The Winter Project

13. Minoru

For the first time in his entire eight years at the same company, the day was flying by. Minoru had instantly acted upon his newfound freedom from the chains of his relationship and requested a six-month sabbatical from his job, which was accepted the next day by his manager David. David was probably in his mid-forties, worked incredibly hard and it was clearly visible how enervated his career had made him by his receding hairline and the fact that he looked much older than he probably was. Minoru had spent so long being inconsistently late that David was probably pleased to see him go, and he had not put up much of a fight when Minoru requested the time away. He also knew that Minoru had been desperate to break free for a long time, and had grown fond of his young employee as he'd watched him grow older but kept his youthful innocence. Minoru could sense this, for his manager could only scold him for several minutes at a time before apologising and trying to use positive reinforcement to encourage him, as if Minoru was a small puppy. Lots of people treated Minoru this way, and his friends would often comment on the fact that he was able to avoid negative consequences where most people would suffer.

He was suddenly nervous, as he hadn't ever really contemplated how long he had sat at the same desk surrounded by the same people, following the stories of his colleagues' lives through menial daily conversation. He was sad to see such familiar surroundings go, but continued to remind himself that he was only leaving for six months and soon he would be back to his routine, fulfilled at living out his lifelong dreams and able to go back to doing the things he loved at home.

His bags were packed and under his desk, ready to be carried straight from the office to the airport on the other side of the city. As soon as Stephanie had moved out, Minoru had given up the flat and moved back in with his father who lived only ten minutes away. He used the security deposit on the flat to book his flight, and took out all of his savings for the rest. He didn't know if he had enough money. Minoru did not like to plan anything in great detail for fear of getting bored or realising the stupidity of his plans and so he had not checked whether his trip was financially viable at all. He always knew with great confidence that everything would just work out for the best, and if it didn't then he would simply find a way to make it work in his favour.

Before he knew it the work had been done and the goodbyes had all been said. The journey to the airport disappeared from his memory as his excitement took over at the airport and he was finally ready to depart for his flight to Tokyo. He had no plans for his arrival; he didn't even have a hotel booked. He didn't care.

He had chosen to live his life the way he wanted to and not the way that somebody else wanted him to. He had chosen to travel and abandon routine in the name of exploring and trying new things. He had chosen to be free of Stephanie because he knew that he would never love anyone as much as he had loved his first girlfriend, and so he wasn't searching for that deep and unconditional love that most people his age were craving. For Minoru, being in a relationship was not the end goal like it had been for Stephanie, and so he did not feel the sense of accomplishment that Stephanie had when they had settled down into a long term relationship.

Minoru did not believe that fear was conducive to a fun and interesting life, and so he feared very little. He only had one real fear in life, and that was flying. He hated planes because of their terrifying size and unexplained noises that would stop and start throughout the flight. He would always zone in on horror stories on the news about planes that had set fire mid-flight and crashed to the ground, killing all who were on board. His parents had never taught him how to swim as a child, and he feared that the plane would crash and subsequently land in the ocean, forcing him to swim to survive. This time was no different, and as he sat in his seat he was aware that every muscle in his body was completely tense. He was still too excited to let it stop him from continuing onwards, and so he persevered. To anyone else on the flight, Minoru probably looked the most calm out of everyone as he drank a beer and flicked through the channels on the in-flight entertainment system, waiting for the plane to take off and start his venture once and for all.

Luckily for Minoru, an intense day of saying his goodbyes and rushing to the airport had left him exhausted, and he had soon fallen asleep not long after the plane had ascended into the night sky. Before he knew it, he was touching down in Tokyo with a solid ten hours sleep and a body full of adrenalin to keep him going. He was amazed at how easily accessible the world is, how he could be sat at his desk in the office one moment and in the blink of an eye find himself in what felt like a different universe.

It was early evening by the time he made his way via train to the centre of Tokyo. His first stop was to find a hotel, which took no time at all. What he hadn't realised was that he had booked himself into one of Japan's most famous hotel designs; a capsule hotel. After putting his suitcase into a locker, something he already found completely bizarre, he found himself climbing into a tiny pod not much bigger than himself. He was surprised at the advanced technology; a TV screen and plugs readily available, and he was also impressed at how spacious the little pod felt once he had climbed inside. After spending no more than five minutes admiring his bed for the night, he was back out on the streets aimlessly wandering around, not even knowing what he was searching for. He was dumbfounded by the stark differences to the city he had grown up in; the vending machines on the streets, the way businesses and buildings were piled on top of one another in high rises with the signs hanging outside stacked on top of each other, the sheer number of people around but how nobody bumped into one another because the roads and pavements were so huge. The streets were spotlessly clean and he felt a strong sense of safety that you simply could not achieve in London no matter where you were or what time of day or night it was.

Neon signs adorned most of the buildings in both Japanese and English. He walked past shop after shop until he stopped outside one purely for the smell of it. He looked in the window and saw a number of photos showing bowls of ramen, and he used the photos as his guide for he could not read the Japanese alphabet. He thought briefly about how his father had failed to teach him Japanese as a child and wondered why he had been deprived of such an important skill.

Stepping inside, he was instantly astounded by how quickly he was greeted by a woman in high-pitched Japanese. He tried to guess her age but truly couldn't work it out, and as he stared at her he noticed that she was staring back, possibly wondering why he couldn't understand her despite his clear Japanese facial features. Out of his three brothers, Minoru looked the least Japanese as his skin was exceptionally pale, but his jet black hair and crescent-moon shaped eyes were a dead giveaway of his ethnicity.

After struggling to explain in broken English that he was unable to speak Japanese, he was finally sat by the window with a steaming hot bowl of ramen and looking out onto the streets. He felt more awake and alive than he had felt in his entire life. The city of Tokyo was full of energy and possibility, and he had no idea what he would learn or who he would meet. His life in London was only fifteen hours behind him but it felt like a lifetime ago. He thanked himself for having the guts to leave not only Stephanie but also his home and his friends and everything that was familiar to him, for having a mindset that allowed him to live freely by his own rulebook. He hoped in that moment that it would take him to places he had only ever dreamed of.