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This was your first time in Tokyo and here you stood trying to read the map. You only had minimal knowledge of the city’s different districts from your interest in anime and video games set in Tokyo. You’d even tried to learn the language, but you only had enough to be able to speak the occasional important phrases. Perhaps you shouldn’t have done this trip all by yourself, you thought to yourself as the sprawling subway/train map started to grow and the kanji dance and jump before your eyes.
You try flipping the map 180 degrees wondering if that would make the foreign writing any easier to make out. The longer that you stare at the map in front of you, the more you forget where you were trying to go. Running a hand through your hair, you sigh as you internally begin rethinking this whole trip muttering to yourself under your breath.
“Excuse me…umm…? Would you like some help?”
You look up at the male voice, blinking. He wasn’t talking to you…right? He couldn’t be…
Especially when the voice belonged to such an attractive yet also intimidating man. He stood with his long brunette hair tied up in a neat half bun on the back of his head, a nicely ironed blue button up shirt tucked into a nice fairly nice looking pair of casual dress pants and a brown cross body bag hung off of one shoulder. Yet his brown eyes behind a pair of red framed glasses showed a soft genuine kindness to them.
Still, you tried to hide behind the map as the man towered over you despite you considering yourself fairly tall. Staring up at him, your mind draws a blank at how to reply to this man. Your mouth opens and closes but no words come out.
His hand reached up fiddle with his own bun a bit nervously as he could perceive your discomfort. Perhaps he was used to this sort of reaction when someone saw him. You don’t quite know.
“I’m sorry…
I just…umm…saw you there and thought…maybe perhaps…you know…you might need some help.
Wait…can you understand me?” He asked before shaking his head, his fingers nervously tugging at his bun now messing it up a bit.
“Help, do you need? Lost?” He tried again as he now appeared just as nervous with trying to speak English as you had been just looking at him as he’d spoken to you in Japanese.
You are even more shocked to hear the English words in this country as they were the first words in your native tongue. While they were a bit accented and in a different order than you were used to, you could see the effort and even slight embarrassment written on the man’s face. Finally you nod with a slight smile tugging at your lips. Something about being around this man calms your nerves.
“Where are you trying to go?” He asked, returning to his Japanese more out of habit than to try and confuse you by pointing to the map. Pausing for a bit, you let out a deep breath before continuing in what little Japanese you could. You grew worried as you spoke that he wouldn’t understand, but the creases in his forehead that had raised when you first spoke, softened as a hand reached to your map.
“So you are interested in seeing some of the fashion from Harajuku and then eat something delicious that you can only find here? You’re lucky that you found me. I can help with both if you don’t mind tagging along with someone you just met…” he replied, his smile growing until he let out a nervous chuckle at his suggestion. A hand tugging more of his bun out of the neat state it had been in when the two of you had met.
You nod allowing the other to lead the way. Though he said he is someone you just met, something about the taller man makes you feel like you can trust him. Following behind, you take notice of how broad his shoulders are and how in a different light you would’ve seen him as intimidating.
Looking up from your thoughts, you noticed that you are now standing in front of a storefront. Your eyes squint as if that would help you read the kanji better, but still your reading skills were very poor.
“Trust me, you’ll want to go in here.” He grinned holding open the door that had a sun decal on the door with the same kanji as the sign above the shop.
Stepping inside, your eyes were greeted with mannequins dressed in various clothes; with some appearing completed while others were still pinned together. The designs also covered a variety of styles from formal male suits to dresses with big bows and frills to even lingerie or costumes.
“Feel free to try on whatever you fancy. That’s always my favorite part when I bring someone here.” He replied with a nod, gesturing around the room as he watched you leaning against the wall.
There were just too many items for you to choose and how could you even know if it was in your size? Your head was swimming as you tried to find that perfect outfit in the sea of clothes on display. What sort of mood were you in today?
Currently, you are dressed in a comfortable casual. Looking over at your host, you begin to wonder if you made some sort of error dressing so informally? He didn’t seem offended, but he could also be in the majority.
He took note of your hesitation and he started to pull a few things off of racks hanging throughout the studio and handed them to you.
“I think that you’ll look simply divine with these pieces. Why don’t you put them on in the dressing room over there and then I’ll take you to taste my favorite place just down the road?”
You nod, taking the clothes and heading for the dressing room. It didn’t take you long to change, deciding to leave your old clothes in the dressing room. Stepping out of the room, you took a yourself and shock was written all over your face. You did look just as amazing as he said you would.
“Th-th-thank you.” You stuttered out with a polite bow finally moving towards the unknown man still in shock.
“No need to thank me. I just have an eye for knowing what’s going to be an amazing look on someone from just looking at them.” He chuckled, blushing slightly as he reached up for his bun. “So shall we go for some ramen for dinner? It’s something you must try; I promise you!”
Nodding, you took his hand and again he led just a short way to an outdoor ramen eatery. You both took a seat and he ordered for you. Having no clue with your limited language skills, you were left to be surprised until the bowl was set before you.
When the steaming bowl was placed before you, the scent wafted into your nose, immediately making your stomach growl. Dipping your soup spoon in, you dared to taste the broth. Recognizing it from one of the other ramen houses you’d tried back home, it was tonkatsu ramen. He was right, it did taste really good here. Your eyes looked again at your host grinning from ear to ear as he slurped at his own tonkatsu ramen.
Once the bowls were nearly empty, you thanked him again realizing that your day of fun together was coming to a close. You frowned at the thought of not expecting to have such a fun time on your first day with a total stranger.
“How about if you happen to have trouble reading the map again tomorrow, I can show you other areas of Tokyo?” He asked as if reading your mind.
“Deal!” was your simple grinning reply.