Outlook 1 (Finished)

Sunny. Glad I brought my glasses. What a great day so far. I went to the part in the city that had the Sakura blossoms. You have to really see it in person. There's nothing like it. But no importance, apparently all I need is this..." A badge. It says guess pass, but it looks as if I actually work here.

It's very industrialized. There's oil and pipe machines with an almost city like block that stretches out for about 175 km away from the pier, and we were a bit closer. Russel and Ryuji-San (?) accompanied me or well, they are accompanying me. Their tour gui-

"Ryugi-sama says that we are now approaching the new part where the pier was just built." It's basically a tourist attraction for the workers. It's a large-scale pier that for some reason has a Ferris wheel before you can walk up onto it. It's wooden, up the staircase, you'll be able to look at the view of the ocean from here, down towards the shore you can fish. The other part or the other side of the pier, was where the main office was. Rin told me that I would be accompanied by Ryuji-Sama (my correction), who was the lead director of Field Operations in the port and Russel, some American who interns here to practice his translating skills as well as...well, I can't remember, it was something. How does she do these things? I admit that when she first asked me to help, I initially said no. I was ready to leave, the Dean was kind of getting on our ass and the likelihood of Shin having a position and me having an internship when we returned was getting slimmer by the day, but she showed me something.

"Here," started Russel, "is where most of the maritime traffic happens and each day, we send around 10 ships of cargo-"

"10 ships? Are you sure about that?'"

Russel looked over to Ryuji-Sama, nodding and agreeing, "Okay, hm, hm. He says 10 is the correct amount. Ever since the increase of product management and the addition of our new exports of goods, subsequently the amount of boats we have to send out increase as well."

Workers in hard hats and black boots surveyed throughout the sidewalk, bumping shoulder to shoulder. A crane floated above with someone operating and facilitating the joystick to lift and carry large steel pillars on top of one another which looked to be another building in the making. It was amazing the work people could do when they were motivated. Even if it's money.

Ryuji-Sama started to look at his watch and tell Russel something, then out of nowhere, left in quite the hurry.

"What was that about?" I asked Russel. You would think the one giving the tour guide would stay until the end to finish said tour guide.

"Uh, welll, he had to take care of something all of a sudden. It was something with his, uh, daughter."

Hm. "So, what is it that were going to do now?"

"I can still finish the tour, it's not really a problem, bro."

"Bro? What's with the informality all of a sudden?"

"Well, I mean, you get it? He's my boss and all, besides you're from America too, right?"

"No. I'm not." Definitely not one of those Americans...how rude.

"Oh, where are you from? And how'd you even get a tour guide? These don't happen all the time. Especially at Osaka Industries. But c'mon, let's finish." He took me past the pier, and we turned to the right towards the offices I had mentioned earlier....

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"But what made this place specifically good for it being a port city? Certainly, there's other parts of Japan that make it a lot easier for maritime operations?" I asked. I mean, all that for the story to not make not one piece of sense. The restaurant was still filled with people, and we'd only been here for an hour or so but still, my heart was racing. I believe that's the first time that she'd ever called me baby. I don't know how I feel about it. 

"That's the thing it isn't. When we were on the tour, Ryuji-Sama left suddenly, okay?"

"Okay." Rin answered, "Then what? Did the lead I gave you come to crystalize?"

"Even more so." He put a couple photos on the table. "They're blurry because they were took on my phone, I mean I took them on my phone. But it looked like drug trafficking a-"

"That's it? Rin, you wanted us to help you take this guy down for drug trafficking? I'm pretty sure at least every big company has some kind of thing lik-"

"Let him finish."

"Thank you, Rin." He glared at me. Geez, tone it down. I just thought it'd be something bigger than that. Who knew my story would be so bland. Huhhh, internal sigh.

"It looked like drug trafficking from the pictures, but once I got closer, I saw seeds."

"Seeds?"

"Mhm, seeds. Not unusual that a company would maybe sell seeds, especially if they've started to realm in the world of produce, but these ones were red." What?

"So, they're red. Now, at least that's confirmed. The more I know, the more confused I get. Two years ago, I started to seriously question the intention of my father because of his fascination with the story about the 7 Trees."

No.

"What is that?"

"Rin, don't tell me you seriously believe in that? It's close to conspiracy at this point. You might as well join the tin foil hats who believe in the Flat Earth."

"Did you not say you saw the seeds being red?"

"I did. But what is this story? 7 trees. Is this some kind of folklore of fantasy? But the seeds were definitely red. Even more, three armed guards were carrying these boxes and when I asked Russel what the armed guards were for, he said he had no idea."

"Maybe he didn't. This Russel guy sounds like a shrimp who's low on the totem pole. He probably really doesn't know."

"Maybe," he paused, very dramatically, I might add, "but the look in his eyes said something entirely different."

"The Seven Trees is an old folktale told in Japan. Even foreigner kids who grew up in another country like Shin have heard of this tale-"

"Still Japanese."

"Of course, but my point is that it's a lineage or very commonly told myth or whatever you want to call it about a tree that floated on the island thousands of years ago and the minute the seed floated on the island, it bore a thousand fruit that had the ability to cure blindness. Each tree, six of them that were exported or "carried with the wind of God" as we were told as kids, have a different ability or sickness that of which it can cure."

"What are the other ones? And how does this tree just magically go from one place to another? Do you believe in this yourself, Rin?" Rich asked her. She paused. It was very subtle, but it gave away her answer. 

"It is said that there was one tree that grew near what we now call the modern day Carribean, inside a cave with no light, no water, but rather it was placed there by God to cure the world of all its sicknesses to show the world of his magic and Divine Love for humanity. Because of the limited amount of light and water that enter in a cave, or in this case, the lack there of, the only thing the tree could produce were seeds. Ironic, huh? A plant that can only produce seeds which in turn grew into trees that could cure a disease that modern science still has yet to catch up to."

"Shin, let me direct this towards you. Are you not the least bit fascinated? Why do you search the world for fruit? Is it for the taste? The health? The care about the well-being of others? Or is that you too are searching for the real truth? My father knows something about this. Something about it that we don't know. And I think the Japanese government is using drugs and an armed militia potentially, as a cover up. Since I was a kid, I'd been working on a farm, day in, day out. No breaks. I had no siblings. My mom was hardly around and if she was, she was off drinking wine somewhere or taking orders from my father. I had no siblings, no real friends growing up except Ritsika. All I remember is my dad making me dig, plant, farm day after day until one of those days, we stopped farming, became rich and he started to treat me different. As if he figured something out. I hated him, I still do, but I always respected his unwavering attitude because he would be right next to me, doing the same work I was doing and never said a word about it. Not a single one. I grew up, read more about this story and went to study in Russia because there was a professor there who had written extensive work around this folklore. Most people in the class didn't believe and only took it for the pure interest but me, I knew it was real. So of course, I believe in it, and I won't stop until I find out the truth. The question is, what do you believe?"

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We said our goodbyes for the day as in Rich was staying at a different hotel in Nagoya. Another 5 star. It kinda pisses me off, not gonna lie. I'm the professor but yet I have to pay for my own hotel (So glad I left that roach infested bunker) and here this clow-no, my intern, who gets a free stay. Privileges of not being the boss, eh? I mean, we're friends too. Me and Rich. We've been doing this thing for a while and it seems as if he's never left my side. For reasons I don't know. We're walking down the street, holding hands and I still wonder how this came to be. A single conversation can change the outlook of the relationship. Maybe it's moving too fast, or maybe it's not really moving at all. It's all just my imagination. But it really does take me for a surprise that she believes in a thing like that. It's virtually conspiracy. I wonder how much her fascination with this Yuzu tree has anything to do with it and maybe that my initial research subconsciously brought us together to find the truth. Whatever it was at this point. 

"Off to meet your father now?"

She thought for a second, it stayed like this for a few more moments. "He can wait. I always see him, but I don't always get to see you."

"What is this? All of a sudden, you just start a relationship with some random guy-"

"Not random."

"And see that's exactly it. You say you've been following my work, a fan, or whatever. It's likely that you're just delusional about how you feel. Maybe your emotions and who you think I am, have become mixed up with the image of the scientist you imagined myself to be." Maybe I shouldn't have said that, because she let the time pass without a word go on once again. It's hard to believe, right? I'm not wrong to be skeptical, right?

"You always believe the worst in people, don't you?"

"It's not as if you've given me a reason to trust you."

"After what I just told you about my own dream, after I told you how I feel about you. You know, inside that skull of yours, there has to be a brain. One with receptors that lets you know that every time you're with me, you feel the same things I do. The same dopamine release that I get when I see you laugh, on the rare occasion that it is." She smiled, continuing, "You even had sex with one of the only friends I've ever had, as if it was nothing. I don't blame you for that because that's just how my sister is. B-"

"Your sister?"

"It wasn't obvious?"

"To the readers maybe, but I'm just a clueless protagonist."

"Lame."

"HAHAHA, that's the line you draw at lame? Hmph, you kill me. But no, I had no idea. So, you grew up as friends who were sisters? I mean I get it; I have close relations with my siblings as well."

"It's complicated. Her dad is also my dad, which makes us half-sisters. My dad, the one I grew up with, and my real dad, Ritsika's and I dad I should say, have always been good friends. They went to school together, started a business together, yadda yadda. But when they got older, Shindo Osaka, grew apart from him a little and started dating a woman who happens to be my mom. Our father, in this case Ritsika's dad let's say for the sake of the conversation, was also in love with this same woman and her in love with him. They had an affair, but the woman got pregnant with a daughter. Which is me. The two of them never told Shindo, and it wasn't until I got a little older and saw them kiss one day when I was about, no, yeah, I was seven years old, when I asked my dad why mommy and Yamamoto-sama were kissing each other. Shindo held on to that for a while and until he couldn't stand it anymore, let him go from the company a few years ago after demoting him to executive board member from Co-President years prior and I assume that, because of his shame to his own best friend, accepted all of what happened. Neither one of them have really liked me since. Not my mom, dad, or Shindo."

"And does Ritsika know any of this?" We kept walking, feeling the wind on each of our faces as we passed countless others walking along the same path as us. 

"No," she paused, "and I don't think it's my place to say. I guess it makes sense why she's the way she is. Father like daughter I suppose."

"Don't say that."

She stopped, removing her expressionless face to one of anger. "What do you mean, don't say that? The girl is exactly that of what her father is. A home wrecker. She meddles in everyone of my relationships as if it's some generational curse on me. Forever haunted by the mistakes of her father's past. Don't tell me because you screwed her one time you feel something as of sympathy for her."

"Well-"

"Don't answer that. Huhhhhh, okay. Once again, I can't blame you for that. But I've felt this sharp rejection from every part of my family. Always. It's something that stays with you, you know? You can't blame one for feeling this way, however immature it might be. I shouldn't blame her for her father, but I certainly can for the way she's treated me."

"You know, she only wants to be you."

"..."

"The clothes, her attitude, the guys she chases after are all because of you. Maybe your family rejects you, and it's what you have felt, true. I can't take that away from you nor deny the validity of your feelings, but neither can she. You know she told me that the only paintings in the house they have are the ones you've drawn. I didn't know you liked to draw."

I don't know whose idea it was, but we escaped into another rental car, paid by Rin of course, and drove along the coast to some secluded bed and breakfast hotel. Apparently, she booked it for a week and said she wanted to spend some more time with me, go over this plan of hers to take down Osaka Industries that I reluctantly agreed to, and spend more time. Maybe it's I the one who's not open, who doesn't share any part of me to others. Who immediately accuses her of being dishonest without really ever being honest myself. Hm, who would've thought?

The first night we settled in, we had walked up the wooden stairs, which creaked in every step you took, until we reached the third floor, room 302. I placed the small bag that I had with me in the corner and plopped on the bed. Maybe I've been brought to Japan for a reason. Maybe my curiosity for fruit goes a lot deeper than I've led myself to believe. Maybe I'm here, right now, for something else. A plan a lot larger than I could've imagined. She laid next to me, with her back upwards, looking at the ceiling. The window was cracked, so you could feel the slight summer breeze that let in and in the very distance, a moon that shined through the trees. She turned to me, fixing her mouth to say something, but instead, put her head on top of my chest. 

"Are you ever going to tell me how you feel about me?" she asked.

"I told you my name, didn't I?"

She smiled, and before I could say a word, a snore escaped her throat. Not exactly as sexy as I would've thought, but it was a moment that would forever burn on the CD inside of my mind.

Unforgettable, is the word they say, huh?

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