9: Drunk on nonalcoholic cocktails
It was a sunny afternoon near the end of summer vacation.
“Okay, man, I’m counting on you today.”
Takahiro Mizusawa’s older brother Yuji thumped him on the shoulder.
“Yeah, yeah. Same time as usual?” Takahiro glanced at Yuji, then right away looked back at his phone.
“Yeah, six thirty.”
“Gotcha. Man, you must be really short on people,” Takahiro said spitefully.
“Yumiko-san’s coming today.”
Yuji grabbed the ends of his distinctive ash-gray, casually styled hair and pulled them into place. His fingers brushed his simple silver earing, sending it swaying.
“Oh, so that’s what this is about…” Takahiro sighed.
“Just think of it as a way to earn some money.”
“I don’t care about that…but you do realize I’m in high school, right?” Takahiro raised his eyebrows.
Yuji grinned. “You don’t get it, but that’s probably a good thing.”
“Don’t make it weird,” Takahiro said with a snort.
“Anyway, thanks, Takahiro! Oh, and don’t forget to do your hair.”
“I know!”
“Good. I’m off to my afternoon shift.”
“Yeah, yeah. Be careful.”
“Thanks.”
With that aloof answer, Yuji walked over to the entryway, slipped on his favorite red Air Max’s, and headed out to the hair salon where he worked.
“…Anyway, it’s fun, so I don’t mind,” Takahiro mumbled before starting to respond to the backlog of LINE messages on his phone.
* * *
That same day, Tsugumi Narita, aka Gumi, was shopping in Shibuya with her school friends Yoko Mamiya and Hitomi Fujii.
“Ahhh, this is so cute!”
“Ah-ha-ha, that looks like something you’d wear, Yoko.” Tsugumi laughed, pinching the collar of the shirt Yoko was holding between her fingers.
They’d already made the rounds of 109, Hikarie, and Mark City, and now they were hitting the foreign fashion brands like ZARA, Bershka, and H&M.
Since they were in high school now, they wanted to look a bit more grown-up, so they tended to prefer foreign companies over Japanese ones like Uniqlo and GU, even if all of them were fast fashion.
“I wanna wear something like this on a date!”
“Yoko, face it. You don’t even have a boyfriend,” Hitomi pointed out sharply.
“Shut up! I’ll have one soon!” Yoko snapped back.
“Ooh! I like this, too!”
By the time they finished shopping, it was after six.
The orange twilight was threading its way between the buildings as they walked through the downtown neighborhood, each gripping their loot.
“We got some good stuff today!”
“I want to wear that coat, like, tomorrow!”
“You really liked that one, didn’t you, Hitomi?”
While Yoko and Hitomi chatted, Tsugumi walked along in the shadows, escaping the slanting sunbeams.
“Can we stop for a rest?”
Even at this time of day, Shibuya’s crowded world of concrete and people was still hot, and Tsugumi’s low stores of energy had been depleted.
“Ah-ha-ha. It’s a miracle you’re still standing, Tsugumi!”
Yoko laughed, following her friend’s faltering steps with her eyes. They’d made their way from Center-Gai to the Scramble Crossing and were now looking out at the sea of people waiting for the light to change.
“Right? Let’s go in somewhere ASAP.”
Tsugumi—who was only called Gumi at her part-time job at Karaoke Sevens—stumbled toward the bottom level of the Shibuya Tsutaya store.
“Watch out!” Hitomi said, smiling wryly as she followed in the same direction.
“…Hey!”
Tsugumi had just glimpsed a familiar face heading across the Scramble Crossing toward them, in the direction of the Center-Gai. The boy was tall and thin, with a cool, grown-up aura to him.
“That’s…” It was Takahiro Mizusawa, her coworker at the karaoke place.
But since Tsugumi didn’t have the energy left to call out to him, she just stared at him as he walked across the intersection.
“What’s wrong, Tsugumi?” Yoko asked.
“Nothing, I just saw someone I know.”
“Really? Who?”
Tsugumi lifted her limp arm and pointed lazily toward Takahiro. He’d made it to the other side of the intersection and was cutting across their path a few meters ahead.
“That guy with the white shirt and the black bow tie…huh?” Tsugumi noticed something as she talked. “…Why’s he wearing a bow tie?” She wasn’t used to seeing this.
It wasn’t just his clothes, either. Normally, his bangs flopped softly over his forehead, but now they were pushed up to reveal his face. His hair had more gel in it than usual, too, which gave him a slightly dangerous edge.
“…Weird…” Tsugumi tilted her head.
“That guy? He’s really hot!”
“What?! How do you know him! He looks older than us!”
Tsugumi was a little embarrassed by her friends’ excitement. “Uh, he’s from work. He’s a second-year.”
“Wow! He’s so good-looking!” Yoko said.
Tsugumi nodded. “Uh-huh. He’s definitely handsome.”
“Sure is! Come on, introduce us!”
“Ugh, what a pain.”
“I knew you’d say that!”
Meanwhile, Hitomi was staring wide-eyed. “Hey, I thought you worked in Omiya!”
“Huh? Yeah, I do…”
“But doesn’t he look like he’s dressed for work?”
Tsugumi nodded. She’d been wondering the same thing. “Yeah, he does. I mean, he was wearing a bow tie.”
A white shirt, a black bow tie, and black slim-fit slacks. Based on what he normally wore, these were definitely not his casual clothes. Tsugumi had never seen him show up at work with a bow tie.
“What do you think’s going on?”
“I’m not sure.” But Tsugumi got bored easily, so she gave up on trying to figure it out. “He was headed in that direction, so maybe he works over there.” With that slapdash conclusion, she pulled a bottle of lemon tea out of her bag and took a sip. “Ugh, it’s so warm…”
“Oh, well that explains everything!” Yoko teased, but Tsugumi just gazed after him absently.
He was holding a bag that looked like it came from a convenience store. Since he wasn’t carrying a shoulder bag or anything, she figured he’d been sent out to buy something.
Then he went into one of the buildings in Center-Gai.
“Oh, now we know where he’s going!” Hitomi said.
“What should we do? Follow him?” Yoko asked eagerly. She was the one who’d been so taken by his appearance.
“Ugh…” Tsugumi sounded extremely annoyed, but Hitomi was on Yoko’s side.
“He definitely seems interesting.”
“Well…” Tsugumi hesitated. The problem wasn’t so much introducing them as walking the several dozen meters to where he was. There was a Starbucks in the Tsutaya right in front of them; if only he’d gone in there.
“Come on, it’ll be fun!”
“You must really be desperate for a boyfriend, Yoko!” Hitomi teased, but her own eyes were sparkling with excitement, too.
Tsugumi thought about it. She really wanted to go into the Starbucks instead of walking all the way over there. But it would be even more annoying to argue about what to do.
Finally, she nodded grudgingly. “Okay, but let’s make it quick.”
“That’s what I like to hear!”
Pulled along by her two friends, who were in detective mode, Tsugumi headed toward the building Takahiro had gone into.
* * *
“…This is it, right?” Hitomi asked.
“Yeah, he went down here,” Yoko answered.
They were a little ways away from where they’d been standing, in front of the building in question. A staircase led underground, with a sign reading BAR AQUA set up next to it.
“…A bar?” Hitomi mumbled, suddenly getting cold feet.
“Well, he was definitely dressed for that,” Yoko said, like everything had just come together.
“Aren’t you scared?” Hitomi looked back and forth from Yoko to Tsugumi.
“Are high schoolers even allowed in a place like this?” Yoko asked uncertainly. But it was Tsugumi who pushed back.
“What? We walked this far, so we may as well go in. I don’t wanna go all the way back.”
“It was less than a hundred meters…,” Yoko said, exasperated, but she knew Tsugumi well enough that she’d half given up already.
“If Mizusawa-san went in, then we can, too. He’s a high schooler like us.”
“No way!” Yoko was in shock.
“Yeah. What did you think?”
“I just assumed he was in university…”
“Oh…”
He acted older than he was anyway, and today he had on those grown-up-looking clothes. Tsugumi could see how Yoko would think that. “He’s just a year ahead of us.”
“R-really…?” Hitomi said, glancing down. The bottom of the narrow staircase was dim, and a bluish light lit up a simple black door.
“All right, I’m going down,” Tsugumi said, tired of waiting, and tapped Yoko on the shoulder.
“Oh, wow… I guess we’re doing this.” As the one who suggested the idea in the first place, Yoko summoned her resolve.
“Um, okay…” Hitomi nodded fearfully. Still, neither she nor Yoko budged.
“…Oh, come on.” Tsugumi took the lead and marched down the stairs by herself.
“Wait, Tsugumi!”
“We’re coming!”
The three girls stepped into Bar Aqua.
* * *
“Evening.”
As the girls pushed the heavy door open and walked inside, a male bartender with his hair slicked back, probably in his early thirties, greeted them as he dried some glasses.
The inside of the bar was dim, with blue indirect lighting illuminating the colorful bottles and slightly loud EDM music giving the place more of a trendy atmosphere than a classy one. This wasn’t one of those quiet jazz bars—which made Yoko and Hitomi even more nervous.
“Hey,” answered Tsugumi, who showed no sign of nervousness whatsoever.
They huddled behind her but managed to get out a “H-hello.”
The bartender grinned. “First time here?”
“Um, yes. But I think we know someone who works here.”
“Who’s that?”
Tsugumi looked around the bar. “His name is Mizusawa-san.”
The bartender nodded and raised his voice a little.
“Oh, I see! You’re friends of Mizusawa’s,” he said casually, then looked over his shoulder. “Hey! Yuji! Some friends of yours are here!”
Tsugumi suddenly felt uneasy. “…Yuji?”
I was sure Mizusawa’s first name was…
But before she could finish her thought, a man came out from the back. Needless to say, Tsugumi didn’t recognize him.
“Coming!”
The man striding toward them with a sunny smile was Takahiro’s older brother Yuji. He was wearing an oversized long-sleeved black T-shirt by Off-White printed with the Mona Lisa and a pair of Mnml skinny blue jeans with big rips in both knees. Two silver necklaces of different sizes hung from his neck.
“…Oh!”
For a second, a confused look flashed across his face, but then he smiled again and waved at Tsugumi and her friends. He was giving the three of them a searching look.
“Hey!” he said cheerfully and familiarly—although, of course, he’d never seen them before in his life.
The three of them looked at one another, puzzled by his obviously fake smile, and an awkward silence fell for a moment.
“I think we have the wrong Mizusawa,” Tsugumi said bluntly.
Yuji relaxed into a more natural smile. “Oh, yeah, probably! I was scared there for a second. I couldn’t remember who you guys were at all!”
“Ah-ha-ha, sorry about that. I think we’re looking for Takahiro-kun,” Tsugumi said, matching Yuji’s casual tone.
He clapped, as if everything was falling into place, while Yoko and Hitomi watched from behind Tsugumi.
“Oh, that Mizusawa! He complains about coming and then he shows up with three girls. Man!” Yuji nodded happily a few times before telling Tsugumi to wait a second and disappearing into the back.
“Sure,” she answered in her usual lazy way, turning to her friends. “Same last name, at least. Think they’re brothers?”
Hitomi and Yoko snapped out of their daze and whispered angrily at Tsugumi.
“How do you act so normal?!”
“You never even met him before, right?!”
Tsugumi was confused. “No…I mean, yeah, I never met him before, but what’s there to be nervous about?” She made it sound like talking to guys she didn’t know was completely normal.
“Most people would be nervous!”
“Yeah! And this place is scary! All the staff are so stylish and stuff!”
The two of them were whisper-yelling so that only Tsugumi could hear.
She nodded. “Yeah, those two are definitely attractive.”
“Definitely.”
“They sure are.”
Hitomi and Yoko were frustrated that Tsugumi still didn’t seem to get their point, but they were also glad they could count on her laid-back attitude.
Just then…
“Uh, what? Gumi?!”
This time, the real Takahiro Mizusawa emerged from the back room. He was still wearing the white button-down shirt and bow tie, with his bangs slicked back and glistening with gel. He looked at Tsugumi and her friends in surprise.
“Hey, Mizusawa-san,” Tsugumi greeted him, nonchalant as ever.
Mizusawa smiled wryly. “That’s all you have to say?” he said, scratching his neck. “What’s going on? Why are you here?”
“We saw you crossing the street. And we followed you. ’Cause we felt like it,” she said aloofly.
“Oh, okay…” Takahiro sighed.
Yuji, who had come back out to the bar and was standing behind his brother, listened to the conversation with great interest.
“So you didn’t bring these girls with you?” he asked.
Takahiro frowned. “Nope. They just showed up uninvited.”
“Hey, that was mean!” Tsugumi protested.
“Ha-ha-ha.”
“But anyway, what are you doing here?” she asked. Predictably, Hitomi and Yoko were listening silently to the conversation.
“My dear brother here is the assistant manager, so I’m helping out…” Suddenly, Takahiro looked at the other two girls. “Are you two friends of Tsugumi’s?”
Yoko and Hitomi gulped at the sudden question.
“Uh, um, mm-hmm!”
“Huh. So you’re in the same grade as her?”
“Y-yeah!” Yoko said, her voice a little higher than usual.
“Ah. Well, I can’t serve you alcohol, but you can hang around if you want. Counter seat okay?”
“Y-yes!”
The three girls sat down at the counter seats Takahiro had pointed at. Unlike Tsugumi, who was acting like all of this was totally normal, the other two were stiff as boards and nodding compulsively.
“Oh, this is my brother,” Takahiro said, “and that guy over there is the boss.”
“Oh, wow!”
“Really?”
Yoko’s and Hitomi’s responses to Takahiro’s introductions weren’t exactly natural.
“Ha-ha-ha. Just relax. Is this your first time in a place like this?”
“Um, yes,” Hitomi said stiffly.
“Ah. Well, how about a drink to start?”
“Um…”
As the two of them were trying to decide, Takahiro spoke up again. “Hey, since you’re here at a bar, wanna try a cocktail? Do you like sweet stuff?” he asked, like he’d just thought of it.
“Uh, yes I do,” Yoko said.
“How about you?”
“I-I’m okay with sweet!” Hitomi said in a near panic.
“Just okay? I’ll get you something else—so one sweet and one dry cocktail, coming right up. Nonalcoholic, of course. Sound good?” Takahiro was talking so smoothly that the other two could barely keep up.
“O-okay!”
“Thank you very much!”
They were completely at his mercy, partly because of the overall atmosphere of the place. Takahiro grinned at them, then finally looked back at Tsugumi.
“How about you, Gumi? Green tea?”
Hitomi and Yoko burst out giggling.
“What the heck?! Give me the cutest drink you got. 
”
”“Of course. Leave it to me,” he said, wrapping up the conversation, and started making their drinks with a practiced hand. He pulled out three different kinds of glasses and loaded each one with brightly colored syrup, bubbly water, and cut fruit.
The three of them, with Tsugumi in the middle, watched him and whispered to each other.
“Who is this guy anyway?! I can’t believe he’s in high school!”
“I was just thinking that!”
Tsugumi laughed wryly as they repeated their impressions from before. “He always acts pretty grown-up, but he’s especially bad tonight. Ugh, I can’t stand him.”
Hitomi and Yoko stared at Tsugumi.
“Are you that close?” Yoko asked.
“I’m not sure how to put it…”
“You sure seem close! He’s a whole year older and everything!” Hitomi whispered excitedly.
“What are we whispering about?!”
“Eek!”
Yoko and Hitomi jumped at Takahiro’s sudden intrusion. He chuckled and smiled like he was pleased with himself. “Here’s your drinks.”
He set the colorful virgin cocktails in front of the girls like nothing had happened, though there was a slightly sadistic shade to his smile.
“Thank you!”
Hitomi and Yoko stared at their cocktails and tried to think of something to say, their hearts pounding.
“Um, what are these called?” Yoko asked.
Takahiro smiled and pointed to the glasses in order. “This is a Firestone, this is a Waiting for Love, and this is a Fast Car.”
“Wow…”
Yoko and Hitomi nodded, their eyes sparkling at the sound of the English words.
“…The nonalcoholic versions, of course. I heard they’re all house originals.”
“Ah-ha-ha. So you don’t really know?” Hitomi laughed.
“I just work here, you know… Oh, by the way,” Takahiro said offhandedly. “Funny that I know what to call the drinks, but not what to call you?” He looked back and forth between Yoko and Hitomi.
“Ah-ha-ha. Our names?”
“Yeah.”
“I hope you don’t mind if they’re not fancy English names…” Hitomi’s nervousness was slowly melting away.
“Ha-ha-ha. No problem. Mine is Takahiro, after all.”
“I’m Hitomi Fujii.”
“Um, I’m Yoko Mamiya.”
“Hitomi-chan and Yoko-chan, huh? Pleased to meet you!”
Tsugumi was staring at him. “Wow, look at this Casanova, calling them by their first names right away.”
“Shut up. You can call me Takahiro-san here if you want.”
“Nah, I don’t think so,” she said lazily.
Takahiro gave her a meaningful look. “But if you call me Mizusawa-san, we might have a bit of a problem.”
“Why’s that?”
“Go ahead, try it. Say ‘Mizusawa-san’ in a loud voice.”
“I will then. Mizusawa-san!”
Yuji jumped out from behind Takahiro and made a goofy pose. “Did someone ring for a Mizusawa? At your service, ma’am!”
The other four cracked up at his speedy reaction, since he’d obviously been waiting for this.
“Ah-ha-ha. You’re just as annoying as your little brother,” Tsugumi teased happily.
“Why thank you 
,” Yuji teased.
,” Yuji teased.Takahiro held up a fist. “Well played.”
“I know. I was eavesdropping.”
“Creep.”
They bumped fists, and Yuji bounded energetically into the back room.
Hitomi giggled at the brothers’ perfect timing, jostling the cocktail in her right hand. “This bar is so fun!” She was already acting tipsy despite the lack of alcohol in her drink.
“Ha-ha-ha. You like it?”
“I do! I love it!” She chugged down her drink and set the glass on its coaster. “I wish I could drink something real!” She grinned and rested her elbows on the counter, looking straight at Takahiro.
“Ha-ha-ha, Hitomi-chan. We’d be shut down if we did that.”
“I know… Just choose something for me again,” she said, sounding disappointed.
“Coming right up.” Takahiro set about efficiently mixing her another drink. “Yoko-chan, would you like another? Gumi, you’re having houjicha tea, right?”
“Just stop!”
They were having a great time.
* * *
“Thanks for tonight!”
It was nine. Considering the three girls lived in Saitama, that was fairly late, so they broke up the party.
“Thank you. Come again!”
“We will!” Yoko said excitedly, all her tension gone.
“Are you always here?” Hitomi asked.
Takahiro tilted his head, thinking. “No, almost never. I’m helping my brother out over summer vacation, but normally I’m not around.”
“Oh, really?! But summer vacation is almost over!”
Takahiro nodded. “Here’s my card, just in case. I might be able to do a shift if you tell me you’re coming ahead of time.”
“Okay, thanks!”
He handed them his simple cards, with white characters printed on a black background.
“Oh, it has your LINE ID!” Yoko seemed very happy about that.
“Yeah, add me if you feel like it,” he said casually.
“I will!” Hitomi said cheerfully.
“Okay, see you later.”
“Yeah, see ya,” Tsugumi said lethargically. The other two said their good-byes, and the three girls left the bar.
As soon as he was sure the door had closed all the way, Takahiro let out a sigh, wiping the glass in his hand.
“…Whew.”
“Nice job.”
“Oh, thanks, Boss,” Takahiro said, glancing around. “Hey, where’s my brother?”
“Taking a smoke break.”
“Oh, gotcha.”
The boss peered at him with a meaningful smile.
“…What?”
“Those three were tough customers, in more ways than one.”
“Oh, yeah, I guess so.”
“You’re a natural at this.”
“Ha-ha-ha. Thank you.”
The boss’s mouth quirked up into a crooked smile. “Especially the two who were hanging back. They really took your bait. So? What now?” he asked like he had an idea of the answer.
Takahiro smiled back with the same look. “Oh, that… I’ll probably hang out with them once or twice.” He grinned.
The boss nodded. “It’s like you were born for this.”
“I think the real bartenders of the world would take offense if they heard you say that.”
“Then don’t do anything that would make them mad.”
“Good advice.”
They smiled like partners in crime.
Suddenly, a serious expression came into the boss’s eyes, though he kept smiling. “Joking aside, don’t you want a girlfriend?”
“I’m not sure.” Takahiro set the dry glasses down on the counter.
“It’s fun to play around, but if you ask me, falling head over heels for someone is part of growing up.”
“Ha-ha-ha. Sounds like you’re speaking from experience.”
“…Maybe, maybe not. But don’t change the subject.” He looked embarrassed for a minute but quickly got back to his point. “It’s different if you really love someone,” he continued quietly.
“I do,” Takahiro said nonchalantly.
“What?” The boss’s eyebrows rose.
“You’re talking about falling in love, right? There’s a girl I’m in love with,” he repeated.
The boss froze. “Wait a second. I’ve never heard about this!” he said, clearly startled.
“Ha-ha-ha. You never asked!”
“So what’s she like?”
“What’s she like…?”
“A beautiful older woman? …Don’t tell me it’s Yumiko-san?”
“Uh, no, not her.” Takahiro smirked. “Someone in my class.”
“…Wow,” the boss said, sounding impressed. “If a high schooler’s got you hooked, she must be somethin’ else.”
Takahiro chuckled happily. “Yeah, she is. She’s more complicated than a lot of the older girls that come in here.”
“Really now,” the boss said before giving Takahiro a satisfied smile. “That’s good.” He sighed with relief.
“What’s that supposed to mean?” Takahiro asked, laughing.
The boss thumped his shoulder. “I wouldn’t expect anything less of you.”
“How so?”
“When you win her heart, you will be a truly legendary bartender.”
“Ha-ha-ha. I’m just here helping out.”
“Ooh, cold.”
They smiled at each other again, while Takahiro was lost in thought.
Win her heart, huh?
At this point, he didn’t even know how deep her heart went.
He picked up a tall, slender glass and held the bottom of it against one of the blue lights illuminating the bar. The cold blue gleam was bright in some places and dark in others.
“I’ll wait for her,” Takahiro said casually, gazing through the bottom of the glass. “I’m not really the type to chase someone down.”
The smile tugging at his lips was of one who truly delighted in the unknown.