Chapter One: Melina
The sleeper train from Osaka to Sapporo pulled out of Kanazawa station. Melina returned to her newspaper, content that no new passengers had boarded; she was enjoying the solitude of the near-empty salon car.
It had been Melina's idea to take the night sleeper to her next assignment. During her 11 months in Japan, Melina had spent almost all of her time in high-rise offices when she wasn't in a tiny furnished apartment. Since she had a week off before her next assignment, she wanted to relax and finally be a tourist.
The Osaka office manager had tried to talk her out of it, explaining that the bullet train would get her to her destination quickly while the sleeper would take 21 hours. But Melina insisted, explaining that she hadn't yet had a chance to see rural Japan - which was true - and that the slower train service would be more enjoyable. "It won't all go by in a blur, like with the
shinkansen
," she said.
And the sleeper trains' names themselves appealed to her in a kitschy way:
Cassiopeia. Sunrise Seto. Moonlight Nagara. Dream Nichirin
. She was traveling on the
Twilight Express
, the Osaka-Sapporo service. The Japan Railways brochure had featured photographs of the
Twilight Express'
interiors, and the rich wood paneling and brass fixtures had reminded her of the
Orient Express
.
Melina was traveling to Sapporo to set up her company's third new in-house research department, a cost-cutting measure that had also proved to provide advisors with more accurate data. She worked for a global investment firm that had expanded into Japan during the mid-1990s during Asia's economic crisis. The VP who had recruited her had described the expansion by paraphrasing Rothschild: "When the streets run with blood, we expand."
Although she was the only researcher fluent in Japanese, she was also one of the youngest, not quite 29 years old. She had hardly been able to believe her luck when she was chosen for the overseas assignment. But the reviews from Tokyo were even better than she had hoped. The local staff admired her near-perfect Japanese and her respect for local etiquette as much as her research skills. She wasn't like other foreigners who were appalled that the entire world didn't speak English.
After almost a year in Tokyo and Osaka, she was headed north for the third and final department setup. Her assistant Yoko was already there and was setting up the computer servers.
Melina picked up her newspaper again, hoping to find a sudoku puzzle or even a New York Times crossword. But suddenly she had company. A tall Japanese executive - well dressed but a bit intimidating - had taken the next table and was looking directly at her. She looked up at him, nodded politely, went back to her newspaper.
Chapter Two: Shinichi
He looked at his watch. Shinichi's station was just over two hours away, but he was determined to not fall victim to
karoshi
, death from overwork. He decided to have a drink in the salon car. He turned off his laptop, gathered up his overcoat and briefcase, and made his way through the narrow corridor past the sleeper cars. Since the tourist season was over and it was mid-week, all but one of the sleepers were unoccupied.
When he arrived at the salon car, Shinichi could not believe his luck.
At first he found it hard to believe that the lone foreigner at the last table was the same one he'd first seen over a month ago. She was dressed in a knee-length skirt and silk blouse, with her dark red hair loose around her shoulders. But she looked up at him, and her clear green eyes confirmed her identity. She half-rose, nodded politely and sat down, tucking her pleated skirt under her thighs carefully. He sat down at the next table, slowly exhaled. Forgetting all sense of decorum, he watched her slowly turn the pages of her newspaper.
Shinichi had first seen the red-haired
gaijin
several weeks ago at a cocktail party in Osaka. The party had been held in the luxury hotel next to his office building.
His banker friend Hitoshi Miyahara had invited him earlier in the day after meeting him in the elevator. They were discussing the building's rent increases, plotting how they might minimize their own, when Shinichi first spotted the foreigner.
He had watched her from across the room as she politely bowed when introduced, presenting her business card in exchange for others' cards. She had been careful to dress conservatively in a dark blue skirt suit and white blouse. It was soon obvious that although she was young, she was remarkably well versed in local etiquette. She never made foreigners' mistakes like laughing loudly or insisting on shaking hands.
As he studied her, he realized that she wasn't a conventional beauty at all. She was fashionably thin but unfashionably pale. Her delicate mouth was not quite even; the lower lip fuller than the upper one. She had only partially succeeded in arranging her thick auburn hair in a loose French twist. But it didn't matter, didn't matter to him at all. He began wondering how he might be introduced.
Suddenly she looked directly at him from across the room, as if she had literally felt his gaze upon her. Her clear green eyes studied him for several seconds before she returned to her conversation.
Now Shinichi was determined to meet her. He began to think how he could ask Hitoshi to introduce him, as he was fairly sure she worked for his company. Simply walking up to her would be considered rude. But then a junior architect joined them, and it took Shinichi several minutes to escape.
Still trying to think of a businesslike lie that would result in an introduction, he looked up, searching for her in the crowd. She was gone.
Shinichi excused himself, walked quickly to the front door, looked around the hotel's plaza, searching the crowds of rush hour pedestrians. There was no sign of the foreigner. He stared at the pavement, angry with himself for missing the opportunity.
The next day he found himself at his drafting board, unable to concentrate on work. Instead he kept staring out of the window at the sidewalk below, half-hoping he would spot her among the pedestrians. Finally he closed the blinds.
During the next weeks, Shinichi kept telling himself that his attraction for the woman was nothing more than curiosity. He had never felt a particular desire for a foreigner. But he continued to think of strategies to find her while working at his drafting board or sitting in meetings.
Chapter Three: The Office Fantasy
When working late, Shinichi sometimes found himself fantasizing about seducing the young
gaijin
in the private domain of his office.
In his favorite scenario, she would visit his office after receiving a forged note from Hitoshi (the real author being the cunning Shinichi) asking her to visit him after work Friday to offer her professional assistance.
