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The curtain pulls away, revealing a kimono-clad woman. Her back is turned to him, and Saito wants nothing more than to make her turn his way. He has to look upon her face. She has short hair, for a woman, deep brown in the white light of the theatre.
There is white everywhere, waves of white, cold, cold white... It's almost like in a dream, Saito thinks briefly, before he notices the red rose. It seems to have grown out of him, somehow, and he knows what he has to do to make the woman look at him.
Saito picks up the red rose - the petals seem fluid, as if they're made of liquid - and extends it to her.
Robert Fischer turns his head. He looks gorgeous in the kimono; he wears it with the chilly grace of a frozen sakura tree. His clear blue eyes brighten up the cloud of white. His kimono has the intricate pattern of a mountain forest drawn upon it. Saito thinks he can even distinguish little human figures moving in the pattern.
Robert's eyes are bright but cold, and infinitely sad; looking into them makes Saito realise how cold he feels; he's not strong enough, his arm presses the red rose into his side, and the thorns dig into his chest. Robert turns his head away from him, and with his sky-blue eyes out goes the light, too.
Saito wakes up with a start. He can't have slept for more than a few minutes, but he feels as if he's fallen asleep in the snow. He presses his hand to his chest. There's an ache there, ever since The Event - psychosomatic, of course.
Saito flicks open his laptop and checks for the latest news on the Fischer financial empire. It's become a habit, almost a nervous tic. Of course he has an army of analysts to do this, but there are some things a man has to do himself. (What he really means is: the latest scoop on the Fischer heir.)
There's a photo of Robert, caught in half-profile as he's turning away. For some reason Saito is certain he's turning away rather than towards the camera. For some other reason he's surprised to see Robert in a dark business suit.
He'd look much better in a dress, Saito thinks, and suddenly he's assaulted by hundreds of snatches of dreams, flocking behind his eyelids, trying to escape.
"I didn't go digging through Fischer's subconscious so I can learn that he likes to wear women's clothes," Saito says loudly to himself.
But since he knows it anyway, he thinks, why not enjoy the fruits of his adventure?
Three things happen, the day Saito finally meets Robert Fischer properly: Robert Fischer announces the dissolution of the financial giant his father had left him; Saito's phantom chest wound stops bothering him; Robert smiles for the first time in years.