Chapter 4

Chapter 4

The rest of the day finally, thankfully, came to an end. I felt like I had ran a gauntlet even though most of the day was spent sitting in a classroom. A classroom in which i had no idea what was being said. The homework, which was written on the board, I cross referenced to the books I had and wrote down what i’d have to do tonight. I let out a sigh as I was leaving. What in the world was I going to do?

I thought i heard Mizuki call my name, but I was in no mood. Gathering my things, I stepped out. As I did, once again, the blonde haired girl was standing near the side of the door, saying something in Japanese in which I had no idea what she was saying. Ignoring it, I kept walking and returned home.

The walk back from school was nowhere near as nice as the walk to. The weather had turned, clouds had formed, and the rain started about thirty minutes previous to my leaving. And of course, since it was such a nice day, I hadn’t thought to bring an umbrella. Then, to add insult to injury, a car driving by splashed me. Because of course it did.

Wet and miserable I stepped into my apartment, flinging my wet bag on the floor and my clothes in the bathroom. I let out a large sigh as I sat on my futon, now in my sweatpants. What was I doing here? I so naively thought I could get away with not speaking the language. That I could skate by with translation software and just... I don’t know, body language. But that wasn’t the case at all. If anything all this did was show how stupid i’d been. Stupid and foolish. I wiped away an errant tear as I took out my phone and started to translate the images of my textbook and silently do my homework, leaving only the humming of the lights to keep me company.

—-

The next day I had far less of a spring in my step as I walked to school. Of course, this was all alone. The only real person i’d gotten any kind of along with was Mizuki, and I couldn’t expect her to just show up and deal with my stupid face. I dragged myself to my shoe locker to open the door. As I did though, a small piece of paper fell out. Confused, I bent down and picked it up.

It was a simple white piece of paper, folded over twice. Furrowing my brow I opened it up to look at it. “3:00. Outside gym”. And that’s all it said. What in the world would someone want with me outside of school? I thought to myself as I changed my shoes. Suddenly I froze. Wait a minute. A note, calling someone outside after class...I’ve heard about this! Suddenly I blushed. Could this be.. A love confession? I shook my head. No, that couldn’t be it. This is only your second day! Nobody knows you. Maybe it’s someone who wants to know about America? Maybe Mizuki did this?

I pondered all these things as I placed my outdoor shoes in the cabinet and headed inside, keeping an eye out, looking for anybody who was looking at me differently, as if to make out who could have sent me that message.

I didn’t see anyone, but upon arriving at class I was immediately assaulted once again by finger guns and “Hey bro!” from Mizuki. For the first time in a while, I actually smiled hearing this. Yeah she was dorky, but at least she didn’t mind talking to me. Well, as much talking as we could do.

Interestingly enough though, I didn’t see or hear short blonde girl as I entered. I glanced around before finally noticing her in the corner of the room, the back of her head to me. Huh. Guess she wasn’t in the mood to berate me. Good.

I’m going to be honest, the rest of the day was a blur to me. The thought of that note was first and foremost in my mind. What was it about? Why would someone want to see me after school? Did they expect for me to have a conversation with them in Japanese? What was I going to do?

I went through the motions of school, marking down what sections of the book i’d have to translate later as well as papers handed back to me, and I once again did general track and field in gym. Even lunch today was a bit of a blur, Mizuki once again chatting my ear off and me giving vague, English answers which I hoped were anything close to what she wanted to hear.

Finally, the day ended and the fated hour arrived. Taking a deep breath, I grabbed by school bag, and headed out to the covered area outside the gym. I had no idea what to expect or what was going to happen. All i knew was, it was going to be interesting.

As I arrived, I didn’t see anyone there. I stood there, looking around. Waiting. After maybe a minute or so, I heard a noise. Something between a throat clearing, and a humph. Turning around, I was greeted with a face I wasn’t expecting to see. A short blonde haired one. I raised my eyebrow in confusion. Wait. This one? I thought she hated me! Was SHE going to confess to me? No, that certainly couldn’t be the case.... Could it?

Before I could say anything, She closed her eyes, holding out her hand and saying something slowly and deliberately in Japanese. Of course. I had no idea what she was saying. After finishing, she looked back up and me and smirked. I looked at her, dumbfounded, completely unsure of what she had said.

After waiting a moment, her smirk widened and pulled out her phone and typed something in it. She then flipped her phone around to show me what was on it. And that’s when my heart dropped and my face went pale. On the screen were the words ‘You don’t speak Japanese, do you?”

Oh no.