It took the girls almost twenty minutes to navigate a path that only took five on a normal day. They seemed to be attracting far more than their share of attention, but Eriko knew all too well the boys were there for Yukiho, not her. So had it always been, ever since they were in middle school.
The frantic invitations died down once they were through the college gates. Eriko and Yukiho headed for the gymnasium. Opening ceremonies would be held here this year.
Folding chairs stretched out in long rows behind department names posted on placards. The two girls sat down in the row for English Lit. There should have been about forty new students in the department, but only half the seats were filled. Students weren’t under any particular obligation to attend the opening ceremony, which meant that most would be arriving late, just in time for official school club recruitments, Eriko imagined.
The opening ceremony consisted of greetings from the president and the department heads. The speeches were painfully boring; it was all Eriko could do to stifle her yawns.
Outside the gymnasium, tables from each school club had been lined up on the campus lawn. There were some boys from Eimei here too, though energy levels were far more subdued than they had been that morning at the station.
‘Going to join any clubs?’ Eriko asked Yukiho as they walked outside.
‘Maybe,’ she said, passing her uninterested gaze over several of the club posters.
‘There’s an awful lot of tennis clubs – and skiing,’ Eriko noted. It seemed those two activities made up about half of all the clubs. She guessed these clubs were less about community and school spirit, and more about skipping out on class and scoring free trips to the mountains.
‘Not interested,’ said Yukiho.
‘No?’
‘I’d just get sunburned.’
‘True.’
‘Did you know that your skin remembers the exact amount of ultraviolet radiation it’s absorbed? Even if a tan fades, the damage is done. And when you get older, you’ll pay in wrinkles. They say tans are for the young, but if you ask me, the young are the last people who should be getting tans.’
Eriko looked over at her friend, her skin as white as the ‘yuki’ meaning ‘snow’ in her name, and agreed that she had something worth protecting.
The boys began their approach, like fruit flies to a banana. They invited them to play tennis, go skiing, play golf, go surfing – all things that would give you a serious tan, Eriko thought bemusedly. Yukiho wasn’t paying them any attention. She had stopped, her eyes looking up at a poster. The sign read:
Ballroom Dance
(A joint club with Eimei University)
Two girls, new recruits by the look of them, were talking with the members by the club table. There was no sports paraphernalia here – everyone behind the table, Seika girls and Eimei boys both, wore dark, stylish jackets. They seemed more adult and refined than the students in the other clubs.
The boys had already noticed Yukiho stopping and one of them approached almost immediately.
‘Might you be interested in a dance?’ he asked. He was handsome, and there was a deliberate precision to his words.
‘A little,’ Yukiho said honestly. ‘But I’ve never tried it before, and I really don’t know much about it.’
‘Everyone has to start somewhere,’ the boy said. ‘But don’t worry, you’ll be dancing in a month.’
‘Would it be all right just to watch?’
‘Of course.’ He led Yukiho over to the desk as they talked and introduced her to the girl members from Seika. Almost as an afterthought, he looked back around at Eriko. ‘How about you?’
‘No, I’m fine.’
‘OK!’
He went straight back to Yukiho, afraid that other boys might angle in on his catch, Eriko thought. Already three other boys were crowding around her.
‘Why don’t you audit?’ said a voice from behind Eriko. She jolted to one side and glanced around to see a taller boy looking down at her.
‘No, really,’ she said, ‘I’m fine.’
‘Why not?’ he asked with a smile.
‘I just don’t think dancing is my thing. I’m not suited for it. And if they found out, my family would go into shock.’
‘There’s no such thing as being suited or unsuited for dancing. Isn’t your friend going to audit too?’ He glanced towards where Yukiho was standing near the club table. ‘Come along, just once. Take a look. If you don’t like it, you don’t like it – we won’t force you to join just because you came to watch.’
‘Really, it’s OK.’
‘You don’t want to dance?’
‘It’s not that. In fact, I think it would be nice to be able to dance. I just don’t think I’m cut out for it.’ She shook her head. ‘No, I’m definitely not.’
‘Oh, I doubt that,’ the tall student said, giving her a suspicious look. But his eyes were smiling.
‘I – I’d get dizzy right away.’
‘Dizzy?’
‘Seasick. I’m just not very good at swaying from side to side.’
The boy raised an eyebrow. ‘What does that have to do with dancing?’
‘Well,’ Eriko said, lowering her voice, ‘don’t the boys whirl the girls around a lot? Like that scene from Gone with the Wind when Scarlett dances with Rhett Butler. Just watching that made me feel a little sick to my stomach.’
Eriko had meant to be serious, but it was hard to keep a straight face when the boy started to laugh midway through her explanation.
‘A lot of people get nervous when you mention the word “dance”, but that’s the first time I’ve ever heard that excuse.’
‘But I’m not joking. I really am worried.’
‘I don’t believe it.’
‘Honest!’
He shook his head. ‘You owe it to yourself to at least see what you’re so frightened of,’ he said, taking Eriko by the hand and pulling her over to the club table.
Yukiho had just finished signing up to audit. She was smiling at something the three boys behind the table were saying. When she saw Eriko get dragged over, her eyes widened in surprise.
‘Another for auditing,’ the tall student said.
‘What’s Kazunari doing recruiting?’ whispered one of the girls at the table.
‘I believe this fine young lady has misconceptions about dance that need correcting,’ he said, flashing white teeth at Eriko.
Dance club ended precisely at five, after which several of the boys from Eimei would invite new recruits who showed potential out to a café. This café date was the sole purpose for which many of them had joined the club in the first place.
Tonight, Kazunari Shinozuka was in a hotel in Osaka. He was sitting on a sofa next to the window, his notebook open on his lap with a list of twenty-three names. Not bad, he thought. It wasn’t an outrageously large number, but it was more than the year before. The question was how many would actually join.
‘There were a lot more boys this year than usual,’ came a voice from the bed.
Kanae Kurahashi lit her cigarette and blew out a stream of grey smoke. Her bare shoulder was exposed, though she held a blanket over her breasts. The dim light of the nightstand lamp left the exotic features of her face in shadow.
‘You think?’
‘Don’t you?’
‘Seemed the same as always to me.’
Kanae shook her head. Her long hair swayed. ‘No, today was definitely different. And I know who’s to blame.’
‘Do tell.’
‘That Karasawa girl. She’s joining, right?’
‘Karasawa?’ Kazunari traced down the names in his notebook with a finger. ‘Yukiho Karasawa… English Lit.’
‘You don’t remember her? That’s hard to believe.’
‘No, I remember her. Though I don’t remember her face that well, to tell you the truth. We had a lot of people audit today.’