chapter ten

above ground swimming pools

"What the actual fuck?"

The screen door slammed shut behind me as I clenched my fists, the fabric of the bra gathering in my left hand. Tetsu and Dan had emerged from behind a beaded curtain, ashamed and decidedly sheepish looks on both of their faces.

"Gillian, I can explain!" Tetsu jumped to a defence, trying his best to clear his name. "It was all Dan."

Dan gawked. "Don't even start-"

"I don't care who threw it out the window." I seethed, holding up the bra. "Why do you have my lingerie in the first place?"

"You'd have to ask Tetsu." Dan said slyly, hiding his hands in the pockets of his army jacket. I didn't even want to look at him, be it from embarrassment or shame or even just pure and simple anger.

"Dan." I said through clenched teeth. "Get out."

Dan laughed. "What? It's not your house."

"Dude." Tetsu cut in. "Just leave."

"Tetz? Are you serious?" Dan practically begged. "Come on."

"Gillian is right, Dan." Tetsu all but pleaded. "Give us some space. I'll call you."

Muttering something under his breath, Dan shook his head, crossing the shiny hardwood floor and vanishing out at the docks. He didn't bother closing the door behind him, the sea breeze and the chatter from the fisherman wafting in as Tetsu and I tried to avoid eye contact.

"I am so sorry." Tetsu started after a minute, nervously meeting my eyes. "I was just trying to do the laundry, I didn't even think."

I sighed, throwing my hands up in the air. "You know what, it's not a big deal. You were just trying to be nice. I probably overreacted a little bit anyways."

Tetz chuckled, nervously rubbing the back of his neck. "No, that was a pretty warranted reaction."

I smiled, slowly shaking my head. "I'll let you get on with it, I have a bit of stuff I need to do for work anyways. Search warrants, subpoenas. The works."

"I'm going to pretend I know what a subpoena is."

With a small chuckle, I passed Tetsu back the fabric in my hand, noting the small blush on his face as he tried not to meet my eyes, before I retreated upstairs to try and be somewhat productive.

The room still felt empty, devoid of any connection to me, although the action figures and collectables told me much about Tetsu's. My open suitcase sat on the double bed, a reminder that I was an outsider in Sannoh. Somebody that didn't belong, despite my family roots.

The Mugen jacket hung limply from metal hangar on the clothing rack in the corner, the wool sweater I had worn on the plane hanging over the back of desk chair. Aside from the laptop on the desk, they were the only two indicators that I had even been there at all.

Sighing, I paced over to where my laptop was, the charging cord for my Bluetooth earbuds jammed into the USB port in the side. I hooked up my music system and begrudgingly got to work at unpacking. A desperate attempt to feel more at ease in this foreign land, and to distract myself from the truth about my father. I grabbed my forest-green suede jacket from my suitcase, threading the arms into one of the metal hangers and beginning to fill the clothing rack. I even ended up hanging up the old Albuquerque tourist shirt that had been washed so many times it was see through, a bi-product of a misadventure I had gone on with my ex-boyfriend Keith, and a girl from my Japanese school named Karen Sano. It had rained so much out only option was to run for cover in a tourist trap and buy dry clothes as we waited for the storm to stop.

After a while, I felt better about the guest bedroom, tacking a few of the pictures of my father that had been left in the cigar box to a small, empty cork board near the window and kicking my empty suitcase under the bed. When I had finally sat down to work on the search warrant for a drug dealer's house in Scarborough, my phone buzzed on the table.

I half expected it to be my mother, or even Kiana, but it would have been past midnight in Toronto.

It was Tetsu.

Tetsu: sorry again about dan. he's an asshole and a tool, but he's also sort of a good guy when you get to know him.

I chuckled, shaking my head.

Gillian: no worries. it was his fault, not yours.

Tetsu: i made you a playlist. a sort of introduction to the japanese music scene.

Grinning, I clicked on the Spotify link. The playlist had some nonsensical title, and was packed with everything from hip hop, to alternative rock and club music.

Gillian: you shouldn't have! now i've gotta make you one with some of the most notable alt rock bands in the western world

Tetsu: can't wait.

I was grinning from ear to ear as I pressed shuffle, a song called 'Fighters' by a alt-rock tinged group called the J Soul Brothers beginning to play as I bobbed my head along, opening a fresh copy of the search warrant template.

___

Later that evening, I sat out back on one of the creaky wooden docks, compiling a playlist for Tetsu while I watched the sunset. The water was cold, lapping against my bare feet as I moved to take a picture of the brilliant orange and pink hues in the sky. My playlist for Tetz was coming along quite well, including some of my favourite hits by WSTR, My Chemical Romance, the ever-important 'DONTTRUSTME' by 3OH!3 and a cult favourite of mine- the Headstones.

"I thought I'd find you out here!" A voice called from behind me

I turned around, tying not to let the cuffs of my jeans drop into the seawater. "Look what the cat dragged in."

Tetsu moved to sit next to me, sliding out of his sandals and joining me on the edge. "I told you it was nice out here."

"I couldn't just take your word for it." I joked, offering him one of my earbuds. "Wanna listen? It's the Headstones, Nickels For Your Nightmares. One of my favourite albums in middle school. Ironic, since middle school ended up being the worst two years of my life."

Tetsu grinned, placing the Bluetooth earbud in his right ear as I switched the song. I hummed along to 'Above Ground Swimming Pools', staring into the distance as I watched the sun sink below the horizon line. Everything about Sannoh was reminding me of my father. Reminding me about how he wanted to bring me back here but never got the chance. Reminding me that he was gone.

But Sannoh was a beautiful town. I just couldn't stay mad, or sad. I wanted to live it all, experience Sannoh to the fullest. It was what Yuki would have wanted me to do.

"Hey, Gilly." Tetsu said nervously, his voice cutting off the semi-angelic vocals of Hugh Dillion and some children's choir. "To make up for earlier- or not to make up for earlier, whatever you want- did you want to go out for drinks?"

Oh, shit. Here we go again.

The reveal that makes everybody look at me differently.

I sighed, tilting my head back. "Tetz, I can't."

Nothing could have prepared me for the pain I felt when his face fell.

"It's not that I don't want to!" I rushed to defend myself. "I really do want to, but I can't do drinks. Maybe a late dinner?" I sucked in a breath "The truth is, I'm a recovered alcoholic."

There it was. I said it out loud, for the first time since I'd told Kiana almost two years ago.

"Oh." Tetsu said quietly, his face softening. "I can work with that. I happen to know just the place. If you want to talk about it over dinner, I'd be happy to listen."

I smiled. "Yeah, I think I'd like that."

NOTES!!

if you see me spam updating this week, dont mind me im just super excited about the next two chapters and the development in tetsu and gillian's relationship!