Junri interrupts in Japanese. The response Fujiko gives her is more than worrisome – it scares me half to death.
“I have heard nothing,” she says. “My brother said nothing when I saw him this morning, before he left for Sapporo. Only thing he said was that last night was a success.” Fujiko puts her cigarette down when she addresses me. “He would never do something to harm Mr. Mathers, I assure you.”
“I never thought that, but I was hoping someone knew where he was going and what happened to him. Disappearing is definitely not something he does. On purpose, anyway.” Come to think of it, unless he knew he would be cut off from communication for a couple of days, the longest I’ve gone without hearing from Ian since we got serious is… twelve hours? We talk and text every day, even if we don’t see each other in the flesh. I think I’m going through withdrawal at this point. This is on top of my fear!
Fujiko takes another drag of her cigarette while she thinks. “Kunihiro is really the only one to ask. I will call my brother, and…”
“No!” Junri startles us all with her outburst. “I mean… no need to involve him with this.”
Fujiko chuckles. “Understood. If Kunihiro has no leads, though, absolutely call him.”
“Me?”
“I’m not going to have another chance tonight. If I don’t call my brother right now, you’ll have to do it later.”
“Shimatta…”
“Hai. Shimatta.”
Junri checks her watch. “Where is my cousin?”
“If he’s not at the hotel, then I honestly don’t know. I can give you his number, though.”
The idea that Junri doesn’t have the numbers of everyone in her family – let alone family members in her business – is so foreign to me. I’m not saying I think they’re close by default. I’m saying it’s so short-sighted, but I guess this is another one of those obnoxious cultural differences my American ass will never get.
“Thank you.”
Fujiko watches us turn around and leave. She says something sweetly to her niece, who stops, face pale once more. I didn’t understand anything but “date,” which happens to be a borrowed word in Japanese.
I don’t know what Junri says in response. All I know is that we have another awkward elevator ride down to catch yet another cab by the curb.
“You are worried,” she says in the back of another taxi. “Your hands are shaking.”
I had no idea that anything was shaking. I’ve received another text from Valerie confirming that she still hasn’t heard from her boss. Eva hasn’t gotten back to me, but I now know that it’s the middle of the night back home. If she’s up, she’s probably ignoring her phone in favor of fun things, like smothering her hot girlfriend or partying with our friends.
“Of course I’m worried. My boyfriend is missing.”
Junri clears her throat. “I thought I read in the papers that he’s your fiancé?”
Whhhyyy is she bringing that up? “That’s up in the air. We aren’t officially engaged.”
“Sou desu ka…”
“I mean, you’d be upset too if your boyfriend went missing.”
“If I had one, I’m sure I would be, but I get the sentiment.”
Wait, what? “Wasn’t that your boyfriend back at the restaurant?”
She sighs, as if the weight of more than her family’s business rests upon her shoulders. (Don’t I know what that feels like!) “That was not a man.”
Oh.
Oh…
Oh.
God damnit, I have no gaydar, even though I’m best friends with one of the biggest butches in America. Something that Eva loves to point out every time she gets to tell me some woman is a lesbian and it’s obvious to everyone but me.
Now I have something to distract me from my fears. Because wasn’t I admiring that man? Not the first time I’ve been attracted to a woman…
“Sorry,” I say. “Didn’t realize.”
“I’m sure she would be relieved. She likes it when people thinks she’s a man.”
I have no idea what to make of that.
“That said,” Junri continues, “there was a time a couple of years ago when she became very sick and ended up in the hospital. I was so, how do you say… freaked out? Yes? I was so freaked out I flew down here from Sapporo to see her. They said it was her, uh, the thing in your stomach.”
“Thing in her stomach?” Gall stones? Kidney stones? Ectopic pregnancy?
Junri curls her hand into a fist as she struggles to think of the word in English. “We say the mouchou in Japanese. It is useless and makes people sick, so they take it out.”