AN: This chapter is fairly heavy with dialogue. Also, Act Three doesn't have a name as of yet.

ACT THREE

Chapter Twenty-One: Ein Alter Freund

My body lurched forward as my old friend's arms wrapped me in an embrace. It was unsurprisingly firm, more of a bear hug than anything. Over my friend's shoulder, I saw Kenji backing into his room once more, which implied that he was disturbed by the newcomer.

"Aw dude, it's been a while!" my old pal said.

"I... can't... breathe..." I gasped, his grip constricting my breathing.

He let me go and started to apologize. Hearing English again was pleasant, especially from a voice different than Lilly's. I accepted his apology and invited him into my room. He entered, shutting the door behind him, as I grabbed two Cokes out of the mini-fridge. I handed him one and he sat on my bed, leaving me to sit in the desk chair.

"Tell me Louis," I said as my fingers curled around the pop tab. "What are you doing in Japan?"

"Vacation," he replied as he opened his Coca-Cola can. "Been here a week, actually."

"A week?" Louis nodded, the carbonated drink gushing down his throat. "So, when do you go back?"

"Tonight." He set the soda can on my nightstand. "Woulda came sooner, but my parents were dragging my ass all around Sendai and down into Tokyo."

"Sucks that you have to go back tonight." I took a long drink from the can, ingesting all of the soft drink and letting out a long belch after. "How about I show you around?"

Louis finished off his can and nodded. "Sure, why not? Kinda became an expert at looking around this past week."

I stood, grabbing my wallet at the same time. "Alright, let's go then."

He stood, the top of his head level with the tip of my ears. We left my room and headed down past the common area. After telling Haruhiko and Hayashi I'd explain later, Louis and I walked out onto the school grounds. There were quite a few students hustling about.

Once we reached the gates, I noticed a car parked outside of the gates. It was an older beige Honda Accord, which I assumed Louis drove to Yamaku.

"Rental?" I asked and Louis nodded. "What about your parents? Don't they need a car?"

Louis shook his head. "They're just walking around Sendai today, so they let me use the car. There's a GPS in there, which is how I got here."

"I expected that. You think I would be dumb enough to figure you came here by memory?"

"Uh..."

"Screw you too, asshole," I said as I walked to the right side of the car, opening the door. "I'll drive."

"Don't you need a license or something?"

My arm rested on the ajar door. "We're only going into the town down there." My finger was aimed down the hill.

Louis grunted and got into the passenger side, which would be the American driver side, and I slid into the driver seat. The door shut with a soft thump and the engine quickly started when I turned the key. Putting the automatic transmission into 'drive,' the two of us rode down the hill.

"Surprised you were able to drive here," I commented.

Out of the corner of my eye, Louis shrugged. "I sorta am, too."

I disregarded his possibly illegal drive to Yamaku from Sendai and continued driving, despite the fact I wasn't legally allowed to drive in Japan either. However, there were rarely police patrolling the area near Yamaku and I didn't drive recklessly, so trouble didn't seem likely.

It took a mere five minutes for me to pull the rental car next to the Shanghai. Had we walked, it could have taken nearly half an hour, making the car a blessing. The two of us got out and Louis followed me into the Shanghai.

The Shanghai actually had customers, likely making Yuuko much more nervous. However, upon reaching the counter, Yuuko was nowhere in sight. My fingers bounced off of the bell, a sound other than the bell being made.

"Oomph!"

Following the thump and the groan, Yuuko shot up from behind the counter, fussing with her glasses and begging for an apology at the same time.

"Hello welcome to the Shanghai I wasn't sleeping please forgive me!" she exclaimed in a single breath, all in oddly understandable Japanese.

"Calm down Yuuko," I said.

Yuuko sighed in relief when she put her glasses back on and recognized me. "Oh, thank goodness it's you. Do you want coffee?"

I nodded. "A bowl of spicy curry and a pot of coffee."

"A pot?"

Her eyes drifted behind me to Louis and she nodded in acknowledgment. While she hurried off to prepare my order, I led the confused Louis to a table in the back. Along the way, we passed the albino girl and Mikhail, so I gave the latter a friendly nod. He returned the nod while the albino gave me a cold, hard stare.

"Creepy," I said in English once we moved far enough away from the two.

"What?"

"Nothing." He didn't notice.

The booth was in a corner, actually being the same one my little study group used over a week before. Louis sat across from me, the sunlight making his ever-present stubble all the more noticeable.

"I see you still shave like a drunk," I joked.

"And you haven't shaved for once."

My fingers rubbed my jawline, stray hairs being very tangible. Usually, I would shave every other morning or so, but exams had left me too stressed to remember. I assumed that my face was somewhat haggard-looking.

"Guess not. I might actually let it grow some."

Louis opened his mouth to speak, but the clattering of china cut him off as Yuuko made her way to our table. The order was prepared in record time, though she needed work on her 'actually placing the order on the table' time. I thanked her once the dishes were on the plate and poured coffee for the both of us. Taking a sip of the coffee, my taste buds gave it their seal of approval.

"You still drink coffee like a fiend, mein Führer," Louis commented after I downed my mug and refilled it.

"Whatever," I said indifferently, ignoring the nickname. "You know I only drink so much caffeine because it calms my nerves."

"And what are you nervous about?"

"Nothing. Just thirsty now."

Another torrent of coffee went down my throat. The whole time, my mind kept trying to come up with some sort of reason as to why Louis was there, since vacation could have been spent somewhere else. Sure, I was glad to see my best friend, but the question still tugged at the back of my mind, so I decided to just ask.

"So, why did you decide to come to the Sendai area? Why not Okinawa or something?"

"Okinawa? Wasn't that one of the places in World at War?"

"Yes, but I'm being serious. That place supposedly has great beaches. Hell, even Hokkaido is a popular spot."

"Your point?"

My lungs heaved in a sigh. "I'm just wondering why you're here other than vacation. There has to be a reason."

It was Louis' turn to sigh. "If you want to know, it was because of your uncle."

"Godda-"

"No, just listen." My mouth shut and my ears were attentive as I kept sipping at the coffee. "My parents wanted to know where we could go for vacation. They asked your uncle and he suggested Sendai."

"And they just listened to him?"

Louis shook his head. "They mulled over all the options over a week. Eventually, they ruled out Seoul, Barcelona, London, and Rome, leaving us with Sendai. So, here I am."

The next hour was spent talking about his expeditions throughout Sendai and Tokyo. I was slowly eating my curry the whole time, taking in everything he described. One of Louis' biggest issues was the usage of Japanese throughout Japan. Though it shouldn't have surprised anyone, he apparently anticipated much more English usage in the Land of the Rising Sun. His only other language was Spanish, bits of German and Russian notwithstanding.

He also found himself fawning over the high school girls when he walked around the city. His attempts to get phone numbers were quite funny to hear. Not only did most of the girls he spoke to not speak English, his efforts would have been ultimately futile, since he would never talk to them again. Even if they did, it wouldn't be in a mutually understood language.

"You do know that the girls would have never understood you, right?" I remarked.

"So? They were hot, and the only language I'd need is the language of love." Louis had a wide smirk on his face.

I laughed. "Kono yōno baka," I said. You're such an idiot.

Louis raised his eyebrows in confusion. "The hell did you say?"

I shook my head, grinning. "Don't worry about it."

Another hour or so passed, the two of us making smalltalk. He told me about the happenings at my old school, which he still attended. Before the American summer break started, some people voiced their envy of me for being able to go to Japan, which really pissed me off. Various other unimportant things were discussed, and by the time I checked my watch, my body shot up.

"What's wrong dude?" Louis asked, slightly startled by my sudden movement.

"Scheiße! Look at the time!" I exclaimed, tilting the watch to him.

"It's two-fifteen. So what?"

"I need to be at the train station in a couple hours!"

"One, stop yelling. Two, for what?"

I groaned. "One of my friends is going on a cross-country trip. I was going to see her off."

"Her?" Louis' eyes had a glint of mischievousness in them.

"Don't start, douche."

"Alright then, man. Where do you need to go, exactly?"

I slumped back into my seat, sighing. "Sendai Station."

"How long would a bus ride take?"

I shrugged. "A few hours, and the next bus at the school doesn't show up until three."

"Well, guess what?" I groaned in response. "I need to get back to Sendai, anyway."

"So, we're driving?"

"Yep."

I conceded, though I was reluctant to do so. The possibility of being arrested due to Louis' possible illegal driving wasn't pleasing, but something of a necessity. We both stood, Louis walking to the car while I paid the bill. Yuuko stopped me before I could leave, however.

"Who is that boy?" she asked, nervousness gripping her voice.

"An old friend, Yuuko. That's all."

"Oh, okay then."

I turned to leave and bid Yuuko farewell. The warm summer air met me in a short blast as I walked to passenger side of the Accord and got into the warm interior. Had it not been parked in the shade, Louis and I would have entered an oven of a car.

Louis started the car and turned on the AC, cooling the car off some. He turned the GPS on and we made our way to Sendai.

"Turn right in four hundred meters."

"Yeah, I know! Damn GPS."

We had been stuck in traffic for half an hour, almost at the station. The GPS had been informing us to turn right the entire time, causing Louis to get mad at the navigational system. Traffic started to move again and we made it a hundred meters before having to stop again. It was five o'clock, giving me half a mind to just get out and walk. Louis, however, insisted on accompanying me to the station.

Louis grunted. "Traffic here sucks ASS!"

"Calm down, man. High blood pressure isn't a good thing," I said.

"Says the guy with bipolar." He snorted. "Anyway, what's your new school like? You haven't said much about it."

"Did my uncle say anything about it?"

Louis shook his head and traffic moved again, revealing a parking space next to the sidewalk.

"Just park there," I said. "We'll walk the rest of the way."

Louis nodded and pulled the car into the space. Once parked, the two of us got out and started to walk.

"Anyway," Louis said. "Like I asked. Your school?"

"Yamaku Academy is a school for disabled students," I said. "My uncle never told you that, huh?"

Louis' eyes were wide. "Like I said, he didn't say shit about it. But... a school for the disabled? Surely you're not disabled."

I nodded. "I got sent here because of arrhythmia and numerous other issues. What's strange is the fact that I can run long distances and be perfectly fine."

"What do you mean?"

"I joined the track team my second week here. Second best runner on the team."

We came to a crosswalk and waited for the signal amidst a crowd of people.

"So, no hockey at all?"

"Some of the students are missing limbs, dude. I know of four off the top of my head."

Louis cringed. "That's kind of gross."

"You get used to it. One girl, Rin, is armless. Despite having no arms, she's an artist and paints quite a bit. That mural you may have seen whenever you came to my dorm? She did that."

The signal for the crowd to walk turned and we got pushed with the crowd.

Louis' eyes were wider than ever. "But, how would she do that?"

"Her feet. Emi, who has no legs, is the fastest runner on the track team. That's not too surprising, given the fact that prostheses are used and such, but you understand."

Louis nodded. "Didn't know about the prosthetics, but yeah."

I decided against bringing Molly and Miki up. I knew next to nothing about Molly, other than that she was Indian and her prostheses looked like Terminator legs, and Miki didn't perform any extraordinary feats given her missing hand. She had one hell of a time writing, though.

"So, no hockey team at all?" Louis asked again as we stood outside of the train station.

"No, though I wouldn't mind making one."

"Remember, you need some super Swedes, a few Russians, a Canadian or two, and the two of us."

I laughed at his suggestion as we walked up the stairs. "Still acting like a GM, huh?"

"You know it."

"Come to think of it, I did meet a Russian before you showed up..."

"There you go! You got your Ruskie!"

I laughed. "Doubt it, man."

We reached the platform that Hanako's train was on in a short amount of time. The whole time, Louis was questioning me about girls.

Typical Louis, Ithought. Always worried about girls.

We walked down the platform, my eyes racing around for the newspaper club. A tall blonde figure helped me pinpoint their location, so I dragged Louis through the crowds. I let him go once we were close enough to the departing group.

Naomi was chatting with a guy with long, messy black hair. The two were chitchatting away, as were Hanako and Lilly. Hanako looked around while chatting with Lilly, and when her eyes locked onto me, she basically sprinted over and gave me what was damn near my second bear hug of the day.

"Adolf!" she exclaimed in Japanese. "I'm so glad you could make it!"

Behind us, Louis cleared his throat. "Woo! Go Adolf!" he said in English.

Hanako heard him and quickly pushed away, her cheeks firetruck red. "W-who is that?" she asked, still in Japanese.

"An old friend of mine who happened to be in Sendai for the past week," I replied. "He can't speak a single word of Japanese, though."

"Oh."

I turned around to face Louis, but he had moved to talk to Lilly, oddly. Maybe she heard him speak English and beckoned him over, I reasoned.

"Well, Hanako, where are you guys going?" I asked.

She scratched her head and started to list places the newspaper club planned on visiting, namely Tokyo and Okinawa. She was visibly excited as she listed the locations, making me happy for her. She was going out with new friends to new places, which wasn't something Hanako would have done when I first arrived.

She then asked about my plans for the summer. I told her I didn't really have any, causing her to insist I travel with the newspaper club. Not being part of the newspaper club, it only felt right to decline, not to mention the fact I had nothing packed. She was disappointed, but understood my reasoning.

The PA systems announced the departure of Hanako's train and I told her to have fun. She gave me another hug and hurried onto the train after hugging Lilly. Lilly and I waved to her as the train departed, and as I looked around, I noticed the guy with long, messy black hair waving as well.

Louis slugged me in the arm. "Hey, I gotta get back, but before I do, a couple things." The English caught me off guard for some reason.

I turned to face him. "What?"

He reached into his pocket and produced a cell phone. "New phone. Your uncle said you had an upgrade, so I chose a phone for you and decided to bring it. It should work fine here."

The phone entered my hands and then my pocket. "Thanks. And the second thing?"

"Try to let go." He turned to leave. "You guys have winter break, right? Come back and visit, then."

I didn't understand what he meant about letting go, but I stopped him and gave him a manly bear hug, regardless. He always visited me in the hospital and attended my sister's funeral, yet I never got to express my gratitude, so I decided to do so.

"Now... I can't... breathe..." Louis choked out.

I laughed and let him go. "Thanks, man."

"For what?"

"When I was in the hospital and Emily's funeral."

Louis shrugged. "It was nothing. We're best friends, right? We look out for each other."

"Yeah. I'll see you this winter, then."

Louis grinned. "See you then, man. Keep in touch on Xbox."

I nodded as he started to walk away. Just as quickly as he showed up into my life in Japan, my best friend left just as fast. It was sad, but life went on. I spun around to see Lilly leaving with a black suited figure. Akira showed up mysteriously all the time, it seemed.

The black-haired guy was still around, and since he was talking with Naomi, I decided to approach him.

"Hey," I said in Japanese, holding my hand up in greeting.

"Geiá," he said in a language I didn't know.

"Japanese, please."

"Sorry," he said in Japanese. "That's Greek for 'hey.'"

"Greek? Who the hell learns Greek these days?"

He shrugged. "Why not? It's an interesting language."

"Ja, sicher," I said. Yeah, sure.

"Oh my god, don't you start speaking German."

I chuckled. "Why? Sie sprechen Deutsch?" You speak German?

He shook his head. "Very little. A couple words, that's it."

"You understood that."

He nodded. "Yeah, because that's one of the few things I know in German." He turned to face me more directly. "Sorry, I didn't introduce myself. I'm Katakana Matsumoto." His hand was extended.

Isn't katakana a character set?

I took his hand and shook. "I'm Ad-"

"Adolf Riese, right?"

"Err... Yeah, how'd you know?"

"The newspaper, Naomi, and Kenji Setou. She mentioned you and Ikezawa working together a while back and there was an article with your picture in the paper a while ago."

Kenji gets his claws into everyone, huh? "A newspaper article? About me?"

Matsumoto shook his head. "It was actually about the track meet in June."

"Oh, that makes sense. What about Kenji?"

"Asked me if I saw you. Something about a field report, I don't know."

Typical Kenji.

The two of us started to walk down out of the train station, pushing through groups of people. It was awfully loud, so neither of us talked. The whole while, I kept mulling over what Louis said about letting go. Once we reached the entrance of the station, Matsumoto turned to me.

"You going back to Yamaku?" he asked.

I nodded. "Yeah. Don't know where the bus station is, though."

He shook his head once more. "Come with me."

He led me into one of the parking lots and to a jet black Nissan Skyline. He opened the driver-side door and got in while I stood still like an idiot.

"Get in!"

I complied and opened the passenger-side door, sitting down on the rather comfortable seat.

"Mein Gott," I said inside of the tuner. "Eto vasha mashina?" This is your car?

"Da."

"You speak Russian?"

He shook his head. "Only a bit. I was taking lessons, though."

Matsumoto put the car into gear and pulled out of the parking lot. Somehow, we evaded traffic and were on the fast lane to Yamaku. Not too much was said for a majority of the ride, my thoughts just wandering around. Louis' visit certainly threw me off, actually causing a bit of melancholy to develop.

No matter, I thought. Tanabata's coming up, so I should relax.

That was true. Tanabata was another festival, though it was a light festival or something of the sort. Regardless, it was a festival, and as such, it would certainly be fun, allowing me to kick the melancholy in the ass.

"So, Matsumoto," I finally said to take my mind elsewhere. "You're friends with Naomi?"

He nodded. "Yeah, and call me Katakana."

Why does everyone insist on me calling them by their first names? I didn't learn about honorifics for nothing, people!

"Alright then, Katakana. You see her as anything more than a friend?"

He was hesitant to answer. "I'm not sure. What about you and Ikezawa?"

I shook my head. "Good friends, that's it."

He mumbled something, but I didn't ask what he said. He was giving me a ride after all. The passing scenery mixed into one big blur when Katakana decided to speed up. Akira's driving was much more reckless, and having survived two rounds of that, his driving didn't make me nervous.

Eventually, the two of us started breaking into small talk during the last half-hour of the drive. It turned out that Katakana played video games quite often, so we discussed games. That certainly made the last leg of the ride less awkward.

The sky was a lightly burnt orange whenever we pulled into the Yamaku parking lot. Katakana had my thanks as I walked through the gates and onto the school grounds. He stayed in the parking lot for some reason.

Inside the dorms, Hayashi and Haruhiko demanded an explanation, which I provided. The learned about Louis being my best friend and strangely vacationing in Sendai. The two of them let me go and I headed to my dorm room.

I was just about to roll onto my bed when there was a third knock on my door. For all I knew, my long dead mother was paying me a visit.

"What now?" I asked as I opened the door.

"Bro, relax," Kenji said with a pointedly cool demeanor. "Those Student Council bitches gave me these for you." He held out two envelopes, both of which were snatched up by me. "There aren't any bombs in them, by the way."

I frowned. "You read them?"

Kenji shook his head. "No, I just felt them. I didn't feel anything suspicious, so I didn't have to open them, though one is an anonymous letter."

"Thanks."

"No problem. See you around."

He shut my door and I sat on my bed, opening the letters. The first one was from my uncle, a $250 check to use only when I absolutely needed it. He was certainly giving me a lot of money. I stuffed the check into an Xbox game case and returned to the second letter.

The letter was written on a piece of notebook paper in English. The penmanship was distinctly feminine.

Girls' dorm common area

12:00 P.M. Tuesday

"Noon on Tuesday?" I asked aloud, to no one in particular.

I set the letter on my desk, curious as to who sent the letter and why they want me to meet them in the girls' dorm, as well as why they wrote the letter in English.

"Guess I'll find out Tuesday," I mumbled as I rolled off my bed to take another shower.

AN: Writer's block, the evil piece of crap it is, is what held me up for so long.

Louis is meant to act as Adolf's letter from Iwanako. Sure, the effects aren't immediate, but they'll show. This specific chapter caused me all of the writer's block thanks to Louis. However, I trucked through and delivered a shorter chapter that I'm not too proud of.

And just imagine the letter is written in a girly way.

This chapter is the first of a double upload, so read on.