Rhapsody in Red

Chapter 22

When they left the Metro station it rained copiously; in fact the rain had been anticipated by the weather forecast but for midnight so they had not carried umbrellas and had no choice but to run the three blocks that separated the station from the building on Hicks Street. When they entered the apartment they were soaked and Aiko shivered from the cold. They barely had enough towels to dry their heads and had to change completely their clothes and hang them to drip in the bathroom. Both Leandro´s pants and sweater were enormous for the girl so that they had to turn up cuffs and sleeves and the result provoked them an access of laughter. The rain had cut off their plan to buy food as they passed by a delivery so Leandro had to order it by phone.

"Do you know if there is a surcharge for shipments on a rainy day? " asked the young man.

"Do not be stingy. Anyway, we have no choice if we want to eat."

"I'm going to make tea."

While waiting for the delivery Aiko took her cell phone and called her uncle to inform them that due to the storm she would stay that night at her boyfriend's house in Brooklyn Heights. As the conversation took place in Japanese Leandro looked at the girl with curiosity and when she finished he asked.

" Well, how was his reaction?

" He did not say anything to me but I suppose that they are not too happy with the fact that I do not go home tonight and  remain in a man´s apartment instead."

"But I'm not just a man. You have already explained to them about our relationship."

"Yes, but every time I give another signal of freedom they find it shocking."

At that moment the door bell rang. The young man left the apartment with his wallet in his hand and after a few moments returned with a package of trays that emanated an appetizing aroma.

" They charged you extra charge as you feared?"

"No, they didn´t."

" I hope you have given a tip to the boy of the delivery?"

"Of course. What do you think I am?"

"I do not think anything, I know for sure. Now, do you need to heat up the food?"

"I don´t think so." Leandro opened the first of the trays." But let's hurry to eat it while it´s warm."

"I'm hungry and I need something hot."

 They both sat down at the small kitchen table and put on it the few cutlery that the boy had at home.

"Chinese food for a Japanese girlfriend." Said Leandro.

" Do you miss the Argentine food?"

"Yes of course. The Sunday roasts and the noodles on Thursday. You have to make me some Japanese food, I know you're a good cook."

Before going to bed, they sat down in front of the television they had set with the volume low so that it did not interfere with their conversation; in this way the screen soon became simply a luminous object in the partially dark living room. The conversation took several turns until Leandro expressed something that had been gnawing inside him. They were sitting in a two-seater armchair, with their bodies very close and the young man had put his arm around her shoulders.

"I know very well what you do when you're playing in the restaurant, because we've been together there and I remember you from the hotel in Buenos Aires. But I have no idea of your activities when you are in the Fuji Association."

"Mount Fuji." corrected the woman."But I have already introduced you to Messrs. Matsumoto and Yoshida, they are my bosses and I am almost all the time with them and with Mrs. Yamaguchi, of whom I have also spoken to you."

"In the dinner with your bosses ..." Leandro avoided referring to them by their names for fear of pronouncing them wrong. "... they tried to find out all kinds of details about my life and personality in a sort of courteous interrogation, but they took great care not to talk about what you and they do. What I am asking is that you tell me what you are doing."

Actually Aiko had been prepared for this question for quite some time. She knew her boyfriend and knew that he was an intelligent and realistic young man and the fact that he realized what the true purpose of the dinner with Matsumoto and Yoshida had been confirmed it. The woman was willing to tell what was her role in the association but not to disclose the nature of the concrete investigation in which she was participating, not because she doubted about Leandro´s loyalty but because of the possibility of involuntary leaks that could occur over time.

In order to put physical distance and send a signal of objectivity Aiko got up from the armchair that was sharing with Leandro and sat in another facing it.

" Well." She started." This is what I can tell you ..."

The woman kept talking for a quarter of an hour without being interrupted; at all times she was looking for the exact words to strictly say the truth on the one hand and not reveal inconvenient data on the other, which involved transiting discursively a narrow path. When she reached the end of what she had planned to tell, there was silence. Aiko looked at the man and saw that his eyes were fixed on the ground. The girl tried to scrutinize his face and his gestural signals to understand his reaction and at least she could realize that there was no pain or anger but rather perplexity and bewilderment. Aiko thought it was a logical reaction given the nature of what she had narrated. The girl remained silent waiting for questions. Finally Leandro looked up from the carpet and put his eyes on her.

"So my girlfriend, whom I always considered a virtuosa of the piano, is being trained as what in the movies they call an undercover agent." The young man looked at Aiko as if expecting a reaction from her, which did not occur, so he followed.

"And the people with whom you work, beyond the mask of a cultural association, belong not a simple network of citizens who only collect information about activities hostile to Japan, as your boss explained to me, but they are actually part of a branch of Japanese secret services, whatever they are called. I mean, you're a spy from Japan."

The tone of the last sentence had been emphatic, like the first sign of anger. Aiko did not get discouraged and replied.

" It's my country."

"Well, well, I understand that. I am not against loyalty, on the contrary." It was obvious that he was ordering his thoughts.

"What worries me ... is how far away that loyalty can take you and if the path you have chosen will exclude me in the future."

Leandro had touched a sensitive spot on which the girl had not meditated and had no ready answer for. Her response was not cold as it had been before but visceral. She sat down next to Leandro and took his face in her hands; distance and objectivity gave way to emotions, which was a more favorable ground for a lover from a Latin culture than for a Japanese girl.

"I'm never going to leave you! " Aiko's voice sounded vibrant and no doubt came from the innermost fibers of her being." You are my true and definitive homeland, and it is with you that I want to spend my life."

The confession found Leandro unprepared; in fact the young man had been overwhelmed throughout the meeting by unexpected revelations beyond his immediate processing capacity.  Unexpectedly his mood went from depressive to euphoric, in reality without foundation in tangible facts but having made contact with Aiko´s deep feelings opened a panorama that he had not seen before, as if a ray of sunlight illuminated the New York grey autumn. With no further words the young couple embraced while tears rolled down the cheeks of the woman, who had also been surprised by the affections that she had repressed inside her and that had now come to light.

Arriving on Monday at the headquarters of the Mount Fuji Association the girl was already prepared for a meeting in the situation room where all the communication devices were monitored. The usual group members, Matsumoto, Yoshida, Yamaguchi, Watanabe and Kato were already present. The latter had already prepared a selection of the material filmed in the restaurant during the previous week and when Aiko arrived he began projecting it.

"The scenes of the entry of the characters in the establishment are clear." He began his explanation." And also the visual part inside the owners' office."

The video clearly showed indeed the entrance of Kang and later that of Nakajima in the restaurant and then in the office, each accompanied by the subservient Suzuki. When the first two were left alone in the owners' area, the only sound that could be heard was a strange unpleasant buzzing that after a few seconds was unbearable for the audience.

" Is the origin of that noise intentional? " The director asked. " Or is it due to some malfunction of the recording equipment?"

"The sound of the camera works perfectly as you can hear yourselves." answered Kato while connecting another monitor that reproduced the deserted interior of the restaurant's office in real time. "So it can only be inferred that when Kang entered the compound he carried some interference equipment or that the office was already equipped with that device and it was put into action when Kang and Nakajima met."

After the disappointment suffered by the failure of a recording in which they had placed so many expectations all were momentarily silent.

"We have lost a unique opportunity to know what these two characters are plotting." said sadly Matsumoto. "Who knows if they will ever meet again in the restaurant that we already have wired and when?"

"With the addition that if they do it again they will activate the interference device again." added Mrs.Yamaguchi.

" Do we have to conclude that they are already aware that we are following their steps? " asked Shinzo Watanabe.

"Don't jump to conclusions too fast." answered the instructor." If that was the case they would have totally canceled the meeting or they would have done it in another place."

Aiko, who had not spoken during the entire course of the screening, suddenly said.

"It may not all be lost."

" What do you mean?" replied skeptically Matsumoto.

"The cameras have captured the faces of Kang and Nakajima for most of the time, and there are two cameras placed one in front of the other so that they were recording the scene almost permanently.

" Lip reading techniques for deaf people! " Yoshida had jumped out of his chair as he caught the meaning of Aiko's sentence. He took two steps and kissed the girl on the forehead in an absolutely inappropriate gesture that was not reproached by the rest of the audience, whose faces exhibited  the rebirth of optimism.

"We cannot process this material here! " Exclaimed vibrant Matsumoto." We must send it to Tokyo urgently. They have not only people prepared for this task but also for the interpretation of the results they obtain. Ms. Yamaguchi, proceed to send this material to our headquarters. Right now I'm going to talk to my contact so that they give high priority to this recording."

In a state of great excitement he was already leaving the office when he turned around and said.

"Bravo Aiko. Your intuition has meant the difference between defeat and this possibility of success that is reborn." Then he turned to Yoshida.

"I congratulate you for your disciple. She is everything you told us."

The director and the secretary left immediately from the situation room while the others were celebrating. Kato hit the table feigning anger with his teams.

" All this damn expensive hardware and finally what gives us a solution is the lip reading for the deaf, something that could not be any softer."

Two days later, when Aiko had already arrived at her aunt and uncle house she received a call in her cell phone. With some surprise she read on the screen that the interlocutor was Yoshida.

"Aiko. I'm parked in my car right in front of your house door. Can you please come down a moment?"

Intrigued the girl put on a coat and immediately left the apartment leaving her relatives surprised in the middle of a conversation.

" Get in the car." Said the instructor with a gesture of consternation. Once the girl was inside he bluntly said.

"We have received the transcription made in Tokyo of the conversation in the restaurant."

"Well?"said impatiently the woman.

"Kang and Nakajima were planning an attack with radioactive waste."