Birthday: Short Stories by Koji Suzuki

Author:Koji Suzuki [Suzuki, Koji]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

"Did you call?" She was quite alluring in her stage clothes, up close.

Toyama remained silent and unsmiling. He hoped that his anger was showing through in his expression, but he had no idea what he really looked like to her. In any case, he was trying to look as out-of-sorts as he could, but Sadako just ignored it and crossed the room.

She unfolded a metal chair and sat down on it.

Toyama maintained his silence. Finally Sadako spoke, pretending to have noticed just now. "Hey, what are you so mad about?"

Of course she knew why he was angry: she had to know. It annoyed him that she was pretending not to, and he snapped.

"What the hell was that back there?"

Sadako raised an eyebrow. "Oh, that." She pursed her lips and laughed mischievously.

"Did you know I was watching when you did that to Mr. Shigemori?" They always called him Mister Shigemori, so Toyama called him that now, out of habit, but it didn't match his mood, so he made a show of muttering, "Shigemori, that bastard."

"Are you jealous?"

She was sitting on the edge of her seat, and now she put both hands on the chair and made a little move as if to get up.

"Jealous? I'm concerned for you, baby."

It was a lie, and a transparent one at that. He wasn't concerned for anyone but himself. All his rage sprang from a heart tortured by jealousy.

"Toyama, maybe you'd better not call me 'baby'."

Her tone was not harsh, but it was firm. Toyama was somewhat taken aback by this display of will on her part, and he had to bite his lip to keep from saying, "I'm sorry."

"No matter how much you cozy up to Shigemori, I just don't think it's going to help you in the future. If you have a dream you've got to reach out and take it on your own."

Reach out and. take it... What a cliché—Toyama was disgusted with himself for uttering something straight out of a teen soap opera.

"A dream? Toyama, do you know what my dream is?"

"To become a great actress, right?"

Sadako brought a hand to one cheek and gave a hard-to-define smile.

"How many people do you think would come see me if I made it as a stage actress?"

"You don't have to stick to the stage. There's TV, movies."

"What about that, that red light—see it?"

Sadako pointed to the cassette deck that was erasing Okubo's impressions. A tiny lamp glowed red, signifying that it was recording.

"The cassette deck?"

"It's so much smaller than a reel-to-reel. Looks really easy to record on, too."

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