The rest of the week passed quickly, and I dropped into bed exhausted each night. I had started teaching my own classes after a day of shadowing Victor. My hands shook when I stood alone in front of a group of middle schoolers so I gripped the English textbook hard. The lesson was already set, I just had to guide the class through it. I had been a little worried that my written English was rusty after spending the last year at university here in Japan, but my year abroad in Canada was serving me better now than I had ever expected. And using English to talk to the other staff at Motto made me feel a little nostalgic and miss my friends from Toronto.  

Once I got the lesson moving, the kids were easy to keep focused. We even finished the work before the end of class, so we played hangman on the dry-erase board, English words only, which caused some mayhem but I think I managed to get their homework assigned before they spilled out of the room haphazardly like a pile of kittens. 

The adult class was a little more intimidating; all of my students were much older than me. They wore serious faces as they stared me down but after I explained that I was Japanese and had learned English while living in Canada, they appeared to soften. Some of the adult students were there because they were interested in learning, and others were there because their bosses forced them to learn English for work. With the adults, the more I smiled and gave encouragement while helping them one-on-one, the more they seemed to enjoy the lesson. 

On Friday evening, Victor suggested we go for drinks to celebrate finishing our first week as teachers. Gabbie agreed first.

 I leaned over to whisper to her, “Good call. In my culture, you can’t decline an invitation from your boss.” 

Gabbie gave me a hesitant, questioning smile.

“Oh, no,” Victor chuckled. “No obligation from me. If you’re tired, I understand. But why not cut loose for a bit? You deserve it. You guys worked hard this week and you got out of your comfort zone.”

Sandy and the school administrator, Miho, joined us in the office and we headed down the street to a bar. The sun was still setting, and it felt a little weird to head into a bar before it was fully dark. Music already thudded from the dark brick façade. Victor hurried to the door to hold it open for everyone. I nodded to him in thanks as I passed and entered the dimly lit bar. Neon signs hung on the walls. The smell of spilled alcohol and cologne met me as my eyes adjusted to the semi-darkness. There were a few groups of people and loners here and there throughout the bar, but it was early for it to be busy. 

I sensed Gabbie walking slowly behind me, so I headed toward the bar, the idea of buying her a drink already in my head. I placed one elbow on the shiny black bar, waiting for the bartender to come over, and casually turned to my left as if surprised to see Gabbie there. 

“What are you drinking? It’s on me,” I offered, hoping my blush didn’t show in the neon light. 

Gabbie scanned the chalkboard menu on the wall behind the bar, written in both Japanese and English. 

“Nah, I’m buying you both your first drinks of the night.” Victor sauntered up behind us, slapping bills on the bar. 

I forced a grin at him. “Really? Arigatou, boss.” 

Gabbie asked him for a rum and Coke, and I picked a Sapporo beer, then Victor ordered for us in Japanese when the tattooed female bartender approached. 

“Hey, where’s my drink?” Sandy demanded from behind us. 

Victor pretended to grumble and reached for his wallet. Once all our drinks were served, Victor led us in a toast by lifting his beer up. 

“To your amazing first week as amazing teachers!”

We raised our glasses and clinked them together.

“Kanpai!” 

“How long did it take you to learn Japanese?” Gabbie asked Victor after we had all drunk.

Victor led us away from the bar to a table as he spoke. “About a year. After I’d lasted about six months here, I started to take learning the language more seriously and studied kanji. I’m still learning new vocabulary all the time, but it took about a year to be conversational.” 

“Wow, that’s impressive,” Gabbie said.

“I’m sure Sandy was even faster than that.” Victor gestured with his drink at her.

Sandy smiled wryly. “I came here for university, so I was actively studying the day after I landed.” 

“Speaking of studying,” Victor said. “We should discuss adding a Spanish class to the schedule.”

Gabbie nodded eagerly. They went back and forth a few times with suggestions before settling on a Friday afternoon class they could teach together.

“Aw,” I lamented. “I have to teach during that time.” 

“Sorry, buddy.” Victor lifted a shoulder. “You want to learn Spanish that badly, huh?” 

I didn’t answer before Gabbie cut in, though her soft voice was difficult to catch through the J-rock blasting from nearby speakers. “It’s okay. We’re going to do a language exchange, right? Tobio will help me learn Japanese.” 

I nodded, fighting off beaming. “I’ll put together something for your first lesson.” 

Victor launched into a story. “That reminds me of a time when I was teaching in Peru…” 

I had learned earlier in the week that Victor was the type of person who could rope you into an extracurricular conversation for a minimum of one hour, which I didn’t mind at all, except that the ladies, including Gabbie, had gotten up at some point to get more drinks and wander. 

“…I woke up to a dog licking my face. Then I had to hobble back down the mountain with the remnants of my thrashed bicycle. Anyway, I’m going to get another beer. You want one?” Victor moved to stand. 

“Sure.” I made to get up too. “I’m just going to visit the little teacher’s room.”

The bar had filled up with more patrons as we’d talked, and I had to weave between groups of people to get to the washrooms at the back. The men’s room was empty, so I took a moment to assess my appearance in the mirror. I unbuttoned the top two buttons of my shirt, rolled up the sleeves to my elbows, and attempted to mess with my hair, decided it looked ridiculous, and smoothed it back into its normal place. 

Upon exiting the washroom, I scanned the bar for my colleagues. Gabbie stood at the bar, but her head was turned toward a man engaged in conversation. My stomach dropped, then turned sick as the man's head angled to the side and I realized it was him—Yuya. I had to catch myself from spinning right back around and hiding in the washroom.

Why was he here again? First, the park the other day, and now less than a week later, he was back. He must work or live nearby, though I wouldn’t put it past him to follow me. It wouldn’t be the first time. Jackass.

I steeled myself, then started a controlled walk that probably looked stiff and not at all casual, making my way over to the bar, coming to a stop on the other side of Gabbie. Heat rose from my collar up my neck. I rested my hands on the bar, staring straight ahead and trying to catch their conversation over the loud music. Gabbie was unintelligible but I could distantly hear Yuya’s deep voice.

“Anyway, thanks for your number. I’ll be texting you later.”

I saw him shake his phone out of the corner of my eye, and thought his narrow eyes slid over to me before he backed away and disappeared into the crowd. 

“All right, thanks for the drink,” Gabbie called after him, loud enough that I heard her that time. 

“You’ve only been here a week and already getting picked up by the locals,” I said, bitterness in my tone. My neck immediately began to burn and I regretted even opening my mouth. 

Gabbie looked at me with slight surprise. “I don’t think so, he wants to learn English.” 

“Sure.” I sent her a dubious look and bit back what I really wanted to say. To warn her that Yuya was bad news, nothing but scum. But I had already been too forward. She might never find out that I had a past with Yuya if I was careful. 

I finished my next drink and took my leave from the party without running into him again, walking home alone, a little buzzed. My parents were already asleep so I snuck into the shower, then bath, and stayed submerged in the deep tub for way too long, fuming while imagining fictional fights between Yuya and I and how I would tell him exactly what I thought of him. Even though she was pretty and perfectly likeable, I doubted Yuya would have even noticed Gabbie if he hadn’t seen me with her first. 

Gabbie approached the school the next Monday from the opposite direction I did. She waved to me from afar and dropped her eyes shyly. It was a bit awkward that we spotted each other from too far down the street to be in earshot but I took the opportunity to admire her outfit for the day: a gauzy, ruffled top with a tweed brown skirt. She clutched her lesson items in a tote bag under her arm. Her hair was half up, the rest blowing gently in the warm spring breeze.

“Hi, Tobi,” she said once we were close enough to each other. 

The nickname made my heart flutter. 

“Good morning,” I answered and opened the school door for her. 

“I thought we could start our language exchange lesson this Friday after our classes if you’re free?” Gabbie prompted once we had changed footwear and headed upstairs. 

“Sounds good,” I answered, flashing a grin at her. I couldn’t wait.

I prepared for work on Friday morning with extra care, shaving the sparse hair on my upper lip, spraying cologne on my chest and messing with my hair for longer than usual. 

“What is that smell?” Mom asked when I came downstairs. 

“Is it bad?” I paused. 

She sniffed again. “It’s strong.”

She handed me a bento box while giving me an up-and-down look. 

“I’ll be staying a bit late at work tonight,” I said, and took the bento from her, stuffing it into my backpack and running to the door. 

The clock ticked in slow motion through my classes. My students’ mistakes and inane questions prickled me today, which they usually didn’t. Finally, the hands on the clock approached five, so I stood to instruct my middle school students to start packing up. And they better get out on time. No stragglers allowed this evening.