: The Eightball Chick
"Come on, Keitaro! Why you bein' so coy?"
"Um, er!"
He looks so damn comical when he's embarrassed. And it's double fun 'cause the others ain't around. My, what a great party! Now where's the sake?
Kitsune took a gulp, then wrapped her arm around Keitaro's neck and passed him some paper napkins to stop the flow of blood out of his nose. She was very aware of the fact that he could see some laces of her silvery-shining bra as she bent to him.
"You nasty little boy! I doubt you've ever stopped dreaming about touching my breast again with my approval."
"I, um, Kitsune, you've got it all wrong! It's not like that!"
"My, my! Now just be quiet for a while. Don't you strain yourself so your nose bleed will be over sooner. Take my hand and follow me -- I'm going to show you the gates of Eden."
"Wh-what are you talking about?"
Kitsune glanced at Keitaro, closed her eyes and blushed like a teenage girl. Then she looked away from him, grinning victoriously. I love picking him up like this! And you never know, this time we might end up having a really good time.
She was leading him away from the people. He followed. But something was not right. There was trouble Kitsune had not expected at all.
"Uh, s-sorry Keitaro! You must wait a sec 'cause I'm... I'm going to... MMMPH!"
*****
Kitsune jumped up, quickly bent over the bedside and threw up on the floor. She felt the whole room spinning around her.
For gods' sake, where am I?! Oh. Home. Damnation. It looks like I gonna have to clean up the mess myself.
She sat for a while calming down. Then she got up and headed for the bathroom.
Well, well. Now that did feel real, she thought while rinsing her mouth. Funny, it's been ages since I dreamed about Keitaro or the Hinata gang. And come to think of it, when did I see any of them last? Oh, it was when I ran into Mutsumi. Literally. And that was a year ago.
Kitsune did not want to look in the mirror. Deep inside she knew that the amounts of liquor she consumed were slowly leaving their marks on her face. But it was so easy to forget about that as she could feel all men's eyes on her in the parties. She was still young. And she had that special charm of a person who is not in the least ashamed of living a mile a minute. A gift that could not be taken away from her.
Yet something was definitely changing. She had heard talk about hangovers getting worse by the age, but had never thought it might concern herself in any way. But she had to admit that feeling this sick in the morning was something new.
She had to sit down again, gasping for air. Some cold beer would come in handy.
Kitsune checked the fridge. A half-empty bottle of Kikkoman and some spots of dirt, nothing else.
In her wallet she found thirty yens. Wow. Last night's party must have been a good one. What a pity I don't remember anything.
The feeling of sickness was growing stronger again.
This calls for emergency action. Time to carry out my secret plan!
Kitsune stood up on a chair and started surveying the top shelf of the cleaning cupboard. Books. A mass of old books she had not needed for ages, many of them from the time she went to middle school. But there was a reason she had kept them.
Exercises on physics. Thriller paperbacks. An English reader for beginners. She flung the volumes all over the floor. Dizziness took over, she stopped for a while and leant against the wall for a moment, panting. Oxygen!
The next obstacle was a large, heavy carton -- full of old books, indeed. Kitsune felt like vomiting again. No. So close. She tried to reach over the carton, but it was too high. She started dragging it down, inch by inch.
The chair tilted over. Rumble.
Ow ow ow. The carton had split as it crashed into the floor. Kitsune found herself sitting in the middle of dangling books. It hurt, but she had made it. All she had to do was to climb back and...
Yes. Two untouched bottles of beer. A multinational American brand she did not like so much, but this had all been carefully planned when she moved in a year and a half ago.
My precious, Kitsune thought as she opened the first bottle by the kitchen sink. The relief was more psychological than physical, but real it was. Heh. A person who is able to store booze at home for months can't be called an alcoholic. I ain't lost the grip.
As Kitsune was gradually feeling better, she started to register more of the things surrounding her. Hmph. I'll do the dishes later.
When she had cleaned up the floor in front of the bed, she noticed an odd, rumpled piece of paper on the dining table, apart from last week's empty sake bottles.
"Su-u," it said in a foreigner's careless katakana. The name was followed by a mobile phone number. What the heck? How on Earth has this note ended up here?
*****
An hour later they were sitting in a little café. Kitsune stared at her old friend, still confused by the surprise.
Kaolla looked absolutely gorgeous. Her eyes still radiated that restlessness and childish enthusiasm, which very charmingly contradicted her otherwise serene smile and grown-up face. Her way of moving had somehow become a lot smoother over the years, yet her body seemed to be in constant motion, whether it was her fingers touching the glass on the table or her head turning around as she observed the surroundings. On top of if all, she was wearing a plentifully decorated Molmol national dress.
"...So when I getted to know that next International Conference on Information Technology and the Developing Countries is in Tokyo, I registered right away. I thinked it great to see all old places and meet you guys after years. Unfortunate, I have not reached every one. Apparently Motoko's somewhere countryside, difficult to reach her. Keitaro's abroad. No information about Naru's recent address. Seta I met, then Haruka, Shinobu, and Mutsumi."
Hmm. Her Japanese may be a bit rusty, but she's regaining it fast. Kitsune smiled.
"And then I was so happy to meet you yesterday evening!" Kaolla went on. Kitsune's coffee went down the wrong way.
"What's the matter, Kitsune?"
"Cough! Nothing, nothing at all! Just go on, please! (Cough!) Why don't you tell me how you felt about yesterday?"
What an idiot I am, Kitsune thought. That conference was the very reason why I was on the move. I wonder if my notes are safe at home. Mr. Ohira's gonna kill me if he doesn't get my report in time. Worse yet, what am I gonna eat if I don't get the money?
"Well, I found the last plenary session a little boring. I couldn't keep myself from thinking what I'll do when I get to test the new hardware I bought these days. True, most of the money I had with me I spent on a pile of new cheap'n'durable laptops. They gonna be delivered to schools, cultural institutions and NGO's in my home country as part of a development program... Oh, but the evening party was quite nice, and after we noticed each other it got great. You have such good ideas how to have real good time."
"I'm happy to hear your compliment," Kitsune said in a half-sarcastic voice. Poor hosts, she thought.
"Japanese folks look so very funny when they are embarrassed! And I hadn't had a good swing on electrolier for looong time!" Kaolla gave a most captivating smile, looking happier than ever.
My good God. I hope the guys from TV were not there.
Kaolla went on, "When you seemed be getting tired, I decided head to the hotel. First I got a taxi for you though. It was so crazy when we tried to make you tell your home address together with driver. I was just laughing all the time!"
Kitsune grinned. It must have been a great party indeed. "So that's when you gave me your phone number, too," she said. "To tell the truth, I'd forgot about that piece of paper by morning."
"Kya ha ha! You were blind drunk, weren't you?" Kaolla winked.
"Look who's talking. Listen Su, I haven't heard too much about the others lately. What do you mean, Keitaro's abroad and Naru's disappeared?"
"Well, it seem that they breaken up. Heh, I always knew Keitaro should have forget about Naru and marry me!" Kaolla went on, grinning as if there was nothing special about the gossip.
"What?!"
"They ain't together anymore. You should know they both have this habit to disappear when something's gone wrong. So sorry I must return home. Would've been great fun to travel around the Pacific on a quest to find 'em one time again. Or maybe now Naru's having a coast-to-coast tour of Eurasia for real..."
"Oh, you have to be leaving soon?" Kitsune asked absentmindedly, still confused by the shocking news.
"Rilly, so sorry. My plane's leaving in a couple of hours."
"We're quite far from the airport. Are you sure you're not gonna be late?"
"Oh, Seta promised to take me there. He helps me with the luggage too. He's always so friendly! In fact he should be here any minute."
"What?!" Kitsune cried out again, this time genuinely scared. She glanced out of the window, saw the approaching nose of Seta's van just a few meters away, and dove away from the table at lightning speed.
I hope Su made it alive too, she thought while protecting her head against the flying debris. I just can't believe she was stupid enough to pick up a table facing the street!