11 GAIDEN: SALVATION

The plane ride from the States to Tokyo was 13 hours. As Ryan and Yeon Tae walked down the obnoxiously long corridors of the airport, Ryan smiled when he saw a lit-up sign on the wall saying: Welcome to Japan. However, the traveling wasn’t quite over yet. They still had to get to Saga which was on the Kyushu island. Tokyo was in the middle of the Honshu island.

The connecting flight from Narita to Fukuoka was 2 hours. The bus ride from Fukuoka to Saga was another hour. Plus, there was a city bus from Saga Station to Saga University that took roughly 20 minutes. Ryan and Yeon Tae stepped off the bus with their cargo at the university gate. The gate only consisted of a traffic gate with a guard station. Yeon Tae looked around, curious about her surroundings but was lacking her usual energy. Ryan was exhausted too but they couldn’t rest just yet.

Ryan needed to find the international office so he could figure out where they’d be staying. After getting direction from the guard on duty, they continued down the tree-lined road that led them deeper into campus. Ryan was thankful it was an easy walk and not confusing with several twists and turns. The building was so close, they could see it from the gate.

“So many bikes,” Yeon Tae said. On their left was an area with an overhang for bikes and it was full of parked bikes. Classes hadn’t started yet, so it was surprising to see that many bikes. As they walked, Ryan noticed the stares that others gave them as they passed. He wasn’t sure how to feel about it. He didn’t get the sense of hostility or disgust. It felt more like curiosity.

The campus didn’t appear to have much of a college green to it. There was an area with picnic tables, but it was more like a patio. So far, he hadn’t seen any sign of a grassy area but he had only seen a very small part of the campus.

He saw the sign for the international office pointing at a set of doors on the far side of a long building. They walked in and the first room was a lounge-type room with vending machines and a few tables. The office was at the end of a long hallway. Ryan didn’t really want to haul all of their luggage down it. It was relatively narrow, and it would be a pain in the ass with their luggage. A guy sitting at one of the tables in the lounge turned around as the door closed. It was Tatsuya.

“Took you long enough.”

“Planes these days are just too slow.”

Ryan collapsed onto the couch of the fully furnished apartment that was meant for students with families. It had 4 floors to it and was the second building of the international house. The first building was much taller with 5 floors to it. Ryan wasn’t sure how old it was, but it reminded him of old Soviet-style buildings from his childhood.

He was exhausted and knew he should jump in the shower or at the very least get Yeon Tae in the bath. He was just about to get up when Yeon Tae climbed up onto him and laid down. She rested her head on his chest. There was no way he was getting up now. He just rubbed her head.

“Did you like the sushi?”

“Uh-huh.” She was probably more exhausted than her father. Ryan believed it was better that they didn’t get a chance to sleep until now so they could adjust to the time difference faster. Tomorrow was the weekend so that gave them two days to go exploring before she started school on Monday. He rubbed her head until she was asleep. The rhythmic breathing let him know she was out. He laid her down in her bed without waking her and he stepped outside. Route 208 separated the international house, the boys and girls dorms, and the practice fields from the rest of campus. Loud trucks shifted gears and battled the equally as loud sports cars as they drove past. It was still early and he wanted to go walk around now but he wasn’t about to leave his daughter alone. He leaned against the chest-high wall and took in his surroundings. He watched students come and go from the other building. He was too far out of the natural line of sight to be noticed by any of them. The only ones that did notice him were the ones that lived in his building. They greeted him as they passed. Ryan wasn’t sure which South Asian country they were from. They all had little children with them but they all looked a little older than his own child.

He looked up at the other building. This side had all the verandas that were protected by a large green net. He had no idea why it was there. Even if it were used to catch dropped items, there was no way to get them from the bottom. There were a few hangers the net had collected but no one cared enough to get them.

The grass was at least knee height. Ryan had noticed the yard on the other side of Building A looked like a jungle. It had been a long time since someone did anything with it. Vines assaulted the fence that surrounded the grounds. On the other side of the fence was a Yamaha shop and a few apartments. There was a smaller bike area next to the fence that housed some unused bikes. Most people parked their bikes at the larger canopy which was also full of unused bikes. The bikes, both used and unused, spilled outward and were left unprotected from the weather.

After his shower, Ryan opened his laptop to scroll around on Facebook. He opened AIM to see if anyone he wanted to talk to happened to be on. Quinn was online. The time in Athens was around 8 a.m.

RTcornerback25: Getting ready for class?

Dragonspooker07: Yep. How’s Japan?

RTcornerback25: Good so far. Sushi for dinner and Yeon Tae is asleep. I want to go out and explore but I have to wait until tomorrow.

Dragonspooker07: Super jealous you’re over there. Nothing really going on here except typical club drama. There’s a new girl who acts like she’s better than everyone else. She pisses me off.

RTcornerback25: What does she do?

Dragonspooker07: She wants to be president. I’m stepping down so I can focus on graduating. We’re doing an election this week and it looks like she’s gonna win. No one else is showing any interest in being president. During our first club meeting, she said our choices in anime were juvenile and that her taste in anime was of a much higher quality.

RTcornerback25: So, she came in there and threw down the gauntlet by saying her choice in anime is so much better than yours? Did she at least introduce herself first?

Dragonspooker07: I really don’t like her.

RTcornerback25: No kidding.

Dragonspooker07: I told her I liked Wolf’s Rain and FMA but she dismissed those. If I had the time I would run again just to keep her out of that spot.

RTcornerback25: Whatever happened to the good ol’ days of eliminating the competition by making them disappear? Those were the days. In the Soviet Union, no one would notice if such a person disappeared suddenly.

Ryan walked out of the 7/11 convenience store across from campus. He picked up some rice balls, which he had never seen shaped as a ball. They were always triangular-shaped, but figured they were probably round back in the day. Yeon Tae’s kindergarten was down the alleyway that ran from the convenience store to a middle school. The kindergarten was right next to a shrine with a graveyard. Ryan wasn’t sure if that was normal or not. He couldn’t think of any graveyards that were in plain sight of a school back home, at least that he had seen. It was about a three-minute walk from the convenience store to the kindergarten.

The narrow alleyway, which was somehow a two-way street, had several apartment buildings and older houses. One was run down and partially collapsed. Nature was trying to reclaim it as vines tightly wrapped themselves around it, not letting it out of their grasp. The vines also seemed to serve as a warning as they crossed doors and windows, telling people not to enter. It had been abandoned for countless years. The metal sides of the second story were rusted reddish-brown, some windows were busted, and the paint on the wood siding of the first story was gone. One of the walls had partially collapsed and anyone could catch a glimpse of the inside. Ryan was sure some people thought it was haunted. He actually wanted to explore it. There wouldn’t be anything of any value in there, not that he would take it if there were.

Yeon Tae was terrified of this house. They walked through here while exploring the area yesterday and as soon as she caught sight of the house, she darted behind her father and used him as a barrier to protect her from the house. Now they take another route going to and from her school.

Ryan reached the gate and he didn’t even take two steps onto the school grounds before Yeon Tae was sprinting to him. She had a giant smile on her face. He knelt to her level with his arms open. She hugged her father tightly. Ryan held onto her as he stood up. He smiled and lightly bowed to the teachers before leaving.

“I bought some rice balls if you’re hungry. We can sit on campus and eat.”

They returned to campus and sat down at the picnic tables across from the student center. More curious and awe-struck stares were directed at them. Ryan did his best to act like he didn’t notice but it was difficult.

“How was school?” Ryan asked just as Yeon Tae took a bite from her rice ball.

“It was fun. But I don’t know what’s going on. They only speak Japanese.”

“You’ll get the hang of it as time goes on. Don’t worry. I think there are some Korean students here that might want to talk to you if you want to speak in Korean at all.”

“I can talk to you in Korean,” she said.

“Yeah, but my Korean isn’t the best. It only got better because I was with your mother. I know these past few months have been crazy but I want to make you feel comfortable while we’re here. I know you spoke a lot of Korean before and since I’m not Korean, we wouldn’t be able to do that. But I don’t want you to lose that part of yourself. I’ll see if I can find some good Korean students who will want to talk with you.”

Ryan walked into the lounge which was on the second floor of the student center building. It was also the spot where people met to have conversations in English, Japanese, Chinese or Korean. Each day was a different language with English taking up two days.

Today was Korean.

The room was small and probably originally designed to be a teacher’s office before being transformed into a lounge for students. On one side of the room was a wall of books, probably ones that no one ever read but were put there to add some sort of flavor to the room. A kotatsu was on the other side of the room on top of a tatami mat platform. Anyone who wanted to sit at that table had to take off their shoes. There was a gray two-seat couch next to the door. Near the wall of books, were two long tables where most of the people sat.

Ryan walked in and was immediately hit with stares from everyone in the room. They all looked at him as if he was lost. He sat down at the table where most of the other people were sitting. He was the only Western foreigner in the room. Everyone else was either Japanese or Korean.

“Today is Korean,” one girl said.

“I know,” Ryan said in Korean. “I want to improve my Korean.” The others did not expect him to reply in Korean.

“Have you been to Korea?” another girl asked.

Ryan shook his head. “No, not yet. Any recommendations?”

“Seoul. Busan.”

“Oh, so the only two places there,” Ryan said with a laugh. “Do tourists go anywhere else?”

The Koreans just shook their heads.

“What about the DMZ that separates North and South?”

“You’re interested in that?”

Ryan nodded. “Yeah, I like history and that would be an interesting place to go.”

Another Asian girl walked into the room who was in one of Ryan’s classes. Sarah was the only other native English speaker on campus. She was half Korean half Chinese but from Australia. She sat down next to Ryan with her food.

“Karaage?” she asked inspecting Ryan’s lunch.

“You know it.”

“You should really try the chicken nanban sometime.”

“Okay. Next time I go to Hotto Motto I’ll get that instead.”

“Yeah, change it up. Don’t get karaage all the time.”

“Tell that to Konsta.”

As if he were summoned, Konsta and Ame walked through the door of the lounge, joining Ryan and Sarah.

Konsta was from Finland and Ame was from Thailand. Konsta and Sarah lived in the same apartment building south of campus. Ame lived in an apartment north of campus. It was in between the old haunted-looking house and Yeon Tae’s school. Students on a scholarship had to get their own apartments so not all international students lived in the international house.

Ryan gestured to the box of karaage that Konsta set on the table in front of him.

“Have you tried anything else from Hotto Motto?” Sarah asked.

“No,” Konsta said. “Their fried chicken is delicious.”

“And what did you get?” Ryan asked Ame as he peered into her bag.

“Sukiyaki.”

Ryan noticed the stares from the Korean students who appeared to be in awe at the four of them talking in English.

“Is it okay if we speak in Korean?” one of the guys asked.

“Sure, go for it,” Ryan said. Konsta just waved them on not bothering to look away from the food that he was currently inhaling.

The welcoming party for all of the international students was held after classes had started. It was on the second floor of the university hall that held the cafeteria. Tables were set up with various party food and drinks. Everyone stood around with plates and cups in hand talking with each other.

Ryan and Yeon Tae walked in and the stares came almost immediately. Some of the stares were ones of shock that Ryan had a child and others were because a white American had a child whose Asian features mostly suppressed her Western features.

Some of the international students did have families but they were part of the graduate studies and not the one-year foreign exchange program. The one-year students were all the standard college age and without children of their own.

“Hey, what’s up, Konsta?” Ryan asked the lone Finnish student.

“Hey, man. So, this is your daughter?”

“That’s her.”

“I didn’t expect you to have a kid,” Konsta said. “I don’t mean you specifically. I mean, I wouldn’t have expected anyone here to have a kid.” He gave her a wave. Yeon Tae stared straight up at the skyscraper of a man while she returned the wave.

“I get it,” Ryan said. “So, what’s good here?”

“The chicken,” Konsta said without hesitation.

“It looks like the kind you get from Hotto Motto,” Ryan said not surprised by Konsta’s response. He put some on Yeon Tae’s plate.

After talking with Konsta for a few minutes, Ryan found the Korean students. They watched him approach, curious about the little girl at his side. He greeted them all in Korean as did his daughter.

“Wait,” one of the guys said. “Is she Korean?”

“Well, half,” Ryan said.

“Where’s her mother?” another asked. He saw Ryan’s expression and quickly regretted the question. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to bring up a bad topic.”

“It’s okay. It’s a complicated story.”

“Does she speak Korean?” Aekyo asked in Korean. Ryan remembered her name as she talked to him the most when he visited the lounge. He only ever heard her speak Korean so he doubted she had any English ability.

“Yes, I do,” Yeon Tae said in Korean. “My name is Yeon Tae.” Aekyo glanced at Ryan before returning her attention to Yeon Tae.