　　　When Takano-san came back to his table, however, the smile he had been wearing on the stage was already gone from his face.

　　　The Karaoke Saloon Sakura was filled with singing and laughter. There no longer was any boring atmosphere which had been covering whole the saloon until a little before ten o’clock.

　　　　　　　　　　-----

　　　Having gulped the water remaining in a glass in front of him, Takano-san said determinedly. “Let me get back to the story in Cebú, Trina.”

　　　“Please, do so.”

　　　“The following day of my sightseeing trip in the city...” Takano-san started, skipping all the portion of his story on what kind of experience he had had during the trip. “I took a taxi to go to Cebu Harbor, for, according to the report, Kobayashi’s partner had opened a base office there, through which they would purchase material shells in southern portion of Cebú’s main island and export those shells from the harbor to Japan. That means, Trina, no question, Kobayashi and his partner had set up this office as their own main facility to obtain the shells for buttons. ..Not as one of the sub facilities including Mr. Fernandez’s.

　　　“And I found the office on Quézon Boulevard, exactly where Kobayashi’s partner had reported it was. ..So, here again, my task looked very easy to be done at that moment just as it had looked at Mr. Fernandez’s office.

　　　“The person I met at the office, however, Trina, wasn’t Benito Nolasco, who was described in the report as an office manager, whom I was supposed to see. Instead, it was young Gabriel Guzman -Benito’s cousin- in mid-twenties. Well, Gabriel’s name also was in the report, though.

　　　“Gabriel was very sorry when I told him I was there to see Benito in fact. He told me, ‘Benito is in Manila now, seeing his sister’.

　　　“Despite being slightly disappointed, I still believed I could do my job well nough since the office was, once again, where it should be, and Gabriel appeared very frank to answer any question I would ask. ..So, I didn’t take Benito’s absence too seriously.

　　　“I told Gabriel, just as I had planned, that I was there because Mr. Fernandez of Mactan Island had mentioned the office when I had met him. ..Well, there had been no mention like that actually, but I assumed that Gabriel must know about him, at least, since Kobayashi’s partner -Gabriel’s boss- had talked with Mr. Fernandez face to face. But Gabriel’s response was only, ‘Oh, that’s why.’ His expression was telling me that he might’ve heard of Mr. Fernandez’s name but didn’t understand why the Mactan shell dealer had introduced his office to me. So, I told Gabriel the same story I had given to Mr. Fernandez: I was an import manager of a small trading company in Tokyo and looking for a material shell supplier for my client, a Japanese shell button factory.”

　　　　　　　　　　-----

　　　“Gabriel almost shouted, ‘Really? You, indeed, are looking for a button shell supplier, in Cebú?’” Takano-san went on. “His surprise was a few times bigger than sort of the amazement Mr. Fernandez had expressed to me when he had mentioned about two inquiries from Japanese in the past six months. ..Well, I thought that’s reasonable, for it was a time now for all Filipino business people to eagerly seek the chances to establish some connection with prosperous Japan. And yet, Gabriel was still very young, young enough to be ambitious. Then, here appeared a Japanese trader, even without notifying him beforehand.

　　　“For a start, I asked Gabriel, ‘Can your office supply them? To Japan?’ ..I hadn’t anticipated his face would get clouded that suddenly.

　　　“So I had to ask him, ‘Anything wrong with it?’ Gabriel answered, ‘Nothing is wrong, Mr. Takano, but...’ And then he abruptly changed his tone of voice to make it sound discreet, and asked me, ‘The name of your client in Japan, I suppose, isn’t Kobayashi, of course? Or is it?’

　　　“I responded him as casually as I can, ‘No.’ And Gabriel had no reason to doubt my answer. Expressing his strong regret, he said, ‘Well, we deal in material shells for buttons, as a matter of fact, but this office was opened to supply them specifically to Mr. Kobayashi I just mentioned. So we can’t make deal with anybody else, including you, Mr. Takano.’ ..He, his face, looked truly sorry that he couldn’t supply them to my client. However, because I was in a position that I would face a big trouble if he said he could supply them to my client too, all I could do was to by-pass the issue, telling him, ‘Well, not to offer any shells to Mr. Kobayashi’s possible competitors is a very respectable policy by itself, I think.’

　　　“Now, Trina, I had already found that Kobayashi’s partner had opened their office just as the report had said, and Gabriel looked honest and sincere, I thought there would be no problem if I reported to Kobayashi that his Cebú Harbor office looked trouble-free for him. ..I didn’t think I needed any more talk with the young man.

　　　“Nonetheless... Well, I noticed Gabriel’s demeanor was somewhat strange. Having made his face clouded, Gabriel no longer looked to be especially ambitious, despite my previous conviction. He didn’t look at all being either very happy with his new job or very hopeful with the new business he just got engaged in.

　　　“So, while being afraid it might be too intrusive, I dared to ask him, ‘Then, how is your business with Mr. Kobayashi doing?’

　　　“As I had perceived, Gabriel was a very frank young man.” Takano-san said. “He murmured, ‘Our business with Mr. Kobayashi...’ Then, for some reason, he smiled sheepishly, and continued, ‘To tell you the truth, Mr. Takano, we still don’t have the money with which we could buy material shells.’ So, I thought ‘Oh, that’s why. Now I understand why this young man doesn’t look very satisfied with his job yet.’ ‘There is no way for him to be very enthusiastic without the money Kobayashi was supposed to send to this office.’

　　　“Well, I speculated, Kobayashi had one reason, at least, to delay the remittance of his money to the office for a while. Look, Trina. Kobayashi wanted to check their system before sending his money to the office, didn’t he? Kobayashi needed some period of time to find a person, like me, who would check their system for him, didn’t he?

　　　“I told Gabriel in my mind, ‘You don’t need to worry about that money any longer, Gabriel. Now that I’m here checking your system, and going to report what I’ve seen to Kobayashi in a few days, and the content of my report will be ‘No big problem’ in short, Kobayashi would send Benito and you the money you guys need, pretty soon.’

　　　　　　　　　　-----

　　　“I was too optimistic, Trina.” Takano-san smiled dryly. “The reality wasn’t that simple. I wasn’t yet aware of that. .. In fact, I was feeling that my job in Cebú was practically over, until the moment I heard Gabriel say, ‘Well, Mr. Takano, more than six months have already past since Benito and I opened this office. But we’ve had nothing to do during the period of time, other than just waiting the purchasing money to arrive from Mr. Kobayashi.’

　　　“I thought, ‘What? Six months?’ Momentarily, I was a little confused. ..Because, you know, Trina, I had been convinced that Kobayashi had contacted Yabe and asked for my help almost immediately after receiving the news from his Filipino partner that the building of their shell purchasing system in the Philippines had been completed. ..That Kobayashi must’ve recalled that Yabe had had a friend -that’s me, not to mention- in Manila and sought my help through Yabe, within only a few days at longest, after receiving the report from his partner that their system, as a whole including the Cebú Harbor office, had become ready for their business. ..People usually don’t suspect that somebody may have spent more than six months just to find a man like me, who will help you with your business, do they?”

　　　I nodded to Takano-san.

　　　Having nodded back to me, he continued. “But the fact is... If Gabriel wasn’t lying, their office had already been opened around the time Kobayashi’s partner had visited Mr. Fernandez of Mactan Island and talked with him about the possibility of exporting sample shells to Japan. That is, Gabriel had the rational reason not to look very hopeful about the new business he and Benito had started with Kobayashi.

　　　“I had to wonder, Trina, ‘Why does Kobayashi want to do the checking now, more than six months later?’ ‘Why did he have to put off his first import of material shells from Cebú more than six months?’ ‘Why did he make Benito and Gabriel of Cebú Harbor office just wait for more than six months?’”

　　　　　　　　　　-----

　　　I think, people can understand or guess why Mr. Fernandez was put on a hold or why he didn’t receive any order from Japan more than half a year. ..Can’t they? For, as I already mentioned, he may have been expected to be only an emergency back-up, from the beginning, in case other portion of the system like Cebú Harbor office doesn’t work well. ..Otherwise, he may have been a person who was used by Kobayashi’s partner only for the purpose of collecting sample shells for buttons and exporting them to Japan.

　　　“However, Gabriel’s office was... Among others, the office had been opened directly by Kobayashi’s partner, nobody else. So, Kobayashi could’ve started operating the office as a main source of shell supply six months before. And if it was absolutely necessary, he could’ve had the system checked six months earlier, couldn’t he? Wasn’t he a little too patient if he had been just looking for a person who would check for him if the system had been established as his partner had reported to him?

　　　“As if wanting to provoke Gabriel to become more forthright, I dared to say, ‘Such a long wait, I guess, has forced both Benito and you into being a little unhappy, hasn’t it?’ He responded me, ‘Yes, of course. But the most disappointed person among us is our boss -Mr. Kobayashi’s partner- who, at our Manila office, has been longing for the start of our business. As a matter of fact, when I last talked with her, already a few weeks ago though, she sounded very distressed. ..Complaining that she couldn’t communicate with Mr. Kobayashi as smoothly as before, that he had been very reluctant to answer her phone call, and that he hadn’t tried to get in touch with her from his side for a long...’”

　　　“Please, hold it, Takano-san.” I finally interrupted him. “She? Her? ..Did the partner of Mr. Kobayashi turn out to be female?”

　　　“Yes. That’s right, Trina. I myself couldn’t help but get very surprised at the finding, because I had been self-convinced that Kobayashi’s partner must be male, until Gabriel uttered the words, she and her. ..And now you know why I’ve always called the person Kobayashi’s partner, don’t you, Trina? I’ve been trying to avoid using the words, she and her, wanting you to know how greatly surprised I was at that moment.”

　　　I responded, “You said, Takano-san, Mr. Kobayashi hadn’t told Yabe-san of his partner’s name.”

　　　“I may have had to ponder more why he hadn’t. But, seemingly, we’ve come to know a portion of the reason, Trina: Kobayashi just didn’t want it revealed that his partner was female, if possible. Perhaps, he may have calculated that there might be no chance for me to get to know about her, who would stay in Manila, as long as I did the checking of the system remotely in Cebú, under cover, hiding my true identity.”

　　　“But, why, Takano-san? Why did he want to conceal such a plain fact?”

　　　“I had the same question as yours at that moment, Trina. But I couldn’t find the answer right away. ..Well, the sixth sense? Where such a thing works, I was feeling that Kobayashi’s motivation to check the system might’ve contained a bad conscience, in fact.”

　　　“A bad conscience?” I returned my puzzled look to him, abruptly recalling Akira’s face at a corner of my mind, for some reason or other.

　　　　　　　　　-----

　　　“That merely was my hunch.” Takano-san said. “And I wasn’t sure in my mind what it was. So, hoping Gabriel might give me some hint on why Kobayashi had wanted to hide the fact that his partner had been a Filipino woman, I tempted him to more talk, saying, ‘You said your boss had told you she hadn’t been able to communicate with her Japanese partner very well, didn’t you?’ Gabriel answered, ‘Yes, I did. As a matter of fact, our boss, Eva -Eva Nolasco- Benito’s younger sister...’ Now, Trina, we’ve come to know her name at last.”

　　　I nodded.

　　　Takano-san went on, “Gabriel told me, ‘Benito’s sister, Eva, has been unable to exchange even a few words with Mr. Kobayashi over the phone, as far as I know. An office clerk at his factory has been just refusing Eva’s request to connect her with Mr. Kobayashi for some time now. And, even if Mr. Kobayashi happens to pick up the receiver, he doesn’t want to talk with her very long, excusing himself for being too busy. And now, he even rejects collect calls from her. ..The manager of this office -Benito- is supposed to be discussing with his sister in Manila how to respond to the fact that Mr. Kobayashi has become so passive, so suddenly, with this business he himself planned, despite the completion of our system in the Philippines. They -Eva and Benito- have a lot of things, indeed, a lot of things to discuss about.’”

　　　　　　　　　　-----

　　　I was very sympathetic with Eva whom I would never see in my life, who allegedly was in a very difficult position to converse normally with one of Japanese men. ..Well, I hated to liken my own relationship with Akira to somebody’s relationship with somebody else, but I could not help feeling that the very situation Eva was in was quite similar to my own.

　　　Takano-san was not aware, needless to mention, of what was on my mind then.