Alex-065
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Post by Alex-065 on Mar 3, 2010 1:06:38 GMT -5
The word was out. An American boy was coming to Hokkaido High School.
"My name is Jerry Irvine," the gaijin said politely in the best Japanese he could manage. He only seemed to speak his own name with any clarity, but despite his accent he spoke with confidence. "Pleased to me you." He bowed, giving his new classmates a brief chance to cast glances between themselves as they clapped and returned the greeting.
The teacher, Mr. Watanabe smiled and nodded. "Yes, welcome to class 2-A, Jerry!" He began to write "Jeri" on the white board using katakana letters, those used specifically for denoting foreign names and words, adding to Jerry's discomfort. He faked a smile, mentally begging to be seated as he began to sweat underneath his new school uniform. All the while remaining stalk still as if the first row of desks was a firing squad.
He had to cope with being both the new guy and the foreign kid, but that wasn't all that was eating him. The Florida native hadn't been in Japan a week and had a head full of jet lag. Thirteen hours worth, and he didn't have a clue what he was saying as he headed into the question and answer round. He remembered pointing to Miami on a map and saying something about how he played soccer and painted a little. Seemingly identical Asian faces smiled and nodded. The world was soft around the edges, fading in and out.
But Jerry's will was strong enough that the students were kept unaware of his exhaustion. The first day was too important to miss, no matter how much he wished he could have slept it off, and he had to look good. Jerry had been taught the cumulative value of first impressions by his teetotaler father, who also happened to be a district attorney. He was a wise old casanova, and he'd been kind enough to give Jerry more than just his good looks. The thrill of a solo trip to the land of the rising sun wasn't lost on him. "Show them the man I know you are and have fun, kiddo," he had told Jerry at the airport. But that part was muffled by a public security announcement. What really stuck out in Jerry's mind was "Trust me, this a once in a life time opportunity you'll cherish for the rest of your life."
He couldn't have been more wrong.
A final round of applause and Jerry was given his desk. At last. Front row, right by the same door he could barley remember walking through. The day got underway. Work sheets appeared on Jerry's desk from a blur of half a dozen different teachers. In Japan, the faculty were the ones who had to get up and go at the bell. Kids stayed put. Walking around a little would have helped to keep Jerry awake. Half slumped over his desk, he had to focus mind, body, and soul on just trying to keep his eyes open and not getting any work done.
One of the female teachers (Ms. Komacho?) asked if he was feeling alright. Jerry lied and pretended to solve for x. At the very least was nearly too spaced to feel the eyes upon him. Nearly... Maybe he was too tired to think straight but Jerry knew he was being watched. He was getting a very creepy vibe from someone in the room. He glanced over his shoulder, trying to not to make it look on purpose.
Everyone was busy writing, heads down, not looking anywhere else. The vibe didn't go away.
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Post by Ninmast on Mar 3, 2010 11:40:09 GMT -5
He's so tired, Sonra observed with silent concern. The girl, with looks inherited from her mother, was keeping her head down, her glistening ebony locks blocking her doe-like eyes from view as she focused on the paperwork before her. The source of the vibe he was feeling was her, of course, monitoring his mindset as she worked, somewhat like listening to a radio while working. It was a semi-passive activity.
The sheer exhaustion the American boy was experiencing felt like a fog rolling out from him over the room. First days, Sonra reflected, shouldn't be so hard. Maybe she could help him, if just a little. She paused in her work between pages and reached down into her purse. From its interior, she plucked a makeup compact and flipped it open under her desk. As she looked down into it, the light seemed to reflect off of it more strongly than normal for just an instant and she spoke something under her breath that nobody else in the room would have heard, and if they had, they wouldn't have understood it.
Like a lighthouse beacon piercing through the thick fog in the depth of night, the tiredness rolled away from Jerry's mind in the presence of a new upswelling of energy that galvanized his body against its time zone induced flatlining.
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Alex-065
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Post by Alex-065 on Mar 3, 2010 18:22:58 GMT -5
Jerry felt his hair stand on end, and suddenly everything in the room had the volume turned up. All at once he became aware of the sounds of a dozen pencils tapping and scratching on paper. The clock ticking away on the wall and the trilling buzz of the late summer cicadas in the trees just outside the classroom's second story window. Jerry blinked, eyes wide as he tried to comprehend what he was feeling. It was as if something had reach into his head and woken him up with the flick of a switch, and caught his naked mind completely off guard. This was how it felt when his mom would get him up for school. In a flash she'd throw open the blinds and rip away his covers with a smile. Rise and shine.
Relief and confusion mingled and ebbed as Jerry got himself together, hoping no one could have seen the dumbfounded look on his face. There was no way he could explain the sudden shot in the arm he'd just been given but was nonetheless grateful for it. He hadn't this good in days, and the last half of school became a joy to work through. The lingering vibe notwithstanding...
It followed him through a lonely lunch was still hovering over him at the end of the day during clean up. Since the kids in Japan pretty much owned their classrooms it was their job to keep it tidy. Now, being 17 and an American, Jerry didn't like being forced to lend a hand in doing a janitor's job. Not cool. But for that first day at least, the mandated spit shine had it's perks. Jerry got the chance to stretch his legs and make good use of his inexplicably renewed zest.
His male classmates were a solid bunch of guys. They welcomed the chance to shake hands for a change instead of bowing and were naturally more interested in "Jerry the American" than "Jerry the Hotty" as was the case with the female students. The ones who approached him for questioning were scouting on behalf of a dozen different cliques spread out over other classes. Jerry had expected something like that. The girls in any high school, American or otherwise, communicated and contested with one another like the mafia. Or the yakuza in this case.
Some of both the guys and girls knew a bit of off hand English. It was a pleasant surprise that got Jerry thinking that maybe being the new guy might not be so bad after all. He was attracting alot of attention with his spiked blonde hair and sun-kissed complexion. It made him stand out, even in his black, military-style uniform which it's self wasn't too bad now that he had spent a day getting used to it. And he knew he looked good wearing it. He could see that in the eyes of the girls who watched him, giggling and whispering. Jerry gave them all his best Hollywood smile. Things were looking up.
The final bell chimed out across the campus PA. As perplexing as it might have been, day one was in the bag.
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Post by Ninmast on Mar 3, 2010 21:35:52 GMT -5
One of his fellow male students was trying to talk him into playing basketball with him and some of his friends after school. Apparently, the opportunity to challenge an American at an American game was too good to pass up. But then he paused halfway through a sentence as he stared right on past him.
"Oooh ... Jerry ... Hold your American heart. Here comes Sonra." He thumped him on the shoulder as he motioned to the girl exiting the building back up at the top of the stairs. "I would bet that there are no girls like her back home for you, yes?"
If he recognized the girl, it would be because she was perhaps the one girl who hadn't been oggling over him all day, though she had shared class with him. And one thing was for certain: The boy was right. There weren't any girls like her that he had ever even dreamt of, much less seen while waking.
But she didn't carry herself like she thought of herself that way. The way she moved, the way she talked with her friends as she left, it was all very normal. Then she spotted Jerry, bid adeu to her friends and headed down toward him. In English far more fluent than the average for the students he had spoken with, but still with an Oriental accent, she greeted him after bowing at the waist. "Hi! Irvine, right?" she asked. Understandably, she had mistaken his method of introduction (surname last) as traditional Japanese of surname first, and had thought Irvine was his given name. She hadn't been the first that day. Many of the students had made that mistake.
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Alex-065
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Post by Alex-065 on Mar 3, 2010 23:19:59 GMT -5
Jerry looked and instantly knew which girl the guy was talking about. She was in a sailor uniform just like all the other female students; white blouse, blue skirt and red neckerchief, but she was decidedly different. A cut above the rest. "Sonra..." Jerry repeated it to himself so he would never forget it. He smiled as he shook his head in disbelief, adding to his new friend, "No way, man... God bless Japan." Things were definitely looking up.
Until the vibe came back.
What the hell? Jerry had been so engrossed in leaving class and screwing around he hadn't even noticed he wasn't feeling it any more. Now the same vague feeling of dread was coming back. It was intensifying, bearing down on him the closer Sonra came as she strolled over to meet him. As he watched her spellbinding approach, Jerry braced himself, trying to look cool and steady his nerves. It's just my nerves, he told himself. What's with me today? Tired to wired in a split second... It's just my nerves. Get your game face on, dude. True to form, Jerry's charisma was covering for his insecurities.
Now he was face to face with Sonra, who bowed and compelled Jerry to take a nervous step back and quickly bow in turn. "Yeah, you can call me that," he replied, putting a casual slant to his posture. "I guess it's my fault I got my names mixed up in class earlier, but my first name's Jerry. And, hey, I didn't catch you before the bell but my buddy here says you're Sonra, right?" Jerry was keeping a strait face but cringed inwardly as he fought the teasing and impossible sensations of the vibe.
It wasn't just his nerves. The air around Sonra felt like it was boiling. No heat, but the space between him and the eerie Japanese beauty was alive with invisible motion. Like it was rippling against him in tiny waves. Jerry's hand twitched inside his pocket. His father had described these imaginary feeling to him once as a warning against what it would feel like to be on drugs. It had scared him strait ever since. Now, a small and panicking part of Jerry's mind was reeling with fear that some depraved jap might have slipped him a mickey. Or worse!
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Post by Ninmast on Mar 4, 2010 15:34:32 GMT -5
But she smiled sunnily to him. "Yes!" she chirped happily. "That's me! It's a pleasure to meet you! Did your first day go alright for you?"
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Alex-065
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Post by Alex-065 on Mar 4, 2010 15:59:48 GMT -5
"Well, yeah! It's been... Interesting," Jerry replied, still keeping cool on the surface. "Your English is pretty good, you know that? Me, I take it for granted, but it's just as hard as Arabic and Korean to learn as a second language. I'm impressed." Another trick Jerry had learned from his father, the silver-tongued attorney. The careful use of compliments could turn a conversation on it's ear, and potentially save you from having to tell a lie a keen listener might pick up on.
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Post by Ninmast on Mar 4, 2010 16:08:20 GMT -5
"Thank you!" she accepted the compliment with a bob of the head. "My mother believes it's highly important for me to be culturally adept. How about you? Are you adapting to Japanese well enough?"
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Alex-065
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Post by Alex-065 on Mar 4, 2010 16:17:31 GMT -5
"That's a great way to look at it," Jerry commended, thinking: Smart and hot. And they said it couldn't be done. The grinning gaijin chuckled at his own joke, perhaps anxiously. "I'm getting better at it. I know I'll have alot more practice here than back home. With Japanese, I'm sort of self taught." A small boast to help his nerves. Between Sonra's impossibly good looks and the unsettling vibe, Jerry's cage was being thoroughly rattled. Pull yourself together Jerry. Maintain.
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Post by Ninmast on Mar 4, 2010 16:23:53 GMT -5
Again, the girl nodded in understanding, but apparently took his boast the wrong way. "Not very good at it, then, huh? That's okay. If you ever need a hand, I'd be happy to help." But then Sonra tilted her head to the side slightly. "Are you okay? You seem ... distracted."
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Alex-065
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Post by Alex-065 on Mar 4, 2010 18:31:46 GMT -5
Jerry didn't care much about how his bragging had back fired. He wanted out. "No, I'm okay. It's just..." He glanced away, nervously rubbing the back of his neck but still trying to stay casual. "I'm sort of house sitting while I'm here. It's for a fiend of my dad's. He's overseas on business and his place has this huge salt water aquarium with a filter I was supposed to change yesterday." All true, except for the filter. It was self-cleaning and Jerry knew it. "So I've got to get across town and take care of that asap before the old man's tangs start to die off. I'll see you tomorrow."
Jerry waved curtly as he turned to escape. One of the basket ball gang spoke up after him in protest, "Hey, come on Jerry-san! I thought we were going to play horse!"
"I'll see you tomorrow," Jerry repeated, not looking back to were the vibe was fading away. He wasn't running, but he sure wasn't walking either. His hurry had left his new buddies confused and sharing Sonra's sentiment that something was eating at the new guy. But what?
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Post by Ninmast on Mar 8, 2010 13:44:28 GMT -5
As Jerry went to cross the street, a van pulled up in the way and came to a stop. The side door slid open and four young women could be seen inside. The one that opened the door was a bubbly, pig-tailed girl of sixteen or seventeen with a colorful outfit. Her eyes, her posture, everything about her seemed to make it clear she was hyper. High energy, but very low attention span.
"SONRA!" she shouted, but promptly forgot why she was calling out to the other girl as she found herself face-to-face with Jerry, instead. "Oh, hello!" she chirped happily.
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Alex-065
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Post by Alex-065 on Mar 8, 2010 14:41:34 GMT -5
Jerry was taking long strides away from the school, putting distance between himself and Sonra. Escaping from the vibe. Somehow, Jerry knew she was the source. It wasn't just the sound of her voice, or her unnerving sex-appeal. Something about that girl was just... wrong, and Jerry's gut feelings let him know it. Part of him wondered if he should have asked the other guys if they had felt it too. How could they not? He began to cross the street, shaking his head as he tried to make sense of it all.
Sonra was still waiting on the sidewalk when Jerry glanced back over his shoulder, looking harmless enough, moments before he heard tires shriek briefly directly ahead of him. Jerry's head whipped back around and he jumped, nearly cursing. He thought he'd almost been hit by a minivan. It wouldn't have been the first time, but that didn't startle him nearly as much as the grinning face that appeared from out of the Honda's sliding side door.
"SONRA!" the girl shouted, looking past him. Briefly, in half a breath, Jerry thought, She a friend of her's? Had to be. This chick was cute to a degree that existed nowhere else outside Japan, like Sonra. Likewise, it was obvious they were both busty beyond the otherwise flat-chested norm for the majority of Japanese girls, and their good fortune was hard to ignore. But Jerry still tried.
He numbly took one step in a direction around the minivan and the unknown girl zeroed in on him with an enchanting smile. "Oh, hello!" she chirped happily. Jerry froze. He thought he heard his brain buzz and whir like an old computer, straining to compile all he was seeing and feeling and struggling to respond. When something finally clicked, Jerry simply said, "Hey there..." Unaware of his stunned expression, or the fact he'd responded in unthinking English.
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Post by Ninmast on Mar 8, 2010 14:53:00 GMT -5
The energetic girl quickly offered her hand to shake in a gesture she apparently thought was proper in the West. The only problem being that she didn't realize that you were supposed to put it toward their other hand, not nearly into their face. "I'm Haruka! What's your name?"
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Alex-065
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Post by Alex-065 on Mar 8, 2010 16:49:19 GMT -5
She understood him. Another brainy beauty, despite the odds. And she sure seemed friendly. "It's Jerry," he replied. "Family name's Irvine." Haruka's smile proved infectious as Jerry caught himself grinning a little, even as he continued to stand in the middle of the crosswalk blocking traffic as he returned her handshake. His hand was almost half-again the size of her's, but it was little Haruka who had a much stronger grip. Jerry chuckled nervously as he looked the girl in the eyes, and for some reason he found it difficult to look anywhere else. "Pleasure to meet you, Haruka," he told her, bobbing his head once in a mini-bow. What was one more strange encounter on a day like this?
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