Chapter Text
It was well past late before Shino left the house. Ryo had come home droopy eyed beelining straight for her bedroom and the lights went out shortly after. For this, Shino was grateful. She’d rather not have the conversation right now, she’d rather not have to explain herself. Shino took a moment whilst she silently dressed into her going-out outfit. The whole farce was rather silly really, almost comical. Daughter and mother, roles reversed. Shino was mortified by the thought of being caught out and reprimanded by her own daughter for sneaking out so late to see some boy.
She finished changing.
Ryo would not be mad; it’s not in her nature.
Then again, just because she wouldn’t be mad didn’t mean she would necessarily be happy. It’s a complex thing having a prospective father figure looming on the peripheries, and to know him already outside of the family dynamic only exacerbated the situation. Complex emotion – it can be painful trying to work it out, and if it’s one thing Shino wanted to shield her daughter from more than anything it was pain. She had been slowly learning drips and drabs about her father these last few months and that was a dangerous thing. Ryo was mature, but some things even grown women and men can have a hard time coping with.
But maybe Shino was overthinking. She tended to overthink, or so she thought (or over-thought). Maybe it was her own embarrassment she was trying to avoid, or her own guilt. It was the anniversary too. Kido had told her this wasn’t so much a date as it was a memorial. But still – she was wearing her heels and a cocktail dress, they were going to a bar or two and maybe even try a club – hardly an appropriate memorial for the dearly departed.
Shino took care not to make too much noise as she left the house. Leaving her daughter alone without telling her where she was – that made her guilty too.
Maybe I am just embarrassed.
Little stirred in the suburban streets save a stray cat or two. The orange beams of halogen headlamps traced past between the buildings on occasion. The air itself lit up and refracted that hazy light. It was a humid night. Some way down the street was the bus stop, and that’s where Kido was waiting. He stood hands in his pocket and wore a wry grin.
“I still feel like a sleazebag not picking you up from the door.”
Shino smiled delicately, “I don’t want to disturb Ryo. She’s sleeping.”
They clasped hands. It was becoming second nature. Still – Shino called her budding boyfriend Kido instead of Shinsaku. In fact, he insisted on Shin, but Shino found that far too informal.
“Shin and Shino,” Kido would muse, “Sounds like a pair from a kids’ TV show.” Shino would laugh but she was still sheepish. Kido had this laidback attitude that he made to look effortless, but it was also intimidating. He had to be, Shino supposed, to be coaching the girls’ baseball team through towering odds and near universal scrutiny. He was a good mentor for Ryo. Shino could trust him to look after her.
The two caught the bus into Shinjuku. Shino peered out the window to watch the world go by. It was mesmerising. Kido seemed to stare out only into the bus cabin, but once in a while he would look over at Shino with a smouldering look in his eye. They disembarked in the heart of town and started with a favourite bar they had been frequenting. It was something of a dive, a place Shino was initially frightened to even enter, walking down its gritty concrete steps to a basement which somehow reeked of danger, but after a couple visits, she’d grown accustomed to the atmosphere.
Inside was relaxed and jovial. Cigarette smoke tinged the air. Sweet liquors flavoured their palettes. Kido was a formidable partner to keep up with, knocking back the beers as though it was spring water, but Shino was holding her own. They chatted at the bar and laughed and had fun. After an hour, Shino pulled out a picture of Hidehiko; one she always kept in her pocket. She carefully stood him up on the bar and Kido ordered a couple of whiskeys. They raised their glasses.
“Thinking of you, buddy,” Kido saluted. Shino raised her glass too.
“Do you think his teammates are thinking of him too?”
Kido scoffed, “Maybe some of them. People move on.” He took a long swig of his drink.
“Take it easy now,” she warned him.
“Hmm, you’re a bad influence on me.”
Shino chuckled, “You’re the bad influence on me. I hardly ever drank before seeing you.”
“I’m sorry,” he said, quite earnestly.
“It’s okay,”
“It’s not. Drinking does nobody no good.”
“But you’re still having a good time, right?”
“Of course I’m having a good time,” Kido rubbed her shoulder reassuringly. “I don’t quite recall the last time I had such a good time. Least not since Hidehiko was around. Then again...”
“What is it?”
“Well, you know, I’ve been thinking of him a lot lately, and not just tonight I mean, for a while. I feel like I’ve been with him these last few months. Out there on the field. I see him every time I watch Ryo pitch a ball.”
“She’s a lot like her father.”
“Hmm,” Kido sipped his drink. “But she’s like you too, Shino. She’s got a cool temper, and kind to a fault.”
“That sounds like a bad thing! Kind to a fault.” she toyed with him. Kido laughed.
“Okay, okay, I take that back. But she truly is, you know? I’m just sorry I couldn’t get her to Koshien. She really deserved it.”
“There’s always next year?”
“True!” they clinked glasses and finished their drinks. “Well, sorry to say it’s that time again – your round. No sneaking off to the bathroom this time.”
“I did not sneak off!” Shino urged him. It was all in good humour. She went rummaging in her purse but began to grow concerned. It was visible on her face and Kido saw it in an instant.
“Hey, don’t worry about it. I’m only kidding. This one’s on me.”
“I’m sorry.”
“What did I say about not worrying? You doing okay, Shino? The restaurant doing okay, I mean? Getting any better the last few weeks?”
Shino shrunk into herself, “To tell the truth, no. Business is awful.”
“Would have thought all the punters would be coming in over summer. Maybe we need to get you some air conditioning.”
“I looked into that. Twenty-thousand yen.”
“Are you kidding? The one in my apartment didn’t cost nearly that much.”
“Needs to be big enough for the restaurant.”
The mood turned very dour. Shino had anxiety painted all over her face. Kido knew it too. Recently, when he occasioned the restaurant, there weren’t nearly as many customers, and he knew it wasn’t because of the heat. The prices had gone way up. He knew it wasn’t Shino’s fault. She had no choice. But it was driving business away. No one was paying a thousand yen for a mom’s kitchen bowl of ramen.
“You ever get into trouble, Shino, you know where I am.”
Shino gasped, “Thank you kindly, but you don’t need to say anything like that.”
“Hey, don’t be proud – everyone needs a little help sometimes. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not making a mint here, but we can work through whatever comes up. Deal?”
Shino was reluctant but nodded with a bittersweet smile. Kido returned it with one of his wry grins.
“Hey, how about we head to the next place?”
“Sure.”
The couple picked up their coats and Kido settled the tab. On the way out, he heard a familiar shrill nattering.
“One sec, Shino!”
“I’ll wait outside – I need a bit of air.”
“Alright.”
Kido rounded the corner to the pool table and saw the incorrigible trio, the ever-indomitable redhead and her lackeys cawing at her side. They were accosting some unfortunate fat lout who had no doubt overplayed his hand with the three young ladies or perhaps lost a bet to them playing pool.
“Now scram you fat oaf!” The redhead castigated him.
“Yeah, buzz off freakshow!” one of her henchmen whistled.
“Weirdo,” the other concurred.
Kido stepped into the fray as their piddling victim waddled off. “Hey ladies, mind if I take a shot.”
“In your dreams, creep...” Seira caught herself mid sentence, recognising her coach immediately as she turned. That did not stop her lackeys though.
“Take a hike, scumbag!”
“You reek of booze!”
“Girls, zip it!” Seira snapped. She turned bashful, and her side chicks didn’t know what to make of it. “Give us a minute, will ya?” Seira bade them, and they went trundling off without a word of protest.
“There was me thinking we were back in the clubhouse yelling at Yoko. She’s not with you, is she?”
“Hell no. She’s living it up on some movie set – the Primadonna.”
“That would suit her, all those cameras and lights. Not sure I’d rate her on her acting, though.”
“You’re telling me.” They both laughed nervously. The large man whom Seira was formerly taunting was loitering around the back of the bar with an amused glimmer in his eye, to which Seira silently snarled at him and he went fleeing up the stairs back to the high street.
“Thought you’d given up this racket,” Kido said with a tone of scrutiny; he was admittedly disappointed.
“Yeah, well, a girl’s gotta make a living somehow.”
You’re not the only one, Kido thought, and suddenly felt responsible for Seira too, and so too did he feel a portend for his pockets being vacuously empty.
“What did he give you?”
“A thousand yen.”
“Oh yeah? He bet a thousand yen on pool?”
Seira pouted. Her eyes darted sided to side. She looked uncomfortable.
“No?”
Seira had lost some of that domineering composure. Kido grew worried.
“What is it?” Kido asked. Seira became uncharacteristically small. She appeared like a child.
“I showed him my boobs – okay? There.”
“You did what!?” Kido wasn’t sure whether to laugh or not. He would have found it amusing if not for Seira’s face. He felt his own smile quickly killed.
“Easy money. They like it when you talk mean to them too.”
“Well, I don’t doubt you’re a pro at that. But – Seira? You sure you wanna be doing this? I mean, if you got a problem with money...”
“There’s no problem, alright!?” she snapped.
Kido was concerned, but equally, and quietly, relieved. He didn’t have enough spare income for Shino and Seira both.
“Well, you let me know all the same. What you do with your time...and your body, is none of my business, but hey, you got people who can help you if you’re in a scrape.”
“I got friends,” she motioned over to her lackeys, who Kido couldn’t help but think were nothing but enabling this sort of behaviour.
“Right. Well, I’m here all the same. You feel like you’re going off the rails, or you’re in too deep, you give me a call.”
Kido snatched a pen off a side table adjacent to the games area and took Seira’s hand in his own.
“Hey, what are you...!?”
Kido scribbled on the back of her hand. She looked down, brow furrowed, but her expression very gradually softened.
“That’s my home number. Don’t be afraid to get in touch if you’re in trouble. You might not be playing baseball right now, but I’m still your coach.”
Seira said nothing. She appeared glassy-eyed, and whatever thoughts swirled behind those steadfast milky walls Kido could not surmise, but he reckoned that he had got through to her in some small way. He waved goodbye, and Seira regarded him as he left, marked hand still held out before her as though it was disembodied. Her lackeys returned to her side.
“That old foagie gave you his number!?” one said.
“Gross!” the other chimed in.
“Hey, knock it off!” Seira regained her composure.
Kido rejoined Shino out on the street. She challenged him with her eyes.
“Who was that?” she asked.
“Hey, you were eavesdropping.”
“I was watching.”
“Didn’t figure you the jealous type, Shino? Not to worry though, that’s one of the Kisiragi girls.”
“Huh – she seemed very...mature.”
“Yeah,” Kido laughed, “Too mature for her own good.” Shino continued to eye Kido with suspicion. “Shino – don’t worry, I promise. She’s just a kid. A stupid, stupid kid.”
Shino’s shoulders dropped, “Hmm, you do just want to help, don’t you, Kido?”
“Hey! What have I told you a thousand times? Call me Shinsaku. We’ve been on enough dates to drop the formalities, right? And I’d rather you call me Shin. Shin and Shino, on the town!” he said with some music.
Shino smiled, and rejoined hands with him. The night was just beginning.