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I expected everything to resolve itself without issues. I went to pick up Toru in a taxi as planned, and no one was around to see us because it was still morning. I had done everything perfectly, so how did things end up this way?
Marie and I had to go to an uncrowded coffee shop in the late afternoon. The Ichijos had been sitting across the table from us, and Toru was nodding apologetically the entire time. Kaoruko had set up the meeting and coldly glared at us.
I figured the usual clientele here were housewives, but there were some couples here and there because it was a weekend. Several nearby places were good for dates, so perhaps they had just come from one of them. But at that moment, I struggled to think about my surroundings. Kaoruko plopped a sugar cube into her cup, then another, and another. She said nothing, but the tension in the air was palpable.
Toru was the one to break the ice. It seemed he couldn’t handle the pressure anymore. “S-Sorry about this,” he said to me. “First, let me explain―”
“Please stay quiet,” Kaoruko interrupted. “I will ask the questions.”
She didn’t raise her voice one bit. Although she had barely uttered the words, her voice was as cold as ice. Toru shrank and closed his mouth. We didn’t dare speak either.
I had screwed up and had forgotten that even while we were spending time in the dream world, Kaoruko was alone and waiting for her husband to come home. We had gone to the Chinese restaurant around seven at night, but Toru had gotten home at around seven in the morning. No one had reached out to her the entire time, so it was no wonder she was upset.
It appeared I was careless when it came to people other than Marie, just as she had pointed out. I thought of myself as pretty considerate for work, but all I could think about when I got home was having fun in the dream world with Marie. But this was no excuse, of course.
Anyway, we couldn’t just sit there in silence forever. Marie was sitting next to me, frightened by Kaoruko’s intensity. The weekend was precious to us, so we couldn’t waste time doing nothing.
“Well, you see...” I started. “Toru and I were drinking until the morning, and―”
Bam!
A loud slam echoed on the table, and silence fell over the café. I could feel sweat pouring out of my every pore. Kaoruko remained still with her hands on the table and her head bowed, her expressions hidden. That slam meant we had to shut up until she started asking questions. The three of us cowered and sat straight in our chairs.
We couldn’t tell her that we had been in a dream world, which was probably why she was so upset. Toru must have only given her vague answers when she had questioned him. He gave me a look that told me it was as I thought, making me clueless about what to do.
Kaoruko stared daggers at me as she moved her face closer and said, “So, where were you, really? There aren’t many places around here where you can drink until morning, and he was completely sober when he got home. And when you dropped him off at our place, you were in your pajamas, weren’t you?”
There was no lying our way out of this one. If I were in her shoes, the only logical conclusion I could come up with would be that Toru had gone off alone and spent the night somewhere. Even if I told her the truth, we were in a café. We couldn’t say anything out loud when people could overhear us. I felt a cold sweat run down me as I realized this was a terrible place to have this meetup. Toru must have been mortified by the situation we were stuck in and finally dropped the bomb...in the worst way imaginable.
“Kaoruko, I need to ask you to do something. Will you sleep with him?”
My face looked like it had been struck by lightning.
Well, he wasn’t wrong. The literal meaning of his words were fine, as it would resolve all of our issues. I could teach Kaoruko about the dream world and explain what had happened last night. Yet Toru hadn’t realized that his phrasing would cause a big misunderstanding, as proved by the hushed murmurs that rose all around us. I felt like I was going to pass out, and Kaoruko was so furious that her hair looked like it was about to stand on end.
“You’ll understand if you do,” he went on. “You’ll understand what I learned last night and everything he taught me.”
Please, Toru, stop! Stop making that face like a weight has been lifted off your shoulders! Are you trying to end our social lives?! I thought.
The middle-aged women around us were whispering among themselves, their gazes going back and forth between me and Toru. The situation was making my stomach hurt, and I thought I might never be able to step foot in this café again.
Things couldn’t possibly get any worse. Or so I thought. Marie gently placed her hand on Kaoruko’s, then kindly whispered, “That’s right! We’ll take you to another world. You can have fun with us, just like your husband. That will resolve everything.”
Marie?!
My eyes nearly rolled to the back of my head in shock. Nothing was wrong with what she said, but it only amplified the misunderstanding. I didn’t get why she didn’t realize this, or why Marie and Toru’s common sense had gone out the window.
I hoped they wouldn’t say another word.
“You slept with Toru too?” Kaoruko suddenly asked Marie. She was sobbing, tears welling up in her eyes.
“What? Why me? It was just Kazuhiro who slept with him. Oh, actually, I also slept with him afterward. I’m sorry, I forgot about that.”
Kaoruko and I went completely pale. I couldn’t believe they spoke out of compassion without a hint of malice. A demon from hell couldn’t bring about worse torment if they tried. Marie and Toru were the only ones who failed to read the room. Kaoruko misinterpreted the whole situation, imagining something awfully immoral going on between us.
“This is terrible! Ahh... Waaah!”
She burst into tears, unable to hold it in anymore. I also wanted to cry and didn’t know what sort of face I was making. But I probably had a tight smile with my eyes darting side to side. I’d never been in a situation like this before and wished it had all been a dream.