"Oh, I am so sorry!" Lucy exclaimed as she realised exactly what she had done. "Did my drink spill on you? Are you okay?"
"I'm fine," the young man insisted in a distinctly British accent.
"You speak English?"
Lucy sighed in relief. While her level of Japanese had improved rapidly over the last few weeks, she still lacked confidence. If only everyone in Japan spoke Spanish… That would make her life so much easier!
"Of course." The young man gave her an easy smile. "Nothing to worry about."
"Are you sure?"
"Yes, quite sure."
"Oh good."
Lucy smiled, realising that a blush was forming on her cheeks. The young man in front of her was decidedly handsome, she would be a fool to deny it.
"I'm Gene," he said, holding a hand out for her to shake.
"Lucy," she said, taking it. "Where are you from?"
"America originally, but I grew up in England, hence the accent."
"It cute!" she blurted.
"You think?" When Lucy nodded, Gene went on, "Well thank you. And yourself? Where are you from?"
"Texas, America."
"And what brings you to Japan?"
"Just on vacation before I start college in the fall."
"Now you mean university, right?" Gene asked, still smiling.
"Yeah, sorry!"
"Nah, it's cool. I just wanted to chequeck!"
"I'm here with an English friend, Hannah - we're touring Japan together - and every time she speaks I have to get out my lab coat and magnifying glass to understand her! It's amazing how even though it's the same language, there are so many differences!"
"Oh, where is she?"
"Oh back at the ryokan, she didn't want to get up so early so I left her there."
"Fair enough, well, do you want to grab some lunch? I know it's rather late for lunch but I haven't eaten yet," Gene mumbled, only now showing his slight shyness. He shuffled his feet and gazed at his feet before looking up hopefully at Lucy.
"That would be great! I've been living out of konbini's since I got here! I'm so bad at ordering anything! The lady who runs the ryokan has given up asking me and just brings me food in the evening…"
"That's nice of her!" Gene said. "Does your friend not help you?"
"Well, sometimes if I'm about to do something really stupid. But I think she likes to see me suffer. She's promised to take me to this cool sushi place in Tokyo when we get there. Apparently you can order off of screens and the food comes whizzing out to you!"
"That's so cool! Well, I can help you out with the ordering today, I can speak Japanese."
"You're my hero!"
"I am your knight in shining armor," he agreed. "I'm not so good at kanji, but I am starting to recognise the ones to do with food!"
Lucy laughed and Gene led the way down the street towards a ramen shop.
"I hope you like noodles!"
"Yeah."
"Do you have any preferences or anything?"
"Nah, just order me whatever you think is best," Lucy insisted. "I'll find us seats."
Lucy searched around the little shop and spotted two free seats. Hurrying over to them, she sat down and plonked her back on the other seat to save it for her new friend. A nagging thought at the back of her brain worried that he was a stranger and that he could be dangerous. But so far all he had done was offer help…
True, that was a good way to gain her trust but there was no way he was much older - if at all - than she was!
But he could also just be another young tourist making his way with absolutely nothing dodgy to worry about! Lucy's silent worries were interrupted by Gene arriving with two steaming bowls of ramen.
"So it's got bits of pork in it and seaweed and a few other vegetables. I'm not entirely sure what they all are. I think that," He poked a lump with a chopstick, "Is a mushroom, but I'm not sure."
"So far I've done a lot of eating without thinking too much about what it really is and that seems to have been working."
Gene laughed.
"Sounds like a good plan. Well, bon appétit!"
Lucy smiled and picked up her own chopsticks. Conscious that she was sitting next to a very cute boy, she attempted to eat the noodles with some dignity. However, despite her skill with chopsticks, the broth flicked everywhere. She soon has streaks of it on her chin and was having to wipe her face after every mouthful.
Yet she could appreciate the delicious flavour of the food Gene had chosen. He somehow had managed to finish the entire thing without splattering it anywhere and looking just as flawlessly perfect as he did before had started.
"What do you think?" he asked.
"It's delicious!" Lucy said, covering her mouth so that he would not see the broth streaks.
"I know, right? I love it so much. I've been staying in the area for almost a week and as soon as I found this place I've been coming back every day," Gene told her. "Would you like a drink? I can get us some water?"
Lucy nodded through a mouthful of noodles. Gene jumped up and poured two plastic cups of water and returned a moment later. Lucy had just about finished her meal and was wiping her mouth off for the last time when he sat down.
"Here, you missed a bit," Gene said, grabbing a fresh napkin and gently wiping the corner of Lucy's mouth. "Perhaps I should have taken you to the running sushi place, that would have been less messy, huh…"
He laughed as Lucy blushed harder.
"Well, uh, thank you for the meal. How much do I owe you?"
"Oh nothing. It's on me," Gene insisted. "This place is cheap anyway, so five hundred yen either way is nothing. Really."
"But—"
"My mother would kill me if she knew I let you pay for your own meal."
"You make it sound like this is a date," Lucy teased, cheeks reddening yet again at her own daring.
"My mother considers me looking at another female to be flirting so you aren't far wrong."
"Are you travelling with your mother?"
"Oh no, I'm in Japan alone."
"Well if you are still feeling generous, could you recommend anywhere good around here to visit? I drove all the way here, but I have no idea what is good!"
"There a few really cool temples and shrines if you're into that sort of thing? I've got a bit of time before I need to head off, so I could show you a few, if you like?"
Lucy beamed.
"That would be great."
Gene offered her his arm in an over-the-top manner which, though giggling, Lucy took.
They spent the remainder of the afternoon wandering around various temples and shrines. Gene obliged Lucy and took several photos on her behalf, so she could be part of the picture.
"They're all so beautiful," Lucy gushed as they departed from a shrine. "The architecture and peaceful atmosphere… It's lovely!"
"I agree," Gene said. "In England, my family went to this National Trust place and it was like this, all pretty and quiet and my brother just found a comfortable spot and read for the entire trip." Gene sighed and rolled his eyes. "He has no appreciation for these things…"
Lucy gave him an obliging smile.
Gene checked his watch and sighed again.
"As much fun as this has been, I need to head off now," he said, the regret evident in his voice.
"Yeah, I suppose I should get back too. My friend will be wondering where I got to! Do you want a lift? We've hired a car so I can take you somewhere if that would make your life easier? And to pay you back for lunch of course!"
"Oh no, I couldn't. Thank you for the offer though!"
Before Lucy could protest further, she felt a vibration from her pocket. She pulled out her mobile and checked the text.
"She wants me to pick up onigiri…" Lucy muttered to herself.
"Well then I will walk you to the nearest konbini," Gene said, "Before I bid you adieu!"
Gene did as he said he would, guiding Lucy to a seven-eleven before finding a scrap of paper and scribbling something down.
"This is my email address, I'd love to hear how the rest of your vacation goes," he said, affecting a daft American accent.
"You're terrible."
"I know," he said, grinning.
Lucy took the piece of paper and pocketed it.
"I'll see you around then."
"Definitely! Bye Gene."
"Bye Lucy!"
Lucy darted into the konbini before looking back and seeing Gene walking away. She sighed like a love sick school girl and turned to the display of onigiri to find her friend's favourite.
Ten minutes later found Lucy sitting in the car and gearing herself up to drive again. There was just something so wrong about driving on the left side of the road, though her friend strongly disagreed. Lucy's only comfort was that at least the car was an automatic, especially as whenever her friend drove, she often went to change gears with a gear stick that did not exist…
Lucy ignited the engine and began the ten minute drive back to the rural ryokan. Driving on the - in her opinion - wrong side of the road, Lucy found she had to concentrate twice as hard as when she usually drove and even then she found herself wanting to drift over the the - in her opinion - correct side of the road.
The sun had just started to set. Lucy noticed a few other cars with their lights on and thought she ought to put hers on too. Her fingers automatic went to where the light switch was on her own car back in America.
The windscreen wipers began dashing back and forth across the screen.
"Oh darn, no that's not what I wanted!"
She flicked the switch back, but the wipers only got faster.
"No! Stop! Eugh!"
She tried again and finally the windscreen wipers stopped.
"So where is the lights switch?" she wondered out loud.
Her eyes darted from the road in front of her, to her rear view mirror to the dashboard in front of her, hoping to spot a symbol that looked like the light switch.
She tried to twist the end of the indicator stick, but that only turned on the rear window's wiper.
"This car is ridiculous!"
Blindly, she tried pushing and pulling the column switches, but to no avail. The lights would not turn on. She managed to do a lot of other things, including turning on the radio, setting the autopilot and changing the temperature of the air con. But the lights were still stubbornly off.
Now getting frustrated, Lucy looked for somewhere to stop. It was going to be dangerous to continue driving as the light levels dropped without them and she was nothing if not a conscientious driver!
The road curved ahead and Lucy took the corner in her stride.
Until she spotted a tall dark something, obscured by the lack of light in the shadows of the nearby trees.
She slammed her foot on the brakes. A sickening crunch filled her ears as her seat belt cut into her chest.
Then all she could hear was her own breathing. It echoed around her head.
"What…"
Her eyes slowly focused on the road in front of her but she could not see what she had hit. Her hands worked automatically, putting the car in reverse. As the car moved backwards, bile rose in her throat as she heard a horrible crunching noise under the car.
"Oh… No!"
Lucy all but fell out of the car to view her victim.
"No… No... "
It was obviously human. Dark haired and dressed in familiar clothing. His face would have been handsome if he did not have gravel embedded in his skin and blood staining his shirt.
"Oh jeez, no. It can't be!"
The sound of her own heart pumping blood around her body pounded in her ears. Lucy's brain struggled to think. What should she do? Pulse! He might have a pulse!
Shaking hands reached for his wrist.
She felt a pulse!
Eugene was alive!
His eyes fluttered open as he let out a weak groan.
"Oh my god." Lucy muttered. "I hit you with my car. Are you okay? Oh my god!"
Eugene shook his head, coughing as he attempted to sit up.
He chuckled, "Fine reunion this is."
And despite Eugene's injuries, he was okay and he lived and he and Lucy lived happily ever after and they had 5 adorable kids and a big house and many adorable adventures The End.
It was warm but the life was gone.
"No… Come on!"
CPR. CPR could save him! Lucy tried. She beat at his chest but there was no response. No gasp of breath. No coughing splutter.
He was dead.
She did not know the emergency numbers in Japan. Nor did she know how to tell them what had happened in a language they might understand.
Then the worst thought occurred to her; what would Hannah do?
Horrible, horrible ideas filled her mind. Hannah would hide the body. Hannah had read enough creepy fiction and seen enough horror movies to know how to…
Then an even worse thought occurred to Lucy.
So did she.
No one had seen the accident. There were no witnesses. All she needed to do what hide the body without leaving any DNA and… No one ever need know.
There was a sheet in the back of the car. She could wrap him up and dump him in the lake she had seen on her drive that morning. That was out of the way. No one would see her.
"No! That's dreadful."
And yet her body started going through the motions.
Tears ran down her face as she wrapped him up and lugged him into the back of the car. Tears obscured her vision as she drove to the lake. Sobs wracked her body as she pushed him into the water.
A stillness settled over her as he disappeared from sight.
Surprisingly calm, Lucy climbed back into the car and continued the drive back to the ryokan.
When she arrived, she found Hannah outside enjoying the sunset and reading.
"Hey! How was the town? Did I miss much?"
"Just a few temples and stuff," Lucy said, the words escaping her mouth without conscious thought.
She had just killed someone. How could she be so calm?! She had just run someone over and dumped him in a lake and here she was discussing temples with her friend.
"Cool. Oh, you dropped something," Hannah muttered, pointing.
Lucy followed her finger to the floor, where she spotted a small piece of paper. She scooped down and picked it up, noting Gene's email address written on one side. It was useless now.
"Oh thanks," she mumbled.
"Are you okay?" Hannah asked, concerned.
Lucy shook herself mentally.
"Yeah, sorry, just a bit tired. I'm gonna go and wash up before dinner."
"Alright."
Lucy hurried inside.
Her mind raced through everything that had happened. She had cleaned off any chance of evidence left on his body. The car had nothing on it. And no one had seen her.
Besides, it wasn't as if someone with psychometry on the other side of the world would pick up something of Gene's and see his death, right?
Author's note: So a while ago I wrote this and never posted it but its dedicated to my dear friend Bee!