Tokyo Guide [Mountain Zaki and Sigr]

It had been a long wait, it had been a long flight, but now he was there. The Haneda airport was buzzing with activity, people came and went everywhere, even the escalators talked in several languages to have precaution, while vending machines offered their wares in touchscreens. Michael was there, he arrived to Tokyo, or at least he would be, once he figured out how to move through that alien looking place. He was supposed to have a guide waiting for him somewhere around, but he didn't even know how he looked, as Furukawa-san didn't send him a picture. As usual with guides he expected a gentle but stern elderly man that would guide him through that culture, or at least that was the outlook that the pictures of the guide website gave.

A white blur moved in the corner of his eye, tripping with his suitcase and bouncing off him, landing on the ground with a little yelp. It was a young Japanese girl, who was panting on the ground, looking flustered and with a big cardboard sign that said Michael on it. It was odd, but that little girl couldn't be the guide, could she? No, she must have been looking for someone else. "すみません-" she muttered, a cute tired voice, before looking upwards and noticing he was a foreigner. "I'm sorry, I was in a hurry..." she got up, straightening the white sundress she was wearing, and picking up the sign she looked around frantic. She had a little white purse dangling from her, and a pale pink hairband adorned her long black hair while she glanced left and right, clearly worried.

He was finally here, in Tokyo, in Japan; the land of his ancestors, on his mother's side, at least. It had been a relatively peaceful flight and even though he was taking this trip to take a break and escape the pressures of his last few years in the PHD program at his school, he couldn't help but crack open his portfolio on the flight over and bang out a few more pages on his dissertation on Quantum Mechanics. Now that he was here though, he swore not to touch the bloody thing until he left.

The airport was alive with life and people, and so many of them to boot. He thought New York was a crowded place, but this was something new entirely. How was he ever going to find his guide with so many people about. That is when he bumped into someone, his Japanese was far from fluent but he was competent and recognized someone apologizing, he turned to apologize as well when he noticed the beautiful girl holding the sign with his name on it. He could already feel his cheeks tinting red, surely such a cute and beautiful young lady couldn't be his guide. He pushed his glasses up and rubbed the back of his neck, letting out a small chuckle.

"Ummmmm, I believe I'm the Michael you are looking for." He spoke in Japanese, his accent sounding rather naturally but making it clear it wasn't his first language. He bowed slightly before her, knowing it was custom.

"It's nice to meet you, I'm Michael Senters and I'll be in your care." That rolled off his tongue perfectly, greetings like that being one of the first things that had been drilled into him in his college Intro to Japanese class.

"Huh?" the girl's eyes were back at him as he spoke, slowly opening wide as she processed what the man was saying. "Ah!" the girl bowed, making herself look even smaller, as Michael rose more than a head above her. "Sorry for being late, I'm Furukawa Aoi" she offered her right hand to shake. Her English was fine, but the accent made it sound weird in a cute way. "Call me Aoi" she added, looking upwards at his face. The girl was flustered, be it the hurry, the embarrassing incident or the summer heat that plagued everything outside.

"Welcome to Tokyo!" Aoi cheered. "Although we are still a bit far away..." she smiled, awkward. "We can pick the tickets for the monorail there" she pointed at a counter, "and we'll be in the city in a little bit more than half an hour" added, starting to walk there, ditching the now useless cardboard sign in a bin. The arrangement for the guide was quite interesting, as it didn't come with a fee since they were volunteers. They were supposed to meet every day at morning, and then he'd have to pay for any kind of tickets for transportation, beverages, food and the like, but there was no additional cost involved.

"How was the trip?" Aoi asked, looking at him curiously. She seemed to be a little younger than him, although her height and demeanor made her look even younger, hard to pin her age. "Getting accustomed to the time zones can be weird, but you'll sleep well tonight" she said. "Here we are" the couple reached the counter, and soon Aoi asked for a couple of tickets, Japanese sounding obviously more natural in her. They had the tickets and some maps and free guides with them, while the woman behind the counter showed the quantity to be paid in a calculator for Michael to read. "You exchanged some cash beforehand, right?" Aoi asked. "We can exchange more later on. I know a place" she added, waiting.

Michael chuckled at how embarrassed Aoi was. It made him feel much more at ease now and he was rather happy he had ended up with such a nice girl. He eager took her hand and shook it, "It's nice to meet you then, Aoi and don't worry at all about being late." He added with a smile, his own cheeks tinted red slightly at just how adorable this girl seemed to him. As she mentioned still being quite the distance from Tokyo, he merely pointed forward. "Onward we proceed then!" He joked as he allowed his guide to lead him.

"It was a good flight...though I ended up doing too much work on the flight then I had wished. "He laughed meekly as he rubbed the back of his neck. When she mentioned time zones though, he waved it off. "I'm hyped up on many cups of coffee at the moment...I'm sure I'll be totally fine until this evening." He gave Aoi a thumbs up as they approached the monorail terminal. When she mentioned getting money exchanged, he nodded and pulled out the exact amount of yen needed and handed it to her in exchange for the tickets, thanking her in Japanese as she did so. "I'm really looking forward to this, Aoi! I've heard so many good things about Tokyo, and I think I've got the best guide in the world with me. " He teased her slightly with a grin. She was cute and well...he was single. He figured there was nothing wrong with some harmless flirting if she didn't mind it.

Aoi nodded as Michael talked, looking at him with her big black eyes. "Ah, no work here. I won't allow it. You came to have fun, right?" she chastised him with a finger, smiling. She grabbed a map and opening in front of Michael, she pointed to the airport, down at the Tokyo Bay. "We are here" she tapped the map. "The train will take us up to Takaracho, then a little walk to Kyobashi station, a few stops more and we'll be in Suehirocho station, close to the hotel" as she talked her finger traveled through the map, and it didn't seem like a long trip, but knowing the scale of the map and that they would take almost forty five minutes... it sure had to be quite the distance. Aoi nodded appreciatively as Michael paid for the tickets and behaved properly, proud of him even if they just met.

When Michael said that he had the best guide with him, Aoi seemed sad for a moment, her eyes averting his look, glancing down. Whatever caused that it was gone as suddenly as it appeared, and soon Aoi's smile was back on her cute face. "Lets ride the train, we don't want to wait until the next one" she said, guiding him through one of the countless hallways of the place. "Remember, not only the cars go through the left here" Aoi said to him, a small bit of trivia that most people knew. "People do too, specially in stairs and escalators" she added, as they went down one, everyone was on the left side, leaving the right for people that wanted to hurry, the opposite of what happened in the west. They soon reached the train and few people were in, so they could sit with leisure with space for the baggage. Aoi leaned in close, and Michael could smell something flowery, probably her shampoo. "In public transportation it's customary to make as little noise as possible" she whispered, and Michael could see that it was true, even for people that traveled together, nobody rose their voice.

The views out the windows were little as anyone could expect from Tokyo. The enormous buildings and bustling city were nowhere to be seen, as they passed a most pleasant countryside. Things soon started to get within expectations, as the closer to Tokyo itself they were, the more dense the population.

Michael studied the the interlinear for their train trip to the hotel. Seemed like they would hopping trains and stations a decent amount but he figured maybe that was just how it was in a big city. When she seemed sad when he mentioned the best guide part, he noticed her frown. He didn't want to make her feel bad and figured maybe he just shouldn't be flirting. Maybe she was in a relationship or something. He let out a small sigh, but that was just his luck and he didn't want her to feel uncomfy so he wouldn't breech the issue again.

As they walked down the stairs to the station, Michael took note of the cultural notes Aoi gave him, finding them interesting as he made small talk with her while they got on the train. When she noted being quite, he nodded. He couldn't help but blush as he took in her scent. He was driving her wild without her even realizing it. How was he suppose to get through all this time with her without ever make a pass at her again.

He left the thought and allowed it to turn to the scenary, taking in the beauty of the country side as they neared the metropolitan area. As beautiful as it was, he was currently fighting the urge to pull out his research pad and work some more, he was just such a workaholic.

The last part of the rail trip went underground, as they skipped from the train station to the metro one. The signage there was partly in English as well, and as the orange circles and the different signs said, they seemed to be in the Ginza line. "This is the oldest metro line in Tokyo" Aoi said, as names went one after another in the screens and the female voiceover of the service. Kyobashi, Nihonbashi, Mitsukoshimae, Kanda... "The next one" Aoi warned, not wanting to talk a lot in the subway. They reached Suehirocho, a small and old station that made Michael look out of place. Was he really in Tokyo? It was hard to believe down there, but as they passed the turnstiles and went up the stairs, they ended up in a pretty busy crossing under the shining sun.



Now he didn't just knew that he was in Tokyo, now he could feel it. Tall buildings surrounded them, and streams of people walked everywhere. Aoi was looking around, seemingly getting herself oriented as they were just out of the underground. "Oh" she muttered after a moment, seemingly finding her way. "The Edoya Hotel is this way" Aoi pointed, starting to walk. The travel agency Michael worked the trip with had booked him room in a ryokan, or traditional place to stay. It didn't seem to have much difference besides sleeping on a futon and things like that, but it remained to be seen. "It's at the end of the slope" Aoi added, pointing upwards. "We are almost there, you will be finally able to ditch the weight of the baggage" she said, trying to cheer him. The summer sun was ruthless, and the humidity was pretty high and hard to get accustomed to, but Aoi didn't seem to mind at all.



"Here it is" Aoi said, entering the place. It looked as old as it was, but also well preserved, and the old woman that was in the counter smiled all the time, even if her accent was so thick that it was hard to understand a word. A small elevator took them to the fifth floor, the second to last one, but the sixth had no rooms. Opening with the key, they could finally enter and leave the damned baggage in the entrance of the room. Aoi removed her small white flats before entering any further, a small step separating the entrance from the rest of the room. Tatami flooring was everywhere but the bathroom and the separate toilet, while the room had a living room and a bedroom. Aoi sat down on the floor, right in front of the air conditioner, soon finding the remote and making it work. It seemed that she was only enduring the heat without a whine, as it also affected her. She wriggled her bare toes in the air, sighing and enjoying the cold breeze that the device was spewing.

Michael maintained his silence as they road the rail, nodding his head at Aoi's little facts of trivia. When they emerged onto the platform, he was surprised at just how small it was. He thought there would be more people and that it would be busier. That quickly turned out to be the case as he emerged from underground platform and into the city proper. He was awestruck by the skyline and by the hustle and flow of the city. One thing he didn't like however, was the blazing hit.

He did his best to hide his discomfort as he held onto Aoi's hand as they moved through the streets so he would not get lost or separated from her. He didn't really notice how nice it felt as they were too busy moving and trying to ignore the heat. When they reached the hotel and got into the room however, he was finally able to take a breath of relief as he dropped off his luggage and took off his shoes at the entrance.

He followed Aoi towards the A/C and laid down on the floor, right in front of her, his head near her knees as he faced the A/C and took in the cool air. "Oh wow....I never thought I'd miss A/C so much...I just need to relax for a bit and then I'll be ready to go!" Michael slapped himself on the face, trying to get his exhaustion to leave him.

Aoi was made aware of her position, and tugged the end of her sundress a bit, being bashful. "Fortunately there are vending machines everywhere, so refreshment is always at hand" she said, her hair flowing a bit with the wind. "Ah!" she fidgeted, shuffling around, unsure. "Toilet" she mumbled, getting up and walking to it. "Feel free to change in the meantime, you'll want to get out of that after so many hours of travel" she added beforehand. "Oh, in case of need, there are coin operated washing machines a floor above, right by the onsen and the terrace" she pointed, before entering the toilet. Despite the traditional decor, the place had one of those things with a dozen buttons, and a sound of waterfalls could be heard while Aoi was inside, masking any other indiscretion.

"We should keep it close to the hotel for today" Aoi said once she was out. "Don't want to burn you too much, and there is a place you may like at a small walk" she added. "Oh, the place to exchange the money is also close, so bring what you deem necessary" Aoi patiently waited. "I guess that you know but... if you have any questions you can ask, that's what I'm here for" she said, nodding seriously.