"Dave, come on." Tsukasa said as she knocked on the door of the the ships cabin.
"Daddy's back you bitches!" a man screamed from behind the door as a woman moaned. "Daddy's back you bitches!"
"Come on." Tsukasa knocked louder "Tsukasa what are you doing?" Hossan asked "Dave's not coming." Tsukasa pointed at the door as they both stood there in an awkward silence and heard the screams.
"Forget him then. We need to get moving, this boat is going to dock any moment now."
Hossan was an Eastern European man who's English was not so good. And his thick accent did not aid in that. Here He wore a dirty blue wind breaker and dark blue sweatpants.
"Here pass me that." Hossan said to Tsukasa. She pulled down a ladder and handed it to him.
Tsukasa was about twenty eight years old, she was cute with stunning purple eyes and silky purple hair. She was known for her beauty, but never showed interest in the men on the ship. Even though she had spent the last seven months on the "Lucky Star" cargo ship. She was always wearing a school girls outfit with a brown leather jacket over top of it.
She had a 'mysterious past' as described by most of the crew. She did not talk much, and only seemed to talk to Hossan.
"Whooh, Yeah! There she is...Lucky City." said Hossan Tsukasa looked onward from the upper deck of the ship as the lights and sounds of the city began to become greater. She looked onward to the sight of the Yagami Bridge But an ominous feeling overcome Tsukasa as she entered the interior of the ship. Almost as if she was going to be in trouble soon.
"...yeah" Tsukasa gulped down and said in a nervous voice.
"You ever been?" Hossan looked at her with a questionable expression.
"No..." Tsukasa retorted "Crazy place." Hossan said as his eyes lit up. "You'll like it here."
They moved into the galley as they passed some lazy people sitting on the floor. One playing a hand held video game.
"So...what are you going to do here?" Tsukasa said "I might come back on board the Lucky Star...or I might try to make a go of it. Like they say, it is the land of opportunity. I always wanted to make it big own a nice place, get a dog, a house...live the dream."
"Like my friend?" Tsukasa said "OH YEAH!" Hossan exclaimed "Yes she's got a lot, houses, men, cars, parties. She writes to me in these crazy emails and after I got into trouble, I thought maybe...well...uh..." Tsukasa paused "And then I got this gig and spent the last seven months with you fine people."
She stumbled over a drunk man in the hallway. "And I just forgot about it until now." Tsukasa finished They walked through the kitchen, there was a man in a white apron who appeared to be baking a cake, but Tsukasa saw him take a small box from his pocket and pour some card like iobjects into the mixture. She stood there staring at him.
She mouthed what was written on the cards. "Princess Robot Bubbleg..." She was cut off by Hossan.
"Tsukasa, hurry." Hossan tapped her on the shoulder.
"Yeah, anyways, after the war finished I couldn't get a job...nobody could. So...I uh...did some dumb things and got involved with some idiots."
"Oh, we all do dumb things." he placed his hand on her shoulder and tried to comfort her. "That's what makes us human."
"Could be" Tsukasa said under her breath as she looked at the metal floor.
They stepped out onto the lower deck as they saw a car being lifted by a crane onto the docks. Tsukasa looked out to see giant warehouses and skyscrapers as far as they eye can see. She stood in awe as she noticed the Broker Bridge and all the small lights which she knew were possibly hundreds of cars and trucks. They exited the boat down a ramp now. No one there could speak English except for them. As they stepped off the ramp, Hossan went his own way to see a woman who was ecstatic to see him. But Tsukasa stayed behind and waited for her friend to show up.
A beat up brown taxi cab drove down the hill dangerously fast and almost ran into the car that was being loaded off the Lucky Star. The rcar pulled up in front of Tsukasa and the door opened.
A few beer bottles fell out of the car door and broke on the ground as a pretty pink haired woman leaped out from the drivers seat. She wore large round glasses and a schoolgirl uniform with a tan and black colored shirt on over top of it.
"Tsukasa, my friend! I can't believe you're here! Welcome to America." she exclaimed.
"Miyuki, my friend! It has been so long since I've seen you." She hugged her tightly "" Tsukasa said "What?...good to see you to." Miyuki said nervously.
"You haven't forgotten our language have you?" Tsukasa said "Umm... Maybe a little. I've been here for about ten years now!You can speak English!"Miyuki said Miyuki yelled "Remember we learned it from those American guys with the big..." "Yeah, Yeah, Yeah..." Tsukasa cut her off "Ahh...you'll do fine here.
Well, in any case its good to see you again." Miyuki said as she put her arm around Tsukasa and lead her over to the taxi.
"I can't believe you made it! Shit...I have to tell you I had quite a night last night. Two men. This is the land of opportunity." Miyuki threw Tsukasa's suitcase in the trunk "I've made it!" Miyuki yelled as she opened a beer and chugged it."Sorry, I'm a touch drunk." Miyuki stumbled and dropped the bottle.
"A touch?" Tsukasa questioned Miyuki started to yell into the air. " MY FRIEND IS HERE. WE'RE GOING TO RULE THE WORLD!"
"Woah! Miyuki, Miyuki-chan, come on, come on, relax." Tsukasa caught her as she fell backwards.
Some construction workers were getting annoyed at the commotion.
"Just take over the world somewhere else alright?" The construction worker yelled. "Your in the damn way."
"Screw you, screw you all, my friend is here! Tsukasa Hiiragi, she's the fucking man, bitches." Miyuki screamed to them "Miyuki, come on lets go...to the mansion, eh?" Tsukasa said with a curious look on her face.
"Yes...the mansion. Yeah!" Miyuki said nervously as she stumbled to get into the passenger seat of the taxi "Maybe you should drive."
"Maybe I should" Tsukasa replied "Hey, is this a cab? Wheres the sports car?"
"Err...its in the shop...come on." She pointed to the GPS "Here use this to get to the mansion."
Tsukasa looked down toward the center of the vehicle just below the radio. The streets on the map lit up bright yellow. She could hear some Japanese pop song playing on the radio, she knew she must have been in a heavily Asian and Japanese part of Lucky City. And being Japanese she felt kind of like she belonged here. Which is probably why Miyuki-chan lived here.
"So, why don't you show me around the city?" Tsukasa asked
"Terrorists." Miyuki said
"What?" Tsukasa questioned
"Terrorists, there's been a big scare and due to the xenophobia expressed by almost every resident in the metropolitan area of the city, you can't go acrossthe bridges so well. And you without a Visa. I would just stay in Little Tokyo." Miyuki warned.
"Whats a zenei, zeneie fobae?" Tsukasa said puzzled.
"Xenophobia is a dislike and/or fear of that which is unknown or different from oneself. It comes from the Greek words (xenos), meaning "stranger," "foreigner" and (phobos), meaning "fear." The term is typically used to describe a fear or dislike of forigners or of people significantly different from oneself, usually in the context of visibly differentiated minorities." Miyuki finished
"......................................W-What?..................." O_o Tsukasa just looked at Miyuki.
They then passed an old decrepit building with boarded up windows and a fading sign. That read "Takara Enterprises"
"That's my cab depot, its where I make all my money." Miyuki said in her drunken state.
"Tsukasa, have you ever had two men at once?" Miyuki calmly asked Tsukasa's face turned red. "Ahh...well...look we're here...wait, this is it. This is the mansion?" Tsukasa said sadly "Its just a temporary place." she retorted quickly. "The mansion is coming my friend. That is the dream...follow me"
They stepped out of the car and made their way upstairs. Tsukasa noticed all the graffiti that was sprayed all over the walls. And how there was not even a doorknob on the front door.
"Hahaha, come in, come in." Miyuki said as she placed Tsukasa's suitcas on the filthy carpet "Make yourself at home, what's mine is yours."
Miyuki ran over to the pullout sofa next to the broken television set. And she smashed a cockroach as it scurried across the floor.
"Got him! Little bastard! If he paid rent I wouldn't care." Miyuki smiled She tried to scrape it off the bottom of her shoe, but to no avail. Then she looked over at Tsukasa who looked very angry at her.
"Ahh...well...Tsukasa-chan...its so good to see you." Miyuki jumped onto the pullout sofa only to be poked in the back by a spring, drawing blood, which she wiped on the pillow. "Oh, well I didn't like this shirt anyways." she said as the blood stain got slightly bigger.
"So..." Miyuki said awkwardly "So..." Tsukasa said with anger "Are you full of crap or what?!"
"What?" Miyuki said as if she were genuinely surprised "So wheres the condo? Wheres the sports car? Wheres the men, the money?"
"What are you talking about?" Miyuki said "In the letters to my mother, in the letters to me. All I hear about is Miss Big, Miss Miyuki-chan, living the American dream. Sports cars, men, money, condos, the beach...opportunity. I come here and the only thing big about your life is the cockroaches." Tsukasa finished
"That's right I got the best cockroaches. I got the best dirt." Miyuki replied sarcastically as Tsukasa laughed "Screw you, you idiot." Tsukasa replied laughingly
"Okay, I'm an idiot. But you must admit. I have got the best line in bullshit you have ever heard." Miyuki said cockily "Yes, this I know." said Tsukasa "But here." Miyuki stood up to confront Tsukasa. "All I needed was one good girl. One good girl and I could do well. Not 'take over the world', but okay...now maybe I have this." Miyuki put her hand on her shoulder and looked her in the eye. She then made her way over to the small kitchen and poured herself some black coffee from the brewer.
"Now, what about you?" Miyuki asked "What about me?" she said "Well, why did you leave Japan for all this time? First I hear your running with the wrong kind. Then I hear you joined the Navy of Japan. Now your here in Lucky City. You never tell me anything."
"No" Tsukasa replied "What do you mean no?" Miyuki expected an answer "I mean I'm not telling you anything. Another time." Tsukasa said strongly
"Oooh...mystery woman...strange and exotic schoolgirl in sera fuku. What happened, did your captain get you pregnant?" Miyuki said with a smile Tsukasa's face turned red with embarrassment. "Screw you...I mean no, no, nothing like that. The ships were fine. It was before that. Two things. You remember during the Japan/Russia conflict. We did some bad things and bad things happened to us." She laughed slightly. "War is where the young and stupid are tricked by the old and bitter into killing each other. I was very young, and very angry. Maybe that's no excuse. What do you think Miyuki?...Miyuki?..." She looked over to see Miyuki half asleep and drool going down her mouth. Tsukasa pounded on the table, waking her up abruptly.
"MIYUKI!" Tsukasa yelled "Are you sleeping, you haven't changed a bit since high school. Come on."
"Huh...no way." Miyuki wiped the drool on her sleeve. "What time is it?" she looked at her watch. "Shit...I have to take the cab back...It's on a shift." She finally took a drink of the coffee she poured. "Phhhh..." She spit it all over Tsukasa. "This tastes like a rat shit in it!"
"Eww..." Tsukasa cried "Sorry, I have to go. You should meet me at the cab depot tomorrow morning. It's late. Don't worry its easy, out the door, turn left and then another left at the diner." Miyuki said fast "What are you talking about...diner?" Tsukasa said worried as she wiped the spit off of her jacket "Go down one block and then turn right on Ohagi." Miyuki said hurried "I'm new here." Tsukasa said loudly "Then walk all the way down the street and we are right there on the left corner of Ichigo Street." Miyuki said "Ichigo...like strawberries?" Tsukasa was confused "It's really flash. We got some great cars. Here give me a hug Tsukasa-chan. Its good to have you here friend. I've got something for you..." just then Miyuki's phone began to ring "Oh, damn,damn,damn..."
She answered it.
"Yes Akira-sama forgive me...okay...no...no...please don't kill me off, eh? Okay...yes,no,um...bye." she hung up abruptly as she ran out of the apartment.
Tsukasa just decided to give up and laid down on her sofa couch and try to go to sleep for the night. But she would not sleep tonight if she knew what kind of day she was in store for tomorrow.
Chapter 1 End