The birth of Shusuke

'We need you back in the office early tomorrow morning, Wada-san. Don't be late.'

'Yes, of course,' replied Shusuke wearily to his boss.

'See you in the morning, then.'

'Yes, in the morning,' confirmed Shusuke hanging up the phone and placing it next to his bowl of ramen. He sat at the ramen shop counter with several other business men who were all lined up in their black suits. They were stooped over steaming bowls of noodles which they slurped with satisfaction. When Shusuke's phone pinged, he picked it up. The man next to him jumped mildly and looked over from the corner of his eye. He grunted gently as he confirmed the source of the noise, then carried on with his meal.

The notification read:

'What a fucking loser!'

'Mike has just responded to the latest update in this conversation! Respond, NOW.'

Shusuke couldn't remember what the post had been about, but he scrolled through the comments, then clicked on the profile of woman who had just commented. Katy from San Diego. She had pretty eyes, but her hair was a mess. He clicked back to the home feed and was scrolling through more posts, when the phone began to ring. The screen displayed 'Dad'. Shusuke's thumb wavered over the 'Accept' button for a moment, but he put it back in his pocket. It had been a long day and his ramen was getting cold.

When he finished, he called 'gochisousama' to thank the chef for the meal, then left the ramen shop. The cold air outside bristled over his skin, so he pulled up his jacket collar. He put his earphones in, selected some music on his phone, then headed out into the street towards the train station. It would take thirty minutes to get back to his apartment. He would take a bath and watch some TV.

A train track ran along the length of the small street where he walked. Ahead were the lights of the train station where a train was boarding late night commuters. As Shusuke's eyes focused back in on the immediate path ahead, he noticed a slumped figure on a bench. A late night office worker? He crossed to the opposite side of the road, but his eyes remained on the solitary figure. The person had long hair and seemed to grip the bench while attempting to stand. Jesus, that guy is drunk. When Shusuke removed an earphone and peered discreetly over at the person, he heard the sound of a woman crying. Confused, he promptly replaced the earphone and quickened his pace. He passed by the woman and hurriedly scrolled through songs on his phone. Once he had reached a safe distance, he glanced back over his shoulder. The woman had now moved off the bench and was squatting on the floor next to it. Wow, she is drunk! thought Shusuke, as he walked straight into a lamppost. His body bounced back from the pole in shock. His phone fell to the ground and the earphones were pulled from his ears. As he scrambled to pick up his belongings he heard a faint plea: 'Sumimasen. Sumimasen.' With all the equipment now safely back in his hands, he looked over at the woman and grimaced. 'Sumimasen,' repeated the woman. She could barely sound out the syllables needed to say excuse me. Looking up and down the road to see if anyone else could help, Shusuke frowned and asked the woman plainly, 'Are you OK?' The woman tried to stand but gave up and remained squatting by the bench. She replied breathlessly, 'Please...please...'. Shusuke narrowed his eyes and scanned the woman's body. Perhaps she wasn't drunk, but injured. He moved towards her cautiously; the street was dark and empty, and he was a lone male.

'Do you need help?' asked Shusuke firmly, trying to clarify the problem.

'I...I need to get to the taxi rank,' whispered the woman as she attempted to stand once more.

'Have you hurt yourself?' asked Shusuke, impatient for a clear response.

'I'm...I'm in labour,' said the woman.

'What?!' Shusuke immediately fired back.

'Having a baby...' replied the woman, her voice strained.

'Why are you here?!' asked Shusuke in disbelief.

The woman groaned at his line of questioning.

'I need a taxi,' she said gritting her teeth.

'The taxi rank is just up there. It's only about another fifty metres.'

The woman looked up at Shusuke from her position by the bench. Her eyes were wild, but managed to fix on his.

'Or....' continued Shusuke nervously, 'Should I call you an ambulance?'

'Yes,' replied the woman letting out a deep breath. 'Yes, you're right. Call an ambulance.'

Shusuke took his phone in hand and made the call. This would fix the problem. He gave their location to the operator and explained the urgency of the situation. 'Please come as quickly as possible,' he instructed earnestly. He hung up and looked at the woman. She was doubled up in a pain that he could not fathom.

'Do you want to get back on the bench?' he asked observing her predicament.

'Yes, I think so,' replied the woman nodding her head slowly.

Looking up and down the street once more, Shusuke moved closer towards the woman, then took her arms and helped her onto the bench.

'The ambulance is coming,' he explained.

'Thank you,' she whispered and held onto him while she positioned herself.

Once she was sitting down, Shusuke began slowly to back away. He could hear the noise of the train station. People were passing through the ticket barriers with the wrong ticket, so small alarms sounded in response. They were rushing for the last trains of the night to take them home. He glanced towards the station, then back at the woman and sighed uneasily. 'I could wait with you here, if you like? Until the ambulance arrives.' 'Mmmm...' replied the woman; perhaps in response to him. Shusuke sat down on the edge of the bench, while the woman breathed carefully and purposefully in and out, her eyes closed. He looked around awkwardly at his surroundings then noticed a nearby vending machine with a flickering light. 'Do you want something to drink?' he asked turning back towards the woman. She considered this idea for a moment. To conserve her energy, she simply instructed: 'Hot coffee.'

'Do you like sweet or just regular? Or black?'

'Hot coffee,' repeated the woman in measured tones and with great effort.

Shusuke headed to the vending machine and selected a can of hot coffee. When he returned, the woman pushed it under the top of her skirt and down against her groin. Shusuke, puzzled, looked at the woman and then at the area where she had placed the can, but returned to his seat on the edge of the bench. She let out a deep sigh and seemed to enter a moment of peace.

'I'm Wada,' said Shusuke politely.

'I'm Shi...Shimizu.”

'I'm sure the ambulance will be here soon,' said Shusuke confidently. The hospital isn't far from here.'

'I'm not sure I'll make it,' replied Shimizu. Shusuke looked grimly at her.

'Can you hold on until the ambulance arrives?'

'I need more coffee...'

Shusuke went back to the vending machine and bought another can, then another three.

Shimizu was too weak to manage them by herself so Shusuke, tentatively and apologetically, helped her to put them under the top of skirt, as he had seen her do with the first one.

'Thank you,' she whispered. 'You're very kind.'

Shusuke looked at her with surprise.

'It's a boy,' she continued breathlessly. 'Hiroaki.'

Shusuke remembered a boy named Hiroaki from his school days. 'That's a nice name,' he said resting his back against the bench.

'Do you have kids?' asked Shimizu, her eyes closed tightly as she spoke.

'No!' replied Shusuke quickly, screwing up his nose as he considered the idea. 'I live alone.'

'Ah, well, I'm glad you came back,' she responded, opening her eyes and looking at Shusuke with a tired but warm smile.

'I thought you were drunk,' laughed Shusuke gently.

'I wish I were!' quipped Shimizu and they both laughed nervously together.

'God, I hope motherhood is worth the pain,' she continued, raising her head to observe the night sky.

There was a moment of silence as they sat together on the bench and they watched a train come down the track. But Shimizu began to grit her teeth and the pain returned once more. Shusuke watched the soft features of her face become strained, then looked at her hands which were clawing the seat. 'The bench is dirty,' he said nervously, but she couldn't hear him. He squatted in front of her and touched her hands lightly with his fingers. 'The bench is dirty,' he repeated almost in a whisper. She gripped his hands and her nails dug into his skin. He winced a little, but said nothing.

When the phone in his pocket pinged, he let go of the Shimizu's hands to take it out. There was a new notification.

'No, you're the fucking loser.'

This was Melanie from Melbourne, Australia.

'It's just a notification,' he reassured Shimizu as he looked at the screen.

'What?' asked Shimizu confused, then replied: 'Music. Play some music...Blue Hearts...'

'Sure,' replied Shusuke and he went onto Youtube to search for the band's songs. He found train train and turned up the volume. Shimizu raised her head.

'You like this one, too?' she asked, trying to focus on the song.

'It's the only one I know, really. My dad likes them,' replied Shusuke.

He placed the phone on the bench and his eyes slowly moved away from the screen then back to Shimizu's hands, which were gripping the bench once more. 'No no, sorry...' he murmured and took her hands again. She squeezed them until her knuckles turned white.

As they listened to the song, Shimizu breathed deeply and Shusuke found himself lightly mirroring this rhythm, until a pool of water began seeping across the bench and onto the ground.

'What the fu...' gasped Shusuke jumping up and staring in confusion at the floor. 'Oh no,' groaned Shimizu looking around her feet. Shusuke knew instinctively what was happening and panic rose in his throat. From behind him came a train along the track and he spun wildly around on the spot to look at the late night commuters with desperation. They were too tired to notice him. He looked back at Shimizu who was bent over with her arms wrapped around her body. 'I don't know how to help you!' he shrieked as he scraped a hand through his hair. 'I'm scared,' replied Shimizu, her body writhing in pain. Her small voice pierced through Shusuke as she spoke these words, and an odd sense of familiarity passed through him. He felt nauseous, but steadied himself then loosened his necktie and opened the top button of his shirt. In the darkness and confusion, it was his little brother, Kota, now cowering on the bench.

When they were small, Kota didn't like the typhoon winds that whipped against the storm shutters at night. Gatagatagata went the sound. From Kota's bed in the boys' shared room, he would whisper mournfully to Shusuke: 'I'm scared.' Shusuke was scared, too, but he knew that showing this would only make things worse. Summoning a little courage, he would reply in an overly nonchalant tone: 'It's nothing to worry about. It will be over by the morning.' This response would be enough for Kota and he would fall back to sleep.

Shusuke scanned the street for signs of the ambulance, but there were none. Breathing heavily, he squatted back down in front of Shimizu, wiped the hair from her face and sighed, defeated by the situation. Taking her hand, he explained how amazing Hiroaki would be: 'You can tell him he was born by a train track. He'll dance around the living room playing the Blue Hearts!' said Shusuke with determination. Shimizu gripped Shusuke's face between her hands and whispered, 'Oh my God.' Shusuke stood up and took off his coat. He began to spread it over the bench while singing train train in a quiet and trembling voice. But over the sound of this singing came the noise of an ambulance approaching. 'The ambulance is here, Shimizu-san!' screamed Shusuke in disbelief, as he watched the vehicle come down the street.

Shimizu tried to bring the ambulance into focus, then looked at Shusuke. She screamed in pain and Shusuke put his arms around her.

The paramedic got out of the ambulance.

'Are you her husband?' he asked politely as he approached the couple on the bench.

'No,' replied Shusuke out of breath and with a delirious smile on his face. 'But could you take this coffee for her? She needs it, you see!'

He handed two cans to the paramedic who looked blankly at Shusuke but accepted them and placed them in his pocket. The paramedic took Shimizu into the back of the ambulance, but she was in too much pain to notice that Shusuke had not entered it with her. The doors were closed shut and Shusuke stood in the middle of the empty street as he watched it speed away.

He had missed the last train and spent over two hours walking back to his apartment, drinking cold coffee along the way. He wondered if Shimizu-san was OK and if anyone would meet her at the hospital. Perhaps he could call in the morning and ask about her. She might even be allowed visitors.

When he got home, he ran a hot bath. He slipped into the warm water and submerged his body, enjoying the sensation. As his head emerged, he was gasping for breath. And it suddenly occurred to him that today was Hiroaki's birthday.

You can read the other stories in my collection 'Tokyo souls on fire' here:

The taste of sushi:

https://www.dhirubhai.net/pulse/taste-sushi-lucy-kikuchi

Tokyo souls on fire:

https://www.dhirubhai.net/pulse/tokyo-souls-fire-lucy-kikuchi