My first look at Japan wasn't very impressive. Firstly, the summer heat made it feel far too much like my home. Secondly, we emerged from an old tunnel out in the middle of nowhere, and one patch of forest looked much like another. I sincerely hoped things would improve once we reached civilisation as I trod along behind Masa. At least we didn't have to worry about monsters here.

We walked for about ten minutes more before an actual asphalt road came into view. Then we walked along the road for five more minutes before finally arriving at what appeared to be a bus stand. There was no shelter of any kind and only a pole with a sign saying "bus stand" in Japanese. Masa perused the schedule that was tacked onto the pole and nodded to himself. "Great, we're just in time for the next bus which is coming in twenty-two minutes."

I stared at him. So much for my high hopes regarding Japanese public transportation. To be fair, we were out in the sticks, and from what I could decipher from the schedule, there were only two buses that came by here per day. I suppose we were lucky we didn't have to wait three hours or something. Masa settled down to wait, leaning against the pole as he took out his phone and started messaging. I slumped down and sat at the side of the road itself. A few cars passed by, but they practically zoomed past. I didn't know whether people hitchhiked here, but I doubted anyone would want to pick up two suspicious teens in the middle of nowhere.

Exactly twenty-two minutes passed and the bus arrived. I expected to see a rickety old bus that was ten years too old to be on the roads, but what greeted us was a sparkling white air-conditioned coach. Speechless, I stood there with my jaw hanging open while Masa paid the fare for the both of us and gestured for me to board. The coach was relatively empty, but there were more than five passengers, at least. We chose seats near the middle and as the coach started moving, I fixed Masa with a questioning stare. "Why is the bus so...so nice!? It has air-con and comfy cushioned seats!" I burst out, trying my best to speak in a low voice since it was so quiet in the bus.

He shrugged and whispered back, "I don't know what you were expecting, but this is the only bus that travels this route. The buses in the city aren't this nice because they only go short distances. This highway bus goes to the neighbouring prefecture of Tokushima as well. Surely you have interstate buses in Malaysia?"

"Ah, now I get it," I replied with a sigh. I remembered taking a similar coach to Malaysia during a school trip in primary school. That had been a long while ago and I had been more busy eating snacks and chatting with my friends at the time. This bus was certainly nicer than the one back then. The seats were softer, for one thing, and the air-con wasn't blowing freezing air right on top of our heads. Perhaps the coaches in Malaysia had improved too, but I hadn't sat in any recently so I wouldn't know.

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I finally relaxed and asked Masa how long the journey would take. He glanced at his watch and said, "We should be able to reach in thirty minutes or so. I told my mother to prepare dinner for you too."

"Ooh, that sounds great!" I grinned at him and he smiled back.

"It's going to be a simple home-cooked meal, so don't expect too much," he warned. "Plus our house is positively tiny compared to yours."

I gave him a weak laugh. "No worries about that. My Singapore house was tiny too."

Masa looked thoughtful as he spoke again. "One more thing...Ryoushin wa eigo shaberenai kara, ima kara nihongo o renshuu shinai ka?"

Why did he suddenly speak in Japanese? My brain struggled to make the switch but I finally figured that he was saying his parents couldn't speak English and offered to practice speaking Japanese with me. "Hai, zehi onegaishimasu (Yes, please, by all means)," I replied.

"You don't have to use the polite form with me," he said in Japanese, slowly enunciating his words. "My parents aren't that formal either, so they won't mind if you make any mistakes."

"I see, but I haven't spoken Japanese to a native speaker apart from my teacher before, so I'm a bit nervous," I said, feeling my ears turn red as I stumbled slightly over the last word.

"Its fine, you're doing well so far. Your pronounciation is spot-on," he complimented me with a smile.

"Even if you're just being polite, thanks," I said, bobbing my head.

We spent the time in the bus practicing Japanese conversation and arrived at our destination almost too quickly. My heart still wasn't prepared enough! Masa assured me that he could just help to translate if I got stuck, but our cover story was that I was planning to study overseas in Japan, so I had to at least demonstrate an ability to speak the language. My Japanese Language Proficiency at the N2 level wasn't just for show, dammit! Despite everything my mum would say, I hadn't wasted time watching all those anime and reading light novels in Japanese! I could do this!

I continued to psych myself up as we alighted at our stop, but forgot about everything when faced with the legendary Japanese convenient store right beside the bus stand. It wasn't even a particularly big outlet, being about the size of a minimart in Singapore, but seeing it really drove home the fact that I was really here in person. At the sight of me standing there with a look of wonder on my face, Masa gave a slight smirk and asked, "Do you wanna go in?"

"Of course! You don't even need to ask!"