It was a quiet summer night in New Tokyo. The orange sun had begun to set, and slowly the whole world grew dark. But it wasn't a bad dark. No, the stars sparkled above and the moon, which just so happened to be full, radiated a warm orange glow. It was a rare sighting in modern-day Tokyo, but a beautiful one at that.
The silent scene was quickly interrupted by a bullet train bustling down the railroad tracks. It was long, sleek, and seated probably around 1500 people on a normal day.
Inside the train, there was a boy in his early 20s. He had white hair that fell over his short, black sides and looked to be about 5'10 give or take. The boy's name was Ken Shinegori, as evidenced by the watch he wore and the journal he wrote in. He glanced at his silver watch that read "7:28 pm, Sunday." Before going back to his journal;, Ken stopped to read the engraving on the watch; "To my best friend Ken, that you remember me even across the endless sea - Itsuki Tetsuya."
Ken thought of Itsuki, he hadn't seen her in over 3 years. As kids, they were best friends, all the way up until high school. Their parents worked at the same law office, which meant that the two would spend a lot of their free time together. The two would even spend holidays together, on occasion. Their bond was unique, even countries away they remained friends. However, their friendship was nothing more than that. No romance, no crushes, just great friends, and that was exactly how both Ken and Itsuki wanted it.
After high school, Ken left Japan to study for his architecture degree abroad in the United States, but Itsuki stayed in Tokyo. While his father certainly had high hopes for him, Ken was never any good at school. This meant studying in the U.S. was even harder for Ken, and naturally, he didn't succeed any better abroad than at home. With bad grades and a foreign tongue, Ken never found a job. Instead, he began to steal to pay his expenses. It started small first with wallets, then cash registers, safes, and once a bank vault. He really let things get out of hand. While Ken was in this situation, Itsuki was studying and working hard to join the AGUS special ops task force, to fight criminals like Ken. For the first time ever, Ken and Itsuki were on opposing sides, and only Ken really knew. As far as he was concerned, it was too late to do anything about it.
The bullet train began to slow as a man's voice came over the speakers.
"This stop: New Tokyo Grand Station. We thank you for your Patronage. Next Stop is the New Tokyo North Station."
'This is it,' Ken thought as he rose out of his chair, throwing his bag over his shoulder. With luggage in tow, he exited the train. All around the Station, there were people holding signs for their family or friends. One might read "Eric Ryland," or "Hikari Watanabe," and Ken would think how amazing it was that Tokyo had become such a melting pot of cultures over the past years. Ken liked that sort of thing.
In the far back corner, just barely peeking above the crowd, Ken saw the sign he was looking for. Written in black was the Hiragana "しねごり" and "けん," under each corresponding name, in English, was "Shinegori Ken." His name was surrounded by a rainbow whose clouds were made of mixed color glitter. Ken started to move through the thick crowd in the direction of the sign. A small boy about 10 years old was running through the crowd in a panic. Without really looking, the boy ran into Ken and fell to the floor, dropping a bag of sweets he was holding on to.
"Oh! Sorry, mister! I didn't mean to..."
"It's alright, don't worry about it." Ken grabbed the bag off the floor, which had luckily landed on its bottom. "These look good, are they all for you?"
"Nope!" The boy said happily. "I'm sharing them with a friend!"
"That sounds like a great idea." Ken handed the boy the bag. "Here, you enjoy it. Just be careful next time."
"I will! Thank you!" The boy said as he ran off.
"What a happy boy," Ken said to himself.
As he turned around, Ken saw Itsuki crossing her arms. She had a smirk covering her face. Her blonde hair had been put into a ponytail, and she was just about as tall as the last time Ken had seen her. Standing out of her backpack was the sign she had been holding.
"Are you already getting yourself into trouble?" Itsuki said. "I guess you still haven't changed all that much."
"Hey Itsuki!" Ken rose off from his knees, showing how he was now almost one and a half heads taller than her.
"Well, that's new," she said looking a little shocked. "I guess you finally had your growth spurt." She hugged Ken. "I really missed you, the academy isn't that fun all by myself."
"The U.S. wasn't that great either, so at least we suffered together."
"Suffered together, you're still a huge dork," Itsuki said.
"What? No, I'm not." Ken said scratching his head.
"You are, and there's no debating it," she said pointing a finger to his head. "Anyway, let's go to a cafe. There's a new one not too far from here. I've heard it's really good."
"That sounds nice. Let's go."
"Here, I can help you. Hand me your bag." Itsuki offered.
"Oh, thanks," Ken said as he gave her his messenger bag.
"Okay, I'll show you where to go."
Ken followed his childhood friend as they walked. Despite only being gone for 3 years, the town he grew up in was far from the same. As he passed by his old school, which had been turned into a clinical hospital, they turned the corner where his favorite park used to be. That was where he had celebrated his 10th birthday party, as well as where he had first met Itsuki and Watanabe, another friend of his lost to time. Now a place Ken once spent most of his life had been demolished and flattened, all that remained was a ripped seat for a swing set. It was almost unrecognizable.
"Oh, that used to be Shiba Park. They started demolitions earlier this week." Itsuki said, a little disappointed. "I hear there are plans to turn it into another police station. It makes me sad whenever I pass it."
"That... sucks. I liked this place."
"Yeah, I know. Come on, the cafe is just around the corner, where the spa used to be."
It seemed, just like Ken, Tokyo had changed quickly too.