Act 2: Secrets of the Skies
Segment 1: Frosh Days
Chapter 1-3: It Takes a Village
Ryuta was sitting at a table in Orchard Commons with a tray of food in front of him with one earbud in and one out. If it weren't for the UBC lanyards strung around all the necks or dangling out of pockets, it would have looked like a massive tech company's office. Amedramon exclaimed as Ryuta pivoted around, phone in hand, "These people all look so different."
Ryuta smiled. "Welcome to Canada." In truth, a part of him had missed the diversity of faces. Sure, there were minorities in Japan, but not quite like this. Even with Vancouver's reputation for having a lot of Chinese people, there were still plenty of south Asian, south-east Asian, African, Caucasian, and other faces around. He was sure there were at least five different languages being spoken at once.
A pair of hands clapped Ryuta on the back. "Aagh!" He was half-expecting Takaharu, because he did that all the time, but that wouldn't make sense. He whirled around.
"Oh, shit, sorry!" the stranger laughed nervously. It was another frosh. He was tall, white, and quite muscular, and had a shark tooth necklace. Ryuta figured he willingly leaned into the surfer dude vibe. It would be no surprise if he spent his vacations in Tofino. "Wrong person!"
Ryuta stared, stunned into silence, then choked out a laugh. "No problem."
"Are you from around here? I'm James, by the way. James Ogilvy." He had shoulder-length wavy dirty-blonde hair. He stuck out a hand.
Ryuta took it and shook it, though it was more like James was crushing his palm. "Kind of?"
"Kind of?"
"I was born here, but I moved for middle school."
James raised an eyebrow. "You come from… let me guess. Hong Kong." Ryuta shook his head. "South Korea?" Ryuta shook his head again. "This is embarrassing. Uh… ah, fuck, Japan, duh!" James facepalmed as Ryuta showed him his student ID card. "Ryuta, you came back just for UBC?"
Ryuta shrugged. "I guess I wanted to see the old family house as well, but…"
James snorted. "It got 're-developed,' I assume."
"Yeah."
"That's the way it goes around here," James remarked sadly. "It's too easy to make a quick buck by flipping or rebuilding. Not even Port Coquitlam is immune to that."
"That where you're from?" Ryuta asked.
James nodded. "I bet it's all money laundering anyway."
"We talkin' about real estate, Jay? There's a lot nicer things than that." Christopher, Ryuta's roommate, slapped a tray down opposite to Ryuta. "Hey, Ryuda." He was tall, lanky, and kept his dark curly hair clean-shaven and close to his scalp. He claimed to have come from some long-time black Canadians, though he knew that his mother's side was a more recent Jamaican immigrant family.
"Hey." Chris had a habit of voicing the back half of his name, but it was an understandable mistake.
"Wait, are we all on the same floor?" James asked. "Eight?"
Ryuta nodded. "I think we're down the hall from you. Are you in computer science too?"
James shook his head. "No, chemical engineering. Are you both in comp sci then?"
"Yep! Yo, Jay, this guy's into tennis too," Chris replied, pointing at Ryuta.
"Nice. We should meet up for some games. Actually, I was looking for Mikey, he could be our fourth guy."
"Mikey… who?" Ryuta asked.
"Michael Cheung. Both of you have fauxhawks, so I thought you were him," James laughed. "Hey, guys, I have to go, tutorials are soon. Chris, message me, eh?"
"A'ight, peace out dude!" Chris raised a lanky hand. He was just a lanky person in general, though he was also about the same height as Ryuta. "Ryuda – ah! Sorry! Ryuta, you look shook," he laughed as he forked a plate of fries.
"I… he took me by surprise earlier," Ryuta admitted as he cracked apart the pair of bamboo chopsticks.
Chris shovelled a pile of fries into his mouth. "Hrr mrrgirhrrdr yrr-" He swallowed. "He's intimidating, eh?" He took a swig from his can of cola. "Nah, I knew him from the Jump Start orientation. He's a nice guy. Super gentle. You'll like him a lot."
Ryuta washed down a bite of fried rice noodles. The number of Chinese chefs in the area meant all of the Asian options were much better than he expected. "So, about Scarborough…" Ryuta started.
Chris snorted. "Imma be honest with you, it ain't special. You grew up in Burnaby, so you've already seen the better version of it."
"Really?"
"Man, that's why I came here! I got accepted into UTSC, but just – just look at this place," Chris exclaimed, his arms wide as he gestured around. "It's so much more beautiful."
"But you had to fly all the way from Ontario. It's far."
"You're saying it's far?" Chris snorted. "Hey, Tokyo's pretty goddang far from here too." He set his fork down. "Ahh…" His gaze drifted into the distance.
"Something on the mind?" Ryuta inquired.
Chris shook his head to clear his thoughts. "I wanna visit someday, but shit's expensive, yo." Ryuta nodded. The flight was expensive, and Chris had admitted earlier that he had taken on some massive loans to study here – his family was unable to help at all. Ryuta looked around. He was sure there were plenty of students around who were in the same situation, especially those like him, who had to pay the higher rate for international study. His family could afford it, barely. It left the situation for Haru much more strained.
He felt bad about it still. It was a selfish move on his part. He glanced at his phone. Amedramon was curled up with its head on its paws. He had made sure it ate well in the mornings to last for the day, as much as it kept saying that it could deal with it. It was just like him, in more ways than one. It noticed that he was staring at it and stuck its tongue out at him.
"Ah, fuck, we have a lab in twenty minutes!" Chris exclaimed. "I just started eating!"
"Less talking, more eating," Ryuta added. They actually had ten minutes because of the walking time.
"You grew up around here?" Chris asked as he and Ryuta made their way back to the dorm. "Dude, you should show me around."
Ryuta sighed. "I could, but I hardly remember the city in front of me now."
"Oh." Chris pursed his lips. "Thought you would have come on vacation once or twice."
"We hardly ever went on vacation at all outside of Japan."
"That sucks."
"And you? Did you ever leave Ontario? Other than right now, obviously."
"Nah, me neither. Couldn't even afford it, mom would say all the time. I didn't believe her as a kid, but…"
"But?"
Chris shifted his backpack. "When I got older, I realized she and dad were both working two jobs just to make ends meet."
Ryuta was stunned into silence. Both? "So… who took care of you then?"
"My older brother Drew did. He…" Chris trailed off, then shrugged. "I dunno. He was a good guy, I think. I hope."
Ryuta scratched the back of his hand. "Sorry, I didn't mean to bring up bad memories."
"No! Nothing bad. Just, uh, I haven't heard from him in several months. He went off to the States a while ago, didn't explain why. Oh hey, Laura!" A Chinese girl walked past as they entered the Orchard Commons building. She had a lighthearted expression and hair clipped back, with thin-rimmed glasses and a pair of thin earrings.
"Hey, Chris. How are you?" She had a faint accent, much like Ryuta did.
"I'm good. You met Ryuta yet?" Chris pointed over.
"No. Is he your roommate?"
"He is! Ryuta, this is Laura. We're both in the anime club, but she's in… what was it? Business and math or something like that?" She nodded in agreement. Chris was close enough.
Ryuta had been completely unaware such a club existed. Chris was in it? Well, he did seem like he would. "I see. Hi, Laura." He dipped his head a bit. If she was in computer science to some extent, they might have shared courses without him realizing it.
"Hi. Laura Chan's the name. Though, if you prefer… I could give you my Chinese name."
"Oh?"
"Chan Wah-Lai. Here, the written form is probably more useful." She presented her phone, which had a photo of some certificate with Chinese script on it. Ryuta could just about read it, though the phrasing and vocabulary was difficult to understand. Some of the characters seemed a bit familiar, but not quite the same. He figured it was likely the same way for her, if she ever tried to read Japanese. Her name, though, was surprisingly easy to read, and probably the same meaning in both.
"Chin Ka-rei. Interesting. Nice name, too."
"Is that how you'd say it? Sounds similar."
He nodded. "It's not too surprising, that. Hey, I should show you mine, if you're going to show me yours." He dug around in his wallet for his identity card from Japan and handed it to her.
"Heh. Ryu. I should have known," she remarked with a smirk. She handed the card back.
It was such a common character that, if she was in the anime club, he wasn't surprised she knew the pronunciation of it. "Chan, huh? I guess your family is from Hong Kong then. Right?"
She nodded. "Just my parents though. Every generation older than that is either from Guangzhou or Fukien or somewhere in south China. But I was born here."
"Huh, same."
"Really?! Oh, cool! I grew up in Richmond. You know, where else, right?" she laughed. "What about you?"
"Ah, Burnaby. Right near Metrotown."
Chris put his arms on both of their shoulders. "Hey, you two should, y'know…"
"Chris!" Laura chided. "Little soon for that! We just met!"
"Ehh… I'm spoken for," Ryuta added.
"Whoops! Just saying, is all," Chris tried to plead. Laura swatted his buzzed head. He dodged the hand with a quick duck. "Kay, I better run before Laura kicks my ass. See you upstairs!" He ran off while Laura stared him down. Ryuta held in a laugh. She did have that same serious face that Yuuka did when she was annoyed or bothered.
"Anyway," Laura turned back to Ryuta, "I guess you live on campus then."
"Of course. You don't?"
"Richmond's a bit too far, but my uncle lives nearby, so I 'rented' a room from him. Our extended family is tight."
Ryuta looked down. "Ah… lucky you."
"Mm. Not yours?"
He shook his head. "They're scattered all over Japan now. Mostly in Tokyo, obviously, somewhere, but there's a few all over the other cities."
"And you don't talk to each other?"
"You know, I'm sometimes surprised to find out I have cousins." It was an exaggeration, obviously, but the joke was funnier because of the reaction it got out of Laura. "Just a joke! I've met them all, but I haven't seen most of them in years."
"Sounds rather lonely."
That stung a bit. It was true, though. "Yeah."
Laura stared past him at the outside, then resumed walking to the doors. "Sorry I gotta cut it off so abruptly, but I have a class coming up."
"Oh! Oops. My bad, I wasn't watching the time," he apologized.
"Hey, by the way, you should join the anime club. I'm sure you could, uh, help some people fix their pronunciation, if it doesn't make your ears bleed first, of course. We're heading to a convention downtown next month as well!"
"I'll think about it." He waved as she jogged off to get to her lab on time. He was absolutely sure he could not bring her up when talking to Yuuka.
―――――― ―――――― ―――――― ―――――― ―――――― ――――――
INAC Kobe Leonessa stays top of WE League; JEF United Chiba wins first game in Week 2
NNK Sports | Published 2021.09.20 10:30
Fans of INAC Kobe Leonessa will be pleased to see their team continue to lead the table confidently as the only team to stay perfect with a 3-1 win over Tokyo Verdy Beleza. The game entered half-time with no goals, and immediately after the break, Kobe were the first to draw blood, scoring two in quick succession by WATANABE Tamao (49') and FUKUDA Konomi (51') and adding a third partway through the second half via a header from left-back SHOJO Kanoko (68'). A stoppage-time header goal from Verdy Beleza's German international Karin Elsa ZIMMERMAN (90'+1) was only consolation for a team that is still looking for success on the pitch.
Later last Saturday, Omiya Ardija Ventus hosted MyNavi Sendai and produced a raucous 2-2 draw that still featured more cards than goals, including a sending-off in the second half after Sendai defender Kim Yi-hae was booked twice. Dutch international Irene Janneke BAKKER scored both for Omiya Ardija Ventus (54', 81'), while MyNavi Sendai had their goals from a deflection off the shot of captain AIBA Kurumi (31') and an own goal by Omiya Ardija Ventus' goalkeeper MIZUTA Kazumi (63').
Closing out the day was JEF United Chiba, who played out a tightly-defended 1-0 result against Chifure AS Elfen Saitama at ZA Oripri Stadium, with the lone goal coming just before the half-time break (44'). A quick sequence of moves allowed forward NAKANO Kanna to find the free space behind Saitama's back line, though credit should also be given to left-winger and Korean international LEE Ji-min for the brilliant outside-foot early cross.
Then on Sunday, Nojima Stella Kanagawa thundered back to rescue a 2-2 draw after allowing two goals in the first half to Urawa Red Diamonds. The Reds pummelled the home side with a nine-shot onslaught in the first half, with goals coming from forwards ENDOH Harue (9') and JINNO Yoriko (32'). A half-time adjustment and substitution allowed Kanagawa some breathing room, and a more evenly matched second half saw both goals peppered with shots. KIKUCHI Hatsue and SASAKI Sumie, goalkeepers for Kanagawa and Urawa respectively, combined for over twenty saves on the night, and although Kanagawa forward Carlota BRIETZKE found her brace early in the second half (54', 58'), Urawa would readjust to ensure a more level affair did not take their hard-earned result away from them. Despite the draw, the Reds still sit second in the table with four points, while Nojima Stella Kanagawa have yet to win or lose so far, and have a perfectly matched goal differential, along with three other clubs.
AC Nagano Parceiro were unable to deliver on their home debut as Albirex Niigata spoiled the party in stoppage time to take a 0-1 win. Lackadaisical shooting from the home side, including a skied volley from three yards, would come back to haunt Nagano when Niigata midfielder HIRAO Aki was left all alone in the box and buried the free header (90'+3).
Sanfrecce Hiroshima Regina players participated in WE Action Day by helping host and referee a girls' soccer tournament in their home city.
LEO: 6 (2-0-0) | +6 (7-1)
RED: 4 (1-1-0) | +1 (4-3)
REG: 3 (1-0-0) | +2 (2-0)
JEF: 3 (1-0-0) | +1 (1-0)
PAR: 3 (1-0-1) | 0 (3-3)
ALB: 3 (2-0-1) | 0 (3-3)
MYN: 2 (0-2-0) | 0 (3-3)
STE: 2 (0-2-0) | 0 (3-3)
VEN: 1 (0-1-1) | -4 (2-6)
BEL: 0 (0-0-2) | -3 (2-5)
ELF: 0 (0-0-2) | -3 (0-3)
―――――― ―――――― ―――――― ―――――― ―――――― ――――――