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Part 1 New York and Tokyo.
Two cities at opposite ends of the world.
One city was my home, the other had my heart.
His name is Ohno Satoshi and four years ago I was madly in love with him. No, the truth was I am still madly in love with him. How do I explain my relation to this world renowned artist? This New York based painter is the world’s latest sensation - his name, his face, his work - they are everywhere.
Every time I turn on the TV, or flip open a magazine… he’s always there. I can not escape him. There would always be something reminding me of him, of our one year relationship back in New York, back when we both still students.
I had always wondered; how long does it take for you to forget your first love?
How much longer when the world seems intent in not letting you forget?
“This generation’s Warhol,” the headline reads.
I sighed as I pushed the magazine away, not wanting to open it and read the article inside.
Yet I had bought it…
Why do I do these things to myself?
When I returned to Japan four years ago I had sworn that I would build a life of my own, a life not shadowed by who Ohno is. A Bachelor Degree in arts majoring in ceramic was not one that would have landed me any prestigious jobs in this country. I did, however, had my family who could pull strings for me. My eldest brother had inherited the company and he helped me get a position as a copy writer at one of the publishing houses our company works closely with.
So here I am now, having worked my way up to an editorial position after four years of hard work. I needed to work twice as hard to prove myself simply because I had gotten this job with my brother’s help. Of course… maybe things wouldn’t be as hard if I didn’t have to compete against loud, annoying Masaki Aiba for the position of editor.
Masaki Aiba is the same age as me.
Okay actually he’s three months older, a fact which he INSISTS I remember.
He is also the most annoying person I had ever met in this whole wide world.
Firstly, he doesn’t know how to shut up. Give him any topic and he would be off, chattering at 85 miles an hour.
Secondly, he’s a total KY - someone with an innate inability to read the atmosphere and tends to say the most inappropriate things at the most unsuitable moments.
Thirdly - he just WON’T LEAVE ME ALONE!
I seriously don’t understand why he needs to be so hyper all the time. He’s like an energizer bunny on speed and I find it tiring to be around him. Most of all I’m just sick of him telling me to ‘lighten up’. Which is why right now I’m ready to throw a dictionary sized book at him as he unabashedly lounges in my office looking all for the world as though he belongs there.
“Come on Yoshiko!” he exclaimed, perching himself on my desk as he turned those puppy eyes on me, “WHY won’t you come on the summer trip with the rest of us?? It’s called an office trip because EVERYONE in the OFFICE is supposed to go.”
Yoshiko. How I hate that name.
Aiba thinks it’s adorable to give everyone pet names so on the first day I arrived at this office he had unduly christened me Yoshiko - as in YOSHItaka YuriKO.
Honestly, what are we? In middle school?
“No, I told you before, I’m taking time off during the summer break so I can go help my aunt. So stop pestering me Aiba-san.”
Our office gives a one week break during the summer and for most part the employees of the office like to take a trip together. I had participated in the first two trips but found that I’m actually a little tired of having to mingle with the same people even on my break. So this summer, as I did last summer, I decided to go to my aunt’s place.
She runs a beachside café and villa off the coast of Okinawa. When I was younger that place had been my favourite place in the entire world. The café especially had been my personal hideout. I would sit myself in a booth in the back and just drift away with my favourite book. When I was in high school I would work at the café with her, waitressing for my summer break. I found that somehow doing that work calms me and energizes me.
That was why last summer I had decided that I needed to get away from he world, get away from trying to deal with memories of Ohno senpai by going to Okinawa and spending time at my aunt’s café. This year I wanted to do the same thing except I also decided this time around to take three weeks off from work just to get away. Aiba Masaki however seems to have taken it as a personal affront that I decide to go off on my own rather than join the company’s trip.
“Just leave me alone Aiba-san,” I told him sternly, “Seriously, just leave me alone.”
-------
The summers in Okinawa are scorching. Being much further south than Tokyo means the weather in Okinawa has always been a balmy mild temperature. I had loved coming to Okinawa when I was younger and I found that even now, I still associated Okinawa with the comfort of growing up.
As I stepped into the villa I found a small smile tugging up the corners of my lips and I sighed happily as I looked around me. Everything still looked the same and my heart felt lighter as I walked into the building.
“Yuriko nee-chan!!” my little cousin yelled happily, running up towards me even as my aunt poked her head out from behind the kitchen door.
“Ah, Yuriko, welcome back!” she smiled, waving a spatula at me, “Why don’t you go up to your room and freshen up? We’ll have lunch in a bit okay?”
“Thank you Mariko oba-san,” I responded before turning to my cousin, beaming at here, “Want to come to my room with me Mai-chan?”
“Hait!”
My aunt’s villa was a modest structure, her having lived here by herself for the past fifteen years then with her daughter Mai who is now eight. None of us knew who Mai’s father is and Mariko oba-san would not say a word about it. But then again, Mariko oba-san has always been unconventional like that.
Lunch was splendid and even though Mariko oba-san insisted I get some rest, I went down to the café anyway. Truth is I couldn’t wait to get behind the counter and start making drinks. The last few months at work had been really demanding and there was nothing that I looked forward to than to a simple service job which would take my mind off deadlines and authors’ demands.
Of course, nothing prepared me for the horror that was waiting when I walked into the café and found Aiba Masaki’s annoying grinning face looking at me from behind the counter.
“Yoshiko!” he bubbled, bounding out from behind the counter to grab both my hands in a bear like shake, “I’ve been waiting for you since morning!”
“Wha… what the hell are you doing here??”
At that moment my aunt walked in, smiling ignorantly at the murderous glare I was giving to Aiba.
“Oh, I hired him for the next couple of weeks. He said that you guys work in the same office and he needed to be around you so he could consult you on the manuscripts he’s working on.”
“But… but…”
“Don’t worry Yoshiko,” he grinned, “I’ll make sure I’ll stay out of your hair, but you really need to see these manuscripts!”
“What the hell Aiba,” I hissed at him, “Something like this could have been taken care of at the office can’t it?”
“Datte~” he whined, “You weren’t going to come to the office summer trip and I really wanted you to read this manuscripts. We can put them in with the rest of the autumn publication batch if you don’t approve of them by this week!”
I tried to stare daggers into his head but he completely ignored it as he flounced to Mariko oba-san’s side.
“Aiba-san makes a mean macchiato,” Mariko oba-san grinned, “And besides, it’s golden week* this week, we’re going to need all the help we can get in the café.”
Great, just great. And all I wanted was a peaceful summer away from all this. Why god why do you do this to me??
“Ne, Yoshiko - you really shouldn’t mumble to yourself,” Aiba grinned, “It’ll make you age faster.”
Maybe I’ve been wrong. Maybe there is no god…
------
“Neh neh Yoshiko,” this annoying buzzing in my ear would not stop - a buzzing by the name of Aiba Masaki. For the past two days he had been buzzing around me like the annoying fly that he is. I didn’t want to complain about it to oba-chan because as much as I hate to admit it, Aiba WAS hardworking - and he did the dishes faster than I ever could. Not to mention that it WAS handy to have a man around the café and the villa in order to do all the heavy work.
Plus, I am not above ordering him to do the dirty jobs like cleaning the toilet and sorting out the trash - things which he would do without complain that big big grin always in place. Today however we have half a day off and he had completely morphed back into his usual KY self as he shoved the manuscript in my hands as I tried to relax in the living room with a novel.
“The copyeditor has gone through it, and I have gone through it as well. I want your opinion - don’t you think this book might be a great hit with the girls for an autumn novel?”
I wanted to shove the manuscript away but looking at his eager face I relented with a heavy sigh. He had, after all, followed me all the way here just to get me to look at this. Since I was promoted over him for the position of editor, I had wondered what Aiba thought about that. He had never seem upset about it, rather he had seemed as enthusiastic as ever serving as one of the subeditors under me.
One of the things that I did realise about him was that if he found something he likes, he latches on to it like a limpet to a rock and he would absolutely refuse to take no for an answer. Which is very obviously why he had stalked me all the way here to Okinawa to make me read this manuscript. The ways we work were completely different - I was the type to follow up on people’s recommendation, hounding out authors who seem promising. Aiba was the persistent type who would read through a pile of junk just in case he finds a gem. Needless to say, my method produced more results which is why I got promoted over him.
“Why are you so obsessively hooked on this particular book Aiba-san?” I asked him, flipping idly through it.
“Just read it,” he responded, “And then you tell me if it’s worth it.”
It was the first time Aiba had ever been cryptic with me, the first time he let me decide what to think about his opinion on the manuscript rather than rattle his head off about it. That, more than anything else piqued my curiosity.
I had not intended to do more than flick through the manuscript but once I started reading it, I found that I could not put it down. The story was about a young boy, bedridden for fifteen years of his life due to a nerve disorder but he faced it all with a type of stubborn cheerfulness turning the world around him into a place of hope and faith.
Aiba was right. This book could very well be a hit.
What I had not expected however, was his answer when I asked him about the author.
“He’s my cousin.”
“What?”
“That manuscript was written by my cousin about his younger brother who died last year. I just didn’t want his story to go untold.”
“That’s why you followed me all the way to Okinawa? You could have just told me all this earlier at the office. I would have read the manuscript!”
“I didn’t want you to read it because you knew the story’s significance to me. I wanted you to read it as an editor - because you’re a damn good editor. I want to hear your own unbias opinion about it.”
Funny how your opinion about people could change.
I found that the following week was not too bad after all, and I found that under all that energy, Aiba Masaki had an endearing charm to him. Mariko oba-san as well as Mai chan were completely smitten by him and as I began to observe him more carefully, I saw that the customers of the café also responded naturally to his friendliness and easy smile.
So why have I been so completely put off by him before?
------
“You’ve changed.”
Aiba’s statement startled me, and tilting my head to one side, I took a sidelong glance at him.
“What do you mean by that?
The two of us were sitting on the beach, empty beer cans beside us and nothing but the waves to serenade our conversation. It was the last night at Okinawa, and after a barbecue party I had gone to sit on the beach by myself, sighing contently in the solitude of the scenery before Aiba came bearing beer and conversation.
“You seem less uptight lately,” he smiled, “and you’ve stopped looking at me as though you want to eat me and spit out my bones.”
I laughed at his statement but my mind registered what had changed. I had not thought about Ohno-senpai for a while, and there was no more pain, no more heaviness in my heart. I pulled my knees up to me, hugging them and resting my chin on the crook between.
“Maybe I have changed.”
He opened his mouth as though he wanted to say something, but changed his mind, choosing to smile instead. My heart did a little flip and I smiled back. Aiba Masaki was nothing like Ohno. He was not an unreachable winter sky scattered with the burning diamonds it offers. He was more like a warm summer day. A summer day when the shining sun sometimes holds you in an overwhelming embrace and the constant call of the cricket which follows you everywhere - at the same time the summer day with the refreshing ocean breeze which echoes with the laughter of life’s very own mirth.
“I think I fell in love with you the first time I saw you,” he said suddenly, gulping back embarrassment and turning red in the face.
I laughed.
Aiba Masaki is a total KY - saying the most inappropriate thing at the most inappropriate moment.
“Aiba.”
“Yes?”
“Kiss me,” I told him.
And he did, leaning over and pulling me into those long arms of his, wrapping me within his embrace. I don’t remember when the seasons changed, and I don’t remember when I stopped longing for those beautiful winter nights - because suddenly this hot summer day seems as though it would last forever… and I wanted to stay right here, drenched in his very scent.
------
*Wiki explanation - Golden Week (ゴールデンウィーク, Gōruden Wīku?), also known as Ōgata renkyū (大型連休?) or Ōgon shūkan (黄金週間?), is a Japanese term applied to the period containing the following public holidays:
* April 29
o Emperor's Birthday (天皇誕生日, Tennō tanjōbi?), until 1988[1]
o Greenery Day (みどりの日, Midori no hi?), from 1989 until 2006[2]
o Shōwa Day (昭和の日, Shōwa no hi?), from 2007[3]
* May 3
o Constitution Memorial Day (憲法記念日, Kenpō kinenbi?)
* May 4
o Holiday† (国民の休日, Kokumin no kyūjitsu?), from 1985 until 2006
o Greenery Day (みどりの日, Midori no hi?), from 2007[4]
* May 5
o Children's Day (こどもの日, Kodomo no hi?), also customarily known as Boys' Day (端午の節句, Tango no sekku?).
†: "kokumin no kyūjitsu" or "citizen's holiday" is a generic term for any official holiday. May 4 was until 2007 an unnamed but official holiday because of a rule that converts any day between two holidays into a new holiday.
Note that May Day (on May 1) is not a public holiday. Instead, Japan has Labour Thanksgiving Day, a holiday with a similar purpose. When a public holiday lands on a Sunday, the next day that is not already a holiday becomes a holiday for that year.[5]