Mitsu could not sleep. When he did, it was a restless kind of sleep that had him striving to remember his REM thoughts even as he dreamed them. When he did, the flooding of the sea wall was happening all over again, and Unit 1 was about to explode as he bobbed up and down on a boat that could only be sponsored by the Toyko Electric Company. The waves crashed around him as he clung to the flag with the company logo –that morphed into a red-faced cartoon mouse scurrying between the skirting boards and the sewage pipes of someone’s homely home.
He woke up and went to get a glass of water. He drank it in one gulp and went back to bed, but again he could not sleep, so he contented himself with putting one hand on Yoko’s rump and the other on his own equally restless member. “Tomorrow is another day,” he told himself. “Everything will be fine.”
“If the tidal wave hadn’t come, you know none of this would have happened.”
“I know,” he said, “we would have never kissed.”
“If that tidal wave brought us together,” Yoko said, “it also sealed our fate.”
Her words washed over him.
Mitsu was resigned to it now.
“You better go to him,” he said finally. “He’ll be expecting you.”
Yoko got up from the bed.
He watched her put on her clothes. She started with the T-shirt. Then she put on her panties, the ones he’d bought her in the afternoon. She pulled her jeans up around her waist.
She looked at him and turned away.
She went toward the door and stopped.
She stopped and turned towards him again.
The scene was etched on his mind.
They didn’t speak, but just looked at each other.
He would treasure her face: the black eyes and furrows in her brow – all accentuating the seriousness and profundity of her expression.
Was this the Yoko he knew, or the Yoko – cursed by his presence?
She turned the door handle and left without saying goodbye.
Mitsu buried his head in the pillow.
The inn nestled amid the mountainous countryside offered all the luxurious comforts for which these old-style hotels were famous. An elegant and eye catching kaiseki eight-course dinner had been served in their room and washed down with sake and haro green tea. The outdoor hot spring bath had a view of lush foliage, covering a steep cliff, lit up to highlight the diverse shades of green. A soothing sound emanated below. They could have been anywhere…
Only this time when he checked out instead of a parting gift of a box of local confectionaries or a hand towel with the hotel’s name on it, the owner handed Mitsu a plastic bag containing a vinyl raincoat, cotton gloves and a gauze mask. “Just in case you need it,” he said. “Sometimes when it rains, the numbers are high.”
Mitsu left the inn. He took his hire car down into the centre for the meeting with his colleagues. When he saw Yoko, she did not dare look at him.
They had got the plans out on the table. His immediate boss, Kensei Muguruma was all silver hair and serious faced. It did not take a genius to know what everyone was thinking.
The meeting broke up. People stood around in their small groups. Yoshi came up to him.
“It looks bad,” he said.
“Yeh, terrible.”
All the while they spoke, he tried to gain Yoko’s attention. But she refused to look at him.
“You know what,” Yoshi said. “I heard from one of the press guys that the Government are going to hang us out to dry.”
“Really…”
Just at that moment Mitsu had no interest in his own fate. All he wanted was for Yoko to look at him.
Then they went down into the changing rooms. Yoshi was still talking as he pulled on the white overalls.
“What do you think about the numbers? – It could be just coincidence… At any rate, I keep telling myself that.”
Mitsu did not say anything. He was still thinking how he was going to talk to Yoko before they left.
He was still sitting on the bench when Yoshi finished tightening the Velcro straps on his white overalls.
“Are you coming, Mitsu?”
“Yeh, just give me a minute while I collect myself.”
But he was only on his own for a few minutes when Yoko entered.
“What are you doing?”
“Getting ready.”
“They sent me to find you.”
“You think I am a coward?”
“Mitsu, everyone is afraid. Besides, we are all waiting.”
“Anyway,” he said, “I was just thinking what Doctor Yamane would say. Soon we will all be breathing atomic breath.”
“Mitsu, how can you make Godzilla jokes at a time like this?”
“Why is it everyone has to take everything so seriously? – If we’re going to die, we might as well die cracking jokes.”
Suddenly Yoko burst into tears.
“Oh, Mitsu!” she cried. “What are we going to do?”
She buried her head in her hands.
A strange thing happened.
Seeing Yoko cry, Mitsu no longer felt afraid. In fact, he began to feel quite noble. Both noble in his passion and noble in the sense he had of his impending fate.
He stood up and went to Yoko. He clasped her arms.
“You still love me,” he said. “Say that you do.”
Suddenly she kissed him.
He responded, furiously.
“This is crazy!” she said.
“I know!”
He put his hand on her breast and began to unzip the white overalls.
“I want to make love to you.,” he said.
He pulled down the zip of her white overalls and put his hand between her legs.
Yoko moaned.
He pressed against her thigh.
Yoko leaned back against the locker and Mitsu entered her.
“Hey, you two!”
It was Yoshi calling from the door.
“Dr. Yamane is waiting,” he said.
Mitsu and Yoko pulled apart.
“We were just coming,” said Mitsu.
Yoko began to do up the zip of her overalls.
Mitsu looked round for his mask…
So, this was it.
The way it would end.
Not with a bang, just a whimper.
They drove in the black van from the centre to the plant. The last thing he thought of, as he put on his mask and entered the building, was the terrible burden of expectation they were under. Whether it was his own fate, or the fate of all, no one could tame the monster.