A Week in Tokyo: Chapter 07

A Week In Tokyo


Chapter Seven: Living Quarters

In order to make sure that Van and the others really understood Japanese, Amano had written a small dialog on a piece of paper and had each man call various pizza parlors around the city, pretending to order 'the super deluxe ultimate supreme.' No pizza place in town actually had this food item on their menu so the phone call was relatively safe. Each of the men passed the test with flying colors, although they were not certain what a pizza was or had the faintest idea what calling the restaurants really had to do with them suddenly acquiring their new language skills.

Calling the restaurants was not an easy task. It had taken some time for Hitomi and the others to convince the Gaean men that the phone was not a cursed Mystic Moon item. The Gaean men couldn't understand how one could communicate with someone so far away without some kind of magic involved. Dryden and the others were finally satisfied with the explanation Yukari had given them.

She had let out a heavy sigh and said in a matter of fact tone, "Look, you have sorcerers in your world that invent stuff right? (She had heard all about the sorcerers from Hitomi.) Well, we have inventors that are like them. The difference is that the sorcerers on your world use power sources like energists or magic items to make things work. The inventors on our world use electricity. The phone is just one device that inventors came up with. It's not a big deal once you realize that it's just an average household item."

The men still had the notion that something like electricity was closest enough to magic to make all of the devices enchanted in some way but they settled for Yukari's explanation rather than spend precious time over thinking the subject.

When Amano had made sure that every man had passed what he liked to call the 'take out order test' he gave Hitomi a friendly nudge.

"It looks like that legend Dryden told everyone was true. How cool is that! This will make things a lot easier for sure."

Van frowned when Hitomi looked up at Amano with a big smile and nodded. He couldn't help being a little jealous, especially when it concerned something like Hitomi’s first love interest.

He cleared his throat and said with a hint of irritation in his voice, "It's great that we can talk to each other but that doesn't solve the problem of where Dryden, Allen, Gaddes and I are going to stay while we are on the Mystic Moon. We also have no strategy on what to do while Hitomi and Yukari are at school. I'm sure I can speak for the others as well as myself when I say that it would be uncomfortable to be cooped up in a house all week. We have no idea how Mystic Moon items work. We might expose ourselves to the locals by acting foolish."

Hitomi immediately directed her attention to Van. She realized that he was right. Van brought up a lot of things that she hadn't thought of before.

She stared at him thoughtfully for a few minutes and then replied, "I guess I was so excited about having you and the others learn Japanese that I didn't think about the rest. I don't really have an answer for everything but I might have a solution for your living situation. The truth is that I don't think you guys can stay with Yukari and me at our apartment. It is too small to find a place for everyone to sleep and we don’t have enough food to feed everyone with. However, if it is alright with Amano, maybe you could stay at his place. Amano lives in a housing unit on campus with three other guys. There is plenty of room there."

Hitomi gave Amano a hopeful look.

"What do you think, Amano? Do you think that would be ok?"

Amano smiled down at Hitomi which made Van's frown deepen.

"Of course it would. In fact, I was expecting some family members from England to come stay with me at the end of the summer. I can just tell my roommates that Van and the others are my cousins visiting from London. If they ask why they are there early I will just say that there was a change in plans. It's the perfect cover-up!"

Allen seemed to think this was a very good idea because he clapped his hands together when he said, "That's brilliant! Anyway, it is more appropriate for us to stay in a male housing facility than share living quarters with two young women."

Gaddes nodded.

"Yeah, that's true. Just think about how things would go when we needed to use the bathroom chambers in the morning to freshen up and caught one of the girls unaware."

Van was surprised to find himself thinking about a nude figure of Hitomi wrapped in a towel and he felt his cheeks go hot. He was glad that he wouldn't have to deal with a situation like that during his stay. Even though he was still a bit suspicious of Amano's behavior toward Hitomi, he internally thanked him for saving him from such an awkward situation.

Dryden had been quiet since the phone adventure so everyone was surprised when he suddenly added, "That solves one of our problems but what are we supposed to while Hitomi, Yukari, and Amano are attending their classes at the university? We could end up getting into a lot of trouble without one of them showing us how to blend in to our new surroundings."

Everyone was silent as they tried to think of a solution. Yukari suddenly got an odd expression on her face that made everyone look at her with uncertainty.

They weren't sure what to expect when Yukari suddenly blurted out, "What if Van and the others came to school with us? We all have the same classes. We made our schedules so they would match at the beginning of the year, remember? It's a good thing too! Our school schedule will allow us to keep an eye on Van and the others while we are in class. Tokyo University has a policy of letting family members attend classes the final two weeks of each term. If Amano explained that his cousins had nothing else to do during the day I am sure that out professors would let them sit in for the final lectures. What do you think everyone?"

At first everyone just stared at Yukari in disbelief. The idea was pretty out there and it introduced a whole other list of problems, like what the men would do if a classmate asked them about London and they weren’t able to give a proper answer.

Yukari sensed that her idea was not very popular and added, "I know that it sounds crazy, but what would we do if, hypothetically speaking, one of Amano's roommates were to come home before he got out of class and catch one of the guys doing something that they shouldn't be doing without one of us to explain their odd behavior? It would be a disaster!"

It became silent again. Everyone was too engrossed in their own thoughts to notice that Yukari was getting annoyed that no one would take her advice seriously. Her expression changed to a large grin when everyone eventually decided that her plan was the most sound, despite all of the risks. The men at the table gave short nods of approval though the uncomfortable air in the room hadn't quite settled.

Gaddes made the remark, "Well, It's better than getting ourselves into trouble at Amano's place. Someone will find us out if we don't have Hitomi or the others to keep an eye on us. I'm not sure what they teach in Mystic Moon universities but anything is better than ending up lost again without a proper guide."

Van, Allen, and Dryden all silently agreed. It was risky but they had to admit that it beat sitting inside a strange Mystic Moon building all day with nothing to do but talk amongst themselves and find ways to get into trouble.

Hitomi noticed that the plan was still was a sore topic by the expressions that her friends were making so she smiled reassuringly and said, "You know, I don't think that it will be so bad. After we get out of class Yukari, Amano and I can show you around Tokyo. It will be like a mini vacation before our real one. With Amano at the apartment it will be safe for you guys to get to know his roommates. You might even have fun! It's really the only option we have right now. None of us can leave until our finals are done. We might be expelled if we do."

All of the men muttered short words of approval and agreed that even though idea of going to a Mystic Moon school did not sound appealing, they could find some enjoyment visiting the different places around Tokyo with the three native inhabitants as their guides.