Chapter Text
Your plane just landed, you’re pretty nervous about studying abroad in japan, but you lie to yourself and say everything is going to be ok . After all, you lucked out, and convinced a your pen pal, Totoko, to let you stay at her place, and you didn’t have to rent out some sort weird…smelly student dorm thing. Plus Totoko is letting you stay at her place for free. What a naive and kind soul.
You and Totoko clicked well with your emails. You thought her unrealistic dreams of being an idol, and low key hostile behavior, were cute. She said your ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ attitude was inspiring. You were friends, but you’ve never seen each other in person. Sure you sent each other selfies, but meeting a person in real life is different.
When you get off the plane, get through all the normal air port nonsense, and grab your bags, you text Totoko and ask for her address. Afterwards you take a taxi there, and think about how your life in japan will be.Who will you meet? What if everyone thinks you're weird? What if Totoko actually sucks, or worse what if she’s really cool and you’ll miss her when you leave.
You arrive at Totoko’s house and meet her parents, and they direct you towards her room. You thought maybe she’d meet you at the front door, but whatever, this is fine. You knock on her door and almost immediately the door swings open. Totoko greets you with a hug and walks you in. She says you're much prettier in person. She giggles and compliments your figure and jokes that it must be your westerner diet. You don’t think your body is that different than hers, I mean I guess you could say that your were taller and “fuller” but not by much. After telling Totoko all about the westerner life (by her request), she goes downstairs to get you some refreshment. WELL, FINALLY, you were on plane for hours, and your were too shy to ask. It's about time she offer you some damn refreshments. She returns with juice and cookies, but tripped on a what looked like a bear with a knife in it and she spilled it all over you. You’re more concerned that you longer have juice and cookies to snack, on rather than your soiled clothes. She apologizes repeatedly, you tell her it’s fine, and that you just have to go downstairs to get a clean shirt out of your bag. She tells you that’s it's her fault your clothes got ruined and says to let her fix it. She says she has the perfect outfit for you in her closet and runs to get it. She pulls out a top a and shirt that both have a fish scale pattern on them. You think it’s…amusing…so you accept it and leave to bathroom to try it on.
Your try the top on, but unfortunately it doesn’t fit…neither do the pants. You thought about putting the dirty clothes back on, but nah that’s gross. Totoko’s room is just across the hall, so you’d figure it’d be fine, it’s just a step or two in your underwear. And you don't really care if Totoko sees you, you just hope she’d understand. As you open the door,
“Hey Totoko-chan, these don’t real-”
You Stop. Suddenly there is a boy in there, asking Totoko on date, while Totoko screams at him trying to make him leave. Totoko makes eye contact with you and gasp. Her whole face turned white. The boy looks at her expression and turn his heads toward you. His jaw drops and hits the ground. Blood is spurting from his noses and is literally flooding the floor.
You are unsure what to do in this situation. A normal person would scream and go back to the bathroom, but you are not normal. To relieve some tension to decide to just say, "hello," and pretend you’re not standing in front of some guy you don’t know in your underwear. At least it’s cute underwear. Totoko lets out the most blood curdling scream you’ve ever hear in your life, and shoves you all the way back into the bathroom. Her expression changes back to cutesy.
Totoko: “AhhAHHAHAHAHAHA That painful guy shouldn’t have been here, I’m so sorry,”
You, “Eh, it was my fault anyway, besides i don’t think it's a big deal.”
Totoko winces a little : AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH YOu’re so funny! Now let's get some clothes on you”
You: “Did you bring clothes?”
Totoko, “…….eee..e”
You: “That’s ok. I can get–” you head towards the door
Totoko, “AHHHHH NNO-NONON- I HAVE STILL HAVE THIS, ” she picks up the fish outfit from before.
You, “That doesn’t fit me”
Totoko, “NONSENSE, WE’RE EXACTLY THE SAME SIZE, BESIDES IT'S BETTER THAN BEING NAKED”
She practically strangles you and forces the outfit on you. But she manages to get it on you. You feel like it looks nothing like its supposed to. It’s practically a tight fitting crop top and leggings. Totoko starts sweating like crazy and stutters to herself.
You: “Hmm it’s a bit edgier than what I usually wear, but it works.”
Totoko is grimacing. her face is the weirdest shade of blue.
Tokoko: “AH you were right it IS way to small! Wait here and lock the door, I can get you something else. This is japan you should dress more modestly ”
You: “Oh, well technically…I don’t actually live here, I’m not even Japanese.. I really don’t care what your friend out there think about me. I really just want to get out of this bathroom. “
Without warning Totoko starts screaming again. You figure since she’s been doing that all day, its her normal behavior. So you just continue your day and open the bathroom door.
As soon as you open it, the boy you saw earlier falls at your feet as if he were listening on the other side this whole time. Japan isn’t what you expected at all. Was everyone here this weird? He fumbles around trying to get up, and then extends his hand out toward you.
???: "HELLO! Are you Totoko’s friend?"
You: “Uh, yes, I’m _____” You take his hand expecting a handshake, but instead he keeps his arm still, grasp your fingers with his, stroking them with his thumb.
???: “I’m Karamatsu,”
He winks at you and leans forward to kiss your hand.
Karamatsu: “Might I say you're incredibly beautiful, my flower ”
He pulls out a rose, and surprisingly smoothly slips it into your hand has he pulls away.
Is this guy seriously flirting with you? You’re pretty sure you just saw him asking Tokoko on a date. Furthermore the rose he just gave you still had thorns on it, and it they’re stabbing you in hand. You see a little trickle of blood run down the stem.
You, “Ah...that hurts”
Karamatsu steps back. He likes like he’s hurt. Is he ok? You’re the one bleeding, why is he gripping his chest like somebody just stabbed him.
You, “Um, are you ok?”
Karamatsu: “I don’t want to hurt anyone! I’m just a simple man, who wants to love,”
You, “???????”
Totoko comes back into reality and rams her fist into his stomaching sending him flying out of the entire house.
You: "?????????!!!?!??!?!?!?!?"
Totoko, “Sorry if that corny good for nothing was bothering you, he’s just another one of those lousy neets. Teehee~” she giggles and flashes a peace sign. You’ve never been so lost for words. You decide to just pretend it never happened
You: “Uh, Totoko, wanna go grab some lunch maybe?”
Totoko takes you to cute little cafe where they serve sandwiches, cakes, and tea. Totoko goes on to talk about herself, and what’d she do when she finally becomes an idol.
Totoko, “Ahh i just can’t wait to crush Nya-chan,”
You. “Why wait, why not now?” You say without thinking. Then after realizing what Totoko just said, you mildly regret it. But only mildly, so you continue eating. Totoko slams her fist on the table, cracking it.
Totoko: “You’re absolutely right! I’m not getting any younger” she dashes out of the cafe; leaving you stranded there, eating a sandwich, she didn’t even pay for her food. After you finish up, you leave and decide if you can remember the route to walk back to Totoko’s.
That was a mistake. You’re lost, and the sun is setting. You look at your phone, 1%, nope 0%, it’s dead. You find yourself on a stone bridge. Leaning against the railings you look up the sky. You start thinking about that guy you saw. As Totoko said, he did seem really corny, but you felt that kinda liked it. You chuckled as you thought about his face,how silly he looked, and how his eyes would...sparkle. Oh shit, he was kinda cute, wasn’t he?
Flustered, you turn you head trying not to make eye contact with anyone. But standing right next to you, pretending not to see you, is that same guy you were just thinking about.
You: “Ah! Carrotamatsu, right? I didn’t see you there. How long have you been standing there?”
Karamatsu: “OH, sweet angel , I’m so happy you almost remembered my name! But it’s karamatsu, my honey , k-a-r-a-matsu.”
He strikes a couple poses, and you can’t help but smile.
Karamatsu: “But you can call me….your boyfriend, if you want BANG! ”
He points at you and winks.
You start blushing, seeing you blush, Karamatsu flinches. He starts blushing too. Seeing him blush, makes you blush even harder. The cycle almost doesn’t stop.
You: “Karamatsu?”
Karamatsu: “Y-Yes?!?!”
You: “Can you walk me home?”
You meant to just say, can you tell me the directions back to Totoko’s, but your mind is somewhere else.
Karamatsu: “Y-YEs! NO PROBLEM! ”
He thrust his hand toward you again, and you take it, only to realize he only striking a pose again. Well there’s no turning back now, so you don’t pull away even when he looks at you in shock.
You: “uh, it’s cool if we hold hands right?...”
Dammit, why didn’t you just take your hand back? Instead of listening to reason, you still continue to hold his hand
You: “I don’t want to get lost.”
Karamatsu, still in shock stares at your hand, you don’t know want to do, so you intertwine your fingers in his. He gasp and whips out a pair of sunglasses, quickly slamming them onto his face. The sun is pretty much gone now, why does he need sunglasses?
Karamatsu: “ OK! Lets go!”
He gives you a thumbs up with his other hand. The two of you start walking back to Totoko’s. The light from the sunset is hitting his his cheeks in a way that makes you feel like you're in a goddamn shoujo manga. You catch yourself staring at him, but he hasn’t even glanced, or said anything to you since you started walking. You try to think about something to break the ice, but you struggle. This romantic ambiance is too distracting. Before you know it, you’re back at Totoko’s. Damn, you lost your chance. You look at Karamatsu, whose facial expression is completely blank.
You: “Ah, we’re here. Thanks for your help.”
As you take a step towards the door, you stop to notice, Karamatsu is still tightly holding your hand.
You: “Karamatsu? Ahh ..I’ll see you later,”
Will you get to see him again? You don’t why you even said that, but you hoped you would it would happen. Something about him was incredibly charming. Karamatsu stared at your hand for a little bit before he let go. He pushed up his sunglasses and gave you two thumbs up and a smile.
Karamatsu, “Until our paths meet again, my Karamatsu girl .”
The final moments of sunlight shone as his sunglasses, as he turned around and walked away. What the hell? Why was that so corny? Why did you like it? And did he just call you his Karamatsu girl??? WHY DID YOU LIKE THAT TOO?? It was just the romantic atmosphere , you tell yourself. You can’t possibly fall for someone so cheesy. You turn go inside Totoko’s house and make your way into her room. She's laying on the bed, sobbing. You’d attempt to ask her what's wrong, but she’s wearing a fish suit. So you can’t help but ?????????????. After standing there awkwardly, you decide it's time to make your presence known. You knock on the wall a bit, and Totoko leaps out of bed.
Totoko, “ I CAN NEVER BE AN IDOL!”
She removes her fish mask and throws it floor. You stare at it , watching it….melt?
Totoko: “I’m giving up, I’m just going to have to go into the PORN INDUSTRY!”
You: ”Uh...don’t give up so soon, you-”
Totoko: “You’re right, I can be an idol can’t I? I’m just not trying hard enough! Oh, ______ where have you been? Your room is ready”
You: “Oh, I was just talking a walk,”
You figure Totoko was just chasing her dreams, so you forgive her for leaving you at the cafe.
Totoko giggles and playfully shoves you, and gestures for you to follow her. She leads you into the next room, which is pretty plain, but it at least has a bed. You noticed your bags already have been moved onto the bed. How thoughtful. After settling in, you chat with Totoko some more. This time she talks about how much she despises someone named Nya-chan. She mentioned her name earlier, didn’t she? You finally decide to ask Totoko who exactly she is, Totoko seems pretty happy that you don’t know her. She doesn’t tell you who she is though; more or less just calling her all sorts of obscenities. When she leaves, you get ready for bed. You’re classes start tomorrow. You'll be studying here for a entire year. One year in japan.