Tokyo Wolf

ONE

Jonny was sitting at a corner table in an almost empty cafe in Tokyo’s artist and student district Shimokitazawa. The rain was pouring against the window next to him and the gray of the sky outside stood in stark contrast to the warm light of the table lamp in front of him. A dense smell of coffee and cigarette smoke filled the air. It was a gloomy November afternoon and the streets lay quiet. Only a few people were hushing by, hiding themselves under their translucent umbrellas. Shimokitazawa was famous for nights out drinking and after dark, one could see drunk university students and office workers sleeping with their heads on the pavement next to groups of friends laughing and shouting at each other. During the day on weekdays however, the town was rather peaceful. Tokyo was a weird place. There were millions of people in this city and yet one could feel lonely here. It was like standing on a busy platform trying to get another glimpse through the crowd after saying a last good-bye to one's lover.A new customer entered the cafe, brushing off rain drops from his coat. A breeze of wet, cool air blew through the open door. The young waitress who was wearing a black and white apron greeted him with the ubiquitous Japanese “Irasshaimase!” before leading him to a table at the other side of the room. Jonny leaned back with a sigh and pushed away the paper in front of him. He grabbed a white and golden pack laying on the table next to his coffee mug and lit one of those slightly vanilla flavored cigarettes. While the fume was curling up into the air, he stared listlessly outside. As usual, his big, dark eyes were looking into the distance, lost in thought. A tattoo of a half-moon in red and black covered his right forearm below the elbow and a short bristly beard hid his still youthful and pretty features despite him already being in the latter half of his 20s.See you on the other side.He kept on thinking about those last words that he had heard from her through the phone as he was boarding his flight to Tokyo. She had sounded excited and everything seemed to be going according to plan. However, when he arrived at Narita airport almost thirteen hours later, he kept looking for her smiling face to appear among the crowds of people who were waiting at the arrival gate. Just like he had done so many times before during their almost three years of long-distance relationship. Countless times it had been one of them waiting at the gate, tense with anticipation. And every time, they found each other in the crowd and ran to embrace one another so tightly that it seemed they never wanted to let go. This time, no familiar face showed up and no one came running toward him.

Only anonymous heads covered with black hair, with many of the faces hidden behind a surgical mask. He watched friends and families reunite and the crowd slowly disperse. Minutes went by and a hole started to form in his stomach. This didn’t feel right. Lost upon arrival, he walked around the enormous and sterile airport hall. Rows of overhead lights were reflected on the perfectly polished white floor. It felt like walking on clouds, but she wasn’t there. He finally sat down on one of the steel benches next to a wall and connected his phone to the airport wi-fi to call her. She didn’t pick up. He sent her a message and waited for an hour but there was no response.He waited another hour before he got worried that something might have happened to her. After four hours he tried to tell himself that there must be a rational explanation for all of this. His calls and messages remained unanswered so he finally decided to go to the city by himself and make a plan. He had nowhere to go and no backup. It just hadn’t occurred to him that the very first step of the plan they had made could go wrong. It was getting late so he booked a cheap hostel in the center of Tokyo in the Shibuya area. He deeply regretted that he had never even asked her for any address or the details of their trip. He had been too focused on being with her.He did some research and found the counter for the shuttle buses to the city. He bought a ticket for a little over a thousand Yen for the bus from terminal 2 to Tokyo station. From there he could take the subway to Shibuya. It was only 4 PM but he realized the sun already started setting when he walked over a small bridge from the terminal building to the bus stop.The bus was half empty and the driver assisted him politely with his luggage after diligently checking his ticket. Jonny sat down next to a window and looked out of the window as the bus started moving. Narita was well outside of Tokyo and during the first twenty minutes of the trip, the highway led through forests and then rice fields adjacent to old and spacious farm houses. Then, the landscape became more urban, the buildings more and more dense and finally the great Tokyo Skytree appeared on the horizon like an enormous red pillar against the setting sun. Soon after, the bus drove on entangled highways through a ravine of tall buildings, sometimes passing only a few meters away from the balconies of some apartments. The city’s face changed with the arrival of the blue hour just after the sun had set. Lights lit up apartment windows and enormous neon advertisements bathed the surrounding walls and streets in blue and red. The whole picture looked like a vision of the future that people might have had thirty years ago. It was then that Jonny realized he had arrived in this place they called Tokyo.

He started wondering why he had wanted to come to Japan. People back home had asked the same question many times and it made him uncomfortable because he wished he could give a more rational and straightforward answer. Old memories of a happy past and feelings of fading hope were tied to it. And even though he didn’t want to admit it, all of this was tied to her. When he met her almost three years ago, his life changed forever. She was the reason for coming here and for being stranded in this strange city. In fact, Mei was the reason for everything.August, three years ago
“I like this spot because it’s quiet and peaceful. I come here every other day to take a rest. This city is very noisy, not like my hometown in Japan or the other places that I’ve lived in before.” She took a cookie from the bag on her lap and put it into her mouth. Jonny watched her while she was eating quietly, gazing at the lake in front of her. She was wearing only a little make-up around her eyes and subtle red lipstick today which emphasized her natural beauty. He noticed a few freckles on the side of her face and upper cheeks but her dark brown eyes looked unusually sad. “Why did you take me here today,” he asked her. She turned towards him and a faint smile curled her lips. “You know, it’s just been one of these days,” she replied casually as if she was trying to convince herself it was really just that. He had never seen her like this since they had met in one of their classes during the first week of their exchange abroad. She was usually full of joy and never seemed to stop laughing and they effortlessly had become friends. Both of them had partners back home so it was never meant to turn into more. Although Jonny didn’t want to admit it, he had felt drawn towards her from the first day he’d met her.He wondered if her mood was related to the guy she was seeing. “Do you want to talk about it?” he asked her. The smile disappeared from her face and he saw her trying to hold back tears. Jonny leaned over and gently hugged her. She was sitting motionless but he felt her back tremble. After some time, she wrapped her arms around him and almost clawed her hands into his back. He was surprised by her strength but continued to hold her for a long moment. When she let go, she looked up at him with watery eyes but then laughed a little. He noticed that for some reason in her perfectly aligned and white teeth there were no canines. It made her smile appear childlike. She rubbed her eyes with the sleeves of her navy-blue sweater, and they both looked at the lake again. Weeping willows were reaching for the water below them and a few leaves dropped onto the surface of the lake, sending small circular ripples over the otherwise perfectly still water.