Shortly before six p.m., Takahashi came to his room carrying a bottle of Shishinosato sake, which Sedge knew was brewed in town. Sedge didn’t understand why he’d brought it. He and Yuki had done so much for him already. The more they gave him, the more his obligation toward them increased, and the more helpless he was to return their kindnesses.
Takahashi surveyed the room. “That’s what I thought. You have nothing worth drinking sake out of. It’s good I came prepared.”
“For someone who used to run a shop specializing in that sort of thing, I’m embarrassed not to have one or two.”
“You didn’t bring any with you?”
“What I didn’t sell is in storage. I should have known I’d be drinking sometimes.”
From a pocket in his kimono jacket Takahashi withdrew a small wooden box. Inside were two Kutani-ware cups. “These were made by a Yamanaka Onsen craftsman,” he said, and Sedge knew he meant a ceramicist who had shaped and fired the cups prior to painting them in the aote style he recognized. Sedge recalled unpleasantly that Mariko’s husband was such a craftsman.
“Do you always carry sake cups with you?” he joked.
Takahashi smiled. “Don’t tell Yuki, but I borrowed these from the display down the hall.” He held the green bottle out to Sedge. The kanji on front, a calligraphic streak of electric blue on a white paper label, was 旬. Pronounced shun, it meant that the sake, or the rice it was made from, was in season. The bottle had been chilled.
“Don’t expect me to bring sake every night.” Takahashi blew into each cup, ridding them of any dust they held. He set them on the table by the window and sat in a chair. Sedge followed him into the room and poured for them.
“I noticed you went to the baths this afternoon.”
“What with the rain, and it being my first day here, I thought I’d take things slowly.”
Takahashi lifted his cup and waited for Sedge to do the same.
After they drank, Sedge noticed the small paintings of cranes on the cups’ sides, and he admired them even more.
“Is the room adequate?” Takahashi said. “Yuki and I worry it’s too small. Especially after living in such a large apartment. It must seem extraordinarily quiet to you, too. Like a temple or something.”
“Remember, it’s only me now. And I brought next to nothing.”
Takahashi frowned and shook his head. “Anyway, let’s not discuss depressing things. Actually, I wanted to talk to you about teaching English. Have you given it any thought?”
One of two conditions to staying here was for Sedge to teach English. At first he had resented that Takahashi and Yuki would insist on any condition at all, but he quickly realized he wasn’t in a position to bargain. The second condition was that Sedge not approach the police about the money Nozomi had stolen. Because local newspapers reported these sorts of stories, Takahashi and Yuki feared it would bring bad publicity to the ryokan, which was old and well known, and disgrace both of their families. They felt bad for Sedge but didn’t want him to tell anyone what had happened.
“A little. But I don’t have much to go by yet. I’d like to know how many classes you want me to teach and on what days of the week. Also, how many students in each lesson and what their proficiency levels are. If you have materials you want them to study from, I’ll want to see them beforehand, too. And what is the classroom like?”
Takahashi turned to the forest outside the window, listening to the questions. He refilled their cups, murmuring to himself, “I see, I see. I wonder if this will be difficult.”
He explained that Sedge could teach what he liked, but the goal was to help the staff learn and properly use greetings, advise about local tourism, and respond to questions about the ryokan and its services. He wanted Sedge to teach one or two classes five days a week. Most of the staff had only rudimentary English skills. Sedge would need to take roll and submit a weekly attendance report. He had no teaching materials on hand, but tomorrow he would show Sedge the meeting room that would be available as a classroom. He wanted classes to start next Monday.
“I’ll start designing a class tonight.”
Takahashi waved the suggestion away. “Tomorrow or the day after is fine. Remember, you’re not our employee. But I do ask that you earn some of what we give you here. It’s not even for Yuki and me that I want this. It’s for you. If you don’t have a normal work routine, and no responsibilities, it will take longer to get your life back together. And the people working here will respect you more, which is no less important.”
Sedge agreed with what Takahashi said. “By the way, have you heard anything from Nozomi?”
“Nothing at all.”
They settled into more casual conversation and soon finished half the bottle of sake.
There was a quiet knock on the door. Imagining someone burdened with a tray or a wheeled cart, Sedge hurried to open it. In the entrance was an old woman in the kimono of the ryokan. She had pushed a wheeled cart to his door, and its top and bottom tiers held more food than he’d expected. Takahashi helped bring Sedge’s dinner inside. When Sedge tried to do the same, Takahashi said, “Please, sit down. I insist you behave like a guest.”
Takahashi and the woman filled the table where Sedge was sitting with small dishes and bowls. It might not have been what the other guests were eating, but it was still a feast.
“I don’t need to eat like this every night, I hope you realize,” Sedge said, embarrassed.
“It’s the least we can do.”
After the old woman wheeled her cart into the hallway, Takahashi told Sedge to call the front desk when he was finished and they would send someone to take his dinner away. “Then you should go for a walk or to the baths again. While you’re away the staff will lay out your futon.”
“I can easily do that myself.”
“I know you can. But I want the staff to treat all our guests the same. If they think of you as less important, you might become uncomfortable. Enjoy your dinner. I’ll leave the rest of the sake for you.”
Takahashi took the cup he had been drinking from and returned it to the box inside his kimono jacket. As he closed the sliding doors to the genkan, he wished Sedge goodnight.
3
For Sedge, not knowing his teaching responsibilities meant having time to explore his surroundings more than he had on previous visits. Although he could easily reach hiking trails through the woods and along the Daishōji River, he hadn’t yet found a decent birding spot. He glimpsed birds on his walks, but not a concentration of them like he’d seen along the Sai and Asano rivers in Kanazawa. The heron he’d spotted from the tea lounge hadn’t returned, though once at night he’d awakened to a low hooting. A Japanese scops owl had stood on the balcony railing, gazing into his room.
On Sedge’s third evening at the ryokan, Takahashi approached him in the tea lounge. No one was working there now. A sign atop the bar counter told guests to contact the front desk for service.
“I’m afraid life must be boring for you here,” Takahashi said, glancing at the lighted pond beyond the window.
Sedge shook his head. “It’s a good change of pace.”
Smiling at this, Takahashi sat across from him. “Yuki and I want to make sure you’re ready to start teaching. As I said before, we’d like you to begin Monday, after the dining room closes. You would start at eight-thirty and finish at ten p.m. It’s a bit late, but it’s the only time the majority of our staff is available. Maybe later we’ll arrange a few morning and afternoon classes, too.”
Sedge welcomed the classes as something to do and as a social outlet for himself—and because he didn’t want to be viewed as a freeloader.
