Something smells fishy

Girl meets world

10000 words in 30 days. Let's do this!

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''Amy sensei !''

Her voice cut into my ears and made war tranches. It was the same voice that greeted me when I first arrived at this school and it seemed to follow me wherever I went.

''Amy sensei !''

She was at it again. Miyu, my JT as they call them in Japan, short for Japanese Teacher, was the person who worked with me on creating and delivering a comprehensible and fun English lesson. Her own English might not have been so great, but her Japanese was always on point. She wanted something from me and I was not turning around for this one. I looked up and tried to locate the exit door.

Two minutes and I'll be out of here, I said to myself and slowly increased my speed. Straight towards the exit today. No derails. Fifty meters... forty meters, I was counting down to my goal. Another minute and I would have been by the door when I heard it again, louder and by the looks of it closer to me.

''Amy sensei, matte kudasai !''

No, no, no, no. I am not waiting for you because I can't hear you, la la la.

The earphones camouflaged my intentions well enough. It was a small innocent trick, but it saved me a lot of heartache.

My up to date Japanese skills allowed me to understand that the innocent voice insistently calling out to me wanted me to stop and probably stay overtime and fill out some paperwork. I disliked doing paperwork greatly for all forms were in kanji, one of the Japanese alphabets in use, though to me it made no difference if it were in Russian. It took me ages to fill them out, including quite a bit of begging for help.

''Matte kudasai, '' her tone sounded more decisive this time.

I felt a hand dragging me back. I took out my earphones and turned around, plastering the fakest smile ever, just to see Miyu pulling at the handle of my backpack.

''Yokatta!'' she exhaled, in the most innocent way.

Yokatta, the Japanese way of saying Thank God, was one word that always got to me. The way she said it, her tone of voice, made me freeze in my tracks.

'Amy sensei, I hope you didn't forget we have a meeting today? We are planning the lessons for September, ' she took one more deep breath.

'Of course not, I was just going to buy a sandwich at the conbini,' I answered slyly.

A Japanese conbini was basically an American Seven-Eleven, it had a little bit of everything. We had one just a block away and all teachers would run there during breaks to get a decent cup of coffee.

I had forgotten about the meeting and she knew it, but she did not let it show. That's how things worked here. Everybody was terribly polite. So much so, it made me feel uncomfortable at times.

Gently, but surely, without saying more, Miyu took me by the arm and stirred me into the right direction, towards the teacher's lounge room. She was no taller than five foot four, barely forty kilos packed in that tiny frame of hers, yet I didn't dare move in her deadly clasp. I let myself be carried away.

Forty five minutes later and practically blind from starring at the tiny kanji typing, I was free. As soon as Miyu was done with putting the books away, we left the school together, both going our own way.

The hallways were empty by now. It was hot and humid, even more so in the school building. With no air conditioning it was expected. A bead of sweat rolled down my check. I hurriedly took care of it with the back of my hand. I threw a glance at Miyu. She didn't seem bothered by the heat in the least. Her pearly white skin didn't even flush when we pushed through the exit door and were met by a wall of light and hot air. She looked like an interesting person, but impenetrable. She never stirred from the topic of work, therefore I knew little about her. After shortly playing with the idea of befriending Miyu, I concluded we couldn't possible have anything in common.

From the little I did know about her, I could tell she didn't show any interest in the people around her, she didn't talk much, unless it was for work. She avoided eating lunch in the cafeteria with the rest of the teaching crew. I haven't heard her once talking on the phone. As a matter of fact, unlike everybody else, I never saw her staring into her phone like the rest of us, zombies.

In my defence, my phone was the only way of communication with my family. I checked my Facebook and Skype at least a dozen times a day. I missed them greatly, you see. Maybe we could have become friends but Miyu had this wall around her every time we started a conversation. In her own way, she was very polite to me, she would always make sure to thank me. How much of it was sincere I couldn't tell, because by now I was painfully aware this was the Japanese way of doing things.

As I was getting ready to mount my red stallion, a bike I got cheap from one of the teachers going back to the States, somebody pulled at me.

Not again, damn it.

This time I did have music in my earphones and I was startled at the sudden force yanking me off my bike. I turned around ready to give whoever it was a piece of my mind and was surprised to see Myiu standing in front of me.

'Did I forget anything?' my eyebrow twitched up in surprise.

'Oh no, I w-was thinking, m-maybe we could get coffee t-together,' she stuttered shyly. She was looking at me, straight at me. It was a first.

I guess I frowned and she noticed it.

'Today is my birthday,' she said lowering her gaze.

'Oh, happy birthday! I did not know, sorry,' I replied awkwardly.

I couldn't have missed people congratulating her, could I?

I know I wasn't in the gist of events but it was impossible for me not to see the commotion. I remembered Tada sensei's birthday a few days ago. Everybody got together, like a bunch of four year olds in front of the gates to Disneyland, and presented her a small cake and a pot of miniature roses. Everyone clapped their hands and even sang her happy birthday. It was a big and awfully corny affair all and all.
Nothing like that happened today.

I kept looking at her, waiting for her to say something but she kept looking down.

'Coffee it is, my treat,' I said and threw my arm around her shoulders. I realized just how small and frail she was.

'Un,' she nodded.

When she finally raised her gaze from the pavement I noticed her flushed cheeks. Usually she looked pale, rarely had any make-up on but now her cheeks gave off a soft shade of pink, that of sakura petals in spring time.

Ah, sou desu ne, I thought to myself.

It was our school principle's favourite phrase. He used it whenever and wherever, his way of taking part in a conversation. It felt void of meaning and frankly was getting on my nerves by now. If I were to translate it, it would sound like 'So it is, isn't it?! I would tell him it was hot outside, he would just answer sou desu ne; I would say I needed help finding an internet provider, I got the sou desu ne and no real help ; I requested to buy some materials that we could use in class with the kids and the only thing he told me was the sou desu ne. Again.

It kind of made sense now. There was so much fatalism in this phrase. Everything was connected. Miyu, me, this country, us standing in the middle of the empty parking lot, the faint whiff of despair people have when they are lonely. I couldn't but think that Japan was a place made of lonely people. I was alone because I was a stranger to this country and she was ill-fated to be born here.

We connected. We now had something in common. I smiled at the thought of it.