~With Aleki~

When we finally arrived at the McDonald's, we got out, but I opened the door for Hana, knowing she would like that very much.

Hana: Arigatomasu. (Thank you.)

Me: 問題ない。 (No problem.)

As we walked up, I kept opening the door for her as she seemed very happy that I was treating her like a princess, considering that I learned all of that from a very young age.

Me: それで、何を食べたいですか？ (So, what do you wanna eat?)

Hana: ビッグマックとフライドポテトかな。あなたはどうですか？ (Maybe a Big Mac with some fries. What about you?)

Me: 実は私も同じことを考えていました。 (I was actually thinking the same thing.)

Hana: ああ。変更できますよ。 (Oh. I can change it.)

Me: いいえ、いいえ。大丈夫です。注文はそのままにしておいてください。 (No no no. It's okay. You can keep your order.)

Luckily, the line wasn't long, so we got in line and ordered the BMs with fries, along with a small drink for both of us.

Cashier: 6,000円でお願いします。 (6,000 yen, please.)

Hana and I paid the cashier 3,000 yen each and as we waited for our meals and drinks, we got to talking.

Me: それで、あなたたちのストーリーは何ですか？もう少しお互いを知るために。 (So, what's your story? Just to get to know each other a bit more.)

Hana: ご存知の通り、木村花さん、19歳、母の後を継ぐ二代目レスラーです。あなたのようなアノアイ・ファミリーの一員にお会いできて光栄です。 (As you know, Hana Kimura, 19 years old, second generation wrestler, after my mom, and, you know, it's just an honor to meet an Anoa'i family member like yourself.)

Me: ああ、ありがとう。皆さんは私のことをすでにご存知でしょう、アレク・ハントとして。でも私はアレク・シカ・アガトゥプ・アノアイです。私は4代目で、サモア人の祖先の家系に生まれました。私の父シカはワイルド・サモア人の半分です。 (Oh, thank you. Well, you already know me, as Alek Hunt, but I'm Aleki Sika Agatupu Anoa'i, I'm fourth generation, came from a line of Samoan ancestors, from Sika, my dad, one half of the Wild Samoans.)

Hana: おお。 (Wow.)

Me: 私のことを アレキと呼んでください。あるいは アレクと呼んでください。 (You can call me Aleki, or Alek if you prefer.)

Hana: それはありがたい。待って、今気づいたんだけど、君は僕の前でも、あるいはさっきクリス、ユカリ、カオリの前でも悪態をついていないよね。 (I appreciate that. Wait, I just realized something, you're not cursing around me, or when you were around Kris, Yukari, and Kaori earlier.)

Me: 男性が女性の前で悪態をつくのが嫌いだからです。できるだけ悪態をつかないようにしています。敬意を表して、無知な嫌な奴になろうとしているわけではないので。 (That's because I hate it when guys are cursing around women. I try to keep it down as much as possible, just out of respect and not trying to be an ignorant a-hole, you know?)

Hana: いいですね。アレキ君、私たちはきっとうまくやっていけると思います。 (I like that. You know, Aleki-kun? I think we're gonna get along just fine.)

Me: そうですね。私もそう思います。 (Yeah. I think so too.)

Our food arrived and when we were given our cups, I got a caffeine free Diet Coke, Hana got a sprite, and we just sat back down.

As we were about to eat, we put our hands together...

Hana/Me: Itsadakimasu. (Thank you for the food.)

Hana and I started to eat, but Hana looked like she was in a bliss and just happy to eat something.

Hana: 長い間ハンバーガーを食べていなかったので、今夜だけはごまかしてもいいかなと思っています。 (I never got to eat a burger for a good long time, so I think it's good to cheat, just for tonight.)

Me: ああ、もちろんです。お母さんはレスラーだったとおっしゃっていましたが、上手かったんですか？ (Oh, definitely. You said your mom was a wrestler. Was she any good?)

Hana: ああ、もちろんです。しかし、彼女はキャリアを通じて過小評価されていました。 (Oh, of course, but she was underappreciated throughout her career.)

Me: まあ、本当に？ (Oh, really?)

Hana: ええ。私が生まれたとき、実父は母と兄のアラタ、そして私を残して出て行きました。母はレスリングをしながら生計を立てようとしていましたが、デスマッチで血を流して苦しんでいる母を見るのが辛かったこともありました。母にとってそれは大きな負担でした。 (Yeah. You see, when I was born, my birth dad left my mom, my older brother Arata, and myself. She tried to make ends meet while in wrestling, and sometimes it was hard for me to not see her hurt because she would bleed in deathmatches and it was just being that much of a burden.)

Me: 彼女がレスラーだった頃の一番好きな瞬間は何ですか? (What was your favorite moment of her being  a wrestler?)

Hana: 彼女が怪我をしていないとき。彼女が血まみれになっているのを見るたびに、見るのが辛くて泣いていました。でも、これが彼女が私と弟に食べ物を与えるためにしてくれたことであり、私は彼女に永遠に感謝しています。 (When she's not getting hurt. Whenever I saw her being bloodied, I would cry because it was that hard to watch, but this is what she did to put food on the table for my brother and I, and I'm forever grateful to her.)

I started to feel bad for Hana as she was telling me her story. It was really sad to know of a beginning, but she turned her frown upside down and said...

Hana: しかし幸運にも、彼女は今年初めに尊厳と敬意を持って引退することができましたが、昨年末に結婚しました。 (But luckily, she was able to retire earlier this year with dignity and respect, but she got married late last year.)

Me: 彼女がやった？ (She did?)

Hana: うん。彼女も美しかったよ。 (Yeah. She looked beautiful too.)

She then pulled out her phone to show me this:

Hana: これは、彼女と義父がケーキを切っているときでした。彼女がどれほど幸せだったかを知って、私は涙が出ました。 (This was when she and my stepfather were cutting the cake. It made me tear up, knowing how happy she was.)

Me: わあ。あなたの美しさはどこから来たのか、今なら分かります。 (Wow. Now I can tell where you got your beauty from.)

She then looked a little bit appalled, but I quickly apologized.

Me: ごめんなさい。そんなことを言うべきじゃなかった。 (I'm sorry. I shouldn't have said that.)

Hana: いいえ。大丈夫です。わざとではないことはわかっています。 (No. It's okay. I know you didn't mean to.)

Me: それは嬉しいです。ところで、お母さんのようなレスラーになりたいと思ったきっかけは何ですか？ ちょっと興味があります。 (I appreciate that. Anyway, what made you want to be a wrestler like your mom? I'm just curious.)

Hana: 子どもの頃は友達があまりいませんでした。それは主に、混血であることによる社交不安といじめが原因でした。私の母は日本人ですが、母によると、私の実の父はインドネシア人だそうです。私は子供の頃、本当に自尊心が低かったのですが、何年もかけて、そのことで落ち込むのではなく、愛を返すようにし、愛を与えるのと同じくらい愛されるように努めました。それだけでなく、ダンサー、アイドル、モデル、女優になるためにトレーニングを積んでいたのですが、レスリングが私の声を呼んで、それが私の母がレスリングを始めたきっかけで、母がレスリングを始めたときに働いていた会社と同じレスリング-1で昨年私をトレーニングしてくれました。 (Throughout my childhood, I didn't have much friends, and it was mainly from social anxiety and from bullying due to having a mixed race. My mom is Japanese while, according to my mom, my birth father was Indonesian. I really had low self-esteem growing up, but over the years, instead of being down about it, I would give back and just try to be loved as much as giving out love to others. Not only that, I would train to be a dancer, an idol, a model, and an actress, but wrestling came calling and that's how I got started as my mom trained me at Wrestle-1 last year, the same company she worked for when she got started.)

Me: ああすごい。 (Oh, wow.)

Hana: 私の兄、アラタは横浜DeNAベイスターズの野球選手、ピッチャーになりました。私は彼の試合に何度か行こうとし、彼は私のショーに来ようとしました。 (My older brother, Arata, he would become a baseball player for the Yokohama DeNA Baystars, a pitcher in fact. I would try to go to some of his games while he tries to come to shows of mine.)

Me: よかった。彼の試合に一度行ってみようかな。 (Good for him. Maybe I'll go to one of his games.)

Hana: あなたはそうしますか？ (Would you?)

Me: そうですね。子供の頃から野球が大好きだったので、観てみたいです。 (Yeah. I loved baseball growing up, so I'd like to give it a watch.)

Hana: アラタも喜ぶだろうし、私も母も喜ぶだろう。 (Arata would love that, and so would myself and my mom.)

Me: やあ、どういたしまして。 (Hey, it's my pleasure.)

Hana then giggled as we kept eating our Big Macs and fries until she hit me with it.

Hana: あなたはどうですか？家族がレスリングに関わっているにもかかわらず、レスリングを始めたきっかけは何ですか？ (What about you? What made you get into wrestling, despite your family being involved with it?)

Me: すでにご存知のとおり、私の家族はレスリングに関わってきました。彼らはレスリングのために生き、レスリングのために命を落としました。そういえば、私の一番上の兄、マシュー（通称ロージー）が数か月前、誕生日の 10 日後、私の誕生日の翌日に心不全で亡くなりました。 (As you already know from earlier, my family's been involved with wrestling. They lived and died for it, and speaking of which, Matthew, my oldest brother, who is better known as Rosey, died of heart failure a few months ago, ten days after his birthday and a day after my own.)

Hana: ああ、ごめんなさい。 (Oh, I'm so sorry.)

Me: 大丈夫です。亡くなる前に彼は私にこう言いました。「アレキ、君に知ってほしいのは、君が気づいているかどうかは別として、君は私の一番の兄で、家族の誇りだということ。君を誇りに思うよ。今やっていることを続けて、自分自身を諦めないで。」私は毎日彼がいなくて寂しいですが、その言葉は永遠に私の中に残るでしょう。 (It's okay. Before he died, he said to me, "Aleki, I want you to know, whether you realize it or not, you're my favorite brother and you're making the family proud. I'm proud of you. Keep doing what you're doing, and don't give up on yourself." I miss him every day, but those words will stick with me forever.)

Then, I really felt like crying because I miss Matthew and he was my role model. I looked up to him.

It also seemed like Hana noticed how emotional I was about my oldest brother being gone because she quickly grabbed my hand and held onto it with a sympathetic smile.

Hana: 大丈夫です。吐き出したいなら吐き出してもいいですよ。(It's okay. You can let it out if you want.)

Me: いいえ。大丈夫です。ただ、振り返るのがつらいだけです。でも、ありがとう。 (No. It's okay. I'm alright. It's just hard to look back on that. Thank you, though.)

Hana: 心配しないでください。私はあなたのためにここにいます。 (Don't worry. I'm here for you.)

I smiled at her and it felt right, especially when she slowly moved her thumb back and forth on my hand.

I looked down at her hand and I really felt comfortable with her doing this. I think I'm falling for her, but at this point, I don't know if she's feeling the same, even though Hana's giving indications about it.

Look, I'm usually the kind of guy to wait until I really get confirmation that a girl would like me, but in this case, Hana is really showing it, but I'd like to wait until the time is right.

Anyway, after a while, it was time to go, so I dropped her off at her friends' place, where they were staying, but I decided to walk her up, just for common courtesy and to make sure she's protected.

Hana: アノアイさん、家まで送っていただいてありがとう。 (I appreciate the ride home, Anoa'i-san.)

Me: 問題ありません。もう一度一緒に過ごすこともできるかもしれませんが、今度はあなたが決めてください。 (No problem. Maybe we can have a second time together, but this time, you choose.)

Hana: 私が選べるんですか？ (I get to choose?)

Me: そうするのは当然です。あなたが何を思いついたとしても、私は賛成です。 (It's only fair to do so. Whatever you come up with, I'm all for it.)

Hana: わかりました。あなたのところで料理しましょう。 (Okay, we'll cook at your place.)

Me: 料理したいですか？ (You wanna cook?)

Hana: 私は料理が大好きです。レシピを教えましょうか？ (I love cooking. Maybe I'll teach you a recipe?)

Me: はい。それはできますよ。 (Yeah. We can do that.)

Hana: 来週の金曜日、6時半頃でしょうか？ (Next Friday, around 6:30?)

Me: 6時半がいいでしょう。 (6:30 would be good. 6:30 would be good.)

Hana: それではまた。私の電話番号をお伝えします。 (Then I'll see you then. Let me give you my number.)

We then exchanged numbers and hugged as it was time for me to go.

Me: その時お会いできることを楽しみにしています。 (I hope to see you then.)

Hana: こっちも一緒。 (Same here.)

We hugged for a bit, but then, Hana grabbed my neck, gently with both hands, leaned forward and kissed my cheek, just stunning me in the process.

When she released from the hug and the kiss, she smiled, giggled a bit, before saying...

Hana: おやすみなさい、アレキ。 (Goodnight, Aleki.)

I smiled back before saying...

Me: おやすみね。 (Goodnight, sweetheart.)

We let go as I walked back to my car, we both waved, and I drove off while having a bit of a rush from what I just experienced.

As I drove to my hotel room, I felt the place where Hana kissed me and it felt cold. It seemed like she does like me, but come the second date at home, we'll see what happens.