#36: Glad Eye
Four in the afternoon, Kyodo. One room in a rented apartment.
She silenced the alarm that regulated her upside-down day and crawled out of bed.
Her usual crisp appearance was nowhere to be seen. Her naturally pale-blonde hair was a mess, and her wide amber eyes had narrowed to slivers no wider than crescent moons.
“Cold.”
Even in early spring, the living room was chilly.
If she fell asleep after making love, she might catch a cold again. Perhaps she ought to wear pyjamas until it grew warmer?
Her sleepy thoughts led her there, but she could not sleep in bed unless she was bare-skinned. Besides, lately it was too entertaining to watch Mikoto’s reaction when she bared herself. She stubbornly refused to give that up.
So, rather than go first to the place where her pet cat was, she headed for the bathroom to warm her chilled body. The moment she tossed the one thing she had been wearing into the washing machine, the automatic water heater announced, in its familiar little melody, as though it had been waiting for her.
“Your bath is ready.”
“Yes, thank you.”
She washed away the grime in the shower, warmed her chilled body in the bath, and worked on her phone.
That was her absurdly late morning routine.
First, she estimated the month’s sales. They were steady, unchanged from last month. They were hardly generous, but the business was at least turning enough of a profit to live on.
Next, she checked the LINE messages from regular customers. Though she was always playing with words in person, she was curt over chat. Her particular voice and her eyes did not carry through text, so she used it for little beyond confirming bookings.
Then she suddenly realised something.
“Come to think of it, I never asked for Mikoto’s contact details.”
Kurosu Mikoto.
A former regular customer, and now something more. A woman with a handsome, composed face and narrow eyes, who courted her night after night.
Though most regulars had it, Mikoto did not have her private contact details because she had no need to make bookings. Shandy had jokingly made her promise to come every day, and Mikoto had done exactly that, coming every day except Sundays and public holidays, when antiqua was closed. Naturally, she could not stay through until morning every night, but whenever time permitted, especially before a day off, she nearly always did.
Kurosu Mikoto had become completely woven into Shandy’s daily life.
“It is because you do things like that that I got the wrong idea.”
She sank into the water until it covered her mouth, blowing bubbles as she looked at the bottles of body wash, shampoo, and conditioner that were not hers. Burying her true feelings for Mikoto among the bubbles, she submerged herself. Once she had followed the routine of driving away her drowsiness, the chill, and the alcohol from the day before, her mind finally grew clear.
Then perhaps I shall play with her over this tonight.
She rose from the bath with a splash, the corners of her mouth lifting in a smile. Once she had dried herself, dried her hair, and finished getting ready, she looked at her reflection and recited the familiar line.
“Welcome. Welcome to antiqua.”
She transformed herself from an ordinary woman into a bartender, changing her face, her posture, even her state of mind. The woman in the mirror, Shandy, smiled with amber eyes.
“Now then, Mikoto-san. For tonight’s game, I thought we might use these coasters.”
On the outskirts of Roppongi, at the girls’ bar antiqua, where their usual relationship continued despite their living together, Shandy placed two paper coasters on the counter before Mikoto, who sat on the customer’s side.
“At antiqua, I am Mikoto-san?”
“Yes. Here, I mean to savour the Mikoto-san who stretches herself. At home, I intend to savour Mikoto as she truly is.”
“…My, my. Shandy-san is greedy.”
“I merely want to know every secret of the woman I love.”
“Then I too wish to know you. May I reach the truth of the girl who sleeps deep within the thorns of your mystery?”
“You still have no idea where those embarrassingly melodramatic lines come from.”
“You seem to like them better when they are so overwrought they stink.”
“Let us say that is the case. Then please solve the puzzle that is me.”
“I will solve it. Shall we begin the game at once?”
Seeing Shandy’s manner, Mikoto put on an appropriately solemn, gentlemanly expression. She must have been unsettled inside, yet she carried herself with perfect calm. It was both ridiculous and dear to Shandy.
Shandy smiled and turned over the coasters.
“Tonight’s is a simple psychological contest. Please look at the coasters.”
The two coasters were completely identical, plain white circles bought from a shop. But one bore Shandy’s private contact details rather than antiqua’s telephone number.
“As you can see, one has nothing written on it. The other has my contact details. You may choose whichever you like. That is tonight’s game.”
“So if I turn them over and choose the coaster with your contact details, I win.”
“No. You will not turn them over. They will remain exactly as they are.”
“What?”
Just as Shandy expected, Mikoto looked bewildered. Ordinarily, they would turn the coasters face-down and have her guess which was correct. A two-choice question where she could see the answer was simple enough for a nursery-school child.
“That is all…?”
“That is all. Please choose.”
“I see, I see. So you have finally run out of material for our contests. A woman such as Shandy-san!”
“Yes, regrettably.”
Mikoto smiled fearlessly, convinced of her victory.
Meanwhile, Shandy tucked her urge to laugh mockingly behind her usual smile.
She liked seeing Mikoto’s confidently dignified expression break apart.
She wanted to build Mikoto up completely, make her drop her guard, then humiliate her completely.
She knew it was a terrible part of her character, but it was also her own way of loving.
“Calling it a psychological contest is pointless. The correct choice is this one.”
Mikoto pointed to the coaster with the answer.
Excellent, Shandy thought, quietly smiling before she spoke.
“You wanted my contact details that badly?”
“Yes. If you have my details as well, you will not have to suffer alone from illness again.”
“Is that really all?”
“You will be able to tell me you are on your way home, won’t you? For the lovestruck girl waiting eagerly, craning her neck for your return.”
“Hehe. That makes me happy.”
Mikoto still seemed to have plenty of composure left. That was how it ought to be.
It would be no fun if her one pleasure of the day ended too easily.
“Then please add me straight away.”
“Are you sure? You will be handing me victory in tonight’s game.”
“Yes. Let us become intoxicated by the wine of victory.”
The instant Mikoto added her contact details, a notification arrived on the phone in Shandy’s hand. Shandy approved her friend request, opened the chat screen, and immediately sent a photograph—
“Eep!?”
—and Mikoto gave an adorable little cry from across the counter.
“Oh? Is something wrong, Mikoto-san?”
“Y-you suddenly sent me a candid photograph…”
What she had sent Mikoto was a photograph of her asleep at the counter after an all-nighter. Shandy had secretly taken it because she liked Mikoto’s unguarded, girlish sleeping face.
“There are more, you know. Photographs of you asleep. This one, and this one too.”
The shop’s classical music was punctuated by a rapid series of notification chimes. Photograph after photograph of Mikoto’s sleeping face poured onto her phone.
But Mikoto had been trained by now. She showed a moment of surprise, yet quickly composed her expression and smiled at Shandy.
“Honestly. Shandy-san is very fond of me, is she not?”
“Yes. I love you. The you before me, and the you who sleeps.”
“This is a problem. I never imagined I would be courted quite so passionately.”
“Hehe.”
She was putting on a brave face, but Mikoto was visibly grinning. Perhaps she realised how embarrassing the things she was saying were, because even her mouth wavered a little.
Calculating that one or two more pushes would break her, Shandy sent a different picture.
“You have pictures like this too.”
“W-wait…! What are you taking pictures of!?”
This time, Shandy had sent a photograph of Mikoto spending the night in Kyodo. More specifically, immediately after one of their games in bed.
“I am sorry. Your sleeping face was so dear that I could not stop my finger reaching for the shutter.”
“D-delete it! And do not upload it anywhere!”
“Mikoto-san? Stretch yourself.”
She prompted Mikoto, who had slipped back into her natural voice. At antiqua, it was an unspoken rule that Mikoto should be her adult self, and Shandy had taught her that thoroughly. Mikoto closed her mouth for a moment, then swallowed her girlishly panicked expression and spoke like a gentleman.
“R-really. It is difficult when you are so fond of me, is it not? There is no need to cherish such photographs when, from now on, you may see me whenever you wish.”
“Oh? Then will you show me right now?”
“What!? Th-this is the bar!”
“If you cannot undress, I cannot delete the photograph. It is one that serves as a talisman to me.”
“Then, well… I suppose it can stay…”
Mikoto lowered her head, red to the tips of her ears. Her voice weakened with each word, and the sight of her did something wonderfully refreshing to Shandy’s heart. The terrible part of her, the part that loved crushing people who tried to stretch themselves, was deeply satisfied in moments like this.
Still, it was not as though her conscience did not hurt at all.
“But if you truly dislike it, Mikoto-san, I swear I shall not take naked photographs of you.”
“You would take them even if you swore not to, Shandy-san.”
“I would not. I do not lie.”
“You really can say you do not lie with a straight face… Fine, then. How will you swear it?”
“Let me see…”
Speaking slowly to hold Mikoto’s gaze, Shandy used the opening to take a small box from where she had prepared it out of sight. She opened it and slipped its contents into her hand.
“Let us kiss. Not on the lips, but upon the back of your hand.”
“…All right.”
Mikoto timidly held out a hand, and conveniently, it was her left. Delighted inwardly that everything was progressing exactly according to plan, Shandy took it.
“I swear my love to you, Mikoto-san.”
She took Mikoto’s hand reverently and kissed it. At the same time, she slowly slipped the contents of the little box onto Mikoto’s left hand, onto her ring finger.
One final push. Surely this would turn Mikoto’s face into a dear little maraschino cherry.
“There. I have sworn it.”
“…Hm?”
With an innocent, girlish expression, Mikoto stared intently at the slim ring now placed on her left ring finger.
“Shandy-san, this ring is…?”
“What do you think it is?”
“What do you mean, it is…”
The left ring finger. Mikoto must have instantly understood the implication. Her face finally burst into a brilliant red, like fireworks blooming in antiqua’s dimly lit night sky.
“So unfair…”
“Hehe. Being unfair is my speciality. I will leave the meaning of that ring to your interpretation, Mikoto-san.”
“There is only one way to interpret a ring like this!”
“Oh? I only said I would swear my love. What meaning did you imagine, Mikoto-san?”
“Ghh…!”
The back-and-forth. Shandy wanted to keep watching Mikoto tumble about in the palm of her hand. It was unfair to Mikoto, always wanting to stretch herself, but this was how Shandy loved.
“You have fallen for a troublesome woman, have you not, Mikoto-san?”
“…Yes. Truly. This has become unnecessary.”
“Unnecessary?”
Mikoto, who had been slumped over the counter in embarrassment, lifted her head. She fumbled through the bag beside her seat and brought out a small square box. Within its clam-shell lid glittered something identical to the one Shandy had given her.
A ring.
“…I bought it so no one else would set their sights on you. It is cheap, though.”
“Eh…”
Shandy’s mouth fell open at Mikoto’s surprise retaliation, something she had never imagined.
“Shandy-san, hold out your hand.”
“…Which hand would you like me to hold out?”
“Which ring finger would you like me to swear upon?”
Shandy hesitated despite herself. The right hand or the left. A ring on either ring finger suggested that someone had a partner. The right meant a lover; the left, a spouse. Mikoto was demanding Shandy make the choice.
Another little game of strategy.
“Which would you like to swear upon, Mikoto-san?”
“Stop quibbling and accept my love!”
Mikoto’s hand immediately seized Shandy’s left hand. Just as she claimed, it was a modest silver ring, the sort one might buy in a street-side accessory shop. A moment before it had lain in its ring box; now it shone dully on Shandy’s left ring finger.
She had been outmanoeuvred. Mikoto’s almost desperate act sent Shandy’s usually cool composure into disarray.
“Mikoto…?”
“For now, only this! But someday, I will prepare a proper ring!”
“That is practically a propo—”
“La la la! I cannot hear you! It might not be that, and it might be, but perhaps it is not yet, so it might not be!”
Mikoto, too, was deeply flustered. Seeing that steadied Shandy a little.
And it amused her enough to make her laugh.
“Hehe. Which is it?”
“I am not telling!”
“You truly can only manage such childish little games.”
For now, Shandy did not mind that Mikoto was this way. Indeed, it was precisely why she found her so dear.
Shandy lightly touched the ring on her finger and moved close to Mikoto.
“Shall we share a kiss to seal the vow as well? To promise that neither of us sees anyone but the other—”
There was no need to wait for an answer. Mikoto’s lips closed over hers.
In the empty antiqua, the heat of their kiss dissolved into the sound of classical music.