"The what line?"

In all the years I've been in Tokyo I've never heard of it- the Ikegemi Line- but that's where I'm headed. It's a small line that seems like it doesn't belong. And it sneaks out of the city under the cover of darkness.
At first glance, Ikegemi itself seems like a thousand other satellite towns dotted around Tokyo. only smaller & with less invading skyline. Or so it seemed.
I'm here to meet M. It's been too long. Too long since we've been face to face over a couple of beers- something the ersatz experience of ambient awareness could never compete with.
Those same few beers later we head out to restock & for M to reveal to me the secrets of Ikegemi-

A hundred thousand stairs or so it seems & I'm glad I'm already drunk- but it was well worth it. The temple seems big & given such room to breathe that you just don't find in the claustrophobic confines of the city. The pagoda disappeared into the darkness & we found our way to the top of a nearby viewing tower to take in everything from Yokohama to Tokyo- a constellation of sodium-lights & neon scattered beneath & beyond us.

(Thanks to M. for the foto)

It's one of those great, quiet moments where just for a second everything else is forgotten; the stray dogs of your worries cease their incessant barking & watch with you.

And then the police arrived.

Okay so the tower IS off limits at 3 a.m. Surprisingly.
We act dumb- although I'm not acting & M's native tongue works better than mine. A few verbal wrists slaps & some apologies should be enough but the guy decides to go ahead & search us too (can they do that?) but to no avail. We are sent on our way.

It's been a good night- the impromptu ones usually are.
I needed this. I think maybe M did too. It's been a long week, maybe more. So I'll take the 5 hours sleep & the hangover & the rolling into work in yesterdays clothes because this is the kind of thing that makes the rest of the week, maybe more, easier to bear.