Transition and Restart, book two: The Billion Dollar Empress

Chapter five, 2016, extended stay, part six

This time she made sure to fire up her smart phone immediately after the shots were done. Once was more than enough, and Christina didn't plan to exemplify some concept of stupid Swedes if one existed in Japan.

Nothing major. She had missed out on today's festival planning, but it might run late, so she decided to chance it and head for school.

It was, she admitted, a mistake to email Midori-chan rather than Ulf, but she had known he would run late. She was the club president after all, so someone already inside the school should know. But maybe she should have emailed Ulf as well. Or text as he said when he started rambling about how Japan needed to join the twenty first century when it came to digital infrastructure. He was a geek, and she didn't understand half of it, but apparently something irked him. He did have almost all of his electronic gear imported, so apparently something was wrong with what could be bought in Japan.

Her studio wasn't too far away from the school. At least not with her new bike, and after she had changed into the all too hot but properly baggy set of clothes she used for avoiding being recognised, she made good speed on partially empty streets.

It had been a good day. Good shots and crowned by the message that Kinoshita-sensei was transferring studios on the condition he could work exclusively with her, or at least prioritise her whenever she was available. The two younger photographers in the studio were ecstatic at the news, and the oldest not so much. Probably because he just had his position as the most senior usurped.

Less than half an hour, about the same time as she would have used riding trains, it took her to get to Himekaizen. She locked her bike to the stands and made her way into the school. By the shoe lockers she realised she had forgotten her slippers, but she decided to risk it and climbed the stairs to their new club room. Midori-chan had told her where to find it.

It wasn't empty, but there was no sign of Ulf, so she made a polite round and signed a few papers concerning the upcoming cultural festival after she confirmed that the club would only apply for running a few food stalls.

In the end she was coerced into following Ryu and some of the less sane members of their fan club to the roof where they fired off a few very illicit fireworks. It was very stupid, a little fun and it probably strengthened her reputation as the daredevil beauty of Himekaizen.

After that she left the school feeling a bit disappointed. Should she call him? Maybe not. He was probably angry by now, and she was tired and didn't want to risk a quarrel over the phone when the only thing she wanted was to hug him close to her and just cling to him forever.

An email though. She had the next day off. She wrote a short message before unlocking her bike. Ten am by the statue they had used for their first date. That small square had become important to her. Stupid and childish, but that was how it was.

As she was riding home she felt her phone vibrate, and when she made a quick stop in a park there was a new email for her from Ulf. Ten am was perfect and did she want to go to the cinemas?

Christina sat down on a swing. She was far too tall for it, and her heels dug into the sand even though she didn't attempt to swing. Yes, the cinemas would be fun, and did he have time to make it a full day's date with their bikes?

And he did. And he longed for it. And Christina felt her heart jolt when she read that email. He wanted to be together with her. Alone with her, and he longed for the time they shared.

She sat there a bit longer than she had planned. Crying silently, but these were tears of joy. Slowly she started to accept just how important his words were to her. This last email would take her through another lonely night smiling. She couldn't understand how easily she had allowed herself to become spellbound by him.

***

Ulf rode his bike to the square feeling giddy with joy. It was over an hours worth of cycling, but it was worth it if he could have a full day with Christina to himself.

Tomorrow would be the traditional dating day for teenagers, but Saturday morning wasn't as packed, so he brought the bike all the way to the statue and leaned on it while he waited.

Half an hour early was maybe a bit excessive, but he didn't want to risk being late and last time she had waited for him here. Besides the morning was warm, and he enjoyed watching the street-life even when there wasn't all that much of it to watch.

There was something he needed to clear with himself as well. Maria. The reason he flinched whenever Christina came too close was because he felt he was cheating on his wife, but she was lost forever in that other world. Did it count as cheating if they could never meet? Did it count as breaking up, or divorcing, if you walked out the door one day never able to return?

And he couldn't even send her a message. He couldn't let her know he was fine, or at least mostly fine. He couldn't tell his children that he wasn't lying dead in a ditch.

And because of all that he couldn't tell Christina that he loved her. But he did. Maybe more than life itself. And there was that other thing. She couldn't know how he lived for her, because she had become his reason for living. Guilty thoughts of Maria be damned, and there just was no way he could load Christina with that kind of a burden. No one should feel responsible for someone else's life. OK, your own children, but not a grown up person.

Ulf chewed on his lower lip. If it made him look girlie so be it. He hadn't cared much the last thirty years, and his attitude garnered him both enemies and admirers during his university years. It permanently built him a reputation as someone with integrity. He had spent half his life deserving it.

Lost in thoughts he didn't notice how half an hour had passed, so now the real wait started. Last time she had been early. He could as well kill some time while he waited, so he rolled up his arms and gave his bike some much needed maintenance. It didn't make him too dirty and it was kind of fun working with his hands for a change.

When he was done there was still no sign of Christina, and now she was half an hour late. Ulf called her but only got the message that her unit was off service. He emailed her in case she could read but not talk.

Another half an hour passed, and another, but she never arrived. After two hours and five failed attempts to call her he gave up. By now he was more than a little afraid and also a bit angry, so he rode to her apartment and knocked on her door in a very pre mobile phone era style. There was no response but her door was locked.

Ulf was scared enough now to entertain the idea of entering by force, but it was unlikely she'd be inside unable to hear him hammering on her door, so in the end he abandoned that idea.

He did call Kyoko, but she knew nothing. On a whim he called Ryu and Midori as well, but neither of them had heard anything.

There was nothing to do. He walked down the stairs, locked his bike and returned back up. Some time he could spend looking over the railings, but there was nothing to see but the equally dull apartment complex across the street and in the end he sat down outside Christina's door and prepared himself for a long wait.