Taking The Train
From Matsumoto to Nagano allowed me to see through her eyes for a short time, it was bringing me closer to her. I thought about how tough it would be to have to take a long train ride three times a week, go to practice, go to meetings, study, and have a part time job on top of that. Her giving me her time meant a lot, so I needed to act like it. Taking the train that would give me ample time to get there early was a priority. I woke up extra early so that I could both draw her a picture, and buy a simple gift at the store.
Arriving at Nagano Station we were going to meet at the big temple in town, on my way there I couldn’t help but feel nervous. I continued to walk with my head in the clouds and about a block away from the big temple we happened to see each other by chance, it was like when we first met. I couldn’t help but smile as I handed her the small drawing and gift I had bought.
Have You Been Here Before?
I did come here with my family, but since we were on a guided tour we didn’t have time to casually stroll and truly explore, and we can all agree that things are different with your family compared to someone that you’re into. It was a like a brand new experience. Being at a temple we got our fortunes read, before making our way inside the temple where we prayed together. For me I’ve always seen all religions pointing to the same thing and seeing it from a different angle I didn’t actually pray, I thanked whatever being or force that is with us all because I was truly happy to be there on that date with her. It’s the happiest moment of my life that I can remember, after I said thank you she motioned to the place which descends into darkness.
Darkness
After a couple steps down she disappeared from my view, and before long I couldn’t see just a couple feet in front of me. In total darkness you are forced to notice your other senses, the sounds of feet scuffling, breathing, and a voice in front of me. I couldn’t see with my eyes but my mental image had never been so clear. . . I was scared of her running away from me. “いる？” (Are You Still There) I asked.
“いるよ！怖いい！怖いい” she said as she felt her way through the dark, she was in front of me. I kept accidentally touching her hand, I thought she’d think I was gross or repulsive for doing that, but we kept putting along through the snakes twists and turns. The sense of time was difficult to comprehend without anything to ground yourself. After some time in the tunnel I noticed the scent of women’s shampoo for the first time that day.
“ああ！かぎ” she said as I heard a little clank coming from my right, it is said that if you touch the key you’ll find salvation. But the key I was looking for wasn’t the small metallic thing I had just touched, it was the person who was leading me through the darkness. . . my locked heart was slowly beginning to pry open. Exiting the Dark Passage I had so much fun I wanted to do it again, but this time I wanted to be the one to lead.
Sitting On A Bench
Waiting for her to freshen up in the ladies room, I looked up at the trees, the blue sky, and the sun with a new perspective on everything. It’s like I had been blind my whole life and now I was thankful for the simple gift of being able to see. I was happy to even make drawings at all even if I thought they were bad. What I was most happy to see came smiling and waving from across the clearing, lifting my camera it’s something I wanted to capture and keep hold of, but I was always disappointed in the pictures. . . megapixels can never capture the beauty of the real thing.
We also took the time to visit the guard tower upon taking her shoes off she pointed out that she had worn american flag socks because she was going on a date with me. Not only was that really cute, but it gave me insight into the small attention to detail girls keep in mind when composing an outfit. It’s crazy how a difference of only two stories makes when viewing a city, I didn’t know Nagano was this beautiful until now. . . a year ago I didn’t even know what Nagano was.
My Favorite Food
was a deep fried pork cutlet, she had remembered that from our first date and we sat one of the best places around town to get it. It’s funny because she was taking pictures of me on the date too. . . it was a foreign feeling being the subjects of photos, but I figured I might as well live it up and have fun posing. “嬉しいそう” you look happy with Katsu! But it wasn’t only the katsu that made me happy it was sharing a katsu meal with a girl I like which made it really special.
Do you want crepes?
was girl code for “let’s get crepes” so next we went to eat sweets. . . which was the sweetest part of the day. Upon receiving the crepe we made our way to the bench . . . I was actually planning to try to feed her seeing as we only had one crepe, but I was beaten to the punch. I was staring at a cheesecake topped spoon a little bit away from my face. All these memories I didn’t even know my brain was capable of keeping surfaced. . . first your parents feed you, then they want you to feed yourself, and then when they miss the feeling of feeding you they want to try to feed you and then you say “NO I CAN DO IT MYSELF”. Here I was looking at a spoon. . . what did I do. . . well I took the bite of course. What an odd feeling being fed even my favorite food tasted better when served this way. I poked my spoon into the crepe and fed her.
In my time of always being alone I would get salty when I saw couples do this kind of thing in public, but only because I was jealous I knew I really wanted to do things like this deep down. The crepe got smaller and smaller. And before my chance was over I decided to take a risk now no longer using our spoons we were simply feeding each other the crepe so when it was my turn to feed her. . . I “missed” and got some on her nose, what followed was a fun little game of “no please don’t put crepe on my face” before we made our way to a cafe before dinner.
My Melody
is a member of the Hello Kitty cast, but other than that, most people listen to music, and the people who don’t enjoy music I will never understand you I’m sorry. One of the ways to really get to know someone is to listen to their playlists and music library. Everyone has an organic metronome ticking in their chest. . .they walk with their own rhythm the melodies we produce when we hum,sing, or improvise are colored with the different hues we pick up throughout our lives.
As a music lover the experience of listening to music with girl was an item on the bucket list for sure. I wish I could have paused time and listened to that entire playlist, but the next place we were going was the music store. Before heading to the music store she opened up about her life in Nagano, often she was too busy to even know what half the places were as she simply zoomed by them to get from point a to point b. Upon reaching her bike I carried her bag and pushed her bike for her. As we chatted she opened up about her dreams, she had originally wanted to be a musician. . . a pianist. We made our way into the music store and when her fingers hit the keys my heart melted.
Not only was she good. . . she was amazing, to hear that she was already considering giving up her dreams at the young age of nineteen made me feel powerless. As someone trying to make it as an artist and musician myself I understand the struggles of facing reality. . .if I had to live and eat off my art and music I’d be homeless and would have starved to death by now. My mind searched for ways I could provide an answer to this problem. I then thought of ways to pay for studio equipment, a piano, and provide a backbone for dream chasing. I found that it was much easier to wake up at five in the morning after hearing her dream.
I’ve Always Wanted To Go Here
We sat at the bar like two adults. . . I mean we were adults, but I couldn’t help feel like a kid in the guise of an adult, she must have felt the same because she turned to me and said “I feel so grown up”. The place we ate at was a fancy wood fired pizza place and we had front row seats to the pizza making process, which was admittedly really fun to witness. As the night slowed down she expressed words which were the exact things I was feeling. . . I want this night to last longer. . . she also said words I will never be able to forget, words no one has told me before
Meeting You Was A Miracle
We walked to the station where I had to take my train, as she was saying bye I told her to wait and kissed her hand(something that didn’t go over to well with the last girl I tried that with), but it seemed to go well this time. After the kiss I looked her in the eyes and lightly bit her hand.
“Remember I said you’re so cute I wanted to eat you” which is a pickup line which I got from philosopher Alan Watts. The original quote is I love you so much I could eat you, but it was a little heavy handed so I changed love to cute. She said Baka smiling and I felt good as I lightly put her hand down and started walking away. . . I wanted to walk backwards and keep looking. My perfect sunday had ended.
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