Reo and Me

Thirteen {Ju San}

Ayesha's POV

Even though me and Reo had a short encounter, this news was no less than shocking.

Reo seemed so, so, gentlemanly and such a good guy. But he was thief?

I turned up the volume as I could speak Japanese fluently but I often couldn't read it.

"This thief has robbed over 10 houses from his first encounter, which was about 4 months ago on the 19th of July. He is still absconding and if you have seen him anywhere, please report it to us at 0123123." The reporter read out before moving to the next headline.

I turned the tv off. "Should I call them?" I thought out loud. That was why he didn't tell me anything about himself.

I brought out my notebook and wrote down whatever I knew about him. He was Japanese, good looking, about 6 feet tall and his name was Reo. Apart from this, I didn't know anything else.

I chewed on the tip of my pen as I thought of what to do next. I still had about 2 days for the trip to end.

I changed into my jeans and a black sweater. I put on my overcoat and while getting ready, took a screenshot of the news headline.

Just as I was about to leave to look for him and demand answers, I stopped. There was no point. If the police found out that I was looking for him too, I would be associated with him.

And I didn't want to spend my days In Japan being interrogated.

I sadly took off my overcoat and decided to rest for the night.

———

The next morning turned out to be cloudy and snowy. It had started snowing in the middle of the night and now the weather was too bad to go out and be touristy.

There goes my second last day in Japan.

I decided to check out the hotel's facilities- they had a spa and a hot spring. I hadn't gone to a hot spring in my entire trip, saving it for the last.

I had my own rotenburo (which are the outdoor hot spring) attached to my room. I took off everything as was the etiquette for hot springs and just put on my bathrobe. Since I had my own hot spring, it wasn't too much to worry about.

I took a quick rinse under the shower, put my hair into a top knot and got into the warm bubbling water. Fuji san outside was tipped with snow and it looked beautiful. The view sitting in the hot spring was that of heaven.

I leaned back and met out a sigh, the tiredness of the day and night before hitting me. I fell asleep in the onsen again, waking up after about an hour.

I got out of the water and by the time I was done, it was already lunchtime. This time, I decided to go to the restaurant instead of ordering in.

I wiped myself and changed into the traditional red Yukata provided by the hotel. I wore the yukata jacket over it and put my phone and room key inside the pocket.

I removed my hair from the top knot and blow dried it. And back it went into a much neater top knot.

I went down for lunch. The restaurant was still almost empty as it was a little early.

I sat down on the traditional tatami seating and waited for the food to come. I had informed the staff before hand to what I was going to have and they soon bought it to me.

I had a typical lunch of rice, miso soup, udon, grilled fish and a special of korokke or what is called 'croquette' in Europe.

I finished it in no time- I only had an orange for breakfast and was starving. The food was great. I had hot green tea as a drink and followed by the desert course, which today was danko; which are sweet Japanese dumplings served on skewers.

I replaced everything as it was after the meal- the lids went back on and my chopsticks were also put in the holder.

I went back to my room and fell on the bed, tired. I had relaxed the entire half yet I was tired. My eyes automatically shifted onto the tv. It was turned off yet I could still see Reo's face on the television.I sighed as I looked out of the window. It had stopped snowing- my Christmas had passed and I had completely forgotten about it. If I'm going correct, it was now the 30th of December. Tomorrow was New Year's Eve- I had no plans. The snow had melted a little, so it was good enough to go outside. I actually decided on actually searching for Reo. Let's see if anything actually went wrong.

I put on my outfit from yesterday and went outside. It was still late afternoon, the grey sky lit up a little by the hiding sun. With my pen, paper, phone and room keys, I walked outside without any plan on how to find out about him.

I roamed the streets for sometime, before I realised that I had to make a trip to Ginza if I had to get anywhere. I immediately hailed a taxi and sat in without any hesitations. In two hours, I was back in Ginza.. As usual, the town was crowded but a little less due to the snow. I went to the same bar where Reo had taken me.

It was pretty upscale, so I remembered it. The same bartender from that night was here. "Hello- I'm wondering if this man here is a frequent visitor of this bar." I showed him just the picture and not the news piece.

"Uhm- yes! He often comes on Fridays and sometimes Wednesdays. You were the first girl he's brought here. I've been working here for a long time." Ignoring his comment about me, I mentally high fived myself.

Great timing- it was a Friday today. It was about 5 in the evening now, so people had already started filling into the bar. I waited at the counter with a mug of beer as the bartender went about his work.

After about an hour, he was here. I quickly hid myself in the scarf I was wearing round my neck. He came and sat two seats away from me. He ordered the same drink as usual- whiskey on the rocks. I quietly noted his movements- apart from drinking, he did nothing. Not even called or interacted with someone. Although some girls did try to talk to him, he didn't grace them with a response.

After thirty minutes, he paid the bartender and covered himself with the hoodie before moving out. I waited for a few minutes and then started following him. I stayed close behind, but far enough to not be noticed. The entire time that I followed him, he never noticed me.

After walking a few kilometers, we reached a small house and I hid behind a pole. I quickly noted the address and street and clicked a picture of the house. I slowly started to walk away and after I was at a safe distance, I checked the pictures.

I nodded with a sly smile as I walked back to the busy shopping street in Ginza.