Free Water Lily by Susanna Jones Page A

with something warm, as if she wanted to burst into tears, but it wasn’t quite that. She wanted to
     run around, faster than she knew she could, jump into boiling or freezing water. She put her glass into Jun’s hand, let him
     sip her whisky. She was pushing herself to go too far, so that it would be too late to stop.
    He was not bowing, not stammering or using honorific language when he addressed her. He was showing none of the respect he
     should, and she liked it. It was so natural; she saw no hint that he was acting. It was the other boy she knew, the one in
     the navy uniform behind the rickety wooden desk, who was the pretender. Jun handed her the glass with a drop of whisky left.
     She dipped her finger in, licked it.
    She should never have said anything. She should have pre-tended not to see him and left quickly, but he was watching her,
     his lips parted, waiting for her to say what would happen next.
    Jun Ikeda went home by bus and Runa by taxi. They arrived near the school at the same time though. No one was there to see
     them. Jun lifted Runa over the gate to the teachers’ apartments that was shut every night at midnight. The black metal was
     slightly damp from rain that she hadn’t realized had fallen. As her feet touched the concrete on the other side, she felt
     the thread of a spider’s web across her face.
    They didn’t kiss. She didn’t want to kiss him. It was enough that they had been together. In fact, she found Kawasaki that
     night and slept with him instead. She crept into his apartment when she knew he would be in a deep sleep and curled up next
     to him in his bed. In the morning she woke early and disappeared.
    She thought that it had ended and did not feel any urge to kiss Jun Ikeda until the following afternoon when she saw him at
     school. He was there in the corridor, in his uniform, school bag over his arm, laughing happily with friends about some-thing
     stupid a teacher had said. His white teeth flashed, unintentionally, in her direction. She walked right past and didn’t look
     back. For the rest of the day she thought of nothing but Jun, and in her bed she missed him as if they’d been sleeping together
     for months.
    A day or two later Jun came to see Runa with a question about English grammar. He had written out some English sentences and
     wanted to know if they were correct. Underneath he had written, in English,
Tonight in Octopus?
She took a red pen and wrote on it. “
The Octopus
,” she said, as she rested her pen on the desk. “Don’t forget the definite article. But apart from that, the answer is yes,
     it’s fine.”
    Runa stood in front of it now. The Octopus karaoke place was a strange, angular building. Runa had never understood why it
     was called the Octopus. There was no picture of one above the door, no hint of anything octopus-like in the decor. The building’s
     exterior was a mix of drab and gaudy. The walls were grey and the door was shabby and brown. A string of pink lights flashed
     around the door frame. Some bulbs were missing so the effect was of a gap-toothed smile. The windows were small and dirty.
     Runa looked and listened. It must be past closing time but the lights were on and a few people were moving around inside.
     Sometimes it seemed to stay open all night, serving drinks, letting people sing themselves hoarse. Out here the police didn’t
     bother to check what was going on. But she’d heard that business was dwindling and it was to be shut down, replaced by a brand
     new
pachinko
parlor.
    Runa was glad that it would soon cease to exist but wanted to find the owner. She had to talk to him. She pushed open the
     door and looked around. There was no one behind the desk so she called,
excuse me
, and paced around noisily. She peered into the room where all of this began. It was the smallest of the rooms, big enough
     only for three or four people. Tonight it was empty.
    The intercoms were often broken, so when you ordered drinks you