An American Man on the Road, Part 1
1339 Words
I'm Soren Orr, a game, tech, and alternative rock enthusiast from the United States of America.
I proudly live in the technologically-advanced town of Windcoast, Oregon.
I graduated with an associate's degree in computer repair, and now I'm doing computer repairs and mods full-time to fund my future plans of becoming a network systems administrator.
Two years ago, my childhood friend Lianna Riversdale suddenly passed away, which broke my heart.
To my surprise, I found her reincarnated in the MMORPG she and I usually played, Skypaths Online – by possessing the very character she created.
As we both came to terms of how all that happened, we were faced with an inevitability – that once Skypaths Online ends its service, she has nowhere else to go but heaven.
But what we didn't expect was that the game would indeed end its service – exactly 40 days after her passing and reincarnation.
It was therefore a race against time for her to come to terms of her mortality – and for me to finally say the words I could not say to her.
Right before the service ended, we exchanged our truest feelings and made our vow of love.
She was happy and content.
And thus, she moved on to the afterlife with no regrets.
Now... two years after her passing, I'm still moving on with my life.
My repair and modding skills get better and better each day – but I still have to earn enough dough to pursue the higher rung of education.
And thus, I'm entering the realm of actually refurbishing and selling gaming PCs for all types of niches.
To elevate my skills, I always make it a point to subscribe to enthusiast tech forums and watch online videos on how others make satisfying profits on the units they build.
It all boils down to two words, joined by a hyphen: Price-performance.
I get to acquire used units and parts at low prices and make brand-new gaming PCs out of these.
I also get to save these old things from being bound for the landfill, making my ecological conservation efforts known.
And now, upon a recommendation from one of Lianna's friends, who is half-Japanese herself...
I will get to visit the Land of the Rising Sun in order to avail of those deals and up my ante even further.
Since it's my first time visiting a foreign country, I do the necessary research.
I look up on guides for first-time tourists as well as take to heart Japanese etiquette.
Not to mention my mandatory Japanese language classes, which I do online.
After a month of preparations, I'm now ready to head for Japan.
I get my gear ready, as well as supplementary bags and boxes for the PCs and parts I'll be taking home.
As I get to the nearest airport, I feel a brimming confidence inside me.
But I must stay aware.
One beginner's mistake I must never do: Be less vigilant over my luggage.
I always keep my stuff safe and secure, so I do everything I can to never lose nor damage them.
And yes, Lianna's things are also safe and secure by my hands.
I pass through the necessary screening procedures, and I'm finally on the plane.
As the plane eventually lifts off...
I wonder what kind of adventure will await me.
***
Thursday.
A school day like any other.
On our regularly-scheduled storytelling session, Harumi brings up the topic of scuba diving – which is one of Sango-minato's primary tourism industries.
She's far chirpier than the one I saw and talked to yesterday.
“I've tried it once, and I really really wanna come back. It's as if... the dolphins I've encountered all missed me.”
“Because they find you sexy in that swimsuit you wore, hmm?”
Yeah, I have to bring up an embarrassing question.
“W-What? Why'd you have to say that all of a sudden? Ooh... It's so awkward.”
I can see her blushing heavily.
“Well, I admit the swimsuit I wore was kinda revealing. A two-piece one I saw in a men's magazine.”
Men's magazine, huh? Well, even women are now influenced by them, due to the models.
That reminds me that Noemi also used to wear revealing swimsuits whenever we were out swimming.
***
I was fifteen years old back then. A few months before I met Noemi.
Because I was a teenager discovering new stuff, I soon dived into the realm of the lewd.
I discovered cute girls in sexy outfits and sexy poses, all thanks to several sources: Erotic anime, erotic computer games, and lascivious magazines. The internet, of course, was my conduit to discovering them all.
While I indeed had this kind of awakening within me, I still kept my sanity. After all, people who are voracious consumers of these stuff and have no sense of self-control grow up to be rapists, molesters, and other kinds of notorious immoral offenders.
One week after I've met Noemi...
...she offered me to let her visit my apartment unit tomorrow.
Of course, I was apprehensive.
What if she discovered my small yet rapidly-growing collection of lewd stuff, both online and offline?
She'll burn them all, smash them all, grind them all to fine powder until there's nothing left to retrieve.
Oh well... doing something about that is way better than doing nothing at all.
So after saying yes to her proposal over the phone, I immediately set off in hiding my collection of lewds.
There's a big chest of drawers with locks in each of them, and they haven't seen much use in years.
Yup, I can store those magazines, posters, and laminated pictures there, and lock them all up.
But how about the digital versions of my collection?
I immediately imbued the mindset that she might be as technically savvy as I do and search my folders for these kinds of filth while I'm away from my PC.
Therefore, my solution for that is encryption.
The following day.
Right after school, Noemi visited me.
She was a bit tired, but remained as cheerful as ever.
“Good afternoon, Noemi.”
“Same to you, Gunpei. So... this is your unit, huh? You live alone?”
“Yup. I originally came from Hokkaido. My parents encouraged me to study in a specialized school for future engineers, and I said yes. To make my school transition smoother, I transferred here when I was in junior high.”
“Wow. It's nice that your parents are fully supportive of your future career. Say...”
She then noticed something on the side wall of my living room.
Uh-oh... Looks like I've overlooked something.
“What's this... Frenzy Hot Magazine doing here? And why... is that swimsuit so... revealing?”
Indeed, I overlooked something.
I forgot to clean up that side of my living room because I was so busy with my studies, and thus I forgot that this salacious magazine was sitting there all along!
She would surely leave me all disgusted and angry, and she would surely never see me again, bringing a degenerative domino effect on my entire being!
But what actually came out of her mouth next... was unlike my paranoid expectations.
“G-Gunpei...”
She was all blushing and flustered.
“I -I want to wear that same swimsuit she's wearing...”
“W-What?!”
“To be honest... I-I'm kinda sick and tired of the swimsuits my parents bought me. T-They're not revealing enough to actually show my figure.”
“R-Really?”
“I... I wanted to be more daring... now that I've met someone like you!”
The next thing I knew...
...she grabbed the magazine and promptly hugged me tight.
I can feel her pounding heart as my chest was sticking to hers.
It seems... she desired to be more confident in her looks, all because I came into her life.
Most likely, her parents knew that I made friends with her, and they expected her to fall for me.
And so...
“OK. I know the shop where you can buy that swimsuit. We'll pay a visit there tomorrow after school.”
“T-Thank you, Gunpei!”
And ever since she finally bought that swimsuit, she would always wear it whenever we're out for a swim.
She loved it, as she knew it truly matched her ample figure.
She truly embodied the synthesis of being cute and being sexy.
***
“Hey... Earth to Gunpei. You're spacing out.”
“Oh.. oh, sorry. I was just thinking of Noemi in a swimsuit.”
“Then you must also imagine me in a swimsuit. Reincarnation, remember?”
“Y-yeah. And by the way... that's all the time we have for our storytelling power hour.”
“Now you're the one to talk. So then... see you tomorrow. Nighty-night.”
“Good night.”
- Writer
