Chapter Forty-Two
I arrived at the party a little past seven. The place was bursting at the seams with well-dressed people and businessmen. My father found me and got right down to business.
"Naoki, good thing you're here. There was someone I wanted you to meet." I hid my displeasure at not having been here a minute before being introduced to someone.
Still, my father led me across the grand hall and into a conversation with a man he worked with.
"This is my son, Naoki. Naoki, this is Iwasaki Shigeki. He is the second in command at Pandai." I shook hands with the man.
"Very nice to meet you, young man. You know, I have a daughter about your age." He smirked.
And then there was that. Another reason I'd been so hesitant to come to this party. Being that I was supposed to be the successor of Pandai, I was going to have people on my case about their daughters. I wouldn't have been chummy with the idea even if I wasn't interested in someone already.
I went for a drink, even if only to get away from this topic of conversation. I could see it going something like "You two should meet sometime" or "I think you would get along". But if my father knew anything about me, he knew that I wasn't about to let anyone decide that for me.
My father returned to me.
"What are you thinking of the party so far?" He asked. Supposing he already knew the answer, he went on, "I have someone else I'd like for you to meet."
Again, I let him tote me along to meet someone I would probably never meet again since I was not going to be running this company.
"Fukui, this is my son, Naoki."
"Hello, I'm Fukui Nanami. I have heard a lot about you." She said, holding out her hand. I shook it and nodded along with the rest of the mind-numbing conversation. I took another sip of my drink and tried to find something less dull about this whole party.
I failed in doing so.
Every person in this place, no matter where I looked, it seemed they were dragging on about Pandai or the weather or how someone in the family was getting married next Saturday. The conversations were about as stale as the champagne they drank.
For what felt like hours, my father showed me around and had me greet many people. It was when he left me for the bathroom that I checked my watch. Only seven forty-five.
My resolve came to a screeching halt and I firmly decided I couldn't do this for two more hours. I made my way to the exit without a doubt in my mind about it. If my father was mad, so be it. He'd only been putting me on display like a show pony as it was.
For once, I was happy to be greeted by the cold, offensive wind. It woke me up as I started down the sidewalk to the train station.
There were carolers I passed on the way, but one in particular caught my attention. He was not a caroler, singing rather about love. It was not him that was anything special, but the girl accompanying him. She was annoyingly familiar as she praised his singing voice and clapped along. It was one of Kotoko's Class F friends… Jinko. I took an extra moment to make sure it was her before I made the assumption that Kotoko's friends had ditched her.
No, it was just this one friend. There was no way she'd been ditched by the both of them. What my mother said sprang to the very front of my mind. "You can't trust girlfriends" she'd said. And rightfully so, as I could see.
If Kotoko had been cancelled on, that meant she was home, devoted to the plans she'd made with her friends but alone. Then there was the food they were supposed to bring with them, which meant that not only was Kotoko spending Christmas Eve alone, but she didn't have anything to eat either.
What faithful friends.
I thought about what I could do and one idea stuck out. I could get some food and go to the house with it. If her other friend was there, then good. If she wasn't, then at least there was something for Kotoko to eat.
I took the train, figuring to buy fried chicken and a cake when I was closer to home. That it was not snowing helped in many ways as I made my way around, getting the food. A bucket of chicken from the grocery store. With them out of cakes, I made a second trip to a convenience store a block down. They had the smallest of cakes, but it would do just fine.
I placed the food in a plastic bag and lugged it back to the house from there, which wasn't far at this point.
At the front door, I listened for talking and found nothing but silence. So, her other friend had ditched her too. I shook my head and dug around in my bag for my keys.
I found them and shoved the key into the lock. I tried turning but something was wrong. I jiggled the doorknob to free my key and tried again.
I understood after a moment. I was so used to using my apartment key that I'd forgotten. I slid the correct key forward and successfully unlocked the door. I stepped into a dark entrance. There was no sign that even one person was home.
I set the bag of food down on the end table in the entrance and went to the living room to look around. No one was here. The walls were decorated with streamers and such to accommodate the party she was supposed to be having with her friends.
I was knocked in the head unexpectedly. A hard object clipped my forehead.
"Thief!" Kotoko wailed on me with her tennis racket, "Thief!" She hit me in the head again. This time, the metal of the racket more than clipped me.
"Ouch! What are you doing?" I held the racket back. She finally got a good look at me through the dark and her mouth fell open.
"Irie-kun! Sorry… are you okay?" She gazed at me for a moment, and then she started to laugh.
"What is it now?"
"You're dressed in a suit, but I thought you were a thief and hit you on the head," she laughed harder, "and it's in your own home!"
"You're the one that hit me!" I said. She was engulfed in a hard laughter.
"I'm sorry." She continued on her little rampage of giggles.
Such a silly, simple girl.
I took off my coat and we went from the entrance hallway to the living room. I sat opposite her. Her laughter blew over.
"I'm sorry. I heard the doorknob rattling and thought you were a thief." She said.
"I was trying to use my apartment key."
"Oh…"
"Jeez, you hit me pretty hard." There was going to be a bruise. It would be hidden under my hair, but there was definitely going to be one.
"Oh, by the way, what about your father's party? You didn't go?"
"I did, but I left early. I was only getting introduced to people. It was so boring. My father has to be furious now," I said, "What about your party? I thought your friends were supposed to be coming over."
"Well," She giggled nervously, "Jinko and Satomi both had plans with their boyfriends out of nowhere."
"I see. Your friendships are pretty firm, huh?" I sat back, crossing my arms.
"Oh, don't say it like that." She frowned at the floor and then looked over to me, "Do you smell something?"
I got up and took the bucket of chicken out of the bag, "You mean this?" I brought it to the living room and sat it on the coffee table.
"Fried chicken!" Her face lit up with a smile.
"It was a buffet party, but I wasn't able to eat much. So I picked this up." I said. She eyed it longingly.
"I only ate a bowl of instant noodles, myself."
I slid the bucket closer to her, "Just have some."
"Really?" She reached to open it, "Thank you!" She dove right into it. Kotoko ate without speaking for a solid ten minutes. Then she stopped.
"Oh," she said, "I almost forgot." She hopped over to the lightswitch and dimmed them before turning on the Christmas tree lights.
"I prepared this for Jinko and Satomi," Kotoko said. So much effort put in for her friends to not even have shown, "It's really almost Christmas now. I think it's the first time since I can remember that I'm actually spending Christmas Eve with someone." I listened without interruption.
"My mom passed away when I was small, and my dad always works on Christmas Eve." It had to have been one of the saddest things I'd heard her say. But she didn't seem very unhappy. In fact, she looked at peace.
She stood suddenly, "I am going to go get a cake. This is such a good Christmas, there should be cake. I think I can get one at a convenience store."
"Wait, hold on," I said. She held, "There's a cake."
"There is?"
I led her back into the entrance hall where the cake still stood in place on the end table.
"Really? But why?" She gave me an amazed look, like I was some kind of genie, "Is it from Santa?"
"Don't be ridiculous."
"Then is it from you?" She gave one of those completely deluded expressions (although, this time, maybe she wasn't so deluded), and said, "Is it possible you knew I was home alone and bought this for me?"
Almost caught, I said, "Of course not. How would I have known that? My coworker couldn't get off work until she sold the last one, so I took it."
She brought it into the living room and sat it up on the coffee table.
"Wait a minute, I know what we need." Kotoko said and bolted to the kitchen. A couple of minutes later, she returned with two candles and a lighter. She shoved the candles into the top of the cake and lit them. I sat beside her.
"There. Now, make a wish." She said.
"That's only for birthday cakes." I pointed out.
"Huh? Really?" Kotoko admired the cake, "Thank you, Irie-kun."
Again with that…
"It wasn't for you." I insisted.
"But the cake is the size for two people." She said, questioning me. I hoped she wasn't starting to catch on now.
"Coincidence." I looked away from her, refusing to be caught at all.
"Hey, you should make a wish anyway. It's not like it'll hurt anything." She smiled up at me and I softened at the very sight of it.
"Why don't you make one?" She smiled wider.
"Can I?" I nodded and she closed her eyes. I studied her wishful, happy face and couldn't help but know what she was wishing for.
Kotoko opened her eyes and blew out the candles. What she didn't know was that at that exact moment, I made a wish too.
