Chapter 15

After Misaki fell asleep, Tora carried her to bed and lay down next to her. He was worried about her but eventually fatigue overcame his anxiety and he too fell asleep. He awoke at 7:00. He was supposed to go back to the office for another day of negotiations with the Walker Corporation representative, Mr. Edward Jones. But as Tora looked over at Misaki, he wasn't sure if he should leave her.

He walked to the kitchen and heated up a pot of coffee. He preferred tea but he knew the strong smell of coffee would draw Misaki from her sleep and that would enable him to check up on her. He could see if she needed him to call in sick. Sure enough, as the coffeemaker percolated away, and it's sounds and smells filled the small apartment, Misaki groggily stumbled from the bedroom and flopped down at the kitchen table.

"Good morning," Tora said, "would you like a cup of coffee?"

"Do you have any tea?" She asked.

Tora turned the burner on under the kettle and took a tin of tea out of the cupboard. "How are you feeling this morning?"he asked.

"Tired mostly, I guess," she answered. She thought for a minute. She had waited up last night so she could ask Tora about his opinion about her attending the dinner with Takumi and instead they had had a very serious chat. She hadn't yet mentioned to Tora that she was suppose to bring Takumi sight seeing or that she had been invited as his date to the dinner. Should she ask him now? She was sure he'd object to her spending a whole day alone with Takumi showing him the City. She wasn't sure if that was fair or not. It was sweet of a Tora to worry but it was also hurtful that he thought she was still the fragile mess she must have been before the car crash. Takumi was certainly bringing out memories from her past which was helpful and while she couldn't deny she was drawn to him, she did know she had no intention of acting on her feelings. That would be morally reprehensible as she was in a committed relationship and it would be pointless. Takumi Walker was a foreigner who would fly away in a few days and forever be gone from her life. But, because she did know how strongly Tora felt about her spending time with Takumi alone, she would feel like she was hiding a secrete from him if she didn't tell him. They didn't keep secretes from each other.

"Tora,"she said looking up, "I had promised Takumi I would bring him sight seeing today."

Tora stopped making the tea. "I'll call in sick for work and join you."

"If you do that, you won't be at the meeting with the representative from Walker a Corporation and Takumi will know you lied to get out of the meeting. That could ruin this deal and would really hurt your career." Misaki would not let him do something so stupid. "I think I can get out of showing him around if I let him bring me to the work dinner tonight. You'll be at the dinner too so you can keep a eye on things there, if you really think it's necessary. Would that work?"

Tora wasn't happy about it, but he knew that Misaki was compromising and that he wasn't going to get a better offer. He knew she was angry that he was trying to chaperone her. He knew that even if Misaki refused to be his date Takumi would go to the dinner and, if Misaki was not there, he'd make some excuse to leave and look for Misaki at home. Tora would be stuck at the dinner because of Edward Jones. Takumi did not give up or back down. At least if they were both at the dinner, Tora could try to protect Misaki.

Besides, Tora wanted to have a little talk with Takumi and he was running out of time. It was pretty obvious that Takumi was avoiding him and seeking out Misaki. This dinner could be the only way Tora could corner the guy and make sure he understood what he had done and why he was not the right guy for her any more.

"Okay Misaki," Tora agreed. "But let him know I will drive you to the dinner and if he shows up during the day, I'd like you to text me."

Misaki nodded in agreement. Tora handed her the tea, and she sipped it gingerly. It was still quite hot. Tora excused himself to get ready for work and Misaki picked up her phone to text Takumi. She located the text he'd sent her yesterday morning to ask if he could return her luggage. There it was. She'd reply to it.

'Hey Takumi – feeling worn out today. Can we skip sightseeing if I agree to attend the dinner with you?'

She didn't need to wait long for a response text. 'Welching on a bet? Hummm… that's not the Misa I remember. Are you offering a rain check on the sight seeing?'

Really? If this guy had grown up in Japan why didn't he have more manners? He was supposed to gracefully back off. But he was right about the bet. She couldn't renege on a bet. Let's see… it had been years since his last visit. Sure, she could agree to bring him around on his next visit to Japan. That should be a long way off based on past practices and the fact he was a very busy executive. And she could make sure Tora was available to come with them. 'Sure. I'll take you out next time you're in town. But not today.'

'Great! I added it to my calendar. I expect you to take me sightseeing next week.'

Next week? Why was he coming back next week? That was insane. Didn't Tora say he had to be out of town next week? Besides she had work. 'Wow. Isn't that kind of soon to fly half way around the world? Also, I have work all next week.'

'I'd forgotten that Japan is the home of the world's most beautiful attraction and I'm sure I can find some work reason to come back. But if next week's bad - let me know what works. Get some rest. -T'

Misaki set her phone down at the table and looked for a Tora. She helped him straiten his tie and let him know she'd at least been able to put Takumi off of the sight seeing for today but it looked like they would both be on the hook for entertaining him at some later date.

"Did you tell him I'll be driving you to dinner tonight," Tora asked.

"No, I forgot. He was a lot more pushy about the sight seeing than I had expected."

Tora shook his head, "he's a man used to getting what he wants Misa. He won't give up as easily as you might think. Remember to call me if he comes by this afternoon."

"Okay," she agreed, "but Tora, it's not like he's a stalker or anything."

Tora laughed inside. Misaki had no idea how wrong she was.

Misaki climbed back into bed after Tora left for work. She felt physically tired. She was still recovering from jet lag and last night she had stayed up extra late waiting for Tora to get home. She was also mentally exhausted. Spending the day with Takumi had sent her through a roller coaster of emotions and then having Tora tell her how weak and broken she had been before the accident was enough to drain anyone. She quickly fell asleep only to be woke once again at 11:45 by the obnoxious door bell.

WTF! She stumbled to the door and opened it up. Again standing in front of her holding 5 big boxes and multiple bags was Takumi Walker. As soon as that door opened, he again managed to glide into the room even as he was asking if he could enter. Her mind was a bit quicker today than it had been yesterday so she didn't need a full minute to realize she was a disaster. She sighed, threw up her hands and went to the bathroom to start getting ready.

Takumi set down all the packages and walked to the fridge. He opened it up and started pulling out various groceries they had purchased yesterday morning. "You know Misa, I'd say this felt a bit like déjà vu, but there are decidedly fewer take out boxes in here." He went to work making her breakfast and in a few minutes she emerged looking a bit annoyed.

"Takumi why are you here? I told you I was worn out."

"Yes, it is because you were worn out I had to come over. How could you order your take out being so exhausted? Besides, we need to discuss when you will make good on your debt to me. A good loan shark never lets a gambler get away with a vague promise of 'I'll bring you site seeing in the future.'" Takumi set a plate in front of Misaki and as the food went in her mouth, she completely forgot to care that he had come over uninvited.

As soon as she finished her breakfast, she remembered Tora's words. She went to the bedroom to look for her phone. It was not in the charger. "Damn."

Takumi heard her. "Is something wrong?" he asked.

"No. I just can't find my phone," she said as she pulled all the covers off of her bed.

Takumi appeared in her bedroom doorway. "Is this it?" He asked holding up a phone he'd seen on the table.

"Yes. Thanks. Where was it?"

"Near your breakfast plate at the kitchen table." He answered.

Misaki looked at her phone. It was out of batteries. She rolled her eyes and threw the phone on the bed.

"Did you need to make a call?" Takumi asked.

"Yeah. Tora wanted me to give him a call."

Takumi thought for a second, "he's in meetings all day. I don't think it would be appropriate for him to take a personal call. But I can help." Before she could ask what he meant, Takumi pulled out his own phone dialed a number and then said, "Hi Edward?... yes, this is Mr. Walker. I was hoping you could give the phone to Mr. Igarashi. …. Hey, Tora! Yeah, I'm here with Misa! No… I'm here at your house. She said she needed to tell you something." Takumi pressed the phone to his chest. He looked at Misa, "what did you need to tell him?"

Misaki had turned red again. She shook her head and said, "I… I can't remember. Just… tell him I said 'I love you'."

"She can't remember why she called but she wants you to know she loves me. See you tonight." And with that Takumi hung up the phone.

"What!? I meant for you to tell him that I love him," Misaki scolded.

"Ahhh, but Misa-chan, you said I love you when you were speaking to me. Clearly it was a simple mistake for me to make. You can clear it up with him at dinner tonight. Right now he's in a very important meeting and we can't continue to interrupt."

Misaki was speechless. He'd done that on purpose. She could see his face trying to hide a smug little smirk. Well, Tora would be mad, but one couldn't deny that Takumi was kind of funny.

"Why are you here again Takumi?" She asked. She was sure Tora would really like for him to get out of here.

"Aside from making sure you would eat, and setting up a time for you to bring me sight seeing?" he asked.

"Yes, aside from that."

"Well since you are worn out it would be unfair to ask you to shop for something to wear tonight and I couldn't presume you already owned something, so I took the liberty of buying a few dresses, shoes and handbags for you to pick from." Takumi motioned to the bags and boxes he'd set on the couch.

Misaki opened up one of the boxes and looked at Takumi suspiciously. "This is my size. How did you know my size?"

"Well I sent some of the selfies we took yesterday to my assistant Claire and she uploaded them to a website that uses photos of a person to estimate the person's measurements. She used the measurements to obtain a size and then used another program to have a virtual model with your dementions try on various designers and styles of dresses until she found five that should prove to be quite flattering. She then found all the shops in Tokyo that carried the designers she'd selected and had these shops send over the the dresses as well as coordinated accessories." Takumi explained.

"What time is it in England?" Misaki asked.

"Well Japan is 8 hours ahead of London so right now it's around 3:45 AM," Takumi calculated.

"You made her shop for me all night long?"

Takumi looked a little guilty. "You're right. I hope you find something you like so all her efforts weren't in vein." He really should give Claire a raise when he got back. She really was an excellent secretary.

Misaki laughed. Takumi really was an alien. She took the boxes to her room while a Takumi sat in the living room and she put on a little fashion show for her guest. If Claire ever decided to switch careers, there was no doubt that she would make an excellent personal shopper. Every outfit was better than the last. In the end, Takumi insisted Misaki keep them all because it would have been too much work to have Claire arrange to have the items returned. Misaki, not being big on fashion, silently decided that she would donate them to Aoi after she'd worn each at least once. Although there was one purse she thought she might need to keep. After they picked out the outfit for the business dinner, Misaki changed back into sweats and Takumi produced a deck of cards from his pocket.

"If you want to get out of your debt," he said with a smile, "I will allow you to try your hand at cards one more time. It would be double or nothing."

Misaki, failing to know a card shark when she saw one, and being a competitive spirit agreed and the afternoon blew by as Misaki's promises to spend time with Takumi began to mount up. At 4:30, a key was inserted into the front door and they both looked up to find Tora walking into his living room.