After school today I went over to Tsuji-san’s place for a Japanese lesson, and then went back to school to meet up with Mr. Hayashi. He was planning a get together at Amuse, and he didn’t invite a few people, so it was a delicate situation. I bumped into the history teacher as he was leaving, and I had to lie and say that I wasn’t sure where we were going.
Mr. Hayashi pulled into the parking lot a moment later with Ms. Yamamoto in the car, but I don’t think the history teacher saw them. I was thinking that it was a bad idea to go to Amuse since the history teacher often goes there anyway.
We picked up Mr. Komuri, and then the four of us went over to Amuse to do some eating and drinking. We talked and laughed – comparing stories about the end of the term and the next few weeks of “meaningless” classes. Mr. Komuri and Ms. Yamamoto teased me a little about the history teacher always visiting me to chat, and it was just about that time that the door opened and in he walked.
The history teacher went right to the bar and either didn’t see us or pretended not to. We nervously sat there waiting for him to see us, but since he didn’t look over, Mr. Hayashi decided not to attract his attention. I’m sure he could hear us talking and laughing in English, though. I guess he sensed that he wasn’t invited.
Finally the history teacher made a trip to the bathroom and gave us a big hello. He didn’t stop by, just kept on walking, and later said a quick goodbye when he was finished with his dinner.
We left shortly afterwards, having drunk six rounds of beers and endless plates of food. Mr. Komuri and I took the same train to Akashi, and we were the annoying loud drunk guys on the train. Mr. Komuri has a great laugh anyway, but add a lot of alcohol and the fact that we were speaking in English and we got a lot of attention. What the heck, it’s that time of year.
When I got home I snuck over to the yakitori to chat with the master. He had originally planned on bringing some friends over to my place for dinner tomorrow night, but when I got there he told me that some people had requested that he open up the place on his day off for an end of year party, and the money is too good to refuse. That gets me off the hook for drinking Tuesday night. My body could use the break.
It wasn’t until I got home and the thought of the history sitting at the bar alone eating dinner and listening to us laughing and carrying on really got to me. I felt bad for him – on one hand he’s got nobody to hang out with, and other people make specific requests that he not be invited to various events. That’s sad and I feel bad for him. On the other hand, it’s entirely within his power to change how people feel about him. A little introspection would do some good. It’ll be interesting to see how he acts in the future towards Mr. Hayashi and I.
