Exactly one week had passed since the day Ushio showed up at the station for a surprise tour. In the newsroom, I rose from my chair and was about to head to my nightly meeting when Tatsuki came chasing after me.
“Kunieda-san! Did Tsuzuki-san break his phone or get a new one or something?”
“What?”
“Tell him he should have told me he got a new number, will you?” Tatsuki said. “Sheesh, he can be a real heartless jerk sometimes…”
“…What?” The hell are you talking about? Confused, I stopped short and looked at him.
He looked back at me with some confusion of his own. “Last time we went drinking together, we talked about going out to Osaka to play baseball, yeah? So here I am, getting the boys together, but when I went to ask him about his schedule, all of a sudden…”
He pulled out his cell phone and opened LINE. The on-screen text read: Account not found.
“I was like, ‘WTF, man?’ So I tried texting his number, but it wouldn’t send… Wait, are you telling me you didn’t know about it?”
“Well… He told me he was going to hole up and focus on his work, so I haven’t heard from him in a while.”
Thus far, there were times when he’d sleep over at some studio to get work done, and I always made sure not to contact him while he was there. The last LINE conversation we had was last week, which was also the last time I saw him in person, when he said “See you later” on his way out of the hotel room. As far as I could recall, his behavior seemed pretty normal at the time.
“…Senpai, let’s grab an elevator real quick,” Tatsuki suggested, seeming to read the silent alarm in my eyes. Once we were in private, he continued. “Are you able to see his LINE account on your end?”
“I only brought my work phone today.”
“Well, it’s possible he dropped his phone in the toilet or something and had to buy a whole new one… Or like, maybe he wanted to get a number that’s easier to remember?”
Perhaps he was just waiting until his work was finished to reach out and let me know. Maybe it really was that simple. I could picture him calling me up later on and saying, “Oh, did I scare you, Mr. Worrywart?” when I tried to complain.
“I mean, he’s not the kind of coward who’d dump a guy by ghosting him, right?”
“Don’t jinx it!” I hissed.
“What? I was trying to reassure you.”
“Well, it’s not working!”
Seriously, I was completely blindsided. Was he mad about the roast beef and sushi thing? How was I supposed to think of a decent fantasy setting when I was half-asleep?! Before I could sort out my thoughts, the elevator arrived at its destination, and the doors opened to reveal Ush—no, of course it wasn’t him.
It was the worst possible alternative: that grumpy old politician again.
“Whoa!” Having lost my composure, I inadvertently let out a little yelp of surprise.
“That’s not very respectful,” Eba scowled. Yeah, well, maybe you should be respectful of my fucking emotional crisis right now!
“Got another recording session, Grandpa Eba?”
“I do, but I also had a question, so I was waiting for you.”
“You could have used the PA system, sir.”
“Nah, I couldn’t ask ’em to go to the trouble over my personal business.”
“I take it your question’s for me? Because if it’s about the election, I’m afraid my answer hasn’t changed,” I told him calmly, if a little annoyed. Stubborn old geezer! I don’t have time for this!
“No,” he said, shaking his head. I couldn’t imagine what else he might want from me. “Well, I guess technically it is. See, you were palling around with Wakamiya Junior last week, remember?”
“What?” I asked.
“That’s why I thought you were setting up to move in that direction.”
“You mean Tsuzuki-san?” Tatsuki asked on my behalf as I stared blankly.
“Tsuzuki?” Eda replied.
“That’s the name of the guy who was with us. I think you might have the wrong person, sir. His name’s not Wakamiya.”
“It’s not?”
Clearly this doddering old fool had the wrong guy. Not once had Ushio ever said the name Wakamiya. And yet…my heart was pounding in my chest.
Wakamiya Homare. At last, I understood why he gave me such a fright when our eyes met—he looked like Ushio, but with all the love and affection surgically removed. It was terrifying. And not only that, but I was starting to think there was a reason I was asked to host that event. I mean, was it really normal for a high-ranking politician to “swing by to say hi”?
Fighting to keep my composure, I asked Eba, “Are you on close terms with Legislator Wakamiya?”
“Ehhh… More so with his father. Back in those days, we used to paint the town red all night long. So in that sense, I guess I should’ve said Wakamiya Junior-Junior. I was so sure it was him since it felt like he was avoiding me on purpose… Then again, I haven’t seen his face in years. Guess I’m getting old… It’s my job to recognize people, damnit…”
“How many years has it been, exactly?”
“The last I saw him was at his mother’s funeral, so that would have been more than a decade ago. He was still in junior high or thereabouts, and I’ll never forget the sight of him standing there alone, holding a framed photo of her and not a single tear in his eye. I tell you, after all the horrors his family’s gone through…” The old man’s voice was uncharacteristically sentimental. “Anyway, sorry to bother you.” And with that, he left.
Tatsuki elbowed me lightly and pointed to a studio that was still mercifully empty. As soon as we entered, he turned to me. “What’s this about Wakamiya?”
“Wakamiya Homare. You’ve heard the name, haven’t you?”
“Yeah, the politician? Wait, so…that’s Tsuzuki-san’s dad…?” He fell silent for a moment, then gently placed a hand on my shoulder. “Hang in there, pal.”
“Hang in where?!”
“I’m just saying, it’s gotta be rough dating on opposite ends of the class divide.”
“Are you dissing the Kunieda name, asshole?”
“What, you guys rich or something?”
“I’ll have you know, I hail from a respectable middle-class family!” I snapped. “Besides, I don’t know for sure if it’s true. If it is, though, he’s got a lot of nerve to be some politician’s spoiled son…and with a hoity-toity rich-person name like Wakamiya…”
“Uhh… You guys are dating, right…?”
Was Tsuzuki just a fake name? No, it couldn’t be. He got a letter from his “grandma” with the same last name as him. Clearly, the name came from his mother’s side… But then again, I had no concrete proof that the woman was actually his grandmother either. The more I thought about it, the deeper the rabbit hole went…
“You seriously don’t know if it’s true?” He shot me an exasperated look. “Don’t people normally tell their significant others about their families at some point over the course of a several-year-long relationship? Then again, I guess you’re not normal…”
“Oh, shut up!”
Sure, I had wondered here and there, but it wasn’t like I was planning to follow all the traditional steps to marry him. Our relationship was between the two of us. I didn’t want the outside world peeking in and getting all up in our business. That was why I didn’t know a single thing about Ushio’s social circles, and as a result, I had no clue where he was working or who to even ask. No matter what happened, he would choose me, and he would always be waiting for me when I got home. Surely that hadn’t changed.
“…Oh, that reminds me,” Tatsuki muttered suddenly.
“What?”
“Well, it might be totally unrelated, but the other day…like, week before last? When we were drinking, he asked me how you were doing.”
“He did? What’d you say?”
“Well, it seemed like you’ve…opened up to people, I guess?”
“Hey!” I grabbed him by the collar. “Don’t fill his head with bullshit! I have not!”
“Look, man, it was just the impression I got!”
“Well, what’d he say?”
“Not much. Just kinda like, ‘Oh, cool,’ and that was it.”
Why would he ask that? I wanted to find out, but the person with the answer was currently AWOL and possibly ghosting everyone. It was so frustrating. And the more I thought about the things I didn’t know, the more I started to get scared and wonder what exactly I did know. Sure, he wasn’t an open book, but I didn’t need him to be; he was a very communicative boyfriend, and our relationship was going well.
Or…maybe it was all just in my head.
Maybe he never actually meant a word of it.