Memory: The morning after

In a state of confusion after last night's events, William sat up groggily at the breakfast bar whilst Takeshi was making coffee. What had happened? What had happened? This question was repeating itself over and over, in time with his pounding headache thanks to the previous drinks.

Takeshi added frothy milk to William's coffee, put it in front of him on the bar, then sprinkled chocolate on top. "Kanzen!" he said, and smiled. William thanked him. Indeed it was perfect.

"I've got to rush off to work now, so if you could leave when you've drunk your coffee, that would be great." Takeshi began to fish inside his wallet, and William wondered whether he had got the wrong idea about the nature of last night. To his relief, it was just a business card. Takeshi pressed it into William's hand, lingered, and looked him in the eye. "Call me."

"Definitely," said William, as Takeshi said goodbye.

William walked around the streets in a sense of delirium. He suddenly had the urge to buy some new clothes. He went into the nearest Topman branch,which had recently opened in Japan.

An hour later, and hands full of bags of delightful attire, he realised he was now broke. "Shit," said William.

He went into the nearest phone box, looked through the phone book, and wrote addresses of all the restaurants in town. One by one, he made it his task for the afternoon to apply for a job in each. All of them replied along the lines of "Thank you, we will take into consideration."

Safe in the knowledge that he must have burned off many a calorie in all his walking, William relaxed. He decided to go to the library, he was dying to read some English-language books; native speakers here were rather sparse. Choosing to cut through an alleyway was a mistake. The last thing he saw was a flutter of black wings and a sharp pain in his cheek.