9
Yuki stood with several staff outside the ryokan entrance, bowing to a departing family and waving until their shuttle was out of sight. She broke off from her staff and approached Sedge on his way for a morning walk.
“Where are you off to?” she said.
“I was going to cross Ayatori Bridge. On the opposite side of the river there’s a path you probably know that climbs from the Bashō Hut to a shrine up the slope. I’ve never been there, but since the weather’s nice I thought I’d go.”
She smiled at him. “Are you happy with your classes?”
“They’ve gone smoother than I expected. I’ve been happy to see some staff try to speak English with the foreign guests.”
“Yes, so have I. By the way, I hear you’re taking on private students.”
Sedge assumed she was referring to Mariko and was surprised she knew he had taught her. “Are you concerned I might be making money? I only have one outside student. And that person pays me nothing.”
“I think it would be great for you to earn money while you’re here. But please be careful about cultivating relationships outside of work. We spoke about this before, didn’t we?”
“I don’t know what you mean.” As soon as he said this, he remembered her and Takahashi warning him that people might spread rumors about what he did in his private time.
She sighed and said, “I mean Mariko.”
“What about her?”
“Like we said, if she wants to study with you, she can do so here the same as the other staff do. They also have busy lives, and longer commutes, most of them.”
“Anyway, that’s not why she asked me to teach her at her home.”
He was about to explain when Takahashi emerged from the ryokan and asked Yuki about her schedule. “Did I interrupt something?”
“No,” Sedge answered. “I was explaining my teaching arrangement with Mariko.”
Takahashi’s face darkened and he looked at Yuki. “Didn’t we tell you that wasn’t a good idea? The only thing we’ve asked of you in return for your room and board is that you teach our staff. But that means here, where they work. Not in the privacy of their homes.”
“I’m sorry, but what are you worried about?”
Takahashi assured him that he wasn’t worried about anything.
“You’re free to do as you please,” Yuki said. “We just ask you to be careful. And mindful of your associations.”
“What you do in town reflects on our ryokan,” Takahashi added sternly. “We emphasize this regularly to all our staff, not just to you. But as a foreigner, you’re more visible than them.”
Sedge hoped this would be the last word on the subject. He resented the implications of what they were saying and worried they would confront Mariko more severely. In their disapproval he heard an echo of their conditions for letting him stay there.
“Don’t let us keep you from your walk,” Yuki said encouragingly. “It’s so nice today, it would be a shame to waste even part of it. Besides, Takahashi and I need to go back to work.”
Sedge cut his walk short. After returning to the ryokan, he was soon back in the tea lounge. He wanted to see if Mariko was there and ask if Takahashi and Yuki had spoken to her. If she was upset, he would leave the lounge immediately and not make matters worse for her. But she wasn’t there when he arrived, nor did she come that afternoon. She wasn’t there the next day or the day after, either. Finally, unable to get through to her on his phone, Sedge inquired about this with the woman who had replaced her.
Ms. Ozeki was one of his students. He ordered tea from her, and when she brought it to his table by the window he said, “How do you like working in this lounge? I don’t remember seeing you here before.”
“The lounge gets few guests, so it’s a little boring. And most just want to sit or take a nap, or they buy drinks from the vending machines and bring them here.”
“Where were you before this?”
“The laundry facility, mostly.”
“I’m not sure where that is,” Sedge said.
“It’s in a separate building. I enjoy it there because the staff are nice and it’s relaxing. I was told this is only temporary. I guess it’s nice to do something different.”
“When you say it’s temporary, do you mean the person you replaced here now works in the laundry building?”
“That’s my understanding. I don’t know the reason why, but sometimes it happens.”
She disappeared into the small kitchen behind a hanging noren curtain. In some ways Sedge welcomed Ms. Ozeki’s news, for he saw he had become attracted to Mariko. But it was an attraction that remained indistinct; he hadn’t completely lost his love for Nozomi, despite what she’d done and the passage of time. And he was married to her still, just as Mariko remained married to her husband. Neither of them had taken steps to end their respective marriages, though he was confident they would one day. He didn’t entirely trust his attraction to Mariko because of what had happened with Nozomi, and this made him grateful he couldn’t run into her so easily every day.
But the next day she was there again, dressed as always in her light green staff kimono. She shuffled to his table, looking as pleased to see him as he was to see her. He had taken a table hidden from the front desk, where Yuki and Takahashi often worked.
“I thought you disappeared into the higher echelons of management,” he said, keeping his voice low.
“I would never survive so high up.”
“How was working in the laundry? Ms. Ozeki told me you were transferred there.”
“It wasn’t bad. I got to know the people there better, and it was a nice change of atmosphere.”
“When you’re not here, it’s not worth visiting.” He took more pleasure than usual in her smile.
“I’ve worked in every position imaginable here. You shouldn’t be shocked if I enter the men’s baths while you’re there to clean the changing room and put the washing areas in order. It’s not my favorite job, but then I don’t know any of the men bathing. In any case, I try never to look at them.”
