Chapter 10

"Man trig finals really suck." "You said it Ryu I can't believe Mrs. Parker had a seventeen page test." "Well Kitty at least you weren't taking Dr. Banner's test talk about murder. Hopefully you don't get him for a math teacher in your junior year Kitty." "Well look on the bright side Ryu summer vacation starts tomorrow." "I still can't get used to the fact that the schools in this country take off for two whole months." "Don't they have summer vacation in Japan ?" "No Kitty they go to school year round." "No wonder there so far ahead in technology. You have no shortage of bookworms." "So what are your folks doing for summer vacation Kitty ?" "Well Ryu they were talking about going to Japan." "Talk about irony Your folks are thinking about going to Japan for vacation and their daughter is going out with someone from Japan." "You know Ryu now that I think about it. It is kind of ironic. Oh shit I don't think either of my parents can speak Japanese ?"

"That can be a problem almost no one in Japan speaks English." "Ryu how long does it take to learn Japanese ?" "If you started at maybe four years old about two to three years give or take. If you started now maybe six to ten years to be able to have a simple conversation."

"Oh man we are so screwed. So Ryu what are you and your mom doing for vacation ?" "Well I don't know if we are doing anything. My moms job might be bogged down with cases." "Well if your mom isn't planning anything maybe you could come with us ?" "You sure your folks wouldn't mind ?" "I'll ask them today when we get home."

"So mom if we go to Japan for vacation is it ok for Ryu to come along ?" "You would have to see if his mother doesn't already have plans."

"Mom I was wondering are we doing anything this summer ?" "Sorry Ryu I'm too bogged down with cases to take any time off. Why do you ask ?" "Well Kitty's parents and her were going to Japan and Kitty was going to ask if I could go with them." "It's ok with me if they want you to go." "Thanks mom."

"So Kitty what did your parents say ?" "They said it's ok if your mom would let you go." "Well she said it's ok as long as your parents were alright with me going so I guess it depends if your parents go through with it." "I wonder what we would do over there ?" "Well there is mount Fuji and Kyoto is a nice place to visit. Of course there is always Tokyo." "I would think after what happened to you that Tokyo would be the last place you would want to visit."

"Well Hank and the Professor have been helping me a lot lately with coping with my fathers death." "That's good to hear I was thinking you would be messed up from that forever."

"So Kitty what did Ryu's mother say ?" "She said it was ok with her if it was ok with you." "Well then I guess were all set with the flight and the hotel. I convinced your father to get you and Ryu your own room so long as there is no funny business." "You don't have to worry about that mom Ryu is too much of a gentleman to pull that stuff."

"Well Ryu we are all set. We have a six o'clock pm flight one week from today." "That's great Kitty I guess now we just have to get spending money and our clothes packed." "I wonder Ryu you don't know if there are any other mutants in Japan ?" "The only one I know of Kitty is Sunfire but I doubt we would run into him."

"Well I heard you two are heading for Japan in one week. I hope you can speak even the slightest bit of Japanese half pint ?" "Well Logan luckily Ryu is coming with me." "Well kid hopefully you haven't forgotten how to speak Japanese." "[No Logan-san I haven't forgotten it is my first language after all.]" "What did you say Ryu ?" "I was just telling Logan that I haven't forgotten how to speak Japanese. Oh yeah Kitty the one thing you have to remember is in Japanese your name is spoken family name first given name second. For example my name in Japanese is actually pronounced Son Ryu not how you would pronounce it here."

"So then my name would be pronounced Pride Kitty not Kitty Pride." "Exactly Kitty it's a little confusing at first but eventually you get used to it." "No wonder why Japanese is the second hardest language to learn."