Abroad

After an impressive hustle off the plane and acquiring their baggage, all the students filed out after Howard Sensei. Coming into the terminal, Trowa and Quatre on both sides of him, Duo watched as families were reunited, foreigners left to find their hotels, and other people mingled about as they waited for flights to arrive. Duo had taken note of one man with ginger colored hair who was casually reclining against one of the walls, hands stuffed in the pockets of his stone-washed jeans causing the bottom of his blue shirt and the black blazer to ride up just a little. He had simply been people watching until his eyes fell on Howard Sensei. With a huge smile, he pushed off the wall and walked over to Howard and his group. "James! Welcome back," he said to Howard Sensei giving him a few pats on the back and started in on an animated conversation while leading the group over to a waiting area with chairs. Duo snorted to himself. He couldn't help but to always be amused by Howard Sensei's name: James Howard. 'You know what they say about people with two first names,' Duo thought of the old joke. The fact that people with two first names were supposed to be stupid definitely didn't apply to the brilliant James Howard, but Duo could never help himself.

As all the students began to pool around their sensei and the man, all eyes turned to their handsome new guest. Howard Sensei turned to address his students. "Do you remember I told you about your on-site counselor. This is your man, Treize Kushranada." Duo remembered Sensei often talking about Treize during class. Sensei was only going to be staying with them for two weeks, making sure everything would be running smoothly before having to return to America to continue teaching his classes. In Sensei's absence, Treize was going to fill his shoes. He had an office on campus and he also taught some of the English classes to the Japanese college students. Sensei had said that Treize had gone on the same study abroad program that they were now embarking upon, and had ended up loving it so much that he only came back to America to finish his degree before flying back out to Japan to get a job. That was 11 years ago.

Treize smiled and spoke to the group. "Welcome to Japan! We are confined to a bit of a schedule so I want you all to gather up your travelers checks, American money or whatever because we are going to exchange it for yen," he said as he pointed to a small bank area that was visible through a set of glass doors inside the terminal. "Any questions, I will be standing over there to help you." He turned to Howard Sensei and spoke to him for a minute before moving to stand near the entrance of the money exchange area.

Turning to open his bag, Duo quickly pulled out his stash of travelers checks and grabbed his two friends and hauled them off to the money exchange station with him. "How much do you think we should exchange," Duo looked at his two friends.

"Not sure," Quatre replied. "Sensei did say that you can't use your credit cards often in Japan. Credit cards are only accepted at hotels and big purchase places. I think I am going to cash three hundred and see how quickly I go through that." Trowa and Duo nodded in agreement. The two hundred to three hundred range sounded like a good place to start. There was sure to be a bank somewhere nearby campus when they need to exchange more money.

Treize was there handing out forms for the students to fill out before they got up to the counters and pointing out the places they need to fill in numbers. Pushing up to the cashier, Duo quickly realized that the idea of forming a line was something the Japanese weren't thinking about. Japanese people who wanted to trade out their Dollars or Euros or other foreign currency for their Yen were standing in no semblance of order. Yet the Japanese did realize that they shouldn't be cutting into the American students' line and took up spots for different cashier windows. Duo finally made his way up to the window and was cheerful greeted by a sitting man in a suit. Handing the man his form, the man was reading off the form to him in Japanese, counting the travelers checks and explaining to him how much he was going to get in return. Pulling a well worn calculator from his right side, the man told Duo that for the three hundred dollars he wanted to exchange, he typed in a number, he would get thirty six thousand yen at the 1.2 exchange rate. Duo nodded his head and told the man that he understood. The man gave him a wide smile, excited that a foreigner had taken the time to learn some of his language, he started to count out the money and coins for Duo. The exchange rate was good. He had gotten an extra sixty dollars out of it. 'Thank god,' Duo thought, 'I'm going to need every penny I can get.'

Soon all the students had exchanged their money. Treize instructed the students to grab their luggage and get on the bus that was parked outside the terminal entrance. It was surprisingly dark outside for only being six o'clock, but then again, Japan didn't practice daylight savings time so it would be dark early here. After getting the entire groups' luggage on the bus, some of the luggage was pulled on through the windows, all the students sat in the brightly lit cabin of the bus. "We are going to be heading off to the dormitory now. We are going to get your luggage to your rooms first, and then we will be eating dinner in the cafeteria on the second floor of the dorm. Everyone understand? Any questions?" The jet-lagged students murmured a chorus of ‘Understood’ and ‘No questions’. It may have been six in the evening in Japan, but for the students it was five in the morning on their internal clocks.

The bus took off from the airport, winding its way down brightly lit streets. Neon signs flashed from every direction. Cars, electronics, pachinko parlors, and twenty-four hour ramen shop signs threw colors onto the streets and the faces of the students on the bus.

"Jesus, I heard that Japan was the country of neon, but... look't it all!" Duo said turning to Trowa. Trowa was looking out of the window past Duo and nodded in agreement. Trowa was never much of a talker while Duo talked long and often, but no matter their differences they had worked out problems between them back at college. One night the two of them had gotten into a pretty nasty fight and finally sat down to talk everything out between them. Since that night, Duo knew that Trowa would always be there to back him up. He was a true friend, and Duo knew he was lucky to call him that. It took a while for Trowa to warm up to people, and even once he did, he was still a little reserved but when you got Trowa going, he was devilishly funny and scarily insightful.

Duo turned around in his seat to see Quatre, who was sitting with a girl with coppery brown hair that fell into soft curls who had sat next to him on the flight over. Duo thought her name was Katie, but he wasn't sure. "Q, we're gonna hit up one of those pachinko parlors, right? Win some big bucks?" They had all watched a video in class on pachinko, a gambling game where you get a bucket full of small metal balls and dump them into a machine and try to aim them to get them in a small hole. The more balls in the hole, the more balls you got and the amount of balls you had was figured into an amount of money you had won.

Quatre laughed as Duo rubbed his hands together with his devilish smile on his face. “You need more chances to hurtle balls towards small holes?" Trowa spoke up next to him.

Duo laughed loudly and smacked Trowa lightly on his arm with the back of his hand.

It took only 30 minutes to get to the college from the airport. They could only make it to far through the campus before the roads were too narrow for such a large vehicle to get through. They unloaded their things from the bus and walked a short distance to the dormitory. The dorm was small and catered to students who lived too far to commute, students who played sports, and international students. Howard Sensei had told his students that they would not be the only international students there. There would be, for a short period of time, other Americans who would stay for 2 or 3 months. There would also be Chinese and Korean students there working to pass the ikyuu proficiency test so they would have the possibility of getting jobs in Japan.

Walking into the dormitory, they all had to stop and put down their bags. The area where you walked in was a sunken down area called the genkan where you had to remove your shoes before you could walk any further. The wall to their right was shoe lockers where they would put their outdoor shoes in and would have indoor shoes waiting for them to put on. It was an intricate dance trying to toe off your shoes and step out of them and onto the wooden platform in front of the lockers. It was even more difficult with so many students trying to do it all at once. Everyone had noticed there were other people there waiting for the shoe dance to finish.

Howard Sensei had slipped into a green pair of guest slippers that looked like they were 4 sizes too small for him, but he managed to shuffle around in them rather gracefully. He greeted an older couple that Duo assumed were the dorm parents. They were there to regulate that students were safe, keep the dorms clean, and to make sure people who didn't live in the dorms couldn't wander in.

"Everyone, I want you too meet the Murakis," Howard Sensei announced. The students chorused a dozo yoroshiko out of respect for meeting them for the first time. "And these are other international students who are here to help you move you luggage into your rooms. Muraki-san is going to call out your name and give you a key to your room." The older Japanese man stepped forward with a list of names. Behind him, his wife held a handful of keys. "Shi-ka-be-ka, Hi-ra-di," Mr. Muraki said in a surprisingly deep voice. Hilde stepped forward to receive her key. One of the Chinese girls stepped forward to help her with the luggage. "Ba-ten, To-ro-wa." Trowa stepped forward, and exactly what happened with Hilde, he got his key and one of the Korean guys stepped forward to help him with his bags and show him his room. "Bu-ru-mu, Ka-se-ren.... Pi-su-ko-ra-fu-to, Mi-ri-a-do... Po, Sa-ri....Ma-ku-su-we-ru, Du-o... Wi-na, Ka-to-ra." One by one, the students stepped forward, grabbed their keys and walked with one of the other foreign students to find their room. Duo grabbed the handle of one of his suitcases while a Chinese student came to help him. He caught eyes with the guy and smiled. The Chinese student only nodded in return and grabbed Duo's other suitcase while he motioned for Duo to follow him. Duo studied him as he walked behind him. He was about five foot six or so, not taller than Duo. His hair was pulled back into a ponytail and he looked comfortable in a pair of baggy white pants, a blue tank top and a pair of Chinese slippers.

They came to Duo's room and the Chinese guy swung the door open. There were two closets on one side of the room and a desk built into the wall next to the window. There were bunk beds on the other side and another desk. The room wasn't very big, in fact when you opened the closet doors there was only a little more than a foot between the open door and the bunk bed. Duo noticed the bottom bed had sheets on it and an open book. He also realized that one of the desks had homework, books and other knickknacks on it. His silent helper noticed Duo looking the occupied desk. "We are sharing a room," he said in Japanese. "I am your roommate."

Duo's mouth made a small O shape. "Oh, well, I am Duo Maxwell. Pleased to meet you," Duo said in Japanese with a forty-five degree bow.

His roommate look pleased that his new American roommate could introduce himself properly. "It is nice to meet you," he responded. "I am Chang Wufei. Call me Wufei," he bowed to Duo.

"Pleased to meet you." Duo thought that the arrangement might not be so bad. Being forced to speak Japanese to his roommate everyday would help him; at least when he started to learn more Japanese. Right now he wasn't so sure he could get into a conversation more than his name, hometown, favorite foods, and other simple things like suggestions and some commands. "So, umm," he looked at his roommate who had sat down at his desk to pull something from one of the drawers. "Where is your hometown," he asked.

"I come from China. Canton, China"

"Oh. So you speak Cantonese," Duo asked him.

Wufei looked a little surprised that Duo knew the difference between Cantonese and Mandarin. "Yes, but I can speak Mandarin as well," he said going back to searching through his drawer.

"I see," he said while nodding his head. "Damnit," he let out in English. His roommate looked up at him sharply. "Uh, dinner," he said in Japanese hoping that would explain why he rushed out of the room. He was just walking out of his door when he saw Quatre coming down the hall.

"Just coming to get you. Everyone is in the genkan," he said as Duo walked up to him and he turned to walk back with Duo.

Howard Sensei saw the two boys round the corner. "Ah, good. All here then? Let's go get dinner." They all paraded up the stairs behind Howard Sensei to the cafeteria that was built onto the second floor. They pushed open the doors and smells, that Duo was sure he had never smelled before, assaulted his nose. There were five long tables that could seat fifteen people. Each table had a metal teapot sitting in the middle. There was a kitchen you could see through the serving areas that were cut into the wall. There were five busy lunch ladies moving through the kitchen, some cleaning and others cooking. The students lined up in front of the serving area.

"Good evening," one of the lunch ladies greeted them warmly in Japanese. She turned back to a huge rice maker, and started dishing rice onto plates. Another lunch lady hustled up next to her and started to put two thin strips of breaded pork and pour a brown sauce over top of the rice. There was a metal bin filled with spoons that they were instructed to take. Each student ended up with one plateful of whatever it was and one spoon. Duo and Quatre sat down next to each other and Trowa across from them.

"What do you suppose this is," Duo asked while giving the plate a little sniff.

"Dunno, but it doesn't smell that bad. Try it Duo," Quatre egged him on. Duo had become the unofficial taste tester of the group because he was known as the human garbage disposal. He would eat just about anything and in large amounts too. Well, anything but airplane food really.

He looked at his friends and at the other faces of the students who had joined them at their table. Everyone looked at him with expectant looks on their faces.

"Well?" Hilde said trying to hurry the process along.

Duo brought a spoonful of the rice and brown sauce up to his mouth. "Here goes nothing," he said as he tasted it. "Hey! 'S really goo'," he said around a mouthful of it. Everyone tasted his or hers too.

"Not bad," Trowa said nodding his head in agreement.

"So m'ch bett'r th'n airp'ne foo'," Duo said eating with almost indecent enthusiasm.

Howard Sensei came over to join his students and laughed at he looked at Duo's already half empty plate. "Enjoying the curry, are we?"

"So that's what this is," Hilde said from a couple seats down.

"Oh yes. Japanese curry is very popular. Can always find it at restaurants. Good thing to order when you don't know what all the other stuff is on the menu. That and ramen."

Duo had polished off his plate and looked longingly at it wishing for it to magically appear again. "Ya know, they will really love it if you ask them for seconds," Howard said to Duo.

"Yeah, but, I... uh.... don't really know how to ask."

"Okawari."

"Okawari?"

"Mm hmm."

"Got it," Duo said jumping up and walking back over to the kitchen. One of the lunch ladies saw him and smiled at his empty plate. "Okawari," Duo said in a bright voice. All the kitchen ladies laughed and his plate was taken and refilled. He thanked them and hurried back to his table where he eagerly dived into his second helping.

Many other students went back for second helpings because of how little of the abysmal airplane they had actually eaten. Soon everyone was rubbing their stomachs talking about how good the meal was, but how full they were.

"Before you head off, I want to tell you: I want you all to meet me in the lounge," he pointed to a door off the side of the cafeteria, "tomorrow after lunch. One o'clock, got it?" There was a chorus of yeses and slowly everyone started to get up to deposit their dishes into the sinks through a window that led to the kitchen.

"So what room are you guys in," Duo asked as he scraped some extra rice into a garbage can.

"Trowa and I are in the same room, 111. Where are you?"

"I'm with some Chinese guy named Wufei 109."

"How do you think that is going to work out," Quatre asked a little concerned.

"I don't know. He seems a little stuck up, looks like he could give me a run for my money in a fight, but I think it will be okay. Have to speak Japanese in the room all the time. Don't think he knows English. Eh, but then again, I'm not here to speak English, am I," Duo said thoughtfully. Trowa finished scraping off his plate and they started to walk back down to the first floor.

"Good night boys," Hilde called out to him as her, Sally, and the girl with copper curls, 'Cathy' Duo's mind supplied, walked upstairs.

"Good night ladies," Duo called out to them with a smile. "Don't have too much fun up their in the virgin vault!" He could hear their peals of laughter and the sounds of their footsteps getting softer.

"Sucks that the girls are under lock and key up there on the fourth floor. They have a glass door that you have to have a key to so you can get in, right?"

"That is what Howard Sensei said," Trowa responded taking the lead down the stairs.

"Well, ya wanna come meet my roomie or what?"

Quatre and Trowa looked at each other and then back to Duo. "Yeah sure," Quatre said.

"Ya know guys, this little silent communication thing is starting to freak me out," Duo said with a laugh. "One of you telepathic?"

"Not that I'm aware of," Trowa said with a small smile.

"Well common, let's go meet the roomie," Duo said as he swung the door to his room open. Wufei was sitting on his bed, propped up by a pillow behind his back, his knees bent so that his feet were flat on the bed and a book resting on his knees. There was also a small rectangular pair of reading glasses resting on his nose. He looked up over top of the reading glasses at Duo and his friends. "Wufei, these are my friends," Duo said in Japanese.

Wufei took off the glasses and tucked one of the earpieces into the front of his tank top so that they hung there vertically. He stood up to properly greet Duo's friends.

"Nice to meet you Wufei. My name is Quatre Winner," he said in Japanese, bowing to Wufei. Wufei bowed back.

"I am Trowa Barton. Nice to meet you," Trowa said in Japanese with a bow. Again, Wufei bowed.

Wufei gave a small smile to both of them and introduced himself.

"Trowa and I are in room 111," Quatre told Wufei. It was a little hard to get going on a conversation due to their limited skills. "Uh, Duo," Quatre spoke in English, "I want to get my stuff unpacked cause I want to go to bed. I'm exhausted. I'm sure you are too. We'll come get you for breakfast tomorrow morning?"

"Yeah, breakfast sounds good. You two crazy cats get some sleep. Talk to you tomorrow."

Trowa turned back to Wufei. "Oyasumi Wufei," he said goodnight to him.

"Oyasumi Wufei, Duo."

"Oyasumi," Wufei responded.

"Oyasumi you two," Duo said shutting the door behind them. Wufei climbed back into his bed and reopened his book. Duo turned to his suitcases and opened the one that had mostly clothes in it. Putting clothes on shelves he hung up shirts and pants on hangers that were already in the closet. Throwing his pajamas onto the top bunk, Duo put the empty suitcase on the top of the closet. Opening the other suitcase he fished out his toothbrush and face wash. Also grabbing his pajamas he made his way to the bathroom.

Opening the door, Milliardo was standing at the sink, his hair pulled back in a loose ponytail, brushing his teeth. There were four sinks and Duo took the one furthest from the blonde to start brushing his teeth. Spitting out his toothpaste he looked up and caught Milliardo looking at him through the mirror. Duo's eyebrows furrowed as he cupped his hands under the water to drink from them. Swishing the water around in his mouth, he noticed that Milliardo was still looking at him. Spitting out the water he turned to face him. "What," he said in an aggravated voice.

Keeping eye contact with him he replied coolly, "Nothing," and gracefully shrugged his shoulders turning to face himself in the mirror again. Duo stared at him for a moment longer and turned back to start washing his face. Rinsing the soap off, Duo grabbed the small towel he had brought with him and patted his face dry. Milliardo had spat out his mouthwash and turned to leave the bathroom. "Oyasumi," he said smoothly as he walked out. Duo said nothing.

Back in his room, dressed in his pajamas, Duo saw that Wufei had switched on a small lamp that clipped onto his bed. Duo figured that would be all he needed to keep reading. "Wufei, the light, uh...." he blanked on the word for 'to turn off'. Instead he made the universal sign, or at least what he sure as hell hoped was the universal sign, of turning off a light by pulling up and down on an invisible cord.

Wufei seemed to understand Duo's caveman hand signals. "Yes, that's fine," he said. "I will be fine with this light," he said pointing to his small lamp.

Duo smiled at him and thanked him as he turned off the overhead lights. Climbing into the top bunk he stretched out causing a few joints to pop. 'Thank god for a real bed,' he thought. He popped his head over the side of the bed to look at Wufei, his braid trailing over the side of the bed hanging in the air next to hi face. "Oyasumi Wufei," he said when Wufei looked up at him. Wufei responded in kind and Duo raised his head back up and snuggled his head into the pillow. Within minutes he was asleep.