Summer Haikus – Chapter 23

I sit patiently while my grandfather counts out the salary I’ve earned since I began working. Ten-thousand yen notes pile up high on the desk, and their sheer number starts to make my hands shake. This is a lot of money, a lot more than I would have made helping Halley for the summer, babysitting, and working at the theater combined, and I’ve only worked here a month. I still have at least two more months to go. I start to lose count around the thousand dollar mark (I convert all yen to US Dollars in my head with every transaction in Japan because I cannot think on such a huge scale, money-wise) and want to stop him from giving me any more.

When he finishes and recounts the bills, I sit forward and add them up — over three thousand dollars.

“Uh, Grandpa? Are you sure this is what Mom told you to pay me?”

He nods his head, his hand on each pile. “Yes, Isa-chan. She told me to pay you on the same scale as Reiko for now. We can talk about a bonus at the end of the summer.”

“Wait, wait. I’ve never made this kind of money before. What do I do with it?”

He laughs, the sweet laugh he always used for our Skype calls. “You live, buy things you need, put it away for college… whatever you want to do with it.” He stands up and waves his hand over the stacks of bills. “Isa, let me make something clear to you. We are going to pay you in cash for the summer. Grandma will handle the books so that the money comes out of our daily expenses. You have earned this money, but it is our gift to you. No taxes.”

I swallow. “Yes. I understand.” I bow my head to him and thank my lucky stars I’m with my family, who will take care of me.

“And we will continue to gift to you weekly from here on out.”

I nod again, understanding I’m being paid under the table — not exactly the best of situations but not the worst either.

“Now, you have lots of cash.” He smiles and laughs again. “Please put some of it in the safe, since you have access to it, and get a PASMO card that has your name on it. You’ll need to use our home phone number to obtain one, but this way, if it’s lost or stolen, we can deactivate it.”

“PASMO is the robot cash card, right?” I ask, coming around the desk to divide up my piles of money.

“Yes. What are you doing?”

“I’m setting aside money for Masa. He deserves to be paid as well.” I count out approximately forty percent of my earnings, plus the money he put on the card for me. Once Masa’s wages are counted out, I take mine, divide it in half and put one half in the safe and the other in my wallet. I put Masa’s money in an envelope.

“How did you enjoy your trip to Asakusa? Did Masa show you around?”

My grandfather is not much of a needler, but I can tell he likes Masa.

“It was great. We saw the temple and went to Ueno Park. Then we had pizza back at his apartment, and I fell asleep on the couch.”

“Sure you did, darling.” He pats me on the back and chuckles.

“Grandpa! If you are insinuating” — insinuating is a hard word in Japanese (当て付ける atetsukeru) and I’m proud of myself for remembering it — “that Masa and I are together, then you are mistaken.”

“Give it time,” he says, heading towards the office door. “And I’m glad you got out and saw some of the city. The Olympics are coming up, and this is the perfect time to see Tokyo. You should go out more often.”

“I’m usually too tired to do anything.”

“But you’re going out tonight, right?”

I pull my phone out of my bag. Two messages from Halley indicate she’s almost to Kichijōji, and I need to grab Masa and get out so we can go meet everyone.

“Yeah, Masa’s waiting for me out front. Most of the staff are already done for the day.” The people who left early said they’d secure a big table at the izakaya for us.

“Then go and have fun. Thanks for coming in today on your day off.”

I sailed into work with Masa yesterday and cleaned up any of the messes I made by not showing up the previous day for work. Then we came in today to make up the lost hours.

I leave the air conditioning of the ryokan and join Masa in the humid heat of a lovely summer night. The bugs are buzzing in the plants and trees around us, and the sky is peppered with faint stars, an orange glow on the horizon showing off the city lights in the distance. Rainy season is abating, and more hot summer days are expected for the coming weeks.

“Ready to go?” Masa asks. He changed in to a loose cream button-down shirt, and with his hands in the pockets of his black shorts, he’s one handsome guy. A lot more put together than me.

“Hmmm, yes, but maybe I should go clean myself up.”

“Don’t bother,” he says, waving his hand. “You always look beautiful, all flushed and happy after a long day.”

The compliment hits me upside the head and I’m momentarily at a loss for words. He blinks at me, his hair fallen down over his eyes before he sweeps it up into a mess.

“Thanks.” I cover my blush by reaching into my bag for his money. “Uh, here.” I thrust the envelope of cash at him. “This is what I owe you for the past month at the ryokan and for the money you gave me the other day.”

He hesitates before taking the envelope from me, his eyebrows pulled together in confusion. I glance around to make sure no one is lurking in the alley, ready to knock Masa over the head and steal the cash.

“I can’t take this from you,” he whispers at me, harsh and direct, before shoving the envelope back at me.

“Of course you can. You earned that money just as much as I did.” I push it back at him but he shoves his hands in his pockets.

“No. I’m not going to take it. It’s yours.”

I throw my arms down at my side. “Masa, don’t be difficult. I deal with enough of this bullshit from my mom. I don’t need it from you, too. Take the fucking money.” I smack the envelope against his chest, and he fumbles to catch it. Jesus. I just want to do the right thing by everybody and I get nothing but grief over every decision I make. I don’t care how insulted he is to be taking money from me, but I owe him that cash, and, by God, he is going to take it! This is one area where I am not going to end up like Toni, mooching off of him until he’s sick of me.

I start to walk away from him in the direction of Inokashira Park. The izakaya we’re going to is on the other side, to the north of the station.

He runs to catch up with me. “I don’t want your money, Isa.”

“I didn’t ask you if you wanted it. I said I was going to pay you, and I meant it.”

“But —”

“But what?” I surprise him by coming to an abrupt halt. “You flew all the way to Tokyo when you hadn’t planned to. You come to work here with me almost every day. All of that cost money. I’m grateful you’re here. I really am. Please, let me give you what you deserve.”

“I…” He pauses and steps closer to me. “I don’t want this fight,” he whispers and sighs, resigned.

“What do you want then?”

A breeze curls up the street and rushes against my bare shoulders as his hand lightly touches my arm. He stops, looks at his own hand, and lets it drop to his side. He was going to say something, finally say something, but he stopped himself. I want to deck him.

“Fine.” He pulls out his wallet, sticks the cash in it, and stuffs the wallet back in his pants.

We walk in silence for fifteen whole minutes as we make our way to the restaurant. What did he want to say to me? And why is he being so damned frustrating? I do not get him sometimes.

The izakaya is packed when we arrive. I glance at Masa as he opens the door but his face is passive and tight.

“Don’t be mad at me,” I whisper to him as I walk past.

“I’m not,” he says, but I don’t believe him.

The restaurant, a kind of Japanese pub, is a small place with only two big tables and a bar with seating. It probably can’t fit more than thirty people.

“Isa!” Several of the girls from the ryokan call out. I smile and raise my hand to wave back when a man at the bar turns and smiles at me.

“We meet again, Isa. How are you?” It takes me a full heartbeat to recognize the nice doctor from my mom’s hospital.

“Hi,” I say, pulling out a smile. “Tomohiro, right?”

“Everyone calls me Tomo.” He glances at Masa, glowering over me.

“Oh, Masa, this is, uh, Tomo.” My face starts to burn, suddenly uncomfortable between the attention of these two men. “Tomo is a doctor at my mom’s hospital. We’ve run into each other a few times.”

“Hey,” Masa says, cutting the one syllable so short, I barely catch it. Tomo bows his head in return.

“We’re here with friends.” I point to the back table, and Tomo cranes his head to see the table full of girls and guys from the ryokan and Halley waving at us. Obviously she made it here just fine. Never a wallflower, Halley easily integrates into every situation effortlessly. “Come on back later, if you’re still around.”

Masa’s face tightens even more, if that were possible. Is he jealous? I think he is! Maybe I can use this to my advantage a little. I smile at Tomo again, even though he’s not my type in the least. If he comes and sits with us, I could talk to him and eventually introduce him around the table, hoping he gets interested in someone else, but his pure presence will spur Masa into finally doing something about our stagnant relationship. That’s a fantastic Plan A. Plan B is he leaves and Masa lightens up. Plan C is he talks to everyone but me, and Masa sees I have no interest in him, which will keep us in our usual limbo. I can handle usual limbo for now. Yes, these are all fine plans.

Masa places his hand on my back and lightly guides me away from Tomo to the table. I sit next to Halley, throwing my legs over the long bench everyone is seated at, and give her a kiss on the cheek. Masa sits across from me, glancing between me and Tomo, who’s eying us from the bar.

The izakaya’s door opens, and my cousin enters, dressed to perfection once again. Her hair is curled and in a ponytail over one shoulder, and she’s wearing a knock-out black and white short summer dress. I really need to get her fashion advice.

“Kae!” I call out and she walks towards us.

“Hi! Sorry I’m late!” She blows a kiss from the opposite side of the table and sits down next to Masa, her legs and bare shoulders on full display. I immediately regret my choice of spots at the table.

Masa turns towards her and smiles, a winning smile, a friendly smile, the kind of smile I have only ever seen him use with his close friends like me or Toni. My stomach shrinks to the size of a grain of rice.

“Hi, Kae,” he says, glancing towards me. “You look nice tonight.”

“Thank you,” she says, blushing and twirling her hair in her fingers.

“Are you okay?” Halley whispers in my ear. “You’re pale and sweaty.”

I think my plan is about to backfire on me. I should never plan affairs of the heart.