Detective Yamamoto and the Assistant's Girlfriend Part 1

FRIDAY

Satoshi found himself once again working a shift at his day job at the convenience store. It wasn't a job he hated, or at least it hadn't been a job he hated. Working with Detective Yamamoto and the interesting variety problems that people had made his already dreary job of tending the cash register that much drearier. Previously at work, Satoshi had attempted to amuse himself and pass the time by people watching. When things weren't busy, he would watch people outside the window, or occasionally inside the store. Today was one of those days where he had time to kill, and the store now had a particularly beautiful patron.

Satoshi had noticed her right when she walked in. She looked young, perhaps the same age as him and beautiful. She had long brown hair and deep brown eyes. She was wearing a light-colored summer dress that Satoshi thought suited her particularly well. As he stared at her, she looked up in his direction. By reflex, he smiled briefly and looked away.

Oh dear, though Satoshi. I might have stared a bit too long.

Satoshi returned to his little hobby of people watching. He made an effort not to stare at the girl and avoid looking at her altogether lest he give her the wrong impression. He was becoming particularly engrossed by some cyclists outside when a voice broke him out of his trance.

"Excuse me," said a woman's voice. Satoshi turned and to his vague surprise, the beautiful girl had spoken to him.

"Hello, all set?" he said by reflex, before he noticed that she wasn't apparently buying anything. She shook her head.

"I have a question," she said, "and it might sound weird."

"What is it?" She fidgeted with the front hem of her dress for a moment before asking her question. She looked faintly embarrassed about the question she was about to ask.

"Are you a detective?" The question caught Satoshi off guard. He wasn't sure what sort of question he would expect the girl to ask, but this wouldn't have made the short list.

"No, I'm not," he said. Momentarily, the girl looked slightly confused.

"But don't you work with Detective Yamamoto?" she asked.

"It's more like 'for' than 'with'," said Satoshi. "I just help the detective out in my free time."

"I knew it was you!" she exclaimed as she clapped her hands together. "You and Detective Yamamoto found my little cousin's cat!" Satoshi was surprised. He had gotten used to receiving some gratitude from the detective's client when their cases were solved, but he had never experienced anything like this.

"Ah, I was just helping," he said. "It was all in a day's work." The girl smiled at him.

"You're awfully modest, aren't you?"

"I suppose so." The conversation lulled and Satoshi became briefly aware that a line had started to develop behind the girl.

"So, mister detective, I don't want to take any more of time. Are you free after work?"

"Free for what?" Satoshi asked. This was brand new territory for him, and he wasn't sure quite where this question was leading. If this woman had a case that needed to be solved, he would have to bring it to the detective, as he seriously doubted he could solve it himself.

"I was thinking coffee," she said with a smile.

Oh, that's what she meant, thought Satoshi. Then the full import of her words struck him.

"Yes, I'm sure I could make time- I mean I would like to, uh, miss?" Satoshi said, stumbling over his words.

"Call me Airi," the girl said. "I'll be waiting outside for you." She smiled again sweetly. "I'll let you get back to work. It's not fair of me to take up all of your time." She turned and started walking for the exit, stopping just long enough to look over her shoulder and wave coyly.

Satoshi was left in a daze momentarily before the first customer in the queue behind the girl set his goods on the counter.

"Ah, excuse me, good morning sir. Will this be all?" said Satoshi, snapping back into his cashier routine for the other customers.

~~~

The rest of Satoshi's shift went by at an abominably slow pace. The minutes seemed to stretch endlessly and the hours they added up to passed like a molasses leak in the winter. When Satoshi was getting ready to leave, he hastily took off his apron, hung it up in the locker and rushed outside about as fast as he decently could. When he got outside, he looked around but saw no sign of the girl from before. He looked around, scanning the surroundings, but even in the wider plaza, she didn't seem to be around. Satoshi was on the verge of utter disappointment and preparing to head over to the detective's office, as he had originally planned, when someone tapped on his shoulder.

"Looking for me?" asked Airi.

"Ah, nice to see you again," said Satoshi. "I don't believe I introduced myself before. My name is Satoshi."

"Nice to meet you, Satoshi," she said smiling. "Shall we get coffee?" Satoshi smiled.

"Certainly."

~~~

Detective Yamamoto was vaguely aware that something was wrong. Now was about the time of day that Satoshi usually arrived at the office, and he was always very punctual. Detective Yamamoto didn't want to worry about him, in truth she didn't want to worry about anything besides the details of her current case and whether she had run out of beer, but Satoshi represented something of a special case. The poor guy was listless. When he first met the detective, he was at a very low point in his life, and although she didn't want to toot her own horn, Detective Yamamoto thought it was fair to say she had helped turn his life around. Of course, she wasn't entirely successful. He still had his hangups, but out of the goodness of her heart, Detective Yamamoto had tolerated him tagging along on a few cases, and over time, she had even started to become fond of him, in the way that an ugly stray dog can be endearing due to its fierce loyalty.

Detective Yamamoto glanced at the wall clock again. By her estimates, Satoshi should have arrived nearly fifteen minutes ago. She wasn't unduly worried, but if someone with a case approached her, and she didn't have her assistant around, it would be mildly inconvenient.

As the half hour mark rolled around, Detective Yamamoto decided to do something. She didn't have any contact information for Satoshi, but she did know what convenience store he worked at. It was a bit of a hike, especially from her office, but she knew Satoshi did it frequently. If it was something her assistant could do, Detective Yamamoto felt certain she could manage it too.

Unfortunately, after walking the distance to the convenience store in some uncomfortably humid weather, Detective Yamamoto discovered that Satoshi had seemingly left already, as he was neither inside nor outside. Detective Yamamoto decided that since she had made the effort to get here, she might as well try and get more information and patronize the place. There was no sense in not killing both birds when they had lined themselves up so nicely.

"Hello, can I help you with anything?" screeched a bubbly girl with a shrill voice.

"Yes actually," said the detective. "Have you seen Satoshi around? He works here."

"Satoshi?" asked the girl at the register. She glanced over at the clock hanging on the wall. "He was working today and his shift ended about an hour ago. Is something wrong?"

"Yes," replied Detective Yamamoto. "My assistant is missing."

"Oh dear, I hope you find him," said the cashier. The detective nodded her thanks and went about browsing the refrigerated drinks. Ultimately, she settled on a can of tea; she had plenty of beer back at the office. After paying at the register, cracking the can open, and guzzling down half the contents, Detective Yamamoto set off back to her office.

~~~

Satoshi sat across from Airi at a small two seat table in a nearby coffee shop. Airi had picked it out. She said she was a frequent customer and that they made good coffee. Satoshi wasn't much of a coffee drinker, so he took her word for it. He had followed her lead when ordering. She had ordered a latte, and so had he.

"So where do we begin?" asked Satoshi. He took a sip of the latte to punctuate his question. Airi looked pensive for a moment as she too took a sip.

"How did you meet Detective Yamamoto?" she asked. Satoshi thought it was sort of an odd question to ask on a date, but considering that the detective was indirectly responsible for this date happening in the first place, he saw fit to let it slide unchallenged.

"That's a long story," Satoshi replied. "I had my unpublished manuscript stolen and I went to the detective for help.

"Manuscript? Are you a writer?" Satoshi looked mildly bashful.

"You could say that. I haven't managed to get anything published yet."

"That's still really cool!" Airi said. It sounded as if she was genuinely interested rather than just trying to reassure him.

"So what do you do?"

"For fun or for work?" Airi asked coyly.

"Both, I suppose," clarified Satoshi.

"I work in marketing," said Airi, "but I love art."

"Really? Do you paint or something?" It was Airi's turn to look slightly embarrassed.

"Just a little. I'm not very good."

"I'm sure that's not true," said Satoshi. "I'd love to see your art." Airi fixed him with a peculiar smile.

"Maybe I'll show you sometime," she said.

The two of them ended up talking for nearly an hour, long after they had finished drinking the coffee they had ordered. Satoshi briefly glanced at his watch, and he was slightly dismayed to see that so much time had passed so quickly. It wasn't that he hadn't enjoyed his time with Airi, he had, but he realized that what he intended to be a quick little meeting had cut into time he planned on spending by helping the detective.

"Airi," Satoshi said. "I've really enjoyed our time here, but I've got another commitment." She looked disappointed but understanding.

"If you must," she said. She stood from her seat and walk around the table, over to Satoshi's side. "Let me give you something to remember me by." She leaned forward and kissed him on the cheek. Satoshi raised his hand to his cheek where her lips had been. She waved coyly and started to walk away.

"Wait, Airi," Satoshi called after her. She stopped and turned halfway, looking at him expectantly. "Do you want to go to Shimokawa Art Museum tomorrow?" It was unlike him to propose something like that so suddenly, but there was something about Airi. She nodded, smiling. Then she walked back over to the table she had been sitting at. She took a paper napkin and wrote something down on it.

"Tell me where and when, and I'll be there," she said. Satoshi looked at the napkin and saw that it had a phone number. He looked up and smiled back at Airi.

"Of course," he said. "I'll call you and let you know."

 "See you tomorrow, Satoshi," Airi said, waving goodbye. Satoshi was so entranced that he sat for a moment to contemplate everything that had happened, totally ignoring that he had intended to head over to the detective's office.