Tokyo's Calling

Chapter 1: Restart

       Katsumi took in one last view of her precious city before returning inside to the boring rooms of her apartment. There was nothing wrong with her home, it was quite lovely, however Tokyo so was much more exciting. She had be born there 17 years ago, and this was the first time she had returned since. Since her father was the CEO of a very successful construction business, her family was constantly moving from place to place. Because of this, Katsumi had lost a lot of her closest friends each relocation. When she was younger this bothered her greatly. As a child she had spent countless nights crying, morning the loss of her previous friends and home. Saying goodbye was just about as easy as starting again. Each new place that she moved to was completely different. The people, the food, and a lot of times even the language. No matter where they stayed one thing was always the same; a year was always spent there. Just enough time to create friendships and then have them harshly severed. By the time she had entered the fifth grade, she had completely given up. She then knew that none of those people were going to "keep in touch" or "call her every night". Those were just empty words, and they were useless to her. So ever since then, friends were the least of her concerns. Her personality shifted hugely and she became colder in general. Most of her time was spent trying to reach the top of her class, just so she could feel above everyone else. By the time she had finished her final year of middle school in Germany, the only time people ever talked to her was when they were taking passes at her. And now 3 years later, nothing but her location had changed.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Having no friends made one quite fond of being alone, or rather independent. Every evening after school, Katsumi ran home to her room and quickly changed into her street clothes. To her Tokyo was a magical place that suited her better than anywhere she had ever been. The constant buzz of people and unfamiliarity somehow welcomed her in an unexplainable way. So, as soon as she finished her homework every evening, she raced to answer Tokyo's calling. Being independent wasn't very hard when your parents hardly knew when you were there and when you weren't. Considering they were always swamped with work, they didn't have time to keep up with their daughter every minute. She really had been blessed with many freedoms, and she wanted to use them as much as she could.
It was now a cool Friday evening, and everything was perfect. The city always came to life on Fridays, and now all her homework was done. She got together her things and headed to the door.
"I'm going out, I've got my phone."

" Be back by 12 at least,"
She heard her mother say dryly.
She quickly dashed out the door and made her way down the hall. She had almost made it to the elevator when something abruptly stopped her. Someone had opened their door as she was passing, knocking her straight in the face and onto the floor. She felt her head pound as she began to stand up. Standing before her was the person who had accidentally injured her. An average looking girl with burnt golden hair seemed to be a bit flustered. Her cheeks were red and her hair was a bit frizzy. Other than that, she reminded Katsumi of any other air headed, ditsy drama queen she had ever spoken to. Her appearance just made her even more annoyed.
" Watch were you're going! You knocked me into the floor you idiot!"She said very upset.
                 The girl's face quickly turned from rough  to even rougher. Tears began streaming down her face rapidly . This made for a seriously awkward situation for them both. Katsumi began to ease out of the tension.
              "I-I'm okay just-" she was cut off by the girl's hysterical crying voice.
               "Today's been so terrible! I hate it here!"
                            She said as she slumped down to the hallway floor.
                   Katsumi saw that as her cue to exit, so she backed away from the situation rather quickly.
                  "For God's sake, get yourself together," she mumbled as she made her way into the city.
                   ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
                 Katsumi ate at her table alone while her parents still worked in their home office. The odd girl from earlier kept sneaking into her throughs. She only hoped that she would never have to run into her again.
            Just as she was leaving for her room, there was a knock on the door. Reluctantly, she made her way over to open it. She met the visitor with an unpleasant look.  It was the weirdo from earlier, great. Before Katsumi could even say a word, she was bombarded by a million more from the girl.
                  "My name is Asami Kishoto and I just moved here. I wanted to apologize for earlier and properly introduce myself. I'm 17 and I'll start school on Monday with you I presume. I'm so sorry for breaking down earlier."
                Her words were rushed, yet very genuine.
        Katsumi studied her thoroughly. She looked better than before at least. To avoid conversation, Katsumi said as little as possible.
                     "My names Katsumi Haruno. I'm 17 too, and we just got here a few months ago. Just forget about what happened earlier okay?" Asami shook her head. Katsumi was about to close the door when she heard her speak again.
                     "Wait! I-uh brought dumplings, you know, as an apology present. Only if you want them though."She said nervously.
                Sweet dumplings were Katsumi's favorites. She opened the door once again.
                               "Come in," she sighed as Asami gladly entered.
                   After the tension cleared between them, Asami began talking almost nonstop. It was clear that she was quite the social butterfly. As the two shared dumplings that night, Katsumi felt a flutter inside her that she desperately tried to ignore. She couldn't possibly develop a friendship with this new face, it just went against everything she stood for. Although, conversation was much more pleasant than she remembered. Maybe it was just time for her to restart;who knew where else this could go?