asking, 'How's Yukari getting on?' He was asking this not so much to ascertain her well-being as to find out whether Aso was still seeing her.
'How should I know? I dumped the bitch.'
The answer only confirmed what Kensuke had expected. That kind of relationship could never have lasted long. Not only was Yukari obviously not Aso's type; not even she could tolerate such brutality for long.
'I'm sorry to hear it.'
The impression of Yukari remained vivid in Kensuke's mind. For some reason, she fascinated him.
'Want to know where I dumped her?' called Aso as he unlocked the door of his BMW and climbed into the driver's seat.
'You mean there's a place you dumped her?' replied Kensuke in surprise.
After all, 'dumped' simply meant 'broke up with'. No one used the word to mean tossing a woman in some sort of trash bin. Of course not.
'I found the perfect place. Want to know where?'
Aso's look became provocative. It was a pretty sick joke, but Kensuke decided to play along for a little while longer.
'Where was it you dumped her?'
'Battery No. 6.'
Battery No. 6… the uninhabited island out in Tokyo Bay. In the wake of the arrival, in Tokyo Bay, of Commodore Perry's 'Black Ships', Japan's feudal regime had created the islands to house gun batteries for protection against foreign attack. The only ones now remaining were Batteries No. 3 and 6. A breakwater now connected Battery No. 3 with Odaiba (Battery) Seaside Park, and only Battery No. 6 was still an island in the true sense of the word.
Kensuke laughed. Battery No. 6 was not far from a large refuse disposal site, and what was more, the island, which had been constructed to house a gun battery, had never once been used as such. It thus seemed the perfect place for dumping a girlfriend who'd outlived her usefulness. Kensuke couldn't help admiring Aso's sophisticated sense of humour. His jokes were good, very good.
'It's hot out there. Climb in,' Aso said, apparently not having yet had his fill of conversation. Kensuke got in and closed the door, and Aso turned on the air-conditioning and began his story. It was a detailed account of why he'd dumped Yukari, on Battery No. 6…
Yukari was pregnant with his child. But the cult she belonged to forbade abortion. She had pressed Aso to marry her - a common enough scenario. Cult or no, this was the kind of story that Kensuke often heard from Aso.
'Is that why you dumped her?' intervened Kensuke, nudging Aso to get to the end sooner than later. If Aso was left to recount the story at his own pace, the whole joke would begin to sound too real.
'The stupid bitch showed me this picture.'
Aso opened the glove compartment and took out a piece of paper folded into four. It bore a colour illustration. Kensuke stared at the juvenile thing. It showed green trees growing luxuriantly under a sun painted in gold. Under the trees sprawled grown men and women surrounded by children at play. Dogs, cats, and even lions strutted contentedly among the trees. A closer look at the picture revealed that this earthly paradise was surrounded by the sea. Perhaps it was in the tropics; the trees were laden with coconuts. Kensuke guessed the author at once.
'Yukari drew this?'
'Yeah, this is apparently what you get when the stuff she believes in is put on paper. Peace, tranquillity, no disease or old age, just life eternal. What do you make of it?'
Yukari was not much of a talker, and Kensuke could see how it must have been much easier for her to express her cherished ideal of paradise on earth as a picture rather than in words.
Kensuke just stared at the picture without answering Aso's question. After all, it wasn't the kind of question you could answer on the spot.
'Why don't we build our own paradise?' His hands clasped to his chest, Aso trilled grotesquely, mimicking Yukari. Then, dramatically jerking his face closer to Kensuke: 'Nothing pissed me off worse in all my twenty-three years. That idiot just doesn't have a clue about how utterly
'How should I know? I dumped the bitch.'
The answer only confirmed what Kensuke had expected. That kind of relationship could never have lasted long. Not only was Yukari obviously not Aso's type; not even she could tolerate such brutality for long.
'I'm sorry to hear it.'
The impression of Yukari remained vivid in Kensuke's mind. For some reason, she fascinated him.
'Want to know where I dumped her?' called Aso as he unlocked the door of his BMW and climbed into the driver's seat.
'You mean there's a place you dumped her?' replied Kensuke in surprise.
After all, 'dumped' simply meant 'broke up with'. No one used the word to mean tossing a woman in some sort of trash bin. Of course not.
'I found the perfect place. Want to know where?'
Aso's look became provocative. It was a pretty sick joke, but Kensuke decided to play along for a little while longer.
'Where was it you dumped her?'
'Battery No. 6.'
Battery No. 6… the uninhabited island out in Tokyo Bay. In the wake of the arrival, in Tokyo Bay, of Commodore Perry's 'Black Ships', Japan's feudal regime had created the islands to house gun batteries for protection against foreign attack. The only ones now remaining were Batteries No. 3 and 6. A breakwater now connected Battery No. 3 with Odaiba (Battery) Seaside Park, and only Battery No. 6 was still an island in the true sense of the word.
Kensuke laughed. Battery No. 6 was not far from a large refuse disposal site, and what was more, the island, which had been constructed to house a gun battery, had never once been used as such. It thus seemed the perfect place for dumping a girlfriend who'd outlived her usefulness. Kensuke couldn't help admiring Aso's sophisticated sense of humour. His jokes were good, very good.
'It's hot out there. Climb in,' Aso said, apparently not having yet had his fill of conversation. Kensuke got in and closed the door, and Aso turned on the air-conditioning and began his story. It was a detailed account of why he'd dumped Yukari, on Battery No. 6…
Yukari was pregnant with his child. But the cult she belonged to forbade abortion. She had pressed Aso to marry her - a common enough scenario. Cult or no, this was the kind of story that Kensuke often heard from Aso.
'Is that why you dumped her?' intervened Kensuke, nudging Aso to get to the end sooner than later. If Aso was left to recount the story at his own pace, the whole joke would begin to sound too real.
'The stupid bitch showed me this picture.'
Aso opened the glove compartment and took out a piece of paper folded into four. It bore a colour illustration. Kensuke stared at the juvenile thing. It showed green trees growing luxuriantly under a sun painted in gold. Under the trees sprawled grown men and women surrounded by children at play. Dogs, cats, and even lions strutted contentedly among the trees. A closer look at the picture revealed that this earthly paradise was surrounded by the sea. Perhaps it was in the tropics; the trees were laden with coconuts. Kensuke guessed the author at once.
'Yukari drew this?'
'Yeah, this is apparently what you get when the stuff she believes in is put on paper. Peace, tranquillity, no disease or old age, just life eternal. What do you make of it?'
Yukari was not much of a talker, and Kensuke could see how it must have been much easier for her to express her cherished ideal of paradise on earth as a picture rather than in words.
Kensuke just stared at the picture without answering Aso's question. After all, it wasn't the kind of question you could answer on the spot.
'Why don't we build our own paradise?' His hands clasped to his chest, Aso trilled grotesquely, mimicking Yukari. Then, dramatically jerking his face closer to Kensuke: 'Nothing pissed me off worse in all my twenty-three years. That idiot just doesn't have a clue about how utterly
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