The garage was quiet for once; Han was out on some business that sounded more sketchy as time went on. Apparently, the less I knew about it, the better, and he also just really couldn't tell me some stuff.
For now, I was trusting him to be making good choices.
However, my life choices were coming back to bite me in the ass. Working on the cars proved to be a little more complicated when you can't understand what you're trying to order.
I knew exactly what parts I needed for my car, but my little Japanese translation book wasn't helpful to me right now.
Clicking through the car parts on my laptop, I sighed, I could see all the different details, but I had no idea if they were compatible due to the language barrier.
Google translate was helping me, either. Honestly, if someone could find out the things I had been googling since coming to Tokyo, I'd probably die from embarrassment.
Squinting like an old grandma and bringing the computer closer to my face, I let out a loud huff. I saw the kids looking over at me nervously, but I paid them no mind. They learned pretty quickly to leave me be.
I had a dealer in Japan ready to sell me the items I needed, but I had some minor issues. Language and trust being the main ones for me right now.
Suddenly an idea popped into my head. Looking over to the kids, I bit my cheek and quickly studied the three of them. The taller boy was too mouthy; twinkles would only try and flirt with me, leaving me with one option.
"Hey, Hello Kitty!" I called out as the girl in question gasped, looking over at me as I grabbed all of their attention. Reiko glanced at the other two before pointing a finger at herself.
Nodding, I motioned her to come over to me. She gulped, putting down her school books, and quickly scurried over to where I was sitting. Dragging the swivel chair I usually sit on to work over next to mine, I waited for her to sit.
Which she only did after a lot of stuttering. I think it was the hard stare that caused the squeak from her, or it could have been me pulling her chair closer when she sat.
Whatever it was from, I found it pretty endearing.
Not that I would tell anyone that.
"I need-" turning back to the other kids, I gave them a short glare when I noticed them staring at us, "parts for the cars" Reiko nodded and glanced back at the cars on the lifts, "but I don't know which ones to get."
The younger girl gazed at the laptop screen before turning to me. "You need my help to show you what car parts you need?" the tone of her voice was incredulous, and I realized my mistake.
"No, obviously not" I rolled my eyes. "I need you to be my translator. I'm still not great at the language, and I don't want to be ripped off for being a foreigner" I gave a small joking smile.
Reiko mirrors my smile before turning the laptop to her "what parts are you specifically looking for?" handing her the list of items I had written down after giving both cars a once over.
I watched her read through them silently.
"Can I?" she motions to the keyboard, and I wave her on. I asked for her help after all. She quickly typed a message out to the parts dealer. I hated how much easier it was to ask for help, but I guess it's something I could work on.
"So, how do you know so much about cars?" The smaller girl quietly questioned me over her shoulder as I began to play about with a small rubber ball that Han had given me for 'anxiety.'
"Uh, I was taught by some people," I answered with an awkward clearing of my throat, "and I owned a garage at one point in the city I'm from. I think".
Reiko stopped typing as she slowly turned to face me. "You think?".
Waving her off, I motioned to the blinking screen with a short mumble, "nevermind."
Reiko typed again for a few minutes before turning to me with a smile as she listed off all the parts that she had just ordered for me while I wrote down all the information to keep just in case something should happen.
It was actually Owen that taught me to do that. I say taught more like drilled into my brain. He said having all the information on anything means having the upper hand.
In this case, though it was more to have to store away if I needed to message the dealer again, the lesson was still there, and just like Owen said, it applies to any and every situation.
Owen.
Even though I hadn't outrightly spoken about him, it doesn't mean he isn't still at the forefront of my mind. He's still a part of my life, every time I wake up screaming from a nightmare, every time I see his face when I close my eyes.
"Rose?" A small voice pulled me out of my stare into nothingness as my mind ran wildly with old emotions and harsh thoughts. I turned to see Rieko giving me a concerned frown.
"Sorry, I was uh, thinking," giving the schoolgirl a fake smile, I waved my hand in the air between us as if washing away anything I was just thinking about. "Did you say something?".
"I was just asking if you're going to be sticking around for much longer?" Reiko questioned with a shy shoulder shrug as her eyes moved to look at anything that wasn't me.
"Why? You trying to get rid of me already?" I asked teasingly, knowing the exact effect it was going to have. I guess she was waiting for my usual stoic answers, so my joking shocked her.
"No! no, I was just uh-" keeping the laughter that was bubbling up down, I watched as the girl floundered for a while "-you said you were struggling with Japanese, and I know how to speak it because you know I was born here and..."
Stopping to let out a puff of air Reiko blinked at me before starting again. "I was just thinking I could teach you some basic Japanese that way it'll make your life here easier."
Now it was my turn to stare in surprise. Out of all the things I expected her to say, it wasn't her offering to teach me another language. Reiko offering up herself as a 'tutor' to me was unexpected.
As a moment passed, the girl sighed, obviously taking my silence as a hard no. "Sorry, I shouldn't have said anything. You don't speak to anyone in English, let alone Japanese. I'll just go".
The dark-haired girl quickly stood and gave a short embarrassed bow before preparing to run back to Twinkles, and the other "Hello Kitty, wait..." I stopped her biting my cheek "...fine, you can teach me only if it doesn't affect your studies and I'm not busy. You owe me kitty".
Waving her off as if I was doing her a favor, I noticed her crossing her arms out of the corner of my eye, and I briefly wondered what went wrong. "You know, calling me Hello Kitty is kind of a racial stereotype. It's because I'm Japanese, right?".
I raised my eyebrow with a small snort leaning over the workbench, motioning down to her legs where her knee-high socks were. "No, it's because you're wearing hello kitty socks."
Reiko glances down to where I was pointing and blushes before almost running away with a squeak like she was about to die from embarrassment.
Picking up the notebook where Reiko had written down when and where I needed to pick up the parts, I let out a small smile at her actions, shaking my head in amusement, listening to the boys asking her questions in a whisper.
One comment stuck out more than the rest "Han was right. She is nicer than she looks" I rolled my eyes, knowing Han had probably given them some shit advice about me being nice on the inside.
Biting the top of my pen lid, I huffed, "Don't let it fool you, Hello Kitty. Contrary to popular belief, my bite is actually worse than my bark."
