Mamachari Matchmaker – Chapter 5

MAMACHARI

The spot Eriko secures for me outside her workplace is a sweet little space. I’m in the sun all day with other bikes and we hang out and chat until she emerges from the building with her workmates.

“You should come along for drinks tonight, Eriko. I’m sure Henry will be there.” Asa laughs and Eriko cringes.

“Really, no. I’m busy tonight and can’t beg off my plans. Sorry.” She bows to Asa and hurries towards me, but Asa follows her.

“Maybe, if you acted a little more normal, Henry might as you out on a date.”

“Normal?” Eriko squeaks. The heat pouring from her body warms my frame. “What does ‘normal’ mean?”

Asa’s eyes widen and she swallows hard before gripping her bag on her shoulder. “Uh…” She stammers as Eriko glares at her. “Maybe you should stop talking about manga and cosplaying. It’s kind of embarrassing.”

“Really? To whom? Because I don’t find it embarrassing to talk about the stuff I like.”

“Don’t get upset. I was just trying to help.”

“Well, thanks.” Eriko harumphs as she squats down to unchain me.

“Don’t let her get to you,” I whisper. “She’s just jealous.”

“Of what?” Eriko asks, and Asa’s eyebrows pull together and she frowns.

“What did you say?” she asks.

“Nothing.” Eriko sighs. “I’m sorry I’m not as popular or easy around guys as you and your friends. I don’t even know why you ask me to go out with you, if you don’t even like the way I am.”

Asa purses her lips and pauses. “If you gave up on the manga and cosplaying, you might meet someone who you’ll get along with. Otherwise it’s just embarrassing for everyone.”

Eriko stops as she pulls me out of the rack. Her face is red and her hands shake but nothing comes out of her mouth.

“Or you could hire a matchmaker who specializes in otaku!” Asa, clearly oblivious to how much she is upsetting Eriko, claps her hands with a smile. “I bet there are lots of geek guys who would be interested in someone like you.”

Eriko turns her back on Asa, throws her leg over my seat, and pedals off without saying goodbye.

“Eriko? Eriko!” Asa calls after her but Eriko pedals even faster.

“Wow. I am amazed someone could be so clueless and callous. Did she think she was helping you?” I scoff as she rounds a bend at lightning speed, putting all of her emotion into the pedals and zooming along the streets at a breakneck pace. I try to relax and let her exhaust her aggression until a cat runs across our path.

“Slow down!” I yell at her. She bursts into tears and pulls into a deserted alley about a kilometer from home.

“It’s so stupid,” she cries, dismounting and pressing her head against the cool wall of the building next to us. “They have such awful ideas of what a ‘real girl’ is like. Real girls don’t like science fiction. Real girls don’t dress in costume. Real girls like makeup and flirting. Real girls don’t like video games.”

She kicks the wall. “I’m so sick of this! Why can’t I just be me? I’m already doing my best to grow up and be more mature by getting rid of all my childish things, but I love the manga and the cosplaying. I can’t give up everything!”

I stay silent, not sure how to respond. What’s more important here? Her independence, staying true to herself, or being fake enough to convince a guy to go out with her? And that’s not even honest or real.

“I think staying true to the person you are is essential, and I also think it’s wrong to believe you’ll only find someone if you change.”

Eriko turns around and folds her arms across her chest, leaning on the wall.

“I sat in that bike shop for over a year and saw hundreds of people come through on a daily basis. I saw men and women together. I saw families. I saw single people. I even saw men with men and women with women! Eriko, there’s someone out there for everyone.”

She laughs, a bitter flavor to it saddening me. “You actually believe that?”

“Of course I do. I always thought there was someone out there for me. I worried, and a few times, I almost gave up. Then one day, you walked in the door.”

She smiles through her tears and lays her hands on my handlebars.

“It almost feels fated,” she whispers, flexing her fingers over the rubber grips. “You know I had a toaster growing up that liked to chat. If you read to it from the newspaper, it would never burn your toast.” She laughs, her eyes unfocused and distant. “My father got rid of it because it set fire to his toast one day. I was sad to see it go.”

“How funny. You must be destined to hear us.”

“Maybe, and maybe I should give up and find a matchmaker. It might be easier.”

“You don’t need a matchmaker. Screw that. I’ll be your matchmaker.”

She laughs, looks up at the sky and sighs as she wipes off her face. “Of course you will. Haven’t you been trying to find me a boyfriend from the start?”

“If you follow me, I’ll make sure you find someone right for you. No changing. You can be the person you want to be. You’ll just have to be a little more… aggressive.”

“I don’t know,” she says, pulling me away from the wall and throwing her leg over to sit down. “I can be aggressive, but it’s usually not a good thing.”

“Outgoing is a better word! Don’t worry,” I say, as we pull out to the street and aim towards home. “I’ll come up with something perfect, and I know exactly where to start.”

Eriko cracks a small smile as we crest the hill and speed off into the pink sunset of another late spring day in Tokyo.