Light and dark

[188]

TSUDA DIDN’T reach for the apple she had peeled for him.

“Help yourself. After all, Madam Yoshikawa sent this along especially for you.”

“And you came all this way to bring it to me. Not having any would feel like ignoring your kindness.”

Kiyoko took a piece of the apple from the plate between them. But before she lifted it to her mouth, she spoke again.

“But it’s odd when I think about it; how in the world could this have happened?

“What?”

“I wasn’t expecting a gift from Mrs. Yoshikawa. And I certainly wasn’t expecting you to deliver it to me.”

Of course you weren’t. Even if I hadn’t thought of it.

Kiyoko peered intently at Tsuda’s face and her eyes were lit with her anticipation of a clear answer. He recalled special memories of that light.

Aah, I know those eyes.

Scenes from the past endlessly repeated between them appeared vividly before Tsuda’s eyes. In those days Kiyoko had believed in a man whose name was Tsuda. She had looked to him for all her knowledge. And for the resolution of all her doubts. Lifting her unknown future in her hands, she appeared to place it at his disposal. That explained the quietness in her eyes even when they moved. The light of trust and of peace shone in her questions to him. He had had the feeling he had been born with the unique right to be illuminated by that light. It had even occurred to him that those eyes of hers existed because he was there.

In the end they had separated. And now they had met again. Feeling as though he had been given to see that Kiyoko’s eyes since she had left him were after all the same eyes as he had known in the past, albeit in a different sense, he had been deeply moved.

That’s what’s beautiful about you. But must your beauty serve now only to break my heart? Speak to me!

Tsuda’s uncertainties and Kiyoko’s met briefly in the look they exchanged; Kiyoko was the first to avert her eyes. Tsuda, observing the manner in which she withdrew, recognized a different degree of eagerness between them. Kiyoko made no effort to advance. Looking elsewhere as if she were indifferent, she rested her gaze on the chrysanthemums arranged in a vase on the shelf in the alcove.

Since her eyes had fled, Tsuda was obliged to pursue her with words.

“I trust you’re not thinking the only reason I’m here is on an errand for Madam Yoshikawa.”

“Of course not, and that’s what’s odd.”

“There’s nothing odd about it! I was planning to come down independently when I met her and she told me you were already here, and that’s when she asked me to bring a gift for you.”

“I see. That’s how it must have been — otherwise it’s odd no matter how you think about it.”

“You keep saying odd, but things do happen accidentally in life. Maybe not in your—”

“But I’m not thinking it’s odd anymore. Everything has a reason, and once you hear it, it makes sense.”

Tsuda was on the verge of saying That’s why I’m here myself, to learn the reason. But Kiyoko, who appeared unconcerned with the past, asked an honest question.

“Are you convalescing?”

In just a few words, Tsuda described the course of his illness. Kiyoko spoke.

“How fortunate for you, Yoshio-san, that you can arrange to be away from the company at a time like that. If only Seki could be so lucky; he slaves away from morning to night.”

“Seki-kun gets carried away, so it can’t be helped.”

“That isn’t kind. And it isn’t true!”

“I didn’t mean carried away in a bad way. I meant he’s industrious.”

“Always the smooth talker!”

At that moment footsteps could be heard hastening up the stairs; about to say something, Tsuda thought better of it and decided to observe in silence. The maid who peeked into the room was different from the one before.

“The guests from Yokohama told me to ask Madam if she would like to come for a walk to the falls with them around noon.”

“Certainly.”

Registering Kiyoko’s reply, the maid stood up, glanced at Tsuda, and asked, “Won’t you come along?”

“Thank you. By the way, is it lunchtime?”

“It is — I’ll be bringing lunch right away.”

“Time flies.”

Tsuda forced himself to stand.

“Kiyoko-san—” He had intended to address her as Mrs. Seki, but the words had somehow eluded him. “—how long will you be staying?”

“I have no plans. I could receive a telegram from home and have to leave today.”

Tsuda was surprised.

“Could that happen?”

“There’s no telling—”

Kiyoko smiled. On the way back to his room, Tsuda attempted alone with himself to explain the meaning of her smile.

UNFINISHED