I AM NOT ASHAMED 02

THE MEGUMI STORIES
BY MEGUMI KATO AND FRIENDS

VOLUME 03: I AM NOT ASHAMED
BY KIMIKO KOBAYASHI AND MEGUMI KATO

CHAPTER II

Dinner at Home

So it was a relief to get home, banish these 
pleasurable but frightening thoughts, bathe and wash 
my underwear, and change into a dress with a 
comfortable long, wide skirt. Ken and his wife were 
already there. Chizuko went to help my mother in the 
kitchen and I wanted to join her, but my mother told 
me to keep my brother company instead. 

Our house is old-fashioned and the room where we would 
eat had tatami mats on the floor. I knelt correctly on 
a cushion, my toes tucked neatly under me, while Ken 
lounged beside me. As I sat and poured his beer for 
him - Asahi Super Dry, his favourite - I said: 

"I had a call today from someone you know." 

"Oh, yes?" 

"From Megumi Kato. You remember her?" I watched his 
face discreetly to make sure I wasn't upsetting him. 
He said nothing. "She's getting married." 

"Oh, is she?" 

"She's working in a film studio, isn't she?" I asked 
innocently. 

"Yes, that's right," he said shortly. 

"What sort of films does she appear in?" 

"Oh, nothing you'll have seen," he said evasively. 

That was just what Megumi had said, I remembered. 

"You mean, they're so arty and intellectual I wouldn't 
understand them?" 

Ken's desire to make films too difficult for any 
audience to understand was a great joke in our family. 

"Well, in a way," he said. "Did she say who she was 
marrying?" 

"She said a Mr Otani. The new Chairman of the company 
she works for. That's a big responsibility for her, 
don't you think?" 

"Mr Otani? Now, that really _is_ interesting." 

"Is it?" I said, pleased that I was neither upsetting 
nor boring him with my gossip. 

"Mr Otani founded a company in America which 
distributes the films made by Marucho. Marucho is the 
company where Megumi works. He's half American." 

I looked anxiously at him. 

"Will that be all right for her, do you think? 
Marrying a foreigner?" 

"Well, half a foreigner. And very Japanese to look at, 
and speaks Japanese properly. I guess she'll have to 
spend a lot of time with him in the United States, 
though." 

"But she said he was now running Marucho." 

"Well, the Chairman of Marucho, Mr Nagao, had a heart 
attack recently, and can't carry on running the 
company. So Mr Otani put a lot of his own money into 
it and now runs both. I expect he'll merge them one 
day." 

I admired my brother's knowledge of what was going on 
in the film industry. 

"Will she continue with her career, do you think?" 

"I expect so. I hope so. She's very talented." 

There was a pause. I poured him some more beer, then 
asked shyly: 

"Were you very fond of her?" 

"Oh, yes. She's very beautiful, and sexy, and we had a 
lot of fun together. But it wouldn't have been any 
good. She has her own career, and I have mine. I'm not 
sorry about the way things worked out." 

"I'm glad," I said softly. 


[Next in Part 03: Chapter III: The Wedding Reception] 

For complete series so far see 
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