The Heron Catchers by David Joiner

Author:David Joiner
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Stone Bridge Press

The quote resonated with Sedge in a way that had nothing to do with the man in the photo, who looked so much like Riku, but with himself. He had felt hopelessly alone after Nozomi left, even after Takahashi and Yuki had opened their ryokan to him. Mariko, however, had extended all of herself to him, pulled him into her life, and saved him. Was it love that had made her do this?

Feeling a deeper gratitude toward her, he returned to his room.

Fifteen minutes later someone knocked on his door. A newly hired staff member—someone he’d never had the chance to teach, and therefore whose name he’d never learned—handed him a thick envelope and said it was from Ms. Yuki. When the young man left, Sedge emptied out the envelope’s contents.

A thin stack of ten-thousand-yen notes wrapped in traditional Japanese paper fell onto the table. A short message was written in Yuki’s hand: “Despite our original agreement, we always intended to pay you for your teaching. We hope this comes in handy.”

Was this their way of apologizing? Or, at the least, of trying to make amends? Or were they still trying to ensure that he wouldn’t turn on them if given the chance? Whatever the case, it was clearly a final gesture.

There were fifteen bills in all. The amount would have covered one month’s rent at the apartment he and Nozomi shared in Kanazawa. In Yamanaka Onsen it might cover five. At Mariko’s house, where he would stay for free, it would cover whatever she asked him to pay for the expenses he incurred by living there.

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