Dear Tokyo

Week 22-23

Another night, another Breaking Bad marathon.

The TV, however, was taken and it looked like we had only just missed our opening; the group of three girls were still hooking up their laptop and scrolling through Netflix.

Edu was on the other side of the lounge, doing nothing on his own laptop. I crossed over and plopped into the armchair next to him, twisting so that my legs dangled over the side of the armrest and I was facing the TV, my back to him.

I gasped. "They're watching My Big Fat Greek Wedding. I love that movie."

"Never heard of it," Edu said.

"Never lived, more like," I said. "Should we just watch on your laptop then?"

"I guess. Let me finish this thing first."

I left him to his devices and watched My Big Fat Greek Wedding from afar while scrolling through my phone. I wedged into the most comfortable position I could manage in such a stiff, leather chair, the other armrest digging into the back of my neck.

For no reason at all, his eyes still reading the words on his laptop as if his body was acting of its own accord, Edu's hand fell onto my head. His palm brushed down the flyaway strands of my hair a few times before he slipped his fingers through the locks. Tingles travelled up my spine, setting goosebumps over my arms.

Again, I didn't know what to make of the physical contact. The internal struggle of back and forth that I had been experiencing lately reminded me of Estel and how Edu had told her in words that he didn't want a relationship but had still allowed his actions to be interpreted otherwise. Is that what he was doing here?

I didn't think so. I didn't know for sure, but I always had the impression that Edu hadn't been able to 'keep his hands off' Estel because of her looks. At that point in time, having not known each other that well, that was the only thing she'd had going for her.

Edu and I, on the other hand, were friends. I was pretty sure I was his closest friend in the dorm. Out of all the other girls in the group, I was the one he texted and hung out with the most. I didn't feel that his sudden touchiness was anything untoward but it was still strange, outside of our usual parameters.

I shook my head to clear the thoughts. This happened every time I hung out with Edu and it was getting on my nerves.

*

Valentine's Day was special in Japan and, as a hopeless romantic who watched and read a lot of shoujo anime and manga, I had been looking forward to it. In Japan, it was primarily the girls and women who gave out presents, in the form of chocolate most of the time. Exactly a month later, on White Day, the boys and men would return the favour. More than Christmas, it was the one day in the year that gave girls the courage to confess their feelings for their crush.

Of course, it would have felt better to actually have someone to give chocolate to today, but the girls and I had agreed to make our own chocolate and I was still looking forward to it. We hadn't the faintest of how to make chocolate from scratch but, when we went to shop for supplies at Seiyu and Daiso, we learned that it amounted to nothing more than melting down no-brand blocks of chocolate to make our own concoction in the shape of whatever we desired using moulds.

The only person who had any real stake in the end result was Cat, who was making matcha-flavoured chocolate for her boyfriend. I was just glad they had made up in time for Valentine's Day. They had been going through a little bit of a rough patch, with Cat unable to come to terms with Hideo's aloofness at times. It was hard to tell whether it stemmed from his own character or his upbringing in a traditional Japanese setting.