I could not believe my good luck. Nobu-san was alive! Months and months had passed where I had received no word or communication regarding his continued existence. Now I knew that he was at least alive. I had confirmed it with my very eyes!
The troubling question though was - what was Nobu-san doing in Kyoto? Why was he in that military car? Nobu's business should have kept him Osaka for an extended period of time. Moreover, Nobu was an intelligent man. He knew the dangers of traveling during war time. I knew that he would not put himself at risk to travel to Gion when bombs were falling nearly every day.
I also wondered how long Nobu had been in Gion? If he had been here, why didn't he contact me or come by the Okiya for word of me?
Although I would not flatter myself that I would be the first person Nobu would contact should some type of calamity befall, I thought that eventually he would reach out to me. At least to reassure me that all was well. I reminded myself that Nobu was the proudest of men. Although Nobu-san respected and valued my company, he was like any other man. Japan would surely sink into the sea before he asked for my help.
After all, Nobu-san was the man who clawed himself to survival in Manchuria. He survived to climb the tall ladders of Japan's budding business world to amass great wealth and fortune. No ordinary business man could have attained Nobu's success. With his amputation and scarred face, he was at a severe disadvantage where first appearances meant everything. But still, Nobu prevailed where everyone else would have failed. His brilliance for survival and sheer business savvy alone had sustained him.
Thoughts of Nobu's resilience and strength bolstered my run back to the Okiya. I passed people that I knew without stopping. Air that reeked of smoke filled my nostrils, but I did not care. I had to tell Mother the news that Nobu-san was alive. Buildings, people and burning piles of rubble passed in a blur. I never stopped. All I could think of was that Nobu was alive!
"Mother!" I panted, when I reached the Okiya. "I saw Nobu-san! He is alive!" I clutched my heart to try to still my breathing. All the members of the household were gathered in the dining room. Mother was sitting by Auntie's futon. Pumpkin was leaning against the farthest wall with her eyes closed.
"Sayuri-san!" Mother exclaimed in surprise. "We had almost given you up for dead! Pumpkin and I barely managed to get to the shelter in time. Where were you?"
"On the street," I gasped out. "There was no time to get to the shelter." Auntie raised her head from her futon.
"You saw Nobu-san, Sayuri? Alive?" Auntie asked. She coughed weakly. Mother gestured for Pumpkin to get water.
"Yes, Auntie." I knelt by her futon. "I saw Nobu-san. He looked very much alive." Her skin was grey white with coughing. I noticed pink speckles of spittle around her mouth. Pumpkin handed me the cup of water without a word and immediately resumed her sitting position against the farthest wall. I tried to get Auntie to sip the water, but the coughing prevented her from swallowing much.
"Well, what did he say?" Mother demanded. I could see the cogs in her mind already turning. She was probably wondering if and when he was going to send surplus funds to the Okiya. I bet she was already calculating the current cost of rice on the black market.
"He was in a military car, Mother. I only saw him for a second, and then he was gone!"
"Gone!" Mother moaned. "How can he be gone? What good is having a wealthy danna if he does not pay good money for your upkeep!" She shook her head. "That he was in a military car is probably bad news. A very bad sign." Mother brightened, "Unless he has some powerful military connections."
"I highly doubt Toshikazu has the charisma to cultivate such military connections" Pumpkin sneered from her sitting position. My spin prickled. I felt Hatsumomo's presence in the room. Some ghosts never die.
"I hope he is not in some kind of trouble" Auntie said tiredly. She pushed the water away. "Enough Sayuri-san, nothing will help this cough."
Mother's hands twitched, as if she was stroking her long abandoned pipe. "Pumpkin may be right. With his temper, I'm almost certain of it! That man has a mouth that would offend even the good natured gods!" Mother exclaimed, her black eyes flashing. "If I had known…well it doesn't matter now. What's done is done. I will send word to the Mistress of the Ichiriki. Perhaps she has heard something about Toshikazu. Goodness knows that woman hears everything in Gion."
"Mother," I said suddenly, noticing something. The little maid Estuko was missing. "Where is Estuko? I thought she was supposed to be here with Auntie."
"That stupid girl ran off" Mother said. She shrugged. "It's one less mouth to feed, I suppose, but now Auntie will be alone during the day."
"I'll manage by myself" Auntie said. Mother looked uncertain.
"Perhaps when we get a hold of Toshikazu there will be extra funds to hire someone" Mother mused. "At the very least, he owes us money for food. I would hate to sell another kimono."
"Send word to the Mistress tonight" Auntie said, still coughing. "But I would keep quiet that Estuko ran off and that I am dying. That woman will have it all over Gion and then no one will associate with us, no matter how much rice we have."
"Sister!" Mother admonished. "You are not dying!"
"Of course I am!" Auntie gasped. "You all are afraid to admit it, but I'm not. I can hear the blood pooling in my lungs every day. It's only a matter of time. You should leave me in the street when the bombs start falling."
"There, there" Mother said soothingly. "You are not dying. We have plenty of resources to keep you comfortable for some time. The doctor said that the medicines would help. If its money that you are worried, remember we have…"
"It's not the money, Achiko-san, and you know it" Auntie said. She took a long struggling breath. "You may as well as face the truth. I'm dying. But you know that my dying is the least of your problems."
"You can't mean…" Mother began helplessly. For the first time I saw Mother look flustered and helpless. Pumpkin laughed.
"At last Auntie gave the world back what it deserves" Pumpkin said. Auntie started into another coughing fit.
"Pumpkin," I said looking at her, "Have you lost your mind?" Pumpkin just laughed.
"You always had an ugly mouth on you" Auntie said, wiping her mouth with her sleeve. Mother tried to help her sit up but Auntie waived her away.
"Perhaps, but yours is spewing forth something more ugly, and more dangerous than my words could ever be" Pumpkin said.
"Pumpkin!" I warned.
"One more word and you will be gone from this house!" Mother thundered. Auntie shook her head tiredly.
"Are you so sure that you want to happen?" Pumpkin said, with an air that rivaled Hatsumomo's at her most menacing.
"She can't leave" Auntie said, answering Pumpkin's question. "She will tell everyone, and then the Nitta Okiya will be ruined. No one will go near us with this disease. Now or after the war."
"And what about yourself?" I retorted back at Pumpkin. "Everyone knows that you live with us, sleep with us in the same room, and eat our food. Everyone will also think that you have it too."
"If I stayed in Gion and worked as a geisha perhaps, but I don't intend to do that" Pumpkin said, with a large smile. "You are the daughter of the Okiya, Sayuri. I am not. You took my future away, remember?"
She looked around the room, regarding Mother and Auntie with a kind of shallow benevolence. "I guess I should thank you for that, though. I certainly do not want to end like that ugly old woman and poor little Estuko. I don't want to die coughing up my lungs."
"Estuko!" I gasped. Auntie groaned and closed her eyes.
"Oh didn't you know?" Pumpkin asked, "She left because she was coughing up blood and didn't want to die surrounded by these stingy old women."
"Enough!" Mother said. "You have been in Hatsumomo's shadow too long. She could be mean as a snake, but she was as bright as a cart ox. You are no less stupid. Look around you, girl. Everyone is starving. Not only here, but in Osaka, Tokyo, and all over the provinces of Japan. If you did not have this Okiya to turn to, you would have nothing! You would have to resort to prostitution in order to get by. Is that what you want?"
Pumpkin said nothing but got up from her sitting position. From her standing position she looked down at us with great superiority. "I'll be sleeping in the upstairs from now on" she told us. "I wouldn't want to catch anything down here."
I dug my fingernails into my palm. I could barely contain myself from getting up and slapping her. "When you do get the funds from Toshikazu," Pumpkin said, "be sure to send the rice upstairs first, I'll cook it myself. I want to eat it before that old woman coughs all over it with her contaminated breath."
Mother sent me to see the mistress that night.
….
The sky was dark, and the air was cold as I made my way to the Ichikiriki teahouse that night. I hoped the mistress would not mind my appearance. My hair was unwashed and smelled of smoke and my clothes were just as dirty. Mother however, was adamant that I see the mistress as soon as possible.
I knelt in the entrance way to take off my shoes.
"Sayuri-san!" the mistress came forward. "This is a pleasant surprise. I'm so glad to see you."
"Mistress" I bowed. "Please excuse my appearance." She waved her hands.
"We are so pleased to have visitors this time of night! With the closing of Gion, we never see anyone anymore." She clasped her hands over mine. "Can I offer you tea?" I politely declined, guessing that her supplies were as limited as ours.
"Please, mistress, I have some business I would like to discuss with you" I told her. I was anxious to find news about Nobu and his sudden appearance in Gion.
"Please come into my sitting room then," the mistress said, guiding me to her personal private rooms.
"Now, then Sayuri-san what is it that you wanted to discuss?" the mistress asked pleasantly. "I'm so pleased that you have come to see me. It's been very lonely since the closing of Gion. I miss you and the other geisha so much."
"You see mistress, I've had a troubling encounter today."
"Yes?"
"Today when Mother and I were walking back to the Okiya, I saw Nobu-san!"
"Nobu-san!" the mistress exclaimed. "I didn't know that he was back in Gion! How pleased you must be."
"So then you did not know that he was back in Gion?"
"No," the mistress appeared as puzzled as I felt. "Were you not expecting him? Nobu-san is so fond of you, I'm sure you of all people would have firsthand news of his whereabouts."
"No, mistress" I shook my head. "I have not seen or heard from Nobu-san for several months. I was afraid of the worst. But today I saw him for the first time and he was riding in a military car!"
"A military car!" she exclaimed. "Goodness gracious! I did not know Nobu-san had those kinds of connections. He is a powerful man certainly but I did know he was on such terms with the military…" she let her words trail off.
"The truth is, I'm afraid that he is in some kind of trouble" I admitted.
"I see…" the mistress said, at last understanding the reason for my visit. "Let me think for a moment. It's so hard to get news anymore with the war going on and people not coming to Gion for entertainment purposes." She brightened. "That's it! I know, Hideo Suzuki!"
"Hideo-san?" I asked. "I didn't know that he was in Gion! Surely he must have an estate in the country. Mameha had mentioned that he had an estate somewhere near Hakone."
"Yes, but he is in Gion at the moment" the mistress told me. He came here to get supplies off the black market. It seems the villages near his estate are absolutely wiped out."
"Hideo would have news of Nobu-san?" I asked dubiously, remembering Nobu's armament dislike for the man.
"Yes, or at least the means to find out about him!" the mistress said excitedly. "Hideo is very well connected with the military. Both of his brothers are serving as generals, and because he is fond of you, I'm sure he will help you in any way that he can."
I bowed low. "Thank you mistress."
"I will invite him here tomorrow night" the mistress said, waiving off my thanks. "I have some sake that I have hidden somewhere and my husband recently got a sack of rice off the black market. If you can come here tomorrow night and find some water to bath, I have some make-up stashed away."
"I understand. Thank you mistress. Mother and I are most indebted to you."
"It is nothing" the mistress said. "I too am most curious about Nobu-san's situation. I hope that Hideo Suzuki can provide some answers for us."