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1. Wake Up and Enjoy

After we got out bags together we took a rental car that my dad drove to our hotel that we'd be staying at through the next few weeks. Dad would be working during the day and while he was at his job installing and fixing machines I would be free during the day to do as I liked so long as I kept out of trouble and didn't get arrested or detained by the local police, again.

The hotel we stayed at was nothing really special, it had a pool and a small gym that mainly had aerobic exercise equipment. The rooms were clean and had a small sitting room that lead to a small room with two beds and a medium sized bathroom. It would be a nice enough place to stay at, it may not have been a 5-star place but we weren't exactly 5-star people anyway.

"Man..." I looked around the hotel as we went in and pulled my button up shirt up some more as a lot of humans stopped and stared at us when we came into the room, "I hate it when they stare at us like this, it's like we have giant neon signs above our heads or something."

My dad, always being the cheerful and happy sort didn't mind it all that much. He just pat me on the back and chuckled.

"Don't let 'em get to ya, pup, they just don't see a lot of Furs around. Don't pay 'em any mind and you'll be fine."

"Yeah easy for you to say but I prefer to blend into places and not be seen."

We just took our bags to the reception area and when the man that worked the desk started to ask my dad what he could do for him I looked around at some of the event fliers they had for the tourists in town. Seemed like there was going to be a concert this summer with some famous new singer and that before then she'd be signing autographs at a store not to far from our hotel. It also had fliers about sports events, soccer games, places to go for recreation like rock climbing, amusement parks, and all the typical junk you'd find around a place as big as Tokyo.

"Hey, squirt, ya comin' or what?"

I jerked my head up and saw that my dad had gotten us our keys and were checked in. We were on the 3rd floor so it wasn't that much of a trek to the elevator to get to our room. I was exhausted from the time change and decided to just lay down on the bed after I took off my shoes and got comfortable.

The bed was nice and soft and smelled as clean as they normally did and I was happy everything was nice and fresh. I pulled out the PDA Matt had gotten me from my suitcase and looked it over. I had no idea from technology but it did look high end and I knew it had wireless access so I could send Matt an email anywhere with a cell phone tower I'd guess. I turned on the thing and started to type up a quick email.

"Hey Matt, just got to the hotel and am laying down now. Tomorrow my dad starts to work and I hit the town, I'll be sure to find a something to get for ya. Until next time, take care and I'll send more of an email later. Good luck, Slick."

I pressed 'send' on the little device and then turned it off. I was so tired that within minutes I was fast asleep. It was fairly early in the afternoon here in Japan but it was still sometime in the early morning back on the East Coast or something. That meant that my body was used to going to sleep already so until I got set on the schedule of the island I'd be having a bit of jet lag for awhile.

My dad and I were able to get a short nap in and after we woke up it was getting close to 7 o'clock their time so we decided to go get something to eat. Thankfully while we weren't too sure on what was around the city we did find a small place that would cater to our tastes. It was just a small seafood place, but it served a good enough baked fish and vegetables. We weren't stared at when we were out in the open which I was glad for but still seeing so many humans and so few furs was a bit weird considering where I came from.

Dad and I talked over dinner, nothing really heavy. He asked what I'd be doing while he was working and if I'd go see an old friend I'd made here a few years ago and I said I would be seeing him as well as looking around the city and seeing some of the sites. It wasn't much but at least exploring the parks and areas would be something relaxing to do, plus they had all kinds of museums and such to see. It was a large city with lots to do so I was sure I could find something to keep me out of trouble.

As we sat and talked, we continued to eat our dinner. Soon enough we were done, our tab was paid and we were heading back to our room. My dad had to get up early the next day so he went and took a shower to relax and then went to sleep. I on the other hand read a little from one of my Sherlock Holmes books before I too succumbed to sleep.

When the morning came, my dad woke up earlier than me and was getting showered by the time I even started to stir. I heard the shower going and yawned as I saw that the clock read 6:48. I just groaned at that, it was too early for me to be up. I knew that once my dad left though I could catch another hour or so of sleep before I would get up and move about. In the meantime though, I decided to check my email to see if Matt had written me back.

Upon starting the device I opened my mail option and smiled as I saw that Matt had indeed written me back already. I guess being the son of a big business type person he was raised to be courteous and quick to respond to messages and things. The mail wasn't that long but it was still nice.

"Hey Zeke, hope you slept well and I'm glad to hear you made it there safe and sound. It's only been a day and already I'm bored without you around. I hung out with some of the guys and we caught a movie at the mall and then hung out awhile, but it just wasn't as much fun without you around for me. I talked to Jarrod earlier and he was glad you were ok too. It still amazes me that you two have gotten to be such good friends from all that happened between you two when you met. Well it's late here so I'm going to head on to bed. Have a nice trip and don't get into too much trouble while you're there. Sincerely, Matthew"

That really brought a smile to my face, and that wasn't something I normally did first thing in the morning. I powered the device down and sighed. I had the day free to do what I wanted and I figured once I got a bit more sleep I'd get something to eat and then head out to go see a friend of mine that I'd met here a few years ago that I kept in regular contact with. He was just a normal fox that I had met one day in one of the parks and since we were close in age and the only two Furs around we decided to hang out for awhile and get to know each other some. Turned out oddly enough that the guy was also gay and at first tried to flirt with me, but I quickly nipped that idea in the bud before he could get his hopes up any. Don't get me wrong, there's nothing wrong with foxes or anything, but the guy wasn't really my type. Not to mention that the whole "long distance" thing, didn't really appeal to me any.

My father emerged from the bathroom shortly after I had powered down the device and rolled over. He was quiet once he realized I'd gone back to sleep; he would be gone until 5 that evening which would give me plenty of time alone.

It was a few hours later when I woke back up and looked at the time. It was nearly 9 now so I decided to get up and shower. While getting clean didn't take that much time at all it was getting dry that was a hassle. They didn't have a fur dryer like they had back in the states just regular hair dryers and towels. That meant with thick fur like mine that even after I had been toweling off for over half an hour I was still a bit damp, add to the time I needed to brush all my fur down as well and it was well over 45 minutes before I was even ready to leave the room.

After I made my way down to the lobby I grabbed a bite to eat from the free breakfast they had there. It wasn't much, just a couple of muffins a breakfast pastry, some juice and a banana, but after that I was ready to hit the streets. I had my backpack with my camera and some of my supplies with me, a cash card to buy anything under 250 dollars, and my PDA to kill some time with, but I knew where I was going right now and I knew it wouldn't take me too long to get there with all the trains and things I could travel by.

My friend lived in a small suburban area barely 5 miles from where I was staying so it barely took me an hour to get there once I re-familiarized myself with the area and language again. It was a nice enough house, two stories, stone fenced in yard, a few small trees, and a nice soft lawn that looked well kept no matter what time of the year it was.

I pushed the button next to their gate which lead into the yard and waited to be let in. It was a Saturday morning so he should have been around but after a minute of hearing nothing I pushed the button again and started to get impatient after 5 minutes and no one had answered. I rolled my eyes and just jumped the fence, it wasn't that tall anyway and walked up to the door and knocked. I could see that there were some shoes by the door so someone had to be home. I looked around the house and saw a light on in my friend's room. I rolled my eyes again and sighed, he'd been up all night doing something with his computer I'm sure and was now likely sleeping bent over his desk.

Thankfully for me there was a tree next to his window and I was able to climb up it to find that the window was unlocked. Lucky for me but not so much for someone who actually wanted to get in that might have had less friendly motives. I took off my shoes and stuffed them into my backpack before I climbed in through the window to get in.

The room was pretty clean and tidy it had a single bed in one corner, a rug, a shelf full of books, figurines, comics, and some other things. It was a pretty standard room but the big thing that stuck out was the fox Fur asleep at his desk drooling slightly next to his keyboard. I guess he'd been working on something new again, but it was past 10 and he needed to wake up and I was just the guy to wake him.

"Ahem..." I cleared my throat and coughed before I took a deep breath and yelled, in English, "WAKE UP, JESSAN!"

"AAHHH!" The fox jumped from his sleep and stumbled down landing on his tail while I just leaned against his desk with my arms crossed and looking down at him. It was quite comical to see him fall like that and I couldn't help but look a bit smug at him.

"Have a nice sleep on your desk, Jess? Or were you just polishing it with your drool?"

"ZEKE?! What the hell are you doing here? How'd you get in?! WHEN, did you get into Japan!?" He was clutching his chest still startled and trying to catch his breath and I shrugged.

"I've been outside for 5 minutes ringing the bell to be let in and when no one answered I just jumped the fence and came in through your window. You know you really gotta start lockin' your windows before some crazy guy comes inta your room and rapes your sorry tail."

He snorted at me and let out a growling sigh, "Yeah... I'm not that lucky and sorry... I was up all night working on a poem to meet a guy..." He pinned his ears like he was embarrassed and I let out a long groan.

"AGAIN!? Dude why don't you just go meet the guy and talk to him like normal people and not some creepy stalker guy? I mean this is crazy and that coming from me is sayin' somethin', man." I shook my head sadly. Jessan had this thing where he'd send poems in the form of clues and riddles in order to judge rather a guy was a good choice for him or not and it always seemed to me to be kind of stupid, but then again I wasn't exactly the social sort so who was I to judge a person on how they met their potential boy or girlfriends.

"I know, Zeke-san, but this guy seems pretty cool and I don't want to jinx it by rushing him..." He got up and sat on the bed while I continued to lean against his desk.

"Fine..." I groaned out, "So what's this guy like, what's his name, what's he look like and yadda-yadda...?"

"Well... ya see he's human, and before you roll your eyes," it was too late for that as I was already rolling them and shaking my head, I knew this wouldn't end well. He saw that already but went on anyway.

"Anyway... his name is Tomaka, he's 16 years old, native Japanese male, he has shoulder length white hair, he's a bit thin but he just has a calm handsome look and I just can't stop thinking about him ever since I saw him."

"Yeah... and how many does this make that you've done this too now? I know there have been at least 3 before this."

"Well... he makes number 6 really, but no one's passed all the other things yet. But you never know maybe he'll be the first. Keep hope alive and all huh?"

I shook my head, he was always such a romantic and it was sometimes a bit annoying but at least he was honest and sincere about it all so I guess it balanced out. At least he wasn't the type to rush into things blindly and end up getting seriously hurt because of it.

We talked a bit after that and moved to the kitchen to get him something to eat. As he ate I read over his poems and riddles a bit. They said something about a rose and junk that I didn't really pay much attention to. It didn't really involve me any so I didn't really bother to pay much attention to it anyway. He asked about how I was doing and how long I was here for and I responded in kind. It was the basic catch up type conversation that you'd go through with anyone who you hadn't met in a long time.

After 'breakfast' was over for Jessan, he decided to take a shower and get his day started. I just hung around and messed with a poem I was trying to write about my past while I waited for him. I'd been thinking of writing a poem about my dark past before but it was just recently that I was getting inspired to do so. Besides I'd left my Holmes book at the hotel because I hadn't expected the fox to need to bathe after I got here.

After half an hour, and a short nap on my part, Jessan finally came downstairs dressed in his basic shorts and t-shirt ready for the day. I was reclining on the sofa when I heard him come down and started to get up and put my stuff back up.

"So is sleepin' beauty ready to go now or does he wanna eat an apple or somethin' first?"

Jess snorted and rolled his eyes at me, "Lay off, Zeke, I didn't know you'd be here so early so I hadn't planned on sleeping so late." He grabbed his stuff and we headed toward the front door to put on our shoes and head out.

"So what do you want to do today? Hit the parks, go to the book stores, hit an arcade? You know what the town has here, what'll we do?"

"Let's just hang out at the parks, man, I want to avoid any crowded places until I get back used to this city again."

He agreed to that and we headed out. The park wasn't that far from his house and after 10 minutes we were there and I was smiling, happy to smell some fresh park air. The trees were green and the sky was blue. People were walking about and kids were playing on the playgrounds laughing happily and enjoying the fine summer day.

Me and Jessan walked around some and told stories about what we'd done in the past year. He told me of his trip to Kyoto and I told him of my time with the fight club I'd helped start. Basically it was just two guys hanging out in the park. It was nothing special really, but after awhile he said he wanted to go to a music store nearby to get a CD. I was fine with it and after a short walk we were out of the park and heading towards a store that seemed a bit crowded.