Richard the Fishheart

"I never have time."

"I never have time."

Akari was going into the office for a full day of work.

Toma was on set recording from early in the morning.

Both lost the whole day on work and didn't message each other much.

Akari was busy day after day, work from 9 to 9. "Amazing job, everyone."

Toma as well was just crushed by the schedule of recording and keeping himself in shape for this big role.

The days were white and grey. Outside the window from Akari's office, she could see that the air was stale and sitting very still. She, for a second, felt that soullessness of the whole life, of the whole planet that humans walk on. This is it. This is all there is. We live and die. There is nothing after this, so I may as well work the best I can. Then she continued with paperwork and business as per usual.

A few streets from Akari's office on the set where a big Japanese rom-com movie was being recorded, the air was a little bit more lively, like it was jumping up and down. I was on set, and someone called my name.

"Toma! Toma!"

"Yes, yes, what?"

"Coffee?"

"Yes, please, extra strong. I can't catch a moment to make it myself. Sorry, Sota." I made a small bow to thank him.

"Toma! Toma!"

"Yes, what, what?"

"Let me fix your makeup."

"Alright, thank you, Kai. Amazing job."

"Thank you, Mr. Toma." Kai said while putting a bunch of stuff on my face to make it look so smooth and perfect that it had this otherworldly feeling.

Kai was still putting makeup on me, but I heard from the left someone calling me.

"Shirakawa! Toma! Shirakawa, get ready. We need to start the next scene."

"Thank you again, Kai. I need to go now."

"Toma! Toma!"

"Toma!"

"Shirakawa!"

My name was thundering in my head. I need to do my lines in this scene, but in my head, there was a pulsating feeling, and all I could hear in my head was my name.

The director paused. "Toma, Toma, snap out of it."

"Yes, sir, of course."

The director stood up and gave us a three-minute break. "Makeup and coffee break, and then we continue."

I looked at my phone. Two new messages. I guess one is my father. Did Mother also write to me? Better check.

Ah yes, first message:

"Hi, son. I am not drinking again, but I need some money so Mum doesn't get angry."

I sent him some money.

The second message was from a surprising contact in my phone named Lady Blue. The message said: "Tomorrow dinner with me and important people. Don't forget, it is a must."

I was shocked. Did that much time pass? We didn't hear from each other in so long. What is happening? We didn't prepare. What am I going to do? Wait, why am I panicking this much? It will be fine. It is always fine. I responded with: "Yes, love. Send me the details and I will be there. I can even pick you up."

She responded immediately. I took a sip of coffee. She wrote: "Sure," and her address. I thought, Nice, it's a date. And I responded to her: "See you then."

I wanted to take another sip of coffee, but Sota took it from me so that Kai could do a little makeup fix on me. And then we shot some scenes and scenes till the unruly hours that in most countries of the world would be unimaginable to work until.

It was 7 a.m. Shooting was finished. We started the day before at 2 p.m., but I was there since morning. So I worked so much. How will I look at tonight's dinner? I hope I don't oversleep.

I was at my apartment. I fed my fish. I had a nice aquarium with one betta fish. I fed it now so my mother would not have to do it. I feel like a little kid when I need to make her do it, or one of my friends. Rarely it happens that for a whole day my betta fish, Richard the Fishheart, stays without food. Richard the Fishheart was a lot like me. I sometimes didn't get to eat the whole day as well. But I have hands and I can feed myself, but for him it is different, isn't it?

I love how he is resting on a little plant near the surface of the water. Is he just dreaming now? Do fish dream? Are they allowed to dream? Do fishes even sleep? I know nothing about fishes, damn. Maybe my little betta fish has dreams of becoming a bird... but what really is important is why am I thinking about this? I need to sleep. There I was, on my bed in a suit with full makeup from the set still on. The nice, elegant tangerine color suit was nice and warm, so I fell asleep.

Bz. BZ. Bz...

Bz. BZ. Bz...

"Hello, yes, who is it?" I picked up my phone.

Akari's voice came from the other side of the headphone. "Hi, Toma. Are you picking me up? Then I will be ready in 10 minutes."

"Yes, I was just now meant to call you. I am going towards the garage and my car. I can be there in 10." I was lying, or just a little bit transforming the truth. I was not ready. I overslept. I didn't know where I was.

"Great. I will be in front of the building. Remember, we are together, we will get married soon, and so on. Just make a good impression if you can, or let me talk."

"Yes, sure. Everything will be alright."

"K, bye."

"Okay, bye, Ms. Love ya."

She hung up, and in that moment I started to rush. I fixed my hair a little bit with water, grabbed car keys, and started GPS to the nearest flower shop.

I made it just in time. I saw a beautiful figure outside the address Ms. Akari gave me. She was standing there in a beautiful red dress.

It would have been cool if I had worn a blue suit or vest or a red suit. Damn it, I didn't change. This magenta color doesn't match perfectly with her red dress. Damn.

I exited the door and greeted her with a bow and flowers. She smiled. I walked with her and opened the door of the car for her.

Click. Click.

Flash.

I entered the car. "Someone took a picture of us just now. I heard it and saw it."

Ms. Asahina was unfazed. "Let's go. It's not important."

"Okay, if you say so, let's go. Who are these important people we are meeting anyway?" I asked curiously while going to crowded streets and trying not to look nervous by the traffic.

"It's the Prime Minister of Japan."

"Whaaaat?"

"Cool, right? Don't worry. It's only—"

"So we are going to dinner with Sachiko?" I asked, feeling totally bamboozled by this.

Ms. Asahina looked at me proudly like, "Ah, so you heard of him. You are following politics. How nice of you."

"I am not following it, but I know who Sachiko is. The stupid old eccentric, acting conservative with brutal intellect and shit behavior. He is my dad's long-time friend. Also, I am good with him, I guess..."

"Wait, what... NO."

"Yes."

"No."

"Yes."

"Nooooo, Toma, no."

"Ms. Akari, we can say yes and no in a circle all night, but I do in fact know Sachiko."

"Great. What are we going to do now? Do you think it will go well? My career is on the line here."

"It will be fine. Don't worry. We arrived," I said and showed with my finger towards the restaurant.

"His wife will also be present. Do you know her?" Akari was calmer with Toma being so confident that everything would be fine. She was her usual calm and cold self now, but just a moment before she was on the verge of slipping into panic mode.

"I know her. She flirted with me sometimes. She is a little bit older than him. But she is really something. She is more dangerous than him by far. You need to look confident in front of her. Sachiko only made it because of her. I am sure of it. She is a bloody stone-cold killer with instinct and people analysis."

"Great, just great, Toma. What if she realizes we are faking this?"

I leaned and kissed Akari without hesitation, without a plan. "Faking what? This is as real as it gets."

"Okay, let's go."

We entered the restaurant, and it was some nice fancy stuff. It was empty, just us and a bunch of security people who led us to one table. We seated ourselves, waiting for Sachiko and his wife.

We ordered a bottle of wine and sparkling water. I poured wine to Ms. Asahina, and the waiter poured sparkling water in my glass.

"You look amazing. Sorry that my suit doesn't match your dress. I didn't have time to prepare, you know, just work."

Akari's cheeks filled with air, and she sighed. "Yeah, I know. You don't have to tell me anything. I was swamped with work every day."

We chatted and chatted. I made some jokes and broke smiles on her serious face. In the moment when we had the most fun, the security brought to our table our host, so to say, Sachiko and his better half, his cornerstone, Michiko.

Sachiko's eyes widened, and Michiko's as well. "Well, I will be damned if I am seeing what I think I am seeing."

Michiko said, "Yes."

I stood up and offered a hand to Michiko. "Ms." Kissed her hand. Offered a hand to Sachiko and said to him, "Your beautiful eyes are not deceiving you, my love. I am the future husband of Ms. Asahina. Nice to meet you again. Ha ha."

"Ha ha ha." Sachiko was shaking my hand, intrigued as he was never intrigued before.

Akari smiled and bowed to both of them.

Sachiko wore some violet suit with a black bow tie. He was looking nice. He pointed his old greasy finger at Akari. "You. You little—"

Akari's face was smiling while she was standing there next to me, waiting for what Sachiko would say now, not being bothered by this rude finger pointing.

"You little smart girl." Then he looked at his wife and with his eyes begged her to jump in.

"Yes, she is indeed smart. I always heard great things about you."

"Let's have a seat."

"Let's. Let's."

Sachiko removed his black bow tie and tossed it. "Ha ha, this night will be interesting. I always thought you were boring, Akari. Ha ha."

Michiko looked at her husband with piercing eyes as a way to tell him to be serious. Her instinct was telling her that this couple was really what they looked like—a power couple not to mess with.

When his wife grabbed his hand under the table, Sachiko knew that he needed to get serious as well.

"Okay, let's talk business," he said. "I love this, and I will give you a high title, maybe even higher than I thought. But if you try to go against me, I will destroy you."

Toma wanted to speak. "Ey, old man..."

But Akari, with her hand, stopped Toma. "I understand. Thank you, sir."

"Ha ha ha, great then."

"Ey, old man, there will be no destroying. Are we clear?"

Ms. Akari grabbed my leg firmly below the table.

I didn't flinch and looked directly into Michiko's eyes.

She took a sip from a tall glass of some expensive French wine.

"So you are seriously gonna be her husband and defend her, you actor and playboy?"

"Yes." I was sharp, and all the tiredness from hard work disappeared from my body.

"If Akari and you come after the Prime Minister position, it will be war and destruction. We will unleash hell on you. I can promise you that."

Akari was a little bit stunned, and she slowly released the grip on my leg.

"I don't know about any of this, but I will be by Ms. Asahina's side whatever she decides or wants to do. Do you know that crocodiles have little birds that clean their teeth, Sachiko?"

"Ha ha, nicely said, Toma." Sachiko smiled. "Okay, Akari, you made a good choice by dating this young guy. I don't know how this happened or why. But the media will still not like this. He is much younger than you."

"I know, sir. I thought about it, and we will try to battle it together. Ageism is an issue that we can overcome and use to our advantage."

"Okay, you will be a lot in the media because you will be now Minister of Finance and my Deputy."

"What?" Akari asked, confused.

Toma's eyes widened as well.

"Yes, Akari, you will also be the Deputy Prime Minister as well as Minister of Finance."

Toma slow-clapped. "Everyone, clap for me. I made it happen, didn't I, Sachiko? Hahaha, I helped a little bit, maybe."

Sachiko and everyone laughed. "Ha ha ha."

"You have no idea what is happening here, you little player, do you?"

"No, not really, but it is good for my love. I am happy for her."

Michiko smiled as well.

"Enough of business now. It's done. Let's enjoy ourselves."

Toma's phone buzzed.

Underneath the table, he subtly managed to get it out of his pocket and discreetly look at the message.

Everyone was having a nice time, drinking, having laughs, and having, in general, honest fun. Toma's phone dropped on the ground. His eyes started to water. He was holding it.

Hold it in. Hold it in, damn it.

But down his cheeks, warm tears started to fall on the table, into his glass with sparkling water.

Akari grabbed his hand. "What is it?"

"My dad."

"My dad just had an accident, and he is no more."

"No more what?" Sachiko said. "No more what?"

"He is no longer with us."

Sachiko banged the table. The table broke. Everything from the table was in shambles.

He didn't cry. He held it in.

"Sorry to hear that, Toma. Please accept my deepest condolences."