The Passengers on the Hankyu Line

Takarazuka-Minamiguchi Station

Takarazuka-Minamiguchi is a run-down train station, in dire need of renovation.

Whereas its neighbouring stations on either side – Takarazuka and Sakasegawa, and for that matter all the other stations along the same line – have a bustling and lively vibe, Takarazuka-Minamiguchi seems to be the only one left behind in that wave of development.

There is a two-storey shopping mall that, up until some years ago, had still been sparsely populated by ramshackle shops, but after the few that were left had been evicted in advance of these renovation plans, no progress has been made.

The only attraction there is perhaps the Takarazuka Hotel. It’s said that, for fans of the Takarazuka Revue, an all-female musical theatre troupe, there’s an excellent chance of spotting one of their stars at this prestigious hotel.

As Shoko boarded the Nishi-Kita-bound train after it had slid into the platform, the clicking of her heels seemed to resonate intimidatingly. The train car wasn’t crowded but almost all the seats were taken, so, in her white dress, Shoko was hovering near the door. If she squeezed into one of the available seats, she would crease the skirt of her dress that had cost her a pretty yen.

Carelessly, she allowed a bag stamped with the emblem of the Takarazuka Hotel – no doubt containing a wedding favour – to drop by her feet. What did she care how fragile whatever was inside might be? After all, if she’d been happy to receive the favour, she wouldn’t have attended the occasion dressed all in white.

She would never forget the look on the bride’s face when she laid eyes on Shoko wearing what might as well have been a wedding dress. Yes, she would tuck that memory away in a corner of her heart.

White was the bride’s colour – guests knew better than to wear it. That was the most basic rule of the dress code for weddings. Shoko’s hair was even done up and adorned with white accessories. From the moment she arrived at the reception and signed the registry book, the other guests had been giving her looks and rolling their eyes.

She had to laugh, no?

Recalling the look on their faces, the corners of Shoko’s mouth turned up in a smile.

I can’t believe you’d do such a thing to me.

They had worked at the same company for five years. She had started to date the groom six months after they began working together. The company had sanctioned their relationship so they were publicly a couple, and once they were into their third year, everyone at the office had thought that it wouldn’t be long before Shoko and the groom got married.

The bride joined the company at the same time and had also been a friend. Past tense, of course – though there’s no way for Shoko to know just when that became so.

In contrast to Shoko with her striking features and brisk manner, the bride was a rather ordinary girl who seemed to have turned into an equally ordinary office worker.

They had been on the same team during training and the bride had become attached to Shoko, who was anything but shy and had made various friends and connections at the office. The bride was the quiet type who always seemed to stealthily insert herself into Shoko’s circle.

Why are you friends with the likes of her? You’re nothing like each other. Someone had once asked Shoko this, when the bride wasn’t around.

For the life of her, Shoko couldn’t recall why or how. During training, she had felt like the quiet-type bride was dependent on her, and then before Shoko knew it, she was already cosied up with her. Shoko didn’t find anything to dislike about being around her, and at work the bride neither sprinted ahead nor dragged anyone down, so they had remained friendly. Shoko hadn’t paid much attention to her, though the bride continued to stick close to Shoko.

Then, when Shoko started dating the groom, the bride must have heard about it through the grapevine, because she had asked Shoko, ‘You’re seeing X now?’

‘Yes, well,’ Shoko had replied, not wanting to publicize her personal life.

‘Why didn’t you tell me?’ the bride had asked, in a gently chiding tone.

‘We aren’t friends.’ Pressed to explain herself, for just a brief moment, Shoko had thought, Ugh, she’s so annoying.

In retrospect, that’s when Shoko ought to have distanced herself. But since they worked together and she did not want to spark any conflict, she had opted for prudence.

If only I had cut my ties back then … yet it was a waste of time to contemplate what was irreversible, so she wouldn’t bother thinking about it.

‘A curse?!’

She heard a woman in a nearby seat exclaim. Her tone of voice as well as the incongruity of the word made Shoko glance quickly over at the couple sitting there. They were both dressed casually but Shoko took them to be career types. What stood out about them was that they were both carrying bags that were full to bursting.

‘What gives you that idea?!’

‘Well, if you read it as the word for “life” …’

The young woman was consumed with curiosity, while the young man appeared to be more aware of his surroundings, so he had lowered his voice in an effort to mollify her. It worked quite well. Shoko could no longer hear their conversation from where she was standing.

A curse?

Shoko let out an involuntary snort.

Perhaps she too had engaged in a skirmish of sorts – using the white dress she was wearing to cast the spell of her own curse.

In the fifth year of their relationship, the subject of marriage increasingly came up in conversation. They both seemed to suffer from premarital anxiety – they argued more frequently and were often at odds with each other.

It won’t last, just hold out until the wedding, her married friend had advised, and Shoko had believed her.

However, that advice had been based upon the assumption that there wasn’t someone waiting in the wings, someone who would prey upon that premarital anxiety and use it to her own advantage.

He wasn’t a very good liar, and Shoko’s instincts told her that he was having an affair. Though since they were both going through a period of uncertainty, she had thought she’d be able to forgive him – whether he chose to confess or not.

But then, she had been gobsmacked to see that very same quiet type sitting beside him at the restaurant to which she had been summoned.

Her?

‘We should break up.’

Why were those words being directed at her? It made absolutely no sense.

‘You owe me an explanation.’

Shoko’s response was not meant for him but instead for the quiet type, who drew close to him, looking frightened.

In silence, he produced a pink notebook. It was a pregnancy planner – and it had the quiet type’s name on it.

Shoko was utterly speechless.

‘… you mean to say that you cheated on me while we were planning our wedding – and that you did it in the raw?!’

Shoko blurted out this vulgar phrase – there was no time to choose her words carefully – and the quiet type spoke up, in tears.

‘I’m sorry, it’s my fault. I was the one who said he didn’t need to use anything. I told him that, if I got pregnant, I’d have an abortion so it wouldn’t cause any trouble.’

And this fool, he’d believed what she said.

In that moment, it dawned on her, calmly and clearly. That the man she’d been with all this time, the man she’d thought she was going to marry, was this much of a witless chump.

‘So you just leapt at the offer, did you? Because she told you she’d get rid of it if she got pregnant. Do you have any idea how disgusting that makes you?’

Ugh, it was so awful. She was aware that the people around them were eavesdropping. How humiliating to be associated with such a sordid pair.

‘And what else’ve you got to say for yourself?’

Shoko gestured towards the quiet type with her chin. It was obvious to Shoko that she was fake-crying, but she managed to respond.

‘I’ve had feelings for X ever since I started working at the company … so when I realized that I was pregnant, it turned out … I said that I would raise the child on my own, he didn’t even have to acknowledge us.’

What a load of crap. You must have delivered that line to him, anticipating that he’d be taken in by it.

Though she didn’t know whether to be glad or sad that he could be taken in like that.

‘You’re strong, Shoko – I know you have what it takes to be on your own,’ he said.

Don’t feed me the lyrics to some tawdry pop song! If I can make it on my own, what have I been doing with you for the past five years? Why was I working through all that premarital anxiety with you then?

‘But now that she’s pregnant, and such a quiet type, the kind of woman who would make a good mother and good home … I could never be happy, being with you, pretending not to know that she was having my child.’

You’re a chump and a fool – do you really think a woman who claims to be my friend while seducing you is really such a quiet and marriageable type?

‘Besides, you’re not even crying, are you? Even when this happens to you. Here she is, crying her eyes out, and all you do is get angry and allot blame, right? If you were a bit more sympathetic …’

‘I’d stop there if I were you. You’re only making yourself out to be even more disgusting and you’ll ruin your chances with her too.’

Shoko’s warning seemed to land, because he shut up.

Was he really implying that if she were more congenial, he’d have chosen her? That he wouldn’t have hesitated to insist that the quiet type have an abortion?

Enough.

‘I’ll allow you to break our engagement on one condition. And if you don’t comply with it, I’ll sue you for breach of promise.’

They’d been together for five years and had been planning their wedding for months. She was well aware of his financial position, that on top of a shotgun wedding he couldn’t afford to be hit with a breach of promise and have to pay compensation.

The two of them gulped in anticipation of what Shoko’s condition would be.

‘You must invite me to the wedding.’

The quiet type, she was a romantic dreamer. Of course there would be a wedding, in one form or another.

Only now did she look like she was going to cry for real. Which made it all the more obvious that her tears shed previously had been a façade.

When the new couple made the rounds at their company to announce their impending marriage, they were met with uniformly dubious looks from the heads of every department – that was because each of them had already heard about it through Shoko’s network. In other words, the backstory of the quiet type sleeping with Shoko’s fiancé and getting pregnant, and of him then leaving Shoko had spread through the office.

All Shoko had to do was maintain a tragic but brave face as she went about her daily tasks – that was enough for the couple’s stock to plummet. Shoko had always had a stellar reputation at work, so the bosses’ sympathies were with her.

That slippery woman who glued herself to me like a sharksucker fish only to steal away my soon-to-be husband, and the fool who’d fallen for it hook, line and sinker: don’t think the two of you will just live happily ever after.

Apparently they were making it seem as though the wedding would be a modest gathering, only for their inner circle. Shoko heard that one of their superiors had made the blatantly snide remark, ‘I had been looking forward to attending your wedding, but not so much now that the players have changed.’

The wedding day arrived.

It was an intimate ceremony, with only family and the couple’s close friends, and Shoko was indeed invited as a ‘friend of the bride’.

From the moment she walked in, Shoko’s white dress, whose design could easily be taken for a minimalist wedding gown itself, caused a stir at the reception.

It was a rather tepid event. None of Shoko’s acquaintances had been invited. Naturally, she and the groom shared mutual friends but, thinking ahead and for the sake of appearances, it seemed he had only invited second-tier acquaintances whom Shoko had never met. It was their misfortune to have to bear the brunt of the celebration.

The bride’s guests did not seem to be very close friends of hers either. At work she had disappeared into the crowd by attaching herself to Shoko. Presumably she had done the same during her school years as well.

‘That’s some dress!’

The compliment was given with a curious look at which Shoko beamed a smile.

‘The bride slept with my man and got herself knocked up, so as the former fiancée, I think I deserve a bit of spitefulness, wouldn’t you say?’

Judging by the gleeful squeals of the women at her table, it seemed unlikely that any of them considered the bride a friend.

Never was she gladder to have been gifted with natural beauty than when the bridal couple made their entrance and began to circulate to each table.

Even aided by the talents of a professional makeup artist, the bride was no match for Shoko. And had Shoko been wearing a fancier dress, the disparity would have been more extreme.

The bride’s face contorted wildly. She looked back at the groom with an expression like a Shinto demon, and Shoko knew that she was checking to see where the groom’s eyes were at that moment.

And there was no question—

In that instant, the groom was looking at Shoko. At the one who could have been his forever, had he not fallen into the trap laid by the woman he had just married.

‘I hope you have a wonderful life together.’

Shoko bowed, while the women at her table chimed in with a light-hearted, ‘Congratulations!’

When it was time for the photographer to snap the guests with the bridal couple, the bride’s voice rang out sharply.

‘Not this table! No photos, please!’

Whaat? Don’t be mean! What did we do? You’re the one who invited us so here we are!

The women at her table played their parts, each of their comments a pinprick stab at the bride. Whether they were uncouth to begin with or whether they had guessed the situation and were siding with Shoko, either was fine by her.

Shoko herself had come here today knowing full well that the couple would consider her behaviour very unladylike.

The MC began to relay an anecdote about why the bride had chosen this hotel – her parents’ wedding had taken place here and she’d wanted her own to be held here too – which may have been meant as a charming story, though it made the earlier scene all the more satisfying for Shoko.

As the lights dimmed for a slideshow, a staff member from the venue approached Shoko from the shadows. ‘Excuse me,’ she said, holding out a black shawl. ‘The bride feels that your outfit is too dramatic, and wonders if you would consider wearing this around your shoulders.’

‘Very well.’

Now was her moment. Shoko stood up quietly.

‘Please excuse the interruption. I’m afraid I have to leave, please show me the way out.’

Without asking for any further clarification, the staff member immediately guided Shoko to the exit.

Having brought Shoko outside, under the cover of darkness, the staff member offered her a bag with the wedding favour inside. Shoko tried to refuse it but the staff member bowed politely.

‘I would be reprimanded for failing to give this to you, so I humbly request that you accept it.’

The staff member must have guessed the gist of the situation, whether by intuition or from experience. Shoko reluctantly accepted the bag and made her way to the station.

The announcement for Sakasegawa rang out, and the young woman who had been sitting beside the young man stood up.

‘The next time we meet, we should have a drink. I prefer beer in a glass mug, rather than in a can.’

The guy looked doubtful.

‘The central library. You go there a lot, don’t you? So then, next time we meet.’

And with a spring in her step, she alighted from the train—

There was a moment of indecision. Then he leapt off the train and rushed after her, bounding up the staircase.

Apparently they weren’t a couple, yet.

Too bad, Shoko murmured softly.

The start of new love, always a pleasure to see – but the timing was cruel.

She began to feel sullied by the curse she may have cast over the bridal couple’s happiness. The groom’s reputation was already substantially diminished within the company, but it would be almost impossible for him to change jobs in this recession, while the bride didn’t have the luxury to be able to just quit, even though her female colleagues were giving her the cold shoulder at the office.

Gossip may last seventy-five days, as the saying goes, but so long as Shoko still worked there – the ever-present victim of their shocking behaviour – the scandal would never go away.

She would never quit. To do so would make it too easy on them. This determination was warping her, she knew that, but the logical advice that there was no use holding a grudge or putting a curse on them didn’t ease Shoko’s mind either.

One thing she was sure of: to quit now would only mean accepting defeat. And so, at the very least, she would hold out until the quiet type took her maternity leave (she was also the type who probably wouldn’t come back to work anyway).

An older woman and a young girl came in from the next car, in search of empty seats, and the young girl pointed at Shoko, exclaiming happily, ‘A bride!’

In that instant, tears spilled down Shoko’s cheeks.

That’s right, I wanted to be a bride, alongside the man I’d been with for five years. Our love wasn’t born from inertia and compromise. It was like that young man who just leapt off the train and the young woman he was chasing after. My ex may have been a bit unreliable but he was kind and I loved him. I thought his jitters were only temporary, while we were planning our wedding, but ultimately his unreliability is what ruined us.

I never wanted things to end like this, with my illusions about him completely shattered by that conniving woman. Because when she plotted to marry him, she didn’t just steal him away from me, she trampled upon and ruined the five years I had with him. I was so wounded, it felt all I could do was simply hand him over.

I’m no bride, young lady.

I dressed up like a bride in this white dress so that I could put a curse on their life together.