Nearly a week has passed on after Joshua, or rather, now known as Sora Takahashi. He accepted an offer he's always yearned for, slowly blending in. It was difficult taking this in.
Because not a single thing of this would've happened had he not been chosen...
[Tokyu, Shibuya Excel Hotel: Morning] April 6th, 2016
Sora took this all in as he thought it was all a dream yet here he is, owning a small room all for his lonesome. Nobody to demand him to do something without the constant haggle.
He just stares at his reflection for quite some time. After taking a deep breath of the fresh air outside, he looks back at the note containing the mission.
The young man carefully read the note that Kaito left inside the package whereas the Di-End Driver laid on his bed.
"Head to Shujin Academy by any transportation there around April 9th, you're getting your class schedules from- Pfft!"
The young man raised a brow, imagining his Boss trying not to burst out laughing.
"Enough about him. Make sure that you don't get into any trouble. That is unless you're risking it all just to play hero."
"Oh, and try to get a job while you're at it when you collect the first card in case things go wrong."
"Hm, based on my age... I should be heading into my second year thanks to the school system here in Japan." He said. "Or, at least I'm assuming that's how it works."
Gently folding the letter inside his pocket. He takes out his hoodie and goes outside to see if anything interesting gets his eye, either that or try out some new food.
Before he could get inside his elevator, he was bumped into what looks like a bald man wearing a suit. Behind him, however, heavily buff bodyguards wearing expensive suits with sunglasses looked ready to jump him.
"Hey, watch where you're going." One of the bodyguards said with a glare. "Apologize to the man who you bumped into."
The bald-headed man waved a hand, signaling him to stop, he looked rather annoyed. "Please, let us not resort to violence. It wouldn't do good with people here."
'Great, some famous bald dude and his bodyguards. What a great first day to start.' Sora snarled, so he bowed without hesitation. "I'm sorry for bumping into you, I'm a foreigner who just moved in here and I wasn't paying attention to my surroundings. Please accept my apology for my mistake."
The bald man smirked. "Good, a brat who has manners." He said, catching the young man's hearing. "I'll accept it, but, if I ever see you again rudely bumping into me. You'll know what happens next."
And at that, the three went inside the elevator before him. Having to not want any issues to get deeper, Sora decided to stay until he was gone from the building.
The young man had a scowl on his face. "Great, rich pricks who can do whatever they want." He said. "It's whatever, I can't let him get to me right now."
Letting out his breath, at last, he hears the beep showing that no one's inside. He sighed and got inside, pushing the first-floor button.
[Beef Bowl Shop] |2 Hours Later|
A restaurant that serves quality ramen has a clean design on their mascot which is a chibi ramen bowl, the wooden tables, chairs, and looked spot on clean. It felt home alright.
"Mmmmm!" The young man was slurping on some fresh and delicious noodles, he saw the place not being so full as the man cooking said it's usually a lot of people at night.
"Man this ramen tastes so damn good!" Sora said with a grin. "More please!"
"Woah there kid, you shouldn't order anymore. 'Cause it looks like you're almost full." The old man at the counter laughed as he pointed out Sora's belly almost big. "Hey if ya don't mind answering. You a foreigner?
"Yep, I've been here for almost a week now last I remember." He answered.
"Really, a week? Who taught ya to speak our language really smoothly?" The man asked. "For a foreigner yourself, you look someone new to this."
Sora scratched his hair nervously. "Nah, an acquaintance offered to teach me Japanese for a while. He said that once I get the gist, I'll get used to it when I'm here." He answered. "I came here to see what this city has to offer, and obviously this restaurant is my first-to-go on the list."
"Oi, If you keep complimenting my place I'd let you get a free pass for eating here today." The old man grinned. "Nice to hear that from a foreigner. It helps our employees move forward when it comes to cooking."
"Actually, I was going to ask if you were looking for more," Sora said. "I'm probably gonna start looking to get a job here later after I get settled in."
"Wait, you live by yourself? In this city?" The old man whistled. "Gee I don't know what to tell ya, it's pretty expensive living in one of those buildings."
The young man shrugged. "I manage somehow, but I'm thinking of doing something outside instead of staying there most of the time."
"Why's that?"
"Guess you could say I got a second shot at life..." Sora smiled. "When do I get the job, sir?"
The old man laughed. "Woah there kid, you can't get in that easily yet." He said. "First, we're gonna have to test ya when possible."
"A test?"
"Not like writing your resume test, nah, we want to see your dedication." He answered. "Making Ramen are filled with our blood, sweat, and tears. It's a busy business as is with customers coming around."
"...Ya sure it's a good idea to mix those three in a ramen bowl?" Sora asked.
He received a little chuckle coming from the old man. "You know what? Come by in 2-3 weeks and we'll see." He said with a smirk.
Sora grinned. "Ah, seems I should head off soon. It was nice talking to ya Mr...?"
"Yukunu Raito. But call me Rai." The now named worker said. "What about yours, kid?"
"Name's Jo- I mean, Takahashi Sora." He pulled his right hand up after laying down the bills for his meal. "I hope to meet your expectations soon Rai."
"You better," Rai said. "Oh, before I forget. What's your contact number? I'll let you know when the application starts."
Sora took one of the blankets as Rai handed him a pen, he scribbled on his contact number clear to see. "Here."
After Rai took the blanket, he noticed Sora taking out a small book in his hand, writing something in there.
"What? You're making a food diary or something?" The old man asked while serving a customer his bowl.
The young rider smiled. "Something like that." He said after putting down the bowl nicely. "Thanks for the meal!"
|1 Hour later|
After a good time passed by, he decided to buy an interesting book to read later in case he has nothing to do in his room. Except wondering around to places he'll remind himself to visit in the future.
There's that Akihabara store he's heard about on the Internet from the web friends he had known back then, who said that this district is known for weebs or otakus as they say.
Video Games, Figures, Anime, everything he'll need is right there.
Sora smirked. "This just might be heaven for me after all," He said after looking at the crowds. "I'm liking it so far."
He took a deep breath in the air. "I'm glad I get to stay here, would've suck if I had to go back once this mission is done. Bah I shouldn't think about it." With a shrug, Sora decided to take his curiosity to other places and see what else is there to enjoy.
[Shibuya Station Center] |4 Hours Later|
The weather was starting to rain, making people groan that most of them forget their umbrellas back at home. It was also getting dark, so it wouldn't be right to linger here any longer.
Sora was carefully taking his steps because of the heavy materials he bought for school, that, and souvenirs he wanted to buy before going home. The constant reactions people have about him speaking fluent is a thrill.
"Alright I had fun wandering around here. Bought some resources that should help redecorate my place too." With a nod, he took off to the S.E.H building.
[Shibuya Excel Hotel: Night]
"Phew!" Bags of groceries were put to their places, that and some junk food while he's either gaming or bored.
Most likely both.
The redecoration Sora had on him were at first hard to place since some had to have been pins, posters, and more. That and his stuff back with Catherine came as well thanks to the delivery man before he left.
Setting his PC and other stuff he brought into their rightful placements. He took a chug of water now satisfied at his amazing work, and it was clearly time to go to sleep.
He grumbled as he jumped onto his bed. "Shujin Academy huh? I heard that there's some secret drama going on there..." He covered his head with a pillow. "I can't get myself too involved with other students. Otherwise I'll end up dealing with trouble on my ass."
And with that, he fell asleep.
[Shibuya Station Square: Morning] April 10th, 2016 - Sunday
Today's the day his mission begins. First, he needs to get his schedule from the principal since he's going to be hearing a lot about how great this school is with their education. But he knows that there are no such things as a perfect harmony.
Second, he'll have to look around for the card after classes end so that way no one could find him suspicious.
Third, he'll have to get friendly with a few teachers with who he could possibly get a connection within the back so he wouldn't deal with the boring lectures.
And lastly, to bail once he gets everything back towards his boss.
Sora wasn't one to go somewhere without a goal in mind, and neither would school help him much. If things goes south then there's at least one more to do, which would be to secretly sneak in and hear valuable information.
He was at first nervous about how the school will treat him or so since he never attended school again after what happened. But, he knows he's gonna have to deal with drama and the like. It's going to be a pain in the ass, pretending to be nice.
Sora cracking his knuckles with confidence, he called an uber to get to school instead of taking a train. It was rather hard to choose between the two, at first taking the train's much easier to get by, however, it takes a while.
Kaito did mention any transportation, so Uber had to be, costly but it works.
Getting a cab cost a bit more than he'd expected, but his gut was telling him not to take the train today. Yet he didn't take the first easy choice into much consideration. It was odd, it never acted so violently before.
|10 Minutes Later|
Time was very slow as he was heading to his destination.
So what he could do for now is to read his food diary he's been taking care of since the very first day he arrived.
The young man sighed. 'That beef bowl challenge had so much pork, but it's easier if you just take out sauces or something to make it much juicier. Hell, I couldn't make out if there's even rice there.' He thought to himself. 'As long as I can train my hunger to last more than just 5 minutes eating that beef bowl, then I'll win for sure next time I visit.'
Sora slumped. 'I really have to try out this city's pizza later on. If I remember from the sites I found, they said that some had a healthy way of making pizza. Instead of the ones I tried back in New York that had to have been made from Gods!'
"Mister Takahashi?" The nice young lady said waking up Sora. "We're here."
'Er, we finally made it?' He shook his head and grabbed his bag. "Thank you!"
The cab went off, making Sora scratching his hair. 'Better get going then.'
[Shujin Academy: Front Entrance: Afternoon]
Walking towards Shujin Academy had to have been devastating for him, he never took a path that would lead him inside here.
The school had the two front gates opened, seeing how it's odd about it being opened. Although the young man guessed that's where the after school activities or the fact that Sora's getting his schedule and learning about the basics are here.
Shujin Academy's name is written next to the gates, that white building was pretty neat to see. But yet Sora had that bad feeling inside of him, knowing that there's bound to be trouble inside.
Slowly taking his first baby steps to the front gate, he saw who looks to be a coach for any sports taken in classes.
This teacher has black scraggly hair wearing a white plain t-shirt and jerseys with running shoes on as if he was finished jogging. "Oh? Didn't think we were getting two new students." He raised a brow.
Sora raised his head to notice a teacher waving towards him, as he took on a fake smile. "Wait, two? Who's the other one?"
"Ah, he transferred here as you did. But it's...complicated." The coach answered.
The young rider saw a smile coming from his face, not a happy one though, looked more unsure. Could this new student do something bad that even this teacher is wary of?
Well, I can't always assume things, so it's better to see the person himself. If the rumors are true, he's going to have an earful of talking behind his back.
"I see..."
"But hey, welcome to Shujin Academy! My name is Mr. Kamoshida. I'm the PE teacher for this school." He said with pride. "That and I'm in charge of the volleyball team after school too."
"Volleyball huh?" Sora said. "Takes me back to when I was little."
"Oh, you've played volleyball since you were little?" Mr. Kamoshida asked.
"Not really, I only used to play it with a friend of mine," Sora said shaking his head. "Haven't gotten time to get into it because... Things happened..."
Kamoshida raised a brow, but he waved it off. "If it's personal then you don't have to tell me. I understand." He said nicely. "I'm not going to pry on someone's business."
Sora wanted to believe that this gym teacher was good, but he can see right through that smile. It didn't look right, but he can't quite tell what's got him annoyed. "It was nice meeting you, Mr. Kamoshida." He said with a bow. "I'm gonna head to the uh-"
"Principal's Office?" Kamoshida responded. "Oh, that's easy. Just take a right and then up in the stairs, there should be a label that says it." He pointed at the entrance and 'patted' Sora's shoulder.
"I hope to see you in my class!" He said with a smile.
The young rider mentally sighed, knowing that Kamoshida's likely a bad case of...
He shook his head and smiled back. "Same!"
Sora decided to move his head before Kamoshida noticed, putting his hands into his pocket. He took a deep breath to remain calm and followed the instructions to get his schedule.
[Shujin Academy: Principal's Office]
The young rider spotted two people leaving the door, as he was sitting on a couple of chairs next door. He stands up and takes his bag, however he was stopped by the old man wearing a funky fedora and white suit.
"Hey, you wouldn't be that new student the principal mentioned?" He asked albeit rude. "What trouble did you get into?"
Sora raised a brow. "I didn't get into any bad business with anyone sir. The reason why I transferred here is that I used to live in my old home until something happened. And besides, I always keep my head away from trouble."
He noticed the white fedora man's eyes flinch a bit but decided against asking him. "So now you live here? Alone or-"
"I got some help with an acquaintance who was born here." Sora shrugged. "He essentially helped me stand up to my own two feet."
He stopped himself from answering any further. 'He doesn't need to know I'm here on a mission. After I get Kaito's cards, I'm free.'
"Mhm..." The old man nodded.
Sora saw the black-haired young man next to the fedora-wearing man. "Oh, you're the other transfer student the guy in the entrance told me. Nice to meet ya."
The glasses young man wearing the school uniform with his bag to his side nodded. "Same to you."
"Alright, we wasted enough time here. Come on Akira." The old fedora man said with a grunt. "I'm not going to wait for you if you take too long."
After he left, Akira turned his head to Sora. "What's your name?"
"Takahashi Sora." The young rider replied. "And you?"
"Akira Kurusu."
"It was nice meeting you Akira, right now I gotta head to this principal's office. So I'll see you in class, I guess."
"Later." Akira took the handshake and started walking to his guardian.
Leaving Sora to continue with his mission. He knocked on the wooden door gently.
"Come in!" A happy voice said from the room inside.
The young man nodded as he opened the door and closed after he got inside.
He saw two adults in front of him, one being a female teacher with a casual yellow shirt while the other is the bald principal wearing an orange suit who's sitting on a chair with papers of Sora's documents on his desk.
"Ah welcome Mr. Takahashi to Shujin Academy." The principal said with a smile. "It's a pleasure to see you in person."
'Pffft..' Sora had to mentally hold his laughter as he noticed the principal's appearance is shaped like an egg. 'No wonder Kaito wrote that in.'
He nodded. "Yeah, sorry that I was a bit late to get here."
"It's alright, I saw that those two were talking with you when they closed the door." The principal said. "So, as you may have known. I've looked into your records and they're quite impressive. The reason why I accepted you into this school is that I see potential in you."
The principal closed his hands. "Potential to learn more here in Shujin Academy, from what I see right now is a willing and intelligent student. Just waiting to become more than that."
"I've read a lot about you in these records and... I'm sorry to hear the accident that happened to your parents." He grimaced. "You're staying strong, and we hope you keep moving forward. Now then, Ms. Kawakami?"
The female teacher that was near him stepped in. "Hello, my name's Sadayako Kawakami. I'll be your homeroom teacher as of now." She said with a bow. "You should be aware of the rules here in Shujin Academy."
Sora nodded. "I do. Anything else I should know Mr..."
"Oh my apologies, you can call me Principal Kobayakawa. Now, everything we've mentioned here is done. You will be expected to arrive on time, and so on forth." He said. "Also, a word of advice; make sure to stay away from that transfer student. Who knows what trouble he might get you involved within the school."
The young rider shrugged. "Understood. Thank you for accepting me into your school Principal Kobayakawa. I'll be at my best behavior."
"We hope to see that Mr. Takahashi."
Sora saw his schedule and carefully took it. "Thanks for printing out my own schedule Ms. Kawakami, I appreciate it." He said with a smile.
"It's no problem." She waved dismissively.
With the meeting done, the young rider took his leave. 'I wonder why they're treating Akira like that? The guy doesn't seem so bad. Then again, I'll have to be careful around him.' Sora sighed. 'Time I head off. I'd rather not waste time here standing around.'
[Shibuya Excel Hotel: Night]
Finally making it back home at the hotel thanks to an Uber, he bought a box of pizza at the same time. He was curious about trying it out after all.
It tasted...not much to his liking. He dumped it onto the garbage, noting how it's a disgrace to the New York pizza clan.
Sora groaned. "Waste of a pizza honestly. It's meant for people who don't like the nice greasy...cheesy...pepperoni...pizza." He almost drooled on the bed, wiping it off. "I'll have to find a way to make myself one. But, I'm not perfect at cooking so I'll put that on hold.."
He yanks his schedule out of his bag and sees that his scheduled classes don't sound too difficult... Except he had to learn trigonometry, which in his case he's gonna get a headache.
Putting the paper away, Sora grabs the remote next to him and turns on the T.V.
...
...
...
It was hard to believe that his guts were right, sometimes he had trouble to go through his decisions. But today? Watching the recent news, reporters were on the scene, the young man saw the train out of the tracks blocking part of the station.
It said that the train crashed into the Shibuya Station's rails, apparently, eighty people were included in that train. Some died while most are in critical condition.
'How the hell did this happen?' He shook his head. 'There's no way the guy didn't know about it.'
The only thing he could do was rest since tomorrow starts his new day in school.
'It's going to be a wild ride from here...' Sora thought as he started to fall asleep.