Seduction Game (Art and Soul) Read online

  “No way. Just something I saw on TV.”

  She told me that I’d get the scholarship and a heap of other free money. That swayed me completely. I’d leave the country on the school’s money. All our savings could go to relocating Belle.

  So, I’d planned to go to Japan on this exchange for one semester and, when I got back, Sean would be in maximum security. It was like the universe had thrown a big, fat gift into my lap.

  Except now that gift was taken from me. I’d get home and Sean would still be free.

  “So, he’s going to be walking free for the next five months?” I asked.

  “Yep. Sorry to have to tell you. It’s the worst. Maybe I should just get a gun and shoot the fucker.”

  “Yeah, then you’d be going to the big house, not him. There should be some law about fuckers like Sean.”

  “There is. But you didn’t want to go to the cops.”

  The one thing Belle and I had ever argued about. She thought I should’ve reported him. Reported everything. I hadn’t wanted to go to the cops. They wouldn’t do anything and I’ve had to blurt out my entire sordid history. No thanks.

  “I’ll find a way to deal with this. I’ll just stay here longer. They gave me a one year visa. I just figured one semester would be enough.”

  “Can you extend your exchange?”

  “Maybe. I’ll look into it.”

  When I hung up, I sure wasn’t in the mood to go back downstairs to Shun. He’d know that I was down and he’d start asking me about it. Instead, I lay on the bed and looked up at the ceiling. Wallowing in my own misery was an indulgence that I didn’t often sink into. I had shit to do in this life and, if I didn’t do it, no one would look after me, that’s for sure.

  I’d count the cracks in the ceiling except there were no cracks. Nothing to mar the perfection of this place. All the cracks were inside.

  From somewhere, a guitar played. I had no idea where the music came from. Maybe somewhere in the neighbourhood. The music suited my mood. It dug up the pain and floated it on the surface. Whoever played had some talent, that was true. At least someone in this crazy place knew how I felt.

  As much as I’d tried to put on a happy face for Belle, there wasn’t any way I could extend the exchange. I could stay in the country but I relied on that scholarship and being hosted by the Tachibanas. That ended when the semester did. Without that, I’d have no money coming in.

  Maybe I could get a part-time job. In between looking after Shun and my uni work, it’d be hard. I didn’t want to fail my classes. I had to put all my time into that. But Ingrid taught English part-time. I could do that. There had to be a solution for this problem and I’d find it.

  The guitar continued as I jumped up and grabbed my sketchbook. The only way I could think things through was if I had a pencil in my hand.

  CHAPTER 6

  When Mr Tachibana asked me to go to his office after dinner, I freaked a bit. They were going to kick me out or something horrible like that. I just knew it. Since my other life options were pretty limited, I needed them even if they were super weird.

  I could barely eat dinner.

  “What’s wrong, Audrey?” Shun asked. “You normally wolf down your food.”

  I had to admit he was right. These people ate at such an incredibly slow rate. They’d have a tiny mouthful of one of the many dishes. Then they’d take forever to eat it before getting something else. It took ages for them to have a meal. It seemed like the whole point of dinner was to prove how uninterested in food they actually were. Not me. By dinner time, I was starving and tried to get as much food into me as fast as possible.

  “I’m not hungry,” I said. “I had a big lunch.”

  He raised his eyebrows but didn’t say any more.

  It took even longer for them to finish than usual. Mr Tachibana would set down his chopsticks and I’d think he was done, then he’d keep sitting there and eventually pick them back up. He was trying to kill me with the tension. Why did we even have to wait until after dinner to talk?

  Finally, he got up from the table. Mrs Tachibana got up too.

  “Audrey…” she said.

  Shun looked at them then at me. I shrugged to let him know I knew nothing more than he did about this whole thing.

  Mr Tachibana’s office was just off the dining room. It wasn’t really an office, not like one people did work in. It was all dark wood with gold trim. A lamp on the desk was the only light. The desktop had nothing else on it but a gold pen holder. The whole office looked like it’d just come from a showroom or something. That just made it more intimidating.

  I sat down in one of the chairs. Mr Tachibana sat at the desk and Mrs Tachibana stood behind him. They were definitely putting on a united front for something.

  I tucked my hands under my legs and leant forward, waiting for them to speak.

  “So, Audrey, are you enjoying yourself in our home?”

  I nodded. “I am. Thank you for having me here.”

  That was polite. I was thankful for being here too. Anywhere that Sean wasn’t worked for me. Still, it seemed like the Tachibanas weren’t really interested in my wellbeing. They were leading into something. It might be an hour of small talk before we got to the point.

  “How are your studies going?” Mrs Tachibana asked. She had her hand on the back of Mr Tachibana’s chair but didn’t look at me.

  “Fine. Good. I’m getting on well.” Had the school contacted them? Was something wrong? I was doing well in my classes. I’d gotten nothing but praise and some valid suggestions in my painting critique. My drawing and art history classes were going well. Even with my Japanese studies, I kept pace. It was that haiku class I bet. Damn haiku. I wished now that I’d done tea ceremony instead. I’d made hundreds of cups of tea so I’d surely ace that.

  The lips of her mouth curled. It wasn’t a smile but it was as close to a smile as she’d get. She’d definitely had botox. That would go a long way to explaining the lack of facial expressions. That and a total lack of actual emotion.

  “And how is Shun going with cram school?”

  Okay, that was a trick question, right? They wanted me to say he was doing well then I’d be caught out in a lie because they knew he wasn’t going. But then I didn’t want to confess either, in case they didn’t know.

  This room sure was stuffy. The whole house was stuffy at the best of times but this room was like it’d been shut up since their last interrogation. I scratched at my leg and wondered how long I could stall.

  “As well as can be expected,” I said. That was good. I didn’t even need to lie.

  “And Junichi?” Mr Tachibana added.

  “Junichi?”

  What had he said to them? He’d told them we’d not gone to cram school. I just knew he’d do something like that. I did not trust that guy. He was way too uptight.

  “Do you get along with him?”

  “As well as can be expected.” That line worked wonders. I’d use it for everything from now on.

  “This is an awkward matter,” Mr Tachibana said. “But we’d like you to be friendlier to Junichi. It would be good for him.”

  Huh? I had no idea what they meant by that. My relationship with Junichi was good as it was going to get. Avoiding each other, that was the level I could stick to.

  “You mean extra English lessons?”

  If that’s what they wanted, they’d have to pay. I couldn’t take on extra lessons with Junichi and teach private lessons to make money. I only had limited hours in the day. One way or the other, I needed to make money to either stay in Japan longer or move somewhere when I got back home. Money was the only thing that mattered.

  “That’s not exactly what I had in mind.” Mr Tachibana pulled at his tie.

  I wasn’t sure what he had in mind but that look on his face scared me. His face twitched a little. That couldn’t be good. I really did not want to spend any more time with Junichi than I already did, and he felt the same, I was sure. It wasn’t like I c
ould say to them that I’d been avoiding Junichi because he’d touched me and it’d made my private parts tingle in a way that disturbed me.

  Mrs Tachibana didn’t say anything, she just had that plastic doll smile on her face. That scared me too. The huge office chair engulfed me and suddenly swung without warning. I had to have both feet on the ground to stabilise myself.

  “What exactly did you have in mind?”

  “It’s a delicate matter, I’m not sure if I can spell it out in so many words. It’s not something I can say directly.”

  I crossed my legs. This just got weirder and weirder.

  “Well, listen, I’m pretty thick so you’d better spell it out in all the words or I’ll not understand what you are implying. Capisce?”

  They both stared at me, suggesting they did not one bit capisce. There was zero capisce.

  Somehow though, it seemed I was getting the upper hand here. Both of them looked nervous. He was a wreck and she tried not to show it but there was a bead of sweat on her upper lip.

  “What exactly do you want? I’ve got study to do and other really important things so let’s not beat around the bush here.”

  They exchanged looks. Mr Tachibana’s face twitched all the more. The dude looked like he was having a stroke or something, although I assumed he’d have to double over in pain before we called an ambulance or any of that. Mrs Tachibana didn’t seem too worried about him, so either he had an especially twitchy face or she didn’t care if he keeled over.

  She stepped forward a little.

  “Junichi is our heir. He will take over everything we have one day.”

  “Yeah, I kinda got that by the way he’s treated like a little prince. For the record, I don’t think you’re doing him any favours treating him like that. The dude should be made to do a few things around the house.”

  She tucked a strand of hair behind her ear and fake-grinned all the more.

  “I’ll take that on board.”

  I really needed to shut up or I’d be definitely sleeping on the streets. If she could show emotion, that emotion would definitely be annoyed or maybe slightly angry. Still, I wasn’t wrong. Junichi was spoilt and entitled. This probably wasn’t the time to bring that up, and what the hell did I care? I just needed to do my time and get over this whole shitty patch of my life. It wasn’t like I needed to see Junichi ever again when my three months were up.

  “Thanks,” I replied. I tried my most non-abrasive voice.

  “Junichi has received training in everything he needs for the business world. He has cultural training and good manners. He excels in all he does.”

  Her definition of good manners was so not mine but I let her continue. The chair swung around again. I slammed my foot on the floor. The seat was so deep; it was difficult to sit in it comfortably with my feet on the floor. I bet that was one of those business tricks. When Mr Tachibana negotiated with someone, he’d give them the oversized chair to put them off-guard. That wouldn’t work with me, though. I would be as on guard as a person could be.

  “There is one area we can’t train him in, though. It’s essential that he be the best at everything. And some things are essential for a man’s wellbeing.”

  I think she had a slight blush on her face. Wow, a show of emotion. That might mean she wasn’t a robot after all.

  Mr Tachibana leant forward, threading his fingers together. “We are talking about romance, of course.”

  He had a creepy leer in his eyes. My stomach heaved.

  “Well, not so much romance…” Mrs Tachibana added.

  I blinked. I blinked again. The words were still there, hanging in the air in front of me. Not so much romance… what the hell did that mean? They both waited for my answer.

  “We would make sure you are adequately compensated. We would be very generous,” she added.

  I reeled back in the chair in shock. That made it swing around so I almost faced the door. I put my foot on the floor and swung it back the other way. This was not a situation I wanted to be in, and I had to make that absolutely clear. These people were fucked up, I knew that, but the level of fucked-up-ness went way beyond anything I’d ever anticipated. In what world did they think that was okay?

  “You want me to screw him? For money? Like a common hooker?”

  “No, no. Of course not. We want you to date him. Like a regular person. He needs worldly experience but we don’t want someone who’d hang around, creating a nuisance. You’ll have a little fling then leave the country.” Mr Tachibana smiled, still a bit of a twitch there though. “We are not suggesting you have sex—”

  “There has to be sex.” Mrs Tachibana crossed her arms, all fake-smile gone now. I don’t know why I’d ever thought Mr Tachibana was the businessman in the family. That woman would intimidate Hitler.

  “Whoa, lady. Think about what you’re saying there. You want to pay me to have sex with your son? Is that normal? Hey, wait, does that mean he’s a virgin? He’s like never, ever done it with a girl?”

  I laughed a little.

  “Of course he has,” Mrs Tachibana replied.

  “Has he?” Mr Tachibana turned to her.

  “Yes, remember that girl. Mai.”

  Mr Tachibana was way too interested in this. So was she. The fucked up gauge was way into the red zone. Did they have cameras installed in his bedroom?

  I had to tread very, very carefully. I needed them. I couldn’t tell them I’d rather have sex with an electric eel than their son. Actually, that’s what it’d been like when he’d touched me, like being zapped by an electric eel. I’d not even enjoyed that zap. He’d grossed me out and I’d taken that extreme nausea for something else.

  “But did he do it with her?” Mr Tachibana asked.

  “Hey, this is getting way too personal for me. Maybe discuss it on your own time.” I stood up. “As for me, I’m out of here. You people are a little bit nutso so how about we pretend this conversation never happened. I’m sure you’ll find a nice hooker somewhere who’d be happy to take on your son. As for me, I’m pretty okay without it.”

  “Did we mention we’d be very generous?” Mrs Tachibana asked.

  “Yeah, you did. Did I mention I’m not interested?”

  I totally needed a shower to wash the filth of this conversation off my skin. It wasn’t natural or right. These people were way too up in their son’s business. I would not ask how generous. If I showed the slightest interest in their crazy offer, they’d never let it go.

  “Why not?” Mr Tachibana asked. “It’s not like you don’t have experience. One more won’t matter. He needs an experienced girl to show him the ropes and you look like you know lots of ropes.”

  I hoped that the glare I gave him would bring on that stroke he looked like he was having. He was no better than Sean, practically telling me I was only good for sex. I wouldn’t let him get to me. I was better than that. No matter how much I needed the money.

  I stormed out of his office, and would’ve stormed out the house if I had anywhere else to go.

  CHAPTER 7

  “It’s not possible,” the exchange coordinator said. I think her name was Satou.

  “Of course it’s possible.” I’d had to wait nearly an hour to see her, and then she made me tell her the whole story in detail only to tell me it wasn’t possible? That was bullshit.

  “You can’t change your host family this far into the semester.”

  “Did you hear what I said? They are trying to pimp me. They want me to screw their son for money. That’s some crazy dysfunction right there. The old man is a creeper and the mother is cuckoo.”

  I slumped back in the chair, arms folded over my chest. I knew this was a lost cause but I had to keep trying.

  “I’m sure you misunderstood what they said. It happens sometimes with foreigners. They don’t understand Japanese culture and get confused. Maybe they just wanted you to be more friendly with their son.”

  She gave me a false smile. Those things were in high frequency
around here. She was totally faking it and not wanting to admit I was right.

  “I didn’t misunderstand a thing. They want me to be more friendly with their son – in his pants. They did all but name a figure.”

  She smiled without looking at me.

  “No, you are wrong. They wouldn’t do that. They are a very good family…”

  Was she suggesting I made this up? Bitch. I had no reason to lie. I didn’t really see how rich meant a good family either. Just because people are rich didn’t mean they had better morals than anyone else. If anything, they had fewer morals and that’s how they got rich in the first place. Not even my father, who was definitely not an upstanding member of the community, would do something so gross.

  She smiled again. “I’m sure you understand that Junichi is a very popular boy. His parents wouldn’t need to make an offer like that. He has many girls interested in him. Maybe you just need to try harder to get along with them.”

  I really wanted to punch that chick in her smarmy, smiling face. She just didn’t want to make one slightest bit of effort and had zero fucks to give about me being sexually harassed. I mean, that is sexual harassment, right? Being asked to prostitute yourself. My flesh still crawled over it.

  Everyone had told me the Tachibanas would be the ideal host family. They were rich and I’d live in luxury. Sure, there were advantages. Like it was free, which suited my budget, and I had a huge bedroom. Ingrid said the room at her place was tiny. She had a futon on the floor and that took up the entire space at night so she couldn’t leave a thing on the floor. We had good food and the place was quiet. All good points but hardly enough to make me want to stay.

  Even before all this shit went down, I’d been miserable. I’d much rather stay with regular people. They were more my type. I’d feel comfortable with them and they’d not be all screwed up.

  “Surely there is a nice, regular family who want to host someone. It wouldn’t be that much trouble to move me.”

  “We have no one. We close our books after the second week of semester.”

  “Can’t you open them again?” I tried to hold back my temper. Losing it would not help my cause. She’d just write me off as another crazy, angry foreigner when the one making me crazy and angry was her. I took a deep breath.