Ch. 4 Friends

Evan wakes up energized and ready to get a sweat goin.

He's up early since he went to sleep early the previous night. He gets something light in his stomach.

He's walking around his apartment when he realizes he's still in his boxers. He goes and grabs his sweatpants and sweatshirt and throws them on.

He is about to head out when he grabs his headphones for some good tunes on his run.

And then he is on his way!

He opens his door and heads down to the ground floor. He exits the staircase and is ready to start. He wonders if the park is empty or not around now.

He stretches and begins his run. He listens to some songs with heavy bass and beats. He is trying to get used to seeing the actual streets compared to seeing them on a map.

He runs around the town for an hour at a moderate speed. He's got a decent layer of sweat, but his sweatpants and shirt block most of it from view.

He was wondering if people were watching him because he's handsome or because he looks like he's going to start the next gang in the area. He just hoped it was the first.

He gets back to his apartment after going up the flights of stairs.

He's about to unlock his door when the door next to his opens and Kobayashi emerges. Her eyes still have bags under them and the eyes themselves look dead.

"Yo! Ms. Kobayashi!" He sends her nod as a greeting as well as he messes with his keys.

"Hey" Kobayashi says as she closes her door and makes sure it's locked. "Morning run?" She asks.

"Yep! Gotta stay in shape! Also gotta learn the towns layout" He finally gets his door open. "We'll have fun at work!"

Evan closes the door and immediately strips and goes to the shower.

After his shower he checks himself in the mirror and jokes with himself before he exits and gets dressed in a suit he makes himself a nutritious post workout breakfast.

Finished eating he gets down to work. The tv on for background noise and he loses track of time.

With work done he doesn't know what to do next.

"Hmmmm…" He leans his chair back on its back legs. "Wasnt there a good rpg that the guy and guy dragon played?"

Evan opened his laptop and searched popular rpgs.

It didn't help. There were just too many options. He wonders if Kobayashi can help a man out.

He then hears his stomach growl. "But first, food!"

He makes himself dinner and eats. He wonders what he can do. He shrugs his shoulders and figures he can just go for a walk.

He puts his suit jacket on along with his shoes and heads out. He just strolls around. And unfortunately for him the town was beginning to already lose its luster.

When it gets dark out he heads back, but on his way he finds a wild Kobayashi. Beside her is a tall man with a slim build. He has black hair and dark blue eyes.His current attire consists of a white button-down shirt, dark slacks, a blue necktie and brown leather shoes.

"Just the man I was searching for!" Evan stops himself mid stride. "Not in a gay way" He says to himself. And then he continues towards the pair.

"Hey! Miss Kobayashi!" Evan waves over to her.

She turns around and her face is red.

"Have you been drinking?" Evan has a wide smile on his face. 'This will be hilarious' he says to himself.

"Maybe, who are you!?" She looks at him and doesn't recognize him at all.

"Evan Farrell, your new neighbor since yesterday. You don't remember me?" He pretends to be hurt as he continues walking towards them.

"Ooohhhhhh…..The delicious food chef" shes snaps her fingers.

"Still not a chef, but yeah. That's good enough" Evan shrugs his shoulders. He looks at the guy who doesn't seem to be that drunk.

"Hey man, Evan Farrell. Miss Kobayashi's new neighbor. I'm new to Japan and in need of some friends!" He holds his hand out for a handshake.

"Sure, the names Makoto Takiya. But umm, are you a gangster or something?" He shakes Evan's hand.

Evan grips his hand and shakes. With a smile on his face he says: "Of course I'm not a gangster. I work in a tech company back in America". Then he grips his hand tighter as he steps closer. "And IF I was a gangster I wouldn't tell you"

Makoto is a tiny bit intimidated by Evan. His grip was stronger than he expected too. "O-oh. Wel-"

"Hahahaha! I'm just messing with you Makoto. I'm honestly not a gangster, I get that a lot so don't feel bad" He let's go of his hand and takes a step away.

"Hahaha…Anyway, since we're done drinking I'm walking Kobayashi back home. What're you doing? Wanna tag along?" He nervously laughs but just shrugs it off.

"Sure! I've been walking around trying to find something to do with my free time. I'm afraid I'm already going to get bored, couldn't even find a good rpg here" Evan crosses his arms and shakes his head.

Kibayashi is just watching the two tall guys. Her minds kinda fuzzy and she's trying to get her head on straight.

"Did you say…" Makoto grabs a pair of glasses from his pocket and puts them on. They had swirls and you couldn't see through them. He also gets buck teeth. His voice gets higher pitched as well. "RPG?! There's a really great one and Ive been playing and I can guarantee you that you would like it if you are a true gamer!" He shouts out.

"Alright! So what is it called?!" Evan gets excited.

"It's called '%%££}€'! And it's great! But you'll need a pc to play it of course" Makoto moves his glasses up his face with his index and middle finger.

"Of course, I have mine being shipped over. It should be here this week. Wanna exchange numbers?" Evan holds his phone in his right hand after getting it from his pants pocket.

"Sure! It's hard to find people of culture lately! I can even help you out early on and in my free time!" Makoto also takes his phone out and they exchange numbers.

They talk back and forward and Kobayashi jumps in when Cosplay gets brought up. They walk towards Kobayashi's house but Makoto has to go a different direction at one point.

"See you around Makoto!" Evan waves him good bye.

"Good bye Evan, let me know when you're free next and we can hang. And see you at work on Monday Kobayashi" Makoto then goes his separate way.

Evan and Kobayashi head back to their apartment building.

"You didn't strike me as the gamer and cosplay type of guy" Kobayashi says.

"And you didn't strike me as the type of girl that enjoys maids that much" Evan crosses his arms and looks to the side.

Kobayashi then goes on to explain why maids are great and the best.

"I'm not saying they're bad Miss Kobayashi, I'm simply saying that...what am I saying? They are great!" Evan holds his hands up as he shrugs. "Hahahaha" he laughs at himself.

"Now you understand. Always glad to open a persons eyes to the truth and greatness of maids!" Kobayashi states.

"I might get into some cosplay while I'm here… Yep, and I'll get some more suits!" Evan makes a fist in front of him with his right hand. He whispers "I'll look so badass…"

"Narcissistic much?" Kobayashi states in a dull tone.

"If appreciating my great looks and awesome body is narcissistic then I will be the biggest narcissist!" He throws his hands up into the air to exaggerate his words.

"Woooow. I don't think I've ever met a person like you. And it kinda bugs me…." Kobayashi's eyebrow twitches.

"Awww, don't be like that! We don't need a drunk grumpy pants. And I'll even show you my cosplays so you critique them" Evan says down to Kobayashi.

"Grumpy pants…." Kobayashi's face gets and cry and she tries to grab his collar but he dodged. "I'll show you grumpy pants! And that suit!…" she proceeds to chase Evan down the empty street trying to catch him as she shouts what's wrong with his current outfit.

"My suit is amazing! Hmph!" Evan pouts as he jumps back again. "And I'm not trying to cosplay currently so this doesn't count!"

They eventually get back to their apartments. Evan is the first as Miss Kobayashi is out of breath and feeling kinda sick.

"I win!" Evan declares as he slaps his door.

"This…wasn't a…..competition. Oh my backs gonna kill me…" Kobayashi walks past Evan and gets to her apartment.

"That was so much fun! 2 friends achieved already!" Evan opens his door.

"2?" Kobayashi opens her door and is about to go in.

"Yeah! Makoto was the second and you were the first Miss Kobayashi!" Evan states and then enters his apartment.

"Ohhh, my head" Kobayashi can't process what he said and just goes inside and jumps on her bed after quickly getting ready to sleep.

Evan strips as he gets to his room. He looks at the extra room the apartment has. He imagines it as a cosplay and gaming room. Although he may have to set up his pc on his dining table.

He rolls into bed. It may not be as comfortable as his other beds, but it reminds him of his last life so it's not bad. He goes to sleep with a slight smile.