Chapter One: A Stranger in his homeland
It was not going to be a good day. Even though on this beautiful June morning, where the sun was shining, the birds were chirping and a warm breeze was gently blowing through the tree branches James Saki was completely convinced it was going to end badly for him. He walked down the street towards his school with his head down and hands in the pockets of his navy blue school uniform. He silently pleaded to any higher power that was listening for nothing to happen to him today.
James stood approximately 5 foot 8 inches but because he constantly slouched his shoulders he generally had a very poor posture and measured at just over 5 foot 7 inches. He'd learned to try to hide this in plain view. He had short light brown hair and a thin body frame with very little muscle tone. He wore a pair of thin-rimmed glasses due to his 'nearsightedness '.
He entered the school's front doors and quickly changed into his indoor shoes before beginning to make his way through the busy hallways to his locker. He had been attending Juban Junior High school for three years now and knew the way to his locker by heart. He didn't need to look for class numbers or landmarks to act as guides for him. As per usual he kept his eyes down cast as he navigated through the crowds of students so that he didn't draw any unwanted attention to himself. This allowed him to blend in with the masses of students and effectively become almost completely invisible to them. He was being very careful to not make eye contact with anyone as he passed by them. He couldn't think of anything he needed less than for someone to catch him looking at them and completely misinterpret it.
As he neared his destination he hoped that he actually was as invisible as he was trying to be when he noticed a particular group of boys a short distance down the hall from his locker. When he reached it he quickly unlocked the door and began putting his lunch and books inside as he prepared for the day's morning classes.
"Hey, Hollywood, why are you trying to avoid us?"
James dropped his head and let out a deep sigh as he felt his spirit drop. He knew that it had been simply too much to ask that even for just one day he would not have to hear someone call him by that degrading name. He sighed deeply again and steadied his shoulders before turning to face the owner of the comment.
Sure enough Atsuo Yoshi was standing there and as always was surrounded by his loyal entourage of friends. Atsuo was of average height and weight. He was slightly taller than James at 5 foot9 inches and clearly was more muscular as he noticeably filled out his school uniform more so than James. He had short black hair and was quite popular among the student body because of his varsity status on the school's baseball team. It seemed ironic to James that Atsuo's name in Japanese meant friendly man and yet he was anything but to him. Case in point he had a smug look on his face right now as he waited patiently for James to give some sort of response to his sarcastic question.
"Hello Atsuo. What are you talking about? I wasn't avoiding you at all. I just had to get some books from my locker before my first class."
"Nah. I don't believe you. I just think you believe that you are just simply too good to mingle with us common folk?"
"No. That is not true." James stammered in a failed attempt to sound convincing.
Atsuo took a step forward towards James his eyes narrowing into tiny slits. He intensely stared at James with a look full of pure intimidation and dislike. James felt the blood run cold in his veins as he didn't dare look away for fear that it might make the situation worse. Atsuo continued to stare down James and after what seemed like an eternity he thrust his head forward. This abrupt movement caused James to flinch and fall back against his locker the back of his head hitting the hard metal with a noticeable thud.
Atsuo his friends and some of the other people around them burst into a loud chorus of laughter at James' clumsy reaction. Some of those spectators even began pointing at him allowing other people who missed the action to quickly realize what was going on. This increased the number of on-lookers staring at him. Students watching the altercation were giving him looks that made him made him feel small and completely vulnerable. James tried desperately to compose himself. He regained his balance and stood up straight before fixing his glasses that had slide down his nose during his abrupt head jerk. He managed to fight the urge to run and hide, knowing that it would accomplish nothing. He wouldn't allow himself to give Atsuo the satisfaction of seeing him run away like a scared rabbit.
When the chorus of cruel laughter started to subside the crowd of people began to break apart as they went back to what they had been doing just prior to the altercation. Atsuo decided that he had gotten enough enjoyment for now and turned to leave signalling to his friends that it was time to move on. As they left one of the boys purposely bumped hard into James with his shoulder as he walked by. This caused great discomfort for James as he put his hand to his shoulder in a futile attempt to rub some of the painful sensations away caused by the impact.
As he massaged his shoulder James turned back to his still open locker and tossed the remaining books from his bag into it, a clear sign of frustration to anyone observing him. He didn't know how much more of this he could take. Ever since he was young and started school people like Atsuo had been picking on him, singling him out because of his mixed ethnic heritage.
James' mother was an American school teacher who married a successful Japanese businessman when she moved to Tokyo to teach the English language to Japanese students. He had been born in Japan but his parents had given him an English first name to go with his Japanese last name. This made it painfully obvious to everyone that he was different from them in a society that valued ethnic conformity. It was his American linage that had made him a target for the various bullies of the school system who resented the fact that he wasn't a full blooded Japanese citizen. Atsuo's usage of the moniker Hollywood was the latest in a string of de-grading nicknames his fellow class mates had called him over the years. Some of the past ones had included Bomber, Yankee, Redneck and his personal favourite Elvis. It seemed like the bullies took any slang word used to refer to Americans and applied it to him regardless of either historical relevance or significance.
"Those guys are real jerks, aren't they?"
James snapped out his daze and turned to see Makoto Kino standing a few feet behind him. She was unusually and exceptionally tall for girls her age standing at around 5 foot 11 inches. She had long curly brown hair that she often tied up in a ponytail although she did usually leave two thin strands of hair hanging down on either side of her face. She was wearing a white long sleeved baggy shirt with strings in the front and a beige coloured square frill around her collar area. She also wore a matching long beige skirt that extended down to just above her ankles and matched her shirt collar. A pair of slip-on brown shoes with a small wedge was her usual style of footwear. James knew that this was the school uniform of her old school. He had heard rumours that the school board officials had allowed her to wear her old uniform because Juban Junior High didn't have any of their uniforms in her size in stock at the time. He also had heard that she had been transferred to this school after she had been involved in some sort of physical fight at her previous one.
Despite her reputation for being an intimidating person Makoto was one of the few people at the school or, for that matter, anywhere to treat him with some amount of respect. It was that kindness that had made James fall deeply in love with Makoto and believe that she was the most beautiful woman in the world. Seeing her on a daily basis and having her talk to him on occasion were the only things that made him come to school every day and suffer the constant abuse at the hands of people like Atsuo.
"I guess so. But only for a few more months and hopefully I won't have to ever see them again" James answered.
"That is a good attitude to have but you should still stand up for yourself. If you show them that you aren't afraid of them they will leave you alone" Makoto said as she winked one of her bright green eyes at him.
The gesture completely threw James for a loop as his heart skipped a few beats. His mind raced with the possible meanings for the wink. He had secretly desired Makoto ever since the first time she talked to him and showed him some kindness.
Could she have finally sensed his feelings for her and was now giving signs that she felt the same way? He thought.
Fixated on his internal musings he failed to realize that he hadn't offered any sort of response to Makoto's comment. A rush of embarrassment enveloped him when he finally did comprehend that reality and he desperately hoped that his cheeks weren't blushing bright red. He didn't want Makoto to see him like a flustered young boy but as a confident man. His brain quickly switched gears in a desperate attempt to come up with some sort of good answer something that would make her smile or even laugh.
BRRRRRRRIIIIINNNNNNNGGGGGGGGG
"Oh cripes! I got to get to class. See you later James." Makoto called back to him as she rushed to her home room class.
James stood there and watched her go. He felt his spirits sink again as he watched her hurry down the hallway before quickly disappearing around a corner. He fully enjoyed the brief moments and verbal exchanges he had with her but he desperately wanted much more. For now he just had to be content with merely being able to see her talk to her however briefly and now the amazing memory of that single wink.
End of Chapter One...
3
