Episode 6

Yatchan leaves me at my place in the evening. We keep hugging and rubbing each other’s back for a long while. Passerbys must be looking at us rather puzzled. It’s not like I care.
I wave goodbye to him and I hurry inside the building. I don’t want to start crying again. Especially now that Yatchan has given me such a great chance to do something about the impending news of my financial ruin.
I’m gonna tour with them.
I know my solo work doesn’t quite fit their style. Sons of all pussys is all rock; and my soft, mellow ballads don’t seem to click their sound... I suppose I’m gonna have to make a couple of songs to round up a set-list. I can do that... I don’t have much time though, but I think I call pull through.
Ken-chan has been very kind too. And Ein-kun is such a nice guy.
Touring would be great... I haven’t toured in a long while. I don’t miss the whole stress associated with tours, but I do miss the money.
Few people know the label keeps most of the profit our records make. We make the biggest revenue from tours.
I take a glimpse of myself in the elevator mirror. The guy there smiles back... he smiles knowingly. I give him a victory sign.
“We are moving forward, pal...” I whisper. For a second I could swear his expression is that of disbelief. For a second, I could say his eyes tell me to be cautious.
Must be because I’m getting home... and she’s probably there.

I turn on the dining room lights. I can hear a soft chatter coming from the bedroom, and for a second I blink. I don’t want to think she’s there with someone. Although a part of me wishes it were so.
I must be a very sick person.
I open the door suddenly, pulling my best Othello dramatic performance.

Well, she was just on the phone with a friend. She gives me a cursory glance and I nod, lower my sight and walk out of the room followed by our dog.
“Would you like to have a different master?” I ask the pet. It ignores me.
“You shouldn’t even consider it. I’m the best master any dog could ever wish for. I’m a quiet guy, I’m famous, good looking and I play guitar. I’m really great at playing guitar.” It’s not like the dog is a music expert. But anyway, I won’t push it too far... you know, everybody is a critic nowadays.

I drop on the couch and turn on the TV. I’m not sure I want to see the news... someone could be talking about me and the whole incident in my office. The whole thing about me being sued by a former staff member and going bankrupt.
Megumi wanted to be in charge of my office and I thought that would keep her busy... but now I’m considering it’s been a very bad idea. She has redecorated the whole place with such tacky flower patterns I feel like puking on the way to my desk. She was supposed to be in charge of other stuff... not decoration. White walls were perfectly fine by me. Geez...
I catch a sitcom.
I flip through TV channels as if they were magazine pages.
In the end, I go back to the sitcom.
The guy sounds funny. I can do with some laughing.

When I’m about to laugh I notice the dog jumping on the couch beside me. Cute dog... maybe he bought the whole “I’m a great guitarist” line.
Wait... no... it’s trying to smell my balls.
I push it aside, and unlucky as I am, Megumi sees me pushing the dog and she gets mad at me as if I had been hitting it or trying to set it on fire.
“You!! Son of a bitch!”
“Me? Or the dog?”
She shakes me angrily and she takes the dog away hastily. You know what? I wasn’t so brusque in pushing the dog away from my balls as she was in snatching it away from the couch.
“Are you going to stay at home tonight?” She asks from the kitchen a few minutes later.
“I think so.” I shrug and turn the volume higher.
“OK.” I hear her whisper.
“If you had plans...” I venture.
“No, I’m fine. I was planning to stay here too.”
“Good, then. Are you going to cook something?”
“I’ve already cooked something.”
“Oh!” I turn my head smiling. It’s always a great time to eat for me.
“You can find it in the refrigerator.” She snaps.
I really think I gotta have a conversation with her. A serious one. I’m planning to tell her that if she’s not happy with me, she doesn’t have to stay. I’m planning to tell her that we can remain friends, and that maybe we shouldn’t have gone over the friends’ border, because we are obviously a very dysfunctional married couple. I hold on to the remote for dear life and I get up from the couch in a very decisive manner.
I gather all my manly strength and demeanor, and I walk intently towards her in the kitchen.

The scene there just kills me.
She’s crouching by the dog... caressing its back and softly speaking to it while it eats.
I keep holding on to the remote.

“You know, Hideto?” She starts, and breaks my concentration... just when I was trying to rephrase the speech I was gonna give. “...this financial crisis... it arrives at such a bad time...”
“There is no good time for a financial crisis...” I venture my two cents of wisdom for this year.
“I know... but there are times when a financial crisis can strike you harder. It will always be bad... what I mean is, sometimes it is just worse than bad.”
“Ah... yes...” I nod.
“We can’t raise a baby in poverty...” She adds, and I almost fall back on my butt. I hope she’s talking about the dog.
“What?!”
“I’m going to be thirty soon... I can’t keep waiting until you decide to grow up and have a child.”
“Megumi... please, this is not the right time or...”
“When is the right time, ne? When we are over fifty? It’s easier for you...”
I’m speechless.
A minute later I manage to weave up some words into a sentence. “You agreed to it when I told you I didn’t want children right away...”
“We’ve been married for two years now, Hideto...”
“Uh...”
“Sufficient time has gone by.”
“Well...”
“I don’t want to keep waiting.”
My cell-phone rings quite timely.
“We’ll discuss this later, OK? I promise... just not now.” I mutter and I turn around to leave the kitchen hastily. As fast as I can... man, I gotta run away from that place...
“Moshi, moshi?”
“Takarai-san... You have a client.”

I tell you... if I don’t die from a heart attack today, I think I’ll make it to 100.

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