September 29 2023

Aoi-san

Amsterdam has grown on me. After living here for almost three weeks, I have gradually come to love this place. Even with the loss of rice in my diet, which was one of the biggest issues I had to deal with, my body learned to gradually adapt to the new sensations and environment.

Today, my foster mother allowed me to come to the city alone since Lukas, 'Ria, Lars and Tess are busy with school and college stuff. Lukas will pick me up later in their car while I explore the city using the GPS navigation in my phone as a guide. I have the mind to do some vlog-like videos like what Tobe and Saika suggested the other day, but my foster siblings made it clear to voice their opposition on the matter since they said that pickpockets and thieves always target tourists such as myself.

I cannot fathom being warned of such a thing in a place like Tokyo or Chiba, but it is what it is. Every place has its little problems here and there.

Speaking of Tess, we were quite shaken last time and we ate a whole gallon of ice cream together at a cafe to help us forget. It's been a few days since then but I have yet to gather the courage to go back to her school. She seems perfectly fine already, which I am honestly amazed at. She told me that she carried around a Bible and cross after that incident. Maybe I should do that too and add in some Buddhist and Shinto sutras to ward off bad entities? I should go all out and dress as an Onmyouji practitioner. At least I have an idea of what to wear if we have one of those silly cosplay events again at school. Well, assuming I fail to vote against it in the Student Council… Votes need to have at least 70% for decisions to pass but the school still has the final say. I've been reading my father's college books about law and governance and it's given me a few ideas.

After spacing out for a few minutes deep in thought, I get up from the park bench and randomly walk around. The sun feels nice against my skin and I smell the salty scent of the sea which is carried by the wind. The five of us might go to the beach next week and the last time I visited one was back in middle school when I swam two kilometres because l was bored and had no one to talk to. I walk past people jogging and walking their dogs - it is still seven in the morning after all. Around another hour until the streets and roads start to get busy and congested, well in this part of the city.

The hotels in the area are packed full of tourists carrying flags and wearing the same coloured shirts. There are lots of them but the vast bulk comprises Americans and Chinese. Both are extremely loud and a bit obnoxious and earn annoyed glances from the citizens. The shopkeepers don't seem to mind the tourists and I noticed that they cater to the latter and prioritize them because they have more money and buy in larger quantities compared to the former. I see a group of fellow Japanese tourists but they are smaller. From their accent, I think they are from the prefectures Southwest of Kyoto.

Then, I reach the seaport and see all manners of ships go by. I start thinking - what if my father's flagship which is also named after me passes through? That would certainly be an amusing thought. Perhaps I should take a picture and frame it beside my bed at home.

I take a few photos of the sea and the surroundings to send to my mother when suddenly a police officer approaches when I sit on the seawall and starts swearing at me - saying very unpleasant things. I don't understand why he is being loud, aggressive and rude so early in the morning. Perhaps he is constipated? If so then he should add more fruits and vegetables to his diet. And I don't even know what "chink" means, it might be a Dutch or French word that I'm not familiar with. I'm still far from mastering the language after all and sometimes I insert English words when I don't know the specific Dutch word that I'm looking for. Quite a few people are sitting on the seawall but he ignores them and focuses on me instead and no one appears to be giving us even a sliver of attention. It's like he has tunnel vision or something.

I'm not that upset - I've been called worse back in middle school and by a certain Ice Queen. What I am pissed about is that this happened in a perfectly pleasant morning and it occurred unprovoked and without warning. To avoid a diplomatic incident that might enflame the news stations back at home, I decide to shrug and walk away…

But not before saying a few words to him.

"Okay jeez, no need to be so rude…"

The police officer's eyes go wide and his pink face visibly pales as his jaw drops. A few people around instantly snapped their heads towards us when they heard me.

I don't wait to see their reaction and I turn around and walk away, my day ruined beyond repair.

"What an asshole! God, just thinking about it makes me fume!" The girl on the other end of the call huffs angrily and starts swearing in broken Latin. "You should have kicked him in the balls!"

I shake my head and lean on the bench on the sidewalk. "And risk getting deported, shot or slammed to the ground with excessive and unnecessary force? I'd rather not. I'm happy with my pearly white teeth thank you very much."

From the news I see at home, Western police officers are not as patient and calm as Japanese ones. They are disturbingly trigger-happy too. I'd best steer clear from them from now on.

"Do you remember his face or see a nameplate?"

"No, and I didn't bother to check."

"Well, then you should have! If I was there I'd film and post it on the internet!"

Woah… She's pretty mad… I didn't expect Tess to get ballistic over this… I'll have to remember not to trigger her in some way in the future.

I decide to change the subject before she goes full nuclear and I see a mushroom cloud in the distance. She says that she is on her lunch break and called to check in on me and what I'm doing.

"Sorry that I couldn't be there - I'm sure that something as unpleasant as that wouldn't have happened." Her tone is softer now but I can still hear some sharpness in her voice.

"It's fine, don't worry about it. I'm over it now, well…mostly. But that's not important." I pause and quickly add before her anger gauge refills again. "So…about tomorrow…"

That seems to catch her attention which makes me sigh with relief. "Don't worry about it, I've got it all covered! I'll see you later if I'm not too busy Hachiman! Bye!"

"Goodbye." The call ends and I sigh, lazily lowering myself on the bench and looking up the cloudy sky. I'm not sure what to do, it's not even noon yet and I'm bored. I guess I am still not suited to things like exploring and doing the last time that I did something like this back at home was when Yui and I went to that convention.

I look at my smart watch - we won the same pair and that four-day trip to Kyoto too. I'm lucky to have Yui around but I'm happy that we won.

But I'm too lucky.

I'm still undecided about it. The thought of spending four days with her in Kyoto sounds pleasant, but also a tad bit too much for us. I love her of course, she's my friend. But even I have reservations about doing this kind of thing, especially if it's a girl.

"Hm… Maybe there's an arcade place here…" I sit up with a new energy in my body. "My platinum member infinite arcade credit card may not work here, but it's better than nothing." To my delight, I found one in the area after checking my phone. It appears to be on the second floor of a mall that I have never stepped foot in.

With a new goal in mind, I make my way to the mall to test out my luck in real life instead in my shitty gacha games. I have horrendous luck in the latter by the way.

My God, this place is pathetic.

It's so dirty, it smells, the chairs are covered in tape, the bins are filled with rubbish and the staff are rude. And it's hot and gross too, I have to take off my leather jacket for this.

The only redeeming factor is that it's not crowded, which is nice. After purchasing a refillable arcade card, I check out and survey the place to choose the appropriate prey.

"Ugh… I expected better…" I kick an empty beer can to the side after taking a look at a Tekken arcade game which I walked away from when I realized that the joystick and buttons are broken. This place is a depressing cesspit, I regret walking inside this accursed establishment. This is what happens when you expect and hope too much - your expectations and hopes will inevitably be shattered into a million pieces. Better to keep them low or none at all at the start. I walk for a few more minutes and see a cute little girl all by herself in a corner on a crane game.

I watch her, in a non-creepy way, of course, a small distance away while pretending to be interested in a Soul Calibur arcade game.

"..." She appears to be struggling to get a pink furry stuffed animal. The claw looks weak and flimsy and is barely holding onto the toy. There was a moment when it had the toy in its hands but released it a breath away from the drop area. The little girl checks her pockets and her shoulders droop low. The hollow space where my heart used to be throbs in pain at the sight.

[Beep beep boop]

[Little girl spotted]

My Onii-chan instincts are acting up! Hng-!

I must-!

Help!

This little girl!

Imotou, no matter where they are from, must be protected, cherished and spoiled!

I get up and walk towards her, in a non-creepy way, of course, to help her with the crane game. She hears my footsteps and politely gives me some space to use the controls, but still goes on her tiptoes and presses her face against the glass. Hehehe, how adorable.

She mumbles something after I swipe my card and start to move the crane around.

"Little lady?" She raises her head to me when I call her attention. Her hair is a shiny light blue and styled in a boyish manner and her face had a lot of freckles as well. But what slightly caught me off guard were her crimson eyes which caused a lump to temporarily form in my throat.

"Which one do you want?" I ask in English since I'm not sure if she is Dutch.

She looks at me strangely - it appears that she cannot understand me. So I try again but with hand symbols pointing and gesturing at the crane game. The little girl blinks a few times seemingly not understanding me, but then points at the stuffed toy that she almost got earlier.

I nod and skillfully grab the stuffed toy by channelling my cringe chunni powers into the machine and significantly improving it. The little girl's eyes go wide when the claw lifts the toy without fail moves it over the drop hole and then releases and drops it. She smiles widely, showing a few missing teeth and claps happily. Fufufu! My crane game luck is still at the top of its game!

She exclaims happily in her native language as I kneel and get the toy through the plastic cover. After making sure that it's clean, which thankfully was compared to the rest of this place, I hand it over to her.

"Here you go." She stares at me surprised that I am giving it to her and then hugs the toy tight to her chest.

The little girl said something, perhaps her thanks and after hugging my leg and asking for a high five, and of course, I patted her head, in a non-creepy way of course, and she thanked me again and ran off deeper into the arcade. Uwah… That was adorable, I'm starting to miss the little ones at the neighbourhood daycare back home. I'll have to find some time to volunteer again when I get back… I'm glad that she didn't kiss me on the cheek like what Rumi-chan did.

Not ten minutes have passed while I was watching two guys playing the dance step machine thing, I have no clue what they are called but Tobe KILLS that thing, when I feel a light tug on my shirt from behind.

"?" I turn and look down to see the cute little girl with the blue hair and red eyes from before again and the toy was in her left armpit. "Oh, hello there little lady. I didn't expect to see you again so soon." I squat to her level so she won't strain her neck too much.

She smiles and wordlessly takes my hand and starts leading me somewhere. Her cute little smile fired an Anti-Male Noble Phantasm straight at my hollow heart and I had no choice but to follow without any resistance. What is happening? Where is this sussy cute loli suspiciously taking me? Am I about to get mugged? Am I going to get arrested? Is Chris Hensen waiting for me in a room to surround me with police officers and camera crews? Is this some sort of prank? I hate pranks, especially those "It's just a prank bro!" people on YouTube. They should crawl into a hole and become an earthworm.

Fortunately, she just led me to another crane game and Chris Hensen was NOT inside the glass, this time the prizes were cute bunny rabbits of different colours.

"I see. So you want my help to get them." The little girl nods happily and waves at someone behind her. Several kids of her age walk over to us with wide and expectant eyes. I couldn't help but laugh wryly at the sight. They appear to forget that the crane game needs money to be played but who cares about that trivial thing? Seeing their smiles when I give them their toys will be worth it in the end.

Who would have thought that my unparalleled skill and luck in crane games would come in handy for a situation like this?

I guess I'll be staying here in the arcade for a while.

Hm…

I'm being followed…

Using the reflection of the glass in front of me, I see two shady guys lingering and looking in my direction and around them suspiciously. They seem to be avoiding certain corners in the arcade where CCTV cameras are installed on the second floor. I first noticed them when they followed me after I played a Terminator video game and decided to check out upstairs. This area has fewer people and working machines but is surprisingly a lot cooler and cleaner than the ground floor.

And it seems that they have a third friend hanging around the stairs. So that makes three guys, for now.

Looks like I am in a pinch.

Or perhaps I am being paranoid as usual. But I would rather not count on it. I planned to call Tess but it appears that the building blocks out any telecommunication signals from entering and leaving.

Hm… What to do, what to do… Perhaps it is finally time to use my STAND POWAH, [108 LONER SKILLS] and unleash it at one percent of my true power?

I take a moment to look around with my peripheral vision to not spook my gangstalkers. I'm still pretending to play the racing game in front of me while I keep an eye on them.

I see movement to my right - it appears to be a lady coming towards me. To my absolute surprise, she sits next to me and starts the racing game. She presses a button after swiping her card and then a notice pops up on my screen.

{PLAYER ONE IS REQUESTING TO RACE WITH YOU}

{ACCEPT} {DECLINE}

"..." The girl is wearing a beret hat but that fails to hide her light blue shoulder-length hair and pale complexion. Her leather boots, ripped jeans, denim jacket and white shirt remind me of those models that I see in commercials and female action actresses. And I've got to admit, she looks badass with those aviator shades on.

I say nothing and wait for her.

"…"

"..."

"…"

"Accept." Her words were quiet and cold, but despite that, I do hear her over the loud game sound effects and music.

I accept her challenge and she starts choosing a map.

"You are being followed." Her Dutch is thick with a foreign accent which I do not recognize.

"I know…" I quietly reply.

She takes a moment later to reply. I think it's because she didn't expect me to reply in the same language. "How many?"

"Three."

"Four: there is another to my far right."

"Hm…" Our voices were quiet as she took her time to choose the map that we were going to play in, a full sixty seconds that felt like hours as we talked in low voices.

"How do I know I can trust you?" I ask as the timer runs out and the map is based on a fictional race track that takes place in Arkhangelsk, I have no idea where that is.

"You don't have to, but I would if I were you." Our screen transitions and how we're choosing our vehicles. I don't know much about cars but I pick the one that has the highest max speed albeit below average acceleration.

"Hmph."

Using the reflection on my watch, I can see them making their move. The two individuals whisper amongst themselves, look around and then start walking towards us. Their faces were covered with masks so all we could see were their eyes.

The girl to my right speaks, her voice is as calm and cold as ever. "Hey-"

"I know." I nod without looking at her.

"Can you handle yourself in a fight? You can run away." She asks as the countdown to the race starts. Our engines were roaring and ready as if they were a pair of danger beasts. I don't reply but give her the slightest nod that I can manage without directly turning to face her. The video game announces the last few seconds before the race starts and every second feels like a whole day as we wait for it to inevitably arrive at zero. On the dark part of our screen, we can see our stalkers closing in on us like a pair of sharks. My hands are cold and my heart is beating at an incredible pace for what is about to happen.

Five seconds before the race begins.

Four

Three

Two

One

Zero

Using the hard plastic foot padding of the seat, I lurch to my left and see my assailant right behind me. A small knife glints in his left hand just as it is being pulled from the inside of his jacket. His eyes are wide and startled, it looks like he didn't expect me to do this. Adrenaline was in my veins and it was like I was seeing things in slow motion. I jump and use my jacket to cover his entire head and obscure his vision smacking him on the ear to confuse and disupt his sense of balance. He starts moving wildly and I can hear his muffled grunting. Going behind him, I put him in a hold kick his legs from under him and use our combined mass to tilt and slam his head on the floor. His left hand that's carrying the small knife goes limp and releases the weapon.

The guy that's waiting beside the stairs starts running towards us with a knife drawn. I hoped that he would run away but it looks like that didn't happen. I go back to my seat, grab the vodka bottle that was left behind there and throw it at my assailant. He raised his arms just in time, but they were bare, unlike his friend who wore a jacket. The bottle shatters and shreds his skin, he gives out a yell of pain and accidentally releases the knife and retreats a few steps. He had no time to raise his hand for protection when I ran towards him and used my momentum to kick him with my two feet and all my might straight on the centre of his chest. He goes flying for a full two meters and slams against the glass of an arcade game, his whole body inside with only his legs sticking out. The destruction of the machine caused a shrill alarm to go off loud enough to be heard downstairs I wager.

I had no time to catch my breath when I remembered the girl beside me. Shit, I completely forgot about her!

I quickly look behind me…

And see two young men lying on the floor.

The girl was sitting cross-legged with her elbow resting on her knee and leaning forward. Her glossy lips with a deep shade of red lipstick applied to them were formed into a small smirk. And I saw myself in the reflection of her aviator shades.

How…? And so quickly too-!

"Good. Very good." She says in English and I recognize that accent, she must be from Eastern Europe given how pale she looks.

"Thank you…" I reply breathlessly as I sit down on a foldable chair near her that I was originally going to use as my weapon. Glad it didn't come to that otherwise this place would have turned into a warzone.

The smirk turns into a smile and I'm pretty sure that I may have blushed. "Oh! English? You know English too?"

"A little…" I say and instinctively switch to Dutch. "And Dutch."

She gestures to the guy on the ground beside my seat at the racing arcade game. "Check his pulse - you might have killed the poor bloke."

With shaky hands, I quickly scramble towards the guy and sigh with relief when I confirm that he is breathing and alive. From the corner of my eye, I see the arcade staff and security make their way towards us while looking at the mess I made with wide eyes.

Well, so much for avoiding a nasty incident…

Once the police arrived and started assessing the situation, it was our turn to explain what happened and as we were, they checked the CCTV cameras to verify our claims. I winced when they had to call their first aid team because the guy that I knocked out wasn't waking up yet. It also appears that this area of the city is high in crime and hooligans which primarily target tourists and foreigners.

Aoi-san, I'll just call her that for now, is as calm and composed as ever. While I was a stuttering and nervous wreck to the Dutch police, she treated it like nothing to get worked up about and also spoke for me for a bit. The police let me go when I showed them my passport but took a little longer to talk to Aoi-san. They asked her if she would like to press charges which means she is either a citizen or has a dual citizenship thing. I don't know about the judicial laws of this land so everything they spoke went through my head. She used some pretty high-level Dutch words that made me scratch my head in bafflement. Speaking of passports, I can pretty much go to any EU country. Tess and Lars even suggested that we take a land trip to their grandfather's homeland of Italy that passes through France or take the longer route through Germany and Austria. But that's too long, I only have less than two weeks left here before my father and I head back home to Japan.

"Are you alright?" She asks in Dutch as we sit on a bench, waiting for the police and arcade management to finish whatever they're doing. I know I've said this a few times already but she looks cool and badass. There's an air around her which exudes coolness which I can't help but admire with childlike wonder.

"Yes, thank you."

"You handled that well." A small grin forms on her lips. "Judo?"

"Ah…yes. I know a little…" I nod quietly. An awkward silence enveloped is before I realized that she was patiently waiting for me to continue. Her watch makes a sound, she glances at it and grimaces lightly. I see my own reflection in her aviator shades when she looks back at me.

"Sorry, I'm needed somewhere else. Don't worry about me, I'm free to go." Aoi-san stands up and straightens her jeans and denim jacket.

"O-Oh…" I couldn't help but feel disappointed - she seems like a really interesting person. I'd be lying if I said that I didn't want to get to know her more. This is definitely the first time I felt like this to someone I just met.

Aoi-san gives me a goodbye salute, her lips applied with blood-red lipstick, which is the same colour as her beret hat, turning into a small smirk. "Stay out of trouble now. Bye-bye and safe travels." And like a fleeting breeze in the wind without waiting for my reply, she turns around and disappears into the crowd, leaving the lingering scent of her perfume beside me. I wanted to call out to her but the words got stuck in my throat before I could utter a single word. I don't remember how long I was gazing in the direction where she walked off but I was released from my trance at the vibration and sound of my watch. It looks like Mrs. Kathy and Tess are coming to pick me up right now and I have a feeling that I'm about to get chewed out by the latter…

Around half an hour later, Tess arrives sweating heavily her hair dishevelled and looking very upset. After checking if I was hurt in some way, she listened to the police officers and also to my account as we informed her of what happened.

"Thank goodness you weren't hurt…" She sighs with relief and sits on the bench next to me. "Have you told your parents yet?"

I shake my head. "Later when I get home."

"The police said that there was a young lady involved?"

"Oh, yeah. She…" My words trail off as I stop dead in my tracks. Tess tilts her head slightly to the side at my reaction.

"Hm? What is it?"

"I…forgot to ask her name. She showed some documents and her passport to the police and they let her go." I say, feeling so stupid that such a thing passed from my mind.

"Oh, a shame then." Tess and I talked for a little bit more when I remembered something that stood out about Aoi-san. A thing that made her look cool and badass to me.

"Tess?"

"Yeah?"

"Do you know a place where I can buy a beret hat, aviator shades, black leather boots and a denim jacket? Price isn't a problem."

Hello it's me Ivanov again back with another chapter.

September 2023 marks the sixth year anniversary of this fanfic and thanks for sticking with me since the beginning, OG followers you know who you are! Looking through the past chapters - 8man has grown so differently and he has mental issues that he's dealing with as he tries figuring out his place in the world as well as his relationships with the people he loves. And I realized that my writing style has also drastically changed since writing this all the way back in 2017.

It is with great regret that I still haven't finished my three trial manuscripts and an AU chapter ending, the latter being a similar idea and plot to my 8man x Yuuko fanfic. Along with my Blue Archive, FGO and Azur lane stories. I'll try to find time to complete them before the year ends hopefully.

Oh and if any of you play gacha games, here's my User ID if you want to be friends

FGO: 776 012 704

Genshin Impact: 808288459

Azur Lane: 339285974

Yeah, I think I've said all that I needed to say. I'll see you lot next time! And thank you for reading!