Beyond Responsibility

Chapter 2: Far From Home

"I think I'm turning Japanese, I think I'm turning Japanese, I really think so." - Vapors

Monday, February 21st, 2XXX

When Peter had walked into the New York airport, it had been 5:00 AM on Sunday. Now, after his 14-hour flight, he had arrived at the Japanese airport 11:00 AM Monday, with nothing but an overstuffed backpack to accompany him, and he couldn't be more excited. So excited he couldn't bring himself to sleep during the flight, even though he knew doing so was going to leave him jet-lagged for the next week.

Normally, one would be overwhelmed in Peter's situation. Walk into the airplane amidst a familiar world, walk out to see something completely alien, different store brands, different people, oh yeah, and don't forget how everything is in a completely different language. But Peter was prepared. He had been dreaming of moving to Japan since the 5th grade. Honestly, he felt more at home here among all the familiar kana and kanji than he had in dingy dirty Queens.

It wasn't long of course before he was rudely interrupted as it was his turn to greet the customs officer. "PAA-SSU PO-RUTTO!" he demanded in broken English.

Peter however, remained calm and gave a cooperative smile. "Of course sir, right here," Peter replied in flawless Japanese as he held out his passbook for the officer with both hands.

The officer took the passport in one hand, flipping it open and quickly scanning the information before giving it a quick stamp with the other hand. "American, and a minor" he remarked dryly, this time in Japanese. "A tourist then? I assume your parents are around here somewhere."

"A foreign exchange student actually, I'm here to enroll at U.A."

"You better have documentation for that then." The officer eyed him.

"Of course, right here." Peter replied, saying no more than he needed to before pulling out the verification that came with his acceptance letter.

"Everything seems to be in order." The officer sighed at the added work he wasn't going to get out of, and turned towards a fellow customs worker. "Could you help Mr. Parker here get filed for a Student Visa?"

She smiled and gave a curt nod. "Right this way sir." She led him over to the airport customs office, hurriedly explained the situation to the receptionist, and sat Peter down across a man sitting behind a bulky computer.

"So, a foreign exchange student for U.A.? Don't worry, we get a few of those each year. If you were smart and held onto that acceptance letter, this shouldn't be too much of a hassle."

Peter handed the man everything that came with said letter.

"Let's see... verification, documentation, good, good. Ah! Here we go, your pre-assigned student ID number, that means so long as you digitally accepted U.A.'s invitation, you should already be in their system, and therefore, ours. You're real lucky to have this letter kid. U.A.'s a distinguished school, so they do a lot of the tedious stuff for us, really expedites the process, otherwise you'd have to go through the regular immigration channels, and trust me when I tell you that's not a fun process to work through."

He punched the number into the computer. "And there you are, Mr. Parker, right there in the student directory. Now we just translate this over and designate you a temporary resident for academic reasons. All that's left is to fill out some basic distinguishing information for your legal identity. Get you registered in the quirk database, allow the police to identify you should something happen, basic stuff. Plus, you'll be 18 once you graduate, between three years residency and a U.A. diploma, this should allow you to automatically become a naturalized citizen should you decide to stay in Japan after completing your education."