Jamie stepped out of the train carriage as it pulled up to Okachimachi station. He was supposed to be meeting Kaoru at the movies at 12 and he was already running a little late.

He walked out of the station entrance, checking his phone for directions. It was a warm day with summer being just around the corner. One of those days where he almost wished he didn't have longer hair.

 

Kaoru shyly waved at him as he stepped through the doors of the cinema. Jamie felt a flutter in his chest. He thought Kaoru had been cute in her school uniform, but she was even cuter in casual clothes. She dressed in a style that he liked. Darker colours, high socks and a leg harness.

“Sorry I'm a little late he said", as he reached her. “I woke up late and then stopped to get a tea", he said as he held out the bottle of Jasmine tea he had in his hand. “Want a sip?”, he asked.

Kaoru chuckled. “no, I'm okay thanks”, she said with a smile. She looked down at his t-shirt. “Hey, I didn't know you liked Survive Said the Prophet", I didn't even realise anyone knew who they were in Australia.

Jamie smirked, “Yeah a friend of mine back home introduced me to them, do you like them?”.
“Yeah they're one of my favourites”, Kaoru excitedly replied.

They stood together in line at the ticket counter. “I hope you don't mind the movie I picked", Kaoru said. “It's a comedy".

Jamie smiled, “Sounds fine to me", he said. “I'm happy to see anything".

They ordered their tickets and popcorn and when the time came to pay, Kaoru told the worker at the counter that they'd be paying separately. Jamie put his hand over Kaoru's as she went to hand over the money.

“No, please let me".

He turned to the worker. “I’ll pay for all of it" he said as he handed over the money.

“Wow, what a gentleman!”, Kaoru said with a smile.

 

The found their seats in the cinema and Kaoru sat down.

“I'll be right back!”, Jamie said as he turned to leave.

“You okay?”, Kaoru asked.

“Yeah, just gotta run to the toilet", he replied, with a gentle smile, reassuring her.

As soon as Jamie had knew that he was out of Kaoru's line of sight he broke into a sprint, barging through the door of the theatre and back out into the lobby, alerting the ticket checker.

“Everything okay?” the ticket checker called out.

Jamie ran over to the guy, getting right up in his personal space. “Where's the toilet?”, he asked. “Just down there”, the checker replied, pointing down the hallway.

Jamie took off down the hallway. “Arigato gozaimasu!”, he screamed at the ticket checker as he ran.

Truth be told, Jamie had been holding in a shit since he got to the movies, but didn't want to put off Kaoru.

“Fucking tea!”, he though to himself as he kicked open the door of the toilet stall.

 

He returned to take his seat next to Kaoru just as the movie was starting.

“You took your time", Kaoru said chuckling.

“Yeah took me a while to find” it Jamie said, trying to play it cool.

Jamie didn't much care for the movie, he found it a bit cheesy and predictable, but Kaoru seemed to enjoy it. She laughed and smiled at the jokes. Even in the darkness of the cinema her smile still beamed.

“I’ve got no idea what she's doing hanging out with the likes of me", Jamie thought to himself.

 

The pair stood together outside the cinema after the movie had finished. “I really enjoyed it!”, Kaoru said, what did you think?”.

“It was alright", Jamie replied. He wasn’t going to lie to her.

“Soooo”, Kaoru continued awkwardly. “Would you like to go get something to eat?”.

“Sure!”, Jamie replied.

“Great!”, exclaimed Kaoru. “I know a good place not far from here”

 

---

 

Jamie held open the door of a small udon restaurant , allowing Kaoru to walk in before him.

“Wow, paying for the movie and holding the door open for me, aren't you chivalrous”, she said giggling as she walked inside.

Jamie had eaten udon back in Perth, but this was the first time he'd tried it in Japan, and it was considerably better. He swirled a piece of vegetable tempura around in the broth, before scooping it it into his mouth. When he was done with that he picked up the bowl with both hands and slurped up the rest of the broth.

Kaoru laughed, “You like it then?”, she asked.

“Oh yeah”, Jamie replied, this is way better than the stuff we have back home.

Kaoru rested her elbows on the table that the pair sat at, placing her chin in her hands. “Tell me about your home", she said. “Perth right?”.

Jamie nodded his head. “What do you want to know?”.

“What’s it like there? What are the people like? What did you do for fun? Did you like it there?”.

“Well", Jamie started, as he wiped his mouth. “I did like it there yeah. It's a lot smaller than Tokyo though, only about 2 million people or so. The people there are alright, I had some good friends there. As far as what I did for fun....”.

He paused, memories of going out and getting into fights with rival gangs and groups started to play in his head. He didn't think it was a good idea to mention that to Kaoru.

“You know, just hang out at the shops, go to the city, maybe get something to eat, not too different to here really".

“Karaoke?”, Kaoru asked.

“Nah, it's not really much of a thing there”. Jamie replied.

“What?!”, she exclaimed, “Oh I have to take you to a karaoke place!, it's so much fun!”.

“Eh, I'm not really much of a singer”, said Jamie.

“Well practice makes perfect”, she replied smiling.

“How's your brother and your mum liking it here?”, she asked.

“They both seem to be settling in well, Jamie said. Mum's happy with her job. There's really not much of an animation industry in Australia so she's pretty happy with how it is here".

“What about your dad? What’s his deal?”, she inquired.

“Oh he bailed when Louis and I were little. I can’t even remember him. It’s been just us and mum pretty much my whole life”, he replied.

Kaoru’s face dropped. “Oh, I’m sorry I asked, I shouldn’t pry like that. I didn’t mean to bring up any bad feelings”.

Jamie waved it off, “It’s all good! I don’t mind at all”.

The two finished up their meal and once again Jamie paid for both of them.

 

---

 

They set off for the train station, taking their time at a slow pace and enjoying each other’s company. Kaoru's hand kept brushing against Jamie's. It took him a while but he finally got the hint. He reached down and grabbed her hand folding his fingers in between hers. She looked up at him and smiled, causing him to feel the flutter in his chest again.

The pair reached Okachimachi station, scanned their cards and made their way down to the train platform. The station was pretty quiet, with only a couple of other people there.

“I had a really nice time today!” Kaoru said as they stood, waiting for their train.

“Yeah, me too", Jamie replied.

Kaoru turned to face him, she was quite a bit shorter than him with her head barely reaching his chin. She stood up on her tiptoes, bringing her lips up, seemingly trying to kiss Jamie on the cheek.

“Yep, there he is. That's the fucker right there!”, a familiar sounding voice yelled out, interrupting Jamie and Kaoru’s moment.

They both turned their heads to look in the direction that it came from. Standing maybe twenty metres down the platform was Mura, accompanied by group of 15 or so guys. Each of them was armed, some carrying bats, others large planks of wood or metal pipes.

“Mura? What's he doing here?”, Kaoru whispered. It took her a second to grasp the seriousness of the situation “Oh no! Is he here for revenge or something?”.

“Get behind me!”, Jamie said as he stepped in front of her. He yelled out to Mura. “What do you want ya prick? Come to get your ass kicked again?”.

Mura laughed as another guy about the same size as him, a real ugly looking bastard with a mo-hawk stepped out from behind him.

"This is the Gaijin that did you in the other day hey cousin?”, said the mo-hawked guy.

Mura bowed his head in shame. “Yeah that's him".

The guy with the mo-hawk tutted. “Really this guy?, you should be ashamed cousin! Oh well, we'll take care of him for ya!” he turned to the rest of the guys with him. “Alright boys, you know what to do!”.

The group let out a roar and began to charge at Jamie, brandishing their weapons. Kaoru started screaming as she panicked, not sure what to do.

Jamie stepped forward to meet the first guy who was swinging a bat. He slammed his foot into the guy's chest, sending him flying backwards and the bat clattering to the floor. He grabbed a hold of the next attacker, using his momentum against him and hip tossing him to the ground.

The rest of the attackers stopped in their tracks as they saw that Jamie was no joke and they stood around hesitantly, none of them seeming to be too keen to face him.

The sound of bakes screeching echoed throughout the station as the train appeared, pulling up to the platform.

Jamie screamed at Kaoru. “Quick get on the train now!”.

“No!, I can't just leave you!”, she yelled back.

“Do it now, while you can still get out of here!”.

Kaoru hesitated for a second then nodded. “I'll go get help!” she yelled as she sprinted for the train.

“What the fuck are you waiting for? Get him!” yelled the mo-hawked leader of the assailants.

Jamie picked the bat that he'd knocked from one of his attackers up off the ground.

“Alright ya cunts! Let's fucking do this!” He screamed as the attackers closed in on him.

The train began to pull away, and Kaoru watched as Jamie swung the bat around wildly before the train entered a tunnel and he disappeared from view.

Jamie sent the bat crashing into the heads, stomachs, ribs, anywhere he could of his opponents. Blood and spit flew through the air as he wrecked havoc on anyone daring to get close to him.

WHACK! A baseball bat hit Jamie in the kneecap, sending a sharp pain radiating up his leg. He dropped to one knee, but quickly regained his composure, standing back up.

“who the fuck did that?”, he shouted.

THWACK! A plank of wood broke over the back of his head, knocking him forwards. He started to feel dizzy, and his vision blurred a bit. A second later and he found himself lying on the ground, the bat rolling away from him.

The few onlookers that were there watched on in shock as the armed attackers surrounded Jamie and began to lay into him as he lay helpless on the floor.

“Quick! Someone call the cops!”, one of them yelled.

"Alright boys that's enough. We gotta get out of here!” he ordered the leader with the leader as he walked towards the group of attackers laying into Jamie. They parted as he reached them, allowing him to get up next to Jamie.

The barely conscious Aussie laid on the floor, staring up at the sky. The leader of the gang crouched down next to him, and got right up in his face.

“Let that be a lesson to you Gaijin!” he said.

With that, the group bailed. Quickly leaving the train station, leaving Jamie lying on the platform as he drifted in and out of consciousness.