INNOCENT FRIDAY
Shizugawa High School
Minamisanriku, Miyagi, Japan
March 11, 2011
Ryan walked out of the high school located on a hill that overlooked the rest of the town of Minamisanriku as well as Shizugawa Bay. It looked as though snow was threatening to begin its assault. He zipped up his coat shoved his hands into his pockets even though he was wearing gloves.
Ryan really enjoyed the smaller Japanese towns. There wasn’t much to them but they had their own stories, their own charm. He knew several people who couldn’t stand to live in such a town as it lacked things to do. He, on the other hand, would enjoy living in a town similar to this place; as long as there was a cute girl to marry. The drawback to smaller towns was the lack of people to meet. Sendai was fine but he had never been a fan of living in cities. He was accompanied by a guy from his company and the guy’s name kept escaping him. Tamachi? Taguchi? Toda? Yamada? For some reason the only thing Ryan could remember was the guy explaining there was a rice field kanji in the name. That meant that the name had “ta” or “da” in it.
“What do you think of Minamisanriku?” he asked.
“It looks like a nice town,” Ryan said. “I think I could live here. I just hope there are some single cute girls around here.”
“You mean for finding a wife?” he asked.
Ryan nodded. “Yeah. Does there happen to be an abundance of cute girls and a high possibility of meeting someone here?” The guy tilted his head to the side as he looked uncertain of that possibility. Ryan laughed.
“There are some cute teachers here so maybe you’ll get lucky with one of them.” the guy said.
“I thought the company didn’t want us to do such things with other teachers,” Ryan said.
“We don’t forbid it,” he said. “We just advise caution. We don’t want to cause an issue by making someone feel uncomfortable. However, if you and another teacher get comfortable then it should be okay. And if that doesn’t work then you can go to Ishinomaki and Sendai. They aren’t that far from here. I think you’ll like it here. They have a nice river event in August where they put lanterns in the river.”
“Sounds like a good time,” Ryan said. “This looks like a great town.”
“And don’t worry about finding an apartment,” he said. “We’ll help you get one just like the one you’re in now.
“To be honest, I really don’t want to move schools. I have a daughter to worry about and I don’t want to keep moving around. I’d like to find a place to settle.”
“I understand,” the guy said. “I’ve heard you’re doing great at your school and the students love your classes. I also wish we didn’t have to send you to a different school.”
“I tried to deal with Kusagawa’s attitude but it became too intolerable to the point I was going home angry and depressed.”
“I understand. I’m sure you already know you’re not the first who had problems with her. The woman you replaced left because of her. But I think this will be a good fit for you.”
“I’ll do my best up here,” Ryan said.
The guy nodded. “Great. So should I go ahead and head back?”
“Yeah, that’s fine,” Ryan said. “I’m going to walk around a little bit and get a feel for the area. Maybe try to find something for my daughter.”
The guy chuckled as he nodded. “Okay. Well then I guess I’ll go on ahead. I think I’ll take the scenic route back.”
“The scenic route?”
He nodded. “Yeah, I’ll just follow the coast to the mouth of the Kitakami River and follow that back to Ishinomaki. There are some small communities in that area. The road is kinda like a back entrance to the city. It’s a very peaceful drive with water on one side and trees on the other.”
“Sounds easy enough,” Ryan said. “Not sure why we didn’t just take that route here.” He laughed a little to show the guy he was just being facetious. However, Ryan wasn’t convinced he picked up on it. His wit and sarcastic remarks seem to be lost on the Japanese people. He hadn’t met a Japanese person that fully understood his sarcasm. Tatsuya was probably the closest when it came to understanding his sarcasm.
Close to Shizugawa Bay
Minamisanriku, Miyagi, Japan
2:46pm
At first, Ryan wasn’t sure what to think of Minamisanriku, a peaceful and serene town tucked away in a small corner of northeast Japan. It wasn’t the Garden of Eden but he liked it. When he had first entered the town on Route 398, the area suddenly opened up and there was the hidden community right next to the sea. The houses were all clustered together but it didn’t feel so claustrophobic.
The center of town, if that was even the right word, stood up against the bay as if stopping the bay from entering the land. Houses and shops took up every inch of flatland, outlining the base of the mountains. Bridges connected the town that was cut in half by the river.
Ryan liked the cozy feeling he got from the town. Aside from the hospital, two other neighboring buildings, nothing else was much taller than three stories. Middle aged women gossiped about local things while standing in front of their food shops, the train occasionally made an appearance at the one platform Shizugawa Station that ran diagonally through the town that disappeared into the mountains on both sides. The town felt pure and innocent.
He wondered where his new apartment would be. He wasn’t sure if he wanted one near the bay or one on a hill that overlooked the bay. He’d find out in a few weeks when his company sends him that information.
Ryan looked at the pictures of the town on his phone to make sure they came out fine. He wanted to give Yeon Tae an idea of the town. Suddenly an earthquake alert went off. He damn near dropped his phone. The same sound came from the phones of nearby people. A moment later the ground started to shake. It was slow at first but then quickly picked up its intensity. Ryan held out his arms and slightly spread his legs to stabilize himself. There wasn’t anything for him to grab to prevent him from falling. People fell over or came close to falling over. The quake was really strong. It was a lot stronger than the ones earlier that week. Houses rattled and people screamed. Parked cars were moving back and forth violently, rolling forward and then backward, only being stopped because of their parked position. Things began falling from rooftops, loud crashing came from all around. He stumbled down the street to get clear of the houses. This quake wasn’t letting up. He made his way to the giant park just past the tree line. Running through the tree line while being tossed around was challenging as he slammed into trees and repeatedly fell to the ground.
It wasn’t long after that the quake finally stopped. Most quakes lasted for a few seconds but this one was a few minutes. Ryan closed his eyes and breathed deeply. It was finally over.
Man, what a bitch.
Sendai coastline
Sendai, Miyagi, Japan
At the same moment
Haruna slowly released her grip on the girls once the shaking stopped. She looked around at the other people nearby to gauge their reaction. She didn’t get a sense of worry from them. They just went back to what they were doing before the quake.
“Are you two okay?” she asked. Both girls nodded. “That was pretty strong, wasn’t it?” They nodded again. Haruna saw the fear on their faces. Their relaxed cheerfulness that was typical for both of them and had been there before the quake was replaced by an edge of uncertainty. It looked like they were waiting for the next one. Their grip on her didn’t loosen. Haruna looked inland to see what kind of damage it caused. There wasn’t any noticeable damage but it was possible there was some that she just couldn’t see from her position. She then looked out to sea hoping to God it was not out there.
Docks of Shizugawa Bay
Minamisanriku, Miyagi, Japan
3:20pm
Ryan pulled out his cell phone to call Haruna and check on Yeon Tae. The line was busy. Either the system was down or it was clogged with everyone in the nation trying to call each other. He got the same result when he tried to call Aira.
He sat down for a bit while some people walked by as they talked about the quake. Ryan tried to call Haruna again but got the same result. He wandered over to the edge of the park closest to the bay. The boats anchored to the dock were still swaying from the quake. He called Haruna again but still nothing.
There was an odd feeling in his gut like something was amiss or something was wrong. It wasn’t really a sixth sense or anything but a feeling he couldn’t shake. It was like a combination of anxiety and discomfort. He sat down on a nearby bench but his body slightly shook. He couldn’t get his body to relax so he stood up again. At first he figured it was just due to the earthquake but he wasn’t convinced that was it. There was more to it. He looked around but nothing seemed out of place. Something wasn’t right. He had to start moving and get back to Yeon Tae. He looked around to get his bearings seeing where the train station was in regards to his position. He looked at his watch, wondering how long it would be before he got home. It was now roughly about an hour since the quake hit. If he caught a train now, it’d probably be after 5 by the time he got back to Sendai.
He glanced at the water just as he put his phone in his pocket and noticed it was rising rapidly and was about to spill over. His eyes widened.
Oh, shit!
Then the tsunami sirens went off.
