I woke up to the sound of the door to the backyard sliding open. “Alright boys, I’m sure you all had fun yesterday, but all good things must pass eventually.” That’s certainly one way for a man to greet his own son on a day like this.
My eyes hurt. It was really hard to open them. I really should’ve expected that, considering I only slept for around… wait how long did I sleep last night? I grabbed the nearest phone to check the time: 7:01 A.M. “Two hours????”, I screamed without thinking.
Dad shook his head. “Thank you very much for exposing your own bad decision making, Genjo. Now get in the car. We’re gonna be late.” As he turned to head out to our car, he tossed a comb in my general direction. “All your bags are in the car already. Check your room for anything you might’ve forgotten to pack. Overseas packages aren’t cheap, so don’t expect me to ship you anything unnecessary.” His voice grew increasingly faint as he walked away. “Oh, and I thought your mother told you to clean your room as well. Your floor is as filthy as always.”
The sound of the front door sliding shut was probably my cue to head upstairs. I ran up as quickly as my fatigued body could move, rushed into the bathroom, and flicked the light on. God, my hair was messy. I very hurriedly combed it down until there were only a few knots left and then got to work on one final room check before my flight. My desk and dresser were both empty, aside from clothes that no longer fit and old journals that 13 year old Genjo definitely wants me to burn right now; god forbid anyone learns that puberty sucks. Sitting next to the bed was my MP3 player, fully charged and 100% going with me on the plane. I clicked shuffle and shoved both my MP3 and the charger into my coat pocket.
I took a moment to stop and look at the photo wall. Most of my other classmates probably had a wider variety of faces on theirs, but I was proud of mine. The photographs were all illuminated by the light shining through my window. There were lots of old pictures of Taisuke, Fumio and I from when we tried to start a rock and roll band in junior high. It’s weird seeing Fumio with longer hair than either of us in these pictures, but he insisted that, as the lead singer and frontman, he had to be ‘visually captivating’ - which essentially just meant he refused to get a haircut for a year. We informally disbanded after a while, since Taisuke was the only one who could play their part worth a damn. I wasn’t all that great at keeping a rhythm at that age. Fumio lacked the coordination to play while he sang, so the lack of a bass guitar was a heavy blow to our songwriting potential. And no matter how much we bugged her, we could never get my sister to join. She always had something better to do whenever we asked.
Now that I’m thinking about it, there actually aren’t as many pictures of my sister, Sui, on the photo wall as I remember. Sure, we had a couple from when we were little, but I’ve since taken those down and given them to my mom. There were plenty of pictures of my friends and my parents in here, like the ones we took at graduation and some candid shots of us hanging out around town, but the only pictures I had of Sui were from years ago. It’s not like I can’t ever take more in the future; she’s not dead or anything like that, but she might as well be. She hasn’t talked to any of us in years.
I plucked some of my favorite pictures off the wall and found a plastic case to safely carry them in with their respective wall tacks. I would’ve just put them in a CD case and called it a day, but I already packed up my entire collection last night. One extra plastic case shouldn’t send my bags over the weight limit, right? Just to be safe, I did one more sweep of the room to double check that I wasn’t leaving anything behind. I also took that time to get one last good look at home, knowing full well I wasn’t going to see this room again for a very long time. It was a bittersweet feeling; I wanted so badly to leave this behind me, but taking that final step out still wasn’t easy. There was still a strange feeling that I had something else to check before I said goodbye to this place.
“Your floor is as filthy as always.”
My father’s last quip before walking out the door suddenly came back to me. I decided to look around my room again, this time checking the floor for whatever he was referring to earlier. It was actually pretty clean. That’s odd, you’d think he would’ve said that if I had left a shirt on the ground or an empty teacup on my desk, not a spotless floor. Maybe mom had to clean it for me and he was just mad on her behalf? No, this is exactly how I left it when Taisuke and Fumio came over last night. Why the hell would he say that then?
But then that phrase started to ring a bell. He said that a lot while I was growing up. It was usually his way of reprimanding me for just being a teenager, so for a lot of people that wouldn’t sound any out of the ordinary. But he would also say it when I was little. Whenever he came back from work, I loved asking him to play hide and seek as a kid. Since I didn’t really like making friends back then, I got really good at exploring to get all of the best hiding spots where people couldn’t find me. My dad, however, was expectedly much better at seeking than a grade schooler. No matter how well I hid, it was only a matter of time before Yoritoshi Sazama, the master of discovery, would sleuth out the culprit. The only place he refused to check was under the bed. Any time he crouched down to look, he always start talking to himself out loud, exclaiming, “I wish Genjo would *cough* clean his floor… *cough* It’s so filthy… *cough* *cough* I think I’m gonna be sick…” or something similar, and then pretend to throw up in the bathroom.
So, naturally, I decided to check under the bed. (Now, before anyone starts assuming anything, I swear there’s nothing scandalous under there. For most other teens that’s probably completely normal, but I knew there was no hiding those kinds of goods from my dad, so I never bothered.) To my surprise, there was actually something underneath the futon that I hadn’t left there before. It was an envelope, with ‘From Dad’ written on it. The only other writing on it said ‘To be read 11km above the ocean.’ I smiled as I delicately placed the envelope in my other coat pocket, took one last look at my room, and ran back downstairs.
On my way out the front door, I grabbed an energy drink and a cold piece of toast that were sitting out on the kitchen counter, presumably left out by my parents. I really hope I didn’t keep them waiting for too long. I swung the car door open and jumped in the backseat. “Good morning, mom! My apologies, I’ll try to not be so late to things when I’m living on my own. You and dad must’ve been worried I wouldn’t come down in time for my flight”, I spoke nervously, expecting them to be disappointed.
Mom chuckled and looked back at me from the passenger seat. “No worries, Genjo. We expected you to take a moment to reminisce and triple check everything, so we planned on starting the drive a little bit late.” Her smile was very cheerful. Almost too cheerful. Like she didn’t want me to know how she really felt about me leaving.
“That’s right honey, we did make a plan in case the Gods willed us to run late.” Dad’s eyes were glued to the road, but I could tell he was faking his smile just as hard as mom was. “Good news is that your new life marches onward from this day forth!” The car came to a halt at the intersection. “Bad news is you’re taking the train.”
He threw my train pass over his shoulder, which landed on the seat next to mine. “Dad, didn’t we choose to leave today because there wouldn’t be much traffic? How badly could 10 minutes have thrown us off schedule?”
The car turned the direction towards the train station that took us to Tokyo. “Road renovations, Genjo. The fate of all tax money, and the working class man’s worst nightmare.” I could see his grip on the steering wheel tighten as he said that last part. “More importantly, we’re sorry we couldn’t see you off until the very end. I know your mother would’ve loved the security of knowing you didn’t walk onto the wrong plane.”
I slumped back into my seat and groaned. “Jeez, maybe if I get on that wrong plane, I’ll land somewhere where people might actually have some faith in me.” I clenched my fist, tightly grabbing onto my sleeve in the process. My gaze turned to the window, where I could see the bright blue sky outside. I couldn’t wait to be up there.
“Oh, don’t say that, Genjo,” my mom uttered. “We were only joking. I just wanted to have a little more time to give you some reminders for your first time living on your own.” She pulled out a massive book and started to rapidly flip through pages. “Always set aside a portion of your paycheck towards rent and utilities. Set reminders to eat 3 meals a day. Don’t mix bleach with ammonia.”
Dad laughed at the last one. “Michie, I don’t think that one’s gonna be a shocker for him.” As the car stopped outside of the train station, he turned his whole body to look back at me with the least forced smile I had seen all morning. “Isn’t that right, Mr. ‘Ultimate Chemist’?” He held up his hand for a high five.
I let go of my sleeve and reciprocated the offer. As our hands made contact, he pulled me in for one last hug before I got out of the car. “You’re going to do the most amazing things in the world, Genjo,” he softly whispered. “I know it deep down in my heart. There is so much potential inside of you just begging to be let out. After all these years, it’s finally getting the chance.” He let go from the hug, but not after giving me a few hefty pats on my left bicep for good measure. “Go out there and kill it, son.”
Mom didn’t wait a single second after that to give me her own helping of hugs, kisses, and a sentimental farewell speech that she definitely had to practice in the mirror for the last month. “Genjo, I know this decision wasn’t very hard for you to make. If it were up to me, I really do wish you could’ve stayed.” She stopped to wipe a few tears from her eyes. “I still remember how I felt on the day that your sister left. I always feared the day that you would leave too. But you’re not the same as her. At least, not to me. I sense something different in you, Genjo. I sense a passion that burns hotter and brighter than the morning sun; A fiery passion that’s going to ignite the world around you, as long as you believe that it can.” She hugged me again, knowing this would be her last chance to do so for a while. “I love you so much, Genjo. We’ll try not to miss you too much.”
I closed my eyes, hoping I wouldn’t drift back to sleep after doing so. “I love you too mom. I promise I’ll check in every once in a while. You’re not gonna have to worry about me too often.”
“We’re actually contractually obligated to worry about you, Genjo,” Dad said with a mildly sarcastic tone as he started to open the car door. “Let me help you get your bags out of the back. Gotta make sure you can even carry all that stuff on your own.”
I followed suit, grabbing my train pass, hopping out the door, and walking around to the back. Inside the trunk were my backpack, a suitcase, and a large bag with a strap that I rested on my shoulder. Dad helped me get everything situated and, once everything was out of the car, I closed the lid of the trunk. As it turns out, the lid was the only visual obstacle between me and what was waiting at the steps to the station. Standing right there waiting for me were none other than Fumio and Taisuke. Props to my dad; that was some excellent placement.
Nearly dropping all of my bags, I ran straight to my friends at the bottom of the steps. “Holy shit, I can’t believe this! I’m so happy to see you guys again! When the hell did you guys get here, though?”
Taisuke took a sip from his large coffee. “Well, it’s a good thing you were in such a rush to leave this morning, otherwise you would’ve noticed that you were the only one still sleeping outside in the yard. We got even less sleep than you did…” He yawned very loudly and obnoxiously, as if trying to prove a point, and then chugged the rest of his coffee. “I’m shocked Fumio didn’t crash his bike on the way here. Would’ve put a real damper on the whole ‘surprise Genjo at the station before he leaves’ plan.”
Fumio snatched the coffee cup out of Taisuke’s hand, bonked him on the head with it, and threw it in the trash can. Taisuke lightly prodded at him with his elbow, donning his classic grin - a near guaranteed signal of a witty comeback on the way. “Aw man, Fumio… What was that you said last night about not being my errand boy anymore?” He overdramatically snapped his fingers. “Rats, and I’ve spent all morning thinking of a replacement! Are you saying you want your position back???”
The glare on Fumio’s face was lethal. He slowly walked back to the trash can, grabbed the empty cup out of the pile, and walked back to Taisuke before mumbling “You fuckin’ throw it away then, smartass.” and shoving it into his abdomen, knocking the wind out of him. We all got a huge laugh out of that one. Even my parents, who were standing a good distance away, got a chuckle. Taisuke threw the cup back into the trash and we all went back to saying our goodbyes.
I looked down at my phone to check the time. 7:26. I figured that was still enough time for one more memory. “Hey everyone, one last photo?” I pulled out my camera as my friends and family gathered behind me. As per Fumio’s recommendation, we all said “To a New World!” on the count of 3 before I clicked the button to take the picture, even though they were all staying. I asked, “Fumio, why was that what you wanted us all to say? I’m the only one going. I mean, unless that’s also part of the surprise.”
He just pointed at the camera and said, “Well that picture’s going with you too. And so is your memory of us. As long as you never leave those memories behind, we’re always going to be with you, even when you can’t see us.”
Taisuke chimed in with, “He’s right, you know. Friendship ain’t about how much we see each other or even talk to each other. It’s about how often we think about each other.”
I laughed and said, “Okay, Taisuke, you stole that last part from a video game.”
He pretended to pout when I told him that. “But my point still stands, doesn’t it? Listen, if it weren’t true, then Hayner wouldn’t have said it in the first place.” Still a goofball until the end, isn’t he?
I gave everyone one last hug before I grabbed my suitcase and made my way up the stairs to the station. I yelled, “I’m really gonna miss you guys!” and waved down at them.
Dad yelled back, “You’ll be missing one thing too many if you don’t hurry up and get on that train!!” I turned around to see the train pulling into the station. Before stepping into the train car, I heard all four of them scream, “Don’t forget about us, ya hear??”
At the top of my lungs, I called out, “I wasn’t planning on it!!” I swiped my train pass, stepped inside, and sat down. It didn’t feel real until then. It hadn’t really sunk in that I was actually leaving until I took that seat on the train. A lot of the emotion that comes with saying goodbye for what feels like forever started to wash over me. So I just slid my headphones on and went back to listening to my MP3 player.
Time goes by a lot faster when you’ve got music to distract you from everything around you. An hour-long train ride only felt that long because I’ve memorized how long all of my albums are from front to back. It’s almost comforting, in a weird way, knowing that you’re still aware of the passage of time while trying to pass it by. I got caught up in a lot of the memories that were deeply embedded in some of these songs, like a recording of one of my sister’s violin concerts from grade school. Somehow, I had managed to convince her conductor to arrange an entire performance of a rock album I really liked at the time, and they even gave me a CD recording of the whole thing. Of course, Sui got a fair amount of the solos. I still prefer the way she played them over most of the originals all these years later. Wherever she is, I really hope she’s at least still playing.
I thought about a lot of things on the way as the train shook and rattled almost loud enough to overpower my music. I wondered where I could go to get that picture developed and printed out in America. I wondered about that girl, Chika Dokuro, and whether or not she’d still want to talk to me when we got there. I wondered how hard my classes would be, and if I’d be able to make any good friends in them that could help me study. Why am I having so many doubts in myself? Why does everyone in my family have so much faith in me except for me? Maybe this is just normal stress. Yeah, that’s it. I’m not paranoid. Everybody goes through this when they grow up, it’s not just me. It can’t be just me. Right?
The train stopped. Tokyo, Haneda Airport. I’m here. I grabbed my bags and made my way off the train into the bustling airport ahead. I thought saying goodbye was the hard part; turns out it’s gonna be navigating this damn place with all these people around. I did my best to follow signs towards baggage check, and after a few minutes of waiting in line, I remembered the container in my coat pocket that contained the photographs and the wall tacks. Don’t want those appearing on any metal detectors. I frantically unzipped my suitcase to put them away right before it was my turn to get it weighed and sent to the plane. I prayed that the envelope from Dad that I left in my other pocket didn’t happen to contain knives, cocaine, or any other forbidden items and made my way towards the international gates.
After making my way through the x-ray machines and watching a man get in a very heated argument with security over the size of his shampoo bottle, I checked my ticket to look for my flight’s gate. Terminal 3, 3rd floor, Gate 109. It took me a little while, but eventually I found my gate without getting lost. I still had about 30 minutes until boarding time, so I decided to go grab some snacks for the flight just in case. I left my bags at my seat in the gate and took the escalator up to the 4th floor to find a shop or restaurant.
Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
While I was walking around the 4th floor, I could’ve sworn I heard someone call out my name. I’m surprised I even heard it amidst all the bustling sounds of businessmen on their phones, as well as tourists clamoring with excitement in English and languages that I didn’t understand, not to mention my headphones were still playing. How did I hear that? I stopped to look around and see who it was that could’ve called out to me. It’s not like I knew anyone here. But when I looked, I didn’t see anyone looking in my direction. Then something odd caught my attention from the corner of my eye. I saw a bright blue butterfly flying around above everyone near the ceiling. I’ve heard of birds getting stuck inside airports, but butterflies? It started flying away, and I felt a strange urge to follow it. I was about to take a step to go after it when -
*bzzt* *bzzt*
My phone started vibrating.
[Taisuke Endo: Text Message]
“Hey, better not be daydreaming and missing your flight right now!”
“How did you know?”
“Wait shit I was actually right?? Eh, just a hunch.”
“Well keep your hunches to yourself next time”
“that freaked me the hell out.”
“Sounds like it’s your fault for daydreaming.”
“Goodbye, Taisuke.”
“Aw… you’re no fun. Text us when you land!”
I closed my phone and looked back up at the ceiling. The butterfly was gone. There’s no way that thing was that fast. Did I just imagine it? Well, no use thinking about it now. I found the nearest snack vendor and bought some mini pretzels and a bag of chocolates before rushing back to my gate.
A voice played over the loudspeaker. “Now boarding flight 3097. First call for flight 3097.” Shit. My ticket says I’m supposed to board on the second call. This is bad. There are so many people in between me and the flight. I started pushing my way through the crowd to get back to the gate when I accidentally bumped into a girl in the middle of the hallway. I began to panic. Why the hell am I in this mess? I heard the loudspeaker again. “Second call for flight 3097.” Oh god. I didn’t have time to help her up, so I just nervously yelled “Sorry!” and kept on running to the gate to pick up my other bag. Thank god it’s still there under the seat. I don’t know what I would’ve done if somebody had stolen it. I quickly hopped in line to get on the plane, handed them my ticket, and just barely made it in time.
Well that was certainly one of the most stressful sequences of events in my entire life. I slowly started boarding the plane behind the giant line of people in front of me, who probably - no, almost definitely - all saw that entire fiasco back there in the terminal. Not a great start to your new life, Genjo… not a great start. Why do I care so much about what all these strangers even think? We’re never gonna see each other again. That’s how Dad always tells me to think about it, anyway.
I shoved my shoulder bag up into the overhead compartment and shuffled my way past the person already in the outer seat to my seat at the window. As I sat down, I put my backpack on the floor in front of me and slid my headphones back on. I turned my phone on airplane mode and threw it in my backpack. The screen lit itself up inside of the bag, and I saw something I didn’t remember putting in there. It was a small, thin box wrapped up in gift wrapping. I picked it up and delicately tore off the wrapping paper to reveal a CD jewel case with a note taped to the front. The note was from Taisuke.
“Dear Genjo,
I snuck this into your bag in the morning before you left, so… sorry for going through your stuff without your permission. Again. It’s just that I can tell how much you miss being in that band with me and Fumio back in the day. You don’t really like talking about it directly, but I can’t be the only one who misses it, right? I managed to salvage some old recordings from a few years ago! They kinda suck, but it’s nice to have those little reminders of where we came from so we can see how far we’ve come.
That’s not the only CD in this case though. I included some things I’ve written too. We’ve got a whole ocean between us now by the time you’re reading this, but that doesn’t mean we can’t still write music together! If you ever feel like picking up the drums again, feel free to add your parts and send them back to me! I know you’re not exactly one to jump back into hobbies you weren’t immediately good at, but it’s just something to think about. Even if you don’t, you’ll still have a tape with some absolute fire!!!!!!!!!! (those are my songs if it wasn’t clear)
Also, there’s one last song on here that none of us wrote. I just heard it one day and it made me think of you. Seems like something you would’ve written, especially considering everything you’re going through. Not telling you what it is, though! You’re gonna have to pop that sucker into your computer and see for yourself. And before you ask; yes, this is entirely a ploy to get you to put my guitar demos on your MP3 player. It didn’t work when U2 did it, but I have a feeling that I can pull it off if I just do it to my friends instead of 500 million people.
Anyway, tell me what you think! I’ve probably already been bugging you constantly since you left, so feel free to wait a couple days before getting back to me. We just miss you already, man! Don’t let us hold you back, though. I’d hate for us to still be your only friends when we’re not even there. Meet some cute girls out there for us! Oh, and make good friends. That’s important too.
- Taisuke”
He’s gonna have faith in me until the end of the world, damn it.
I almost drifted off to sleep before the plane started to take off. The speed jolted me awake again, so I got to see the plane leave the ground and soar high into the sky. The Tokyo skyline was a beautiful sight to behold as we drifted away from it. Eventually, it faded out of view, and all I could see were the clouds below. After a little bit, I got bored of the view outside and sank into my seat. The envelope in my pocket was digging into my side, and it was starting to really annoy me, so I figured it was a better time than ever to check it out.
‘From Dad. To be read 11 km above the ocean.’ I checked the flight tracker on the screen attached to the seat in front of me. Altitude: 10,976 km. It’s a good thing Dad was never one for technicalities. I tore the envelope open with the backside of a plastic fork that I packed in my bag just in case airline food was a thing that still existed. There was a handwritten card inside that didn’t have anywhere near as much to say as you’d think a hidden mystery letter would have.
“Good job.
Here’s some extra spending money for being the observant little kid I raised. If you can find this letter, then you can find a place in the States to do yen to USD conversion.
Take a girl out on a nice date. But only one is on me. The rest are coming out of your own pocket. Surely they have some nice jobs in San Jose.
- Dad”
When I finished reading, almost as if it were waiting for me to finish, the plane hit a short patch of turbulence. The unpredictable shaking was almost enough to make me drop everything I was holding. I frantically scrambled to grab all of the bills as they slid out of the card and nearly fell all over the floor of the plane. The turbulence eventually subsided, and with it, so did the world’s most stressful game of keep up. Once the seatbelt light turned back off, I figured it was safe to count up all the money. I kept getting distracted by the absolutely obnoxious rattling noise coming from the folding tray, so I had to keep starting over and recounting. After what felt like a dozen attempts, I figured it was about 7k yen. I didn’t feel like doing a 13th recount.
I was in the middle of folding up the money to put it into my wallet when someone poked me in my right arm. I figured it must’ve been someone’s child who never learned to keep their hands to themselves. After all, the kid sitting behind me had been kicking my seat for the first 20 minutes of the flight. But when I turned to look at the child sitting next me, I was absolutely astonished to see a boy in a dark green baseball cap who appeared to be my age.
“Hey! Can I see that for a moment?” His voice sounded surprisingly shrill for someone who I presumed couldn’t be much younger than Fumio and I. Maybe he was Taisuke’s age? It didn’t sound like he hadn’t hit puberty by any means, but if he told me that his balls suddenly quit dropping right before the finish line, I’d probably believe it.
I looked down at the cash in my hand and then back at him. “Uh… you mean… this?” I pointed at the money as I gave him a sort of puzzled expression.
He was clearly taken aback by my question. “No. I meant that.” His finger pointed in a slightly different direction than mine. All the way at the end of the point was something I didn’t expect. It was my MP3 player of all things. “I’ve worked on machines for my entire life, but I’ve never seen one of these in the flesh!” His eyes were locked onto my player with a very visible gleam of wonder. You can’t just say no to a guy like that.
I slid it across my folding tray towards him. “Oh, sure. Knock yourself out.”
Without any hesitation, he picked it up and immediately started fiddling around with it. “Oh my gosh!! Thank you thank you thank you thank you!!!!!” he said with excitement while trying not to shout on the plane. And it wasn’t until that moment that I realized he had probably no idea how to use a click wheel. None of his button presses had any effect. I probably need to show him the ropes for a second.
I leaned over into his seat, being careful not to get too far into his personal space. “Here, let me show you what you’re doing wrong. I’ve been using this thing for over a decade.” My hands took hold of the device momentarily to teach him a quick lesson in MP3 101. “Well, I see what your first problem is…” I flipped a singular switch. “You need to unlock it.”
Realizing his mistake, the boy made possibly the most defeated facepalm I’ve ever seen. He started mumbling, “Come on, Hiro. You’ve studied how to use a damn click wheel so much, and in all that time you never once thought to look for a lock switch.” His self depreciation was short lived, however, as he quickly went back to sliding his pointer finger all around the wheel. Now that the wheel was unlocked, there was no barrier stopping his clicks and presses from giving me my first true experience with sensory overload. Did he forget that I’m still wearing my headphones?
The volume wobbled up and down in unpredictable waves. In one moment he’d be blowing out my eardrums. In the next moment, it was so quiet I could hear him holding back squeals of pure bliss and childlike admiration. Songs would start and then immediately cut off after 3 seconds as he decided to click on new tracks at the rate of a submachine gun. Why the hell is he only picking the loud ones??? I watched him click on the ‘Games’ tab on the main menu. After a while, my headphones started playing music and sound effects that I hadn’t heard since I was in elementary school. Wait… did he just beat my high score on Breakout?? I thought he had never used a click wheel until 5 minutes ago!
He pumped his fist up in the air in excitement. I had never seen anything like it; someone who could find such joy in the simplest of things. There was something so enjoyable about watching other people experience such uninterrupted happiness.
It wasn’t until he finally looked back at me that I realized how focused he actually was. “Oh shoot. I didn’t screw anything up, did I?”
Oh, nothing. Just my sanity. I slid my headphones off and handed them off to him. “Don’t worry about it. But I think you kinda missed the most important part of listening to music.”
“Yeah… sorry. I think I got so caught up in the MP3 player that I forgot that you were, like, a person.” He pushed the headphones back to me with one hand and held out the other. “The name’s Hiro Takamaru.”
I shook Hiro’s hand firmly. “Genjo Sazama. It’s a pleasure to meet ‘cha.” I took the bag of chocolates out of my backpack and handed one of them to Hiro. “I’m going to a school here in America. Ever heard of it?”
Hiro nearly choked on his chocolate. “No way! You’re going to 4S too?” He started fumbling through his bag. “You’re lying. You gotta be. Show me your acceptance booklet or I’m not believing you.” He pulled his booklet out of the bag and quickly started flipping through it. I reached into my bag and did the same. Hiro and I both read along with each other as we ran through the highlights.
Congratulations on your admission to the Specialist School for Superior Students! Here at S.S.S.S. not only do we encourage the fostering of natural born talent, but also the growth and development of new specialized skills that will make our students into the true leaders of tomorrow! By requiring all students to register under both a talent and an aspiration, we aim to teach our students to bring out their talents to their fullest potential, but also to not rely solely on said talents for achieving greatness. We promise that your time at S.S.S.S. will transform you into well rounded individuals that can offer the absolute best to the world around you. We understand that this is not an easy undertaking, but we wouldn’t have granted you the wondrous opportunity of attending our programs if we didn’t have complete and total faith in your abilities.
Our booklets pretty much had the same copy pasted spiel for a while. Eventually, things got a bit more personalized.
Genjo Sazama has been accepted for enrollment at S.S.S.S. under the programs of Superior Studies in Natural Sciences and Aspiring Studies in Exploration.
Hiro and I must read at the exact same pace, because at around the same time as each other, we both glanced at each other’s booklets to read the other’s information.
Hiro Takamaru has been accepted for enrollment at S.S.S.S. under the programs of Superior Studies in Engineering and Aspiring Studies in Filmmaking.
We both quickly glanced back at each other. It finally sank in for the both of us. We had made a friend at our new school before we had even landed in America. I was so afraid that days or even weeks were going to fly by before I found the courage to try and talk to someone. Little did I know that all it took to find a friend was a poke in the arm.
Hiro and I hurriedly went back to comparing our booklets to see if we would be in any similar classes or the same dormitory. The section labeled Living Quarters said that I’d be living in the West Dorm, and that Hiro’s been assigned to the North Dorm. Hiro groaned at that revelation. “Aw man, what a bummer. I was hoping I’d get to room with you this year.” He angrily grabbed another chocolate out of the bag and popped the whole thing in his mouth.
“Wait, you mean we get to choose our roommates? I thought they were just gonna randomly assort us.” I kept reading the booklet to see where it mentioned roommate choice. It read as follows:
Upon arrival at the academy, students assigned to the same dorm will be given an opportunity to meet their fellow residents and choose who they would prefer to room with accordingly. Students assigned to separate dorms cannot room together. Students of differing genders cannot room together. If you have to ask about a visitation rule, it’s probably not allowed.
Well shit. I hadn't even considered living with a roommate, much less who it would be. I really hope I don’t get stuck with a stranger that thinks I’m weird and awkward. I’d much prefer a friend who knows that I’m weird and awkward.
It wasn’t long before Hiro had accidentally eaten all of my chocolates. He reached into the empty bag only for his hand to touch the bottom. “Whoops. Sorry, dude, I’ll buy ya some more when we land.” Hiro reached for his wallet when he froze momentarily. “Hey, speaking of money, did you ever actually get a final count on that money in your card?”
That gave me some serious whiplash. “No… I was about to start over right before we started talking.” I pulled the cash back out and placed it on the folding tray. “Do you wanna give it a try? I figured that the engineer would be better at math than I am.”
Hiro happily started counting before I could even finish speaking. “Of course, man! I’d definitely hate to take someone out on a date somewhere and realize after the meal that I couldn’t afford the check!” He was speaking and counting simultaneously with zero mistakes. Once he was done, he victoriously slammed his hand down on the tray. “BOOM. Ten thousand yen. Your folks must be expecting a lot out of ya, giving you this much cash for one date.”
I very slowly took my money back from Hiro’s tray. “...Uh, Hiro? Did you… read that card when I opened it?”
It took him a moment to process that question. “Hmm. I guess I did.” He reached up to adjust his hat, which I now noticed had a colorful logo of a cartoon duck on the front. “I didn’t mean to invade your privacy, Genjo. I just sorta read things when they’re in front of me. Don’t worry, I’ll just force erase it from my memory.”
While watching him clench his face in an attempt to forcibly delete his memory, I sorta felt bad for bringing it up in the first place. “Woah, dude, it’s not that serious. I just didn’t realize you were that observant, that’s all.”
Hiro smiled. He looked relieved, as if some weight had been lifted from his shoulders. “Thanks, dude. But the memory’s already been deleted. Sorry if that ruins the thematic punch, or something like that.”
We decided that the best way to celebrate our newfound friendship was with complimentary airline snacks and browsing the collection of movies on the screen. Turns out that 10 hour flights take a while when you forget to be tired enough to fall asleep. I’ll need Hiro to remind me to quit the energy drinks before I get ahead. Hours upon hours passed while Hiro and I watched movies on the screen, cracking jokes and the occasional smart film analysis moment from Hiro. He sure did pick the right program to enroll in.
Before we knew it, there was finally a sight other than the deep blue Pacific outside of the window. There were beaches, cities, forests, and endless sights to behold. Internally, it felt like bedtime, but the sun shining outside told me it was no later than 3 in the afternoon. Hiro and I exchanged a look of excitement mixed with paralyzing dread of jet lag. The plane had finally landed.
Who knew starting over would feel so exhilarating?