After the Banquet by Yukio Mishima Read Free Book Online Page A

silent at the other end of the line, then answered indistinctly with a muffled, embarrassed laugh, “Well, as a matter of fact, there wasn’t any reason. It seemed like a lot of bother, that’s all.”
    Kazu could hardly believe her ears. “A lot of bother”—these were clearly the words of an old man.

6
    Before the Departure
    After this telephone call they met frequently. Kazu even visited Noguchi’s house. Noguchi lived by himself in an old house in the Shiina section. Kazu was relieved to discover that the maid looking after him was middle-aged and ugly. In no time at all Kazu was busying herself with various details of Noguchi’s private life. She saw to it that a complete New Year dinner was delivered to him from the Setsugoan.
    The shelves of Noguchi’s study were crowded with books in European languages. Kazu, unable to read even the titles, was awe-struck. Noguchi, well aware of the effect his books would exert on her, had arranged when Kazu visited him that they meet in his study. Kazu artlessly inquired as she looked around at the bookshelves lining the walls, “Have you read them all?”
    “Yes, almost all.”
    “I’m sure some of them are pretty spicy.”
    “No, there’s not one like that.”
    This declaration genuinely astonished Kazu. A world formed by the intellect and composed of exclusively intellectual elements lay outside her comprehension. Her common sense told her that everything must have its other side. But what continually amazed her in Noguchi was that he was one man without another side: he seemed to have no other face but the one he showed her. Kazu, of course, as a matter of principle disbelieved in the existence of such people. But for all her disbelief, a kind of ideal image, tantalizingly incomplete, was gradually taking shape around Noguchi. His stilted behavior had acquired an aura, indescribably mysterious and intriguing.
    Kazu discovered on further acquaintance with Noguchi that the world had almost forgotten his existence. She marveled that Noguchi should not in the least be affected by this neglect. She was totally uninterested in the radical political views which Noguchi now held, but she sensed a disharmony which must some day be resolved between the newness of his ideas and the oblivion of the world. How could this life-in-death go together with vigorous new ideas? Even after Noguchi’s second defeat for re-election to the Diet, his name continued to be listed as an adviser of the Radical Party, but the party never sent a car for him when he attended a meeting, and he was obliged to hang on to a leather strap on the streetcar. Kazu, learning this, felt righteous indignation.
    Each time Kazu visited Noguchi’s house she found something new to distress her in the same way that on first acquaintance she had been upset by the stains on Noguchi’s shirt or his frayed cuffs. Now she noticed the sadly asymmetrical front door, or the peeling, dusty paint of the wooden, Western-style house, or the liverwort sprouting inside the gate, or the bell at the entrance left out of order. Kazu was still not at liberty to make repairs as she pleased, and Noguchi was disinclined to permit more than a certain degree of favors from Kazu. His attitude was reserved, but it stimulated Kazu to seek greater intimacy.
    In January, at Kazu’s suggestion, they went to the Kabuki Theater. Kazu wept freely at the sad moments, not missing a one, but Noguchi sat impassively through the whole performance. “What makes you cry when you see such a silly play?” he asked with genuine curiosity as they stood in the foyer during the intermission.
    “There’s no particular reason. The tears just come naturally.”
    “Your naturally interests me. Try to explain more exactly what you mean.” Noguchi teased Kazu in solemn tones as if she were a little girl. Noguchi had not the least intention of playing the fox with her, but Kazu felt at such times as if he were genuinely making fun of her, and she was