‘How are we looking?’
‘You’ll have to see for yourself.’ She winked.
Eriko was sitting in the hairdresser’s chair in front of a large mirror. Kazunari walked over slowly. When he saw her reflection he actually caught his breath. Her hair had been cut to just over shoulder-length. It was curved to show the bottom of her ears, yet not in a boyish way at all. The look was very feminine, and with just a dusting of make-up her face was stunning. They had really brought out the beauty of her skin. Her eyes stirred something inside him.
‘Wow,’ he breathed.
‘It doesn’t look funny?’ asked Eriko.
‘Far from it.’ He shook his head firmly and looked over at the hairdresser. ‘That’s really impressive.’
‘I had excellent material to work with,’ said the hairdresser, smiling.
‘Try standing,’ Kazunari said.
She stood, looking up at him a bit nervously.
Kazunari gazed at her for a long while before he asked, ‘Any plans tomorrow?’
‘Tomorrow?’
‘Saturday. You have morning classes?’
‘I didn’t take any Saturday classes…’
‘Perfect. Going anyplace? Meeting any friends?’
‘No, nothing, but —’
‘Then you’re with me. We have a few places we need to go.’
‘What? Where?’
‘You’ll find out tomorrow.’
Kazunari looked between Eriko’s face and her new haircut. The transformation was more dramatic than he’d dared to imagine. She had a unique, individual beauty, and his mind jumped ahead to tomorrow’s date as he began to imagine what ensemble would work well with her new look.
Eriko walked into class on Monday morning to find Yukiho already there. Her friend looked up at her and her eyes went wide. There was a long silence.
‘What happened to you?’ Yukiho managed at length. The surprise in her voice was something entirely new to Eriko.
‘It’s a long story,’ Eriko said, sitting down beside her. She noticed other students taking astonished looks in her direction. Yes, this was definitely new territory. The attention felt great.
‘When did you get your hair cut?’
‘Friday.’ She smiled. ‘In the rain.’
As Eriko related the events of the day, Yukiho’s usual calm and collected veneer broke into surprise, which eventually transformed into a smile.
‘I knew Kazunari had a thing for you,’ she said.
‘Maybe,’ Eriko said, her fingers playing with a strand of hair by her cheek.
‘So where’d you go on Saturday?’
On Saturday afternoon, Kazunari had taken her to a boutique selling expensive designer clothes. He walked in like he owned the place and talked to the assistant there as if they were old friends. It was the hairdresser’s all over again. ‘Show us some clothes that that will suit her,’ he said.
The elegantly dressed assistant – it turned out she was the owner – immediately sprang into action. Giving orders to her staff, she had them bring out ensemble after ensemble. For more than an hour Eriko had the run of the dressing room.
When she’d heard they were going to a boutique, Eriko had pictured getting herself something modest, a simple dress she could wear at formal occasions, but when she saw the price tags on the clothes she was trying on, she nearly fainted. She didn’t have anywhere near that kind of money, and if she had she certainly wouldn’t be spending it on clothes.
She whispered this to Kazunari, and he shook his head. ‘Don’t you worry,’ he told her, ‘this is my treat.’
‘No, I can’t accept. It’s too expensive.’
He smiled. ‘A word of advice: when a man says he’s going to give you something, accept it. Don’t worry. I’m not looking for any favours. I just think a beautiful girl should have beautiful clothes.’
She blushed. ‘But you paid for the hairdresser’s yesterday and everything.’
‘Of course I did. After all, it’s your hair and I practically forced you to cut it. There’s an upside for me too, you know. I can’t be seen walking around with a girl wearing a Seiko cut and dressed like an insurance salesman.’
‘Was I really that bad?’
‘To be brutally honest, yes.’
Eriko sighed. She had considered herself fashionable.
‘Right now, you’re just building your cocoon,’ said Kazunari from the other side of the changing room door. ‘You have no idea how beautiful you’ll become. I just want to give you that chance. I want to help you see.’
‘Hmm, I’m not convinced this caterpillar’s coming out a butterfly.’
‘You will, I guarantee it,’ he said, handing her another outfit and closing the curtain.
She eventually allowed him to buy her a single dress. Kazunari urged her to try one or two others, but she put her foot down. She was worried how she would explain even one dress to her mother, especially after the surprise when she’d got home from the hairdresser’s the day before.
‘Just tell her you bought it at a clothes swap at school,’ Kazunari said with a laugh. Then he added, ‘It really looks good on you, you know. You look like an actress.’
‘Hardly,’ Eriko said, blushing as she looked in the mirror because he wasn’t entirely wrong.
‘It’s like a Cinderella story,’ Yukiho said, shaking her head as Eriko finished her account. ‘I really don’t know what to say.’
‘I know, I thought I was dreaming, too. And… I’m a little worried.’
‘What could you possibly be worried about?’
‘It’s just, the makeover and the clothes… It’s a lot to get from someone.’
‘But you like him, don’t you?’
‘I think so.’
Yukiho shook her head, and said, gently, ‘If you could see your smile right now, you’d know.’
The following day was Tuesday practice at Eimei, where Eriko’s new look caused a stir amongst the other members of the dance club. It wasn’t just the girls, either. The Eimei boys flocked to her when she walked in, all wanting to know what had happened – did she get a new job over the weekend? Did she join a new club? Did she get dumped, or did she shack up with someone new?
For the first time in Eriko’s life, people were talking about her, not Yukiho. A circle had formed around her. When she looked up, Yukiho was standing a little way off, smiling. It was all a bit unreal. Part of her wondered if the sudden shift might make Yukiho jealous, but another part of her was even more jealous of Yukiho for having had this attention since the day they met.
Not everyone was pleased with her sudden transformation. Some of the older girls were pointedly ignoring her. Kanae had given her a particularly dark look and muttered something about children playing dress-up. This reaction was still something of a relief. Apparently she hadn’t caught on to the fact that it was her own boyfriend who had brought this change upon Eriko.
Still, she had clearly upset the balance of power in the club, and retribution was swift. Even before practice started, one of the sophomores called Eriko over.
‘Think you can tally up the club’s accounts?’ asked the long-haired girl, handing her a brown bag. ‘Everything’s in here: the ledger and all our receipts from last year. Just write down the dates and the amounts and work it out by month. Got it?’
‘When do you need this by?’
‘By the end of practice today, if you can.’ The sophomore glanced back over her shoulder. ‘Kanae’s orders.’
‘Right… OK.’
Once the sophomore left, Yukiho came over to Eriko. ‘I can’t believe it,’ she said. ‘You’re not going to have any time left over for practice. I’ll help.’
‘No, it’s OK. It shouldn’t take too long.’
Eriko looked inside the bag; it was stuffed with receipts. She pulled out the ledger and took a look, but it seemed like no one had bothered to record anything for the last two or three years.
Something fell out of the book – a pl
astic card.
‘Sankyo Bank. That must be the club bank account,’ Yukiho said. ‘That’s a silly place to keep the ATM card. Someone could steal it.’
‘But they couldn’t use it without the PIN number, right?’ Eriko said. Her father had recently got an ATM card, so she knew the basics.
‘I guess,’ said Yukiho, though she didn’t sound entirely convinced.
Eriko went to a corner of the practice hall and began making entries. It took much longer than she had expected. Yukiho came over and helped her midway through, but once they were done writing everything in the ledger and going through the calculations to make sure it all added up, there really was no time left over for practice. ‘I don’t see why we bothered coming at all,’ said Yukiho with a sigh.
Crestfallen, the two girls walked down the gymnasium hallway to deliver their work to Kanae, who’d said she’d be in the locker room. Almost everyone else had already left. They were a little way down the hall when they heard a voice coming from behind one of the doors.
‘Don’t treat me like I’m an idiot.’
Eriko stopped in her tracks. The voice was unmistakably Kanae’s.
‘I’m not,’ said another voice – Kazunari’s. ‘I’m being honest with you because I respect you.’
‘You call that respect? I call it making a fool of me.’
The door flew open, and Kanae stormed out, a scowl on her face. She didn’t seem to notice the two girls standing outside the door as she charged back down into the practice hall. Eriko and Yukiho exchanged glances. Neither of them wanted to call out to her.
Next Kazunari emerged. When he saw the two of them, he gave a wry smile. ‘Fancy meeting you here. I’m guessing you heard that?’
‘Shouldn’t you go after her?’ Yukiho asked.
‘No,’ he said flatly. ‘You’re on your way home too, right? Need a lift?’
‘Actually I’ve got somewhere I need to go,’ Yukiho said. ‘But I’m sure Eriko could use a ride.’
‘Yuki —’
‘I’ll make sure Kanae gets the ledger next practice,’ Yukiho interrupted her and took the bag from Eriko’s hand.
‘You sure you don’t want a ride, Yukiho?’ Kazunari asked.
‘I’m good,’ she said with a smile, walking off in the same direction Kanae had gone.
Kazunari sighed. ‘She’s going to try to smooth things over with Kanae, no doubt.’
‘Are you sure it’s OK?’ Eriko asked. ‘You don’t need to go?’
‘No, it’s fine. Everything’s fine.’ He put a hand on her arm. ‘It’s over.’
Eriko smiled, and her reflection smiled back. The black miniskirt she had on was much shorter than anything she ever would have worn before, and was showing far too much leg, she thought. She did a little twirl. He’ll like this.
‘What do you think?’ she asked the shop assistant. Ever since her date with Kazunari the other week she’d become far less bashful about talking to people in shops. The assistant took a look at Eriko and beamed.
‘It’s amazing,’ she said.
‘I’ll take it.’ It wasn’t anything too expensive, but it really fitted her. She had more confidence about picking the right clothes now, too.
Outside, it was already getting dark. She walked towards the station, quickening her pace.
The month of May was already half gone. She counted in her head. This was her fourth new outfit this month. She was going out to buy things by herself more frequently these days. She was still a little shy about taking Yukiho along on these shopping expeditions, and besides, she had fun walking until her feet hurt, trying to find clothes she thought Kazunari might like.
She walked past the display window of a department store and caught her own reflection. She wondered if the Eriko of two months earlier would even recognise her now. She was more concerned about her appearance than she had ever been before in her life. There was a constant dialogue going on in the back of her mind these days, wondering how she would look to other people, how she would look to Kazunari. She was learning how to put on make-up, and spent hours poring over fashion magazines, trying to imagine what might work for her. It was clear that the more effort she put into it, the better she looked in the mirror. That made her happy.
Yukiho even told her one day that she was blooming into something different. ‘It’s like you’re changing every day, like a butterfly coming out of its cocoon.’
‘Oh, stop, you’re embarrassing me.’
‘But it’s true,’ Yukiho said, nodding.
Eriko wanted to leave her cocoon. She was ready to emerge a real woman. She’d already gone on more than ten dates with Kazunari by that time. He’d officially asked her to go out with him the day of his fight with Kanae. He pulled over on the way to her house to ask the question.
‘Are you going out with me because you broke up with Kanae?’ Eriko had asked.
Kazunari shook his head. ‘I meant to break up with her for a while now. You were the push I needed.’
‘She’s not going to be happy when she hears.’
‘We’ll just keep it a secret for a while. As long as we don’t say anything, no problem.’
‘People will find out.’
‘Don’t worry about it. I’ll deal with it.’
‘But…’ Eriko began, but she had nothing more to say.
He’d kissed her.
Since that moment Eriko felt as though she’d been living in a dream. She worried almost daily that something so good couldn’t last this long. They had, for the time being, been able to conceal their relationship from the other people in the club. Eriko had only told Yukiho. No one else knew. As evidence, in the last two weeks, no fewer than two of the other Eimei boys had asked Eriko out on dates. Even as she turned them down, she wondered at how completely things had changed for her. Getting asked out had been almost unthinkable just a month earlier, and getting asked out twice?
She worried about Kanae – she’d only come to two practices since the breakup. Surely part of it was that she didn’t want to see Kazunari, but Eriko wondered if Kanae suspected that she was his new girlfriend. They’d passed each other once or twice in the hall at school, and each time she’d felt sharp eyes on her. Eriko would always say hello, as a matter of politeness, but Kanae would never respond. She hadn’t mentioned it to Kazunari, but it was only a matter of time before they’d have to talk about it.
Other than that, Eriko was happy. There was a spring in her step, and she often found herself smiling for no reason.
Shopping bag tucked under her arm, Eriko was almost home – an old two-storey house she’d lived in her entire life. She looked up at the sky and saw that the stars had come out. It’ll be a sunny day tomorrow, she thought. Tomorrow was Friday and she had a date with Kazunari. She wanted to wear her new miniskirt.
Then she realised she was smiling again, and blushed in spite of herself.
The phone rang three times before he heard the click of the receiver being picked up. ‘Kawashima residence.’ It was Eriko’s mother.
‘Hello, it’s Kazunari. Kazunari Shinozuka. Is Eriko home?’