Page 55 of Something Like Forever
“Mrs. Hashimoto. She had afamily emergency, but I’ll work just as hard to make sure you havea pleasant visit.”
“Thank you,” Tim said,unable to tear his eyes away, because there was something vaguelyfamiliar about this person. He wasn’t someone Tim knew well, butthey had definitely met before. He just couldn’t remember where.“Do you work for Marcello?”
“I had the pleasure ofassisting Maltese-sama on one of his recent trips here.”
That must be it. Mr.Tanaka was attractive enough, so Marcello had probably included himin some of the photos he brought back.
“We can start the drive toyour hotel now, if you are ready.”
Tim shook his head. “I still need to get myluggage.”
Mr. Tanaka leaned to the right to lookbehind him. “More than what you already have?”
Tim glanced over and sawhis suitcases. Then he laughed and lightly slapped his own cheeks.“Sorry, long flight. I’m a little dazed.”
“I understand how youfeel,” Mr. Tanaka said with a smile. “Let me take one of those foryou. Right this way, please.”
Tim followed him down morehallways, still trying to place the face. Most of the photosMarcello had shown him were of the new gallery and selfie studio.They weren’t his typical vacation photos, which tended to be filledwith cabana boys and debonair dandies. He supposed that Mr. Tanakacould have been in some of the work photos by coincidence. Or maybehe merely looked like someone from television. What was the name ofthat one actor, the cute one who started in the sitcom aboutaliens? Joseph Gordon-Levitt! Maybe that’s who Tim was thinkingof.
Or maybe he was justtired. Tim followed his guide in a fog. He had only managed to geta few hours of sleep during the flight, and the time difference hadhim confused. The local clocks said it was five in the afternoon,but his body insisted he should be in bed. Some mental arithmeticrevealed that it was three in the morning back home. Despitefeeling like he never wanted to sit again, he was relieved whenthey reached Mr. Tanaka’s vehicle—a black Mazda CX-5—since he couldthrow his luggage in the back and no longer had to worry aboutdodging other frenzied travelers. All he needed to do was relax inthe passenger seat and let his guide stress about where they weregoing and how.
“So will Mrs. Hashi… Willthe woman I was supposed to meet be back to translate forme?”
“I’ll be taking care ofyour translation needs,” Mr. Tanaka said, expression concerned. “Ihope that’s okay.”
“Yeah! Totally. Justtrying to get a feel for how everything will work.” He lookedoutside the window, relieved to see that it wasn’t so differentfrom home. Most of the signs were written in kanji that he couldn’tread. He had tried studying Japanese before leaving, but the triphad been on such short notice, and after a few unsuccessfulattempts, Tim had decided he only had enough room in his head fortwo languages. “How long until we reach Tokyo?”
“About an hour. It’s goodyou didn’t arrive on a weekday. Traffic shouldn’t be toobad.”
“What day is it again?”Tim asked.
Mr. Tanaka laughedpleasantly. “Sunday. I know it’s confusing. Give yourself a fewdays and you’ll adjust.”
He hoped so. Tim stared out the window alittle longer, enjoying how weird it felt to be driving on thewrong side of the road. Then he turned his attention to his phone,wanting to text Ben. He had a signal, but he kept getting a popupmessage that he couldn’t read. “Any trick to using a cell phonehere?”
“Did you sign up for aninternational plan?”
“Yeah, before I left. Idon’t think it’s working.”
“I’d be happy to help youwith that once we reach the hotel, Wyman-sama.”
God that sounded strange,but he had read a little about it. The Japanese had differentsuffixes,sama,san,chan, and others thatindicated respect or affection. If he remembered right,samawas way up there interms of status, but he still didn’t understand when to use what.“Should I be calling you Tanaka-sama? I don’t really get therules.”
“No, save that for yoursuperiors or customers. If you’d like, you can call meTanaka-kun.”
Great! Another syllablefor an unusual name. Practice makes perfect though. “I hope you’repatient, Tanaka-kun, because I’m totally lost.”
“That’s what I’m here for.When we’re not together, you’ll have my number and can call me foranything. Even if you’re just out shopping or need help ordering ata restaurant.”
“That’s awesome!” Timsaid, hoping the offer wasn’t a polite one, because he would needfrequent help. The first order of business was to get his phoneworking. He had promised Ben to send a text once he had arrivedsafely. Despite it being early there, he could imagine Ben stayingup just to hear from him, or at the very least, sleeping next tohis phone. Tim messed with it a little longer, and when his eyesburned from the effort, he leaned the seat back and closed them. Hedrifted off briefly, or maybe longer than he thought, because whenhe sat upright again, the scenery had changed. The street they weredriving down was lined with buildings ten stories or higher. Withany city came the chaos of trying to keep it running. Trucksstruggled to make deliveries, pedestrians swarmed the crosswalks,and an ambulance breezed past them on its way to an emergency.Construction and repairs hampered all of this.
“Nearly there,” Mr. Tanakasaid.
Tim rubbed his eyes andtried to shake the grogginess. Despite how tired he was, he yearnedto get out and explore on foot. The world outside the car windowwas new and exciting. Aside from a few corporate giants that wereimpossible to escape, such as McDonald’s, he didn’t have a clue asto what hid behind the storefronts. He wondered how patient hisguide would be about shopping, because Tim was bound to get lost.He couldn’t even read street signs!
“Where are weexactly?”
“Shinjuku,” Mr. Tanakasaid. “That’s your hotel ahead.”
