The ryokan did not, in fact, have a business center, surprising no one. However the Inn’s Obaasan—call me Toshiko, she said—was kind enough to lend them her phone, a poor compensation for her most untimely interruption. She had apologized profusely for “disturbing their communion with nature,” delighted as she was to see Kaori squirm, her face a light shade of crimson. Ma?l’s embarrassment was a nice touch too but he spoke little Japanese and could not be teased properly.

  Older people everywhere seem duty-bound to embarrass the younger generations, and Toshiko was most dutiful. Ma?l strongly suspected she had known precisely when to open that God-forsaken creaky door. Had she been watching? His cheeks turned red at the thought.

  Accessing internet after a week of total isolation felt strange, comforting and yet mildly depressing. It was as if humans weren’t meant to be connected to the entire world every minute of their lives. Chasing the foolish thought from his mind, Ma?l resisted the urge to log into all of his social accounts and headed straight to travel aggregators. There were two airports within driving distance, Kagoshima International and Miazaki. About one or two hours away by car. Both had flights to Thailand, going through Taipei or Incheon.

  “What do you think?” he asked.

  “Kagoshima is closer, and it’s also a smaller city. It’s our best option. If we leave now, we can catch this one.” Kaori said, pointing to an early evening flight.

  “We don’t have a car though.”

  “Toshiko has one, and she owes us!” she declared with much conviction. Ma?l nodded in agreement, elated to see his frustration shared.

  They had considered resuming their ‘communion with nature’ in a more suitable location, but their room was somewhat drab—unworthy of their first time—and the magical moment had passed anyway. They weren’t safe in Japan and the longer they remained in the area, the greater the risks. Obaasan seemed most chatty and Ma?l was confident the entire village had already been informed of the bathing incident. A few more hours and the entire region would know. The map showed clearly this was a bottleneck with only a couple of exits. Without their own means of transportation, they were sitting ducks.

  “What should we tell her? I paid for two nights and we are leaving before spending the first one.” Ma?l asked.

  “Can you act worried? I think your mother just had an accident.” Kaori answered with a smile.

  “What?—Oh. Sure, let’s do this!”

  They rushed back to reception. Ma?l bowed hastily and spoke in English:

  “So sorry. Do you have a car? We need go. Emergency. Now.”

  Toshiko turned to Kaori in alarm. The foreigner was crazy.

  “What is he saying?”

  “His mother is at the hospital. I’m so sorry, we need to go now. Can you drive us to Kagoshima airport?” Kaori said, looking distraught.

  Toshiko paled. “Of course, child. Get your luggage, my son will take you in five minutes, and I will refund your stay.”

  “Thank you so much, but please do keep the money. I couldn’t forgive myself if we abused of your hospitality.”

  “In that case, allow me at least to offer you the ride.”

  “You are too kind, Obaasan.”

  Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original.

  Kaori bowed, and Ma?l imitated her a second later although he clearly hadn’t understood anything that transpired, beyond the fact that it worked. Minutes later, they were in the car, Ma?l still wearing the hotel’s yukata. Kaori had bought two as a souvenir in exchange for 8,000 yen and a token promise that they would come again, if they passed in the area. It was one of those face-saving promises that Japanese people are so fond of, neither party ever expecting the promise to materialize. After all, how large was “the area”? If they didn’t come precisely in this village, would the promise apply? Surely not.

  Toshiko’s son was a man of small stature and looked about fifty years of age. They were lucky he was here, it was his car Kaori had seen in the garage. Toshiko rarely “traveled to the big city” as she called it.

  As the car neared town, Ma?l became increasingly confident in their escape. After all, if they managed to leave Japan, they were in the clear, right? He settled on Thailand as their destination and Kaori didn't argue. She was doing her best to match his energy and hide her worries. Aoki was her friend, but that didn’t change the fact she was going to try and fly out of Japan with a stolen passport, using a false identity. Would she be recognized at the airport? That was possible. Getting caught on arrival was even more likely.

  She wore Aoki’s clothes, her haircut, and she had worked miracles with makeup and acting. She was even walking like her. Yes, she was sure she could fool all but the keenest observer into thinking she was Aoki, but none of that mattered if she had to give fingerprints! Japan did not check the fingerprints of citizens traveling out of the country though. Or at least, that’s what she remembered, but perhaps that was just because she was flying on a private plane. Thailand on the other end… She would have her fingerprints checked there. What would happen if she tried to enter the country and the computer flagged her?

  As far as she knew, Aoki had never been there, but it had been a while since she last seen her, and she couldn’t just call her now and tell her “Oh, I stole your passport and I am about to flee the country. By the way, your ship is a wreck.” She would have to, but not yet.

  By the time the car pulled in front of the airport, she was one too. She wished she could at least confide in Ma?l. He’d know what to do, but she couldn’t say it. He was sure she WAS Aoki. How would she even go about explaining the problem? BTW, I was lying to you this whole time? That would go well. No. This was her cross to bear. She was Kaori, Spy Extraordinaire, and this, this was a trivial part of the trade.

  She bowed to the driver, and thanked him profusely for his help. He refused to take any money for the trip. Emergencies happened, how could he possible charge them for it? Kaori felt a tinge of guilt, but really, they had paid quite enough at the guest house to justify a free ride.

  “Look. There’s a coffee shop here.” Ma?l said.

  “So?”

  “You are going to take a coffee and relax while I go in and see if I can buy us some cellphones and a set of proper clothes… the less time you spend in the airport, the less risk there is.”

  “What about you?”

  “Do they even know I exist?”

  He was right. Oroshi was looking for Kaori in Tokyo. Ma?l in Kagoshima? He was probably as safe as could be.

  Barely an hour passed and Ma?l was already back. He was wearing a pair of jeans, some running shoes and a shirt that proudly claimed “I love Kagoshima!” in big red letters. He grinned and handed her a new phone and a pair of sunglasses.

  Such a wonderful man.

  “It’s time.” he said simply.

  Check-in went through without a hitch. She was surprised to see he had booked two economy seats.

  “You didn’t get us first class?”

  He winced and she realized he had paid the tickets with his credit card, not hers. Lord, she needed to get that man some money!

  That too was a problem now. Their relation had moved far beyond mere money. She’d almost slept with him only a few hours ago, and… if all goes well, I will sleep with him tonight, she thought with a large grin. But how will he feel then, if I pay him tomorrow? It’d been a week, payment was due, but the timing… Oh lord, why does it have to be so complicated?

  On the positive side, the issue had taken her mind off completely from the passport challenge, and as she walked to the immigration counter, she was quite relaxed. Next to relationship stuff, dealing with police didn’t seem nearly that hard, and surprisingly it wasn’t. The man didn’t even look at her. He just took the passport, scanned it in and after a handful of nerve-racking seconds while he was fiddling with the computer, he handed it back to her with a perfunctory “Have a nice trip.”

  Once again, they were officially out of Japan!