“Nice to see you,” the manager of Sakuraba Milk Hall said. As Jinya visited to drink practically every night, the manager’s greeting gradually became more friendly.
Hotaru was there in the milk hall, but she only gave him a small bow. They were little more than strangers, after all. Still, the fact that she remembered to greet him as one of their regulars showed that she was a proper lady of the night.
“What’ll it be today?” the manager asked, already reaching for a glass. Jinya drank mostly whiskey these days, but he was there on different business today.
“No drink for me this time, sorry. Is Akemi in?”
The manager’s jaw dropped. Even Hotaru looked a bit surprised, her mask as a sex worker slipping slightly. As if she’d been waiting for just that moment to appear, Akemi walked up with a beaming smile.
“Wow, you really came,” she said.
“I’m not so rude as to go back on my offer.”
“Just be honest: You missed me.”
Their banter overflowed with friendliness. The others seemed shocked by that, but who could blame them? The man who didn’t so much as glance at the waitresses and only came there to drink was now close to a woman he had previously rejected.
“I’ll be stepping out for a bit,” Akemi said.
“Okay, take…care?” replied the manager, still flabbergasted.
Enjoying her boss’s reaction, Akemi laughed. “Ah ha ha ha. Everyone’s stunned! Hotaru-san even made a face I’ve never seen on her before. Serves her right!”
Apparently, she wasn’t on the best of terms with Hotaru. She continued to laugh after they left the shop, remembering everyone’s reaction. Jinya didn’t feel put off, though. While Akemi was an overly frank woman, she wasn’t malicious and was just being honest about her feelings. He certainly wouldn’t join in on laughing at everyone, but he did not hate the way she wore her heart on her sleeve.
“Oh, sorry, sorry. You’re close with Hotaru-san, right?” she asked after laughing. She seemed worried she might have offended him. Though it wasn’t very sincere, it was still an apology.
“No, not particularly. She’s a woman of the night through and through, after all.” Whispered nothings and a lover’s embrace would amount to nothing but a dream with her—all gone once the night was done. That was the kind of sex worker Hotaru was. Getting truly close to such a woman would be a grand undertaking. Jinya thought of his friend who had somehow won the heart of the Streetwalker and felt a bit warm inside.
“I suppose that’s true. What kind of woman do you see Hotaru-san as?” asked Akemi.
“A clever and dutiful one. She is graceful while still being charming to her core.”
“Is that so? You men are all so stupid, falling for her cheap tricks and all.” Akemi stuck her tongue out and grumbled, acting childish for her age. By this point, Jinya was used to seeing her act in a way unbefitting a sex worker.
“You seem to have it out for her.”
“I…” She hesitated. “I guess I do.”
“Or perhaps you’re just not good with her type?”
“I’m like an open book to you, eh?” She pouted and ended the topic there.
The light of shop lanterns swayed faintly across the dark street, and their destination came into view.
“That’s the place. I hear they have good soba,” Jinya said.
“Wait, what do you mean you ‘hear’?”
“People tell me things?”
“What the heck? If you’re inviting a girl out to eat, the least you can do is try the place beforehand!” She complained, but a brimming smile filled her face.
The meal shared by the unlikely pair ended up being fun in its own way.
✦ ✦ ✦
The coating was always too thick on the croquettes sold by the local butcher, and they were always cold by the time Akemi’s family ate, so they did not taste good at all. Even so, they ate them often. Her father was a stern man, but he never complained about her mother’s cooking—not even when she simply served what she had bought outside. Akemi hated the croquettes they had for dinner, but she hated her mother even more.
Akemi’s father was an ordinary company man, but he came from a family of high standing. Her grandmother would always say things would’ve been so different for them if it weren’t for the war.
Akemi’s mother was from an ordinary family. The father’s family had been against their marriage because of their difference in social status.
Akemi saw her mother as a boring woman, always at her husband and mother-in-law’s beck and call. Akemi thought little of it as a child, but once she grew up, she understood her mother wasn’t servile—she was just enduring her position. Her status weighed on her. She was financially dependent on her husband and conscious of the fact she was an outsider who had been accepted into a household far greater than her own. It didn’t matter that the family she married into was a shadow of its former self; her sense of inferiority remained. That was why she tried to play the role of a good wife and mother as best as she could. As a result, Akemi had very few memories of her mother ever getting mad at her, but she also lacked many memories of her mother ever showing her real kindness.
She always tried to put her daughter before herself, so in that sense, she was a good mother. But despite being so subservient when it came to the wishes of her mother-in-law, she was strict with Akemi, always reminding her to learn how to do housework for her future husband’s sake. Young Akemi thought this meant her mother was a pathetic woman who could only be firm with those beneath herself.
Akemi wanted to earn money herself, even if it meant becoming a sex worker. She probably had her mother to thank for that. She didn’t want to end up financially dependent and stuck like she was. That was why Akemi decided to leave home.
She told her mother so, and that was the first time she had ever become mad at her. Her mother raised her voice for the first time, telling her she was speaking nonsense. Losing patience, Akemi argued back.
Why was she only getting angry now when she hadn’t cared enough to do it before? She wasn’t a child anymore; she could stand on her own. She didn’t want to live her whole life putting on an act to try and stay in somebody’s good graces. I don’t want to end up like you!
She said everything she could think of, hurting her mother in the process, then left without looking back. She settled down in the Dove District, where she lived a comfortable life.
Men paid handsomely to sleep with her there. She earned her food and clothes herself, something her mother could never do. That alone made it all worth it.
But from time to time, Akemi would recall her hated mother’s face.
Ah… Come to think of it, they’d had croquettes for dinner the day she left too.