Light and dark

[146]

“I ASSUMED you’d rather not run into Kobayashi. So as soon as I learned he was coming, I wrote you.”

When it appeared that O-Nobu was still unsatisfied, Tsuda had no choice but to amplify his attempt to reassure her.

“Even if you wouldn’t have minded, I would. Allowing a scoundrel like that to see you again. Besides, he was here on a nasty errand I didn’t want you to know about.”

“Something I couldn’t be allowed to hear? So there’s a secret between you?”

“It’s nothing like that,” Tsuda said and, observing O-Nobu’s small eyes fixed on him with a vigilance that would allow nothing to escape unnoticed, hastened to add, “He was here begging for money again, that’s all.”

“And why couldn’t I have heard that?”

“It’s not that you couldn’t. I’m saying I didn’t want you to.”

“So warning me was just being considerate?”

“You could say that—”

The small eyes that had been trained on Tsuda narrowed further even as a faint laugh escaped O-Nobu’s lips.

“How fortunate for me.”

Tsuda was losing his composure, and with it the control he needed to avoid speaking imprudently.

“But wouldn’t you have hated running into him anyway?”

“Not in the least.”

“You’re lying.”

“What makes you say so?”

“Because I heard that Kobayashi told you some things.”

“And?”

“And nothing. I’m saying you’d hate seeing him because of that.”

“Do you have any idea what I heard from Kobayashi-san?”

“I don’t. But since it’s him we’re talking about, it can’t have been anything pleasant. What the devil did he say?”

Choking back the words that had risen to her throat, O-Nobu turned the question around.

“What did Kobayashi-san tell you he said?”

“He told me nothing.”

“Now that’s a lie. You’re hiding something.”

“I think you’re the one who’s hiding. I think Kobayashi fed you some nonsense and you took him at his word.”

“Maybe I am. When you conceal things from me, what choice do I have?”

Tsuda was silent. So was O-Nobu. Each waited for the other to speak. But O-Nobu’s forbearance gave out before Tsuda’s. Her voice was sharp.

“Lies! Everything you say is lies! Kobayashi-san coming here meant nothing, but you cook up a story about it to deceive me.”

“Cook up a story? Why would I go to the trouble when I have nothing to gain?”

“But you do. You make a fuss about Kobayashi so you can hide a visit from someone else.”

“Someone else? Who would that be?”

O-Nobu glanced at the maple bonsai in the recessed alcove.

“Who brought that, I wonder?”

Tsuda knew he had stumbled. He regretted not having made a clean breast of Madam Yoshikawa’s visit right away. Not having mentioned her was a conscious decision. It would have been easy enough to do, but he was afraid to reveal the nature of their discussion and had decided, though his conscience bothered him, that, in the end, discretion was the best policy. Turning to look at the bonsai, he was on the verge of mentioning Madam Yoshikawa’s name, but before he could speak O-Nobu preempted him.

“Yoshikawa-san’s wife was here, wasn’t she!”

Tsuda spoke without thinking.

“How did you know?”

“It’s so obvious.”

Tsuda had been watching O-Nobu carefully, and now he regained his courage.

“Yes, she came. So your prediction came true.”

“I even know that she took the streetcar.”

Another surprise for Tsuda. Other than imagining that a car was probably waiting for her on the main street, he had paid little attention to Madam’s choice of conveyance.

“Did you run into her somewhere?”

“No.”

“Then how do you know?”

Instead of replying, O-Nobu posed a question of her own.

“Why was she here?”

Tsuda replied off-handedly.

“I was just getting to that — but let’s be clear about one thing. Kobayashi was definitely here. He came first, and then she came. They arrived one after the other.”