In a cheap love hotel right in the heart of Shibuya he wished for death. He wished that long-overdue Tokyo earthquake would finally come and he would be buried - bone, flesh and blood under slabs of concrete, broken-bodied beside her. That way he could float on, endlessly, drifting on the fat soft sea of after-sex-satisfaction. They could live on with each other in some other dimensions where they would have no need of their bodies. But, was it not her body that had brought him all this happiness to begin with? Just, if it were possible, to suspend the moments as they both lay there exhausted and naked on the bed. Looking up at the stained ceiling, he imagined it crumbling, falling, crushing. They had made love three times and it was not yet 2pm.

     She was born on April 8th, the same day as the Buddha, not that that makes any difference, it was just easy for him to remember. It was also the day Kurt Cobain’s body was found in Seattle. Cobain had killed himself two days prior. He knew this because he was a big fan, and on that date, April 8th 1994, Nirvana were supposed to have played in Dublin. He still had the ticket.
     She was the middle child of a construction worker and a housewife and had an older brother and a younger sister. They lived in Adachi ward, a thin strip of land between the Sumida and Arakawa rivers, located in northeast Tokyo. Adachi was working class, one of the poorest areas in Tokyo. April 8th was a good date for her because if you had to put a season on her it would definitely be spring, coming into summer. After they met he always felt a few years lighter. He never saw her angry. Never saw her not smiling. He never knew her well enough. He toyed with the idea that they had known each other for centuries, for that's what it felt like at times, but he soon dismissed it and instead marveled at how chance, fate, destiny, luck, coincidence, chaos - call it what you will, had brought two people from different sides of the world together into to such an unusual love affair - for lack of a better word. The borders they had transgressed were not only of distance. He was her teacher when they first met. There was the age difference. Despite all this it had never felt wrong.
     They lay in each other’s arms; eyes closed, and listened to each other breathing. The silence between them was not uncomfortable and he remembered when they first met. It was not just her striking appearance, in particular her long thin athletic legs. No, it was not these physical aspects, but rather, it had been her calm demeanor. He was working as an assistant in a Japanese high School and twice a week he taught her and 7 other students a double oral English communication class. She was way above the rest in her ability and intelligence but she held herself back in order to fit in. They watched movies such as Babe, Totoro and his favourite, Spirited Away, and studied the dialogue.
     On their first date they met in Shibuya and she drank black coffee just like he did. She wore her uniform. He had left the school and was just about to go back to his country. They went to an internet café and kissed, cuddled, hugged. He got to touch those long toned legs. She told him about her part-time job at mini-mart and her boyfriend.
     From that day on whenever they met, they would meet in Shibuya and drink black coffee together before they went to a hotel. As neither could speak the others language very well they communicated in two languages. There was little they could talk about, but it never seemed to matter. Shibuya, the coffee, the hotels, remained constants but the circumstances of their lives changed over the years. Both he and she always had partners whenever they met. They never made any promises to see each other when they said goodbye. Sometimes months passed, sometimes years.
It had been three years since they had met last. She was now twenty-six and working in Ginza as a beautician. Her make up was perfectly applied and she wore stylish and fashionable clothes. She had lost weight and was really too thin. He could see the nobs of her spine and count her ribs. He was worried about her and told her to eat more. She had changed. She had matured. Blossomed, bloomed and wilted. She had lost and she had gained. And what of him?
     More wrinkles.
     Operations.
     Marriage.
     Divorce.
     Life.

     He fell into a short sleep and dreamed Shibuya, that great living, breathing, concrete monster, was slain like Sodom and Gomorrah. He woke, amid the rubble and screams, to find her looking at him. His head dizzied and the room’s walls rushed inwards. Her eyes filled with tears that trickled down her cheek, tears he licked till his mouth salted full, and he couldn’t speak. In these moments he understood that they would continue to meet till time gave up on them. She would marry and have kids and she would still meet him. She would tell her husband she was going to have lunch with her friends, friends she hadn’t seen in such a long time. After they had made love for hours she would go home and prepare an extra special meal for him. Perhaps she would even love him more. Perhaps she would appreciate him more.
     As he lay there, staring at the ceiling, wishing for an earthquake, he hoped they could someday marry each other. Perhaps in some different lifetime they had been married. He hoped she could have his children. He hoped he was the husband she came home to after making love to her lover. But wasn’t their relationship special? She wouldn’t need a lover if they were together would she? He convinced himself of this and settled his mind to this favorable view of reality. Things were easier that way.
     They started to kiss again. He sucked her little finger and almost swallowed the small platinum ring her boyfriend had given her. Soon he was down between her legs. They wrapped round each other like serpents, licked and sucked each other until their reptilian bodies drained and they could no longer keep going.
     They showered separately. Creeping light from the bathroom sent beams of reality into the room. They got dressed in silence. They knew each other better when they were naked on the bed. At about 15:30 they left the hotel and walked down Dogenzaka. They went into an udon shop and she ordered curry udon. He ordered tempura udon and some extras: riceballs, fried squid and shrimp and he made sure she ate till she was full. It was only the second time they had eaten together. After they’d finished he walked her to the JR entrance. They waded through the crowd like two spies. As always, they couldn’t hold hands. He wanted to kiss her goodbye at the station entrance. Instead they touched hands lightly.
     He took the train towards Shinjuku, and she headed back east, towards Ueno.