CHAPTER 1: BIZARRE FRIDAY

“I thought you couldn’t speak Japanese,” said the old man while handing me my change. I looked up at him after I grabbed the coins from the counter. “Were you playing a prank with me, boy? friends told you to talk with that grumpy old man, yeah?” he followed up in mock anger, though his lips curled up a little letting me know he was just teasing me. I could only smile wryly at him.

“Y-yeah, you know how it is..” I didn’t, really, but I also didn’t know what to say cause the situation was as strange to me as how the guy thought I could suddenly speak Japanese, which I didn’t, mind you, I was speaking English the whole time.

It's just that anything I said was somehow translated to Japanese or some such, based on how people reacted to anything I said since this morning, and if I didn’t know better, I would have thought the cashier guy was also speaking English to me. But no, this is Japan, and people speak Japanese here, well at least before today, apparently.

“Kids these days,” he said, followed by a shake of his head. “I'm too old to play your games, back in my days we actually respect our elders you know,” he finished with a helpless smile. I laughed politely.

“I didn’t mean to, I uh.. lost a bet, and they told me to speak English to you so they could see your reaction,” I answered with what comes to mind just from the top of my head, continuing the misunderstanding. I was thankful at least, because the old man gave me kind of an easy out, it was not much of a reason if I do think so, he also was just trying to make small talk, not seeming offended at all by supposedly being pranked, though how his thought can go those ways were beyond me

“Well, thank you for the purchase anyway, don’t be a stranger,” he said with a wave. I waved back as I turned around and head out of the convenience store.

I walked in the direction of my apartment while I carried my groceries with my left hand, as I was walking down the street, I saw a tall fair-skinned woman with an almost literal hourglass figure, her face was equally beautiful, with slightly slanted emerald colored eyes, a small cute nose, and a pointed chin. Her long black hair was done in a ponytail, and she wore a white blouse with tight-fitting pants, which made the odd round bulge in her right pants pocket noticeable, but I didn’t have much time to contemplate that.

She was walking down the street leisurely in front of me and was looking amusingly at me, and then I realized I just stopped walking and was staring at her pointedly with a slightly too large open eyes. Realizing I probably looked creepy as hell, I quickly settled my expression down and smiled at her while I stroke the back of my hair lightly, “sorry, uh..” I looked around for something to say, though there was not much to see considering this beauty in front of me, “the sight! yes, the sight is distracting around here today,” I laughed lightly. Distracting?! what the fuck are you saying, you dumbass. I cringed internally.

She frowned her eyebrows and answered, “distracting?”

“The good kind of distracting,” I followed immediately, hoping she didn't notice the nervous tone in my voice.

She broke into a little giggle at my words, “was that supposed to be a compliment?” she lean forward a little and smile up at me, at the same time like she was trying to look into me, trying to peer into my soul.. all my secret laid bare in front of her ey-

What the fuck! where did this crazy talk come from? maybe I read too many web novels lately, or my crazy morning was affecting me more than I thought. Not important right now, Johnny. I thought internally as I focused on the woman again, at this point, I distractedly note that I was slightly taller than her. What was I thinking again? right, answering the lady.

Yeah, my follow-up was kinda poor there, I didn’t usually break into a mess of awkwardness when I talk to people, but I usually also didn’t just find a model-class beauty when I was just walking down a random street, so you have to give me a break for my apparent poor choice of words. Well at least she didn’t run the other way as soon as I talk to her, also when did she get so close? Also, why was she acting friendly with a random guy staring at her on the street?.. Yes! I did recognize I was being creepy earlier, but whatever, this situation was so weird, but so was my life from just this morning. But I chose to just wrap it up for later when I arrived home and could think clearly alone.

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Oh wait, that was a too long pause, “of course, yes, you could say that” I answered back to her.

“Are you new around here?” she asked curiously with a tilt of her head, her right hand on her chin, index and thumb holding it, and her left was on her right elbow, the classic thinking pose, she looks cute with that pose. I said internally to myself, and why do I think like a teenager brimming with hormones? I thought.

She spoke again in a mumble that I wasn’t sure I was supposed to hear “yes you are, I would’ve known otherwise,” she said beneath her breath.

I was confused by that, what did she meant by that statement I wonder, “what do you mean?”

“Never mind that, I don’t believe I catch your name..?” she deflected my question, I decided to also just shelf that for later, in my growing list of questions.

“Jonathan,” I said, “Jonathan Frederick Monroe,” though at the time I didn’t know why I even bother saying my full name, cause I usually just only said my first and last name, like John Monroe, and also because I shared that middle name with someone I hated still to this day, weird. I offered my hand to her while I said, “but people usually just call me John. It’s a pleasure, miss..?” I asked her back with a smile.

“Mihiro, nice to meet you as well, John,” she said with a pleasant smile while she grabbed my hand in greeting.

It felt great, my first day here in Japan!(well, technically second), my first acquaintance! friendly! and beautiful to boot! it felt nice that the first person I know here in Japan was a nice gorgeous young woman.

With a nervous energy rolling in my stomach, I said, “Say, Mihiro, can I get your number? I’m from overseas you see, I just got here from a study abroad program, and I don’t know the area quite well yet, I also don’t have any friends or family here, so I thought, maybe a friendly face and a local would be nice to have you know,” I said to her with an easy smile, and she seemed to be considering for a moment and then said,

“Okay, lend me your phone a moment,” she motioned with her hand, a soft smile on her face.

“Great! wait a sec,” I grab my flip phone from my back pocket and hand it over to her waiting hand, she grabbed my phone, but as she was doing it, I was pretty sure she held my hand for more than just a moment that was needed to grab the phone, I’m pretty sure I also felt a tingling when her hand touched mine, but I guess that was just me, again, being nervous. I didn’t put much thought into it, not more than the fact that a young woman being friendly with a random stranger was weird anyway.

“Here you go, John. don't be a stranger you hear me? it's nice meeting new people, and friends” she said while handing my phone back.

“Right, thanks! guess I’ll see you soon?” I asked back.

“Yup, at school,” she answered back with an amused smile.

“Wait, do you mean?” I asked, already knowing the answer from seeing her face.

“Yes, John, the Academy, Kiyozaki to be exact, was the only school in town having a study abroad program. So yes, we’re going to the same school,” she said with a light laugh.

“So don’t be late on Monday for the welcoming ceremony, cause I’ll be having front seat, and I’ll know if you’re late!” she waved her right index finger in the air in front of me, and I can only thought how cute she was while doing that, while also wondering if people really did that in real life.

I didn't know how to respond to her statement, so I just offered what came to mind,

“Oh, I heard they have those in Japan, like a student council, right? what’s with the front seat and all? I assume for the welcoming party or some such?” I asked her curiously.

“Something like that, yes,” she nodded, “anyways, I have places to be and I’m sure you do too, so I’ll be seeing you on Monday, John, bye new guy!” she finished with a wave and a weird smirk, and then she walked away. Something with the way she said ‘new guy’ made me think that she meant things other than new student with that comment, but I didn’t know much, so I just ignored it. Not that important, really.

I sighed, shaking my head, and with that, I continue heading home, there was no notable event happening so I arrived at my apartment after a 5 minutes walk as it was not that far. My room was on the first floor so it was also a close walk, I entered my room, took off my shoes, and flipped the light switch near the door, I placed my grocery on the kitchen table and go back to sit on the living room couch.

I sighed again, closed my eyes, and started thinking about the events of today, from the weird vision in the morning, that I still wasn't 100 percent sure just me going crazy, or the now nonexistent language barrier, until the meeting with the weirdly friendly young woman Mihiro, and then after a while, I finally said to myself, “let’s see if I’m still seeing shit in my vision.. status.”

At that last word, a video game windows greet my eyes.

“Yup, it's still there.”