Once everyone made it outside, their flag toting tour guides headed down a set of stairs to the subway. Their teachers watched as everyone gathered around the automatic ticket machines. Though his abilities allowed him to read Japanese, it was the first time David had ever attempted to buy his own train ticket.
“Come here,” Rie pulled at the corner of his sleeve. “You look just like the first time you got off the plane from America.”
“Sorry, those route maps were not made to be easily understood,” he replied. “Who designed this thing anyway? There are a million buttons. Besides, I never rode trains back in the States.” With Naoto telling everyone nearby about David’s dilemma, Rie helped him sort through the process before the class moved on without him.
While waiting for the train, students and teachers took pictures for the school album and for the projects they would all have to do on their return. Then, to make sure everyone got on, each class lined up in front of a mark on the ground denoting where the doors would open. When their train came, David hurried on with the twins and Natsuki.
Just as the doors shut, David caught a glimpse of something out the doors. Rie too, looked at the same place, and then turned her gaze on him. He shook his head as the train picked up speed. Whatever he had seen disappeared as advertisements outside the windows began blurring into a stream of bright color.
“I can’t wait to get to the hotel. It is supposed to be really nice,” Natsuki said.
“Yeah, it’s too bad we had to go to school this morning, then spend the afternoon traveling. It’s like we’re losing a whole day!” Naoto complained.
Not long after, the students got off and found their way up to the ground level. Tantalizing smells from a bakery hit them as they left the escalator. David caught several of his classmates moving toward a shop across the way before the guides were able to herd them to the exit. When they emerged, they were in front of a busy intersection with the Miyako Hotel across the street.
Once in the hotel they began the first of several planned ceremonies. Each one was well marked in the schedule booklet that every student had to carry. There were so many people they ringed the wide balcony on the upper level of the lobby. Mizuki stepped forward as the first designated representative, said a few words on behalf of the rest of the students, and bowed. The hotel manager then gave a speech about the hotel, asking the students to be mindful of the other guests.
‘This is the kind of thing I could expect on any school trip, except everyone’s so quiet. It’s so formal,’ David thought.
‘This otherness you feel, it is similar to what we feel near the ocean… but so much weaker.’ With the ceremony done, the students broke up by class. David continued his inner conversation with Kou as he met up with Takumi. Moriyama-sensei handed out keys and arranged David’s class into rooms.
David, Takumi, Naoto, and Shou were all crammed into a small but well-appointed room. Teachers were interspersed along the hallway, with the girls separated into their own rooms. Once everyone settled, each class met to go over the next day’s schedule.
‘This is nothing like school trips back home. I can’t believe we are staying in such a nice hotel. And the manager! He accepted having almost a hundred students running around at the same time in stride, like he does it all the time!’
‘He probably does. I seem to have vague memories of various groups of students moving around together from the Zodiac Tiger. I am sure they get school groups through here all winter.’
That night, Kou dreamt of snow, sucking David into the random firings of the animal part of their shared mind. For the first time, David saw himself standing beside Kou, both forms separate and real. Then darkness reached into their combined dream and he remembered no more.
David and Kou were less than pleased to find Takumi attempting to wake them with his old violent method. It took all of David’s will to remind Kou that they could not transform and take a bite out of their well-meaning host-brother.
‘Think of what it would do to Reimi,’ David thought in his half-asleep muddle.
‘Exactly,’ Kou purred. ‘Fresh bird.’
The feel of his tail twitching under the sheets woke him enough to wrap an iron control around Kou’s predatory instincts. He knew he should have avoided bringing up Reimi when Kou was so close to transforming, but with Takumi shaking him awake it was a near thing.
Although they often got up at four at the Matsumoto Estate, David was normally able to rest his body by transforming into Kou at night. With all the students around, David was unable to let Kou take over, which deprived them both of the restoration they normal got from switching bodies. His classmates might freak out if they awoke in the night to see an adolescent tiger prowling their crowded hotel room. With a bit of concentration, David ensured nothing else transformed and the tail was quickly gone.
Frowning, David pulled himself together and followed the others to the top floor for breakfast. The hotel served both Western and Japanese style breakfasts, so he took both pancakes and miso soup. Though Shou gave him an odd look, it was nice to get a taste of home, and the soup helped warm him.
After breakfast and some quick packing, the second years met in the lobby for their farewell ceremony. The class bowed and thanked the manager for their brief stay. David followed Rie as everyone shuffled outside. Their tour guides met them just outside, leading the students to two buses. Smaller than their American counterparts, the buses were just big enough to fit all three classes.
Class 2B split between the two buses. David was able to stay with his group of friends, while most of their not-quite-enemies ended up on the other bus. Mizuki, the class representative, and her cohorts’ exclamations of how happy they were to be on the good bus did not die down until the guides shut the door, drowning out their noise.
David felt a pang as they drove through Fukuoka. A large city surrounded by low mountains, it reminded him of the valley back home in Arizona. Phoenix was a place that, according to the Matsumotos, he would never be able to see again. He remembered the pain he had felt when Masato Matsumoto had told him he could never return. He also remembered his slow acceptance. At least his family could visit. Sitting back, he listened to their new bus guide as she talked about Fukuoka and otherwise attempted to keep the students entertained. David’s thoughts centered on his family, and the email Jessica had sent just before he left for the trip. She had complained that all she had to look forward to was a trip to Catalina Island in California in the next year. Natsuki’s promise to send her souvenirs had barely consoled his little sister.
‘I’ll have to send a postcard later today,’ David reminded himself, settling in for what proved a long, if interesting, bus ride.
The buses stopped once at a small park where the students were able to throw a few snowballs at the members of the other bus, though they were still low and the snow was scarce. The bus guide spoke throughout their ride, talking about various aspects of Kyushu as they drove south. Only Hidemi, Rie’s quiet, bookish friend took notes for their guidebooks. David rested, confident in Kou’s indelible memory. Eventually, they arrived in Nagasaki.
The buses pulled over long enough for the students to jump out, and the bus guides led them up a set of wide high stairs to a restaurant overlooking a river. There they enjoyed crunchy fried ramen with a thick stew called “chanpon.” The restaurant served the food on round turntables so everyone could get to it. Groups of students sat around the large tables enjoying the food and chatting about the rest of the day to come as they watched the boat traffic in the bay below.
After lunch, the students assembled outside again. David gathered with his friends as the second years broke up into four groups, each led by one of the bus or tour guides and