Espresso Love (A Dystopian Japan Novel) #Wattys2014

Knocking on Doors

-Knocking on Doors-

When I had finished reading through the sheet of paper, Shizuka Kaneko stood up with her empty cup and set it in the sink, stepped into the bathroom and locked the door. It had occurred to me that she seemed strange about it, but after drinking green tea, it was not so odd either. In any case, I was more occupied with the aftermath of the phone call.

It had left my ears ringing with an eerie silence, as if he had dropped me from a shuttle into space where there's no air, no sound, no heat. Nothing to carry or transfer things from one place to another. All was suddenly static. Though his voice had been suspended in the void of his room, there was much force behind each word and every detail tonight seemed to escalate and attach themselves together into a towering patchwork climax of plight.

There wasn't anything I could do about the call now - or the whole night for that matter. It might be possible to choose to ignore it and pretend it had never happened, but I couldn't bring myself to do so. I have stepped too far into the mire. By picking up the parcel, that Shizuka had warned against, I already crossed the line. She knows this. But I also have this unshakeable secret ambition to go forward. There are more questions and no answers.

While she is in the bathroom, I decide to comb through the contract again, picking apart words like pulling off threads from a worn wool knit. Contracts have never been my strong suit. Creative literature and the engagement of imagination, access into dream-time and the unconscious universe is a more rewarding experience. But reading a contract is tapping against a concrete wall.

I take out a pen and a blank piece of paper to help my progress in isolating various keywords. I note down that it is printed on 32 lb. bond paper and in a formal MS Mincho font. I write down the contract title, and the date it starts and ends. The company names: Emoto and Free Energy Mining of the Ministry of Public Security and Intellectual Affairs. I pause and realize I've never heard of the Ministry of Public Security and Intellectual Affairs. Has there ever been such a ministry in the first place? My mind is blank, an empty container. It hums hollow with the passing wind. I can't recall anything at all. Nothing by intuition, nothing by intense concentration. It's only after a long while of staring at the page that for some reason, the National Spiritual Mobilization Movement of 1937 surfaces like some water-bloated dead body. It has no real connection but its name remains. Perhaps it is to do with the nationalization and control of civilian organizations, industries, media and other aspects of life, the drafting and focus on subsidizing for war production. The unification and strategizing of an entire system for a definitive purpose. But it had been abolished in 1945. Other than that, there isn't anything else. My mind has settled and thoughts have slipped away into darkness. The lights seem a little dimmer than usual. Mustard yellow and ashen grey. It's twelve-thirty in the morning by now. I don't seem awake, but not asleep either.

On second thought, I don't trust my memories or associations at twelve in the morning. With the new cell phone, I search up the Ministry's name. The phone feels cold and alien in my hand. Definitely a new phone - it even has the new out-of-the-box smell of plastic and ink. Nothing comes up. Nothing for Free Energy Mining either; not entirely surprising, given the context and content of the contract. When I look for Emoto Research and Development Agency, there is an article about Dr. Masaru Emoto and his experiment with the effects of spiritual consciousness on matter and the world around. For instance, water crystallizing in a container labeled "I hate you" compared to "I love you" would be starkly different over time. The same applies with heavy metal music against soft classical symphonies. He contends the resonance of peaceful positive energy created healthy water molecules. Being that we are likely seventy percent water, such energies should affect health as well. If the Research and Development Agency is related to this, Intellectual Property might be consciousness or conscious matter which would influence a subject. However, it's mere speculation. Across the entire world wide web, it seems that all three organizations are entirely fictional, or are so classified, there's no mention of them.