Chapter One

It was stupid to think my past was behind me. I wish that thought had crossed my mind the first time I saw Gabbie at Motto School’s orientation day. It was the beginning of the school year, and my new job as an English teacher, with the staff clustered outside the short, white school building. Pink cherry blossom petals lined the dark asphalt of the street in the glaring sun of that spring morning. 

Gabbie shielded her eyes to look at Victor, the school’s owner, as he addressed us, and I noticed she had braces, though she had to be around the same age I was. I couldn’t tear my eyes from her, even though I was supposed to be listening to Victor, too, and told myself it was because I hadn’t seen a new, especially non-Japanese, face around here in a while. It had been over a year since I’d moved back home to Japan from Canada. Gabbie was pretty; I decided that before I’d even learned her name. She was petite, lithe, with freckle-dotted skin, eyes rimmed in dark makeup, and a cape of long, curly hair. Tiny braids pulled her hair off her forehead. And those braces, enveloped by full, rose-pink lips. 

“Now,” Victor clapped his hands together. “Let’s all get acquainted. We have two new teachers joining us.” He turned toward me. “Tobio Hamada, a local and recent grad from Handai.” 

I smiled and did my best to make eye contact with the other staff members who clapped politely for me. 

“And Gabriela Sanchez, from the USA.” Victor turned to her, arm extended. 

“Just Gabbie is fine,” she said. Her voice was light and sweet.

“Gabbie. That will certainly be easier for the Japanese speakers to pronounce,” Victor said. 

She caught my eye and smiled. I sent it back. 

Victor introduced us to the other teacher, Sandy, and the office administrator, Miho. “We can take a tour of the building now, then head out to hanami for lunch.”

The school was small, and it took less than thirty minutes to show us every room inside. I walked between Victor and Sandy to a park down the street from Motto English School. They had both moved to Japan decades ago from America, and they regaled me with the many jobs they’d held before Victor started Motto School. 

“Sandy and I were discussing which class to give you,” Victor said. He was a middle-aged Peruvian-American with glasses. “You’re so young, the kids and even the students your age might be too much. But then the older adults might struggle to respect you as their teacher.” 

I glanced between him and Sandy. “The kids are too much?” 

Middle school was when I had begun eikaiwa, or English cram school, after my regular classes. I couldn’t remember exactly how the class had been, but I had loved learning English immediately, so I hadn’t caused any trouble. But now that I thought about it, there were a number of incidents during my regular school days that probably left my teachers frustrated or angry. At that age, I had never imagined becoming a teacher myself, so my teachers’ experiences hadn’t crossed my mind until now. I wondered how much of the inner workings of the student body the teachers knew about at that time. 

“I want to try both,” I declared after consideration. 

Victor and Sandy looked at me with surprise. 

“I want an adult class and a children's class,” I told them. 

Victor smiled. “All right, but don’t say I didn’t warn you. The kids have me tuckered out after wrangling them for hours.”

We had wandered into the centre of the park, cherry blossom petals drifting like snow through the air to the gutters. Groups of friends huddled under the trees for flower viewing, and mothers with kids played nearby. Our school administrator spread a blanket out on the grass once we picked a spot. I moved over to let others sit first, removing my shoes, and found myself next to Gabbie.

“Sorry, is there a washroom nearby?” Gabbie asked.

I glanced at her but she was asking Victor for advice.

“It’s that pink building over there.” Victor pointed. 

“Thanks.” Gabbie trotted off. 

I stretched out my legs on the blanket and put my hand on the spot next to me to stop someone else from taking it. The administrator revealed drinks she’d brought for everyone in a plastic bag. The staff wasn’t large, a handful of us teachers and a couple of people on the administration side. 

“So, you lived in Toronto?” Victor prompted me.

I nodded, cracking open the black and yellow can of seltzer I’d been handed. Lemon-scented carbonation tickled my nostrils as I took a swig. 

“I went to school there for a year,” I said after I’d swallowed my first gulp. “I finished university here in Osaka, though.”

“I’ve never been there, but Toronto must have been a big shock compared to this place,” Victor said. Takaishi is a tiny city on Osaka Bay, but it feels like a small village sometimes with plenty of home-grown shops and restaurants and the same faces popping up everywhere I go. My neighbours had known our family for years. We knew everyone on our street by name. So someone new in town, especially a foreigner, was practically headline news. 

My mouth split into a grin. “Oh yeah. But Toronto was like a small town compared to Tokyo. I’ve always lived in Takaishi. Both my parents were born in Osaka. But I’m glad I went there, I’m sure it helped me land this job.”

“It sure did. Your English was stellar on your application.” Victor popped a chocolate-covered biscuit into his mouth and leaned back on his hands. “It’s interesting, huh? All the differences and similarities throughout the world.”

“Where are you from originally?” I asked Victor, though Gabbie drew my gaze emerging from the park washroom.

I heard Victor’s answer somewhat distantly. I didn’t think she could see me watching her from a distance, so I shamelessly let my eyes follow her path toward our group. But she was stopped on her way, and my heart halted at the same time. A group of guys had called out to her as she passed, not in an aggressive way, a friendly enough greeting, but my hackles were up. The guys were my age, mostly wearing black, and I don’t know how I didn’t see him before, but I recognized the one eyeing Gabbie intensely.

Yuya. 

It was all I could do to keep my tailbone glued to the ground. 

“Everything okay over there?” Victor noticed my gaze and turned to see what had my attention. “Are those some hooligans?” 

“No, I think she’s fine,” I muttered, not breaking my gaze.

The guys bowed with their heads, sending her on her way, and Gabbie gave them a little bow then headed up the path once again. That was the moment Yuya turned his hard gaze to me. Even though he was at least fifty feet away, I could tell his eyes were boring into me. Staring me down. He recognized me too.

Crap.

I broke the staring contest first, dropping my gaze to my lap so I wouldn’t have to explain to Victor. Gabbie returned to her seat next to me, slightly out of breath.

“They weren’t giving you a hard time, were they?” Victor’s eyebrows came together.

“Oh, no.” Gabbie flipped his concern away with one hand. “They asked if I was new here and introduced themselves.” 

She met my eyes briefly. I nodded and tried to force myself to smile. 

“Everyone has been so nice so far,” Gabbie went on, but her voice began to fade into the background.

I couldn’t focus anymore with the feeling of Yuya’s eyes on me. I hadn’t seen him in so long, I'd really thought that the past was behind us. When I finally hazarded a glance up, Yuya was still staring at me. He let his gaze linger long enough on me, then on Gabbie, to clearly communicate he noticed the two of us sitting together, then finally looked away. 

A sigh escaped my chest before I could stop it. 

“You tired, Tobio?” Victor questioned. “This hanami isn’t mandatory if you need to take off. We’ll continue training tomorrow.” 

I shook my head. “No, no. I’m fine. I’ll stick around.” 

I turned to engage Gabbie and the others in conversation. “So, what did you major in? Was it Gabbie?”

She nodded, exposing her cute braces in a small smile. “Early childhood development, actually, so I’m excited to get more teaching experience here.”

“What brought you to Japan? Anything in particular?” Sandy asked.

“My friend studied abroad during college, so I started looking into it. She wasn’t in Japan, but I found some videos online from people who had moved here from the States. It looked so pretty and the culture interested me, and I found out I could qualify.” 

I nodded enthusiastically at her praise for my home country. 

“I’m not that close with my parents,” Gabbie went on. “But they still tried to convince me to stay.” 

Victor abruptly broke into Spanish, addressing solely Gabbie. She perked up at that and fired back in rapid Spanish. They both burst into laughter, and I glanced at Sandy while we chuckled awkwardly along. I lifted my can to my mouth to drink again. 

“I’ve been wanting to start a Spanish class at Motto School,” Victor said in English again. “It would make so much sense with you here if you don’t mind teaching that too.” 

“I would love to,” Gabbie said, eyes sparkling. A rush of cherry blossom petals fell around us with a gust of wind and a few caught in her curls. 

***

I went to bed that night with my phone in hand, trying to find Gabbie’s social media but with no luck. She likely had a boyfriend back home, since she was such a cute girl, but I would have to confirm that in a more direct way. Then I remembered Yuya. I searched for him but all I found was his tattoo portfolio, which explained why I had never seen him around Handai, my university in Osaka, or even heard down the grapevine from other classmates if he had gone to school anywhere else. But if he had a girlfriend currently, then maybe I wouldn’t have to worry about him. I hadn’t even thought about him when returning to Takaishi since it had been years since high school and the chance that he had moved away was high. 

Sighing again, I closed Instagram and fell asleep in the middle of looking up Spanish study resources. Maybe I could add a third language to my roster. 

We arrived at the school early in the morning, me right before Gabbie. I could hear other staff moving around upstairs before Gabbie entered through the front door. I had just changed shoes and she remembered from the day before our custom of changing into indoor footwear. 

“Good morning,” I said as she came through the door and sat on the edge of the genkan to remove her sneakers. 

She greeted me too and moved over to the shelf of shoes to pick a pair. I waited for her so we could enter the school together. Today she wore a business casual outfit, grey slacks with a red collared shirt, and her mass of hair pulled back into a ponytail. 

“I guess we go upstairs from here,” she said, having found a pair of shoes her size. 

I climbed the stairs slowly, hoping she’d match my pace and we could talk for a minute. “Did you do a work placement before you graduated?”

“At a pre-school, yeah. It wasn’t much teaching, mostly making sure the kids didn’t pull furniture down on top of themselves, but it was super fun. How about you? Is this your first time teaching?” 

“Yeah.” I let a note of nervousness enter my voice. “I got this job because I already learned English, but I’m not sure what to expect. My degree is in sports science. I went to eikaiwa as a kid, but I didn’t consider becoming a teacher until I saw the opening here. I can walk or bike here from home, so hopefully this job is a good fit.” 

“I’m sure you’ll be great.” Gabbie flashed me her braces as we reached the top of the stairs. 

“I think so too,” Victor said as he exited ‌his office. “Did you guys bring stuff to take notes?”

We both nodded. 

“All right,” Victor said. “Tobio, you can go with me today, and Gabbie, you can shadow Sandy for the day.” 

That smarted a bit. I wouldn’t see Gabbie again for a while. I followed Victor into a classroom, and he began to show me what he’d prepare for the incoming class of adult students. The morning passed fairly quickly and his students were welcoming and curious about me, helping me relax. I might actually be good at this teaching thing. 

We convened in Victor’s office again for lunch, I pulled out my bento that Mom had sent to work with me and Victor revealed the one his wife had made for him. 

Sandy and Gabbie entered a few moments after we did, Gabbie coming up short upon seeing our packed lunches. 

“I didn’t think to bring something,” Gabbie said, going slightly pale.

“No worries,” Sandy said, striding to her bag in a corner. “My husband is a caterer. He packed me extra food to share with the newbies.” 

“No way.” I couldn’t stop myself from lighting up. Mom’s bento was nice but I always had room for more. 

Sandy removed a large container and set it before us on Victor’s desk, then passed a set of disposable chopsticks to Gabbie. 

“It’s just leftovers from his work yesterday. Don’t need to get too excited.”

We dug into noodle stir fry and sushi with cries of thanks. 

“There aren’t really any restaurants close by,” Sandy advised Gabbie. “But there’s a grocery store a block away if you need to grab something to eat in the future.” 

Gabbie paled again, looking fearful.

“Don’t worry, I can show you,” Sandy reassured her.

After eating and chatting for a few minutes, Sandy got up to print off things she needed for her class, and Victor stood to start the coffee maker. He was still in the room, but a silence fell over Gabbie and me at the desk. 

“Where are you staying? Near here?” I ventured after an awkward beat.

Gabbie nodded. “Victor secured an apartment for me before I ever left the States. I can walk here, too,” she said, recalling our conversation from this morning. 

“That’s convenient. Have you learned any Japanese?” 

Gabbie wrinkled her nose adorably. “I’ve tried a little bit, but it’s really hard for me to stop doing the rolled Spanish Rs sometimes.” 

“I can help you sometime if you want,” I offered, maybe too quickly. 

“See, a natural teacher,” Victor said, returning to the desk and clapping me on the shoulder. “Sandy and I speak Japanese too, but if you can learn from a native speaker like Tobio, then that would be best.” 

“Maybe we can do a language exchange if you’re interested in Spanish.” Gabbie smiled at me, and my heart jumped into my throat. 

“Absolutely.”