Wham!

Isabelle jumped at the noise. Wide eyed, she thanked the Lord for the railings of the building, and turned around. Cautiously opening the clear glass screen door, she saw a stranger lying on the floor of her living room. He rose slowly, rubbing his head. His eyes were bloodshot and he wore a crumpled, wrinkled T-shirt that said “Ima Diosaur!” in big pink, misspelled letters. A little cartoon drawing of a purple T-Rex roared below the words. His hair was messy and he smelled of alcohol. Behind him, four boys, who had just peaked their heads in from the frame of the door, vanished from sight, terror stricken that she had spotted them.

The boy before her, still rubbing his head, finally noticed her. His eyes went wide with amazement and his whole body froze. It seemed like he was very confused.

Isabelle screamed.
 

The plane descended through white, puffy clouds on its way towards Tokyo. The sun hung low on the horizon over the Pacific Ocean and shined too brightly into Isabelle’s eyes. She closed the shutter of the window next to her, and swallowed to relieve the pressure building up in her ears. Only after several attempts did she finally succeed in popping them. She quietly put away the novel in her hands, since she had neglected to read it ever since they came close to Japan.

Her thoughts distracted her.

The exhaustive twelve hour plane ride finally neared its end, and yet she could not feel completely joyous over the matter. Through the lengthy ride she had not slept well due to worrying over the details of this trip, even though she wore her most comfortable travel clothes. She wondered if the connection agency, through which she booked the last leg of the trip, really knew her plane number. Or if there really was a chauffeur to escort her to the apartment her parents had set up for her. Or if the sign the chauffer held would be all in Japanese and so she would miss it due to a minor communication error. Or if … Ah! She shook her head, and took a deep breath. She tried to suppress her worries. She had no control over the situation, and she had a plan B; so she told herself she should not think about it.

She sighed and idly wondered again why she had chosen this foreign place to go to school. She did not understand the language very well. She did not understand the culture very well. She did not really understand any of her decisions that lead up to this trip very well. It hardly mattered now though. She could have chosen any university to go to in this known world, but she had to choose Japan. None of the other colleges satisfied her. Tokyo University, Japan seemed to have some special allure that drew her to it. It seemed a bit more fantastic than any other city she had visited, and it oddly mysterious. She wondered if she was crazy.