Then there was its smell, powerful and raw, which still lingered in Yukiko’s nostrils.
The singer shook her head forcefully, hoping to dispel the ever-growing vision of the rabbit from her thoughts. Whoever or whatever it was, the rabbit had vanished from the exhibit without a trace, like a puff of smoke dissipating into air.
Did that mean that, like smoke, the rabbit could go anywhere, through any crack?
The chilling thought prompted her to her feet.
With its two bedrooms, her apartment was luxuriously spacious for a woman living alone. With quick footsteps, she moved to her living room and turned on the lights, and then the TV. She pressed the play button on her VCR, which already had a tape inside it. Edward Scissorhands, a favorite of Yukiko’s, began to play.
Portrayed by Johnny Depp in a superb performance, Edward possessed scissor blades for hands, which kept him isolated from normal humans. Yukiko was a huge fan of Depp, in no small part thanks to this film.
Her anxiety was soon soothed by the bright lights of her living room and the comfort of watching a favorite movie. Quickly, she settled into her sofa and became absorbed.
Johnny Depp tried to embrace Winona Ryder, but he couldn’t complete the gesture, for fear of hurting her.
It was a rather sad scene. No matter how many times Yukiko watched it, she cried without fail. One of the nice things about living alone was being able to bawl as freely as she pleased without having to worry about anyone seeing her.
Sniffing through her runny nose, she lay down across the sofa and eventually drifted off into a peaceful slumber.
Yukiko didn’t know how long she had been asleep when a sound awoke her. Through sleepy, half-lidded eyes, she saw that her living room lights had been turned off. The curtains over the sliding glass door to her balcony glowed faintly from the streetlights outside.
Just as she decided to go back to sleep, a silhouette passed across the curtains. Or at least, that’s what she thought she saw. It looked like it had been a plump person with a big round stomach and a distinctively round face. From the top of its head stood two long, thin horn-like protrusions that flapped about.
It was the rabbit. It was the rabbit’s shadow.
As sleep relentlessly pulled her back into its embrace, she experienced terror, pure and primal, deep down inside.
Yukiko and Yoriko sat side by side on a couch in the talent agency’s reception area. Despite being managed by Kanda Projects, Yukiko had only visited this office a few times before, as her vocal and dance lessons were always held in a separate location.
She felt oddly uncomfortable here.
After a short time, Kanda Hiroshi—the agency’s president—appeared around the wall of filing cabinets and metal bookcases that partitioned the reception area from the main workspace. Kanda must have been older than fifty, but his face remained smooth and shiny to an off-putting extent. He sat on a second couch facing the two women.
Yoriko greeted him without small talk. “Have you thought about what we discussed earlier?”
Kanda blinked his eyes a few times in a put-upon manner. “You mean Yukiko taking a break?” He turned to the singer. “Well, Yukiko, what do you think? Yoriko-kun has asked me to give you time to rest, but I’d like to hear your opinion.”
Glancing at Yoriko, Yukiko answered, “I don’t want a break. I know she’ll be worried about me, and I’m sorry to do that to her, but I just want to keep doing my job.”
“You don’t have to do this,” Yoriko pleaded. She took the singer’s hand in hers. “This is a matter of your personal well-being. This goes beyond being an idol. You need to think of yourself. If you wait until you’ve already ruined your health, it will be too late.”
Yukiko squeezed her manager’s hand. “I understand,” she said. “Believe me, I do. But focusing on my work is the best way to help me get through this. Taking a break sounds like the reasonable thing to do, but it actually might make things worse.”
Kanda stood and said, “Then it’s settled. Yukiko’s schedule will go on without any changes. But for our part, we’ll keep an extra close eye on her. Right, Yoriko-kun?”
Defeated, the manager rose to her feet and gave a reluctant nod. “Okay. That’s what we’ll do.” Then to Yukiko, she said, “Your taping for Music Standby is today. I’ll go to the station ahead of you, but please, if at any point it gets to be too much, don’t hesitate to tell us.”
Yukiko grinned and said, “I’ll see you there.”
After Yoriko left, Kanda invited Yukiko to sit next to him, and she soon obliged. With an untroubled grin, he said, “Yoriko-kun always worries about everything. That can be a good thing, but sometimes she takes it a little too far.” He winked at her as if to say, What can you do?
Then he added, “By the way, I have a present for you. Something came here this morning with your name on it.”
Kanda reached under the table between the two facing sofas and retrieved a package. Wrapped in white paper, the box was about thirty centimeters long on either side.
“Open it and take a look,” Kanda said. “I’ve already had a peek inside, and I have to say, it’s pretty cute.”
She opened the box and a rabbit tumbled out.
Yukiko gasped.
The rabbit was a wind-up figure about twenty centimeters tall. As it marched along the table, its long ears rose and fell, and it beat little drumsticks against a drum carried at its stomach.
“Well?” Kanda said, beaming. “Was I right? Cute, isn’t it?”
I’ve had enough of that man, Yukiko thought, silently cursing her callous boss as she walked to the television station. Of all things, it had to be a toy rabbit. How little do I matter to him?
For days she had been tormented by visions of the rabbit. It was starting to affect her daily life. And yet Kanda had excitedly brought out that rabbit toy. He should have known that was nothing she wanted to see.
She shook her head left and right as her mind went back to that wind-up rabbit drumming away. Just remembering it gave her the chills all over again.
Subconsciously, Yukiko hurried her pace. All she could do was head to the studio where Yoriko was waiting. Her manager would understand how she was feeling.