Chapter 65: A Night in Ueno

Ashley and Lenore went into our hotel room to change and brush out their hair. I stayed in the other room to get Erica and Angelique ready. Erica was happy for the attention. Angelique had to be persuaded to leave the television, but eventually I was able to get her shoes on and lead her to the door. We stepped into the hall to see Jana standing there.

"Good," she said. "Everyone else is getting ready."

"How was your day?" I asked.

"Jason found some interesting things to look at," Jana said. "And he heard about a couple of museums in the park. But we were warned that there isn't a lot to see in Tokyo. Many historical sites didn't survive the bombings during the war."

"Let's not talk much about that. My country provided the bombs for that," I said with a shake of my head.

Jana laughed. Morgan and Becky choose that moment to emerge from their room. Morgan smiled.

"It's nice to hear laughter," he said. "Oh, I did hear that the blossoms are fully open. I guess they set up a lot of lanterns so people can hold parties at night."

"In Ueno Park?" Jana asked.

"No, in the ocean," I snapped. "Anyone got a sign?"

Becky punched me in the arm. "Be nice."

Jana burst out laughing. "No, I walked into that one. And its good to know that Mark considers me just like his own ladies."

"Huh?" Becky asked. I noticed that the door to Jessica's room had opened. Jessica was walking out with Kathy and Maurice.

The rest of our group emerged from the other rooms. I was holding Angelique's hand. She wanted to return to the hotel room. I finally convinced her that she wanted to eat dinner and she settled down.

"Right," Morgan said when he verified that everyone was in the hallway. "Sushi again? Or something different?"

"Is Sushi the only Japanese food?" Maurice asked.

"No, there are noodle places. They also have a few fried offerings. I think they are called Tempura and Tonkatsu," Morgan said. "There also is Sukiyaki. I believe there is a good restaurant offering Sukiyaki just around the corner from the hotel. How about we go there and then catch the subway to Ueno Park?"

Everyone nodded. "Lead on MacDuff," I proclaimed.

Ashley hit me on the back of the head. "Jerk," she said playfully.

We headed over to the restaurant. When we arrived the host had us spread out over several different tables. I was surprised by this until I realized that the 'table' was actually a hot metal plate. A chef came out and cooked our food on the table itself. The one serving at our table displayed surprising dexterity as he chopped and flipped the vegetables and meat that was to become our dinner.

The sun was just starting to set when we left the restaurant. Angelique was a bit tired, but she wanted to stay with her mother, so Maurice carried her as we headed to the subway.

The subway was crowded again. This time Jason, Maurice, Morgan, and I tried to form a barrier so that the women in our group were not groped during the ride to Ueno Park. I noticed that more than a few men glared at us, but no one bothered us as the subway train rattled down the tracks.

We arrived at the park and exited the subway. The sun had completely set, but we could still see the park from the station.

"They have put up lights," Cassidy said with a gasp. "It's so beautiful."

"And we haven't even seen a flower yet," Liz observed.

"I have," Cassidy said with a blush.

Everyone laughed at that as Liz blushed. We headed to the exit of the station and began walking toward the park.

The train left the station, bringing a bit of quiet to the area. We could now hear the sounds of drunken singing coming from the park. "Should we take Angelique there?" Lenore whispered.

"It's a bit late now," I replied. "And we have enough people to protect her. Let's just stay together."

We continued to walk to the park. As we got closer it became easier to see the strings of paper lanterns strung between the trees. The trees were a brilliant pink from all the open blossoms.

We tried to stay on one of the footpaths. As we progressed into the park we found that many groups of people were sitting under the trees and throwing a party. Many were clearly drunk and could be seen clumsily dancing to out-of-tune singing.

I tried to concentrate on the trees rather than the people. The darkness made it difficult to see far from the path, but what I could see was inspiring. I put an arm around Lenore as we continued to walk. "This is amazing," I said. "I mean, I've seen a cherry tree in blossom, but there must be hundreds here."

"I'm glad we did this," Lenore said. "Even if all we do is walk through and look. I'll always have a memory of this time."

There was some shouting to our left. I looked up to see Ashley gazing off to the left.

"Mark, the police appear to be hassling someone," my blond love said.

"I'm not sure we should get involved," I said.

"At least find out if its safe to walk through the park," Ashley asked me

I looked back at the others, but Morgan and Jessica both shrugged. "You're the leader when things like this come up," Jessica said.

I sighed and left the path to approach the police. They were working at the edge of the circle of light provided by the lanterns. Two of the cops noticed me approaching. One immediately moved to intercept me.

"We're just moving some vagrants," one said.

I could just make out a tent hidden in the trees. Puzzled I pointed back towards the light. "I've seen people out there who are clearly set up to stay all night."

"For a night only," the officer said. "But you can't just camp here."

I heard a female complaining in rather strident tones. A young woman stomped into view. She marched up to the cop talking to me and started babbling to him.

Ashley ran up and put a hand on my shoulder. "Mark! She was the maid who served us earlier today."

I looked at the girl. She definitely was thin just like the maid, but I could not remember seeing the maid's face. This girl also had black hair hanging to her waist and the maid's hair had been concealed behind and beneath a hair band.

"Are you sure?" I asked.

Ashley nodded. "You were sitting across the table, and she never looked up, but I was right next to her. I swear it was her."

I looked at the young woman again. Her face was filled with tears as she pleaded with the cop. He seemed unwilling to listen to her pleas.

"Miss?" I asked.

She turned to look at me. I found myself staring into her dark eyes. There was tons of pain behind those eyes. I thought she would say something, but a moment later she turned back to argue with the cop.

"Officer? How much does this young woman have?" I asked.

The cop looked at me. "Why is that important?" he asked.

I waved at Ashley and then pointed to the rest of my group. They were hanging back on the path, pretending to ignore what was going on. "I'm trying to determine if we can help this young lady, but she doesn't appear to want to talk to me. I know that it can be hard to accept help, but she appears to need it."

"I do not!" the woman snapped. "And don't talk about me as if I'm not here."

"She speaks surprisingly good English," I said in an aside to Ashley.

Ashley elbowed me in the ribs as the young woman moved to stand directly in front of me.

"I said don't talk about me as if I'm not here," the woman complained.

I turned to look her in the eyes again. "I'm sorry, was my conversation disturbing you?" I asked absently.

"I don't need help!" the woman snapped.

I looked over her shoulder at the police officer. The rest of the team was now visible. They had moved to watch the exchange. A couple were leaning against trees as the woman stood and fumed.

"Need? I believe the presence of the police officers clearly demonstrates that you need help. However, I believe that its equally clear that you refuse to accept any help," I said.

"I can stand on my own two feet!" she said.

"Have you been to America? You sound almost American," I said.

The girl looked at the ground. "I was an exchange student last year."

"Senior year?" I asked.

The girl blushed. "Sophomore, but my..."

The girl paused. She took a deep breath. "My father killed himself last summer," she said rapidly.

The girl collapsed to the ground. Ashley immediately knelt down and put an arm around her. "Mark?" she asked.

I looked at the police officer. He frowned. "She can't live in the park," he said.

"Lenore," I called out. "Come here please."

Lenore walked over to join Ashley and me. "I couldn't understand the conversation," she said.

I pointed at the young woman who was still kneeling on the ground. Ashley was murmuring in her ear. "She's homeless and the cops are asking her to move. She also was the waitress who served us while we were in the maid café earlier."

"I don't work there anymore," the girl sad softly. "They fired me."

"Can I ask why?" I said quietly.

"The manager found out that my parents are dead and tried to use that to force me," the girl said.

"And when you refused, he fired you," Lenore said. "I'm glad my boss isn't like that."

"Mark," Ashley asked. "Do you think she's pretty?"

"Ashley," I growled. "Now is definitely not the time. Besides we don't even know this girl's name."