Akané left in the middle of the night while you were sleeping.

When I woke up the next morning, I found a note on the table, thanking me for everything. She signed her name with a cute little drawing of Doraemon [1] next to it.

At the bottom were the phone numbers of Akané’s home and workplace.

That also surprised me.

Why so?

For one, I hadn’t expected a relationship to develop beyond that one night—my experience, however meager, had already taught me that much—and, two, Akané had mentioned that she lived with her family. Yet, here she was inviting me to call her up at home.

Did you?

No, no, no, no, no. I didn’t dare call her at home, at least not until after we had been dating for half a year. I popped by her workplace a few days later, instead, and . . .

The two of you went out for a second time.

Yeah. We arranged to meet on her day off. We were having one of those beautifully sunny days in early July, the kind we sometimes get just as the rainy season is coming to an end, so we went to the beach.

After a few hours on the beach, you went back to your place . . .

And made love, er, “fornicated” a second time.

You were insatiable when you were with Akané.

I was, yes. Every now and then I would find someone who brought out the sexual glutton in me. I don’t know what it is. Chemistry? The compatibility of our zodiac signs? Fate? You’d think it would be a good thing for the relationship—all that passionate sex—but it usually wasn’t . . .

Because a woman starts to feel as though the only thing you are interested in is her holes.

I know, I know. But, the thing is, the more I have sex with a woman, the more that sex starts resembling love. There’s nothing like having just done it with a woman, and, as you’re lying there, you get a second wind, and want to go at it all over again and again and again.

On the other hand, the worst feeling is lying next to someone you’ve just had sex with and all you want is for her to disappear from your life forever. Ring any bells, Peadar?

Like a belfry at noon.

[1] Doraemon is a manga and cartoon series created by Fujiko F. Fujio (Hiroshi Fujimoto and Motō Abiko) about a robotic cat named Doraemon who travels back in time to aid a schoolboy named Nobita Nobi.

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