Sora's Saturday

Tomorrow came fast for both Yoshio, and Sora. She woke up early, restless, wanting to meet that magical creature. She was thinking all kinds of thoughts, remembering all the anime and manga she had consumed on the topic. It was exciting, and she still could not believe how easily she believed that all that he said was true, even though she was a person of science, and evidence and never believed in any type of things like magic and yokai. However, she loved reading all of these fantasy novels about Chinese power BL couples, one of which was generally a magical creature, and the other one was a magical powerhouse. So when she started having her suspicions about Yoshio, she just had to change her perspective on life itself, as the evidence was provided before her.

Sitting on her bed, she tossed aside her body pillow featuring one of her favorite female characters from One Piece. She cringed slightly, relieved that Yoshio hadn’t noticed it last night—he gave off conservative vibes, much like the ancient deities in her books, who were typically out of touch with modern pop culture. Still, he seemed more integrated into society than she expected for someone so otherworldly.

As she brushed her teeth, she studied her reflection intently, scrutinizing every imperfection on her face. Poking at her cheek with a frown, she sighed and quickly washed up, applying a bit of sunscreen. The next steps were routine: she poured lactose-free milk over some cereal, started a random online video, and finished her breakfast without really absorbing the content. Her mind was elsewhere.

"Okay, enough," she muttered to herself, grabbing her phone and typing out a message.

An hour later, she arrived at her friend Mel’s apartment, holding a tub of ice cream. Mel, with her neon green bob and warm, mischievous smile, greeted her at the door.

"Sora!" Mel chirped, pulling her into a hug.

"Hey, Mel. I brought your favorite," Sora grinned, stepping inside.

"Oh, thank god. But first—you have to tell me everything! I was dying of curiosity after your text last night!" Mel ushered her inside, excitement radiating from her.

As Sora gave her the ice cream and took her shoes off, she entered, with familiarity only those close friends have at the homes of the other. This apartment was bigger than hers, with two separate rooms, and a living room. It was full of art on the walls, plants, and color. The sofa was bright blue, the carpet was neon pink, there were bright vases and cool-looking lamps, and a huge weird mirror. Overall, this apartment looked like a tattoo studio (which technically, it was sometimes). Mel's girlfriend Eko Himari was not here at this time, she was the one using this apartment to do tattoos. Lots of her colorful drawings hung on the walls too.

Mel, her full name being Melody Wise, was from the USA, and she was Sora's colleague, also in her second year of her PhD in clinical psychology. She transferred to Tokyo for her MA and, at the time did not know Japanese as well, as she should have. She managed to fight her way in, speed running learning Japanese, and finally making it. She stayed for her PhD, as she realized at the time, that she was set into staying here. She looked like she fit in this apartment perfectly, with her neon green, chin-length bob haircut, huge brown-amber eyes taking most space on her round baby face, and her pink lips were small and cute. She constantly changed her appearance and style, always looking extremely fashionable. Mel and Sora became friends almost instantly, after introductions, as they both were not Japanese and had similar interests, looked different, and stood out. When it came to discussing some shojo mangas, they could not shut up about things they were currently invested in, making the other people around them roll their eyes.

At the beginning of their PhD it seemed that Himari did not really like Sora, as she was jealous of her, and also very annoyed at them speaking in English constantly. With time, though, she realized, she was ok with them being friends, as Sora did not seem to show any intentions towards Mel.

"Tea?" Mel asked, already heading to the kitchen.

"Black, as always," Sora called back, making herself comfortable on the sofa. She could feel the inevitable onslaught of questions coming, but Mel started casually enough.

"So, spill. Are you seeing this guy again today? You like him or something?" Mel's tone was playful but sharp.

Sora groaned. "Stop it. He’s... interesting, alright? He’s different."

"Oh, different, huh? How so? Bold, mysterious?" Mel’s eyes gleamed with intrigue.

"Well, yes, bold. But also... he's kind of giving off monk vibes, you know?"

"Pfft! A monk? Girl, you would love that," Mel teased, watching Sora turn red.

"Come on! I'm not about to seduce a monk in real life," Sora muttered, flustered. "Besides, they're boring and conservative."

"Mel smirked, pouring the tea. "Sure, sure. But this sounds like a fanfic plotline to me."

"Of course you’d think that," Sora sighed, her face still warm with embarrassment. Mel loved teasing her about her love for BL stories, but this situation really did feel like something out of one of those books.

"So are you!" Mel started laughing, loving how embarrassed her friend became. They smiled for several minutes, Sora taking this opportunity to change the subject.

"Where is Himari by the way?"

"Oh, she has work today, you know, it being Saturday and all, " Mel looked a bit annoyed, trying to smile unbothered.

"You do not like it though, why don't you just tell her?"

"Listen, Sora, I know that it looks not the best, but I can't, she had this job way before we started dating, and it seems she enjoys it too. I don't think I can say I want her to stop when she asked me at the beginning of the relationship if I were ok with that." She looked at her hands, nervously grabbing the t-shirt.

"Sure, but you since changed, started living together. Overall, the relationship you have now is different. I think you can try talking about it," Sora tried to be empathetic, but not too pushy with her suggestions.

"Sure, maybe you are right, but, " Mel stood up, "today is not about that, but about you, so let's move to the bathroom already! We have some work to do, and not all day. You have to finish before six anyway, so we need to start, given how much hair you have! Also, don't try to change the subject, I want to know everything about the monk guy!"

Sora drank her tea, standing up, «Oh I hope he is not a monk, he eats vegetarian only, too. Oh is he??»

«Well, my friend, you might be in trouble. Bold AND eats only vegetarian seem suspicious as hell.» Mel was laughing. Sora, pinched her.

«Whatever, let's go. I brought the red color I wanted.»

As they entered the bathroom, which was all purple, they started talking about the anime they had been watching. Sora sat down, and Mel gently separated her hair into sections. Today they were changing the color to red. Sora looked in the mirror, thinking.

Hope he is not too surprised. Also, hope he likes it too. Will he even notice? Is he really a monk?