Joel Rees Novels: Sudden Roommate (4) -- Ambiguities, Day 2

Previous: Running Mate

I threw myself into work, cleaning three of the residents' rooms in ten minutes before we started helping them get to the cafeteria for lunch. (Well, a quick clean of the porcelain surfaces, anyway.) While we watched them eat, several of the staff pressed me about the package. I just grinned a little ironically and said things were okay, it was not contraband after all.

At my lunch break, I went outside where I could make calls in private, and called the police and then the congregation leader at church. The police were still not encouraging about the options they could give Teru. She would be safer and they thought she would probably happier staying with me.

I mentioned that I wasn't sure of my own ability to deal with the situation, but they were not very concerned. They did say that it would change things if Teru thought I was a danger to her, and then they tried again to impress upon me how much better it would be for Teru to stay out of their system. And they said they'd drop by to check up on her.

Then I called the congregation leader, and she said she wasn't getting any positive responses. She was not telling anyone unnecessary details, beyond that Teru was my friend and needed a good family to stay with for a while, but everyone was too busy and had too little room.

I thought again about not being able to contact Teru as I went back inside to eat.

My boss was waiting for me in the break room.

"Are things really okay?"

"Sure."

"You've been a little distracted all morning."

I liked my boss, Ms. Yamatani. So far, she was a good boss.

Actually, I liked all my co-workers, although there were a couple who seemed to have interest in re-making me in their own shadow. If I'd just learn to do things their way, I'd be their perfect buka -- much like Jun's attitude toward me during middle school and high school had been.

Does everyone have to deal with this kind of thing? People who want them to be something they aren't? Who want to make disciples or underlings out of them?

I appreciated their desire to help, and I can deal, to a certain extent, with pecking order, but I am no mortal's disciple. I have to approach tasks the way I can understand them, or I make a mess of things.

Anyway, I'd learned that giving away too much of my personal life to the people I associate with every day is another way to leave me too much at the mercy of their whims. Maybe I could trust my boss. Or maybe her interest had ulterior motives I wouldn't be able to deal with down the road. I wasn't sure yet, so I hedged.

"Yeah, that package isn't contraband, but," I chose my words carefully, "it does incur some responsibilities."

She looked at me expectantly. "What kind? Can I ask?"

"I'd rather not say."

My boss looked worried. Just then my phone pinged. I checked, and there was an e-mail from my own gmail account. The subject said, "With apologies for logging in ..."

Teru.

"Excuse me, I need to answer this."

"No problem."

"It'll probably take the rest of my break."

"Okay, but if you need to talk, I'm here."

"Thanks." I nodded and smiled, distractedly, I'm sure, and she left.

I typed in my answers as I read the message.

> You're getting sloppy.
> Of course, you didn't expect to have a roommate,
> but you really shouldn't set any computer to autologin
> to your admin account.

As you say, I was not expecting it to be turned on while
I was out. And you're right. I should have already set up
a browsing and working account by now. But I've barely had a chance
to turn it on to even make sure it runs. This job keeps
me really busy.

> And why are you running the mainstream operating system
> that leaks like a sieve?

Well, I need to run those abominable mainstream office
applications, to read the manuals the company supplies.

So I got a cheap computer for it.

> Do you want me to set up some non-admin accounts to
> work in?

Go for it. In fact, if it'll run a virtual machine, go ahead and
install a proper host OS. I'll trust your choice.

But don't spend your money on the install media. I'll
buy that. There's a good shop near the apartment.

> Had to leave my phone, to avoid alerting Angel too
> early that I was leaving, and to make it harder for
> her to track me.

It sounds like we need to talk about that, too.

> So, there's this guy at work asking me for a date
> tomorrow night. Half of me says no, I don't want to
> be bothered. Another half seems to be saying it
> would give you some of the space you need.

Think about it with your mind, then ask your own
heart. If he's not a jerk, it could be a good chance to
make a friend here.

> Hope you don't mind too much.

Nah. I know you know what you're doing.

Yes, Teru was already something of a hacker when I went for my two years of service. She had taught me a few things about it before she left. What am I saying? Hacking was one of the things that the three of us did for fun. Hacking, not cracking.

When I got home after work, I climbed to the fifth floor of the apartment building and tested the air with my nose. It smelled like one of my neighbors had something unusually good cooking.

Teru was sitting in the open entryway reading my scriptures. She put my scriptures down and stood up, and took me into a hug and kissed me before I had time to react. Then she leaned back and looked into my eyes. "If we have to date other people, you are not going to just stand by and be my other big brother any more. I need something to compare them to."

"That's, uhm --" I was busy banking fires inside me. "-- poisoning the well."

"It sure is." She smiled. "But I know we can only handle so much poison, so no making out. Just a hug and a kiss when I need it."

"And I'm supposed to be Superman."

"Hi, Clark. But I'll be superhuman when you need it, too, okay?"

"Mmm. This is hard. We need to disengage and go shopping."

We untangled ourselves.

"No dinner first?"

I looked past her and noticed the kotatsu set up, with dinner laid out.

"That wonderful smell on my way up was my own apartment. You went shopping without me." I removed my shoes and stepped past her through the entryway, and she followed me. "Did you have the money?"

"Jun made me swear off shoplifting a year ago, and I did not mess with your stuff, well, other than your clothes."

"Woops. That wasn't what I meant. I meant, well, I hope you didn't spend money you couldn't afford."

She looked down, and I could see frustration leaking out. "So much of our lives is owned by the kumi. Even though I've been working part time for the last two years ..."

I reached out and lifted her chin and questioned her with my eyes.

"No, not on my back. I don't know how, but Jun and Aunt Fumiyo managed to keep me out of that."

I blinked and shook my head. "That was not what I intended to ask."

"I worked at a supermarket back home." She shrugged and looked away. "But even that money was taken by Angel when she chose. Jun suggested I salt a little away in a hidden corner of a drawer each paycheck. So I was able to get away with enough to pay my share of food until my first paycheck here."

"Okay, thanks for buying tonight, but hang onto it from now on, just in case." I set my pack against the wall and washed my hands at the kitchenette sink. "Say, if you really didn't know it was my apartment, why were your wearing my shorts and tee?"

A gaijin friend said the kitchenette was hardly worth calling a kitchenette, since it was little more than a cupboard and a sink in an extension of the entryway. His description was actually pretty accurate.

"I just was feeling really grungy after working a whole week in the same clothes, and I figured I could sweet-talk whoever I was borrowing it from. I mean, I kind of wished it could be you and I was scared it would be, but I was expecting Jun to arrange for me to stay with a girl. If I had known it was you, I wouldn't have borrowed it 'cause I know I can't sweet-talk you."

"And just what have you been doing the last day and a half?"

She smiled shyly. "What I've been trying to do for, like, six years?"

"Six years ago, you were still declaiming my cooties."

She grinned and gave me a sly look. "Young girls say things like that when they don't know what's going on inside themselves. I wanted to kiss you and I didn't know why, and it was scary."

I nodded and grinned and shook my head at the same time. "I guess little boys do some of that, too."

Dinner was simple, udon noodles with a fragrant soup. She had set aside some of the gu for Friday's lunches, so we had a little time to enjoy eating together before we went shopping at a nearby 24-hour mall.

As we walked to the mall, I asked her about the date.

"He suggested a lot of things I don't think I should do on a first date. I mean, things I don't want to do on a first date, knowing what people often do there."

"Such as?"

"Karaoke or movies or the planetarium or games at his place. Maybe for group dates."

"Mmm. I think I agree. I remember when you were twelve and convinced you should be doing all those things already."

She poked me in the ribs with her elbow. "Anyway, we settled on going to the aquarium before it closes. He works from two to six, so we could get in by six thirty, and we'd have a bit more than an hour to wander around and look at fish."

"I'm jealous. Do you want to take my phone?"

"I don't think it'll be necessary."

Enough food for the weekend was quick to purchase when we got to the mall. The SD cards for installing a secure OS were quick to find, and we passed a women's clothing store on the way out.

"You don't really have clothes for a date, you know."

"If you're offering to buy, you're saving for school so you don't have that much money, either."

"It would help members of our congregation think more positively about letting you stay with them if you came to church on Sunday. Let's see if we can find you something reasonable for a date and church in there."

It took me a bit more persuading, but she gave in and we found fairly conservative, but not too plain, jeans, a skirt, a nice blouse, and a tee shirt that weren't too much of a drain on my budget, and we went home a little better prepared for the weekend.

When we got home, the two officers from the day before were waiting, and again I stepped outside for a few minutes while they talked with her to make sure she was okay.

After they left, we did light exercises and went for a walk before baths, and between the exercise, the scriptures, and the prayers, and the baths, we both got to sleep okay. And Teru decided she'd pray, too.

I'll admit to sneaking a peek at her sleeping face as I drifted out. To the bone or skin deep, it was definitely not unpleasant.