Chapter Two

A month had gone by since Naya's arrival in Japan and she had gotten used to the hum of japanese school life. She and Amarah had quickly become inseparable. In the first few days, Tokyo terrified her but with Amarah, it wasn't such an intimidating place. It's always more fun when there's someone just as scared and questioning their sanity as much as you are. They were soon joined by two other girls from the dorm who were more than happy to show them the ins and outs of Japan and help them learn japanese.

Mina Hirashima was from Nagoya and was best described as a free spirit. Her grandmother had been a part of the hippy counterculture in the US in the 1960s and had found the freedom to be more herself in that lifestyle. She'd had her two children with her when she'd lived overseas so they grew up in a less stringent society and were encouraged by their mother to be who they wanted to be even after they'd moved back to Japan in early 1971. Naturally, Mina's mother was still of the mind that children should choose their own paths which was rather at odds with japanese society which is comparatively rather strict in what path a child should follow. One's happiness in life is not considered. Not that she completely dismissed the japanese way of being. Mina as a consequence marched to the beat of her own drum. While her school years demanded conformity, she'd been just different enough to slide under the radar. When she started university, she'd dyed her mid back length hair blonde with blue streaks though she'd change the color of her streaks every so often. Owing to the influence of her grandmother whom she was very close with, she'd grown up with a love for classic rock from the '60s and '70s, but she had a fondness for music in general. She had done taiko drumming from the age of seven to twelve but changed to a drum kit when she chanced to hear 'Painkiller' by Judas Priest at a friend's house. While her parents had initially raised their eyebrows, it wasn't long before the song was heard in the neighbourhood. Thankfully, the family had lived in their house for 20 years and the neighbours knew them well enough to not be bothered by it.

Seriina Asai, on the other hand was less flamboyant, though she had her moments. She was from Saitama and not being keen on commuting an hour a day to and from the university, she had been fortunate enough to get a dorm room. Seriina usually kept her long, sleek black hair up though the style changed depending on how she was feeling that day. One day it was a pony tail, another day, pig tails or a braid. She loved to laugh and always had a video camera in her hand. Her reasoning was you never know when something funny will happen. At first people in the dorm were a little weirded out by her hobby, but it wasn't long before they got used to it and were always quick to wave when the camera happened to be on them by accident or design. She thankfully knew where the off button was and when not to record something.

One afternoon in early October, the four girls were sitting under a tree in the Hakuinsha Pavilion enjoying a rather warm autumn day. Naya was surprised to find she enjoyed the bright colors of the leaves and gazed around at the trees. She wasn't fond of fall for the simple fact it meant she'd be freezing her ass off for six months, but here the colors seemed to take on an almost ethereal glow that made her stop and admire the season. It had also made her lose track of time. She lifted her arm to brush a stray piece of hair and caught a glimpse of her watch.

'Oh my god!' she exclaimed, jumping to her feet.

'What's the matter?' Mina asked, curiously.

'I'm gonna be late for class!' Naya answered panicking. 'I'll catch you guys later.'

She grabbed her backpack and ran as fast as she could to the other side of the campus. She ran inside of building 14 and up the stairs to the third floor taking them two at a time. By the time she got to her classroom, she was so tired that she practically crawled to her desk and laying her head on the table, tried to catch her breath. The professor began his lecture and she lifted her head in an effort to look like she was paying attention. After about 20 minutes, she could barely keep her eyes open. Having studied most of the night, she'd gotten maybe three hours of sleep and was proud of herself for managing to keep her tiredness at bay. Her marathon sprint across the campus, however, rendered her efforts moot. She caught herself sleeping and jerked herself awake, but sleep was demanding her attention and she sat up and pinched her arm repeatedly in an attempt to stay awake.

'Psst.' came a hiss from beside her.

Turning her head, she saw a girl with long black hair and crystal clear brown eyes beside her.

'You can have a nap if you want,' the girl whispered.

'I can't do that.' Naya whispered back. 'I don't want to get in trouble for sleeping in class.'

'You won't.' she answered, smirking 'Students always sleep in class here. It's totally normal and teachers don't notice. Or if they do, they never say anything.'

Naya gazed wide eyed at her.

'Sleeping in class is practically an expectation.' the girl continued.

'But I don't want to risk not being awake when class ends.' Naya replied, not convinced.

'I'll wake you up,' was the answer. 'so have a nap.'

Naya shrugged and put her head on her arms. She could've sworn she'd only been asleep for ten minutes when she felt someone poking her in the ribs. Snapping her eyes open and she saw the girl standing above her, grinning.

'Have a good nap?' she asked.

'If you can call it that.' Naya said, yawning.

She gathered up her backpack and slinging it over her shoulder, she headed towards the door.

'Oh damn it!' she suddenly burst out. 'I totally missed out on notes.'

Naya hung her head and groaned loudly.

'I'll copy them out tonight and give them to you next class.' her companion offered, snickering.

Naya shot her a grateful look.

'Name's Reiha by the way.' she said giving a slight bow.

Naya introduced herself and the two girls headed down the stairs and out into the pathway outside. Naya met up with Amarah, Seriina and Mina back at the pavilion with her new friend in tow. Reiha sat with them and chatted for a bit before she ran off to catch the train home.

Reiha Iori was a bit of a solitary person. Introverted, she didn't talk to many people beyond a nod to those she recognized by sight from her classes. Her family owned a temple in Kita ward and she had been trained by her grandfather to take it over when he could no longer run it. He had encouraged her to continue with her education for something to do in the meantime because as he'd said, he had no intention of dying yet. Her mother had died when she was two and she never knew her father but that wasn't something that had bothered her in her life. Her grandfather had taught her that things are the way they are and since you can't do anything about it most of the time, you may as well roll with it like water off a duck's back. She usually wore a long black trench coat and it was oddly the one way she could be picked out in a crowd of people. When she did get to know people, she was quick to make a teasing joke and was a very sociable person. It surprised her how easily she was comfortable around Naya and the other three and it, too, didn't take long before the quartet became a quintet. One thing that always amazed her was how she felt like she'd known these girls forever right from the first time she met them.

A week later, Naya headed out of the dorm and walked toward the main gate of Komaba I campus. Making her way to the train station, she felt rather apprehensive. Annoyed by Mina's pestering to get off campus and explore the wide world of Tokyo, she finally decided to do it. As she stood on the train platform, it took every ounce of self control she had to keep her feet planted where they were. It wasn't the idea of getting off campus and out of her comfort zone that scared her, it was getting lost in the vastness of the city. As the train pulled up, she prayed she would be able to find her way back.

'I'm brave!' she muttered to herself. 'I can do this!'

Taking a deep breath, she stepped on the train.