The Tutor

Chapter 21: Arriving

Nick reflected that everything about getting to their destination in Shikoku was exponentially easier because he was traveling with Sumire; even though it was one of the four major islands of Japan, it was definitely smaller and "off the beaten path." The signage was only in Japanese, they didn't mess around with putting the English underneath, like in Tokyo or its environs. And as much as he stuck out in Tokyo, there were at least other foreigners there, not to mention celebrities and famous people. The farther they got from the capital of Japan, the more Nick felt like an exotic bug of some sort.

They had taken the Shinkansen, or bullet train, from Tokyo to Hiroshima, a trip which Nick had enjoyed immensely. They'd bought the pretty and delicious box lunches and eaten them while savoring the view that was flashing by out their window on the late summer day. Then, with a minimum of fuss, Sumire had gotten them to the ferry station where they'd catch the boat that would carry them across the Setonaikai, or Seto Inland Sea, that joined the island of Honshu to the smaller island of Shikoku. By this point in their trip, there were nearly no foreigners anywhere, and only Japanese language surrounded them, Nick noticed.

"What's wrong?" Sumire asked as she gathered their tickets and they headed toward the dock where they'd board the ferry.

"Hm? Nothing, nothing," he reassured her. "I'm just noticing that you seem less shy here, that's all."

"I'm not really shy," she replied, "I'm just what you'd call reserved, maybe? But I can't be when I have to be your voice, right? When I have to get us where we have to be?"

"But you don't, you know?"

"What do you mean?" They sat on a shady bench while they waited to board the ferry. "How would we have done all this? You couldn't do it, right?"

"No, I couldn't," Nick agreed. "But you were hired just to be my dialogue coach, and that's all. The studio hired a translator for me, some dude named Burns. He's supposed to be doing all this other stuff, for both of us."

Sumire looked around. "Well, where is he?"

Nick grinned. "I told the studio we didn't need him until we got to the set," he admitted.

"Why?"

Nick shrugged. "I thought it would be more fun not to have some old fart with us until we had to, you know?" He poked her arm. "And I was right, wasn't I? Wasn't it better not to have a stranger with us in Tokyo, and on the train today, and now for this boat ride and everything?"

Sumire nodded. "How do you know he's 'an old fart'?" she asked. "Have you met him?"

Nick shook his head. "I know he's a guy, and I just assumed," he said with another shrug.

"I just think it's so so cool to listen to you speak Japanese to everyone, you know?" he told Sumire, poking her arm again. "It's almost like you're a different person." He thought, but didn't say, that it was very sexy to listen to her speak Japanese and deal with people and issues in another language. He didn't think Sumire would want to hear that he, Nick, thought that anything about her was "sexy."

The ferry began loading, and they boarded, and again, Nick was stared at by the Japanese locals, not because he was recognized as a celebrity, but simply because he was so tall, so foreign, such a gaijin, that there was no way he could blend.

Sumire smiled as they stood at the bow to enjoy the breeze and the view. Hiroshima was colorful and noisy behind them, the Setonaikai was dark blue all around them, and Shikoku was dark green and mountainous in front of them.

"What are you smiling about?" Nick asked as the ferry put out from the dock and burbled out into the water.

"It's just nice not to be the most foreign looking person for once," she told him. "Usually that's me, and usually I get stared at, but as long as you're around, I'm going to look relatively normal, you know? So thanks."