The piano recital at Meiji Kotokan Hall was held on a Friday evening. As Kurishiro had said, KNM was merely renting out the venue, so the staff members on our side weren’t assisting with anything in particular. We did need someone to serve as a point of contact in case any issues arose, though, and I had been assigned to that role.
That day, I stood in a corner of Meiji Kotokan’s Egyptian-style hall and watched as the venue was set up. I was tempted to help, but since it needed to be clear where the onus of responsibility lay, KNM employees were generally only supposed to observe facility users, not assist them.
The pianist, Toko Kuroki, sat at the piano and played notes while shouting at her staff. “A little more fine-tuning on the sound, please! And turn up the air conditioning!”
All of her staff were American, so everything was being said in English. I wasn’t proficient enough to understand most of it, so I was using my trusty translating device.
“Take a break until the A/C kicks in! It’s so hot in here,” Kuroki complained, fanning herself with one hand as she drank a bottle of mineral water.
I walked up to her and bowed. From my understanding, she had been raised in New York, but her father was Japanese, so she was fluent in our language. “Kuroki, thank you for choosing our venue today. My name is Aoi Mashiro, and I am representing the Kyoto National Museum.”
“Oh, you’re Aoi Mashiro?” She looked at me curiously. “I’ve been looking forward to meeting you.”
“I’m honored. Um, please accept this small token of appreciation from us.” I presented her with the package that Kurishiro had entrusted to me. It contained popular items from KNM’s gift shop, such as a folding fan, handkerchief, clear file folder, and masking tape.
“Thanks.” Kuroki tried to pull the fan open by force. Apparently, she’d never used one before.
“Oh, it opens like this,” I said, unfolding the fan and showing her the design. “This is one of the Scrolls of Frolicking Animals, which is said to be Japan’s oldest manga.” The ink drawing depicted rabbits and frogs playing tag and sumo wrestling.
Kuroki peered closely at the fan and hummed.
“Isn’t it cute?” I asked.
“It is.” She nodded and looked at me. “Oh, right, Mashiro. I heard that you’re Kiyotaka’s girlfriend.”
“Yes. He told me that the two of you used to be close.”
“Huh?” Her eyes widened.
“He also said that if you were to remember him and mention his name, he would love to speak with you on the phone.”
Kuroki hurriedly shook her head and hands. “No, I don’t remember him that well. I wouldn’t know what to talk about, so I won’t call him. Tell him I said hi.”
“I will. I’ll be leaving for a bit now, but if something happens, you can call me at any time.” I bowed and left Meiji Kotokan Hall.
Now it was break time. I took out my phone and messaged Holmes, “I spoke with Kuroki. She said she wouldn’t call you.”
His reply came immediately. “Can I call you right now?”
“I’m on break, so it’s fine.”
He called me right away. When I picked up, he asked, “Er...did she say anything to make you feel uncomfortable?”
“No... After I said what you told me to, she ended the conversation.”
The other day, Holmes had returned from Hong Kong and come straight to my house. It had been a long time since he’d last visited, so my family was overjoyed to see him. He’d said he had something important to tell me, though, so we had decided to talk in my room.
As soon as we were alone, he prostrated himself before me, his forehead touching the floor. “I’m sorry.”
“Did something happen with Ensho?” I asked, concerned by the sudden apology.
“No, it has nothing to do with him. It’s about us...”
Something concerning the two of us and Holmes was prostrating himself? I had a bad feeling. “Did you...cheat on me?”
He whipped his head up. “What?! I would never. You’re the only one I can do such things with now.”
He was so loud that I frantically held my index finger up to my mouth to shush him. “What is it, then?”
“It seems that you’re going to have an uncomfortable experience because of my past.”
“What do you mean?”
“A pianist is going to hold a recital at KNM...”
“Toko Kuroki?”
“Yes.” He nodded. “We weren’t dating, but we used to be close.”
“Oh.”
Holmes had told me a lot about his past, so I knew he meant that they had been intimately involved. After Izumi betrayed him, he had lost trust in women and intentionally seduced those who already had boyfriends. Looking back at it again, it really was terrible.
“I already know about that stuff, though,” I said. “Unless there’s still something you haven’t told me?”
“No, I told you everything. It was exactly as bad as I explained to you.”
“Why are you apologizing, then?”
“It’s one thing to hear it from me but another to meet one of the people in question. After all, you told me about your ex-boyfriend, but when I actually saw him, my body shook with anger and jealousy.”
“Oh.” I gave a strained smile. “Can I just ask you one thing?”
“Of course.” He sat up straight and looked at me.
“You said you didn’t date Kuroki, but I assume you...had that relationship...because you were attracted to her. Was her appearance your type or something?”
Holmes looked up at the ceiling as if trying to remember. “At the time, I only had relations with people who met certain conditions.”
“Conditions?” I looked at him, startled.
“The most important was that they were unmarried. I absolutely refused to commit adultery. Second, they had to be from a different industry. And third, I couldn’t be the most important person in their life.”
“Which means?”
“They had someone else they were serious about but were left unsatisfied for whatever reason, be it a long-distance relationship or a one-sided crush. That way, they would think of me as a convenience. I, too, faked the role of someone who was in love with a woman who already had a boyfriend, so we would comfort each other.”
“A fake role?” I murmured.
“So if they told me, ‘I’m thinking of giving up on him and going with you,’ I would end our relationship, saying, ‘Sorry, but I still love that woman. If you feel this way about me, it’ll only cause you pain, so let’s not see each other anymore.’”
“Oh...”
“As for whether they were my type... Looking back on it now, they were all people I respected in some way. In Kuroki’s case, it was her musical talent. I liked her piano playing.”
Hearing his honest words, I nodded. “I understand. Thank you for telling me.” Holmes had probably been in love—he just hadn’t been aware of it at the time. Perhaps the lingering scar of a past betrayal had prevented him from opening up his heart.
His shoulders slumped. “When you thank me for something like this, it makes me want to dig a hole and bury myself in it. Please ruthlessly pour dirt on me.”
“There’s no need for that. It happened before we started going out anyway.”
He was right, though. If I hadn’t known about Kuroki and she had told me about her past with Holmes, it would definitely have been upsetting. But since he was telling me in advance with this overblown apology, it didn’t seem like a big deal anymore.
“Um...” Holmes said hesitantly. “Ever since the summer of the year I first met you, I’ve been refusing such relationships.”
“Huh? But we didn’t start going out that quickly.”
“Yes, but I couldn’t stop thinking about you after the night of the Gion Festival. Remembering it, that must’ve been when I fell in love with you.”
Seeing him as he said that made me choke up. “Come here, Kiyotaka.”
He hugged me tightly like a big dog and whispered in my ear, “Um, if she mentions my name, please tell her this...”
Just as Holmes had predicted, Kuroki had backed down. In other words, she was probably aware of how terrifying he could be.
“That aside, will you be coming to the recital, Holmes?” I asked.
“No, I’ll refrain.”
“All right. See you another time, then.”
I ended the call and looked up at the sky. Cicadas were buzzing around me. There were only a few days left in my internship.
After taking my lunch break, I returned to Meiji Kotokan, where Kuroki was playing piano in the Egyptian hall. It was a famous jazz piece: “Waltz for Debby” by Bill Evans. The notes were gentle at first, then grew sprightly. It was beautiful, and just listening to it filled me with delight. I could understand why Holmes had said he liked her music.
When the performance ended, I clapped quietly in a corner of the hall. Tonight’s recital was bound to be exciting.