Paprika Read Online Free Page A

without the whole world knowing. Then he suddenly remembered his old friend. They still met once or twice a year; Shima would be the perfect person to consult on such a delicate matter.
    “Frankly, the notion that most people live without anxiety is more of a mystery to me,” Shima had declared with a laugh after hearing Noda’s story. Noda reflected on his good fortune at having such a great friend, not to mention the burgeoning sense of well-being he now felt at the prospect of a cure. Shima, on the other hand, retained a modicum of concern, feeling that he’d perhaps overestimated Noda’s intellect and the strength of his ego. After all, Shima was aware that anxiety neurosis could be resolved by elevating it to an “objective experience” through the strength of the ego; he also had no doubt that Noda’s illness would cure itself. What’s more, Noda himself had felt, after reading a book, that the cause of his anxiety was a psychological problem peculiar to middle age. It was not the same as that crisis of awareness when a son becomes a father for the first time, or when an ordinary employee rises to middle management. It was certainly not the same as an inability to absorb new technology. Those problems were all long past; for Noda, they’d already been solved ten or twenty years earlier. Even when it came to human relationships, he’d successfully seen off numerous challenges in the past. Noda should now be quite capable of overcoming such challenges with relative ease by drawing on his own experience.
    Shima had given him some tablets. After their meeting, Noda had started taking them surreptitiously, mixed with vitamin pills to disguise them. For a while, the attacks had seemed a thing of the past. But two days after the tablets ran out, Noda suffered a third, more violent attack while on his way home late one night. This time he could bear it no longer, and asked the taxi driver to take him to the nearest hospital. The symptoms had subsided before the taxi could reach the hospital, so Noda diverted the driver to Shima’s residence instead. Shima seemed to understand the gravity of Noda’s condition, and promised to set up a course of treatment immediately. And now, about a week later, Noda was to meet the therapist called Paprika. Her name sounded like something out of a fairy tale, but, as Shima had assured him, she was “the very best dream detective.”
    At five past eleven, the music changed to “Satin Doll.”
    The heavy oak door opened and a girl wearing a red shirt and jeans walked in. Naturally, she looked quite out of place in the bar. Kuga met her with a greeting that sounded more like a challenge. She whispered something to him. Kuga started to twitch nervously on realizing that she was Noda’s assignation. Noda shared his surprise. Jinnai widened his eyes.
    Kuga led the girl to Noda’s booth, and there she stood with head tilted slightly to one side. “Hi,” she said. “I’m Paprika.”
    Noda woke from his reverie and rose hurriedly. “Why … Hello!”
    “And … You’re Tatsuo Noda, right?”
    “That’s right. That’s right.” With growing surprise at the girl’s helpless appearance, Noda pointed to the sofa opposite him. “Take a seat.”
    She was an attractive girl with a cutely shaped face and freckles around her eyes. In the dim half-light of the bar, Noda thought her skin looked quite tanned. Evidently feeling as incongruous as she looked, Paprika fidgeted restlessly for a while and cast uncertain glances around the bar.
    Am I old enough to be her father? Noda wondered with some apprehension. Eventually he spoke: “Well … Miss …”
    “Call me Paprika,” she said coquettishly.
    In fact, she was deliberately using that tone to help Noda feel more relaxed. Now the name slipped effortlessly from his lips. “All right – Paprika. What will you have to drink?”
    “I’ll have the same as you.”
    Noda nodded to Kuga, who still stood beside their table. Kuga