Date: August 20
Place: Sendai, Japan
[Rei]
A morning at the train station, a man running, a woman calling someone on her phone, students jumping and running around, and some birds chirping.
I looked in the sky and took a deep breath then sighed.
"What are you sighing for?" my friend stands beside me who is lined up for entering the train.
Her name is Watanabe Yui, she's the first friend I made when I came to Japan. She is outgoing, smart, and beautiful. She has slender arms and legs, a fit body, and eyes are not that big but they surely reflect the darkness of the night like her short hair and somehow, I'm taller than her.
"It's nothing," I replied.
I put my earphones on and followed her as she walked in, finding a place to sit for both of us.
"Here would be nice," as I pulled her shoulder from where I was looking.
"Oh, thanks," she responded.
But we saw an elderly, small, and has a hunched back, curly hair, and carrying a small purse, who was just standing and looking for an open space.
I know that my friend is too kind that she would give her seat to others even though our ride will be approximately five hours until we get to our destination.
I smiled and tapped the elder's shoulder.
"You can sit here madam," while showing her the sit I'm referring to. She didn't refuse and sat to where the open space was.
"Thank you, young lady," the elder said.
"Don't mention it" I replied.
Yui and I ended up standing near the doorway, refusing to sit down as I was standing up.
"I didn't know that you can be kind sometimes" giggling and shoving her elbow into my stomach. "What's up? You're not sick, are you?" she says enjoying teasing me.
"I'm totally fine, justーon a good mood, I guess," I said to her.
She stopped laughing and got serious for a second.
"Really? Tell me what happened," she looked so interested, waiting for my answer just like a child.
"Do me a favor and don't make me regret tagging along with you," I said squishing her cheeks.
"Fine" she replied as I let go of her.
"But please do tell me in detail as to why you're in a good mood today. Oh! And why did you agree to come to this trip anyway?" again, grinning and waiting for an answer.
I turned my head in her direction and frowned
"You can't keep quiet, can you? Besides, it's so bold of you to ask 'why I agreed to come'. It's not like a had choice" I said.
That's because she showed up in my apartment fully dressed and practically wouldn't stop ringing the doorbell until I agreed to come with her.
"Come on, we have five hours before we arrive. Besides, I'm bored" she answered.
"Well, my friend from the other country greeted me and asked how I was doing that's all," I told her.
"That's so boring, tell me whatー" She paused for a moment like she was trying to solve a mystery from what I'd said earlier.
"Wait, is it a he or a she? And more importantly, Do you even have friends?" she continued. Looking like a confused child.
"It's a 'he' and what do you mean 'do I have friends'? What does that make you then?" I was caught off-guard and kind of spoke loudly.
I saw the people looking at me and her, whispering and giving us a weird look. I see her next to me, hands covering her mouth that can't stop laughing.
"I'm sorry, I'm sorry" while bowing my head to everyone. "You littleー" Careful with my words I breathe in and out.
"Can you teach me how to ruin someone's day, too? You are something you know that?" I said with a frowning face and rolled my eyes at her while she was just there laughing at what I said.
I raised an eyebrow at her who was still controlling her laugh.
"Sorry, it's just, that your reactions are too funny," she answered.
I wasn't even trying to tell a joke and I'm not sure what's funny too.
"Nothing, nothing. You know what?" she said.
"What?" I looked at her trying to figure out her next words.
"I'll teach you how to ruin someone's day if you give me more details about that conversation," she says while smirking and giving a crazy look.
"No thanks, I think I'll pass," I said.
She continued teasing me on the whole ride. I turned the earphone's volume up to mask what she was saying. But she still kept asking and teasing me.
"I can tell this is gonna be a long ride," as I rolled my eyes again.
[Yui]
Just having her on my side is heartwarming and completes my day.
She has long silky hair, big brown eyes, and is shorter than me by a few inches, somehow. She has a very dark persona and she always has this 'expressionless face', but I couldn't help it, and not anyone either.
She lost both her parents in an accident when she was at a young age. To make things worse, she also had amnesia that wiped her whole memories of her childhood.
But I think her memories are starting to come back, more or less. I think...
She didn't know who her relatives were but it's great that her real grandparents showed up. She lived with her grandmother and grandfather at that time.
But now, she's living by herself in an apartment that is in the possession of my family when her grandparents wanted her to explore the world and sent her to Japan, far away from her home country.
We've been friends ever since she transferred to our school. I didn't like her at first but as time passed by I saw some different sides of her. I began to warm up to her and wanted other people to see her from my perspective too, hence this trip.
I continued our conversation and teased her a little but I got sleepy and I felt Rei's shoulder so I leaned on it and slept.
[Rei]
It's clear and sunny, with no rain or thunderstorms in the weather forecast and not to mention it's summer, so I wouldn't be too surprised if it didn't rain.
I removed my headphones and put them away.
"Hey, we're about to get off at the next station," I said poking her cheeks as she slept through the whole ride while standing.
I'm kind of impressed by it, to be honest.
"Mhmm..." she mumbled and rubbed her eyes.
Meanwhile, looking at the window in front of me. It just makes me think about how I'm so glad that I moved to an area that is yet to be explored and a breath of new fresh air from my home country.
We arrived at our destination.
Leaving the train, walking to the gate pass, and giving our tickets to the one standing in a booth who collects them.
"Thank you," is what the man said.
Walking down the path that leads to the parking area. There, we saw a big white van.
Yui is waving at some people, I guess that's her friends. I see three boys and a girl waving back in Yui's direction.
"You're late! What took you so long?" said the girl with colorful hair like a rainbow, and round and sparkly green eyes. Not to mention she's wearing makeup too.
"Sorry. My friend here overslept and I had to fetch her," explained Yui to the others.
I partly bow for saying sorry even though every single thing she said was a lie.
"Hi, there! My name is Ninomiya Misaki, it's nice to meet you" said the girl with colorful hair.
"Just get on, for now, introduce yourself inside. We're gonna have to hurry because it'll take us about half an hour to get there," she added, shoving us inside the van.
Inside the vehicle, a boy with silver curly hair, black eyes, tall, and his body is a little masculine, is driving the car.
"Hi! I'm Satou Haru nice to meet you", he said meeting my eyes when he was looking in the rearview mirror.
Misaki is sitting right beside him. Yui is seated in the middle with a boy with a kind of long brown hair that is tied to a little bun, black eyes, and tall like the others. He looked at the backseat where I and some other guy were sitting.
"Hey! The name is Tanaka Kazuma. Nice meeting you," he gave a nice warm smile.
"Yeah, same here," I said partly bowing.
"You're quite cute, but try to smile more often, alright?" he grinned, trying to lighten the mood.
"Flirting in front of me? How bold," while Yui pinched Kazuma in the ear that led him to sit back and giggle a little.
I looked to my left where a boy with fluffy short blue hair and golden eyes. Those are contact lenses, I suppose. He is wearing a loose white shirt and black baggy pants like my aesthetic.
"Hi, I'm Rei," I held a hand out to extend my gesture as I was sure he wasn't Japanese by the way he looked.
He looked surprised and scratched the back of his head before giving me a reply.
"Cedrick Dior, but you can call me Ced for short if you want," he reached for my hand and we both shook it awkwardly.
"Are you a foreigner?" I asked, wanting to make sure I wasn't mistaken.
"You can tell?" he was quite taken aback and hesitated to answer.
"By your name, yes. And it's pretty like you," I slipped a compliment out but not purposely.
He looked shocked and turned around immediately as I saw his ears turning red.
Is he sick, or is it just too hot?
I heard the others burst into laughter.
"Huh?" I blurted out. "Why are you guys laughing?" I asked out of curiosity.
They didn't say anything back, they just changed the subject. So I just leaned my head on the mirror of the car. I closed my eyes and tried to sleep but the noise in the van was so loud that I could not sleep.
* * start * *
Something rang and woke me up. I reached for my alarm clock and tried to stop the ringing, but it wasn't it. I found my cell phone lying on the ground buzzing. I picked it up and answered the call.
Rubbing my eyes and yawning I tried to speak.
"Hello? Who is this?" I stood up and dragged myself into the kitchen.
"Hello? Is someone there?" I said once again to the one calling me on the phone.
I heard glitches, glass breaking, screaming, and some unfamiliar noises that led me to take a look at the number who called me.
But it was just displayed as 'Unknown'
"Hello?" still no answer. I was about to end the call when suddenly someone spoke.
"Reiーbecarefulーyoーgreenーliquidーarーit's dangerousー" Then he screamed which made me woken up fully.
Just like that, the call ended. I didn't understand it at all. I just went to the kitchen and drank water.
Sitting on the sofa, I scanned my phone and saw that the number who tried to call me, it was probably just a random person who dialed the wrong number or someone who wanted to play a prank on me.
But he said my name or maybe the one he's trying to call has the same name as me. In Japan, there are a lot of people who are named Rei after all.
But looking at the recent missed phone calls, I saw Yui's name in it. I missed her call 13 times already. I dialed it and called her back immediately.
"Hey, What's up?" I said when she picked it up.
"Oh! You're awake now! Wanna go hang out?" she asked me excitedly.
"And to where exactly do you want to go?" I asked rolling my eyes as I drank the remaining of my water.
"To the water park. It is freaking hot you know. I'm going with some of my friends so if you don't want to go I'm not gonna be alone," I hear her zipping up her bag.
"Are you sure they're your friends?" I asked and found myself in the bed lying again.
"They were my junior high school friends, we're having some kind of reunion. I'm going even if you're not. And let me remind you, a lot of boys will be there," she said as I heard her lock the door, and the sound of a busy street echoed next.
"I barely know the people who are going with you to the water park so I'm not going. I'd rather lay around here do nothing than interact with someone I don't even know so, no thank you," when I was about to end the call I suddenly heard her running, I heard cars and I heard her breathing at the end of the line.
"What are you doing?" I asked her. I'm a little confused about what's going on.
Then I suddenly heard my doorbell ringing multiple times as if someone was in a hurry.
"Open up will you?" she said on the phone and I heard her catch her breath. I ended the call and went to my door.
"You've gotta be kidding me," I said when I opened the door and saw her standing there, holding her knees and catching her breath.
"Good morning," she said in an enthusiastic tone.
"Come on in" I invited her
"Pardon my intrusion," she removed her shoes and made herself comfortable.
She sat on my sofa and I offered her some drinks which she immediately took and drank.
"I thought I told you that I'm not going to go," I reminded her.
"Come on. It's summer and you've got nothing better to do. You've gotta enjoy your youth," she stated. "Anyway, I'm not leaving here until you agree. So don't be stubborn and just pack your things up already" she added with a smug look on her face as she crossed her legs on my sofa.
She's right, I have nothing else better to do. She said we were going to swim, so I packed my bags with a lot of oversized T-shirts, two pairs of shorts, and of course, some underwear in case we stayed overnight. But I didn't pack any swimsuits because I'm not planning to dip in the water. I'll just babysit Yui. I also brought some first aid kits and other essential stuff.
Yui is wearing a crop top T-shirt where you can see her belly well-shaped and short shorts while I am wearing an oversized violet shirt and black baggy pants. She brought a mini backpack that I think only her wallet and phone are in there.
* * end * *
[Cedrick]
I didn't expect that she would ask my name. Let alone calling a man 'pretty'. I couldn't help but stutter "Thanks" silently as I hid by turning around.
Kazuma and Haru are my friends. We're staying all in the campus apartment cost-free.
We earned scholarships and got our expenses and almost everything free from it. We might look like this but we do good in academics and athletics too.
For our summer vacation, they were thinking of spending time with their girlfriends but they were worried about me being left behind alone in the apartment.
This trip to the water park is supposed to be a double date. But they felt bad leaving me out on their summer vacation plans and decided they wanted me to tag along.
The day they got to know that Yui had an available girl friend, they convinced her to take Rei with her into the water park.
I guess they want this to be a set-up date for me and her. But I don't think this is a good idea.
I mean, every glimpse of Rei is quiteーscary. She has this dark aura around her, I can't even tell if she's happy or angry or what so ever in her earlier compliment because she has these expressionless faces that are hard to read.
But my parents taught me not to judge people by their looks. So I think Rei is genuinely a great and beautiful person insideーI hope.