Кэйго Хигасино - The Name of the Game is a Kidnapping

“Aren’t you fast,” Maki said as she clumsily brought her food to her mouth. She was on a diet and consciously over-chewed. I was a little annoyed, but I couldn’t ruin the mood.

“Maybe it’s because I’m feeling high. And when I get nervous, I get thirsty.” I tilted my glass.

“Why are you feeling high?”

“It’s because you met with me. I invited you suddenly, so I was sure you’d refuse.”

“Don’t say that. You’re such a sweet talker.” She pretended to laugh it off, but her eyes said that she didn’t mind one bit.

“When I’m just straightforward, I’m not taken seriously. It’s really hard to praise a woman in Japan. But I’m really nervous. It’s a bit of a mystery to me, too.”

Huh , she tilted her head.

“First off, meeting a woman face to face like this over a meal is something I haven’t done in a while. Another thing, up until now I hadn’t ever contacted you. I wonder if it’s from the guilt of breaking that commandment.”

“Now that you mention it, you’re right. Why today? Was it on some whim?”

“I don’t blame you for thinking so, the way I invited you, but I’d tried a number of times. But no matter what I couldn’t make the call. But then tonight, I suddenly found the courage.”

Mere white lies.

“Did something happen at work?” Maki peered into my face.

“No, not really.” I lifted my glass. I wasn’t in the mood to tell her in detail about my affairs. That wasn’t the role she served.

Packing the passable meal and wine into my stomach, I offered information I thought Maki would find interesting and presented related anecdotes, interspersing light jokes in between. I was fully aware that a young woman wouldn’t feel satisfied just hearing her partner hold forth, so after that I switched over to listening. Her talk was juvenile, worked up to nothing, and moreover hadn’t a hint of structure, so I could barely keep from falling asleep at how boring it was. Still, biting down on my yawns, I nodded along like I’d never heard anything so captivating before. She probably thought that just for tonight she’d become an able conversationalist.

It was like a game between men and women, too, after all. But if your opponent wasn’t good, the game wasn’t any fun. On that note, tonight’s playmate left me wanting. Looking at Maki’s happy face, I wondered if I should have invited out the other woman. Being an office lady, she’d probably have been on guard about a sudden invitation, and I’d have had to make full use of various techniques to make it work. What to talk about at the table would have posed a challenge as well. But if you were going to date a woman, it was better when you had to focus a little.

In short, what I sought from women wasn’t their bodies but a stimulating, sophisticated game. Sex was nothing but a reward for victory.

It wasn’t just romance, I was like that about everything. I saw it all as a game, and victory granted me joy. Sports, of course, but my studies, too, I’d approached that way. Good or bad test scores meant nothing but winning or losing. College entrance exams were the epitome of that. If I earned a big run there, victory in the ultimate game, life, would be in my hands. I faced my entrance exams with that belief and successfully got into the college of my choice. Even in the job market, I did everything conceivable and got into the company I wanted. I thanked my planning for everything.

In my life so far, I hadn’t lost a whole lot of matches. Even without Katsutoshi Katsuragi telling me, work was indeed a game for me. Nissei Automobile’s campaign, too. And I had believed that the automobile park plan was certain to wrest victory, and still did now.

He was fairly confident when it came to games?

Then we had to play. We had to find out once and for all who the true master was.

But what could I do? My opponent had robbed me of my chance to fight. Sadly, there was no way for me to challenge him to a match.

“What’s wrong?” Maki looked at me, puzzled. I had been in thought and missed her story, it seemed.

“No, nothing. I think I’ve had too much wine.” I smiled and scooped a mouthful of my sherbet dessert.

After leaving the restaurant, I tried asking her if she wanted to drink some more. Without hesitating one bit, Maki consented. I hailed a cab.

“But I feel relieved. Because you seem to be doing fine,” Maki said after the taxi started moving.

“What do you mean?”

“Well, because...” After pausing and choosing her words, she opened her mouth again. “I was worried you were depressed. Or if you weren’t depressed, that you were in a bad mood...”

“Well, that’s weird. Why would I be depressed or in a bad mood?”

At that, she looked at me awkwardly with upturned eyes. “During the day today, I talked with Jun over the phone. You know her, right? Jun Ueno?”

“Of course I do.” Junko Ueno was an employee of Cyberplan. She was also the reason I had come to know Maki. Apparently they had been friends since high school. “Did she say something?”

“Yeah, she mentioned you and said that you were probably blue.”

“Blue?”

“She said you’d been given an important project but suddenly been let off of it...”

“She said that?”

“Yeah.”

I sighed. Undoubtedly every single employee in the whole company knew that Shunsuke Sakuma had been removed from the Nissei Automobile campaign, and all kinds of rumors were circulating. Among those employees were probably some who were gratified. People whose work I had disparaged or who thought I’d gotten the better of them weren’t hard to find.

“Jun said that letting you off was stupid. That there wasn’t anyone as perfect as you.”

“I’m honored she’d go so far as to say that.” Having someone like Junko Ueno say stuff like that didn’t make me happy at all. In fact, being pitied by her was humiliating.

“I’m not lying. Other than at crime, she said no one could beat you.”

“Huh...”

That caught unexpectedly at something in my heart. I had a feeling like you do just before realizing you’d forgotten some item. Eventually, it took on a clear shape and floated into my mind as an idea.

“Excuse me, please stop here,” I told the driver. “One person will get off here.”

Next to me Maki’s eyes widened. “What’s wrong?”

“Sorry. I remembered something urgent. I’ll make up for this.”

I took two ten-thousand-yen bills out of my wallet, forced them on her, and got out. Maki looked dumbstruck as she watched me from the taxi that had started moving again.

I hailed a replacement. As I got in I said, “To Kayabacho.”

I got off in front of Kayabacho Polar Hotel and went through the entrance. Bypassing the front desk, I headed to the elevator hall.

When I knocked on the room door, I got no answer from inside. I tried knocking again. Still no response. Just as I was wondering if she’d dared to check out without my consent, the door opened. From a small gap, Juri showed her face.

“Hi,” I said.

“You’re alone, right?”

“Yup.”

She nodded and closed the door, undid the chain, then finally opened the door again.

When I went in, the TV was on. It was a program introducing the current top songs. It seemed Juri had been lying on bed watching it. Snacks that she must have been working through were spread on the bed. On top of the nightstand were an ashtray and a bottle of juice.

“Have you eaten anything proper?”

“I just went to a family restaurant.”

“And the menu?”

“Do you need to pry that much?”

“I’m worried about your health. I need you to be eating nutritious meals.”