Night Flight

“Jeez, Natori, why are there so many cars?”

Seiichi pulled into the parking lot of a business hotel, his head tilted. The parking lot wasn’t large, but it was buried in cars.

In the passenger seat, Natori looked around the lot too.

“Maybe everybody decided to stop here, since the road’s blocked up ahead from all the rain?”

“What, they blocked the road?”

“That’s what they said on the radio a little bit ago.”

“Did they?”

He didn’t remember. Or rather, he hadn’t been listening.

He laughed a little, trying to cover it up, and Natori sighed.

They’d bought some bento at the convenience store and then eaten them in the car, and after that they’d driven along the freeway for a while, but they decided to start looking for somewhere to stay for the night and stock up for the typhoon that was supposed to make landfall overnight.

It’d been just the two of them in the car the whole time, but it hadn’t felt awkward at all. They only chatted about silly things like what kind of bento and onigiri they liked, and whether they liked or hated the songs on the radio.

Even so, he now knew that Natori liked kombu onigiri, and that he didn’t know any of the popular songs. He was happy to know Natori’s preferences.

I wonder how Natori feels about it?

He peeked over at Natori’s profile, but that cap got in his way, and he couldn’t see Natori’s expression very well. In the end, he hadn’t taken that cap off even once while they’d been in the car.

“There’s some wind,” Natori said, “but the rain’s died down at least. Why are you scowling?”

“Oh, ah, nothing.”

Seiichi quickly thought back over the past couple of days. His scowl wasn’t for Natori. It was the one he’d been wearing constantly.

Natori sighed, exasperated, and undid his seat belt.

“Don’t need an umbrella for this, let’s just run.”

Seiichi nodded obediently, and the two of them trotted towards the hotel.

The wind certainly was strong, but the rain was only a drizzle. Although, it had been alternating strong and weak, so they couldn’t get careless.

It was just about five-thirty in the afternoon, but it was already pitch black outside, and on top of the fact that the sun was setting early, thick clouds covered the entire sky.

When they got into the lobby, there were more people than Seiichi had expected. And they must have all stopped in on their way home from work, because a lot of them were in suits.

Were there that many businesses around here?

Rice paddies, golden yellow before the harvest, stretched out to the horizon, and then settlements and short mountains dotted the landscape beyond that. That was the feeling Seiichi had gotten on the road, at least.

“They full?” Natori muttered, and when Seiichi looked up at him, he was adjusting his cap low over his eyes. A moment ago, he’d been walking with a dignified presence, but now there was a certain hesitancy in his bearing.

“What’s wrong? Someone you know?”

“Ah, no.”

Seiichi thought Natori’s short response was weird, but he left it alone and spoke to the front desk clerk.

“Excuse me, do you have any single rooms available?”

“I’m terribly sorry, sir. All our rooms are booked at the moment.”

The clerk bowed apologetically.

“Well, we wouldn’t mind a double, do you have any of those?”

“Unfortunately, all of our rooms are booked today. My apologies.”

The clerk politely bowed his head again.

“Oh, I see. Sorry, but are there any other hotels in the area? Maybe you could give me directions?”

The clerk frowned, troubled. “I don’t mind telling you, but I imagine they’re all booked as well.”

“Why’s that?”

“Apparently they discovered some archaeological value in some ruins in a nearby mountain, so there’s been huge crowds of researchers and news media. And then there are people who stopped here because of the typhoon, so all the lodging in the area is fully booked. It’s not that it’s never happened before, especially on a weekend, but…”

“Ah man…” Seiichi let out a disappointed sigh without really meaning to. He understood now, why a bunch of strangers would show up in a country town with no businesses or factories or anything. Everyone in the lobby was either a researcher or a news reporter.

“Well, what do we do now, Natori?”

He looked at Natori beside him, but Natori shrugged.

“There’s nothing we really can do, the place is full.”

“Um, sirs?” the middle-aged clerk said hesitantly. “I could call another hotel, just in case? Maybe there’s an empty room somewhere?”

“Would you do that for us?”

“I probably would refuse on any other night, but the rain is supposed to peak overnight tonight, it’s going to be dangerous to be outside.”

“Well then, if you wouldn’t mind.”

“Of course. If you’d like to have a seat over there for a little while?”

Relieved to see the clerk immediately pick up the phone, Seiichi tugged at Natori’s arm.

“No, that’s enough.”

“What?” The instant Natori refused him, Seiichi let out a ridiculous-sounding noise. “What’s enough?”

“If he finds a vacancy at another hotel, you should stay there.”

“And what are you going to do, Natori?”

“I’ll figure something out. Can you help me get my bike down, Uchino?”

“Wait a minute!”

Natori spun on his heels and headed for the exit without any hesitation, and Seiichi rushed to grab his arm. A few of the customers in the lobby turned in surprise, so he pulled Natori into a corner. Natori didn’t resist, instead coming obediently with him.

“Why would you suddenly decide that?”

When he looked up, Natori tilted his head a bit. His cap was down over his eyes, so Seiichi couldn’t make out his eyes, even in such a brightly lit place.

“It’s not exactly sudden. It’s just that you’ve helped me enough, letting me ride this far with you.”

“I’m the one who invited you, you shouldn’t worry about that kind of stuff. What the heck, you are angry after all?”

“I am not angry,” Natori answered disinterestedly. Seiichi couldn’t feel any temper in his tone, but there wasn’t any other emotion in it either. It was terribly flat, almost inorganic.

“Did I do something?”

He’d been normal in the car. Well, they hadn’t been together but the one day, so he didn’t really know what ‘normal’ was, but Natori hadn’t shown any signs of wanting to go on alone.

The change in atmosphere had come the moment they walked into the hotel lobby. He’d adjusted his cap even lower.

Was there someone here he didn’t want to see? But they weren’t going to be staying at this hotel. And they weren’t even going to be here that long, he really didn’t need to worry.

Was there some other reason?

As Seiichi desperately considered the situation, Natori gave a little sigh. And then he said, in a soothing tone, “I’m really not angry. It’s not because of you, Uchino.”

“Then what is it because of?” Seiichi asked slowly, irritated without really understanding why. For an instant, Natori was at a loss for words, but he quickly opened his mouth.

“We were on separate paths to begin with, this is only returning to the way we were. It’s nothing for you to be upset about, is it?”

“That’s not an answer. And didn’t you say you’d come with me until we got where we’re going? Besides, what are you going to ‘figure out’ on your bike in this kind of rain?”

“There are twenty-four hour manga cafes and internet cafes and stuff once you get off the highway.”

Natori’s tone made it clear he really thought he was going to do something like that. Seiichi frowned. Why the hell is he so stubborn?

“You’re going to end up soaked by the time you get off the highway. You’ll catch a cold and get a fever, and then what?”

“There’s no reason we both have to do the same thing. I’ve been camping for a while now, whenever I can’t find someplace cheap to stay. The truth is, the night before I met you, I slept in my sleeping bag in a park.”

“It’s raining now, you can’t camp out.”

“Which is why I just said I was going to look for a manga cafe or an internet cafe, someplace to protect me from the wind and the rain.”

Seiichi was desperate that Natori not completely ditch him. He really was planning on going by himself.

No. I want to go with Natori.

Natori was a good, comfortable companion, there was no mistaking it any longer. He’d told Natori his story, they’d eaten manju together, he felt like they’d finally managed to get a little closer. He didn’t want to separate incomprehensibly like this.

“I understand. I’ll go too.”

“What? Where?”

“A net cafe or a manga place. I’d end up somewhere like that anyway, if there don’t turn out to be any vacancies in the hotels. So let’s go together.”

He looked up, puffing himself up with an insistent sense that he would not be ditched, and Natori sighed. Seiichi suddenly realized that Natori was giving him a hard side-eyed glare.

“I’ll say it plainly then, I want to go back by myself. When I’m with someone I just worry about stuff, and it’s exhausting.”

“That’s a lie.”

Seiichi explicitly refuted him before he even realized what he was doing.

Natori seemed agape with surprise, but Seiichi could only see his mouth.

If he was being honest, Seiichi didn’t have any clear basis for saying that Natori had lied.

Except, Natori was looking away. Even with his expression hidden beneath that cap, he was a man who somehow met your gaze directly, but he wasn’t looking at Seiichi now. Of course, assuming he was lying based on that alone was probably ill-advised.

Natori’s whole body stiffened. “How would you know?”

“I don’t really, I just thought it seemed like that, and it’s too late now. At any rate, I am going with you, Natori, all the way to our destination,” Seiichi said resolutely, feeling that he should absolutely not part with Natori at this juncture, and just then a voice called from the front desk.

“Excuse me.” The middle-aged clerk from before nodded at them.

Seiichi left Natori where he was and trotted over to the front desk.

“There’s a hotel named Kazahara, about five minutes drive from here, that has a single free, how does that sound? With this weather, I’m sure it could accommodate you, even with the both of you.”

“Ah, that’s fine actually, we’ll pass. I’m sorry to put you to so much trouble. The typhoon seems to have weakened, so we’re going to try heading out while we still can.”

The clerk raised his eyebrows, and Seiichi wondered if maybe he’d said something quite absurd.

“Our hotel is open all night tonight,” the clerk said, “so if you get stuck, please do turn around. We’d be happy to have you in the lobby for the night. Be careful out there.”

Seiichi said his thanks to the kind clerk, and bowed politely to him. The husband and wife at the bike shop the day before had been nice, the clerk at this hotel was nice, he was surrounded by nothing but really kind people.

Feeling like he’d been given strength somehow, Seiichi turned back around with vigor.

Natori was still in the same place where Seiichi had pulled him earlier. His bike was still in Seiichi’s car, so he couldn’t just run away, but still, Seiichi was relieved.

Seiichi strode towards him, Natori’s mouth was tense, and a wry smile squeezed from around his lips. “You are incredibly pushy, you know that?”

“If you’re not a little pushy, you can’t make it as a salesperson,” Seiichi said without thinking, and then thought, Oh. I’m not a salesperson anymore.

He’d always thought salesperson was the perfect job for him. Meeting with distributors and store personnel wasn’t the least bit tedious or grueling. Whenever he was able to get large orders for new goods, he was happy to have gotten the request in its own right, not simply because it brought good business results. Considering how best to sell the product and working with the store personnel to figure out how to display it had always been fun. And whenever customers who’d purchased the goods remarked on how delicious they were, he’d been glad of the increased profits for the stores and filled with an indescribable sense of fulfillment. Of course there had been times when he’d been scolded for failures, and times when people had flung harsh words at him, but he’d thought of those as learning opportunities.

It had been worthwhile work.

Now, it was work he couldn’t do even if he wanted to.

Seiichi continued talking at a fast pace, trying to escape the reality that had suddenly attacked.

“Besides, what about the manju the old lady from the bike shop gave us. She said to share it, but if you go off on your own we can’t share anything.”

“Could just eat them all yourself, you know.”

“Did you say something?”

“No I did not.”

Just as Natori shrugged, a group of men appeared on the other side of the automatic doors. Seiichi and Natori could hear some of their conversation.

“Ugh, I’m dripping.”

“Yeah, is the equipment alright?”

A man wearing a raincoat set a large black box on the floor. Checking inside, he answered, “It’s fine.” Maybe they were from the media, as the clerk had said, come to gather data on the ruins. They must have had a camera in the box.

“They must’ve been out getting some background info, huh. That’s too bad.”

His words weren’t spoken with any particularly deep meaning, but no response to them came. Thinking it was odd, Seiichi looked again at Natori, but Natori was adjusting his cap even lower.

“At any rate, let’s get back on the highway. There’s probably a karaoke place or something, we can at least have dinner there.”

“What? Oh, yeah.”

Seiichi nodded, and Natori put his hands on Seiichi’s back and pushed him towards the exit. They left the hotel, trading places with the media crew from a minute ago. Natori lowered his head and turned his face away from them.

Was there someone in the news media he didn’t want to meet?

When they got outside, there was a warmish breeze blowing. The only reason they weren’t being hit in the face with raindrops was because it was blowing from behind them. They ran for the car, which was parked right next to the hotel.

“Jeez, we are soaked!”

“Here, a towel. Dry yourself off properly, you’re going to catch a cold.” Natori handed over a face towel he’d pulled out of somewhere.

“I don’t want to hear that from a guy who was about to ride his bike in this weather.”

“It’s fine for me, I’m built sturdy.”

“I’m sturdy too, you know,” Seiichi shot back, pouting, but said his thanks and accepted the towel.

He glanced at Natori out of the corner of his eye. He was drying his own hands and arms with another towel. That stubborn atmosphere from when he’d said he was going on by himself had completely vanished.

Natori was a man of many mysteries.

Well, only two days had passed since they’d met, so that was only natural.

I want to know him better.

Seiichi felt like it had been a long time since he’d felt this way about anyone.

***

Luckily, they found an internet cafe not too long after they got back on the highway.

People like Seiichi and Natori, who’d not been able to find places at a hotel or inn, seemed to be drifting in, and the place was pretty crowded, but there were plenty of private rooms available. And there were showers, that was nice.

There was no meal service, but there was a small food station and a cup ramen vending machine right next to each other, so they got dinner there.

“Shall we meet tomorrow morning, about eight? In front of the front desk?” Seiichi said.

Natori looked up, standing in front of the entrance to his private room, which was next to Seiichi’s, with the cup of ramen he’d just put hot water into.

He’d taken off his cap, probably because he’d taken a shower. Seiichi could see his long, narrow eyes clearly now, and was relieved not to see any anger or irritation in them.

“Sure, eight o’ clock. Please don’t oversleep tomorrow.”

“Sorry about this morning,” Seiichi apologized meekly, and Natori gave a slight smile. Faint wrinkles formed around the corners of his eyes.

He really is great looking. He ought to leave that cap off.

That way I could see all his different expressions.

When he looked up, still thinking what a shame it was, the smile wrinkles had disappeared from Natori’s face. Instead there were wrinkles on his forehead. “What is it?” he asked.

“What’s what?”

“You were really staring.”

“You’re really good looking, you know that, Natori.”

Seiichi just blurted out what he was thinking, and Natori blinked. There was a pause, and then he said, nonchalantly, “Thanks.”

“Thanks…? Be a little modest. Or at least a bit shy.”

“Well, I’m used to people telling me I look good.”

“What? Now I’m irritated.”

“It’s the truth, there’s nothing I can really do about it, I guess,” Natori replied, without the slightest bit of hesitation, and then tapped Seiichi on the head with his free hand, without any prior warning. Those long, thin eyes were narrowed ever so slightly as they looked down at Seiichi.

“You’ve got a whiff of handsome about you too, Uchino.”

“A whiff, what does that even mean…?”

“It means just what it says. Good night then.”

Natori pulled his hand back lightly from Seiichi’s head and went into his private room.

“A whiff, so in other words, not actually handsome,” Seiichi grumbled, and then went into his own room. He set his cup noodle down on the desk for a moment, and then put his luggage next to the plastic bag with the snacks and tea in it.

Then, finally, he put his hand to his head.

Jeez, so warm…

He didn’t need a mirror to know his face was bright red.

Natori hadn’t been praising him, not at all. In fact, Seiichi had gotten the impression Natori was making fun of him a little.

Am I just embarrassed?

He didn’t quite understand why he was blushing so hard, and he was about to let loose with a shout – “Aarg, enough, what the hell!” – when he realized Natori would be able to hear him, and things would get awkward. So with no other choice, he kept his mouth shut, and wriggled his arms and legs.

After all that, the noodles were a bit soggy. It was his favorite too, soy sauce flavor, but he couldn’t really taste it.