Jet Lag

I lay in bed looking at the ceiling and sighed. I could not get to sleep. I knew jet lag was a thing but I had no idea how much it sucked until I had gotten to Tokyo. I sighed again and turned to the ceiling-to-floor windows that covered the wall next to my bed. The hotel room I was staying in was quite nice, almost like one of those gigolo penthouses you see in the movies but with everything in one room. The window outside showed skyscrapers that touched the moon and glowing neon lights that softly lit up my room in a blend of colours. I took off my covers and stood at the window. It was sprinkling rain outside and although it was late the city was still bustling with energy. People were walking quickly along the streets, hurrying to either get to their destination or out of the rain.

I may as well explore if I can't sleep then. 

I turned to my bag sitting on the floor, pulled out some clothes and got ready to explore. 

As I walked out onto the street the rain petered off, leaving everything in a sort of shine that reflected the billboards and neon signs onto the road.

The first thing I noticed was that signs lit up every part of every building on every street, making it look straight out of a cyber movie. The second thing I noticed was there was no parking on the side of the roads, making the street look significantly more tidy. As I walked along the busy roads I noticed little undercover alleys that were packed with even more people, vendors and neon signs, it reminded me of an anime I had watched but I couldn't quite pick the name. As I was walking past the third alleyway I had seen, a delicious smell wafted towards me and my stomach grumbled and I remembered I hadn't eaten since being on the plane like 5 hours ago. 

I wandered down the alley, ignoring the vendors trying to pull me into their shops as I followed the delicious smell, which led me to an array of food carts and little restaurants, all squeezed together. Each restaurant has roller doors, making them look like small 3 walled rooms. Some of the shops have small bars just behind the threshold with little stools underneath and the kitchen directly behind while others just have openings where the roller door would be straight into the shop. Every restaurant was bathed in a yellow-orange light and decorated with all types of signs and pictures written in Kanji script. There were lit-up neon signs above the alleyway along with the occasional cherry blossom hanging above. The sound of frying oil, and shouts filled the air as the busy restaurants tended to their customers. People were sitting on little stools outside of these shops, eating and laughing and just enjoying themselves, it made me smile a little. My stomach grumbled a little louder as new smells hit the air. 

There are so many options, what do I want to eat?

I looked around and saw a delicious-looking noodle shop with some empty stools placed around a bar, looking into a small kitchen. It reminded me of a teppanyaki restaurant but was more authentic. The restaurant walls were made of wood and were covered in heaps of posters, there were also gorgeous red lanterns hanging from the ceiling and one wall covered in polaroids of people who had eaten in the restaurant. There was a very nice-looking guy in the kitchen tossing what looked like shallots in a wok, adding sauces as he went. It looked delicious. I made my way over to the shop and sat on one of the stools. The guy cooking in front of me looked up at me and smiled as he flambéed the food in the wok, heating my face and filling my nose with delicious smells. 

My mouth watered. 

I took a look at the menu in front of me and tried to read the Japanese based on the pictures that filled the little bound book. I gave up pretty quickly and pulled out Google Translate on my phone. It all sounded delicious and I had no idea what to get but I was getting hungrier by the minute so I had to choose something. But before I could pick something random off the menu I felt a presence beside me. I looked up and saw the most gorgeous person sitting down beside me. They had long dark brown hair sitting just above their waist and chocolate brown eyes to match with an intricate design of black eyeliner surrounding them. They wore a red fishnet top with a band t-shirt and a strapless corset over the top. They were also wearing a short red plaid skirt and some black fishnet stockings that led into platform combat boots. And to top it all off They had all the jewelry you could think of. Chains across their waist and attached to their corset, a nose piercing, eyebrow piercing, 3 lobe piercings and cartridge piercings up both sides of their ears. I must have been staring because they smiled at me and said 'Get the pho, it's amazing here'. I don't think my brain was working right cause I just nodded. They smiled brightly again, gestured for a waitress and ordered for both of us in fluent Japanese. I was amazed. They turned to me again and put their hand out, 'My name is Mei, my pronouns are she/they'. I snapped out of it, smiled and shook her hand, 'I'm Myah, and my pronouns are they/them, lovely to meet you'. Somehow her smile became brighter as she said 'You looked very distressed on lonesome here so I thought I'd help you out'. I smiled gratefully at her, 'That is very true, but what made you want to help out a stranger?' I asked. Her eyes went wide as she blushed and looked down. She looked back up at me, her cheeks dusted with pink and she said quietly, 'I thought you were cute'.