More cake please, ari-gateau

“Nee– have you heard of that guy, Iwasaki?”

“Not really, don’t know much about him, but I noticed none of y’all talk to him, what gives?”

“Oh, so you haven’t heard, it’s cause he–”

***

I groggily rolled out of bed, greeted by the pleasant Saturday morning sun rays from the window. There really isn’t much to do until Monday, when orientation starts for the new year. As my mind started kicking into gear, I recalled some of the conversations of last night with Sato. After the brief miscommunication, it was mostly talking about the snacks she bought, then about her trip from America….a few other things before we headed back to our rooms for the day. She mentioned two other people on our floor who moved in, but were jet-lagged, so they were still sleeping, I suppose.

I glanced down at my phone– right, there was something I was needed for today.

I got ready for the day, munching on the last rice ball I bought yesterday, changed into my day clothes, and made my way towards the common room. There Sato sat, and as she saw me, she waved her hand.

“Your phone is charged?” I quipped.

“Yes, it is,” she deadpanned.

Queue last night’s turn of events:

***

“Oh–Iwasaki-kun, there’s something on my phone if you could help me with it,” she got her phone to turn it on ...and she looked increasingly confused as the screen was still black. “What? It’s not turning on…don’t tell me my phone’s broken too…I have it plugged in the charging cable and–”

She and I looked over at the charger cable, as it snaked and looped around towards the outlet, and there lay the adapter, a few inches off target. “Oops.”

***

“Oh, so you’re having issues sending messages?” After I asked, she nodded, handing her phone to me, in all its pink sparkling glory. Probably not the case that’s causing the problem, just a funny thought though.

After about thirty seconds of configuring the eSIM settings, her phone received a notification. Then another. Then fifteen more. At this point, her phone was ringing and buzzing like an alarm clock. She must be quite popular with all those notifications.

“Thanks!! Er—” she paused for a moment. “Ah–ali—no it’s ari—gate—” her face was slowly turning pink. “Iwasaki-kun, what’s the Japanese term for ‘thank you?’”

“It’s a-ri-ga-to.” I tried my best with the phonetics.

“Ah okay,” she tried once more. “T-thank you!” She pretty much got it.

“Oh yeah, Ryu— I mean, Iwasaki-kun, let’s trade LINE numbers.” She pulled up the app on her phone. “It’ll be easier to communicate that way too!”

“Sure–” I opened my app as well to exchange numbers. It took me a second to find the right section, but I eventually got there. 

“Oh, let me add you to the floor group chat—it’ll be the four of us for now, but later on we can add everyone else.” A couple seconds later, a new notification popped up, and I was invited to a chat with three others: Serina Sato, Chloe Watson, and Elise Lafon. 

“By the way, are you free later tonight?” she asked. Later tonight? “We were talking about having a roomie's dinner before school officially starts!”

Of course, a sort of ‘bonding activity’ for the floor, since we were going to be floormates for at least the next year. I learned last night that for the spring semester, it would be the four of us on the floor, as well as another fact straight out of left field…

“I was kinda surprised your room got placed in the girls’ wing—but as you said it was a last-minute switch,” she said last night. Girls’ wing? “And I don’t think any of us will mind,” she continued. I don’t remember the rest of what she said as my mind zoned out at this new revelation–

Jeez, I was starting to think this was not going to be the smooth-sailing college semester I had envisioned.

***

A quarter to six came sooner than I had anticipated, and I made it to the common room. There was Sato, as well as another girl sitting with her. She was roughly the same height as Sato, though with reddish-brown hair, hazel eyes; she was wearing a hoodie and jeans, which was practical considering the restaurant we were going to:

“Chloe, there’s Iwasaki-kun!”

“N-nice to meet you! My name is Chloe Watson, and I’m originally from Canada,” she replied in a very polite manner. "Serina told me a bit about the honorifics, so I would be Watson-san." Sato gave a thumbs-up of approval.  

“Likewise–, I'm Ryuuto Iwasaki, you can call me Iwasaki-kun." 

After greeting each other, we waited a few minutes for the final person to arrive so we could head to dinner…any minute now. After a couple more minutes of extension, Sato got up out of her seat, saying she would check on her. The three of us walked down the hall to Room 708.

“Elise! Are you ready?” Sato knocked on her door.

The door opened slightly. Wait, what’s this dark presence I’m sensing emanating from the doorway…Before my mind could imagine further a scene from Junji Ito’s novels… a face appeared from behind the door. A severe case of bed head, blonde tufts of hair covering much of her face, though through them I could see her aqua blue eyes trying to survive being open during her half-awake state of mind.

“Five minutes,” she grumbled, before closing the door shut. Four minutes later, she reopened the door, dressed in quite the fashionable outfit, hair all done. Is there some sort of hyperbolic time chamber in her room, no way she got ready so quickly…

She looked at me for a couple of seconds. “You must be Iwasaki, I’m Elise Lafon—” Her accent was different from Sato’s and Watson’s, especially on the vowels.

After she got ready, we headed out to dinner: a relatively popular yakiniku place in the outskirts of Shinjuku. We got a table, ordered some drinks and meats, and not before long we were digging in.

“Thank you!” Sato thanked the waiter.

Lafon instantly turned her head to Sato. “Cake?” she asked, her eyes sparkling.

“Sorry Elise, I think she was saying something in Japanese,” Watson interjected, taking another bite of food.

“I’m mistaken, then,” Lafon replied, the sparkle disappearing. “It sounded like ‘gateau’, the French word for cake.”

“I’m sure they have cake for dessert, Lafon-san.” And in an instant, the sparkle returned to her eyes, even sparklier than before.

“Good idea, Iwasaki.”

“So,” Sato began, “what’s everyone’s studying interest?”

“Not exactly sure…something in liberal arts,” I answered.

“Fashion.” Lafon definitely fit the bill, her current outfit was more elegant and refined than my entire wardrobe combined. And she mentioned before we left that this was her casual outing attire?!

“Watson-san, how about you?”

“Um….” she started, “ˢᵒᵐᵉᵗʰᶦⁿᵍ ᵗᵒ ᵈᵒ ʷᶦᵗʰ ᵐᵉᵈᶦᶜᶦⁿᵉ” she replied in such a quiet voice. Like, it was as if she spoke in size 4 font, so I would need a magnifying lens to know what she was saying. 

“Medicine? That’s amazing–” Sato mused. “For me, let’s see…hehe, I guess I’m not too sure myself,” she trailed off, and for a moment, I sensed a tinge of unease in her voice. It seems like that wasn’t quite the truth, but in any case, I shouldn’t push her about it.

“I’m at least interested in this last piece of pork belly!” she resolved as her hand zoomed forward towards the grill. And as her hand collided with the glasses of water in front of her, I could only helplessly watch the impending wave of drinks soak my shirt—

“AAH! S-sorry! W-waiter!? Towels–er–wh”

***

What have I signed up for? Only god knows. I plopped onto my bed, scrolling my phone as my laptop was busy loading a video. I reopened the LINE app, now seeing several new contacts and a group chat populate the screen. Lafon and Watson also added my contact and sent a test message.

Watson: Testing123 – looks like it works! :)

Lafon: 🍰 🎂

Gosh, when was the last time I used LINE…I guess once in a while, my siblings will contact me on the app if normal texts don’t go through. But other than that….

A new message appeared at the top, this one from Sato.

Sato: Today was super fun! Let’s all have dinner again!

I replied: Agreed. Though next time I’ll bring a rain jacket.

Sato: ???!?!? I apologized already!??!

I chuckled a bit. To be fair, I did not expect to be in the splash zone when her hand knocked down the water glasses as she went for the last piece of grilled pork belly. Despite this, dinner continued as usual, including dessert. Three desserts for Lafon, naturally.

Fun….aside from the drink fiasco, that was a pretty decent description of the night’s events. Sato’s seemingly boundless reserve of enthusiasm, contrasted with my already dead social battery, was night and day. Watson’s social stamina was probably closer to mine, and once in a while could have benefited from a microphone and speakers, but she seemed to enjoy the company. And Lafon, honestly, is still a stoic mystery at this point, besides her sweet tooth.

Those three had so little in common, and within a week, it was like they had known each other for years. Impressive…

I got out of bed and went back to my laptop, which had finally finished loading the next episode. School starts the day after tomorrow, so I might as well binge the rest of the season: I was more inclined than usual to see what came next.