Time passed, but my master did not appear, and then I remembered his words from the night before. He would not come. Hiroshi had said that he would have to leave me alone. He had spoken of a bathroom and a kitchen. As my thoughts went in that direction, my stomach was already growling.
But first, I had to wash myself. Hiroshi always gave me food only after I had cleaned myself.
He would disapprove if I did not comply.
It didn’t matter whether he could see me or not.
As soon as my master returned, he would ask me questions again, and I would tell the truth, too. At least, then he would know of my offense.
So I quickly put on my kimono, took my new underwear, and hesitantly stepped to the door. I had never looked behind it before, but Hiroshi had given me permission, so it had to be okay. My hand trembled as I pushed the knob. Carefully, I opened the door and had to squint my eyes because the room behind was so brightly lit.
It was Hiroshi’s bedroom. There was no doubt about it. I took a step and stood in a brightly lit room with a futon bed and two large black dressers. On one lay all the tools Hiroshi had used on me. Immediately the memories of those moments came back, and I had to swallow.
I quickly turned to my right and saw a black door. Everything that wasn’t fabric or the walls was black. It seemed oddly minimalist but not sterile. I walked the few steps to the bathroom door, opened it, and slipped through. It almost felt like sacrilege to walk through Hiroshi’s bedroom. My heart was pounding in my chest because of it, but now I was standing in his bathroom. Again, it was not only clean but neat. It reminded me of my bathroom. Even though this one was nicer, newer, and of higher quality than mine. On the right side of the sink was my toothbrush in a cup, so I guessed the rest of my hygiene items were on the right side of the mirrored cabinet, and I was right about that.
It was such a weird feeling to suddenly be using the toilet again and not a bedpan. Why hadn’t Hiroshi just blindfolded me and taken me to the bathroom when I needed to?
Surely, he had had his ulterior motives in doing so. Didn’t he want me to know that I was trapped in an apartment building? Would I have tried to free myself if he had?
I could not answer that question.
Hiro
I hadn’t thought that not having Kate around would make me so restless. On the flight to Osaka, I had barely slept a wink. Barely touching the ground, I had the livestream of my surveillance cameras shown above me via my cell phone. As soon as I saw my little hummingbird, I felt better. It had gotten worse as soon as she had started calling me ‘sir.’
Now it was early morning in San Francisco, and she was still asleep. I wouldn’t have a chance to see how she had spent the day until I was in the car on the way back to the airport.
My curiosity about how she would act was not as great as my concern about how she would feel when Kate realized she was in an apartment building. But that would have to wait. The men guarding my house, as always, knew of her presence. I had also informed them about what to do if Kate tried to escape.
Kate
Killing time until Hiroshi’s return all by myself had been nearly impossible, yet all I had to do was what I did most of the day: wait. Only this time, I didn’t know when Hiroshi would get home. He hadn’t explicitly forbidden me anything. But that only made me think that the whole thing was a test. That’s why I hadn’t dared to look around and had watched TV all day.
Then, when it was time to sleep, I lay down on my mattress in my room as usual, but I couldn’t sleep.
What if Hiroshi didn’t come back? Yes, of course, I was in his house, and this was surely a test, but what if he didn’t? What if he really was away on business on behalf of his family and something happened to him?
The thought made me panic. I started pacing up and down my room. Then I decided to take punishment.
I approached his bed. Actually, I had only wanted to take his pillow, but this bed smelled so wonderfully of him. I could not resist the temptation to lie down in his bed. Maybe I was lucky, and he would not be back the next morning?
While I was still thinking about it, I fell asleep. It seemed like a moment later that I was startled out of sleeping soundly. Hectically, I jumped out of bed and straightened the sheets. Hopefully, Hiroshi wouldn’t notice. But the morning came and went. I put the dishes I had taken for my breakfast in the dishwasher, straightened my kimono, and made my way to my room.
This time, I decided I would wait for him there. That was certainly what he wanted me to do.
Hiro
As soon as I was in the car on the way home from the airport, I immediately called up the app for the livestream of my surveillance camera. Here in San Francisco, it was already late afternoon, and I wondered what she would be doing. I found Kate waiting in her room. She was wearing the yukata I had given her. This fact brought a smile to my face.
Still, I was curious how she had spent the time without me and rewound the records to the time I had last seen her.
It was fascinating to watch the way Kate initially acted as if she were an intruder. Yet the objects
