My head leaned against the glass. The warm sunlight shone through the windows on the bus. The hum of the engine that had lulled me to sleep was still there, still working to get us up the mountain road. As I awoke from the nap I looked down at my cell phone and saw nothing but a black screen, remembering then that it’s battery had run out even though I was sure I had plugged it in last night. I lifted my arms towards the roof to help wake my drowsy body from its slumber and looked out the window to admire the scenery that presented itself in the midday sun.

Before me stood countless small mountains dotting the landscape, all covered in uncountable numbers of trees, some short and round while others taller and steeper like spikes from the earth as well as everything in between. Rivers and small lakes lay hidden amongst the many mountains and hills, hidden within the valleys that lay between them. As I admired the scenery it was abruptly taken by the shadow of the tunnel we had just entered.

The sudden change in view brought me back to my senses and the dilemma that I now faced, how would I contact Hikari and tell her I had arrived? Simple, once we arrived I would simply ask the officer at the station if I could use the phone to make a quick call, except that upon reflection I had never learned her phone number.

Ever since the day she added it to my phone herself it had always just said her name, not once had i ever seen the number itself. A second solution, although one dependent on luck, would be to simply ask if they had heard of Hikaris family. I recall her on several occasions saying that if I ever got lost in her home city almost anyone would be able to tell you where she lived, which raised many other questions but would have to be saved for another time.

As I sat there deliberating my options we exited the tunnel we had entered only the scenery i was expecting to see was not there. Instead I was met with the sight of a small city surrounded by mountains and hills. It seemed to be laid out in what could be called normal for a city, with the larger buildings at its center and smaller buildings growing out into the outskirts but there were a few things that stood out amongst the city that I could see.

The first was that at what could be called the center of the city something was emitting a bright flash of light in a rather erratic manner, as if reflecting the light of the sun from an uneven surface. The second was that even amongst all the buildings there were clearly 4 that stood out, not because they were large or tall but because they were separated from all the other buildings around them by many trees. Third was that many Torii, traditional wooden gateways, laid dotted all over the city and its surroundings and in many sizes as well. Some were so big that buildings lay underneath them, and others small enough that a single bird could walk underneath it.

It had taken the bus around an hour to weave it’s way down the snaking mountain road and to finally arrive at its destination, my bus stop. It was as simple as could be, a covered bench that would scarcely fit three people and a pole that had the bus route and simple hand clock at the top. With this my back up plan of asking a station officer for information disappeared like dust in the wind. Looking at the route map I could see that this was the last one.

In front of the bus stop on the other side of the road was a stone staircase that led down the small incline, onto a small bridge that crossed over a small creek and landed onto a smaller road that seemed to lead into the city. It was then that I noticed a very important detail, the clock hand marked “12:15 p.m.” Upon reading the time I remembered that we had agreed to meet at the bus stop at 3 oclock and yet here I was almost three hours early.

A slight wave of panic caressed my spine giving me slight shivers. What should I do now? Would I wait three hours here? Would a local walk past and be able to guide me? Should I venture into the city alone and seek assistance at the first corner store? Out of the three only the last made any degree of sense and so the decision was made, i would venture into town and ask someone for either a phone or directions

I arranged my small backpack comfortably on my back, looked both ways, and crossed the road. The staircase was made of what were clearly very old and large river stones. They were old enough that they had been smoothed and rounded on the edge from use. At the bottom the bridge was similar in that it had clearly been made long ago but had been made strong enough to still be standing.

As I reached the middle of the bridge I was startled by a sudden voice.

“Aha! Found you!”

In my nervous state my body quickly straightened up, as if standing in front of a drill sergeant. I looked around to try and find the source of the voice but could see nothing.

“What do you mean you got lost?”

I was at a loss for words. How did this voice know that I was essentially lost? Why was it looking for me in the first place?

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“Com on, i’ll take ya home”

It was then that I heard splashing and the realisation hit. The voice had been below me under the bridge. As I turned to face the direction the splashing came from the owner of the voice came into view as they emerged from below the bridge and climbed out from the small dyke the creek lay in.

She was young in appearance, no more than fifteen or sixteen, with red eyes and a light complexion. Her head was covered in long silver hair that went past her knees. On the sides of her head, above the ears, sprouted 2 green horns that swept backwards in symmetry with her hair only to make a quick turn upwards at the tip. Her attire was a mix between a short skirt kimono, a yukata, and a training Gi. Her torso was covered in a simple gray training Gi style top with black trim and a Obi around her stomach. Her arms were covered by kimono style sleeves that went down to the base of her fingers. Below the waist was a short skirt that had deep cuts on the side that went up to the waist. This gave view of the training shorts she was wearing underneath. Around the back underneath her skirt a scaled tail that ended in a thin feathered point came down. Around her legs were a pair of dark gray stockings that reached half way up her thigh and around her feet were some simple Geta. In her arms she was holding a frog without a care, seemingly not caring if her clothing got stained with a happy smile on her face.

As she stepped out of the dyke she turned towards my direction so that she had finally spotted me crossing the bridge. “Hello!” She said with a smile that one would have when meeting an old friend while walking to the end of the bridge.

“Uh, h-hello” I responded a bit hesitant. I was still working on getting over my shyness in talking with strangers and being greeted with such energy, even though we were strangers, was a bit baffling to me. There was something about her that just made you feel like you could talk to her about anything, like someone that you could befriend easily, or rather that would befriend you easily.

“I don’t recognize you, are you new in town?” As she asked this I felt a sense of familiarity in her words even though I had never met this girl before. It was strange, feeling such familiarity with a stranger was something I had experienced before but could not quite remember when it had happened.

“Y-yes, my name is Yoko, Yoko Oshita, I was supposed to meet a friend here but i’m very early and she’s not here yet.”

“Oh, have you called her to let her know?”

“I would but I forgot to plug my phone in properly and it ran out of battery.”

“Ah, that is quite a problem. No worries though, you can use mine.” As she was talking she maneuvered the frog that she had been holding since she climbed out of the dyke and held it in one hand while the other dove into the inside of her clothes around her waist and after rummaging a bit pulled out cell phone and held it in her outstretched hand so that i could grab it.

“Thanks but I actually don’t know her number either.”

“Mm, makes sense, not many people remember actual phone numbers these days. What’s your friend's name? Maybe I know them."

“Oh, um, her name is Hikari, Hikari Hong.”

“OH! I know her! Gimme a second and I'll give her a call.”

What luck, not only had I met a very friendly local that I could speak to easily but she also happened to know Hikari. This made me feel very at ease. As the tension that had built up over my nervousness in asking strangers for help dissipated I saw her flicking her finger on the screen of her phone, clearly going through a list of contacts. “Aha” she exclaimed as she taped the screen a couple times and then placed the phone to her ear. Several seconds went by while we waited for the other side to pick up until ,at last, they did.

“‘Sup, it’s me...I know.. I know, I'll finish up before the end of the day...any way I bumped into your friend Yoko here at the bus stop at the edge of town...yea she said the same thing about being early...yup, hand on a second” With that she presented her phone to me, clearly so that Hikari and I could talk to each other.

“H-hello?” I said nervously while holding the phone to my ear. As soon as I heard Hikari’s voice on the other side all doubts or stress that had lingered from my own self worry vanished.

“Yoko!” Exclaimed the voice on the other side of the conversation. “ How did you arrive so early?”

“I’m not really sure, maybe the driver went faster than normal?”

As I explained what little I could, I heard her breathing as if she were running along with other sounds that sounded like a herd of, something, in the background.

“I see, well, you're here now and I don’t think I’ll be able to finish this faster than two hours so we’ll have Shaina guide you downtown and I'll meet you there later.”

“Shaina?” I questioned, as I had not heard that name before.

“Yea, the girl with the long silver…hair” I could hear her exerting herself physically, as if trying to do so martial art exercises while also talking on the phone which didn’t really make any sense. “Don’t worry i’ll meet up with you later down town after i’m done here”.

“OK, um, what are you doing right now? It sounds like you're running with horses or something.”

“Oh I'm just helping herd the Winiums away from the city, I'll show you a video later, put Shaina on the line so i can explain things to her.” With that I handed the phone back to the girl whose name I finally knew. As I had been talking to Hikari she had been balancing herself on the pyles of the bridge along with her frog friend.

“So what's the plan?...uhu….mhm...ok i’ll take care of it, see you in a bit.” With that she finished the call and put her phone away within her clothes again. “Ok so here’s the plan” she said as she struck a pose full of confidence and leadership while lifting her frog friend triumphantly aloft with one hand.

“First we take froggy here back to his pond which is about 5 blocks that way” She pointed towards the direction of the small creek “Then we grab the bus and head down town where i’ll give you the tour and help you get your bearings, and finally we’ll wait for Hikari at our favorite cafe, any questions.”

“Not really, at least not yet.”

“Excellent, so let us get to it.” With that she turned around and began walking proudly in the direction of the creek. I adjusted my backpack and followed closely behind.