Riku entered the house late one night and sat at the dining table where Sedge and Mariko were talking. Leaning forward on the table, Riku rested his head in his hands and turned to look at Sedge.
“I have a little problem,” he said.
“What is it?”
Although Sedge had asked this, Riku turned to Mariko when replying. “You know how I interviewed at the different studios where I’ll be working? Even though I quit school they all still want me to study English. And since they know an American lives here, they said he should teach me. With all the foreign tourists around these days, they think I’m in a position to help them.”
“Ask Sedge properly,” Mariko said. “You shouldn’t assume he’ll do whatever you say.”
Riku turned to Sedge impatiently.
“After what happened upstairs between us several weeks ago, I have doubts about us working together. I’d like to help you eventually, but right now you’d do better learning on your own.”
Mariko sat back and crossed her arms, making no effort to mediate between them. He knew she would have liked him to help Riku—she’d remarked before that teaching him English might provide them a way to warm up to each other again—but she could hardly blame him for putting his foot down. If Riku was interested in English, wouldn’t he have asked before that he teach him? To Sedge, Riku was only doing what he’d been told to do, but he had no real interest in learning. It would be a waste of time and energy for them both.
“There are a few English classes around town,” Sedge said. “You should contact them and see what they offer.”
“Maybe we can talk about it later,” Riku said, not bothering to mask his disappointment. “It’s almost midnight. I’m going to bed.”
When he was gone, Sedge explained himself to Mariko, once more referring to the fight in her bedroom and the threat Riku continued to pose to her, but she stopped him before he could go further.
“I respect your reasons. But he lives here, too. I’m not going to get rid of him.”
“You’ll have to eventually.”
She glared at him. “He was here before you were. And despite what he’s done, he has just as much right to my love as you. I’m his stepmother, after all.”
“I’m sorry if I was being selfish,” he said. “I don’t want to tell you what to do. But it’s uncomfortable when I’m caught in the middle.”
She calmed down at his apology. “I know that even in turning him down you have his best interests at heart. You don’t have to defend yourself to me.” She smiled tiredly. “It’s late, like Riku said. Let’s get ready for bed.”
The next evening, in the waiting room of Yūyūkan, Mariko stood near a far window, talking on the phone with her hand cupped over the receiver and bowing to whoever was on the other end. The police and various reporters hadn’t called her in some time, but she looked like she always did when talking to them.
She had either exited the women’s baths early, or he had been in the men’s baths for longer than he realized. After she had bought Riku a membership to Yūyūkan, Riku came here every evening, and on the weekends he sometimes came two or three times a day. In addition to the baths, the facility had a small restaurant, a gym and indoor swimming pool, outdoor tennis courts, and a croquet field. There was even a retired train car on site and a farmers’ market, too. Sedge and Mariko had started coming here each week on her day off.
He watched a baseball game on TV as Mariko pushed through a door outside to continue her conversation. Two innings later she returned, her cheeks still flushed from the hot bath she’d left probably half an hour ago.
“Another call about Kōichi?” he said as she dropped into the seat beside him.
She shook her head. “It was Kōichi’s parents. The last time we spoke, we talked about Riku for a long time. They had suggested asking around Echizen about potters and woodturners who might let someone his age apprentice with them. They found a potter willing to on a trial basis. If it works out, he’d keep Riku there for several years.”
“What’s the difference between an apprenticeship and the part-time work he’s doing?”
“Apprenticeships train people in skills that will support them later. His part-time work, though he’s learning, is nothing of the sort.”
“Where would he live? And what about his schooling?”
“In the beginning he’d live with his grandparents. Eventually he’d move into a room above the pottery studio. I don’t know about his schooling, but I’m sure he wouldn’t want to be with students when he’s two or three years older than them. He could finish high school online if he was willing to. I’m thinking of telling him that if he won’t do this, he can’t live with me anymore.”
“If he doesn’t agree to it, what choice do you have?”
She breathed out forcefully, and he saw he’d tested her patience again.
“You put pressure on me when you say things like that. I wish you’d think about what’s best for Riku more.”
“I know he’s still only a boy,” Sedge said, “but this opportunity could make his future. And remove him from his present—which might save you in the end.”
She leaned back and closed her eyes. “Maybe he just needs more time to figure out what to do. If he goes to Echizen and things don’t work out, he’ll end up back here but with fewer options. I wonder if I shouldn’t push him to make a decision yet.”
“If you don’t, he’ll only take longer to understand that every decision he makes has consequences. And he’ll learn he can get away with anything. There’s been no serious fallout for him after attacking me, fighting with students and teachers, and now quitting school.”
She turned to him. There was no anger in her eyes, only tiredness. “I can’t help feeling he needs protecting a little longer. Not all those incidents were his fault, you know.”
Sedge could barely hide his disappointment at hearing her back off from the best solution yet to the problem Riku continued to pose—for Riku himself even more than for Mariko.
“Come on,” he said. “Let’s walk home.”
They found Riku lying on the tatami floor before the Buddhist altar. On the room’s low table was a small plastic bag of half-eaten rice crackers, a vase of dried larkspur, and a manga he’d been reading. He was talking on a cordless phone he sometimes used, since Mariko wouldn’t let him have his own cell phone, and Sedge realized the conversation was with his grandparents.
Mariko sat with her laptop at the dining table while Sedge stood in the kitchen, both pretending not to eavesdrop. Riku didn’t say much, but instead listened to whatever his grandparents were telling him. Occasionally he made a noise to show he was listening, and sometimes he asked a question: “How old is he?” “How many people are in his family?” “Would I have any days off?” “What would I do about money?”
Sedge thought: If the boy agrees to go, and it’s necessary to keep him there, I may be able to help support him with the money I have again.
Riku released a long sigh and told his grandparents he had to go. He abruptly hung up and dropped the phone on the floor.
