Rock Paper Scissors

"How about we get something to eat?" My stomach was screaming for food, luckily for him, we were in Tokyo now.

Everyone else's stomach seemed to growl in response to my own, Hiyato and Alex quickly agreed with my decision. With luggage in both of my hands, the crowd respectfully gave way to us while continuing to cheer on our names. They didn't hound us outside of their airport or do anything excessive. I thought back to when I basically had to fight my way back into the locker room after my post-game announcement, I sure wish America was as understanding as this. 

After walking for what seemed like a few minutes, it ended up being over twenty. Without the external view of cameras, we got to know each other a little bit better. While Hiyato was from Japan, he was from the countryside; he had only dreamed of going to Tokyo. As for Alex and I, it was as if a distant dream of ours had come true. We nearly forgot about our hunger. The views, the wind between our fingers, and the foreign smells of Tokyo, demanded all of our attention.

"It's so beautiful I could cry." Hiyato was fully emersed into his new world. I could swear his eyes actually watered a little.

"Haha! Don't tell me you're really crying Mori!" Alex's energy was multiplied by ten.

"Man, you wouldn't get it. At least ya got to grow up in cities, if I lived another day in the country I'd die!" We all laughed at his revelation mixed with a country accent, we all had different motivations and aspirations, but right now we were just seventeen-year-old boys having the time of our lives.

As we continued to tease Hiyato, our stomachs called out for us, seemingly saying something like, "Don't forget about us!" and it seemed like my nose was on the same page as them.

 "You guys' smell that?" I got up to find the source of the smell, and I found it: a hole-in-the-wall style ramen shop, that discovery was enough to shut us all up, we moved in sync with ramen as the only thing on their minds. 

We easily found a table; after all, it was only us and a girl who was enjoying a conversation with the owner as she ate her meal. Following Hiyato's lead, we all ordered the same thing.

"Three Shoyu ramens, please!" Mori asked us to trust him and order what he got, so I did. After the owner put in our orders, he continued his conversation with the girl. I heard a few words along the lines of American, and this prompted her to turn and catch a glimpse of us. Then, I noticed her. British? My mind wandered. No, she's like me, American. As she turned back around, I was drawn into her facial features from the side. While she had deep bags under her blue eyes, she was definitely pretty and I wasn't the only one who noticed.

"So…" Alex began. We didn't even have to hear the rest to know what he was talking about.

"Hahaha! She's definitely beautiful. I'm so glad I came to Tokyo." I doubt Hiyato ever saw an American girl back in the countryside.

"Even compared to girls back home she'd be considered pretty." Alex added.

"Come on then, are you two gonna keep talking about her to me or actually go up to her?" I laughed back.

"No way! The countryside didn't prepare me well enough for this."

"After a twelve-hour plane ride? She'd probably thinks I'm homeless."

"How about this then, play rock, paper, scissors, loser goes up to her." Hiyato and Alex looked at each other, both thinking about the possibilities of losing and getting rejected, but also losing and getting a girls' number.

"Fine, if you need some more convincing, I'll join in."

"Come onn, show some spirit." I taunted.

"I'm in."

"Me too."

"That's what I like to hear! On shoot, okay?" The two nodded

Rock…

Paper…

Scissors…

Shoot!

I threw out scissors, Hiyato also threw out scissors, but Alex… threw out rock.

"Wait so what does that mean, two of you lost!" He looked like a tremendous weight got lifted off of his shoulders.

"I never thought about it this far, I guess, we play again? Losers only this time."

Rock…

Paper…

Scissors…

Come on come on

Shoot!

Thinking that Hiyato would with rock to counter my last play of scissors, I went with paper. But, he must've thought the same, he also went with paper.

Rock…

Paper…

Scissors…

Shoot!

I went with paper yet again… lady luck smiled upon me. Hiyato chose rock.

"Damn!" He slammed his hands on top of the table as all we could do is laugh. He looked like he lost a state championship.

Hiyato stood up and took a deep breathe before stepping behind the girl.

"Excuse me…" She turned to face him, her deep blue, almond shaped eyes were staring into his soul. Poor guy, even people with tons of experience would fold in front of a look like that.

"You look like a Victoria's Secret Model!" My mouth was open purely from shock. Then, because of laughter. Out of everything I wasn't expecting that. The girl was clearly surprised but seemed to be indifferent to being compared to a lingerie model.

"Thanks?" She looked like she didn't know what to make of the situation.

"I'm uh- I'm Hiyato Mori! What's your name?" He gulped, he was folding.

"My name's Maya." Ouch, no nice to meet you or anything to continue the conversation? Not knowing what to say back, Hiyato awkwardly stood there. I had to do something.

"I'm sorry for my friend; he's not usually like this." I nervously laughed. The girl just stared at Hiyato until she locked eyes with me; she seemed to notice me. The gaze lasted a few moments until I walked back to their table, Hiyato in tow. We momentarily continued the wrestling match with our eyes. It wasn't the beauty that kept me staring; it was the story behind those deep eyes. She's someone just like me, a survivor. I clenched my fists. I was supposed to be far from that shit. Why? Why did I have to be reminded of it now. 

Alex and Hiyato continued to talk about her appearance, but they only saw it at a surface level.

"Trust me, you don't want a girl like that." 

"But, to be honest, I thought you'd do much worse." Alex laughed alongside my remark.

"Come on, Victoria's secret model?"

"Well wouldn't ya want to be compared to someone like that??! That's like comparing ya to Lebron James!" We laughed as the owner brought us our bowls of ramen. There was something about trying to get girls that made guys bond, maybe it's our chemical balances or something, there's got to be a study of it somewhere.

"Itadakimasu!" Hiyato and Alex yelled while clapping their hands together one time.

We began finishing their ramen, the shop began to fill up. The girl had left, but she was replaced by at least 15 more people. Two of which happened to approach our table. 

"You're Rylon Mercer right?" the man said.

While I learned Japanese in my first two years of high school, I still wasn't fully familiarized with the language. I understood some parts of what they said next, but not all of it.

"Oh yeah? I'd like to see you try." I got the gist of the conversation but didn't want to jump to conclusions.

"What are they saying?" Alex asked. Seriously Alex? I thought you'd know what they're saying.

Hiyato laughed. "They're just some overconfident college kids."

"What do you mean?" 

The first Japanese local pointed at their third friend across the street who happened to be holding a basketball. 

I smiled. My suspicions were confirmed.

"I don't have to speak Japanese to know what they want." I looked down at my phone, we had 10 minutes before our scheduled pick up.

"We have more than enough time."

"Your three versus our three, right now."

Hiyato relayed the message to confirm in Japanese, and was met with a grin equal to my own. 

Perfect. This should be a good warm-up. My first game in Japan, and… I'll see what these two are capable of.

"Let's go." I smiled.