Sitting in the puddle, he asked if I was a raccoon. I told him I'm Gugu. 'Gugu? Like a baby?' he said, so I opened the umbrella directly in his face. From the wall, Boss Neko gave me something that looked a lot like respect.
'Excuse me, sir,' I said, 'a rare bird, right over there.' Tokuda turned and took one step left, into the deepest puddle in the neighborhood, up to his hat. I confiscated the binoculars, bent them in half and handed them back. 'For the birds.'
On the way back, alone, I saw him again: Tokuda-san, behind a utility pole, binoculars on our window. I closed the umbrella very slowly, and the whole street went quiet. On the wall above us, Boss Neko sat down to watch. To be continued.
Ayame had a late shift at the arcade and it was pouring, so I insisted on walking her there. I took the big umbrella, three times my size, and from behind it looked like an umbrella walking down the street by itself. Ayame walked slower so I could keep up.
That evening, under our window in the rain, I spotted a hat, thick glasses and a pair of binoculars pointed at the second floor. 'Bird-watching,' said the man when Ayame opened the window. In November, in the rain, at the bathroom window. To be continued.