Let's make a pact

When I woke up the next morning, naturally I had a blaring headache and was queasy. Just sitting up in my futon was enough to make me wince in pain, the bright morning light peeking through my window stabbing at the cones of my eyes like little pins and needles.

“God, I thought all those movies where people get hangovers were just made up to make it seem more interesting. This sucks…” I groaned and glanced over at my alarm clock. It was already 9:15, I only had fifteen minutes to get myself up and dressed and over to the cafe on Dobuita street. I pushed myself out of bed with a nauseous grumble, holding my head in my hands as the room seemed to shrink and expand. I peeked through the slits between my fingers, noticing a glass of water and some ibuprofen pills on the corner of it. Propped up against the glass was a little slip of paper.

“Take these and make sure you

Drink the whole glass, too.

Come down for breakfast

When you’re ready,

~ Mom”

I smiled and happily slipped the pills into my mouth, chugging the water gratefully, in that moment it may have been the best thing I’d ever tasted. I’m not sure what had caused my mom to change so suddenly, but I wasn’t going to complain…or maybe it wasn’t her that had changed. Maybe it was me, or both. I’m not sure.

The water and Ibuprofen kicked in fairly quickly, and I decided even though I might be a bit late I’d hop in the shower first and get myself dressed up a bit nicer than I usually did. After all, it would be the first time Aiko got to see me outside of my school uniform. Wait a minute…. It would also be the first time I got to see HER outside of her uniform too… I wonder what kind of things she might wear? As I stood in the shower I daydreamed vividly, Aiko was sitting with me in the cafe in a cute plaid skirt and a nice… low-cut top. She leaned in suddenly, pursing her lips.

“Gahhh, Ren don’t be a freak. She’s just your friend, don’t go blowing this because you wanna act like a horny teenager!” I stood in the hot water slapping myself on the cheeks to knock some sense into myself. It suddenly occurred to me that I in fact was a horny teenager. I sighed, getting out to towel myself off in the mirror, glancing over my face and combing my hair to make sure I looked as presentable as I possibly could.

I went through my closet, tossing just about every possible thing I had into a ‘rejection’ pile on my bed.

“What the hell… why is it so hard to pick clothes when you’ve got a girl on your mind? Normally I’d just pick whatever was on the first hanger when I opened the closet…” I looked in the empty closet, feeling a little disheartened. With the closest cleaned out, I noticed a few things left laying on the floor in the back. I got down on my knees and crawled in to pull them out.

“Oh yeah, I totally forgot mom bought me this stuff last year when we had the field trip to hike Mount Fuji… I tripped walking on some gravel and blew the knees out of them and Sentaro laughed at me.” I smirked as I reminisced, glancing over the pair of black jeans with holes in the knees and a black pair of boots. I rummaged through The clothes on the bed and eventually settled on a dark red long-sleeve sweatshirt, pulling them all on as I twisted and turned to examine myself in the mirror.

“Well, it might not be what I’d usually pick, but If Aiko likes it I could start dressing like this all the time…oh, Stop it already…get it together Ren!” I started slapping myself on the cheeks again, frowning at myself in the mirror. “It was just one kiss, and we were all drunk anyways… It really didn’t mean anything. Why do I feel this way?” I sighed and pulled on a pair of socks followed by the black boots, taking one last glance at myself before walking down to grab a quick breakfast.

“Sleeping in late, are we? You know the weekend is a good time to get extra studying in… what… on Earth are you Wearing? You really have been spending too much time with Sentaro” My dad greeted me from behind a newspaper at first, even on the weekend he was dressed to the nines in his finest suit.

“I bought him those clothes and I think he looks very handsome, even if he did ruin the jeans!” My mom quipped back, pulling out a chair for me as I approached the table, setting a plate of pancakes and a cup of orange juice in front of me. It looked delicious, but the smell whirling around underneath my nose made me feel nauseated. I turned my face away with a disgusted whimper, taking a small sip of my orange juice as my stomach grumbled angrily.

“I just don’t understand how you see that boy as a suitable friend for our son. He’s a thug and now he has Ren dressing like one. No good lawyer would be caught dead in something like that.” My dad said sternly, giving me a judgemental glare.

“Well, I guess it's a good thing I’m not a Lawyer.” I said this without thinking much about it at first, the scraping of my mom’s spatula against the pans on the stove suddenly stopped and the crumpling sound of my dad setting his paper on the table seemed to assert the fact I’d gotten his attention.

“What was that?” He said, his voice cold and unforgiving.

“Nothing, thanks for breakfast mom but I promised Sentaro I’d meet him at the cafe over on Dobuita to get a head start on his makeup midterms.” I got up and kissed her on the cheek, out of the kitchen and through the front door before either of them had the chance to say anything else. On the weekends, even in the winter time Yokosuka always seemed to liven up. People would set up small stands selling trinkets or imported fruits and veggies, newspaper vendors would set up shop all and down Dobuita, too. Scalpers would be out trying to sell overpriced graphic Yokosuka jackets to unsuspecting tourists or military personnel, and the glum feeling that generally came with the winter seemed to melt away for a bit.

As I neared the end of the street I could see Sen standing there leaning against his bike, I waved to him and he waved back. He was wearing a pair of joggers a bright yellow hoodie, a black beanie pulled down over his head.

“So did you wake up feeling like a trainwreck, or was that just me?” he asked, still rubbing the sleepiness off of his eyelids as he spoke through a yawn.

“Nope, I’m pretty sure I’ve never felt so nauseous before in my life, where’s Aiko? Wasn’t this whole meeting her idea and now she’s the only one that's late?” I looked around, not seeing any sign of her.

“I dunno, I haven’t seen her yet. You know how girls are though, they take all that time getting dressed up for everything…speaking of which, what's with the outfit? Are you playing an extra in a skating movie later today or something?” Sen looked me up and down, obviously he hadn’t actually been paying much attention up until now.

“Well no not exactly, I just thought Aiko might like it I guess…” I said shyly, scuffing my foot back and forth on the sidewalk.

“Haha! I knew it, I knew it from the very second she nearly hit us with her skateboard that day that you were totally in love with her!” Sen covered his mouth and chuckled.

“I’m not in love with her… I just am working on my image a bit, you know?” I couldn’t come up with a better lie, and I was hoping Sen would just take thing hint and drop the subject.

“Sure, man. Whatever you say. But if you ask me you should just~...Woah” Sen suddenly stopped talking, looking over my shoulder behind me. I turned around to see what had caught his attention, and to my surprise, Aiko was skateboarding down the street towards us. She skidded to a stop right in front of me, a big smile on her face.

“Goodmorning! Sorry I’m late I wanted to clean up the apartment first so my dad wouldn’t have any idea anything happened last night…why are you all staring at me like that?” She looked back and forth over and over again at the two of us, we were making no effort to hide the fact we were gawking at her. In her lips were a set of shark-bite piercings that were connected on one side to the piercings in her ears. She had a spiked choker on around her neck and was wearing a black and white plaid style dress that zippered in the front. She was in a pair of big glossy black platform boots that made her look quite a bit taller, it looked as though she could nearly see eye to eye with Sen. Her eyes and lips had smokey black makeup around them except her eyelids which were filled in with a deep dark purple color.

“What?! Is there something on my dress?” She looked down, rubbing her hands down the front of her dress thinking she’d gotten herself dirty somehow.

“You…look…awesome! Holy hell, Aiko! I didn’t know you had all those piercings! Did they hurt? I always wanted to get my ears down but I’m kinda afraid of needles. Wow! That makeup and outfit is killer too, you got style!” Sen exclaimed, circling around her and examing everything she had on closely as if she was some kind of exotic animal.

“That’s right, I forgot you guys don’t really know what I’m like out of school. I guess it's a bit weird isn’t it?” Aiko seemed a bit embarrassed and look over at me with a cute redness to her cheeks.

“No, not at all. You…You look fantastic Aiko, really!” I said nervously, unable to take my eyes off of her.

“Stop it you’re gonna make me blush!… Oh, Ren… what’s up with you? Are you gonna be playing an extra in a skateboard movie ?” Aiko blinked, suddenly realizing what I was wearing. Sen burst into uncontrollable laughter.

“That's exactly what I said!” he wheezed, laughing so much he had to hunch over and clutch at his ribs.

“Forget you guys, I thought I looked nice! Tch…I’m going inside with or without you!” I grumpily walked to the door and stomped inside, the two of them following behind me unable to contain their giggling.

“Reeeen! Ren, slow down we’re only joking!” I grumbled feeling a bit foolish as they called out from behind me, taking a seat at the first booth inside the cafe. The waitress promptly came over and greeted us, asking us what we’d like.

“You guys okay with three cafe au laits?” asked Aiko as she took a short glimpse at the menu.

“Fine by me, you alright with that Ren?” Sentaro asked, I nodded to him and the waitress took the order down on a small slip and disappeared back into the kitchen.

“So if you guys are done making fun of my outfit, what's this all about? What the hell is a ‘Jump Pact” and why are we having a meeting about it at ten in the morning on a Saturday?” I asked, looking at Aiko inquisitively. She stood up and set a small bag she’d had tucked under her arm onto the table, pulling out a piece of paper with writing all over it.

“Right, so after your mom picked you up last night, Sentaro and I started thinking about the question we had yesterday. ‘What can we do to change this seemingly unstoppable course we’re all on in our lives?’ and this is what we came up with!” She slid the paper over to me, it was handwritten.

The Jump pact:

These people (Sentaro Ito, Aiko Yasawa, Ren Natsukashi) will sign their names at

The bottom of this page to signify

That they contractually agree to the following conditions:

1: They will be friends forever, regardless of distance, circumstance or any other life factor.

2: They will help each other to take their lives into their own hands and become who they want to be.

3: They will make this coming year, 2021, the most unforgettable year of their lives.

4: Anyone who breaks any of the previous rules will be forced to jump into the sea, never to surface again.

Drawn below these conditions were three lines, two of which were already filled in by Aiko and Sen’s signatures. I frowned, setting the paper back down on the table. The waitress arrived back at our table, setting three swirling cups of cafe au lait down in front of us. I could see my reflection within its milky brown depths, and I didn’t like it.

“I don’t get it… this isn’t going to change anything. We all know as soon as the school year is over, we’re likely never going to see each other again, this is just all false hope. And what’s thing jumping into the sea business all about? You break the rules of this dumb contract and you have to die?” I stared down into my cup as I spoke, the spinning whirlpool inside of it slowly coming to a standstill.

“Ren, all three of us have sat idly by while our choices were made for us because we hesitated too long on what we wanted for ourselves. A life like that isn’t even a life not worth living …don’t you think? It's time to stop passively accepting our situation in life, and this year might be our last chance to make a change for the better! That way, no matter where we end up in life we know we were here, living for ourselves right now. And that even if we can’t see or talk to each other, the members of our pact are out there..and will always have our back.” To be honest, I still thought the whole thing seemed a bit pointless. But both Aiko and Sen’s faces were brimming with hope and inspiration. I just couldn’t turn them down. I grabbed the pen Aiko has set down beside the paper and signed my name. “And the whole Jumping into the sea part is more symbolic than anything.. It’s like saying life without each other in it isn't worth having!”

“So how are we supposed to make this year the best year of our lives?” I asked, not sure how any of this was supposed to work or make a difference.

“Don’t worry, I have that all planned out too!” Aiko reached into her bag and grabbed out three more sheets of paper and a pencil for each of us, placing them down on the table. “There are only three months left of the school year, right? So what I was thinking is that we gotta make every moment count so we can get it all done! We’ll write down the three things we wanna do more than anything else before we graduate, and we’ll all help each other get our lists done together as friends.” Aiko smiled, clasping her hands together under her chin. “Please Ren, aren’t there things you’ve always wanted to do but you were too nervous about doing it all yourself? Ya know, like a bucket list!” her big green eyes tugged at my heartstrings, and I just couldn’t say no.

“Things I want to do more than anything else, huh?” I sat for a long time, thinking. Slowly ideas came to me, and I began to write them out. Sen and Aiko did the same, and for several minutes we were all writing and erasing in silence until finally each person set down their pencils.

“Okay, now everyone swap and we’ll read each other's lists out loud, it’ll be more exciting that way!” Aiko took my paper from me while handing her own to Sen, who in turn passed his over to me.

“Since it was your idea, Aiko, I’ll read yours first.” Sen said, bringing the paper up to his eyes. “Here it goes”

1: See the new year's fireworks festival in Yokohama together

2: Have a snowball fight

3: See Tokyo at night from the top of Skytree

I was surprised to hear that Aiko’s list was so simple, minus maybe the snowball fight everything there was easily doable. Is that really all it takes to make a girl like her happy?

“So we can get started on my list right away since New Years is right around the corner. Okay, Ren why don’t you read Sentaro’s now?” Aiko smiled and looked at me with anticipation. Oh god, I can only imagine what kind of crazy things he decided to put on his list…

“Alright sure, Sen’s list goes like this.”

1: Play hooky from school to spend the whole day in Akihabara

2: Find the best dorayaki in all of Japan

3: Have a rematch fight with Ren

“You’re still holding that fight we had years ago over my head?” I groaned and rolled my eyes. “And how on Earth can you be sure it’s the best dorayaki in Japan?”

“Of course I am! You never gave me another shot to prove myself! And when I taste the best dorayaki, believe me, I’ll know it!” Sentaro laughed and threw his arm over my shoulder “Okay Aiko, what does big bad Ren wanna do to have the best year of his life? Aiko looked at the page, reading everything before she spoke.

1:Learn how to ride a motorcycle

2: Stand up to my dad

3: See Mount Sakurajima in Kagoshima

“Sheesh, you thought my list was unreasonable, how the hell are we gonna afford to go to Kagoshima… it's all the way on the other end of the country Ren!” Sen seemed a bit disheartened at the last task on my list, Aiko on the other hand was ecstatic.

“I think it sounds incredible! I always heard Kagoshima was beautiful, but I never got to see it myself! It could be like a little vacation for us all of us!” Aiko clapped her hands together excitedly. “That’s it, we’re going and that's final! If the three of us don’t make it to Kagoshima we deserve to get thrown into the sea!”

“Actually Aiko, Sen’s right… a Shinkansen ticket even just for one person to go that far is like 25,000 yen. There’s no way we can come up with that kind of money by March… I mean Sen’s the only one that has a job.” I propped my head up on the table, glancing out the window feeling a bit down as the realization set in.

“Oh yeah… but there’s got the be a way…I refuse to believe it's impossible.” Aiko slammed her fists down on the table, seemingly determined to make this trip a reality. We all sat there for a while thinking about several ideas, but in the end, it was Sentaro who saved the day.

“Wait…if I’m teaching you to ride a motorcycle, we could just ride the coast all the way there. Aiko could ride on the back with one of us! We’ll all be 18 by the time we graduate so it’ll be totally legal!” Sentaro looked over at me, seeming a bit disappointed when I wasn’t as enthralled with the idea as he was. “What, it could work couldn’t it?”

“One problem genius, I don’t have a motorcycle…” I sighed, looking at Aiko who had a cute little pout on her face as she sat there.

“Does your boss who sold you yours still have some left, Sentaro?” Aiko asked, not realizing she just discovered the last piece of the puzzle that had been missing.

“Oh yeah! That’s it! He totally does, they're a bit beat up than the one I got but they’re totally in working order… they’re even cheaper than the one I got too, he’ll totally set it aside for us if I asked!” Aiko stood up and leaned over the table, shaking him back and forth.

“Ah you’re the best Sentaro, thank you thank you thank you!” she had her arms wrapped around him so tightly that he began to turn purple.

“I…if you wanna t…thank me please stop strangling…m…me” He gasped, causing Aiko to abruptly let go and send him flying back into this seat.

“Sorry… but now it's official, we have our plan and we’re sticking to it. There’s only one thing left to do. Ren, hand me your phone!” she said, holding out her hand.

“Hmm? Okay sure…but why?” I asked, handing it over. She pulled up my photo app and switched it to the front-facing camera.

“We need something to remember the moment when our lives really started, say cheese okay!” Aiko held the phone up high and got us all in frame, putting up the peace sign beside her face.

“H…hey wait a sec I’m not read-”

*click*