Grotesque Read online

  Yuriko had finally put in an appearance. I was the size of a child, but Yuriko, with the face and body of an adult, was dressed in the flowing white robes of a sea goddess. Her ample breasts were visible through her clothing. Yuriko swam toward us with her long arms and long legs, a radiant smile on her beautiful face. I was terrified by her eyes as she looked around underwater. They emitted no light. I hid in the shadow of a rock, but Yuriko stretched out her exquisitely formed arms and started to pull me to her.

  When I woke up it was just five minutes before my alarm was set to go off. I lay in bed, thinking about my dream. Ever since Yuriko showed up, Mitsuru, Kazue, and my grandfather all changed abruptly. Love…love…everyone was tangled up with love: Mitsuru for Professor Kijima, Kazue for Kijima’s son, and my grandfather for Mitsuru’s mother. Of course, when it comes to love I have no idea what kind of chemical reaction takes over the heart, never having experienced it myself. All I knew was that I had to do something to ensure that at least Mitsuru’s and my grandfather’s attentions returned to me. Would I be able to battle Yuriko? It didn’t matter. I had no choice.

  During lunch break, Kazue sauntered over to my desk, beaming with confidence. She placed her lunch box on an empty chair and dragged the chair over to my desk with a rattling screech.

  “Is it okay if I eat with you?”

  She’d already sat down before she asked. Typical. I turned a frosty gaze on her. Dog! Fashion nightmare! Jerk! She looked even more repulsive today than usual, so repulsive I just wanted to shout abuse after abuse at her. She’d tried to curl her hair. Usually it hung limply down over her head like a helmet, but today it stuck out on both sides like a wide-brimmed hat. You could still see the lines where the curler pins had pressed down on her hair. And to make matters worse, today she’d somehow rigged her tiny drowsy-looking eyes so that she seemed to be double-lidded.

  “What’d you do to your eyes?”

  Kazue brought her hands up slowly to her eyelids.

  “Oh. These are called Elizabeth Eyelids.”

  She’d gotten hold of some beauty product that Japanese women glued to their eyelids to give them the extra fold they craved, because they thought it made their eyes look Western. She’d spied on one of the insider students attaching them to her eyes in the restroom. Just the very thought of Kazue holding that two-pronged toothpick-thin plastic wand up to her eye while she applied the device made my skin crawl. And then her skirt had shrunk so drastically that you could see halfway up her skinny thighs. She’d worked so hard at being attractive that she ended up looking more ridiculous than ever.

  The other girls in the class poked one another in the ribs when they saw Kazue and made no effort to hide their laughter. It made me sick just to think that others thought we were friends. I hadn’t minded so much when she’d just been the ugly know-it-all, but this new transformation was thanks to Yuriko, which made it all the worse.

  “Sat, I’ve a favor to ask you.” Two of our classmates who were also on the ice-skating team came up alongside Kazue. Both were insiders, but one was clearly subordinate to the other. They were very close. Both had fathers who served in ambassadorial positions in foreign countries. It seems that different ambassadorial assignments carried different levels of prestige, depending on the country. The two girls treated each other with the deference associated with their fathers’ positions.

  “What is it?” Kazue asked, turning to look up at them cheerfully. When they saw her Elizabeth Eyelids they both broke into smiles that they struggled to conceal. Kazue, however, did not notice. Instead she twirled her fingers through her curls as if to say, Look at my new hairstyle. When the two shifted their gaze to her hair, they could no longer stifle their laughter. Kazue watched them blankly.

  “The team has designated a midterm review committee, and we’ve been put in charge. I hate to ask, but would you let us copy your English and Classics notes? You’re the best student on the team.”

  “Of course,” Kazue responded, beaming with pride.

  “In that case, would you mind if we also had your social studies and geography notes? Everyone will be really grateful.”

  “No problem.”

  They hurried out of the room. I was certain they were in the hall laughing hysterically.

  “You’re such an idiot!” I said. “There’s no such thing as a midterm review committee.”

  I knew it was none of my business, but I just couldn’t help myself. Not that it mattered. Kazue was still luxuriating in hearing them call her “the best student in the club.”

  “We all need to help one another out.”

  “Oh, that’s just terrific. And how are they going to help you?”

  “Well, I don’t know how to skate, so they can teach me what I need to know.”

  “Wait a minute. You joined the skating team and you can’t skate?”

  Kazue started to unwrap the handkerchief around her lunch box with a troubled look. She pulled out a squished rice ball and a piece of tomato. That was it. I had brought along the mackerel my grandfather had left uneaten and was enjoying my meal. But when I saw Kazue’s meager fare I was too startled to continue. Kazue started to eat the rice ball with apparent distaste. It was just a plain rice ball, lightly salted, with nothing stuffed inside.

  “It’s not that I can’t skate at all. I’ve been skating with my father any number of times at Krakuen Park.”

  “So what happened with your costume? Did they let you skate?”

  “It’s none of your business.”

  Kazue turned away.

  “The cost of the costume and the rink charges are probably really high,” I persisted. “Didn’t your father complain?”

  “Why should he?” Kazue pursed her lips angrily. “We’ve got the money.”

  They most certainly did not have the money. I bitterly recalled the gloom of Kazue’s house and the way her father had dunned me for the international phone call I’d made.

  “Let’s not talk about my team anymore. I’m interested in hearing about Yuriko. Did you ask her?”

  “I called her right away. Listen, you have nothing to worry about. Yuriko said Kijima was just giving her a tour of the school. She also said it doesn’t seem that Kijima is going out with anyone else right now.”

  “That’s great!” Kazue clapped her hands with joy. I found the thrill of lying even more entertaining than I had imagined.

  “Oh, and one more thing. This is just Yuriko’s opinion, of course, and it may have no significance, but it seems that Kijima likes older actresses and such.”

  “Who? Who?”

  “Actresses like Reiko hara.”

  I was on a roll and couldn’t stop. At the time, Reiko hara was one of the most adored actresses, or so I’d heard. “Reiko hara!” Kazue wailed, and stared blankly ahead in frustration. How will I ever replace Reiko hara? she seemed to be thinking. For a minute I remembered all the pleasure I’d had at tricking Yuriko with my lies when we were little, and my heart fluttered excitedly. But Yuriko had never believed me completely. There was always a part of her that resisted. If a kid knows she’s not bright, she’s always somewhat suspicious. But not Kazue. She swallowed my lies hook, line, and sinker.

  “Oh, no! What do you think? What can I do to compete with her?”

  Kazue peered over at me expectantly. In the end her narcissism had won out. Kazue was quickly regaining her self-confidence.

  “Well,” I declared convincingly, “you’re good in school, for starters, and you know Kijima likes smart girls. But then he did mention Mitsuru. Maybe he’s interested in her.”

  “Mitsuru?” Kazue wheeled around to stare at her. Mitsuru was sitting at her desk reading a book. It was covered with a book wrapper so I couldn’t be sure, but it looked like an English-language novel. As Kazue scrutinized Mitsuru, I could sense the heat of the jealousy rising off her cheeks.

  Mitsuru must have sensed Kazue’s stare because she turned around and looked at us. She didn’t reveal any interest in us. I