Sorry this took so long, but writing this chapter was a bitch to do. Anyway, welcome to Chapter Six! This time around, the Becker brothers finally arrive at Japan and explore while Nikki adjusts to life without Ian. Thank you for reading this and please review or PM as always.
NOTE: Like I told you last time, I haven't actually done a plane flight before, so I'm just making stuff up as I go.
ANOTHER NOTE: Italics followed by asterisks indicate foriegn words, and the author's note at a chapter's end will show the English translations for each foriegn word.
Above the Pacific Ocean, Approacing Tokyo, Japan
Real World
May 21, 2022
Ian Becker
The plane ride lasted eighteen hours, with Ian falling asleep an hour into the ride, of course. During that time, Allan conversed with the other passengers and shared his stories with them while making sure his little brother wasn't disturbed. The younger boy woke up halfway through it, though, after stopping at another airport to change planes.
After the plane change and baggage transfer, the brothers were back on a plane and headed towards Tokyo, their final destination. During this part of the flight, Ian actually avoided falling asleep and conversed with the passengers like his brother was.
"...and we even managed to hook into this big garr while we were there." Ian was telling a middle-aged man who was sat across the brothers.
"Did you catch it?" the man asked.
"No. Our equipment was too light for that." Allan answered. "Besides, getting the hook out would've been a pain in the ass, but luckily, thanks to our lightweight tackle, he slipped off of the hook."
"That day must've been crazy for you two."
"Yeah, it was." Ian piped up while he looked at the contents of Nikki's gift box.
"So, what happened next?" the man asked.
"We decided to go home since it was dark outside, and when we got to the van, a friggin' alligator was camped at the damn thing since we parked so close to the water." Allan told him. "We had to wait another hour before we could go home."
"Oh, hey, the stewardess is back!" a passenger called as a blonde woman entered the compartment with a tray of food and drinks in front of her.
"Oh, that's nice." Ian stated as the food cart passed his seat.
"What's nice, the food or the stewardess?" Allan jokingly asked.
"Ugh, the food. I prefer brunettes, anyway." Ian replied, taking a brownie from the cart.
"Or redheads."
"Damn it, Al, I can't do anything without you and Nikki trying to ship me with my childhood friend!"
"But you two are made for each other!"
"You know what? I really hate you."
A few hours later...
The plane landed after about four hours, and while it was definitely nighttime stateside, it was early morning in the land of the rising sun. The brothers watched as the land grew bigger beneath them while the plane landed, their gazes focused on the lush landscape and urban environment as it grew more detailed.
"I know I said that I don't want to ride on a plane again, but this is cool!" Ian said, bending over Allan and looking out the window.
"Yeah."
"Alright, everyone, we're about to land at Haneda Airport." the pilot announced over the loudspeakers.
"Alright. In a few minutes, I will officialy set foot in a foriegn nation." Ian said, looking at the palm of his hand.
"Exciting, right?" Allan asked him.
"Yep. I wish Nikki was experiencing the same thing, though. She somehow makes everything more entertaining."
"Uh, you don't have to worry about your face being shoved into her bosom." Allan told him.
"I know." Ian said. "But I still wish she was here."
Nikki Becker
Becker Residence, United States
Nikki lay on her bed at around 9:32 P.M., looking through a copy of the photo album her twin had. She had given the original album to Allan before giving Ian her gift, creating the copy beforehand so she could still have the photos in them while Ian had an album.
For some reason, Nikki and her twin found looking at photographs to be therapeutic, and because of this, the photos inside of the albums were well taken care of; the memories that were held in them were too valuable to just toss away.
Nikki flipped the page to a photo of herself coated in soap while in a bathtub from a decade ago, her eyes bright as she posed for the camera. Ian had talked about reshooting some photos from the album to compare the remakes with the originals at some point, but Nikki wasn't about to take off her clothes and smile for the camera.
I am not going to let the whole world see me in my birthday suit. she thought, looking at the other photographs in the page.
"Ugh, I forgot that this was taken." Nikki groaned as she pulled out a photo of Sophia and herself in a very embartasing situation. When the photo was taken, she had been changing clothes in a gym's locker room when a bunch of guys decided to try and peek at her. Sophia saw this and pinned Nikki to the wall, hiding the brunette from the Peeping Toms' views. However, the abrupt fashion she did it in and the fact that she was only in her underwear made it seem like she had been in a makeout session with her friend.
The embarrasing photo had been taken by one of the boys with an instant camera, but the girls told Ian about this and the more honorable boy used his diplomatic skills to get the peepers to hand him the photo and promise to not peep on anyone again.
"To this day, I still wonder why I kept this." Nikki murmured, putting the photo away and flipping to a page away from the "embarrasing" page. While she did so, her phone rang. Nikki jolted up in an instant, nearly hitting her head on the bedframe while she scrambled to pick up the phone.
"Hello?" she asked, her heart beating twice as fast as nornal.
"Hey, Nikki." a familiar voice replied, and Nikki sighed in relief.
"Hi, Ian." she replied. "It's good to hear from you again."
"You, too." Ian replied. "I'm finally abroad, and we're currently looking for a place to live right now. How are you, Mom, and Dad dealing with me being absent?"
"We're fine, and I found a certain photo that I wonder why I kept."
"Which one?" Ian was curious, and of course, Nikki was obliged to answer him.
"The one you confiscated from those perverts a year ago."
"Oh. Whoops."
"Yeah, whoops." Nikki said, sighing.
"I'm sorry I copied that one, Nikki. I just copied them all because it was easier that way."
"That's fine, I copied the photo album anyway, and just so you know, we are not recreating any photos that I wasn't wearing anything in."
"I didn't want to in the first place. Like I told those guys that peeped on you and Sophia, you are not going to the subject of any sick fantasies."
Nikki sighed, remembering him tell her this when they discussed the photograph's fate. They had almost decided to destroy it, but for some crazy reason, Nikki decided to keep it.
Maybe it somehow represents Sophia's selflessness, since she put herself on display to keep me hidden from the camera. she thought. One thing's for sure, though. I will not let anyone see that photo again.
"Can we change the subject?" Nikki asked, determined to avoid anything else that could have been classified as risqué or NSFW in the conversation.
"Sure."
"Um, how is it over there?" she asked a little awkwardly.
"Japan's cities are a lot cleaner than the big cities stateside, and the rural areas are really nice." Ian replied. "The people here are really formal, and it's kinda nice to see such formality, since it's so rare nowadays."
"That's nice to hear." Nikki said, stretching out.
"I know. I wish you could be here, too."
"Hey, Ian."
"What?"
"Could you take pictures of the place and send them here? I'd like to see it for myself in some manner."
A short pause...
"Sure." Ian answered. "We could do a video call and I could walk around the streets so you can see it all in real time."
"It's morning in Japan, right?"
"Yep. If you're up for it, I could start the video call right now."
"That sounds nice."
"Alright. I'll hang up and call you again, then we should be able to see each other."
"I know how video calls work, Ian." Nikki told her twin.
"Oh. You haven't had your phone for that long, so I thought you didn't know how work it. Sorry."
"It's fine."
"I'll start the call soon. Uh, is it okay to say goodbye if I call you again five seconds later?"
"I don't know, Ian. I'll see you when the video call starts."
Ian Becker
Tokyo, Japan
Ian had landed at Japan around an hour ago, and he had went ahead and converted his US money to yen before heading to the main city. However, he and Allan weren't planning on staying in Tokyo, so they decided to explore Tokyo and the surrounding area.
While they explored Tokyo, Allan got a phone signal subscription for them and Ian had used it to call Nikki on his phone. After talking about the photo album and how the family was holding up, Ian hung up and video called her. After a few moments, the brunette answered. Aparently, she ended up adopted the habit of only wearing her underwear in bed during the night before Ian left.
"Hi again, Ian." she said, yawning.
"Hi, Nikki." Ian replied, waving at the screen of his phone. "Are you really sure that you're up for this? You sound like you're tired."
"I'm fine. I've been up longer than 9:00 P.M. before." Nikki answered.
"Sure thing." Ian flipped the camera's view to the front camera, stuffing it in his chest pocket and holding onto it as he set off to explore the land of the rising sun.
Ian visited many places during the video call, including parks, stores, and a literal pizza vending machine, which surprised Nikki.
"Is that for real?" she asked him.
"Yup." was the reply given. "It dispenses full-sized pizzas, so the pizzas cost around 980 yen apiece."
"Yikes, that's expensive." Nikki commented.
"Yen works differently than US money, Nikki. An individual piece of yen is only around a fraction of a dollar, so you need more yen to buy things. Fortunately, yen notes have a higher number on them than US dollars."
"Ahhh." the girl said in comprehension. "Now it doesn't seem so expensive. Has Al seen it yet?"
"Yep. We've decided to save our yen until we can find a place to live."
"How difficult will that be?" Nikki inquired.
"Pretty difficult." Ian answered. "Despite the fact that Japan is an open place to tourism, the laws are kind of strange when it comes to property rental. For example, if you're born and raised in Japan, then you can rent an apartment at fifteen years of age, as long as someone backs you up, and once you turn twenty, you can skip the sponsor part. But if you're an immigrant, however, then you always need a sponsor if you're going to rent anything."
"That seems a bit strange..."
"I know. That's why we're trying to find a place to own, so we don't have to deal with the sponsor stuff and all."
"Do you have a place you want to look at?"
"We're going to southern Saitama after Tokyo, around Kawagoe, and we've got plenty of time."
"Okay."
"Kon'nichiwa, wakamono*." a senior said to Ian as he stopped in front of him.
"Kon'nichiwa, sa*." Ian said back, smiling at him. Waving wasn't really a thing in Japan, and formal greetings were instead followed or preceeded by a small bow.
"How are you doing, wakamono?" the man asked in Japanese.
"I'm doing well, sa. Today might be my first day here, but I'm not lost or anything." Ian fluently replied.
"That's good to know." the man said. "You tourists tend to get lost easily here."
"We do, don't we?" Ian asked in a joking manner, causing the man to chuckle.
"That's how it seems. How do you like it here?"
"It's really nice here, sir." Ian replied. "I've never met such polite people until today. Normally, I don't think too highly of big cities, but Tokyo is really clean, and I really enjoy it."
"I'm happy that you think so highly of this country." The man checked his watch. "I have a meeting I have to attend to, so I must leave."
"I'm sorry I took up so much of your time, sir." Ian apologized, bowing before he bid the man adieu. "Sayonara, sir."
"Sayonara." the man said, bowing lightly before he set off.
"He was polite, from what I could tell." Nikki commented in English after a minute of silence. She still didn't know Japanese, even though her beloved twin was fluent in it.
"He was very polite, and to think that Japan coud let go of everything it had against us, even though we nuked their cities, that's got to mean something."
"Yeah, it's got to." Ian murmured, making sure the phone was secure in his pocket before he set off again.
After a few hours of exploring, Nikki had finally become too tired to stay up, and she hung up so she could sleep. Ian felt a little sad that the poor girl wasn't as adept at staying up as he was, but he accepted it anyway. After finishing up exploration of Tokyo and doing some jobs for the citizens, the Beckers moved to Kawagoe, Saitama prefecture, and now they were in a residential district in it. Or rather, Ian was in it while Allan was nearby.
Around this point, it was dark, and the younger brother was a bit lost. Allan had found a place to stay at, and thanks to the favors they did, which were significant, they were trusted enough to recieve sponsorship from the local school. However, Ian had gotten himself lost and it was now dark outside.
"How could this have happened?" he asked himself as he aimlessly wandered the neighborhood. "A few hours ago, I knew exactly where I was and now, I'm freaking lost!"
You tourists seem to get lost easily here...That man was friendly, but of course he had to be right. Ian thought miserably. So I studied everything about the customs and language, but I ignored the geography? What kind of bookworm am I?!
The signature ringtone of his phone, the Halo: Combat Evolved soundtrack "Under Cover of Night," rang and snapped him out of his miserable thoughts, and he picked it up and answered.
"Hello?" Ian asked.
"There you are, little bro." Allan replied, glad that his little brother was safe. "I was wondering where you went."
"I'm stuck in some suburban neighborhood and I was so stupid that I didn't call you hours earlier, and I'm kind of annoyed at it."
"Yeah, that sounds stupid." Allan chuckled. "If you're at that one neighborhood, then I'm pretty close by."
"What kind of building?" Ian asked as he stopped at an old-style Japanese house with a dojo nearby.
"It's essentially a bedroom, a kitchen, a laundry room, and a bathroom, but it'll do for two people." Allan told him. "Just, where are you specifically?"
Ian told him where he was.
"I'll pick you up. Don't stray too far from that house unless you absolutely have to."
"I understand, Al. I'll see you when you get here."
"Alright. Stay safe."
The call ended, and like Allan instructed, Ian just waited in front of the house, careful to not disturb anything or get the homeowner's attention.
"Now I wait..." Ian murmured, sitting down on the sidewalk.
Hardly any time had passed when Ian heard footsteps. After sitting up, he looked at the figure and relaxed as he waved, immediately recognizing the figure as his brother as he was fully aware of the fact that the Japanese preferred not to wave.
"Hey, Al." Ian sighed, waving back.
"How come you immediately assumed who I was even though you can hardly see out here?" the young man asked, chuckling
"The Japanese don't wave, they bow, and besides, I wouldn't have been greeted by a potential kidnapper."
"Huh. Follow me, you silly bum, we're going home."
"Home away from home." Ian mended his sentence.
After leaving the neighborhood, Ian followed Allan to the place he mentioned. Allan was right about its size, but it had space for two people, at least.
"It also has decent Wi-Fi." Allan added. "That way, we can message the others."
"That's good to know." Ian said, standing still as Allan entered the passkey and gained entry to his new apartment. Afterwards, Ian followed his brother inside, inspecting the small apartment. It wasn't impressive, but it suited the brothers well enough to be viable as a living space.
"Well, it's nothing exceptional, but it'll do." Ian commented, setting his backpack down.
"That house you were in front of was pretty nice." Allan noted, starting to cook some food for them to eat. "I think I even saw a dojo behind it."
"I know. I still wish I didn't waste so much time trying to find you." Ian sighed and sat down.
"Next time, just call me. Don't waste your time trying to find your way back."
"Okay."
Ian pulled out his phone and dialed Nikki, who answered a few seconds later.
"Hello?"
"Good uh, morning, Nikki." Ian replied awkwardly.
"Good evening, I guess." Nikki said. "How was your day?"
"We've found a place to stay at." Ian told her. "And I spent almost four hours trying to find Al like an idiot until he decided to call me."
"That sounds like an adventure." Nikki commented.
"I did get to talk to some other people and help them with stuff." Ian said, examining his left hand.
"That's nice."
"I'm going to try and get myself some kind of job or something, and Allan's going to continue his lure business here, so we should be good."
"That's great. I've got news of my own." Nikki said in a "you're going to love this" tone.
"What is it?" Knowing that tone, Ian had a pretty good clue as to what he was about to hear.
"Sophia's family is going to move to Japan like you just did." Nikki told him.
That's the good news. Ian thought.
"And next thing you know, Allan's going to find you and Sophia in a steamy and passionate makeout session."
And that's the bad news.
"Are you kidding me?!" Ian asked her, irritated. "You really drive me crazy with that, and yet you continue with it."
"Don't worry, little bro, you haven't been teased in the worst way yet." Allan butted in.
"She already teased me about getting caught by you while I'm making out with Sophia." Ian complained.
"I'm sorry, little bro."
"I'm sorry I said that, it's probably just gonna be a super emotion-filled reunion between friends." Nikki apologized. "Nothing special."
"That would be special enough, Nikki." Ian told her. "Anyways, I've got to get to bed."
"Oh, I forgot to tell you, but she's heading to our house first."
"Really?" Ian asked. "I'm going to tell Mom to check on you if you two end up in a room by yourselves."
"Ian!"
Revenge!
"Just getting revenge on you." the smug boy told her. "Anyway, please tell her I said hi. And be good."
"Okay, okay. Goodbye."
"Goodbye, see you tomorrow." Ian hung up and got ready for bed.
"So I take it that Sophia's going to the Becker residence." Allan said.
"Yep, and I got some revenge, too." Ian replied, brushing his teeth.
"I heard you do that." Allan said.
"Yeah, we're going to have to come up with a solution for going to sleep tonight." Ian finished brushing his teeth and took off his shoes, walking to his luggage and pulling his blankets and pillow out.
"Okay, what're you doing?" Allan asked his brother.
"Making a palette." Ian replied, spreading his blanket out. "I'm not going to let you sleep on the floor."
"Okay, but what about you? Won't you be uncomfortable?"
"Not really." Ian told him. "Besides, I don't have a furry alarm clock with me or a twin to wake me up, so I'll be able to sleep a bit."
"Okee-dokee."
After he made his palette, Ian was laid down on it, thinking about the day. He was really excited, and he had lots of fun, but he felt strange. He'd spent an entire week away from his family before, but he was going to spend entire months away from his parents.
However, according to his twin, his childhood friend was coming to Japan, which lightened up the strange emptiness he had in his gut.
Hey, I'll be able to see my childhood friend again, so what am I complaining about? he thought as he slowly fell asleep. After a few seconds, he thought of a new goal.
I should try to make new friends, too. That's one of the reasons I went abroad, right? Even if it wasn't an initial goal, then I'll try to do it now.Now Ian had two goals: acquire the NerveGear, and meet new friends. Funny thing was, in the euphoria he had when he first got to Japan, he forgot his first and foremost reason for leaving in the first place.
I'll get the NerveGear, too, but I'm going to make the very most of my time, and if I make new friends, then that'll be worth something, and I can actually have other people to talk to. Hell, I could possibly end up being some kind of hero or something. Now that would be awesome.
Translations:
*#1: Hello, young man
*#: Sir
*#3: Goodbye
Author's Note: This is possibly the longest chapter yet, and I hope I did well when I wrote it. Also, I've studied Japanese ettiquete and culture, and that should be accurate. I am writing about a boy visiting a foriegn nation, so it's got to be accurate. Anyway, thank you all for reading my stories, and thank you for following them. Finally, thank you for being patient. See you at Chapter Seven, everyone, and have a blessed year.
Fun fact, this chapter is 3940 words long, including the author's notes. That's a lot of content.