"Would you chill out for like two seconds? I'm excited too but all the jumping you're doing is making me think this plane is experiencing turbulence."

Lena made a face at her friend before calming down a bit to look out the small window she was sitting beside. Nikki lightly shook her head as she looked through her phone. The duo would be arriving in Tokyo in less than thirty minutes and they were ecstatic. Nikki got the job offer of a lifetime and she didn't hesitate in taking it.

She traded the mundane boring life of a lower-middle-class college student, folding tables in a clothing store to a part-time IT specialist in another country. Not bringing her best friend would've been a crime. As soon as Lena found out her best friend was moving to Japan she broke the lease to her apartment and packed everything she could before tagging along with her friend.

"Do you think we're going to meet any hot Japanese guys? Wait where did you say we were going to be staying?"

Lena went through Nikki's carry-on looking for her the small notebook that held everything her slightly organized friend had on their new home. When she found the notebook she flipped through it looking for the name of the apartment complex they would be staying in.

"The company is paying for our house for the first five months but after that, we're responsible for rent so that means you need to find a job, Miss. Otaku Queen. I hope all those years of watching anime helped with your Japanese because you're going to need it."

Nikki laughed at her own comment as Lena stuck her tongue out.

"I know enough to get me by. I just need to work on idle conversation but I have a few months to do that since we don't have to worry about rent as you said. I'll work in a manga store or somewhere I can dress up as a Love Live character."

Nikki shook her head as she looked back at her phone. She was looking at Ikebukuro's current events to see what kind of things were going on in the city they'd be living in. Aside from this mysterious "Headless Rider" it didn't seem like there was much going on there.

A Headless Rider? Nikki made a face at her phone as she clicked on the home video someone took with their phone. To her, the video looked like a person riding an incredibly loud motorcycle through the streets. For a minute it almost sounded like the motorcycle was neighing?

She shook her head and read the caption on the video, "The City That Never Sleeps". The more looked up this headless rider the more nervous she became. Was living in Ikebukuro really as great as she thought it would be?

The soft dinging of the 'please fasten your seatbelts' sign pulled Nikki out of her daze. She did what she was told before putting her phone away and looking out the window. Japan's busy cities were in sight and she could be any more excited.

Once the plane landed the duo made sure to grab everything they had and made their way into the large city hopping into the first cab they could hail.

"Hi, we need to get to Ikebukuro, please? Preferable closest to the 3K House at Toshima-Ku."

The driver nodded taking off, leaving the two females in the back squealing with excitement every time they passed by a large billboard showing an anime they watched or a pop idol they knew.

"Hey look, it's Yuuhei Hanejima on that board there. It looks like he has another movie in the works."

Lena said pointing to the large poster on the side top of one of the large buildings. Nikki smiled as she pulled her phone out, her landlord was messaging her. He was awaiting their arrival and had the house furnished for them. The only thing they had to do was show up and sign some residency paperwork.

The cab driver pulled over on the side of the street frowning as he looked back at the two loud Americans. There was no way he was going to drive another second with those two hooligans in the back of his cab.

"This is as far as I go, now out."

Nikki made a face and grabbed her things before paying the cab driver and exiting the cab. Once all their things were accounted for the duo watched him peel off into traffic.

"We're finally hereeeeeee!" I'm so excited to go to all the anime stores I know Japan has!"

Nikki looked down at her phone and turned towards the direction of the house they were staying at. They weren't too far, about a five-minute walk north, all she needed to do was talk to the landlord and settle in. Before they could go anywhere a large object that resembled a trashcan flew past them followed by a tall blonde.

"What the hell was that?"

Nikki smiled at her friends sheepishly before walking towards the house.

"Welcome to Ikebukuro, the city that never sleeps."

Lena followed her friend looking around the city in awe of all the Japanese people and stores. Nikki, on the other hand, was too focused on finding her way to the house so she could eat and relax and figure out the quickest way to get to her office Monday morning.

The duo walked up to a two-story house, with an older man standing outside.

"Hi, are you Ichima Fugakku?"

The older man nodded looking over two foreigners. He looked over the shortest girl who had addressed him and made a face. He hoped they didn't destroy his property.

"I'm Davidson Nikki, it's nice to meet you."

Nikki bowed and followed the elder inside listening to him drone on about making sure rent was paid on time and to keep his property clean. He gave her paper which she looked over quickly before signing. Nikki thanked the elder as he handed her the keys to the house and cheered loudly as soon as he exited through the front door.

"I can't believe this entire house is all ours for the next 10 months and maybe even longer if my job becomes permanent," Nikki said falling back on the couch. Lena grabbed her things and walked around the house looking for the bedrooms while Nikki looked through all her paperwork.

"It's going to be dark in a few hours, how about we find food and then crash? The plane ride here was super uncomfortable and I'm feeling a bit jet-lagged."

Lena ran back downstairs and nodded slipping on her shoes.

"Let's go, there's a sushi place down the street."

Nikki grabbed her new keys and skipped out of the house looking down at her phone's navigation system. She made idle chat with Lena as they walked to the small Russian sushi restaurant. There was a large African American man standing outside of the shop handing out coupons as he advertised the restaurant.

"Come in, you two eat Russian sushi. It really good, you like."

Nikki smiled and looked over at her friend who was grinning from ear to ear.

"Russian sushi in Japan, it doesn't get much cooler than that."

Lena and Nikki walked into the sushi restaurant, they both smiled as they took off their shoes and sat on the floor at a table.

"This is so freakin' cool! I don't even know what I want. I don't really mess around with raw fish but hey, when I go to Japan."

Nikki said looking through the menu, some of which she couldn't really understand considering some of it was in Russian. The waiter walked over to the two females, they ordered their food and talked while trying to figure out their plans for the following day.

"So how about we go to the anime store down the street? It's closing in a few but it'll be open tomorrow."

Nikki shrugged and looked towards the door that had opened. A blonde man and a shorter brown-haired man walked into the restaurant. She watched them take a seat at the sushi bar before turning back to Lena.

Shizuo looked back at the two foreigners in the restaurant, he could've sworn he saw them earlier that day but he wasn't too sure. After being pissed off by one of Tom's clients everything went red. He quickly looked away when the dark-skinned girl made eye contact with him. He'd rather not have them thinking he was a creep.

Once the girls finished their meal, they happily made their way home to get some rest. The next morning Nikki was up bright and early, she figured it was best to find out where her job was and how long it would take to walk there in the morning.

She was sure it would probably take her longer than normal on workdays but that didn't bother her. As she was walking down she took in the entire city. Ikebukuro really was a beautiful place.

A sound she didn't recognize came screeching down the street followed by police sirens. The next few seconds everything seemed to move in slow motion for her. It was the same person in the video she had seen on her phone.

A rider wearing all black, the only thing that wasn't black was the yellow helmet. The motorcycle didn't sound like other cycles, no it was like a combination of neighing and reving. As the mysterious person drove past her it felt like the pair made eye contact, even though she couldn't see through the face shield on the helmet.

Ikebukuro, the city that never sleeps.