Paprika by Yasutaka Tsutsui

I? …” Noda looked distinctly uneasy. Beads of perspiration again began to glisten on his brow.
    “When I analyzed your last dream, I asked if Sukenobu also ‘had it in for you.’ You said ‘itching for a fight’ might be a better phrase. Did you have fights with this Akishige?”
    “No. I don’t remember that either. But wait … Maybe I did …” Noda’s voice was starting to sound gravelly.
    “Well, don’t force yourself. You’ll only invent a false memory. But never mind, I reckon we’re getting closer now. More toast? This Fauchon jam’s good, isn’t it.”
    “No thanks. That’s enough for me.”
    “I wonder when you’ll be able to stay over again?”
    Disarmed by the bluntness of the question, Noda couldn’t help but show his delight. “What? Well, whenever you like. Tonight, say.”
    “Won’t your wife mind?”
    “I’ll call her from work. After all, it’s my treatment. How could she mind?”
    “Cool. Come again tonight,” Paprika said with some enthusiasm. “I think you’re about to remember something, some old trauma. A mental scar, what we call a psychological trauma. But you’re suppressing it very strongly. There’s a battle going on inside your head. So then your anxiety builds up, and that could cause another attack. I think you’re on the verge of remembering. Once you remember what it was, the attacks will stop. And anyway, you’re used to seeing me as a dream detective now. If I enter your dreams again soon, say tonight, you won’t be surprised to see me anymore.”
    “Do you think so?” Noda’s eyes were gleaming. “I’d certainly enjoy that.”
    “You’ll enjoy it even more when you know you’re dreaming. Like I do when I get into your dreams.”
    “So we’ll be together again? In our dreams?”
    “Yes.”
    “Can’t wait!” Noda said, stirring in anticipation, then repeated: “Can’t wait. Is it always like this, when your patients get used to your methods?”
    “Yes, the strong-willed ones, when the condition is only mild. Then again, my patients were always strong-willed, and their condition was always mild …”
    “You know, I was expecting the treatment to be a lot more taxing,” Noda said, staring at Paprika. “Shima must be green with envy. I bet none of your patients can ever forget you.”
    “I wouldn’t know about that. I have a policy of not seeing them after the treatment’s over.”
    Noda looked seriously disappointed. “What, because they’re all so-called celebrities?”
    “Well, they don’t want it known they’ve been seeing a shrink, anyway.”
    “But we can meet just once, can’t we, to celebrate my recovery? After all, you promised. When we were in Radio Club, you promised you’d let me treat you.”
    “Did I?”
    “You did,” Noda said most earnestly.
    Resisting the urge to laugh, Paprika got up and went over to the medicine cabinet. “You’ve run out, haven’t you? I’ll just give you enough for today.” One more day should do it , she thought. She had confidence in the next night’s session.
    “By the way, what about that girl Mari? Were you friends?” Paprika said as Noda was preparing to leave. She’d remembered that she hadn’t asked anything about the girl.
    “Mari?” Noda looked off into the distance with a wistful eye. “She lived in the next village. She was really pretty, you know. I adored her from afar. She was so pretty that I couldn’t bring myself to talk to her. That was the first time we spoke, in that dream this morning.” He turned to look at Paprika with a smile. “But it was you, wasn’t it.”
    When Noda had left, Paprika took off her makeup and had a nap. She’d developed the knack of falling asleep instantly; she’d got it down to a fine art.
    She woke at ten and made herself up as Atsuko Chiba. That was no trouble at all – disguising herself as Paprika took five times longer. She slipped into an apricot-colored suit, the one she usually wore, then went down to the