The Higashiyama Line

I sat slouched with the worst back posture ever. Seriously. Hobbit Honzo. Wait… Hobbits are just dwarfs in the Lord of the Rings, right? I think I’m referring to Gollum. One can tell I am well-versed in Western literature. Totally just didn’t go search that up on my phone - bored out of my mind. Our train was approaching Kamejima. A few people were on the train, but there were still seas of empty seats. Get it?

Ignore what I said earlier. The robotic female announcer's voice spread throughout the train. First in Japanese, then in some English. I think the voice, for the English, was American. Why don’t they have it in British English? Then I saw a glimpse of the turquoise pillars and the platforms. Suddenly, I noticed the train arriving from the opposite side simultaneously. Wow. It’s been a while since I’ve noticed that. They say Japanese railways are punctual, but I’m not really sure about the Higashiyama line. From now on, the trains will get busy - but we’re leaving at Nagoya Station, so it doesn’t matter.

By the way, here’s a local history lesson!

The Higashiyama Line was the first-ever subway line in Nagoya! The line was opened to the public on November 15th 1957. It is the most profitable public railway line in Japan, maybe even the world. As it runs through the major areas in Nagoya, it’s easily the busiest line. Signage throughout the station has up to 5 languages. Mandarin, Portuguese, Korean, and English. Plus the obvious one. I don’t know which language I’m currently thinking in. Also, the stations from Takabata to Nakamura Koen were the newest and deepest, opening in 1982. Yes. Forty years ago. You might wonder, why am I saying this?

Because this line runs like garbage.

Seriously.

The platform gates don’t really seem to open in time. It is a comfy ride, I’ll give you that, and it could be honestly worse. I like the yellow colour layout, and I do think the way the seats are structured, means you could fit more people. More money for Nagoya. Sadly, for your average Nagoya citizen? There is less comfort past Nagoya station. Perhaps, I am understating that.

I sat bored out of my mind as I looked on Wikipedia. Yes. I really did have this page cached. Sadly my data does not work on this line. I didn’t want to make conversation with everyone, whose topics ranged from grades to literal serious discussions about LINE sticker etiquette. I wouldn’t be able to contribute to the latter, but I might with the former. We did have our mid-exams to complete soon, and instead of doing any revision, I’m here trying to help people integrate into society. If you think about it… that’s not really a bad reason. In addition to that, I don’t really think the exams mean THAT much. Perhaps I’ll be so wrong in the future and that last sentence ages badly. Let’s hope for my sake I don’t.

I sat next to Sakura. She didn’t really seem to like me. Or at least, she didn’t care about me. Personally, I honestly feel the same too. Her cousin, Sora, was the more interesting one. It seemed like Sora was another kindred soul, a lone wolf. As tired as that phrase might be, he really seemed to find solace. He wasn’t even speaking to his cousin. Just on his own.

By the way, I best be careful around looking at Sakura, or else I’ll just think about some dangerous stuff, again. Such as another paragraph describing her.

You know what? I will. I didn’t do it when I was introduced to her in The Big Glass.

Sakura sat with a straight posture, with her lightly dyed pink hair. There were still large amounts of her roots left untouched. Her eyes looked tired and dry, possibly from having to wake up early on a Sunday.

Actually, I can’t do it.

Also, I’m probably projecting on her. I don’t think she’s tired from waking up early on a Sunday. I’m tired from waking up early on a Sunday. Want me to repeat?

Then, she initiated conversation.

“Is everything okay? Why are you staring at me Fukaze-senpai?”, she questioned me.

I was definitely caught off guard by that one. I don’t know how to respond. I’ll just waffle, we’re near Nagoya anyways.

“Umm… no, everything is okay. Sorry Suzuki, I kind of was daydreaming there. Zoned out. Sorry, again.” I quickly apologized to her, hoping that our conversation was brief. I don’t think it was.

Sakura looked at me. It’s not good that I mentally think of her using her first name, instead of Suzuki. She opened her mouth.

“It’s okay Fukaze-senpai. It’s just slightly intimidating when someone, like you, does it.”

Intimidating? That’s not nice. I had to reply to that.

“What do you mean intimidating?”

Sakura next said “You don’t seem to know there’s like a crazy difference between us two. Do you not think it’s weird to be staring at someone when you’re like 25 centimetres taller than me? Look, I understand you space out, but please be careful Fukaze-senpai.”

I just got told off by my kouhai. And she’s entirely in the right.

“I’m deeply sorry Suzuki.”

Sakura warned me. “It’s okay Fukaze-senpai, just please be mindful of doing that.”

“I understand.”

She’s right. To be honest, I wasn’t even really truthful to her either. I was staring at her for the sake of just looking at her. I could blame my depersonalization or bad character or whatever, but that’s kind of deflecting the blame into something instead of it being my fault. I should probably change that, at least one small behaviour than not really trying to change anything. As it just so happens, these past three days, I’ve seemingly been performing bad behaviours. Trying to force Minoru-san to take the subway, several counts of misogyny, as well as now staring at a girl, making her uncomfortable.

I’m not even getting any sense of depersonalization. Matter of fact, it feels like my actions and mind are pretty congruent, as of now. Yeah, the conversation was brief, but I definitely feel worse now. Just gotta accept that I was in the wrong.

Then I heard an announcement.

“This is Nagoya. Please change here for the Sakura-dori, Aonami, JR, Meitetsu, and Kintetsu Lines.” This followed by the other languages as aforementioned.

I was taken aback by the fact that I didn’t even notice the white walls of the station or the change in lighting. I must’ve been deep in thought.

Aya-senpai led the way. The Culture & Travel club exited the train, fighting against the crowd.