For Him [Yama 3/6]

Signatures have been looped and crossed, and smiles have been faked. Sho knew he had closed on a good deal. While he really didn't have much to do the rest of the day, he had to buy a few travel essentials for the Hawaii trip.

While he is aware that strolling around in malls is a very teenager thing to do, and not for a grown man in a suit, he also wanted to see how many establishments used scarily realistic fake food now that the travel shopping was done.

The painstakingly handmade plastic food gained popularity among foreigners in the last few years. Sho noticed some tourists taking pictures of the replicas but not actually going into shops. He would have scoffed and called it ignorant a couple years ago, but since he learned how much work those replicas took, he had become oddly proud of it.

As he passed one such shop display of food replicas, two young men were struggling to take a picture together, one of them holding an expensive looking camera.

Sho briefly wondered if they were tourists, but the shorter lad said "oh my god," in English.

"Do you need help?" Sho offered in English. The boys looked at each other and nodded at Sho, the taller boy handing over the camera.

"Oh, um," The taller boy looked unsure for a moment and called out to his friend, who was ready to pose. To Sho's surprise, he spoke in Japanese.

"Wait, how do I say―"

"Oh, are you Japanese?" Sho glanced at them both.

The smaller boy came closer as the taller boy nodded and apologized for the confusion while chuckling.

"We're trying to make a photography portfolio. But we also want some wacky pictures." the taller boy said grinning eagerly.

"Are you featuring the food replicas? I know who made them." Sho said, hoping that there wasn't too much pride in how he spoke. The lads looked thrilled.

Sho took some shots of them in poses that he can only describe as "brimming with youth" then they both prepared to take notes on their phone about the origin of the food replicas.

"Can you show us on a map?" The taller boy requested, showing Sho a map of Tokyo on his smartphone.

"Do you mind if I record your instructions and information?" the English-speaking boy added.

"It's here." Sho double-tapped a location on the map and added proudly, "All the ramen replicas are made by a retired replica maker formerly from that shop. He also made that statue at the main entrance."

They told him that the ramen replicas were the most interesting ones and that they've also taken photos of the statue, then gave Sho their thanks. Sho's grin never left his face as he said goodbye and went on his way.

Although it would have been a longer turn, he never exited and entered the mall at any other part than the place where the statue was.

It was glorious in its gold sheen, standing in the soft sunlight at the center of a fountain. Two human figures in dynamic poses circled by a fish, trailing water. It never ceased to amaze him that the person who made such a beautiful work of art was also the sleepy-looking little man who lived with him.

As if he sensed that he was being thought of, Sho felt his phone alert him of Satoshi's incoming call.

"Hi," Satoshi's voice was as languid as it was quiet. Always sounding like he just got out of bed when talking over the phone.

"Did you know I'd be out by lunch?" Sho might have sounded snappy, but they have a rule about calling when the other was at work. But anyone who saw him pick it up might have guessed it was a lover by how he smiled fondly at the screen and continued to grin through the call.

"Of course. You posted your schedule on our calendar and on your home office desk." Satoshi said quickly. "Sorry, is it a bad...time―?"

Satoshi's question faded as Sho chuckled. "Alright, alright, stalker. What is it? Take out requests?"

"No, I cooked so please come home and eat with me."

"No accidental showers this time?" Sho practically bounced all the way to the taxi line in no time. Satoshi's laugh was such a refreshing sound in the hustle and bustle of the mall.

"Unless you want it." He responded. Sho bit his lips, trying to contain the heat rushing to his face so as not to alert the few others in the taxi line. Satoshi probably sensed it as he laughed at Sho's silence.

"Wait, guess where I am." Sho said, looking at the statue again.

"On your way home, I hope." Satoshi said.

Sho couldn't contain the laugh as he took his phone away from his ear for a moment and took a quick picture of the statue. He sent it and told Satoshi. After a pause, Satoshi laughed too.

"You like that piece way too much!"

"Obviously! It looks grand!" Sho felt his smile drop when he began wondering why it was the art work that he was most fond of looking at, among Satoshi's other work. Was it because it was a piece of Satoshi that was in a bold location but only he knows its meaning? Perhaps.

"And you get to see it a lot?" Satoshi guessed. Sho cursed in his mind and then took it back, briefly convinced that Satoshi read his mind yet again.

"You—I—No, pff. What!" Sho hammered his fist to his forehead in embarrassment, unwittingly swatting his face with his suitcase. People were definitely staring now, so he bowed and lowered his voice.

"Whatever, I'm on my way." He said and he put down the call even if he wanted to listen to Satoshi's laughter a little more.

*

Satoshi could have been famous three years ago, when he and Sho had been walking at the park and Sho came across his boss and a client who was looking after a seven-year-old daughter.

As the boss, the client and Sho decided to talk business, the little girl took Satoshi by the hand and dragged him away to play. Sho wanted so much to just watch them, the slouching little man and the bubbly little girl.

After a while, the girl and Satoshi had become quiet, playing with some clay that she pulled out of her little pink purse. But something about the clay made her a little too happy that she stole her father from the small business talk and showed him what looked like an almost perfect omelette rice replica.

Even Sho was surprised. That client so happened to be a food replica company president. His daughter had an eye for sculpting talent as much as he did.

That was only the start of Satoshi's replica making job after getting scouted by a kid.

Within several months, he had made those memorable ramen replicas that was in high demand at the time. He was so talented that despite his lack of English speaking skills, he was taken to demonstrate for tourists at a shop in Asakusa. It was there that an art collector commissioned him, and later, Sho's own boss did.

Satoshi refused to be identified, and instead went by "O" in his pieces. O's mall statue and the painting that was commissioned gained some popularity online, but also its mysterious creator.

Yet there he was, opening the door in his house clothes—an old shirt and boxers—and a blue apron with a disfigured tuna. The mysterious artist was just a slouching man with a dumbstruck grin saying, "Welcome home!"

"I know I said you must be a fish in your past life," Sho said, carefully removing his shoes, "but now I'm convinced that you're more like a dog."

"Hey." Satoshi put his hands on his waist indignantly. "I am a good dog."

"Doofus." Sho managed, poking Satoshi on the forehead and trying not to imagine Satoshi on a leash as he loosened his tie. He knew more than anyone that Satoshi was a little more untamed than a cute little domestic pup.

Satoshi seemed to have caught Sho's look anyway because he guffawed. "Seems you want something?"

"Don't imply strange things." Sho suppressed a giggle and hung his blazer.

When he entered the dining area, there were three bowls of food out, one looking a little different.

"That's a replica!" Sho grabbed the fake oyako-don in surprise. "I was just reminiscing about your past job like, two seconds ago. Do you read minds?"

Satoshi looked a little smug. "Yeah...? Yeah, maybe I do."

"Yeah? What do I want right now?" Sho challenged him.

Satoshi grinned and snorted into the back of his hand. Sho hit him softly on the head.

"Lunch! I want lunch." Sho gestured for Satoshi to sit down. Satoshi wheezed one last time and raised a palm.

"Why?" Sho had a strange feeling he knew what was coming.

Satoshi walked into the spare room and Sho covered his face in his hands to breathe for a brief second.

Satoshi came out with a tall box.

"Oh my god." Sho said in English with a big slap to the forehead.

"Oh my god." Satoshi echoed excitedly in his best imitation. He handed the box to Sho who resisted every urge to question how many presents were prepared.

"I know you'll love this one." Satoshi nearly sat on the air as he to grab a chair. Sho didn't miss this small scene and cracked up a little, still cradling the box.

"The box." Satoshi made a small gesture, but there was a touch of finality in his tone. Sho quickly obeyed, lifting the lid gingerly.

"Oh my god." Sho gasped. This time, it was real.

Once the lid came off, the sides of the box dropped to reveal a replica of the mall statue. It was just as mesmerizing as its bigger counterpart. The details were all the same: the two figures hand in hand, the fish leaping in a curve around the two.

"That better go to your office desk." Satoshi propped his elbow on the table, grinning happily.

Sho set it on the table, marvelling how exactly the same every detail of it was with the mall counterpart. "When did you make this?"

Satoshi's head bounced from left to right in thought. "Some time back."

Sho pursed his lips. Satoshi had ongoing projects, and Aiba's restaurant was the newest. Satoshi wasn't a man with lots of time to spare.

"Thank you." Sho managed, turning the statuette around. "I can't even imagine dividing your project time for this."

"I make the time," Satoshi said with a sagely little nod and a thoughtful pout. "I mean, it's not much, really."

Sho didn't notice when exactly he had put his hand on his mouth. Perhaps seconds earlier, based on the quick shift in Satoshi's expression to that of concern.

Satoshi made time for him just for the statuette. And for a man who seems to jump on the first thing on his mind, he had to go out of his comfort zone to do some planning and even some trickery of sorts to pull off three days worth of surprises.

"That's exactly how you looked at the bigger one." Satoshi smiled softly this time. But when Sho looked up to meet his gaze, he had diverted to the statuette, too. Sho turned it around slowly with one hand. "I don't think I could've made something this cool without you, though so it's kind of a very belated and like, not so equal thanks."

Sho said nothing, just watching the humans and the fish. The scene seemed to change with every angle, like a whole story was being told.

He felt Satoshi's eyes on him so he looked up again but Satoshi was back to rotating the statuette. This time, Sho just looked at him.

"A lot of things. Really. I think I might be worth a lot less overall if not for you." Satoshi mumbled with his quiet voice and let the statue go, looking up to Sho.

Their eyes finally met. There was something about Satoshi's gaze that was so longing and slightly tired. Sho wanted to say that Satoshi was so much more than he could use words to describe. He prepared a breath but Satoshi spoke up immediately.

"So thank you for being my art." Satoshi said it with both his soft voice and his somewhat sad looking eyes.

"...don't prepare a eulogy for me just yet." Sho smiled back and stood up to pull the art piece into the middle of the table. "This stays here because I don't want to flatter my boss thinking I'm passionate for art because of him."

It didn't quite sink in Satoshi's mind yet, based on the bewildered look on his face. Sho reached over and prodded Satoshi's cheek to snap him out of it.

"This one's mine." Sho said, relieved when Satoshi smiled again. "So I'm keeping it here, close to myself."

"Right on the table?" Satoshi was standing up too, at least until Sho pushed his oyako-don closer so they can start eating.

"Yeah, right where I like to do my favorite thing. Which is eating." Sho sat down and pulled his own oyako-don serving closer.

"Among other things that can be done on this nicely sturdy table," Satoshi snorted and added under his breath while positioning his chopsticks. Sho flashed his eyes and jutted his chin in mock annoyance, unable to contain the heat in his cheeks.

That look of pure-hearted acceptance mingled with a healthy helping of desire on Satoshi's face, Sho could live with for the rest of his life. He knew his answer by then. What he wants Satoshi Ohno to have is none other than himself.