1 Chapter 1. Introduction

Chapter 1. Introduction.

My author's pseudonym, Akishito Akato, has become my real name in Japan.

After moving from Russia to Japan, I decided to make such a change by using a fake Japanese passport.

Now I am twenty years old, I came to Japan a year ago, not yet understanding what awaits me here.

I was a writer in Russia and decided to come in order to get inspiration by exploring Japanese culture while in Japan itself.

At the same time, I was studying at the university at that time, but later I had to drop out because unexpected things happened that prevented me from returning back to my homeland. But, I will tell you about these circumstances later.

Of course, I had to live on something, and I went to publishing houses to have my books accepted there, but my knowledge of Japanese was lame, and many publishing houses required me to study at the university, and for this I needed to study at least one year in a Japanese school.

Therefore, a year after my arrival, I entered the school.

You ask me, then what did I do in the first year? I was fulfilling my duty as a writer, also earning money in parallel, working as waiters in the restaurant closest to home.

The weather on the day of admission was windy and sakura leaves fell right on my head, which was not very pleasant, you know.

On the class allocation board, I found my name and ended up in Class 2-B. Of course, it was "unexpected" to get into the class with this letter for the 12th time. And I associate this with not very pleasant memories of my school days in a Russian school.

A little later, the entrance ceremony began, which was so tedious that I almost fell asleep when I listened to this "very important" information that we would have several tests this year, and later an exam. I was not allowed to fall asleep by songs that were played through huge speakers.

After the opening ceremony, everyone was invited to the classrooms to conduct class hours. Everyone started crowding, so it was quite problematic to get through this wave of students. Every time I stumbled, I ended up falling right on a girl with green hair, an attractive face, and also wow such shapes… Can this be considered luck? Quite possibly.

— Can you finally get off me? this girl said and pushed me away.

And in a moment she was out of my sight.

Somehow, but I finally crawled to my classroom, it was a difficult test, but still I could!

— This is Akishito Akato, a student who arrived from Russia to study with us, take care of him. – said the class teacher.

I was told to sit down in an empty seat. Looking closer, I noticed that one guy with brown hair, dressed in a blue hoodie, was waving at me, and later when I noticed him, he pointed to an empty desk in front of him.

I decided to sit there, at his request. As soon as the homeroom teacher started saying almost the same thing as at the ceremony, the guy behind me decided to start a conversation with me.

— Listen, isn't it you, that almost nobody-known writer in Japan, Akishito Akato? – the guy said in Russian.

— Yes, it's me. – I answered as briefly as I could, because it was not very pleasant to hear such a harsh truth.

— I like your works, so… Maybe you'll join our social club, where we can discuss your books, and perhaps not only them. Our club consists of four people, all of them are Russian and almost all of them are from our class, except Miguru.

— And what, you don't have enough members in the club? I asked, as if grinning at his suggestion.

— Actually... yes, it's not enough, so I hope that you will join us. – he said, and then a strained smile appeared on his face.

"What's your real name?" – I decided to ask, so that I could call him by his first name, and not just "hey, man"

— My name is Katayashi Uyato. In general, if you want to see our club in action, come tomorrow, because the distribution of clubs starts tomorrow.

— Well, I will definitely come to you after I look at the rest of the clubs. After all, it's better to see everything, and not choose without thinking.

Katayashi remained silent and then I had to listen to tedious speeches from the class teacher.

The next day, I went to about five or six different clubs.

I was the first to look into the gaming club, which seemed to me more like a sleeping club than a gaming club, because when I entered there, I saw a bunch of sleeping people in the middle of laptops, phones and joysticks.

Then I decided to go to the literary club, where I could be said to have been sent almost instantly, because when I just quietly opened the door, they showed me a gesture to keep quiet. And so I instantly left. I thought they would discuss books there, and not just read them in silence. It's kind of stupid.

In the sports section, I already sent them, because just after entering the gym, a basketball ball flew into my head.

And then, I went through a few more clubs that I didn't really remember... but no, I'm cheating. There was also a culinary one that fed me burnt cookies. Thank them for that.

And so, the last one I decided to go to the social club at Katayashi's invitation.

Why do the most interesting things happen in clubs only when I go to them?

Immediately I saw that Katayashi was clearly teasing another guy with black hair and white bangs. His glasses were sliding off his face while this was happening. Finally noticing me, Katayashi released the guy and he retreated to the corner of the room.

— Oh, who do I see, it's our long-awaited guest, Akishito! Katayashi exclaimed to the whole office.

— Yes, yes, it's me, actually, and what are you doing here?

— Yes, there's not much to do today… You caught us in bad times, two members of the club are not with us at the moment. – he said, at the same time gesticulating in every possible way, as if he were in a drama club.

— Actually, why aren't there any? I asked myself, to which Katayashi shrugged his shoulders.

— I will call now and find out why they are not here, although they must be here…

Katayashi hurriedly left the office and we were left alone with the boy. I was a little bored and decided to talk to him.

— Listen, what's your name at least?

— Miguru Nitaro. – he answered quickly and rather shortly.

— Can you tell us about those who are not here today? And you can also tell a little about yourself in principle.

— Oh, good… I myself come from a fairly wealthy family that owns a restaurant nearby, my mother works there as a waitress, and my father is a cook, although he himself is the owner of this restaurant, and I myself am just a connoisseur of Japanese food, so you can turn to me for advice. And about those who are not here today…

The first one's name is Mika Otsuko, she's a pretty blonde with green eyes. She is learning to sew now, so she often does not go to the club. Once, I remember, she tried to sew costumes for the whole class when the festival was already approaching, but because of her, almost the whole class was left without costumes.

The second is Fukishito Nitsuri, with short blue hair… She's just an overly sociable person, but unfortunately sometimes she behaves quite stupidly. One day a girl came to our club who had problems with communication, so Fukishito just took and hypnotized her and that girl went and said all sorts of things to her classmates… In general, be careful, or she will hypnotize you too.

I laughed a little at that. It was stupid of me to talk about hypnosis, because I already had some kind of immunity to it.

Katayashi came into the office and told us the following information:

— In general, they absolutely refuse to say where they are now, but judging by the sounds in the background, they are in some kind of shopping center.

— Can we go to a cafe then? And then you just don't want to sit around for a while. Miguru said, rubbing his stomach, hinting that he wanted to eat.

— Okay, so be it, let's go to the nearest shopping center, to the restaurant Nitaro. Katayashi said, pointing his finger at the exit.

In principle, I didn't mind, because after the burnt cookies from the pastry club, I didn't eat anything else.

As soon as we left the school, I stumbled again, but this time on the threshold of the school. And again knocked down the same girl, with green hair…

— Why are you falling on me again, huh? – she shouted and almost instantly gathered her briefcase back, moved on to school.

In general, I didn't pay much attention to it, but when I looked at the ground, I saw that there was some kind of map lying there. I picked it up and didn't even look at what was in it… And very in vain.

And so, we headed to the mall, not knowing what kind of trouble this portends.