Although days could be long and tiring in a place where he didn't know the language, Masaomi could still learn to appreciate the simple activities that didn't involve mental exertion.
Namely, Phys Ed.
He'd always loved gym class. No matter how much he (admittedly; grudgingly) enjoyed regular classes, it was always freeing and exuberating to be able to slip on a gym strip and just run wild for an hour.
Running. Ah, it was nice to know that even though most everything else had changed, running was still a constant, even across the ocean. The class was started off by ten laps around the field, something Masaomi embraced with elation as he took the lead, lulled into calm by the rhythmic slap of his sneakers against the track and the breeze whipping through his hair.
He'd always loved running the most. His shrink said it was because of his subconscious desire to 'run away' from all his problems, to ignore the real issues in his life and just escape. Masaomi said it was because of his reoccurring dream involving being chased by Velociraptors that were constantly shouting, "Harry and Masaomi sittin' in a tree, K-I-S-S-I-N-G!"
Whatever the reason, he was comforted instantly by the growing burn in his chest and the constant lifting and dropping of his feet, leaving the rest of the pack and their heavy panting behind as he pulled farther and farther ahead.
When class was over, Mikado caught up to him, wheezing and gasping unevenly while Masaomi caught his breath in calm gulps of air. He stopped beside the boy, hands grasping his knees as he bent over, face flushed and sweaty. "How…how did…you are very fast!"
Masaomi let out a slightly breathless laugh as he helped Mikado up by his shoulder and walked them both towards the changing room to grab a drink of water. "I've been running ever since I was young."
Mikado shook his head, gasps growing quieter and farther apart. "No only practice. You are talented."
"Uh…thanks," Masaomi replied, shrugging as Mikado bent over at the water fountain and gulped heavily from the stream. He gestured to the taller boy once he'd had his fill, and minutes later they were fully changed and heading off to the last class of the day.
"…Kida-kun?"
"Hai?" Masaomi replied, trying to exercise his juvenile Japanese as often as possible.
"Japanese at park?"
"You mean…after school?" Masaomi felt excitement bubbling under his collar bone, buttery and sunny and swiftly expanding.
"Ah…hai. Practice Japanese and English."
"Of course! Yes! Hai! Hai, hai, hai!" Masaomi beamed, bouncing down the hall. "That sounds perfect!"
"Hai. We go when school end."
"Definitely! Yeah!" Masaomi beamed.
Oh yes, things were certainly looking up.
"Uh, okay, no. Iie. It's 'voh-cab-you-larry'."
"Ah, hai. Voh-cab-yoo-leary?"
Masaomi waved his hand dismissively, smiling at the boy whose cheeks were pink with embarrassment over his botched pronunciation. "That's good enough. You make a lot more sense than anyone in New Jersey."
"Nani?"
"Uh… Nevermind."
"Kida-kun, domo arigato."
"Huh?" Masaomi tilted his head to the side for a moment. "Oh! I get it! Like Mr. Roboto." Masaomi cleared his throat, a sound that preceded a show of his singing 'talents' and usually had anyone who knew him within a mile radius fleeing for their lives. "Domo arigato misuta Robotto, mata au hi made~!"
"Ah…" Mikado grimaced, leaning away slightly on the bench, ears ringing.
"My dad loves that song." Masaomi winced. "But you probably haven't heard of it. Anyways, the next part goes like –"
Mikado butted in before Masaomi could sing another word. "Kida-kun! Eat now?"
Masaomi raised a brow when he checked his cell time. "At four o'clock?"
"Hai! I know good place." Mikado quickly packed up his school things, Masaomi following his lead and pulling his bag back over his shoulder.
He heard it before he saw it. A loud, deep voice saying something along the lines of, "Good sushi! Somethingsomething sushi! Good!" At least the simple Japanese allowed some words to be picked out by the English-speaking teen.
"Ah! Mikado! Somethingsomethingsomething," the man who owned the voice said as the two boys reached him. Masaomi was instantly struck by the man's appearance: tall as a tree, with deep set eyes and skin like burnt chocolate. He was dressed in clothes unfamiliar to Masaomi, a rope tied around his head.
"Simon-san, something eat." Mikado smiled up at the man, who nodded and waved them inside the door. Mikado (thankfully) ordered for them, and answered all of Simon's questions; Masaomi was still too shocked by such an out-of-place man in the middle of Ikebukuro to introduce himself.
When the sushi arrived, it wasn't what Masaomi had been expecting. Back in New York, he'd had simple California rolls and strips of salmon on cubes of rice, typical sushi. The sushi here was filled with all sorts of odd ingredients he'd never even seen before, much less tasted. One was even bubbling! And sure, he wasn't that well-versed in Japanese culture, but wasn't sushi supposed to be served cold?
"No worry, Kida-kun. Good taste," Mikado said with a smile, and how could anyone turn down a face like that?
Ask Masaomi later and he would tell you the only reason he enjoyed the sushi and continued to return years later was because of his former diet of chips, juice, and tea. Anything would taste good after that for two weeks straight. But in truth, the exotic textures and mixtures were intriguing to Masaomi, who'd lived the majority of his life prior eating take-out from a new restaurant every day. The closest he got to cooking after he realized touching the stove would end in disaster was waiting to scoop the Chow Mien into an actual bowl instead of leaving it in the styrofoam container before digging in.
(He'd pretty much lived alone for eleven years, after all.)
"Domo arigato, Simon-san," Mikado exclaimed as the man waved goodbye.
"Sayonara," Masaomi said quickly, still trying to feel for the way the foreign language rolled on his tongue, slow and clunky compared to Mikado's graceful lilt.
"Arigato, Mikado-kun. It was tasty."
A small nod. "You are welcome."
"Sayonara, Mikado-kun," Masaomi waved as Mikado began to walk away, waving as well.
"Sayonara! I see you tomorrow! Teach honorifics!"
Masaomi grinned, something as simple as a promise for tomorrow making happiness permeate his insides. "Hai."
The beauty of the weekend was that Masaomi could stay at home, close his eyes, and pretend for a moment like he was back home and everything was as it should be.
He spent the morning surfing the internet (ignoring any social networks because he was definitely not in the mood to hear about all his friends' marvellous school days and inside jokes that he used to be a part of). He checked the New York Times, dabbled around on some porn sites, and stared at old photos of him in kindergarten, when he had a smile big as half his face and a sunny personality bursting at the seams.
After cracking open a second bag of chips, Masaomi figured it was time to get out somewhere and buy some real food. Since he wasn't too sure about using credit cards here, he took out a several bills and coins from the stash in one of the kitchen drawers (sent by his father's assistant and kept stocked by her as well) and stuffed them in his wallet, unsure of how much things cost here.
With a tired sigh, he grabbed his keys and walked out the door.
Only to find himself several minutes later at the corner convenience store, staring at a magnificent wall of instant ramen. Some were in cups, some rectangular, some in bowls. They ranged in a plethora of bright, exhaustive colours with print he couldn't understand and pictures of steaming noodles and cartoon mascots. He felt like they were all shouting at him at once.
It didn't help that he couldn't understand what they were saying. Not to mention the prices; was yen the same as dollars? He hoped not, or else it seemed like Japan was a lot more expensive than he thought.
Cautiously, as if afraid all the instant ramen would tackle him if he moved too quickly, Masaomi chose a few of the more discreetly-packaged ones and stuck them in his shopping basket, moving along quickly over to a refrigerated section with little lunches (like the ones Mikado and Anri had) encased in plastic.
I could use some fresh food, Masaomi thought, and grabbed a few that looked alright. He moved over to the beverage section and got some canned tea and milk boxes as well. Feeling somewhat curious, he also grabbed a few of what looked like criss-crossed bread buns in plastic wrappers. He figured that was good for the week, and lined up to check out behind an elderly woman. He was just loading on all of his food when a slim, tall man lined up behind him. Masaomi thought it was a little odd, to see a guy wearing mostly black in such a brightly-coloured store, but let it slide because the guy looked like he might be a little dangerous and Masaomi had had enough of danger to last him a lifetime.
"Ohayo," the cashier said robotically as she scanned Masaomi's items.
"Er…Ohayogozaimasu," Masaomi replied, mouth still moving awkwardly around the foreign words. If he looked back, he would've seen the intrigued look on the man's face.
The woman finished scanning and bagging and said something quickly in Japanese, too quickly for him to decipher, though he figured she was probably telling him the price. His eyes darted to the wavering numbers on the screen. ¥3,400.
It was stupid, but as Masaomi began to dig through his wallet he started to feel like someone was watching him. Sure, the cashier lady, but someone else was watching him with a gaze that made him feel like they were sizing him up, inspecting him like bacteria under a microscope.
"Er…gomennasai. Ichi…moment," Masaomi said lamely as he tried to figure out which bills he should give and how much the coins were supposed to be worth. That gaze that raised the hackles on his neck didn't help one bit.
Suddenly, a pale hand dipped quickly into his wallet to grab a few bills and coins then handed them off to the cashier before Masaomi could move an inch. He looked up into the face of the man himself, and a shiver ran up his spine when he noticed that the good citizen had red eyes.
"Uh…arigato."
"It's alright, I know English," he replied, with only a hint of an accent. "I'm Orihara Izaya." He held out his hand to shake, which Masaomi did reluctantly, then shivered again. His fingers were cold.
"I'm Kida Masaomi." He took the bags the woman offered him and walked forward, Izaya following.
"You have an American accent," Izaya noticed with a wicked smile. "I'm guessing you recently moved."
"Yeah," Masaomi replied, somewhat hesitant to share information with this man who, though charismatic, gave him a bad feeling in his stomach.
"May I ask where from?" Izaya smiled kindly as they walked out the doors. He offered, "I'm from a small town in Sapporo."
"Born in Surrey, raised in New York."
Izaya made an interested noise. "How odd, that you would end up here."
Masaomi made a noncommittal noise in his throat as they reached the street corner. He didn't want this guy following him to his apartment, and was planning to cross a series of different roads to shake him off if he decided to follow. Call it paranoia, but you had to be on the ball if you lived alone in a city as big as New York.
"Well, Masaomi, I hope to speak with you again soon. Sayonara."
"Bye," the blonde replied, watching with narrowed eyes as the cheerfully suspicious man walked across the street and melted into the rest of the crowd.
It wasn't until a while later as Masaomi was waiting for his ramen to soak that he realized: Orihara Izaya hadn't bought a thing.
AN: I know it's unhealthy, but one of my dreams is to someday go to Japan and eat lots of instant ramen ^w^ I just love it too much! Especially spicy kimchi kind (which isn't really spicy at all). Too much sodium and all preservatives, but it's addicting!
And Izaya is lying. I don't know where he was born so I just said Sapporo, like the beer!
Thank you to everyone who has favourited, alerted, and reviewed! It always brightens my day when I see them in my inbox! ^w^
Also, I have a new story up! (or if you're reading this right away, I will in 30 minutes). It is a different pairing this time! Now it's Mikado/Masaomi! Such variety! That's why you all come to me, right? ;P