My Ambitions

Trial 4: The Young Therapist

Whoever that Noel girl is, she brought me to a local ramen store near 109, and after asking me what I'd like, ordered us both a simple bowl of udon.

While waiting for my bowl, I turned to Noel and asked her, "So why did you bring me here? Not that I'm complaining, it's just that people wouldn't randomly do this."

"You're an introverted guy, aren't ya?" Noel replied in some sort of slight accent. "Maybe you were lost, you didn't seem like you were shopping for clothes. Probably sightseeing."

"Well, yeah." Her assumption was correct, so I continued. "I'm practically a hikikomori if not for some part time jobs and me going sightseeing every once in a while, on my own free will."

Our udon bowls finally arrived, and I took my chopsticks and started to dig in. Noel didn't take her chopsticks just yet, but instead inspected me as I ate and asked me another question. "A lonely person, aren't you?"

"You could say that, and kind of impulsive." I said as I paused eating my udon.

She finally took her chopsticks and began to eat as well.

I was thinking she questioned about my personality a bit, so I looked at her and asked her something as well. "Your name doesn't really sound so native, but your Japanese is good. Did you move from somewhere?"

"Nope. I've lived in Japan my whole life." Noel said. "As for my name, my dad's from Ireland and moved in here with my mom, so my father decided to name me something foreign."

"... And why exactly are you just doing all of this randomly? You keep dodging my question." I asked her, my patience slightly running thin.

"It's just that my dad's a psychologist, and my mom works as a therapist." She finally decided to answer. "And I'll follow them in their footsteps. I'm a high school senior at the moment, and once I finish I'm gonna major in psychology at the university. So I'm kinda using you as a test subject, sorry if ya feel uncomfortable."

... That girl definitely doesn't look like the kind of person I'd imagine as a therapist, or a psychologist. She had short black hair for a girl and slightly pale skin, along some sort of seductive, mature smile if I had to admit. She seemingly had a large bust, as well, with a short, white T-shirt revealing her belly button and a short red vest on her, as well as some shorts and black thigh high socks with black boots. She honestly looked really skimpy, kind of unfitting considering it was just the start of Spring. And she's probably eighteen, judging from the phrase high school senior.

But I stopped inspecting her appearance and asked her. "Why me, out of all the random people walking around?" Then I continued to finish off my bowl of udon.

"Cause I could tell by your face that you might need to fix some personal issues." Noel said, perhaps she was right - but I couldn't be too sure about what exactly she's implying. "Actually, anybody could've fit the bill. I just thought you might be a more fitting person."

"Define personal issues."

"You said you're almost a hiki and broke up a week ago, right? Don't ya feel lonely?" She asks.

I stayed silent, but nodded to affirm her question.

"Then hey. Let me be your friend, and I'll help ya out on any struggles you have. It'll help me study and I'll help ya out in the process." Noel said. "Here's my phone number, feel free to ask me for anything as long as you aren't flirting. Or don't, I won't really mind." She laughed a bit, giving me a piece of paper with a phone number written on it.

"This feels like you're advertising something." I told her. "But I guess I won't pass it up."

Noel chuckled again upon hearing the 'advert comment'. "And just to let you know," she said, "I'm an introverted girl too. I wouldn't normally be doing this unless I knew someone else was like that so it'd be easier to cmmunicate. And you can also call this intuition, as I could sort of tell you might be like this - perhaps I got this from my parents already." She smiled.

I stayed quiet, reviewed her thoughts a bit.

"Well, gochisousama deshita." Noel said, thanking for the food she ate before standing up and leaving some yen and a little tip for the owner. "Keep the change. And - Kabuto, was it? Consider what I'm offering ya."

Then she walked away. I stood up and said "Gochisousama."

Shortly after, I watched as Noel disappeared into the crowd. I looked at the paper written with her number before tucking it into my wallet and looking around. I stayed in Shibuya, roaming through the district for a few hours and visited the Hachikō statue.

A bronze statue, dedicated to a dog that waited for his deceased owner for over nine years... I have to say, that dog was persistent. I would've been as persistent with my own crush if I didn't grow to hate her... but that's a different topic. The only thing in common here is me and the Hachikō dog's persistence.