Upside Down [Marius Yo Fanfiction]

Marius Yo

My name is Erika Akiyama-Todd. I'm fifteen years old, and I'm half Japanese and half...well, let's just say European--for short. I was born and raised in America.

I guess I'm just like all of the other girls of my age, in a way. We all spend our days at school staring at the same ring on the same index finger of our same left hands, dreaming of that one predetermined "soul mate" that is out in the world, waiting for us. After all, the age when we can be matched to them begins at fifteen. We wonder what they look like, what personality they have, where they live...even if they're staring at their rings at that same moment, too, thinking about us.

But we all know that it'll remain a mystery until our rings turn from red, or blue for boys, to the bright purple that signifies that our soul mate is nearby. And apparently, as studies show, this will nearly undoubtably bring us to the perfect love life for as long as we live.

My friends often tell me that I'll get the best-looking soul mate out of our little group; that I'm the prettiest, and the one with the most potential. I never really understood why they thought that--I'm just a normal teenage girl, dreaming about my perfect mate. Just like my friends, and just like all the other girls on the planet.

School ended about two weeks ago, and summer vacation began the day after that. My mom and I had planned long ahead of time for this summer vacation. We're spending the entire three months in Japan sightseeing, eating delicious food, shopping, and having tons of fun.

"Please fasten your seat belts. We will be landing in five minutes."

"Are you excited, Erika?" asks my mom, who holds my hand between both of hers. Her eyes are sparkling with so much excitement that I can't help but smile back and nod. She grew up in Japan before she met my dad in America, and hasn't returned to her home country since. I've never seen her so lighthearted before today.

"Who knows, maybe you'll find your soul mate here, since I found your father when I visited America for the first time!" she teases, and I laugh along with her.

Of course, she means it as a joke, but I can't help but wonder.

...

I drag my luggage behind me, huffing along the way. It's a real struggle to carry all of my clothes and such in such a bulky case, let alone having to lug it around in the trains and train stations. I almost forgot that I'm now in a country that doesn't speak English. It'll take me a while to get used to not whirling around whenever hearing someone speak in Japanese, since I understand them clearly. It's not all that common in America, after all.

My mom is far ahead of me, and ushers for me to hurry for the hundredth time. She might not have been in Japan for fifteen or so years, but she sure still knows how to get around.

I heave my suitcase onto the train car after my mom, and she quickly leads me to two nearby open seats. I sit down with a great sigh of relief.

"We're lucky we got these seats, Erika! It's about time that work ended for most adults, so the trains are going to get extremely crowded within the next ten minutes or so."

"Uh huh.." I mutter between exhausted pants.

"If we'd gone at your snail-slow pace then we'd never have gotten these seats! This isn't even the express train, so we'll be stopping at least eight times before reaching our hotel's station."

The ride is about thirty minutes long, and I manage to get about twenty minutes of sleep out of it. Jet lag's got the best of me, and I'm utterly exhausted when we reach our hotel room.