The Gate of Sorrows Read Free Page B

didn’t know what he was feeling. He hadn’t felt motivated studying for his exams. He wasn’t feeling a letdown after getting admitted. It wasn’t because he was disappointed that so far he hadn’t met any guys he could really talk to, or girls who were his type. He knew something was missing in his life. He just didn’t know what.
    That was then. But in the middle of summer break—his first, unbearably long college break—something happened.
    He parked his bicycle at the station and sprinted up to the platform. The express had come and gone. Better send a message to Kaname. She’d have to wait ten minutes longer than usual for their handoff.
    Kotaro mulled Aunt Hanako’s request while he waited for the next express. She had asked the right person to help her based on a misunderstanding. Explaining that would be practically impossible. The Internet jargon would sail clear through her nets.
    Listen, Aunty. I’m not working for a computer company. But it has something to do with computers.
    Yes. It had a lot to do with them.
    See, what I’m doing is called cyber patrolling.
    He had found the missing piece.
2
    Kumar Corporation was in a compact office building not far from Ochanomizu Station. The staff lounge offered a nice view of the dome of the Holy Resurrection Cathedral.
    Kotaro had first stepped through these doors in early July. The rainy season had just ended, and the sprawling used book district at Jinbocho, not far from the station, was sweltering in the muggy heat. Kotaro was hitting the bookstores when he ran straight into Seigo Maki.
    Seigo was an alum of Kotaro’s high school. Like Kotaro, he’d been on the futsal club. Kotaro left the club to study for exams when he became a senior, but until then he’d seen Seigo almost every week.
    Seigo was mad about futsal. Ostensibly he was donating time to coach the team, but his main motivation was the chance to play. At the time he’d been thirty. He didn’t look like much of an athlete. He was five-foot-four and pudgy, but a tenacious player and an outstanding coach.
    Since they’d met in front of Sanseido Books, they decided to head upstairs to the coffee shop for a chat. As he was bringing Seigo up to speed on what he’d been doing, Kotaro made the mistake of mentioning how uninspiring school was.
    Seigo wasn’t at all surprised. “I could see you were bored from a long way off. Why don’t you start a futsal club?”
    “They’ve got one. Thing is, they hardly ever play. All they do is party.”
    “So that happy, free, stimulating campus life doesn’t suit you, Ko-Prime?”
    Back in the day, there’d been another club member named Kotaro Inoue. Seigo was the first to start calling Inoue “Ko.” Since “I” came before “M,” that made Kotaro “Ko-Prime.” Using Kotaro’s name would’ve been simpler, but for some reason the nickname stuck. It was a sign of how much the team trusted Seigo.
    Kotaro hadn’t heard this nickname in a while. High school was pretty cool after all , he thought wistfully.
    “In fact, I’m thinking about making a switch,” he told Seigo.
    “You mean changing schools? Don’t do that. If you’re not going for senior civil servant or law school, you’ll face the same problem wherever you go. If you can’t stand your school, try the police academy. Or join the Self-Defense Forces.”
    Kotaro’s iced coffee almost shot out his nose. “Me? A cop? Or a soldier?”
    “What’s wrong with that?”
    “No way. My father’s just a salaryman.”
    “What does that have to do with it? Sure you’re not interested?”
    Going into law enforcement or the military had never even remotely occurred to Kotaro. “I mean, both of those jobs are pretty tough, right? Taking orders from superiors and stuff like that?”
    Seigo put a hand on his head and rubbed his summer haircut, which was cropped almost to the skin.
    “Hmm. Okay, so you don’t like ranks and orders and so on.”
    “Hey, I didn’t say I couldn’t