The two exited the station and walked side by side crossing the street and then headed towards Kaminarimon. Wataru glanced at the young lady for a moment, sensing a graceful joy about her, enraptured by the path life was taking her. She was altogether beautiful, and yet in a way that perplexed him. Was it her dark skin or maybe her eyes? Was it her height or maybe for hips? Perhaps it was how she dressed? Regardless of what he saw, he realized what captured his attention, what he found so amazing was how she carried herself. That was it, and he wanted to see more.

"By the way miss, you never told me your name."

The young lady laughed. "You never asked!"

"I was mostly concerned about you getting to where you need to go-

"I'm Furuizumi. Itsumi Furuizumi. You?"

Wataru scratched his head. "I uh…” Itsumi’s name fluttered around in his head, yet he tried to focus and reply to her. “My name is Wataru Littlejohn."

Itsumi was surprised by the name, but hid it under a giggle. "Littlejohn? What kinda name is that?"

Wataru laughed somewhat sheepishly. "My mom's an American. She’s from a small town in South Carolina.”

"Ah… well what about your dad?" Itsumi winced thinking she was being too imposing.

Wataru was silent for a moment. "He uh… he's off somewhere... being a deadbeat."

"Oh... I'm sorry…" Itsumi felt a bit embarrassed by her prying.

Wataru sighed and looked over at Itsumi, who looked disappointed in herself. "Don't be. It doesn't bother me." Wataru tried to cheer her up. "What matters is the family I do have."

Itsumi nodded. "Mm… mmhmm."

Wataru spotted Kaminarimon. "Well here it is Itsumi. Kaminarimon. It's pretty small, really."

Itsumi blushed and perked up at hearing Wataru address her by her first name. "Yup.. It uh… looks bigger in the pictures."

Wataru laughed. "You're right about that."

The two stopped and took in the sight for a moment, trying to take in the whole scene as the large, red gateway was congested with people.

"Hey, you want me to take a photo of you in front of the gateway?"

"Oh, yes please."

Before Itsumi could hand Wataru her phone, Wataru was already lining up a shot with his, looking carefully at the image on the screen to see if it was the perfect shot. "Alright… can you-

"You know you're using your phone, right?"

Embarrassed, Wataru chuckled. "My bad." He wanted to take this photo on his phone.

Wataru motioned Itsumi to line up the perfect shot as he crouched down and situated himself to get a nice clean shot with the entirety of the gateway in it. He had to make it memorable. Itsumi quickly prepared for the shot. She straightened her glasses and pulled her hip-length pigtails in front of her shoulders, then tidied up her bangs and sidelocks. She stopped for a moment to deliberate over how she’d pose, then looked at Wataru, smiled, and made little hearts with her thumb and forefinger in each hand. She held the pose for a while.

“Hold that pose, Itsumi!” Wataru really wished he could take the photo with his phone.

Itsumi kept holding the pose. “I’m holding it.”

“One sec, there are too many people in the background.”

“Don’t worry about it!”

Watara chuckled. “Alright, alright!” Wataru took a couple photos that he thought were passable. “Got ‘em.”

Itsumi jogged over to get her phone back from Wataru. “Thank you!”

“I hope they turned out.”

Itsumi inspected all the photos. “They look great, Wataru.”

Wataru was positively surprised by her referring to him by his first name. “I’m glad you like ‘em.” Wataru scratched his head.

Wataru’s heart took a small dip. He had shown Kaminarimon to Itsumi and now had to walk her to the hostel. That was it. Even if he got her number, wouldn’t it just devolve into a few infrequent texts? Wataru knew he didn’t want that, but he wasn’t about to act without even some smidgen of chivalry. Maybe-

“Would you like to walk around and look at some of the shops- only if you’re not busy,” asked Itsumi sheepishly.

Wataru cheered up. “I’d love to. I don’t have any plans.”

Itsumi smiled. “Really?”

“Yeah, lemme show you!”

“Okay!”

Wataru and Itsumi walked through the red gateway. They walked down the central path past the gate and towards the temple at the other end. Wataru analyzed all the shops along the path. What could he treat Itsumi to? He saw art, kimonos, and even katanas. No that wouldn’t work. Of course not. He saw a shop selling soft serve ice cream. That would work.

Wataru pointed over at a shop.“Want some soft serve?”

Itsumi looked at Wataru as he pointed, then looked over at the shop. She smiled. “Of course!” She briskly walked over to the shop and investigated the flavors.

Wataru smiled when he saw Itsumi’s reaction and walked over to join her, pulling out his wallet. “Which one would you like?”

“Umm…” Itsumi deliberated over which flavor to choose for a moment, then said, “I’ll have matcha."

"Alright, two matcha cones, please," Wataru asked the shop owner, placing the necessary change on the counter's change tray. The shopkeep got the order and walked over to start preparing the cones.

This story has been unlawfully obtained without the author's consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.

"Oh I'll pay for it, Wataru. You're taking time to help me!"

Wataru pushed the tray closer to the old lady shopkeep. "No, Itsumi, you're visiting… and I already paid for it!" He laughed.

"Alright… next time I'll buy."

Wataru jested, "Well how do I know there'll be a next time?"

Itsumi facetiously replied as she reached for her wallet from her backpack, "There will be a next time."

Wataru perked up. There would be a next time? Maybe even a next time tomorrow? "I'm looking forward to-

Itsumi dropped some change onto the tray, smiling widely. "Two more matcha cones, please!"

The shopkeep chuckled and began preparing two more cones. Wataru felt a bit flustered. After preparing the four cones, the shopkeep checked for correct change and gave Wataru and Itsumi their soft serve and some napkins. The two thanked the shopkeep and resumed walking down the alley.

"Hey, why did she give you the bigger ones," asked Wataru.

"Because I made her laugh… I think," replied Itsumi.

The two laughed and looked at each other for a moment. Wataru was mesmerized by Itsumi's big smile and gentle playfulness. There had to be a next time. The two kept walking and enjoying their soft serve, and then sat down once they found a place to sit.

"So uh… any chance you're a college student," asked Wataru.

Itsumi turned and looked at him. "Yup, I'm a first year student in Fukui-

"Oh cool, I'm a first year student too!"

Itsumi was pleasantly surprised. "Oh really? What are you studying?!"

"Well I was thinking about studying civil engineering, but I really like writing so I decided to take a chance and pursue what I really want to do, so I decided to focus on literature."

“Well what’s that?”

Wataru felt a bit hesitant to say it at first, but then he felt the necessity of saying it. He replied with some rise in excitement, “I uh… I think it would be so cool to make anime, but since I can’t draw I think writing stories is the best way to make that happen.” If she didn’t want to accept some facet of him, then it wouldn’t be worth trying to get her to like him.

Itsumi leaned in, “Wow, that’s so cool! Any chance you watched that new show Higure no Rhapsody?”

Wataru perked up in surprise. “Yeah...” Wataru scratched his head. “I uh… helped write the story... My mom drew the manga.”

Itsumi’s eyes lit up. “Wow, you wrote that? I’ve read all of it!”

Wataru had a split second realization. Was Itsumi the “Koizumi” he had been texting? “I mean not all of it, but I guess I came up with quite a bit…” But did she know about the novel he had published serially? It couldn’t hurt to ask. “Any chance you read Jinzou no Reikon?”

“I haven’t… is it good?”

She wasn’t Koizumi; Koizumi was familiar with Jinzou no Reikon--his story. But it didn’t matter, he could forget about those silly texts he’d gotten and focus on reaching out to this fascinating girl he met. “Well… That’s a good one too. It just came out, but you might like it.”

“I’ll have to check it out!” Itsumi licked her soft serve.

Wataru took a bite out of his soft serve. After everything she had told him it made sense that she was Koizumi. Never been to Tokyo… Worried about being lost… Coming to meet someone… Even the names were extremely similar! He had been neglecting those other texts… maybe there could have been more to know? But he resolved to not get caught up with anything of that sort. He couldn’t let this bombardment of thoughts ruin the exciting events he was experiencing. Why waste his time speculating about something else?

“It’s nice that you’re seeing your dreams come true,” said Itsumi.

Wataru smiled. “It really is…” He licked his soft serve again. “I’ve found a lot of motivation seeing how my writing is entertaining people.”

Itsumi leaned in. “And you have your show airing every week now!” She closed her eyes in fascination.

Wataru smiled and scratched his head. “Yeah, I guess I am, and it really is a blessing.”

Itsumi took a bite out of one of her cones, leaving a small nub of soft serve left. She zoned out for a moment, thinking about your future. “Hopefully I’ll get to see my dream come true too.”

“What’s your dream?”

Itsumi looked back at Wataru. “Well it’s not as big as yours…”

Wataru smiled. “Well that doesn’t matter! If it’s what you really want, then it doesn’t have to seem big.”

“I guess so. The thing is…” Itsumi stopped for a moment, licking her soft serve to figure out what to say. “Well… I’m studying elementary education, actually.” She began to smile. “I think family and kids are so important… I want to be a Kindergarten teacher; I just think that would be wonderful.”

Wataru smiled inside over how precious he felt that was. Even so, he abruptly made a facetious jest.

Wataru chuckled. “Well if you want to be a Kindergarten teacher wouldn’t talking to a stranger be setting a bad example to your future students?”

Itusmi laughed. “You’re right!” She pouted and then swiped one of her cones across Wataru’s face as she began to smirk. “Stranger danger!”

Wataru was shocked. “Hey, I was joking!” He grunted. “You got soft serve in my eye!”

Itsumi laughed hysterically. “I know!”

Wataru laughed. “I was gonna tell you…” He wiped the soft serve off his face and blinked a lot to get it out of his eye.”

“That it’s silly?”

“No.” Wataru looked into Itsumi’s eyes genuinely. “I was gonna tell you that I think it is very sweet.”

Itsumi blushed and glanced away, pausing for a moment, then looked back at Wataru and began to giggle. “Then why didn’t you say so the first time?”

“I uh… I have a bad habit of cracking jokes whenever I see an opening…”

Itsumi pointed one of her cones at Wataru, close to his face. “Well you’re lucky I have a sense of humor.” The soft serve fell off the cone and into Wataru’s lap.

“Oh no!”

“Justice is served!”

The two stared at each other for a prolonged moment, then they erupted in laughter, with Itsumi starting to slow down her laughing, realizing her stupid actions.

“You got soft serve on my shorts!”

“I know…” Itsumi reached out with a napkin, clamming up and feeling bad about her actions.

With one cone having almost been eaten, Wataru grabbed the napkin and wiped off the soft serve. He smiled. “Don’t worry about it, Itsumi. I’ll get the stain out.”

Itsumi blushed in embarrassment. “I’m sorry…”

“You didn’t even spill a whole lot…”

“Well yeah… but still, you took so much time out of your day to help me out and show me around… you even got me some soft serve! But then I just got it all over you...

Wataru tried to cheer Itsumi up, leaning towards her and smiling. “It’s fine! If anything, you made my day. I’ve been having a great time with you.”

Itsumi perked up. “You really mean it?”

Wataru chuckled and smiled. “I was just commuting home and didn’t have any plans. Bumping into you at the station turned my drab day into an adventure.” He crunched on his first cone.

Itsumi smiled as she tried to cheer herself up. “Well it’s really been a blessing that you’ve been helping me out.” She still felt a bit awkward about what she had done.

“I’m glad! Tokyo can be overwhelming for sure.”

“It really had been until you helped me out…” Itsumi blushed in embarrassment.

Wataru stood up and offered his not-sticky hand to Itsumi to help her up. “Of course!” Wataru looked around for a moment to observe the area. “Well is there anything else you’d like to see before I walk you over to your hostel?”

Itsumi took Wataru’s hand and got up. Thinking for a moment about how she should respond, Itsumi shook her head. “No… it’s alright.” She frowned in disappointment. “I uh…” Itsumi desperately wanted things to work out, but couldn’t muster the courage to completely move past her mishaps and embarrassment. “I’ll be in town for a while… so maybe-

Wataru wanted to take the chance to see her again. “I’ll be free tomorrow afternoon if you’d like me to show you around Tokyo some more.”

Itsumi blushed. “Oh…” She nodded her head with growing intensity, breaking out a small smile. “Okay. I’d really like that.” Her spirits rose.

“Great!” Wataru pulled out his phone, ignoring the increased sum of notifications from Koizumi. He opened up his contacts page to add a new contact. “Yeah, if you want to do something or see something you can just call me or text me and I’ll show you around.”

“I’d love that!” Itsumi tried to cheer herself up. At least she could rest up her frazzled mind and start clean tomorrow. She pulled to show Wataru her contact information.

Wataru typed it all in and gave her his. “Awesome. I’ll try to figure out some things we can do tomorrow and then I’ll text them to you.”

Itsumi blushed. “That’d be nice. I’ll let you know if I can think of anything I’d like to see.”

“Sounds like a plan.” Wataru stretched and then took a bite out of his second cone. “So could you show me a map of where your hostel is?”

“Oh sure.” Itsumi pulled up a map and showed the location to Wataru. “Here.”

Wataru looked at the phone and analyzed the map quickly. “Oh yeah, that’s close by. We can be there in a few minutes.”

Itsumi smiled. “Okay!”

“Alright then, let’s go!”

The two followed the map and headed towards Itsumi’s hostel. Wataru tried to take all of the evening’s experience in as he walked next to Itsumi. He glanced at her smiling face every few moments, wanting to know more about her, but figured it would be best to handle that would be to take it slowly. He had tomorrow afternoon to spend with her… and who knows, maybe many more times after that if everything turned out well.

Itsumi saw the entrance of the hostel. “Ah, there it is!”

Wataru walked up to the entrance with Itsumi. “Yeah. You made it.” He laughed. “Looks like you didn’t even need my help after all.”

Itsumi shook her head. “No. You really did help me.” She giggled. “I was just so discombobulated with all the busy people zipping by.”

“Well have you ever been to Osaka? It’s pretty crowded like here.”

“I have… but I was with some friends, so I wasn’t alone… well I guess I’m not really alone this time either.” Itsumi smiled elatedly.

Wataru was a bit surprised by that last part of what she said. “Well, uh-”

Itsumi dashed to the door “I better get checked in, Wataru. I’ll see you tomorrow!”

“Oh. Okay....” Wataru scratched his head. “I’ll see you tomorrow.”

Itsumi waved him goodbye and walked to the front desk to check in. Wataru stood for a moment, taking in everything that happened. Was it love at first sight? Maybe love at first conversation? Either way it was an exciting feeling. All those thoughts of his summer blooming weren’t just a wish, but now a probability. Something was budding within him.

Wataru started walking back home. “Yes!” he exclaimed as he did an awkward little dance, ignoring all of the stares he received from bystanders.

He felt his phone buzz in his pocket. He opened it up and saw that he got a few texts from Itsumi. He eagerly opened it up and read it.

Itsumi sent him the pictures he took. “Figured you wanted these,” she added.

Wataru smiled and had a spring in his step. He was eager for tomorrow.