For the first two days, the only one to visit Sayuri in the hospital was her ex. Emiko stepped in long enough to make sure the hospital was adequate before asking a couple of questions and excusing herself from Sayuri’s life once more. The nurses on duty were concerned that their patient had no family.

Indeed, she didn’t.

Emiko was in no hurry to take responsibility for Sayuri’s actions. Let alone her medical bills or helping her get home. Ever since they broke up, Emiko had taken up residence in Saitama City, and the distance between there and Fujimi was too much for the full-time transit mechanic to deal with.

Remember when we were the most respectable lesbian couple? That’s what Sayuri thought when her ex hurried out of the hospital room, never to be seen again that day. I was the schoolteacher, and you worked for Japan Railway. The only way their jobs could be better was if one of them went into civil service.

They had it all, didn’t they? Good jobs, a good home, and the best little boy either of them could ask for. When they decided to have a child after two years together, Sayuri was the one who volunteered her body. And her heart. And her soul.

The last time she spent any time in the hospital was when her son was born. After that… the only time she came into these hallowed halls was for her son…

“We’re so sorry, Kawashima-san…” That’s what she expected to hear every time a nurse came into her room. “We did everything we could for Yuma-kun.”

No, they hadn’t. If they really had, wouldn’t he be alive right now?

“Doctor says it’s almost time for you to go home, ne?” A nurse fluffed Sayuri’s pillow as she continued to stare out the window. “Do you know who will come to pick you up?”

She said nothing. Because she had no idea. If not Emiko, then who? One of her coworkers from school? Could she trust Ishihara-sensei or Aramaki-sensei? Nobody knew she was in the hospital. One of the small favors of it being summer vacation – she didn’t have to call into work and request time off.

Her parents were alive. So was her older brother. Neither of them would give a crap if she lived or died. Not after she chose her sexuality over them.

God. What good was that now? Ever since the accident, and ever since Emiko split from her, nothing had been the same. Sayuri wasn’t sure she would ever feel a sliver of sexual attraction to someone again. She didn’t care. She was in her thirties, anyway. Maybe it was for the best. Let this Christmas Cake go stale. Like one of those ghostly wraiths from the children’s tales.

“Kawashima-san?” Another nurse appeared at the door. “You have a visitor. She says she’s a friend.”

Sayuri tilted her head. Her tangled, greasy hair coiled around the metal barriers keeping her from falling out of the hospital bed. Warm. The metal was warm, and she didn’t know why. Must be one of the teachers from work. Who told them? Ah, her work would be on her file, wouldn’t it? The hospital must have informed her employer.

“Her name is Ban-san. Do you want me to send her in?”

Ban? Sayuri didn’t know anyone named Ban. Then again, who was she to turn away a kind face when she was in this sunny prison? “Hai,” Sayuri softly consented. “Go ahead.”

The nurse nodded and left. Five seconds later, an unfamiliar face appeared in the doorway.

Sayuri didn’t recognize the name, nor did she recognize the woman sheepishly showing herself into the room. She was on the shorter side, although her leather jacket and heavy backpack weighing her down certainly did not help her posture. She looked like the kind of student Sayuri had to reprimand in the classroom. “Sit up straight! Do you want your back to grow like that? Your mother isn’t raising an auntie.”

“Good afternoon,” the woman, with a deeper voice than Sayuri anticipated, said. She pushed her long hair out of her face. Looking head-on at her, it was as if a magazine model had stepped into the room. An alternative one, of course. “I mean… Hajimemashite.” The unknown guest bowed. “I’m Miwa Ban. You probably don’t remember me, but…”

Miwa Ban… now things started to sound familiar, but Sayuri couldn’t remember from where. “Do I know you?”

The woman jerked backward, her backpack threatening to fall down her shoulders if she didn’t spin it around and place it on the floor next to her feet. Honestly, her posture didn’t improve much. “I was the one who helped you at the train station the other night. You probably don’t recognize me without my uniform on.” She pulled a rubber band off her wrist and yanked her hair away from her face. “Or without my hair like this.”

Sayuri cocked her head. Did she know someone named Miwa Ban who looked like this? Everything was familiar, yet Sayuri didn’t recognize a damn thing. “You must be the one who called the ambulance for me.”

“Well, it was more like my boss who did that but, yeah, I was there. I, um…” Miwa looked around the room before continuing, “I was the one who pulled you away from the tracks.”

Sayuri’s eyes widened. “The tracks? Ara, I had no idea it was that serious!”

“You must have been really out of it to not remember. You almost fell into the tracks.”

“Goodness!” Sayuri didn’t have an official diagnosis. The doctors at the hospital claimed she was having fainting spells resulting from dehydration, which may have been true. She didn’t know. She didn’t remember anything after arriving in Tokyo. “Well, thank you so much for helping me that night. I don’t know how to repay you.”

Miwa held up her hands. “I’m not looking for repayment. I just wanted to make sure you’re okay. Honestly, my employer doesn’t even know I’m here. I’m not sure I should be.”

“Your employer?”

“Yes. The subway company. You really don’t remember me, huh?”

Sayuri slowly shook her head.

“I’m a platform attendant at Amaya-jinja-guchi Station. That’s where you collapsed.”

Sayuri had never heard of that station before. It sounded suburban and so far away from where she should ever be. What had happened the other night? Was she really that out of it? “You’re a woman.”

Miwa was taken aback at that statement. “Yes. I am. Suppose that’s still unusual.”

“Oh, sorry. Didn’t mean it that way.” Yes, she did. Sayuri rarely saw female platform attendants. What really were the odds? “Thank you again, Ban-san.” Sayuri bowed where she sat up in her bed. “I may have really been in trouble if it weren’t for you.”

Before Miwa could insist that she hadn’t really done anything, the nurse stepped in, clipboard in hand.

“Shitsureishimasu, Kawashima-san!” The nurse nodded to Miwa before going to Sayuri’s side. “Afraid I really must write down your discharge arrangements right now. Our systems are about to go down for routine maintenance, and we must log who will come to pick you up tomorrow.”

“Ah, well…”

Silence swept through the tiny hospital room. Sayuri gazed out the open window, wondering if she could convince Emiko to come pick her up and take her back to Fujimi. To my little, lonely apartment full of sad memories. If Sayuri really begged, Emiko would do it. She wouldn’t like it, and she would think that Sayuri owed her, but she would do it. What other choice did she have?

“Ano…” Miwa interrupted. The nurse turned her head. “If there isn’t anyone handy, I can help her get home. I have tomorrow off.”

Sayuri was quick to decline. “Oh, no! I couldn’t let you do that. I live all the way out in Fujimi.”

She expected Miwa to have no idea what she was talking about. “Fujimi? It’s outside of my employee pass, but I know how to get there no problem. Tobu-Toju Line, right?”

Sayuri nodded. “But please don’t think you have to do it, Ban-san. I couldn’t possibly put you out like…”

“It’s fine. What time do you have to be out of here tomorrow?”

The nurse answered in Sayuri’s stead. “By noon, if it’s all right. We’ll have her all ready to go and fill you in on any medications she needs to take.”

Sayuri had no idea what was happening. Who was this woman? Why was she doing this? Did she have some kind of ulterior motive? Did she want money? A favor? She had already done enough by saving Sayuri’s life! What kind of moral debt was Sayuri racking up right now?

“It’s settled, then. See you tomorrow, Kawashima-san. I have to get going now.”

The nurse also left the room. Fifteen minutes later, a small bouquet of flowers were delivered to Sayuri’s room. She didn’t ask about who they came from. She knew, and she was more confused than ever.