by Maggie

~Merry Christmas dear Corinne,

this is the last chapter of this calendar, but not the last for this story.😋 I hope you enjoy it^^ Have a wonderful Christmas and I hope you probably didn't knew the song above, I have treasured it till today, to show you 😊XD It really was a wonderful experience to do this calendar, but alone I would not have been able to fill all the chapters, so I am really greatful and happy that my two wonderful companions helped me with that! We did it together^^ Have a nice Christmas🥰💕❣~

Snowflakes above Tokyo

Part 3

Ai's POV

The big surprise turned out to be a karaoke night, as compensation. Nizzy knew how sad I was about the way things were going. But it was less sadness than frustration. I couldn't stand the idea that now we'd come so far, it was all for nothing.

I plopped down on the sofa, next to Nizzy, and reached for a handful of popcorn, which was placed in a bowl on the table in front of us.

My dreamy and, apparently, always good-humoured friend, put aside the DVD that covered the tablet, which was needed to select the songs.

The film I had been told to bring her, in the hope that we would take a detour into the life of Koyuki, the main character of Beck. Beck was my favourite movie and a small part of my brain was still screaming to see it now. After all, it would be the first time in Japan, in Japanese, and the first time I would understand everything, even without subtitles.

But that was not going to happen...

"I've got it, the settings are done, it wasn't easy, but now it's complete. We're ready to go," she grinned at me so happily that I couldn't help but smile too. Maybe it would be quite entertaining after all.

A while later there was a microphone in my hand and I turned it back and forth, it had been a while since I last held one.

Nizzy was already eagerly scrolling through the tablet, looking for a particular song that was a little harder for her to find on a Japanese device. Curiously, I peered over her shoulder, though this would not have been necessary, her choice was so obvious.

"Found it!", She gave me an enthusiastic look, then came the cue:

"They think that we're no one, we're nothing, not sorry..."

I joined in and so it became a duet.

Against my initial doubts, it turned out to be quite funny and Nizzy was pleased to see that her plan to get my mind off things had worked.

At 7 o'clock Lyn joined us. She was not in a good mood, we would probably find the reason for that in her office.

She greeted us briefly and then disappeared into the kitchen to start up the coffee machine. If she wanted coffee in the evening, even though she almost never drank it, it had to be something bigger that was bothering her.

I exchanged worried glances with Nizzy, who knew just as little as I did... The next moment Lyn joined us in the living room, cup in hand and looking very tired but also contrite. She didn't wait for anyone to ask what had happened, but started straight away.

"Oh God, I can't take it anymore.... It's so much harder and more exhausting here than at home.... And the language barrier! Really, I need an translator every time, for almost every single sentence, in English! Hardly anyone there actually knows the standards that are actually required," the brunette haired woman spoke up and sighed in annoyance.

I understood that this was a challenge, a burden and also an obstacle for her, but....

"Well..., I see what you mean, but.... how much Japanese do you speak? Just single phrases too, right?", I cut my remarks short when I felt her gaze on me, which said as much as, 'Are you serious? No, seriously?' and that's exactly what she then accused me for.

I realised that what I had said was not very tactful, but... the truth, wasn't it?

"There is absolutely no comparison. I had to endure years of English lessons at school. It's the world language, for fuck's sake! And here... sometimes I have the feeling that they don't even know it exists...! Or maybe they actually know it, but are too unsure to speak it, which makes my job more difficult. Or maybe they just don't want to talk to me, I don't know..." she continued and I exhaled deeply in distaste.

Of course, somehow I understood that it bothered her, but... I knew from my own experience that Japanese was practically considered three languages to learn. However, before I could remark on this, let alone take back my words or apologise, she continued.

"If you hadn't wanted to stay longer because of your concert, we would already have arrived at our next destination. Oh, dear, how I look forward to Paris, everything is half as exhausting there. But no, because you're so obsessed, we're still stuck here.... It's been cancelled, admit it, it's been two weeks already. The band, the guy, they're not going to turn everything upside down now because of one fan who doesn't get it.Just get over it and let's pack our things, you'll find a job in Paris for the two months, won't you? , she pointed out firmly .

I just pursed my lips in response. Of course I was aware that it wasn't going to take place... all that travelling, the planning of the time, the painstaking purchase of the tickets, it had all been for nothing. I had to blame the complications for Lyn, because I was so insistent on waiting. So surely... I was so confident that this was all just a prank, a test, a delay, I believed it, but the very man who had it all in his hands seemed to have vanished off the face of the earth since those very two weeks.... That sounded a bit exaggerated, what I meant was that he didn't comment on it, there was just silence.

My two flatmates looked at me expectantly. Nizzy certainly wasn't in a hurry to get out of here, she loved Japan, but Lyn....

"Give me some time, I'll think about it, for real this time, but I'm going out to do it...", I put in tentatively. I felt uncomfortable, wanting to go somewhere else to think. My thoughts circled around hot chocolate, before I left, my friends nodded at me and Lyn pulled me into a hug. She whispered softly in my ear:

"I'm sorry, I know how much this all means to you, I'm just so exhausted..."

------

Shortly after, I stepped out into the cold winter air of Tokyo for the renewed time that day. My destination was already in front of me, during lunch break, I had visited a coffee shop with Jane recently, where the hot chocolate tasted really wonderful.

On my way out, I googled it and was pleased to find that it was still open. With a light step, I set off. The place wasn't that far from here, I only had to take the train for three stations. At the stop there were only a few people and no one seemed to be waiting for the same line as me.

Only a minute before departure did someone hurry up. It was a man, wearing a large, heavy, grey woollen coat and a felt hat, also grey, under which individual strands of hair, again grey, were sticking out. I concluded: an old man, not particularly wealthy, with a strange sense of fashion, who seemed to have come straight out of the Austrian Alps.

I had become accustomed to such conclusions in my education; it was part of my job to know people, to guess their types and to create initial impressions. But I had no more time to observe this man, as I needed to enter the train.

To be continued...

Who could the man possibly be? XD