The Collection - Chapter 9
It hadn’t been a good weekend. Yamashita had enjoyed taking care of his collection as always but something was not right. He couldn’t stop thinking about that almost kiss. Why? He had his collection finally complete and they were all perfect and he felt complete, or almost.
He put on the oversized hoodie and covered his head with it. He grabbed the trays and went down the stairs to the doll house. He went to each of the rooms to given their breakfast. First, Blue. She had stopped swearing at him around the time he had brought Purple but she was still a handful: she would mess up her dress and her hair the fastest and sometimes mess up with the room. That was okay, some dolls required more maintenance. Next was Purple. From time to time she still threaten that people were looking for her that they would find her. She really was adorable. Then it was Green’s turn. She was usually quiet and she had the ability to calm Purple down. Next, he went into Yellow’s room. He knew that he was still plotting ways of escaping, but it was safe today, she wouldn’t try anything, there wasn’t much to try. Then, came cute little Pink. She was still adapting but Yellow was helping. He came in quietly and left the tray on the small table. His mind started to wonder again. “what was she doing?” “what would have happened if they had actually kissed” “Nothing. It couldn’t go beyond that. It was just curiosity, not that he hadn’t been with other women but he never felt comfortable with anybody until…
“Can I at least call my mom? Just to tell her I’m fine and not to worry.”
Yamashita never answered their questions but she caught him unawares and something in her voice made him answer.
“She knows you are okay.” he said.
“You are the one who leaves the letters, right?” Yamashita nodded. “But if I can talk to her she can be sure.”
“She knows you are okay and this is where you are supposed to be, I explained all that to her.” With that Yamashita left the room. He had spoken too much. She had surprised him. If he could only stop getting so distracted.
It was Wednesday today. Maybe if he went to the office he could get some fresh air and focus?
She grabbed his keys and left his house. He lived an hour and a half away from the city and his was the only house for miles. No nosy neighbors who would try to talk to him. It was also close enough that he could commute. It was perfect. Her mother had loved the house and that’s why she’d let it to him. He had moved in, given away her doll collection (as she’s asked). He had been lost for awhile until he saw the first piece and he knew what he had to do: start a collection of his own of his own.
He arrived at the office, said hello and went into his office. He turned his computer on and stared at the screen, and stared at the screen, and stared at the screen…
After several times of walking in front of Yamashita’s office and seeing him spacing out, Kimura knocked on his door and let himself in.
“Hey, how are you doing?” Kimura asked.
“Good, you?”
“Fine, fine. So, what are you working on?” Yamashita looked at the screen again “Wow, that screen must have the answer to all of life’s problems; you’ve been staring at it since you came.”
“Sorry. I’m just… I don’t know just one of those days.” Or weeks, he added to himself.
Kimura stared at Yamashita. He couldn’t just come out and say what he wanted to because Yamashita would deny it and just close up. So he went on another direction.
“You want to make yourself useful? Would you mind playing the errand boy for a while?”
“What do you need?”
“I need you to deliver a last paycheck. I would send one of the guys but we are actually very busy and you seem like you could use the fresh air. I’ll give you her address. It’s silly but it’ll really help.”
HER address?? Of course, she was the only employee that he knew of who would be receiving a last paycheck.
Yamashita frowned. “I don’t know. It sounds like anyone can do it.”
“You are right.” He immediately said. “I just wanted you to get some fresh air. No worries I’ll tell Hiroshi to do it. You know, I think he likes her. The night you got locked up in the elevator he kept checking the time and he was the one who insisted we came to the office looking for you two. Yes, that’s better, he’ll be happy to do it.”
Yamashita knew what he was doing, and it was working.
He stared at Kimura. He was holding the envelope in his hand.
“I know what you’re doing.” Kimura waved the envelope in front of him.
Yamashita got up and grabbed the envelope.
“The address is in the envelope.” Kimura said with a smile in his voice.
It was 5:30 in the afternoon and Akane was still in her black pajama bottoms and her old red tank top. And she had her hear tied up with a pen. She was working on one of her designs and she was sewing like crazy. She heard her doll bell ring. Who could it be? She ran to the door and opened it. Her eyes opened and she was pretty sure she dislocated her jaw when she saw the person standing at her door: Yamashita-san.
“Hi” he said.
Akane shook herself “Hi” she answered.
“I just came to bring you this.” He showed her an envelope with her name on it. And still she kept staring at him like an idiot.
“So, um, here.” He said extending the envelope to her.
“Oh, sorry” Jesus, was it just her or was she forever apologizing to him? “Please come in.”
He looked about to say no and bolt, but in the end he nodded and came in.
“Um, would you like something to drink?”
“Sure.” He answered.
She was trying hard not to stare at him. Finally she looked up and caught him staring at her.
Yamashita drifted his eyes around the house and pretended she didn’t just catch him staring. His eyes landed on a room that looked like a mess. He went loser and looked inside. It was filled with fabrics, there was a sewing machine and… were those dolls?
Akane came running to the room. “It’s not usually this messy; I’m working on some clothes.”
Yamashita nodded and went to the dolls and hesitantly grabbed one.
“Um, yeah my little collection. I told you I was a designer. Well I like to design for dolls. People tend to think I’m kidding when I tell them, so I just say I’m a designer and nothing else.” Yamashita was silent. “These are my models. They are way less demanding that flesh and blood models and they are better listeners too…” What did she just say?? “Not that I talk to them… much. I mean yeah, I talk to them, but they don’t answer back or anything and I don’t expect them to… I… I’ll shut up now.”
Why couldn’t she just shut up? Thought Akane. “I’ll get the tea.” Great, now he thought she was a maniac. She went into the kitchen defeated. She had wanted to talk to him so that she could maybe convince him to resume their friendship.
“Kurogawa-san? I better go” Yamashita said.
“Okay” Akane said. “But first…” How could she put it? “Look, I know that this is kinda weird now, but I do miss talking to you, without feeling like an idiot or crazy, and maybe if you want we could still see each other and talk. Aside from the dolls I'm quite normal… well no, I’m not…” She was babbling nonsense, but she couldn’t stop. She took a deep breath and said “I know after the elevator you were uncomfortable, I know you’re not interested in me that way and the reasons are entirely your problem, not mine. So maybe if we can still be friends… I’m glad that kiss didn’t happen… I mean, not that I didn’t want to, I did” Why couldn’t she just shut up??? “I did want you to…”
And then he grabbed her wrist, brought her closer and kissed her. Well, that shut Akane up. She was so surprised she didn’t even kiss him back. Wasn’t he gay? He was, wasn’t he? He deepened the kiss, released her wrist and then his hands were in her hair, her back…
Holy! His hands didn’t seem to be gay. Oh, who the hell cares thought Akane and kissed him back.
Yamashita pushed Akane against the kitchen counter. This is not why he had come but it was happening anyway. If there could be someone who might actually understand him, it might be her.
And even though he had wanted to run from there, lock himself at home and forget about her, he now knew he couldn’t.
Yamashita was thinking all this and Akane was thinking of nothing really. But at some point she was taken his shirt off and she was glad that the part of her brain that thought that, was still functioning. Jesus, if he had looked good in his clothes, MAN did he look good without them. The same part of her brain that had told her to undress him, told her to move from the kitchen and lead him to the bedroom. And since it apparently had very good ideas, she listened to it...
CH01 - CH02 - CH03 - CH04 - CH05 - CH06 - CH07 - CH08 - - CH10 - CH11 - CH12 - CH13 - CH14 (Final)