Chapter Text
Aren tapped his fingers on the glass, pressed uncomfortably against a window of a small shuttle car. He'd just disembarked a very noisy flight from Osaka to Tokyo alongside kids from his college class, and was now sat cramped in this tiny bus with them, driving from the tarmac to the airport.
The main idea of this trip was simple; everyone was each assigned to do work experience somewhere in the city, and, in turn, would receive a grade for how well they performed. The professors were in charge of assigning the jobs, too, meaning nobody really knew what they would be doing for the next two weeks. The only thing that students were given was an address to their workplace, and that was all. They were expected to navigate their way to these jobs alone, and no teachers would be accompanying them, either.
Aren held onto his own scrap of paper tightly, containing the address. He'd already had a look at it, but it bared no clues at all as to what job he would be doing, so he hadn't wasted time staring at it dumbfoundedly like everyone else was.
All it did read was; 'Verbatim', written in thick black pen, alongside a random Tokyo address.
..Verbatim? What does that even mean?
He hadn't bothered to type it into google and try to find out exactly what it was, either. He glanced at it briefly once more, and then crumpled it into his pocket, deciding he'd worry about it later.
Hairo, on the other hand, had conducted his research the second they'd received service from stepping off the plane.
"And, I mean, it's like it was made for me, right? Of all the things it could've been.."
Hairo was Aren's classmate, a very.. cheery guy, who was always full of enthusiasm. He had been sat beside Aren during the flight, and was sitting next to him now, talking nonstop the entire time. Hairo had googled his own address to find that he, to his delight, would be working at a major gym in central Tokyo.
"Yeah. You were lucky." Aren said in response, looking absently out the window. He wasn't nearly as enthusiastic as Hairo about this whole thing, and didn't care where he worked so long as he could get it over with quickly. Well, sure, he ideally would like to wind up at a motorcycle dealers or something like that, but he didn't mind too much.
He didn't really want to sign up for this trip in the first place, but his friends has persuaded him to go. They'd promised him it would be fun, like a vacation or something. Yeah, right. They all had this idea that it was some grand trip to Tokyo, an escape to the city, with only a little teensy, tiny bit of work on the side.
..But Aren knew it wouldn't be like that. It would be 2 solid weeks of hard, tedious work, with only the weekends to goof off. However, in the end, he had given in and hesitantly agreed, though he wasn't sure if he was going to enjoy this.
The shuttle soon pulled up at a boarding gate and came to a stop. Almost immediately, everybody began clamoring to get off, shouting for their bags, whilst a poor teacher desperately yelled instructions over the noise. As Aren stood up to take his own bag from the overhead bin above his seat, him and Hairo were immediately bombarded by 6 or 7 classmates, begging them to lift their luggage down for them as well, considering they were the tallest and strongest in the class. Aren sighed, and they both began handing backpacks to a number of students before finally escaping the cramped bus at last.
They arrived at the conveyor belt and awaited to collect their larger suitcases. There were about 30 kids on this trip, which didn't sound like too many, but when they were all standing here, laughing, talking and drawing attention, it felt like a lot more. It was late in the school year, and the air was hot and sticky. Aren caught sight of his suitcase and dragged it off the belt quickly, wanting to be out of here as soon as possible.
"Hey, Kuboyasu!" Toritsuka, another boy from his college class, was stood ahead clutching his suitcase handle, waving at him frantically. Beside him stood his other friends; Saiko, a douchebag rich kid who talked too much, and Saiki, a quiet kid who barely talked at all. Hairo was also there, beckoning Aren towards them just as Toritsuka was.
"Dude, what took you so long?" Toritsuka asked, leaning against his case much like a child would. "It's so hot in here, I can't stand waiting around like this."
"Sorry, I was waiting for my bag to come round." He glanced over his shoulder, looking at his class. "Everyone's got their stuff now, what happens now? Are we leaving now, Hairo?"
"Uh, yeah, hold on-" Hairo zipped open his bag and brought out what looked like an itinerary sheet, going full class president mode. "The teachers are gonna sort us between 2 coaches soon, so listen out for your name."
Just then, Saiko snatched the sheet of paper out of his hands and glanced over it, tilting his head slightly.
"Hey!-"
"Coaches? As in, stuffy, loud buses with a million other kids? Count me out, Hairo, i'm hailing a cab."
"Don't be stupid, Saiko! They're only small buses, it says here- there's only 15 people in each one." Toritsuka was leaning over Saiko's shoulder now, prodding his finger against the paper and squinting at it. "Look, we're on the same one, too! Wanna sit with me?"
"Absolutely not." He scoffed in response, flicking Toritsuka's hand away. All five of them had decided to room together at the hotel the college had rented- well, only three had really decided, as Saiki was forced against his will and Saiko was the only one left without a group. Kuboyasu had actually suggested he joined their group to be polite, but was at first rejected, which pissed him off. He'd managed to get Saiko to agree eventually, only on the condition that Saiko does not have to cook or clean the dorm. This pissed Kuboyasu off even more, but he'd gritted his teeth and allowed it. That's how it normally was with Saiko and him.
"You're so mean, man." Toritsuka whined, pouting. He sighed melodramatically. "I wish Nendou was here- at least he's nice to me."
"That guy? I've seen him try and work at a job, and trust me, it's much better that he's not here." Kuboyasu chimed in, remembering the time he had to fill in for Nendou, another friend of his, when he caused chaos at a local convenience store. Nendou was nice enough and ultimately harmless, but he really was an idiot. "In fact, keep him miles away."
Suddenly, a teacher could be heard yelling again in the distance, and the class began making their way outside the airport. Two minibuses were lined up outside, and people were being split off as their names were called out. Hairo read over his sheet again and grabbed Kuboyasu by the arm.
"You're with me again! C'mon, let's line up now before all the seats get filled and we're forced to sit up front."
Soon enough, the bus departed, and Aren had a proper look at Tokyo for the first time. It didn't seem so different from Osaka, but it was exciting all the same. It looked so.. so big from his window, and he suddenly worried about trying to navigate his way through trying to find this mysterious place called Verbatim or whatever it was. The thought of using bus routes he didn't know or subway systems he didn't understand was a scary one, and apart from that, he had absolutely no idea what the actual work would be like. Sighing, he retrieved his phone from his pocket at last and pulled out the tatted slip of paper. Hairo saw him doing this and peered over his shoulder enthusiastically, seemingly more desperate to find out than Aren was.
He typed in the address slowly, and pressed search.
"Huh? Is that.. a bookshop?"
Aren nodded, reading meticulously through the information that came up. But said information was scarce, there was barely anything about this shop on the internet at all. Aren began to wonder how the school even managed to get him a job there.
"Well? What does it say?" Hairo prompted.
"Um..not much. I don't even think it has a website. But, from the pictures, it's some really old looking, gothic-y type thing, you know? I bet it's some really weird old guy who works there." He clicked the directions tab on Google maps, and typed in their hotel's address. Approx 30 minutes, with only one direct train from a station opposite the hotel. Seemed simple enough. "At least it's easy to get there."
Hairo frowned. "Sounds kinda boring."
"Hey, I didn't choose it!" He sighed again, turning his head away from Hairo to stare out the window. "Hopefully it'll go by fast."
He locked his phone and continued to gaze blankly through, watching the city go by. Maybe this trip wasn't such a good idea.