The Tokyo Domain

When someone would resign themselves to the blackness, and utter darkness in which nothing thrives, then to what ends would they themselves choose to live their lives? Often I asked myself that question as I began a trip into the hustle and bustle of the rooms downstairs. The students would often be laughing loudly and carrying on. Such things had lost their meaning to me long ago. I was nothing like the person I used to be. I could only sigh heavily as I pulled on my jacket and picked up my helmet. Would they look and stare and make their silly comments about me? Would I always be that strange guy who lived at the Chinese restaurant?

One could never really be sure what another was thinking. That is the one thing I could not stand about people, unpredictability.  I could tell at any given instant what a program was going to do, where it would move, how it would react, people were a different story. Perhaps it was that which made me shy away from them more and more as time wore on. They were a factor upon which no program or equation could account for. I tried for years to understand how people worked, what they thought, what they liked, what emotion truly was or could be. I gave up on all of that though, the moment one interacts with another he learns that there is no way to understand truly another person. Regardless of my little idiosyncrasy I managed to deal with people just fine. Uncomfortable though I may be around them, it was not to such an extent that I would call it a phobia.

Was I unpredictable as well?

I pulled on my jacket and began rummaging through my dresser for my old Kawasaki logo armored riding pants. The dangers of riding had once again become apparent to me as of late. Perhaps because of the destructive potential of a two hundred mile and hour crash. Ironically I still knew in the back of my mind that wearing the stuff would not save me any more punishment than would be wearing just a pair of shorts. The helmet itself was nothing more than a means to interface with ones bike anyways. It judged cues given off by the brain as to whether it was traveling to fast, or whether it needed to lean harder into a turn or not.

Konpyuuta Chan and I had laboriously created a sub-program for the motorcycle itself. With the understanding that the potential of the bike could indeed be dangerous without certain precautions, and of course understanding the need for a way to harness such a powerful machine, we had devised its program. The interface of the bike had to be redone completely, it needed to be able display more information in its HUD, and accommodate the many changes I had made to it. It was a far cry from the once primitive Kawasaki based OS that it was based off of. We had to throw almost all of the old programming out entirely and built form scratch. I based it off of Konpyuuta Chan’s original programming as much as I could.

In the end I had fabricated what would perhaps destroy the market of the motorcycle industry forever, and as such I locked away the existence of my second best work in the shell of that bike. Forever to remain untouchable by the hands of me, or any other who would strive to obtain it. Konpyuuta Chan took quickly to the bike as she transferred over everything necessary to operate independently of the mainframe. I wanted to name it “Ghost” but she objected to the idea. She preferred that we instead just allow it to remain the “bike”. So bike it was. Perhaps I should have named it “Oni”.

“Well let’s see if the thing works like it’s supposed to, bring the bike around front.” I motioned toward her as she pulled on her black riding jacket.

“Wouldn’t that be a little conspicuous? I mean I figure the point of it is so that people don’t know about it, right?” She shot a glance over at me.

“What is the point of owning the sexiest motorcycle in the world if people can’t see it eh?” I smiled over at her, pulling on my gloves and fastening my pants and jacket.

“Alright, I’m bringing it around to the front. You do know that means you have to walk out through the restaurant don’t you?” She looked at me slightly annoyed.

I scratched my face for a moment. I hadn’t shaved in a while. I looked over at her without saying anything. She just sighed at me.

“So?” I looked at her expectantly.

“Yeah, yeah it’s coming.” She fell through the floor unceremoniously.

I took a deep breath and got a firm grip on my helmet. I took one last good look in the mirror to check myself out, and then I opened the door. The hallway was empty, the lights were on but it was obvious that I would not find anybody up here. It was the middle of the dinner rush; I wouldn’t be likely to see anyone upstairs for a few hours at least. Still, I looked down the hall, quietly searching for her. I had no luck. I didn’t expect to have any either, but still I was driven to search silently for her. I stopped for a moment to clear my head.

The stairs to led silently down to the back hall. I looked out the back window and into the night. I could only see one bike out back resting silently under its plastic cover. That meant the other was already waiting for me out front. I walked down the short all to a door that read “Kitchen” in old Chinese characters on it. It looked as though it had been there for ages, perhaps even since I was once a college student eating in the very same place. My mind shifted for a second, but I was able to quickly grasp the moment at hand. I reached out for the knob; no turning back, and with a quick turn it was open.

I walked quietly and purposefully into the kitchen. I wouldn’t be there long; just several short steps would carry me into the back of the dinning room. I looked into the room quietly. It was full of people. That meant the front room was definitely full as well. They had a habit of seating people in the first room before moving on into the rest of the building. I’m not sure exactly why they did it that way though.  Then again I had never actually worked in a restaurant so I wasn’t really one to debate the issue.

“Hey!” She waved at me from the middle of the full room.

“Hi.” I nodded toward her quietly.

She ran over, weaving her way through several tables to greet me. She was wearing her waitress uniform. Black shoes attached to perfect legs that run up under a mid length black skirt that seemed to be a little shorter than the other waitresses. I let my gaze wander up higher, a white dress shirt covered by a black vest. Her hair was tied up on top of her head in a bun that left little curls falling to outline her perfect face. She was wearing makeup it looked like, but not too much, just enough to highlight her piercing eyes and soft lips. I was lost to the world for that one moment.

“I wasn’t expecting to see you down here, you always use the backdoor.” She smiled at me cheerfully. Her lips parted to show he seemingly perfect white teeth.

“Uhh yeah, but I left my bike out front so, I figured it would be faster to just walk through the building. You know how it is.” I’m sure I must have blushed a little bit saying it.

“Oh yeah, it’s a long walk all the way around to the next alley. Here I will walk you out. I haven’t had much of a break lately. It is a very busy night.” She tucked her tray under her arm and walked along side me, her shoulder brushing against mine occasionally in a way that sent shivers down my spine.

We walked through the crowds of people, and in that moment I didn’t care what any of them said, or thought, or did. I rediscovered a part of me that I think I had lost some long time ago. I really didn’t care what people thought about me as much as I perhaps was under the impression I did. No, I was sure of it now. I was more afraid that perhaps their opinions would sway that of the girl with who was now holding the front door open for me. She, it seemed, was the cause of my anxieties and worries. Discovering such a thing lifted a heavy weight off my chest, and I perhaps gained a little bit of self-confidence in that moment.

“Wow! Is that your bike! Its Awesome!” She ran over to it, its engine was purring almost completely silent under its cold empty black exterior.

“Yeah that’s it alright.” I did my best to not sound like a total jerk.

“You are a sly one aren’t you?” Konpyuuta Chan was sitting astride the bike invisibly; she motioned toward the girl and winked at me.

“Shut up” I mouthed it silently, casting a sharp glance in her direction.

“Ah! If it wasn’t so busy I would love to go for a ride with you!” She flashed me a big smile while she ran her hands down its smooth seat and over the handlebars.

“I can’t tell if she’s flirting with you or not.” Konpyuuta Chan leaned back quietly onto the bike. “Sometimes I wonder about this one.” She looked a little amused as she watched the girl kneel down to look at the almost formless black detailing on the fairings.

“What does this say?” She had a puzzled look on her face. “I understand some of these characters, and some look kind of familiar, but I have never seen them put together like this before…” She ran her hands over the soft indentations on the side of the bike.

“Oh yeah, it looks a little like Chinese doesn’t it?” I walked over and kneeled down next to her. “You have probably only seen the simplified Chinese characters, and even then only once in a while, you probably learned the modern Chinese characters right?” She nodded at me “Well these are very old. They are a good luck charm.” I looked down at her; her expression was one of satisfaction.

“Oh I see, you have ancient Chinese good luck charms.” She stood up brushing some dirt off of her knee.

“uh… yeah. Ancient Chinese luck…” My voiced trailed off.

“Hey what are you doing out here!” Her mother was shouting from the open door. “You have a lot of tables to look after tonight.” She looked a little angry.

“Ah! I completely forgot” She looked surprised. She turned to me and said “I’m really sorry but, I have stayed away from work too long. I have to go!” She got up and ran off into the restaurant’s doorway quickly. The mother glanced at me one last time and smiled softly.

“Well wasn’t that heart warming.” Konpyuuta Chan was staring up at the sky looking exceptionally bored. “Can we go now, or do you want to savior the moment a little longer?”

“Yeah lets get out of here.” I swung my leg over the bike. Konpyuuta Chan hopped on silently behind me. I glanced down at the almost invisible indentations, the almost indecipherable characters etched into the bike. “Too bad she can never know…” I ran my fingers over them lightly.

“Never know what?” Konpyuuta Chan wrapped her hands around my waist.

“Nothing. Forget it. We’ve only got so long before the sun comes up, and there is no time to waste it thinking about what ifs and could bees”

I pulled the helmet down over my head.

“Where are we going anyways?” Konpyuuta Chan’s voice came from all around me.

“I thought you knew?”

“No… don’t you?”

“Oh well, that way looks good to me” I gestured down the road.

“That way looks just fine.”