Why Did It Have To Be You? Chapter 2

By: Itachi Black

Question 1: Jack and Kristoff appear to be exact opposites, so how did they become friends?
IB: Let's let Jack answer that question :)

I woke up early at 5:30 in the morning, getting ready for the day, as my alarm clock rang loudly. Of course like every morning, I would wake up to the blaring sound from my phone and the thundering snores of my... roommate. I glared at the blond haired man, who often reminded me of a brutish gorilla, whose chest was rising up and down slowly while drool slipped down from the edge of his mouth. Can you really blame me for seeing him as a gorilla? But then again, when he was awake, he was a lot more like a golden retriever.

I also want to highlight the part that this man is merely my roommate. I am not gay. I have nothing against anyone who is gay, but what I do hate is whenever a false statement is said about me or anything in the world. If something called me a clock-watch, I would still find myself offended. And if I happened to be gay, I would not date such a thickheaded man named Kristoff Brentwood. So who is he, you ask? He happens to be my colleague at my workplace though nobody else in my life knows about this fact. Truth be told, that is how I want to keep things because... our current situation would turn into a death sentence if anybody were to learn of this fact. It's extremely complicated.

So you may be wondering how this all started? This all began when I was a second year student at my university, it was the year when I doing my studies internationally. I remember my years at the university fondly as they were one of the best years of my life. It was probably when I had the most opportunities to learn and enjoy different cultures. This was only possible because I was supported by multiple scholarships, funding from sponsors, and several recommendations from the professors throughout the campus. I loved learning different languages and experiencing different cultures because as a child, I often moved to numerous countries; from Europe to Asia to North America and South America. That was probably what allowed me to learn countless languages at once and gave me an outstanding advantage compared to other students.

What did I study? I studied English, French, Spanish, Italian, Japanese, Korean, American Sign Language and a certain aboriginal language that most people would not recognize. That was how I caught lots of attention from my peers and professors and thus, in my second year I was given the chance to go to Japan for a semester. You must be getting very curious to know how the heck the bestial figure that was still slumbering next to my bed, on the floor of all places. So here is my story...

November 19th, 20XX

I never expected to stay out until the bright, beautiful moon glowed and peeked between the slits of the towering buildings of Tokyo. However, tonight could be describe all the other nights I spent in Tokyo. It was so full of rich culture and so many things to experience after my studies during the morning and afternoon. I would usually venture off University of Tokyo Campus approximately around 4 PM. Then I would return back to study around 10 or 11 PM as this university had one of the most beautiful libraries where he loved to study and read.

This chilly evening of 9 Celsius was spent at 東京タワー [Tokyo Tower] which was known to be one of the most amazing architecture found in the world as it was eerily similarly constructed like the Eiffel Tower and the second tallest structure found in Japan. Another thing I found amusing when I visited for the first time were the transparent glass floors (something I had also seen in the CN Tower in Toronto). This was one of the factors why I loved traveling for studies: no matter where I went, I saw the interconnections between all the nations in the world. It was a beautiful thing that I noticed and loved. It was also fun speeding up and down the tower as the elevator speed was fairly impressive just like the grand view of Tokyo. The reason why I went there during the evening was because during the night, the streets would light up with all the racing cars below, hurrying to their next destination, and the bright light would begin to mimic the shape of the 東京タワー. It was something I had heard the night before by some of the Japanese students as I always asked which places were fun to visit.

After walking throughout the tower, I visited the 東京お土産 (the Tokyo Tower Souvenir store) where I managed to buy a mini model of the Tokyo Tower, a beautifully crafted きつね (pronounced: ki-tsu-ne; meaning fox) mask, and a matching pair of swords also known as 大小 (pronounced: da-i-sho; da-i meaning big and sho meaning small): the 脇差 (pronounced: wa-ki-za-shi; type of sword that is matched with a katana [another type of traditional Japanese sword] which used to symbolized a man to be a samurai) and the 刀 (kanji form of the word (pronounced) ka-ta-na).

BRIEF LESSON WITH MR. JACK WHITE:

KITSUNE MASK

- a kitsune mask is generally worn by women because it is culturally believed that kitsune (foxes) are the messengers for the goddess named Inari (you may know them as a type of sushi; and did you know that it's actually improper to call "sushi" .. well sushi? In Japan, it's much more proper and correct to call them [o-su-shi])

- in the Japanese myths of folktales, it's commonly believed that foxes love inari sushi (fried tofu osushi) and that even gods appear in a form as a fox

- in other occasions, kitsunes appear as beautiful women to trick humans; the most famous kitsune would be the nine-tailed fox/kitsune. Though not a lot of people may know this, but the nine-tail kitsune mythology actually originated from the Chinese mythology of the 狐狸精 (pronounced hu-li-jing; meaning fox spirit)/ 九尾狐 (nine-tailed fox)

*if you got anymore questions, don't mind asking more questions to Mr. Jack White; after all his job is teaching!

After purchasing all the things I wanted, I went to the renowned restaurant called 今福 (pronounced: i-ma-fu-ku; to be more specific the word [ima] means now and the word [fuku] means good-fortune), famous for their service and meat. Not only was this place highly recommended by the professors I encountered during my studies, I had always wanted to try a how bowl of sukiyaki during my stays in Tokyo during a cold night.

So when I entered the restaurant, the first thing that I noticed was not the interior design, nor the friendly shout of "いらっしゃいませ" (pronounced: i-ra-ssha-i-ma-se; customary shouts of "Welcome" in every Japanese restaurants) from the busy employees. Instead, what brightly shone in my eyes were the thick, luminous golden hair of another Caucasian, besides myself, and it would have been very difficult not to notice the roaring laughter bellowing from his area. It appeared as if he was a professional martial artist because he was oddly still wearing his uniform.

Everybody around him was talking to him in Japanese, though he only replied in English, clearly clueless what the others were saying to him. They were all congratulating him for winning a judo tournament. Yet the only thing the man shouted happily was, "This meat is amazing! So damn yummy!"

With that comment alone, the immediate thought that popped into my head was: that guy is a clueless, happy idiot. A trouble human being that I want to avoid.

The employee suddenly disrupted my thoughts as she approached me and tried to say, "E-esu-chu-me..."

I couldn't help, but smirk because the statistics were true. Japan was a first-world country where barely anyone could speak a word of English; in fact, it's the number one country that doesn't speak English, second place going to Korea.

I almost felt bad enough to see her struggle so much that I felt coherced to smile sweetly towards the employee, who was clearly uncomfortable and unaccustomed to English and calmly said, "日本語は大丈夫ですよ。今東京大学で日本語を大勉強しますから。" [Japanese is fine because I am currently studying Japanese at Tokyo University.]

It was obvious that the woman was surprised and relieved to see that I could speak Japanese fluently as she quickly said, "ええ、すごいですね。" [Eh! That's amazing!]

Then the lady happily asked, "今日はあなたと、その後どのように多くの人々がありますか？" [Then how many people are with you today?]

I replied, "私だけです。" [It's only me.]

Fortunately, I didn't have to wait long as I was seated by the counter. However, I couldn't say that I was completely pleased as right on the other side of the marble counter sat the rambunctious blond man who just could not keep his mouth shut. It was simply tiresome to hear him continuously laugh and talk loudly in English, which was completely off context from the ongoing conversation by the other Japanese men. Anyone who knew of my thoughts could boldly state that my impression of him was running further south- the worst ever.

I must have been very irriated because I ended up ordering osake next to my sukiyaki dish with some tempura. When the food and the drink came out, my mood did turn better dramatically as the hot bowl, full of beautiful cuts of top sirloin meat with freshly boiled vegetables, with a rich broth tasted like perfection. An immediate smile did appear on my face as I tasted the soup and then tried the crisp vegetable and shrimp tempuras. I felt even better when I heard the Japanese men bid a goodnight to the man, whose named turned out to be "Kristoff" though they pronounced it as "Ku-ri-su-to-fu].

It was quite a shock to watch Kristoff eat much more than I did, though I suppose it shouldn't have been since it appeared that he was a professional martial artist who competed and won a tournament. Still the amount of food he ate... it was nearly barbaric, as if he had a black hole for a stomach. And now... he was busily drinking all the remaining sake and beer as if there was no day after today. Yup, stupid barbarian whom nobody could stop from eating or drinking everything around him.

Once I was on the verge of finishing my late meal, I noticed that he too was about to finish eating, though his face turned quite red from all the alcohol. I couldn't help, but shake my head in disgust in all the mess he made as he sat there laughing at ... only God would know. More the time passed, the more I found to dislike this stranger as nearly all of his behaviors bothered me; Kristoff was a man I wanted to avoid at all cost, even though he would often stare at me, the other Caucasian in the restaurant, and grin like the happiest fool in the world. Although he often smiled at me, I would continued to ignore him throughout the evening.

When he wobbled as he stood from his seat, one of the ladies who were working brought him the bill and started to speak in Japanese. Since he couldn't speak a word of Japanese, Kristoff looked at her blankly and spoke in a bit of a slurred voice, "Daaamn, I don't know Jap. English only."

Stunned, everybody looked clueless on what to do and I could already feel my brows furrowing in irritation and a sigh escaping from my lips as the employees walked towards me. They said, "すみませんが、あなたは私たちを助けてくださいすることができますか？" [I'm sorry, but can you help us?]

It wasn't as if it was a choice... I would feel bad to reject a request from the female employees, even if it was a huge, annoying bother and there was the culture too. I would seem to be an ass and it would considered to be extremely rude to reject any requests in the Asian culture compared to other countries I visited.

Through gritted teeth, I slowly replied, "もちろん。何ですか。" [Of course. What is it?]

The lady responded while showing the bill, "この法案は、その顧客に属し、彼は48310円を支払う必要があります。" [This bill belongs to that customer and he needs to pay 48310 yen.]

How the numbers shocked me beyond belief. Why? Because that was nearly equivalent to 450 American dollars. What the hell did that oaf do? I couldn't help, but glare at the man who I was being forced to help. I could feel my own temperature beginning to boil at that exact moment as he grinned from ear to ear. The imbecile.

I turned to the woman, "高いですね。" [It's expensive, isn't it?]

She responded, "はい、以前のこの夜彼と14他の人がいたので。彼らは食事のために払っていません。" [Yes, because there were fourteen other people with him earlier this evening. They didn't pay for their meals.]

If it was physically possible, I could have sworn that fangs and horns began to sprout from my face after hearing this. The idiot got duped by his colleagues and not knowing this fact, he was happy like a puppy.

I grabbed the bill and marched towards him as I angrily hissed, "You need to pay 48,310 yen for your meal because none of your friends paid for their dinner!"

It was during this moment when his jaws dropped as he said, "You're kidding me! Shit! I can't pay for all that, dude!"

I screamed back at him, "What are you gonna do idiot?!"

Kristoff, realizing that he's finally been insulted, cried, "I'm not an idiot! I just don't have that much money! But what am I gonna do?! Holy crap!"

Yup. I must have turned into a Japanese ogre. I glared at him as if to murder him on the spot and growled, "Give me all the money you have. There's no way we can say that you can't pay for your food. It's so embarrassing that I would die from a situation that wasn't even caused by me in the first place!"

Next thing I knew, I was responsible for this fully grown, lost Golden Retriever puppy as I paid for my bill and the remainder of his bill... and that end the first part of our encounter... because I am giving myself a headache at this point from remembering this awful memory.

[QUICK LAUGHS #1]

Jack: I hated the day I met you...

Kristoff: I thought you were mean until you paid for my bill. Hehe, thanks bro.

Jack: You gave me a migraine that night and that memory alone gives me a headache.

Kristoff: But next chapter, the readers will see how our unstable relationship turned much stronger... and better!

Jack: ... Ugh, I really don't want to continue this horrible story.

Kristoff: Well you're the number one reason why my sister's and my life got better.

Jack: (-_- and mine got infinitely worse.

[QUICK LAUGHS #2]

Jack: But why the fuck am I wearing such an ugly t-shirt on the cover?!

Kristoff: Dude, it's mine. Don't insult it. It's cute. (^_^)~

Itachi Black: That's what you get for being mean to everybody last chapter. It's your punishment... let's just say that your laundry machine broke and so, you couldn't wash any of your clothes.

Jack: My laundry machine is broken?! (0_0)} What about my drying machine?

Itachi Black: That's also broken. Muhahahaha! *grins evily*

Thank you for all the reviews for the first chapter! Please give me more feedback on how to improve this story for everyone's benefit. And seriously, you guys can ask Jack any questions because I will be making a [JACK WHITE'S SHORT LESSON] sections in the future. He'll always answer a minimum of two questions.

And depending on some of your questions, I may even use it as a concept for a chapter. Thank you again! Please review for me :)