Updated as of 4/08/2015
Chapter 3 (First Day)
The ride into Tokyo was a new experience for Bella.
The sun had set shortly after their departure and now the only thing that could be seen was the blur of colours made by the neon lights that littered the city making for an impressive scene as the train sped by. Bella couldn't help but stare out the window and soak up the view with wide eyes.
With the initial nerves of jumping into the unknown finally wearing off she couldn't help but feel a rush of excitement as she thought about all the things she would see and do while she was here. She and Mitsuko had spent quite a bit of time talking about all the things that she "Absolutely had to do" when she got here.
2 months prior Bella had been sitting in the library with Mitsuko writing out a list of attractions and activities she hoped to get around to seeing during her stay.
"OH! Cat Cafe's!"
"huh?"
Looking up from the pile of brochures she had been reading through, Bella stared at her friend as she pulled several of what looked like Japanese magazines from her bag and dumped them on the table
"Cat cafes, their just like normal cafes, except with CATS!" Mitusko elaborated using a series hand gestures that seemed wholly unnecessary.
...
"Oh come one Bella what part of that doesn't sound amazing?" she said crossing her arms.
"I'm really more of a dog person..." Bella deadpanned. "Besides when I asked if you knew any must see spots in Tokyo I was thinking more along the lines of tourist spots, you know like gardens, museums and temples and stuff".
Mitsuko puffed out her cheeks in mock frustration "*sigh* Fine no cat cafes then but you need to at least visit the different shopping districts at least once while you're there. I know you hate shopping but you'll regret it if you don't make the most of your time there".
"I know that's why I let you talk me into this in the first place. And I don't hate shopping exactly... I'm just not a huge fan running around chasing fashions. I don't mind shopping so long as I can do it at my own pace."
"Look you can do the typical tourist thing and visit all the local attractions and leave it at that if you want there's nothing wrong with that. But if you're serious about breaking out of your shell like you say you are then you need to try new things. You might not like everything you try but you won't know unless you make the effort. And who said you had to shop for clothes? There's plenty of other things that might interest you".
"I guess it wouldn't hurt to spend some time in Shinjuku…"
"You know I'm right. Hey you should go to Harijuku! I can totally see you pulling off the gothic look!"
"Don't push it".
"pfff fine!" she grumbled folding her arms like a scolded child.
Bella couldn't help but laugh at her reaction, "c'mon lets go grab a coffee, I'm buying". She said as she stood and gathered her things.
Bella's continued to stare wistfully out the window at the whirling neon for several minutes until her attention was drawn to the sound muffled giggling beside her.
Haruko was staring at her, hand over her mouth with a look of mirth plastered on her face. Though once she realised she had been caught staring she quickly composed herself looking rather embarrassed.
"S-sorry it's just that you had this look on your face that was kind of adorable, like a kid in a toy store". She said apologetically.
"I can't really help it this place is huge! And look at all the lights!" she said her voice rising in volume slightly as she spoke.
"I never really thought that much of it. I guess growing up here it just seems normal I suppose", Haruko gave a quick glance out the window "Is it that different in the US?"
Bella leaned back in her seat and put her hand on her chin as she thought of an accurate comparison "hmm, we have pretty big cities too but the look and feel is totally different. I've spent a lot more of my time in more rural and suburban areas than in big cities too so this place is like a whole new world…"
A few moments of past between the two before Haruko who had become more talkative as the night went on broke the silence.
"Your Japanese is very good, I was a little worried that we would have trouble talking" She said clearly impressed.
"Yes I'm rather surprised myself" Professor Tanaka who had remained silent until now took the opportunity to speak up, "usually I have to be much more careful about how quickly I speak and what phrases I use but you seem to be coping just fine, I'm impressed!" He beamed.
"Well I've been studying for a couple of years now and to be fair I had a lot of help from a friend of mine who is fluent" blushing at the compliment, "she's the one who convinced me to enter the exchange program actually".
"Well I'm glad you did, it's so wonderful to see young people taking such an interest in the Japanese language!" He said grinning, "Now before I forget here are the keys to the apartment you'll be staying in while you're here" The professor rummaged around in his coat pocket for a moment before pulling out a set of keys on a yellow tag and handed them to Bella.
"Since you were due to arrive late the landlord gave me the key to pass on to you, you probably won't meet her until tomorrow". He continued," Oh! Now that I think of it there won't be any food for you there, we could stop somewhere and grab a bite to eat if still need dinner?"
"No that alright I had something on the plane" She replied while brushing her hair over her shoulder with her hand.
"Well alright then".
The rest of the ride was spent making idle conversation and it wasn't long before they arrived at their destination.
Nerima Ward (20th Ward)
It was late by the time the three of them arrived the apartment complex Bella would be staying at. She noted conveniently that it was only a 15 minute walk from the train station and had spotted what looked like a convenience store about a block away.
"Well here we are" Professor Tanaka said, gesturing toward the grey two-story building that stood before them. "Your apartment is on the second floor, number eight if I remember correctly, do you need any help getting your luggage up the stairs?"
"Thank you but I'll be fine it's not that heavy I didn't bring a whole lot with me". She replied as they made their way to the stairs baggage wheeling behind her.
"Do you have the itinerary still? You'll need the directions that came with it to get to the campus", he asked.
"Uh yeah it's in my bag somewhere". She said gesturing to her carryon bag slung over her shoulder.
"Umm… If you like Bella I could come by tomorrow morning before class and walk with you?" Haruko offered following along behind the other two. "I only live a few blocks from here".
"Really that would be great! Knowing my luck I'd probably end up on the other side of the city". Bella was genuinely relieved that she had offered. she was not looking forward to trying to navigate the streets of Tokyo on her own and would happily put that off as long as she could, or at least until she had settled into a routine.
At that Haruko gave a genuine smile "Great I'll come by tomorrow morning say 8am?"
"Well I'm glad that's sorted", Tanaka said clapping his hands together, "Miss Okada you should probably head home now too, I'd rather you not walk home alone at this time of night so ill accompany you and call a taxi from there, is that's alright with you?". He inquired though Bella sensed it wasn't really open for debate.
"Ah y-yes thank you I would rather not walk alone at this time of night" She replied with a curt bow.
"Sounds good" Bella replied suppressing a yawn. "I think I'm gonna head in and get some sleep it's been a long day and I want to sleep off some of this jet lag before tomorrow." Smiling Bella bowed "I look forward to studying with you". Bowing still felt rather awkward to her, just another thing she would have to get used to she reasoned.
Bella watched as they left giving them a quick wave before she unlocked the door to the apartment and stepped inside. Closing the door and turning on the light she surveyed her new home.
The first thing that came to mind was that no space was wasted. Immediately as you entered the apartment there was a door to the left that led to the bathroom which while small managed to contain all the necessary amenities one would need which, she noted included a small Japanese style shower and bath. Directly to the right of the front door was a sink and kitchen bench complete with microwave, hotplate and a small fridge.
The rest of the apartment was a single room with a wardrobe build into the wall on the far left side and a small TV on a stand in the right hand corner next to a small coffee table that was pushed up against the wall. The area would function as both her living room and at night her bedroom. She was also delighted to see that the futon she would be sleeping on had already been rolled out in the centre of the room by the landlord with a note welcoming her to the area. She would have to remember to find her tomorrow and thank her.
Lastly on the far end of the room was a sliding door that led to a small balcony where a clothes line was set up. All in all Bella couldn't help but be impressed by the set up, especially when you considered how reasonably priced it had been.
Changing into her pyjamas she flopped down onto the futon and pulled out her phone to send off a few quick texts to her parents and Mitsuko letting them know she had arrived safely at her new home and would call them some time tomorrow when she wasn't so tired. Setting the alarm on her phone for 7am she rolled under the blankets and thought about tomorrow. She looked forward to meeting up with Haruko and her first day of class, despite her shyness Haruko opened up rather quickly once she was comfortable around you and was very welcoming. She could see her becoming good friends with the girl.
It wasn't long before her exhaustion caught up with her and she was dead to the world.
She was in the ballet studio again, fire burning around her while James stood over her grinning sadistically. He reaches over to grab her leg and *CRACK*, suddenly she was in a forest and it's dark and cold. She's alone yet a voice echoes "you just weren't good for me", she has to get out she can't stay here not with that cold cruel voice so she runs, and runs until she finds herself in a field filled with people. She knows she knows them, their pale and russet complexions a dead giveaway even if she couldn't make out their faces. One by one they begin chanting different phrases over and over.
"Were leaving" the fair skinned ones said.
"You should leave" the others would chant.
"We don't need you".
The next day Bella woke with a jolt. It had been ages since Bella had had a dream like that… She couldn't call them nightmares anymore since that implied that they scared her. Parts of it were unnerving particularly the part with James, though mostly when she woke she was just mad. Mad that she had trusted them and had been duped so easily.
With a yawn she wiped the cold sweat from her brow and stretched her arms, reaching out for her phone which lay beside her she her checked the time.
6:30
*sigh*, no point in going back to sleep.
Bella hoisted herself up off the futon and shambled over to the bathroom. 30 minutes later she was showered and dressed, her anger and frustration at her poor night's sleep all but washed away under the hot water. She was about to search the fridge for something to eat before it dawned on her she hadn't gone shopping yet. She toyed with the idea of running to that convenience store she had spotted the other night but despite the audible protests her stomach was making opted to wait until Haruko arrived. Instead she rolled up her futon and moved the coffee table into the centre of the room. Sitting down she decided to see what passed for morning television in Japan, flicking through several morning talk shows before settling for some anime about a girl who was apparently a squid or something… Well whatever, it passed the time and took her mind off the fact that her stomach was trying to eat itself so she wasn't about to complain.
An hour later there was a knock at the door and Bella grabbed her bag and went to greet Haruko. The two of them set off for the convenience store while chatting about the day to come. Following Haruko's recommendation she grabbed a couple of flavoured rice balls and then they quickly made their way to the bus stop.
Again she found herself glad that Haruko had agreed to accompany her. Even with the directions she had she would likely have gotten off at the wrong stop and ended up lost, as it was though they had made it to campus without any trouble and with 10 minutes to spare.
"So this is it huh? Kamii University" Looking at the campus that stretched out before her.
"What's your first class?" Haruko asked.
Bella quickly scanned her timetable, "mmm lets see… ah Japanese literature with Professor Tanaka in block 5 room 15" she replied.
"Oh I know where that is I can show you if you like?" Haruko offered. Bella nodded in the affirmative and followed along behind as Haruko led her to her class, passing several buildings along the way. "I had that class last year Professor Tanaka is an excellent teacher, he's very passionate about literature" she continued as they walked. "The class is pretty demanding though, if you have any trouble with the reading please let me know".
"That's kind of you but I should be ok, at least for now." By now they had arrived at the classroom and students were filling in. "Thanks again for the helping me find my way around!"
"It's no trouble; I'm heading upstairs for my class anyway". She said motioning toward the elevator near the entrance. "I should probably get going now before I'm late but do you want to meet up at that café we passed for lunch?" she asked
"Sounds good I'll see you then" and with that Bella made her way into the classroom.
Looking around Bella spotted an empty seat next to a rather bored looking guy with spiky blonde hair wearing a bright yellow jacket. He looked up as she approached and the vacant quickly gave way to a broad grin.
"Is this seat taken?" she asked as she made her way over to the desk.
"Nope go ahead!"
As she took her seat Professor Tanaka was making his way to the front of the room, a small pile of books and other material cradled in his arms.
"Ok class, welcome to contemporary Japanese literature! This class is quite involved so I expect you all to keep up with the weekly reading material" He announced to the class.
"Before we begin however I'd like to formally welcome our newest guest from the United States Bella Swan!" he continued, gesturing to back of the class where Bella was sitting
Oh God…
As if on cue the entire class turned in Bella direction, who was now turning a brilliant shade beet red under the gaze of her peers. Giving a polite wave to the class she turned her focus to the pile of books on her desk letting her hair fall down covering her eyes in a desperate attempt to avoid any further embarrassment.
"Bella will be studying Japanese language and culture with us here at Kamii University for the next year. So I hope you will all make her feel welcome during her stay with us!" The professor turned his attention to the board behind him, "now then the first topic we will be covering…"
"look on the bright side at least he didn't make you stand in front of the whole class and introduce yourself like they do in high school", the blonde boy whispered.
"Yeah that would have been more than a little awkward"
"I'm Hide, nice to meetcha".
"Bella" she replied
"Let's get along Bella!" he said grinning.
Everyone's attention was now on the professor as he went into a lecture on the semester's content and most were taking notes. Not wanting to fall behind on her first day Bella took out her notebook and did the same.
An hour and a half later Bella was making her way to the café while flicking through the list of reading material she was going to have to get her hands on over the semester. Hopefully Haruko could help her out with that one.
If not she supposed she could always ask her new friend from class who was now following along with her to lunch all the while talking animatedly about this and that. At one point he said something about "Rabbits dying from loneliness" or something; Bella couldn't be sure since he was talking so fast it was hard to keep up. Apparently the guy from his Asian history class he normally hangs out with had been sick for the past week so he'd been stuck on his own. She decided to chalk the strange turn of phrase down to a poor translation on her part and leave it at that.
Lunch passed fairly quickly with Hide doing most of the talking. At first she'd been worried that Haruko would not have been comfortable with the new company given how outgoing he was but fortunately he seemed to be one of those people who could get along with pretty much anyone.
After they finished with their lunch the two of them gave her a quick tour of the campus and Bella made a mental note of where the library was as she would need to borrow some of the texts until she could get her own copies. As it happened Haruko worked at one of the local book stores and was all too happy to take her in on the weekend to grab what she needed.
It was around 6 in the evening by the time Bella found herself at home again. Haruko had taken her to the local grocery store to grab the essentials and some quick cook meals so that she would have something at home. She didn't like the idea of relying on pre packaged dinners but until she learned to cook using Japanese foodstuffs she didn't really have a choice. She decided that she would figure that much out on her own though since it didn't feel right to rely on her friends for every little thing.
Throwing her dinner into the microwave she sat down at her little table and dialled the number for her best friend. After the third ring a rather annoyed and tired sounding Mitsuko answers.
"You do realize its 7am here"
"… oops.."
"You completely forgot about the time difference didn't you"
"uh yeah sorry"
*sigh* "its fine I'm up now anyway, so how is my fair homeland treating you?"
"Honestly it's amazing, I mean I sort of new what to expect but actually being here is a whole different thing"
Mitsuko gave a light chuckle at her friends apparent awe "well I'm glad you're enjoying yourself its freezing here and now I have to get up… Meet anyone interesting?" she asked playfully.
Bella rolled her eyes at that, "I met a few people on campus who have been really nice. One of them, a girl called Haruko; she's my mentor of sorts. She's been helping me out with everything since I arrived, I swear without her I'd have gotten lost down some alleyway by now".
"That's not funny don't even joke about that". Mitsuko voice became stern. "And you better not be walking down any dark alleys young lady, Tokyo isn't Seattle Bella", she chided.
"I know I know, I didn't mean it like that".
"I know I'm all but responsible for convincing you to take this little trip and I was serious when I said it would be good for you but… Just be careful while you're there Tokyo can be dangerous".
Bella wondered why she was being so pedantic all of a sudden, and then the image of those red eye's from that pamphlet ran through her mind.
"You're talking about ghouls aren't you", she asked "you never really mentioned them before now".
"Yeah most people don't like talking about them all that much, the conflict between ghouls and humans is a big part of why my parents decided to leave Japan in the first place." Mitsuko replied sounding rather sombre. "Sorry I didn't mean to get all moody on you, you just worry me sometimes given how accident prone you are".
"Hey I'm not that bad!"
Mitsuko laughed at that. "Uh huh you are too". Her voice mocking," look I know you'll be fine you're in the 20th ward which is meant to be pretty damn safe at least as Tokyo goes, but ill still feel better knowing you're at least being careful", her voice betraying her concern.
"Alright I promise I'll be careful, especially after dark", Bella said.
"And no dark alleyways" Mitsuko added.
"Yes yes".
"Say it".
"*sigh* no dark alleys".
"Good girl".
The two talked for a while longer as Bella finished her dinner. Half an hour later she bid her friend goodnight and headed off for a shower. Plonking down on her futon she opened the weekly reading she had borrowed from the library earlier and started to flick through it.
But all she could think about were those deep crimson eyes…
Hey everyone! It took a while but its finally done.
Ive been dreading doing actual dialogue since I had no real idea where to begin with it. Ive decided to avoid using Japanese honorifics (the parts added to names like Chan or Sensee) and such unless I really feel it adds to a persons character or scene since Ive noticed that when people use them in written form in stories, it just doesn't really fit.
I really want to know what you guys think! so as usual all criticism is welcome. particularly on the dialogue and character interaction since that's what I was hoping to work on during this chapter.
Ive actually taken to mapping out the story as I go now and I think its made a huge difference.
As usual Thank you to everyone who took the time to review! Its really motivated me to keep up at this.
Ghoulish coffee: yes the Cullens should (if not then in a sequel, but lets not get ahead of ourselves) find their way into this story eventually and you don't need to worry about the Vampires being stupidly overpowered the way I have it worked out in my head things should be balanced in a way that fits with both fandom s.
Corina O: Thanks for the feedback please let me know if there's anything else i can improve :-)
MaxFangIggyNudgeGazzAngel: Again Thank you for the feedback! You gave me quite a bit to think about and more than a little motivation to keep working on this.
I hope you All enjoyed the chapter
Next one is underway :-D
