Zugzwang, Book II, Chapter 040
Chapter 040 – Better late than never
That very same evening found Aiba in Kyushu. He had landed some forty minutes ago and was desperately waiting for a taxi. He was still keenly embarrassed by the events of the previous day where Sora and Jun had found him at the Takenaga Golf Course. He had not quite forgiven himself and was even then still reproaching himself for being so careless. How could he have forgotten the date that Renée-Caroline’s parents were to arrive? She had repeatedly told him, reminded him, and he was as eager for their visit as she was. He had partaken of her excitement when she told him that her mother would be performing a piano concerto she would conduct. He had suggested plans to her when she said her father was looking forward to studying the classical music scene in Japan. He had even volunteered to chauffeur them around Tokyo should they wish it. How could he have forgotten when he had entered so thoroughly into Renée-Caroline’s feelings and plans on the matter? Did that make him a very bad and neglectful boyfriend, he wondered. Did that make him uncaring? He certainly felt he was extremely callous and negligent of the things that were most important to Renée-Caroline. After all, he reasoned to himself, Renée-Caroline had never forgotten anything about his family. She had always reminded him to send messages or cards to his parents and brother on their birthdays. Given all that she had done for him with regard to his family, how could he have been so stupid as to forget what was due to her parents?
He was still engaged in the agreeable task of mentally kicking himself in the arse when luck favoured him and he found a taxi. The reason for the seemingly unending self-imposed admonishments lay with one simple fact – from the moment he left the golf course the previous day and retrieved his mobile phone, Aiba had been unable to contact Renée-Caroline.
What should he do? It would be pointless to call the Opera House because she had taken a few days leave to take her parents around. Besides, he knew she was in Kyushu. It would also be pointless to call Jun and Sora for advice because they would think that they had already helped him enough, though exactly how they had done so still eluded him. Ohno would not offer any help other than spout mysterious things like he should be like the reed that bent with the wind so as not to be broken – whatever that meant. Neither did Aiba want to disturb Kaoru by bombarding her with text messages and emails. The poor thing had been looking strained lately and Aiba did not want to worry her anymore than was necessary. Nino would be no good to him either if he was in the country and able to take his call. The smaller fellow would say something cutting and leave him to flounder. He would call Sho if he were not in Hong Kong because Sho always knew how to encourage him. Briefly, Aiba entertained thoughts of calling Alys because to his straightforward child-like mind, ‘mama’ Alys knew nearly everything. But the woman was at a philosophy conference, and as the Arashi members knew, the professor enjoyed being incommunicado for the sheer hell of being un-contactable. Furthermore, attempting to tear Alys away from anything to do with philosophy was like attempting to tear Nino away from money or games. Faced with these severely reduced options, Aiba called the only person left whom he thought would be most inclined to allay his fears and advise him – Yokoyama Yuu.
“Yoko-chan…Kimi-kun…I’ve done something wrong,” Aiba immediately said when the party on the line picked up.
“You’re a natural idiot! You’re always doing something wrong,” Yokoyama exclaimed with an exasperated edge in his voice. “What did you do this time?”
“What do you make it sound like I’m in trouble?” Aiba complained, staring ahead at the empty stretch of road as the sun slowly sank below the horizon.
“If you’ve done something wrong, you’re probably in trouble,” stated Yokoyama as if it were an academic fact. “What did you say or do and who did you say or do it to?”
“Renée-chan…”
“Has your mermaid run away from you again? Why do you always pick the troublesome ones, Kappe? What did you do or say to her? Or what didn’t you say to her?” teased the Kanjani8 member.
“I’m always doing something wrong. I forgot that I was supposed to meet her to pick up her parents yesterday. I went golfing instead with Mari-chan, and then Jun found me and he thought I was like playing around. But that’s settled already even if it was 100% weird because I wouldn’t want Renée to run away. And now I can’t get her on her keitai and I’m trying to find her because I think I remembered she said her parents, her ‘Kaasan especially wanted to see Eguchi ‘Baasan, who is the mermaid ohime-sama’s grandmother and her ‘Kaasan’s mother. But I can’t be sure if they’re here or they stayed in Tokyo for a few more days,” blurted out Aiba, deciding that it was better to clearly state all his sins and receive one big scolding for them than to receive dozens of small scolds.
Although Yokoyama listened to him with some compassion and understanding, he was thoroughly flabbergasted by his long time friend’s appalling sense of time. As he could not bring himself to speak words of comfort, he shot back, “Ahou! How could you forget? Girls place great stock in things like that!” Harrumphing once, he continued, “How far along are you in catching up with her?”
“I’m in Kyushu. But she didn’t pick up her keitai and hasn’t been picking up since last night,” cried out a nearly frantic Aiba.
“Is her keitai battery dead?”
“I didn’t think about that. Could it be dead?” he asked, thinking that it was a possible reason for his girlfriend’s inexplicable failure to answer her phone.
“I don’t know! I’m not a keitai!” exclaimed Yokoyama over the line. “Find her and then apologise! Don’t waste time with me.”
It was a valid suggestion and Aiba hastened to comply with it as he had come upon the traditional structure of the Eguchi family house. He walked into the house, following one of the servants until he espied the object of his thoughts wandering down the picturesque path leading to the inner courtyard. Slowing his steps so that the servant would go ahead without noticing that he was not following behind, Aiba soon strode towards Renée-Caroline.
The day had been remarkably windy and Renée-Caroline had chosen to walk a little before dinner so as to gather her thoughts. Sora had called her back the previous evening informing the maestra that she and Jun had found Aiba at the Takenaga Golf Course taking lessons from a shapely instructress. Sora had also added that the gangly monkey would be heading her way soon. When she heard that, Renée-Caroline’s mind froze. She did not pay any heed to the latter half of Sora’s exposition for her mind had stopped short at the revelation that Aiba had been taking golf lessons from a comely wench. Ah, it had to be that woman whom they had seen at the golf course when they chanced upon Saeko. She had suspected that Aiba had more than passing interest in the well-proportioned woman. She would not be surprised in it turned out he much preferred that woman to the bat eared, emotionally insecure maestra of the Tokyo City Metropolitan Opera. Her fear that that event should come to pass prevented her from answering her mobile even though his number had shown up on the missed calls list. As she was expecting this unhappy event to come into being, she did not expect to see him in Kyushu presently approaching her with the compounds of her maternal grandmother’s house. The moment she saw him, it immediately became apparent to her that he was labouring under a strong sense of resentment.
It did seem that way to her for hardly had he extended a greeting to her than Aiba burst out with the rather unnecessary information that he had come to see adding explosively, “I was so scared you ran away again. You promised you wouldn’t. Why didn’t you pick up your keitai! I have to tell you something.”
“You wish to inform me and I have no objection to hearing it,” replied the maestra, bracing herself for what she believed to be inevitable ‘it’s not you, it’s me; I’m sorry but it’s over’ conversation.
“I was coming to that. You wouldn’t believe it! I scarcely do myself. I mean to say, I forgot my keitai yesterday. I took the TV remote instead. Baka, deshou? I think it’s 100% baka too but I’m a natural baka, so that’s okay. Then I tried to call you, but you didn’t pick up, and then I remembered you said your parents to meet Eguchin Obaasan and so I’ve come here to meet them! Are they angry with me? Are you angry with me? Don’t be,” Aiba sighed and paused to take a breath, tilting his head and running after her when she purposefully pushed forward on the path. “I’ll die if you say you’re angry. I’ll go without karaage for a week if you’ll stop being angry.”
“Par Dieu! You could say that! Are you trying to send you up into high dudgeon? Come to the point, hein?” demanded Renée-Caroline, stopping in her tracks. “You came here for a reason. Are you trying to tell me that it’s over? Merci, mais I’ve already noticed.”
“Eh?” Incredulity spread over Aiba’s features as he gasped. “There’s no one else. I know you’re 100% weird and you have many funny habits but I didn’t think I wanted someone else.”
“The golf instructress… I thought…” the conductor lifted her eyes to his.
“She has a nice butt but she’s not you. She can’t make music like you can; and she hasn’t anything else she’s good at, only golf. You’re good at lots of things! I just confused the dates. You know I can’t remember things when you’re not there to remind me – chirp, chirp, like a bird. I need you to tell me things or I won’t remember anything.”
Renée-Caroline looked sharply at him and interrupted him. “But I saw you looking at her the other day, I...” she left off suddenly, two large tears threatening to roll from her eyes. Aiba’s hands went out to her, but she stepped back and looked askance at him, shaking her head. He looked confusedly at her and was on the verge of speaking when she continued, “Listen, Masaki, I truly want to be the sort of petite amie you want, and not get into scrapes. But I am only…” She gestured meaningfully to herself.
“You are the sort of girl I want,” Aiba insisted, draping an arm carelessly around her shoulders,
“Am I, vraiment?” her voice faltered as she sniffed back the tears.
He tilted her head up and grinned earnestly at her. “Renée-chan, Caro-chan, I’m kind of young – maybe not anymore, or not so young anymore. And I’m a natural baka, so baka that no one wants to really talk to me seriously. But you talk to me seriously!”
“I thought… I thought the golf instructress…I know you had someone else in you heart when you first pulled me out of the river…”
“There’s no other woman now. There was when I first met you, but that was a silly crush and it didn’t mean anything. She had her own panda to love. She isn’t what I wanted. She was a dream that I chased. In my heart, she never had a place. She’s not there now, Caro-chan. You’re there now,” he answered, and caught her up in his arms and mercilessly kissed her.
“Oh la la!” whispered Renée-Caroline, as she processed everything that had been said since his arrival at the Eguchi house. “I didn’t know you could kiss like that!”
“I can! I’ve been saving it up!” he grinned shamelessly. “Like it? It’s a skill only a natural baka like me has! Want me to do it again?”
Aiba’s hands went out to her again, but a footstep on the path made both him and Renée-Caroline turn. The petite, older woman with a classic profile, a pair of deep hazel eyes and an arched mouth stepped on the unevenly shaped cobblestones, fluent words on her lips, “Renée-Caroline, ma jolie, we cannot keep your grandmother waiting. Your father… Ah, well, we have a visitor.” She executed a well-feigned start and then a bow and a little laugh with a knowing twinkle in her eyes. “You must be the enoki mushroom boyfriend. What a lucky chance you’re here! My husband has been asking about you.”
Renée-Caroline sighed and snapped her fingers to remind her mother that she was still present. “Maman! I feel sure you have an urgent message from grand-mère that will take me to the other end of the garden!”
“Not that far,” assured Eguchi Tamiko, fabled pianist and mother to the Renée-Caroline. “Your grandmother asked if we could play a duet for her after dinner. Will you join us, mushroom-san?”
“I’m not a mushroom! I’m Aiba Masaki!” he pointed to his own nose with an insupportably wide grin.
“Who?” the pianist stared at him, in genuine ignorance as to who he was. “You’ll tell us later, I hope. How did you find us here? Renée-Caroline hasn’t been taking calls since we got here.”
“Alors, what I chiefly admire in Masaki is his resourcefulness,” said Renée-Caroline with a faint smile, recalling the time he dragged her on a plane and arranged for her to meet her grandmother. He had fostered this reconciliation on the maternal side of her family, and she felt she must give credit where it was due.
“Is that a good thing?” enquired Aiba, looking from mother to daughter in increasing confusion. “Is everyone angry with me because I forgot to pick you and Chaussée-san from the airport yesterday? I’m really sorry. I’ll attend your recital to make up for it; and I’ll take Chaussée-san to play golf. Oh, I also got presents for Eguchi Obaasan!”
“My daughter did say you were something. Please don’t go through the trouble,” conceded the maestra’s mother laughingly. “Come in for dinner…”
“Maman, I do not want to be rude, but you are a trifle de trop,” Renée-Caroline said amiably, nodding at the older woman and stealing a glance at Aiba from under her lashes.
The pianist cocked a knowing eyebrow and looked from her daughter to Aiba. “D’accord, ma jolie. Do not stay out too long. We dine punctually.” She nodded at the gangly Arashi member and smiled. “Keep an eye on my daughter.”
“Eh? What does that mean?” Aiba asked, running after the retreating older woman and then running back to the conductor.
“She approves of you,” Renée-Caroline put into simple terms for him.
“Oh! So I can do this again!” he grinned, wrapping his arms around her as he kissed her and crushed her with the force of his emotions.
NOTES
De trop = excessive
When Renee-Caroline says her mother is “a trifle de trop”, she means that her mother is in the way.
D’accord = all right / okay.
Vraiment = really
Alors = Well then. *Please note ‘Alors’ has no real English equivalent.
N’est-ce pas = don’t you agree / don’t you think. *Please note this also has no real English equivalenet. It is used in the same place as the ‘yes’ and ‘no’ in the examples below:
(a) Time is of the essence, no?
(b) You speak Polish, yes?
Bear this in mind when you next encounter “n’est-ce pas”
Hein = an expression of disagreement or agreement (depends on context). Think of it like a snort of agreement or disagreement.
Merci, mais…= thank you, but…
Petite amie = girlfriend
Grand-mère = grandmother
Maman = mummy, mama
Ma jolie = lit. my pretty. I always translate this as “my beauty” or “my pretty little one”.
D’accord, ma jolie = all right, my beauty
