Cheung soon returned with a small teapot and two cups. Yukari and Yasukawa sat down side by side on the bed. One sip of hot oolong tea and Yukari was already feeling more like herself.
“So, Mr. Yasukawa.”
“That’s me.”
“Feel like explaining why people were shooting missiles at us in the jungle?”
“Yeah, that. Long story short, working conditions on the base took a sudden turn for the worse. I submitted my resignation, but something tells me they didn’t accept.”
“So that’s what that was about?”
“More or less.”
Yukari knitted her brow. She poured some more tea into her cup and moved casually to the edge of the bed.
“What’s your story? Don’t get many girls running around by themselves out here in the middle of nowhere.”
Yukari had her doubts about Yasukawa, but if he worked on the base, she decided he was worth the risk. She took a photograph from a pouch on her backpack, a picture of a man and woman posed in front of the ocean.
“Do you know this man?”
The man in the picture was about thirty, handsome, with the look of an eager salesman.
“Nope. Never seen him.”
“It’s from sixteen years ago, so he’d look a little older now.”
Yasukawa took another look. “Sorry, I don’t think so.”
“Oh…” Yukari’s shoulders sank.
“Who is he?”
“My dad.”
“You came all the way out here looking for Daddy?”
“I heard there were a bunch of Japanese in the Solomon Islands. I thought maybe he was one of them.”
“There are about three hundred at the base, but it’s only been there three years.”
“What?”
“Only showed up two years ago myself. Sixteen years ago, there wouldn’t have been anything to find.”
“My dad disappeared before I was born. On my parents’ honeymoon.”
“Just like that? Gone?”
“Yeah. They were in their hotel—it was their first night on Guadalcanal. He said he was going out to look at the moon, and he never came back.”
“I’ve heard stranger things. Guess that makes you the honeymoon baby.”
Silence fell over the room.
“Musta been hard on your mother.”
“She said she was all right. She went to the police, and they looked for my dad for a week without finding anything. Then she canceled the rest of her vacation and flew back to Japan. She had a career of her own, so money was never a problem. And I never knew him, so it’s not like I miss him. But still…”
The memories came rushing back.
Parents’ Day at school.
The class report on The Return, a movie about a missing father who suddenly comes home after twelve years.
Ever since elementary school, Japanese class had been one nightmare after another. Teachers really had a thing for assigning essays about your family. Not that the essays themselves were all that bad. The worst part was her classmates. A ring of sympathetic friends would encircle her, and without fail a boy would come to tease her. Then more girls would come to defend her, and before long things were out of hand. When the dust settled, half the class would be looking at her with pity.
Yukari never felt sorry for herself. It was always well-meaning third parties who did it for her. It took a lot of self-control to keep from breaking down sometimes. Yukari was tougher than most, but not that tough.
“The not knowing is the hard part. Was it a random accident? Did he get cold feet and just leave? Did he kill himself? I have to know.”
They heard the sound of footsteps on the stairs. The door swung open, revealing the friendly proprietor.
“You have visitors, Mr. Yasukawa.”
“Visitors? Who the hell—” A man in combat fatigues entered after Cheung. His eyes were hidden behind sunglasses, and he carried a pistol at his hip. “Kurosu?” Behind him, a bulky man in his fifties pushed into the room. Director Nasuda. The third and final person through the door was a woman in her late twenties with long hair, dressed all in white. “Et tu, Satsuki?”
Yasukawa turned on Mr. Cheung. “You sold me out!”
“Base good for business. Everybody get along, business stay good.”
“You just lost a customer.”
“Give it up, Yasukawa,” said Kurosu. “You’re not gettin’ off that easy.”
“That’s right,” added Satsuki. “We’ve got two years of training tied up in you. We can’t let you just walk away.” She turned to Director Nasuda for agreement, but his attention was squarely on Yukari. Not to be outdone, Yukari held his gaze.
“Who’s the girl?” the director asked.
“Leave her out of this! She’s just some kid looking for her dad.”
“Is that right? Interesting…” he mumbled with disinterest. “Stand up, would you?”
“What? Why?”
“Come on, give us a twirl. Let’s have a look at you.”
“I asked why.”
“Humor me!”
Yukari shrugged, then rose from the bed and did a quick spin.
“Satsuki,” the director lowered his voice, “how much would you say she weighs?”
Satsuki’s eyes flashed. “Somewhere in the neighborhood of thirty-seven kilograms.”
“Thirty-seven? Good, good. Measurements?”
“Height, about 154 centimeters, eighty-one centimeters through the chest, fifty-four at the waist, maybe eighty-two at the hips.” She smiled. “The very picture of health.”
His eyes still glued to Yukari, Director Nasuda nodded. He mumbled something under his breath.
Yasukawa shouted, “You can’t be serious!”
“You stay out of this! We don’t have room in our organization for cowards who turn tail and run when they’re needed most. You’re fired! Go back to Hamamatsu!”
“Wait—what?”
Ignoring him, the director approached Yukari, his voice smooth as silk. “What’s your name?”
“Yukari Morita.”
“Here looking for your father, was it?”
“That’s right.”
“There are over seven hundred islands in the Solomons, and every one a jungle. How exactly did you plan on finding him?”
“I, uh…” Before she left, Yukari had just assumed she’d figure things out as she went. It wasn’t until she’d reached the islands that she realized how naive she’d been.
“What would you say if I told you we’d help you look for your father?”
“Why would you do that?”
“My name is Isao Nasuda. I’m the director of the space center here on the island. We have helicopters, trucks, ships—even contacts with the local police. Japanese don’t exactly blend in on the Solomons. If he’s here, we’ll find him.”
“Really? You’d do that?” Yukari practically leapt up with joy.
“Don’t listen to him!” shouted Yasukawa.
The director turned to Cheung. “Take Mr. Yasukawa downstairs and give him something to eat, would you? He gets so excitable on an empty stomach.” Then, to Kurosu, “Go with him. We wouldn’t want him to have any trouble finding his table.”
“On it,” replied Kurosu, placing an arm around Yasukawa.
“Hey, let go of me!”
“I give you something very tasty, I promise.”
When the three of them had left, Director Nasuda turned back to Yukari. “Sorry about that. Now, where were we? Ah yes, your father. We’re prepared to help you look for him. In return, there’s something we’d like you to help us with. Call it a…part-time job.”
“What kind of job?”
“The lodgings on the base are fully air-conditioned. We have a cafeteria. And we’ll pay you, of course.”
“What do I have to do?”
“You just need to sit in front of a computer. When a message comes in, you answer. Maybe press a few buttons. So simple a monkey could do it.”
It sounded good. Too good to be true, really, but Yukari was prepared to take some chances if it meant finding her father.
“Well, okay. But only if you show me how to do everything.”
“Of course,” the director beamed. “This is Satsuki Asahikawa. She’ll teach you everything you need to know. Isn’t that right, Satsuki?”
“Absolutely. If you have any questions, anything at all, just ask.” Satsuki smiled from ear to ear, but her eyes were cold as ice. The perfect, unsuspecting guinea pig had fallen right into her lap.