New Dawn: A New Tale
#11 of New Dawn
Ok been forever since I updated and I'm sorry this one is sort of short but at least it's something. I hope you enjoy it and leave comments and hopefully I'll finish posting this story soon if not this year.
11. A New Tale
Well the next day passed by easily, I came across Norito at the dojo but his father kept us apart. I guess Norito still wasn't that happy to have someone who had beaten him around. I guess he'd been top dog for awhile now and didn't take to kindly to me taking that from him. Wasn't my fault either way and I ignored him as Satutobi instructed the class and I tried to take what he showed me and learn from it. I was learning a lot from him and I was already formulating ways of getting this into the club back home.
It was a long lesson, but it was good to work at it and learn more. Eventually, though the lesson ended and everyone else left but I told Genta that we needed to wait for my dad. While we waited I helped him on his form and with a little bit of work I saw a definite improvement in how he held his stance.
It took awhile but my dad finally managed to find the dojo and once Genta and he were introduced we headed over to their apartment building. As luck would have it we arrived just as Juri was coming out to head to the market and we went along with her to get some things for dinner.
I had decided last night that I would just make some plain cheeseburgers for tonight. They were simple enough and not too expensive to make and when we got back to the apartment I set out making them. It wasn't much but I did add a few things to the meat to make them taste better that I had learned from my mom years ago.
While I cooked my dad talked with Mr. Takahashi about the move and gave his own advice about what to look for when choosing a house and what to watch out for. After having bought, rented, and lived in dozens of houses over the course of 15 years I guess he thought himself something of an expert on the subject. I certainly didn't deny that at all.
The burgers turned out pretty well, but since they didn't have a deep fryer I decided to try to stir fry some potato slices and add some spices to make what I dubbed 'oriental fries'. For having just come up with the concept and recipe they came out pretty well. I served up some steamed rice and some steamed carrots with the burgers with cheese and pickles and we sat down to eat.
Everyone seemed to really enjoy them as we sat around and talked for the next hour or so as we ate. After that me and my dad thanked them for their hospitality and we went back to our hotel. It wasn't that eventful of a day nor was the week very interesting at all after that. I would go to the dojo each day and then either walk Genta home and sometimes would stay for dinner which my dad would join us for or I'd go back to the hotel and we'd eat out from someplace.
That was the way the week went and that weekend my dad and I walked along the waterways and saw some more of the city. It wasn't an eventful weekend but I did go to an arcade while my dad had a drink at a bar. The games they had were always a nice way to pass the time but I really enjoyed staying in our room and reading and drawing more than anything.
After the weekend came the week I'd have to escort Juri and Genta out to the small town they were moving at to look for housing. It's not like I had anything better to do anyway; Jessan was hanging out with Tomaka and Nanario was off to play a new concert, so this was a nice way to kill some time and get to see more of Japan.
We decided to take a train out to the town and from there get a cab or bus to go to a real estate agent who could help us look for a place for them to stay. I had never really been outside of Tokyo during our stay here; normally my dad was really busy during the week so we couldn't travel real far outside the city. Plus Tokyo was a big city with lots to do so there was rarely anything we wanted to go see anyway.
We got on the train and sat together through the hour long trip to get to the city. I decided to just sleep through most of it, mainly because long car, or in this case train, rides made me sleepy and I would just doze off without intending to. Through this though we kept pretty quiet, Juri read a book she had brought with her and Genta played a hand held game system.
After several stops and a little over an hour later we finally arrived at the town known as Choshi. It seemed to be a very old town; it had a temple pagoda that was easily seen from the train station and the moment we got off the train I also noticed that there were a lot more furs around than I'd seen in the last 2 weeks.
Genta seemed a bit frightened as we walked along, he hadn't been around a lot of furs before so I made sure he stuck close as we walked down the steps of the station. It really was a beautiful place and it reminded me a bit of my home as I looked around.
"This certainly is a nice place isn't it you two? I think we could live here comfortably, but first we need to find a realtor to talk with. Let me get a cab and we'll have a look around, sound good?"
"That sounds like a plan, Juri-san, I did a little research last night and I think there's a nice one not too far from here."
She agreed to that and we were soon in a cab and heading towards a realtor's office. We got out and I looked at the sign that read "Takashi's House Hunting". It seemed the business was based around finding homes for others like the normal realty offices I'd seen had. We went into the building and saw a male crane in his late 20s standing and talking on a cell phone. We waited a moment until he hung up and walked over to us. He was wearing a nice pair of blue pants and a light blue shirt over his body with a loose light green tie as he walked over to us and shook mine and Ms. Juri's hands.
"Hello there, My name is Takashi Satoshi are you looking for housing or are you wanting to sell a home today?"
"My name is Juri Takahashi and we are looking for housing here in the area, Takashi-san, my husband, son, and myself will be moving to the area in a few months and we are hoping to find a place before we need to move."
The crane nodded and looked at us and then really studied me for a second. He rose his brow and then looked back at Juri before he about made me punch him.
"Isn't he a bit young to be your husband though? He barely looks to be 20 years old?"
I jerked and blushed at what he said, "I'm not her husband! And I'm only 17!"
I muttered and fidgeted in embarrassment as the crane quickly apologized and bowed looking almost as embarrassed as I felt before he moved for us to sit and he went through some files he had in a cabinet by his desk. He selected a few and set them before us.
"Well Mrs. Takahashi here are some nice houses and apartments to be leased in the area, would you like to go see them?"
She nodded and I looked at some of the files quickly before I pulled out two files and pointed them out to her. One house was priced pretty decent and it didn't seem so low that it was suspicious. The pictures showed it had nice indoors and a nice yard that reminded me a lot of Jessan's home. It had two bathrooms and 3 bedrooms a nice sized kitchen and seemed to be in a good part of the area.
The other was a bit more expensive but was said to be near the park in the town. It also had three beds but had two and a half baths along with a dining area that seemed to be enclosed in a nook like structure connected to the house. Both places looked nice enough and well priced but the only thing that we could do is go to look at them before making any decisions.
"Very well, these two places were recently put on the market by reputable families and I think that either one will make excellent home for a family of humans and... adopted son?"
I got a deadpan look on my face and just sighed, "I'm a friend of the family ok? Let's just go see these homes now and see which one will work out best for them."
We left the office from that and got into the car that the crane seemed to use and drove to the smaller of the two houses. It was located in a nice enough area but as the crane showed the house off I looked around the house frame, the gutters, and all around the rooms. Although the house was in good enough shape I could tell there were a few problems which is why the price was so low. It wasn't so bad that they couldn't be fixed but it would take a lot of work and I wasn't sure if they would be able to do it themselves or if they wanted to.
I told Juri this and she thanked me for pointing that out. While they could afford to likely get all the problems fixed it would be a nuisance to have to get it done without knowing any good handymen in the area. So while the house was nice she decided that she would have to see the next house before making any decisions on property.
Takahashi drove us to the next house and we looked around at the area before we looked at the house. It was a lovely area situated near the park like the papers had said, a school was close enough to walk to, and there was a store less than two blocks away to get food from as well. It was situated in a prime location so that definitely had a lot going for it already.
I examined the area again and made sure that there weren't any real big flaws with it and looked at the grass and yard which looked especially well manicured and taken care of. A few flowering bushes were planted along the edge of the house and there was a nice place for a vegetable, flower, or herb garden to be grown in the back. There were also 3 very nice Japanese Maple trees located around the perimeter of the yard which looked healthy and strong.
Inside I examined the bathrooms and found they had some very good fur driers and even a sun lamp to keep the place warm in the winter. The floors were all hardwood, tiled or laminate and looked to have been put in within the last 10 years at most. The kitchen had a good stove and oven along with a dishwasher. Upon examining the bedrooms I saw that the last tenants had had a young boy and a girl that was likely still in her infancy from the bright pink paint on the walls in one room and the other having a cartoonish looking banner around the top of the walls on the other. It would take a bit of work to repaint the rooms and get the pasted on banner off but it wouldn't take that much effort and could easily be all done in one weekend.
The master bedroom was indeed large and after looking around the only thing that was an issue was a slight dent in the floor. Looking at the wall above it, it seemed like there had been something hanging there at one point and by the size of the dent in the floor it likely was something a bit heavy. Other than that it seemed like the house was in excellent condition. The roof looked good, there were no leaks or watermarks in the ceiling or anywhere there might be pipes and it looked like the house was well worth the asking price, but I felt that it could be knocked down a bit if handled properly.
Juri was impressed with all that I had found and agreed that the house definitely looked like a better deal. She told Mr. Takashi that she'd keep the copy of the file and talk to her husband about it before they made a decision and that they'd likely have a decision within the next day or two. After that she decided to look around the town a bit and get to know the area a bit better.
We explored around the town for awhile and eventually found a small store to get some lunch from. After that we made our way to the park and along the way we saw various furs of many species, shapes, sizes, and appearances. For me it was nothing but for Genta it was a bit of a culture shock I guessed as he kept close to me.
"You don't have to be afraid, Genta, they're no different than you and your friends are. Just treat them like you would treat a human and you'll be fine." I pet his head as we sat down at a bench and he sighed again still looking nervous. I guess I could tell him a story and that might calm him down a bit.
"Genta, you know what the kanji for 'emperor' or 'king' is?" He nodded and I pointed to a tiger fur who was walking through the park, "And you see how that mark on his head looks like the same kanji?" He nodded again and I started to tell my tale that I had gotten partially from an old story of Aesop.
You see long ago the tiger didn't have that mark and it, along with all the other animals of the land were ruled by a ruthless lion who was called the king. After many years of unfair rule the tiger grew more and more spiteful of the lion and how unfairly he ruled over everyone. Then one day the lion enacted a law to control the population in order to keep people from gaining too much strength and overthrowing him. He had decreed that if a family had more than three children then they were to be killed and those that already had more than three would have the youngest one killed. This law infuriated the tiger who had four children and when a man came to kill his youngest child the tiger instead killed the man and rallied his neighbors and friends to join him in over throwing the tyrannical king. To mark that he was serious he painted three lines across his forehead to stand for the three child law and then drew a single line through them to show that he was totally against it. That mark became their banner under which they raged battle against the king.
I looked at Genta and he seemed to be hanging onto my every word as his mother looked at me kindly while sipping at her tea drink.
The battle raged for several days, but eventually the tiger prevailed over the tyrant lion. The people then made the tiger the king over them. The tiger became a strong ruler and his family grew strong and wise. By some divine act of the heavens the mark the tiger had drawn upon himself never faded and the banner they had fought on became the symbol for the royal family and thus the symbol for royalty and the king. From that day on all those of tiger blood bore that mark as a symbol of their strength and noble appearance. It doesn't mean, however, that all tigers are good and just though now, nor does it make them better than others. There are also those of tiger blood that don't bear the royal mark for one reason or another but that's a story for another day.
Genta smiled and looked at me happily. It wasn't much of a story but it was enough of one that made him happy. I guess story telling was still a pretty good talent of mine that worked even in other languages. I'd have to write down that story when I got back to the hotel.
After we looked around some more we took a look at the schools and found that they seemed pretty well funded. After that we drove around the town for a little bit and we even went to one of the temples in town which I got a lot of pictures of to put in my scrapbook.
When we got back to the train station it was already getting late and I realized that it would be awhile until we got back to Tokyo. I managed to grab a bite from a vending machine for us and as we got on the train I had to admit that the town was pretty nice. I was pretty sure that no matter where the Takahashi family lived in that area that they'd be welcome into it and that they'd have a happy life here.
I had less than two weeks left in Tokyo now. I wished I could be around to help Genta and his family move, but I was sure they'd be fine.