LOVE & ANIME

Chapter Three

Darren woke up in his hotel room the next morning after his first meeting with Natsuo to find a text message on his cell phone from him saying how he'd already booked him an appearance on a daytime Tokyo talk show called Today In Tokyo to promote his upcoming anime show that he said his animators were already working on. Darren was actually surprised Natsuo was able to get him booked on a show this fast since the ink was barely dry on the contract he had signed just the day before. But, then again, he was one of the richest and most famous men in Japan, so he figured he got pretty much whatever he wanted.

"Boy," Darren muttered to himself after he read the message, "the guy doesn't waste any time, does he?"

Natsuo also told him in the message that he had hired him a driver along with an interpreter who would be meeting him outside the hotel to take him to the show. Darren got out of bed to get ready to meet the driver and interpreter and go to the shower. As he was taking a shower, he thought how much his fortunes had changed so much in such a short amount of time. Never in his wildest dreams would he have imagined he would not only be in Japan but have a rich businessman produce a show based on one of his stories. Natsuo Tengan may have been using him as a publicity stunt, but, to be brutally honest, he didn't really care.

Darren finished getting ready and stepped out of his hotel room. He stepped into the spacious lobby when a strange Japanese man wearing a mask who looked to be around the same age as him walked up to him.

"Darren Roberts?" the man said to him.

"Yes, I'm Darren Roberts. Are you the interpreter Mr. Tengan sent?"

"Hai," the man replied with a bow. "I'm Toshi."

"Toshi?"

The man bowed again as he said, "Hai."

Darren, recalling his handshake snafu with Natsuo in his office the day before, bowed in return and said as politely and as cordially as he could, "Hello, Toshi. It's a pleasure to meet you."

"It's a pleasure to meet you," Toshi replied with another bow.

There was an awkward pause between them as Toshi seemed to be rather uncomfortable around him.

"Is the driver waiting outside?"

"Hai. Follow me."

Darren followed Toshi out of the hotel and followed him to where the driver was parked. The driver was standing outside this black limousine wearing a black tailored suit and tie. He quietly opened the backdoor of the limo as Darren and Toshi stepped in and sat in the backseat. The driver then closed the door and walked around the limo and got inside the front seat. He proceeded to drive while still saying nothing.

This was, of course, Darren's very first time riding in a limousine. He was about to ask Toshi if he had ever ridden in a limo before just to make small talk with him, but he was still acting like he was nervous around him so he refrained from doing so. The truth of the matter was, he was also nervous about appearing on a talk show for the very first time, especially on a Japanese talk show. He had watched a little TV before going to bed, and he found that Japanese TV shows were far less dramatic and chaotic than your typical American show. For instance, there was no shouting or cursing. Apparently Japanese TV viewers didn't enjoy drama nearly as much as the average American viewer. Which really didn't surprise Darren since Japanese people in general seemed to avoid drama in their daily interactions as well. He had yet to encounter a single impolite or boisterous person since he'd been in Japan which he found refreshing. Granted, he'd only been in the country a few days, but he noticed a certain harmony in the way the people acted and comported themselves whereas Americans seemed to not be as reserved in how they acted in public and towards one another, at least from his experience.