Day 7: Part III

I could sense that a kiss was in order as a kind of stamp on the details of our date. However, something about the pinkish innocence on his face prevented me from leaning in fully. Instead, I took his hand, thinking it would be easy enough to tug him forward and place a modest peck on his cheek, but, once grasped, I could only bring myself to swing our hands as though it were a game of jump rope on the recess asphalt.

“Alex,” Sean chuckled. “What’re you doing?”

I stopped but didn’t let go. “Oh, I…”

He stood up, dragging me to my feet with him. “I need to change,” Sean said. “For the date. I should wear something more appropriate than this.” He was wearing the same clothes from last night. I wasn’t aware that Sean owned anything other than hoodies and shorts. He walked to his closet and opened the door like a screen between us. There was some ruffle of clothes before he closed the door, having changed into a black gakuran. “How does it look? Suits me, right?”

“It’s a uniform.”

“Yeah, we’re going to school.”

“For some reason, you don’t look right with pants on.”

His mouth fell open and he turned to the floor with a hot embarrassment. Then I did the same. “That’s not what I meant! I mean, it’s just that, you’re always wearing shorts so…you usually dress so casual.”

“I wear this every day.”

“Yeah but,” it was true, and even though I knew it was the rules, something about him dressed like that was in direct conflict with who he was. “That’s not what I meant.” He looked good in his uniform: smart, studious, and more like an adult than I could ever imagine myself; like someone who knew what he wanted. “We should get going.”

“Shouldn’t you change?”

“What? This isn’t nice enough? It’s not like I have a stack of fine suits sitting around waiting to be put on.”

“No, it’s just, didn’t you sleep in those?”

“Oh, yeah. Sorry.” I walked over to my suitcase and pulled out a gray button-down shirt, some socks, and underwear. The latter of which Sean saw and left the room.

I met Sean downstairs by the front door. It was a little after ten-thirty and the sun was bright, but not hot. It was quiet but not silent as there was the occasional distant car or opening and closing of a house door. Sean turned the key in the door, checked to make sure it was locked, and then came down the front stairs. “Ready to go?” he asked.

I had brought my bag along just in case, but it seemed odd that he should be without one. “What’re you smiling about?” he asked, leaning against my shoulder.

“Oh, me? I’m just so excited to see your school. It’s like ani-” I got a few paces ahead of him, “-an amazing day outside.”

“It is, isn’t it? Glad it’s not too hot out. It takes about an hour and a half.” He said, almost as if it were a brag. “Here, let me carry that for you.”

He began sliding my backpack off my shoulder. “Oh, thanks.”

“Yeah, of course. I can’t let my date get weighed down by whatever you’ve got in here.”

I could tell by the way Sean said it that this was all a scheme to say the word “date” again, but I was happy to hear it. “It’s not that heavy.” I had thought I said it politely and humbly enough, but I practically swung my backpack around his shoulders.

About ten minutes up the road, I could feel the natural sway of our steps had pushed us closer and then repelled once we got too close like we were orbiting around each other. Sean stopped at the corner. “Alex, actually, I was wondering--” Then his phone rang. He tried to ignore it but I shook my head and gestured for him to answer. He frowned when he looked at the caller, then picked up.

“WHY HAVEN’T YOU ANSWERED MY TEXTS!?” It was his sister. She spoke so loud he had to hold his phone away from his head, even though it wasn’t on speaker mode. “Frenchies over here CRYING and mom said that you were ‘busy.’ BUSY? YOU?”

“Yeah, Alex and I--”

“ALEX?” she shouted, her tone shifting from scolding to joy. I would have responded like she was standing right there before us if not for the pure irritation in Sean’s deep brown eyes. “Like, OUR Alex? The one I babysat? Since when was he in Japan?”

“He’s been here all week. I told you months--”

“Nevermind. Bring him, too. My showcase isn’t for, like, another four hours. You guys should be able to get here by then.”

“We can’t.”

“What do you mean you can’t?”

“I’m…we’re going…we’ve got plans…”

“Oh my God, Sean. You guys can literally play Minecraft literally whenever.”

“You’re always doing stuff like this! You change plans at the last second and then expect the world to follow along. Alex has been planning on coming for months and-”

“It’s not like they picked today specifically to spite you. You know what? Fine. Just stay up there. God! You take things too personally. You’ve always done that. One misspoken word and you’re in a downward spiral. No wonder you have no friends.” Sean held out his phone, tempting her to continue. “Okay, yeah, you’re right, that was uncalled for. I take it back.” There was another pause as he silently pardoned her. “You really can’t come down? It would mean a lot.”

Sean sighed.

“You know what? Put Alex on the phone. I’m sure he’d want to come,” she said, not quite shouting but no longer in an apologetic tone. He handed it to me.

“Hello?”

“Wow, Alex, that’s so surreal. Your voice has changed a lot. Did you miss me?” I didn’t really have an answer so she laughed and continued. “Look, I know you and Sean wanted to enjoy your alone time, or whatever, but I’m sure that you’ll have another chance to visit a maid cafe.” She laughed again, and I felt a little ashamed. “Don’t feel like you have to. Honestly, Sean should have planned it. But wouldn't you like the chance to experience some genuine Japanese culture? Besides me of course.” She laughed again. “Plus, it’ll only take up the afternoon. You guys can head back up in the evening. You’ll come, right?”

“That sounds nice,” I began. Sean stepped aside and stared down the long stretch of road before us, where somewhere between the field and homes was a citadel of the young and learned. “But, isn’t it expensive to keep taking the train back and forth?”

“Please. I know obā-chan gave you a card.”

“That’s true,” I said, thinking about how we had visited a high school and I hadn’t seen taiko before. Sean was playing with some pebbles by his shoe. Something about his posture seemed to imply that he had submitted to whatever fate would befall him. “Sure," I said, the word coming out long and grainy. “Sounds fun.”

“Great, see you in a few hours!” She hung up.

Somehow I had caved and surrendered not some lunch out at ramen or streaming a new movie, but what was supposed to be my first date! “Sorry. Sean,” I said and handed his phone back. “I don’t know how but I sort of just said yes.”

“It’s fine,” he said, shaking his head, then pushing his hands deep into his jacket pockets. “This is the right thing to do anyway. I’m surprised my mom didn’t drag us down with her yesterday. I got ahead of myself.” He took his hands out of his pockets and rubbed them along his pants. “But, we’ll still get to spend the day together. That’s the point of a date, right?”

“Right.”

“Guess we should head back now.” I was impressed by his lax deference. If my mom had told me to cancel this trip because my brother was playing in some amateur soccer tournament, I’d be pissed. “Come on,” he said, grabbing my hand and heading back where we came from. If this were an anime the background would fade into a tint of golden and glittering roses would form a frame around our faces.

We passed by his house and the mansion-style apartments, the convenience stores and chained bikes, and the pedestrian paths lined with newly bloomed flower beds and stagnating trees. I had never held hands with someone outside of my family and, even though I had the blessing of anonymity, it was hard to hold my head up as more people passed by. I liked to think that if this were at home I would have flaunted this development right into Austin and Julian’s faces. Yes. I, Alex Mendes, the youngest and dumbest, was the first to get a girlfriend!!! Or, well, boyfriend.

A large crowd had gathered along the way in the small plaza in front of the Tsukuba Expo Center. There was a second-hand market where volunteers were setting up tables and organizing bins, young kids were running around and chasing each other with plastic swords, and groups of girls were going through the racks of vintage clothes. Some of them looked around our age, they could have easily been Sean’s friends, and, if not his, then maybe Francis’s or his parents, and here we came practically exposing ourselves to the world with P.D.A.

I let go of his hand.

Sean immediately gripped it again as though mine had slipped out. He never looked down, only forward like the piercing blue through an overcast sky. We continued alongside the green pond with a paddling of ducks, beneath the shade of trees lined with bushes and bike racks, and across the pedestrian overpass to the train station. It was crowded on the way to the station as people lingered around some food trucks and the shopping mall. He let go of my hand, though it felt more for the sake of breaking through the crowd than from embarrassment. I would steadily fall out of step with him, standing slightly behind instead of to his side, and then would have to hurry a few steps to catch up before falling behind again, only catching up to him once we rode the escalator down to the platform.

There were few people on the platform and we all dispersed enough to have one train car for each group. Our train car was also empty. No one was standing and there were a few empty rows throughout. We sat by ourselves in the rear where the only other person was an old lady sitting in the opposite seats. The train rocked into a tunnel. Sean yawned and slouched down in his seat. He crossed his arms and then rolled his head over to my shoulder. “Wake me when we get to Akihabara,” He said, burrowing into my side.

“O-okay,” I said with a tone like the flailing of a caught fish. “Sleep well.” He stretched his arm across my waist like a seat belt, locking my arms in place. The top of his head was right in the corner of my eye and if I turned my chin to the right, I could see right down the nape of his neck.

The train exited the tunnel with a bump. Sean flinched. I looked outside to the rice fields and houses, some new and some old. I would have savored the landscape for what it was if I wasn’t worried that Sean had caught me. My mind ventured down all the different avenues of how he could respond and each possibility ended with the memories of last night. My heart racing, I tried to ground myself in each car, roof, pole, tree…The old lady was glaring at me. It was random.

I pretended not to notice in case she was casting curses under her mask, but I couldn’t imagine why. It could have been because I was a foreigner, but her reaction was too curt. It could have been because of our P.D.A but her vibe was too malicious. It could have been something I had done, but all I had been doing was staring out the window…right above her. She must’ve thought I was glaring at her!