Dear Tokyo

Week 49-52

As much as I could have, I didn't want to spend the remaining month of my time in Tokyo mourning Edu's absence.

The girls and I had agreed that, with our spring break and semester having been derailed by COVID and essentially gone to waste, we were going to make the most of the rest of the time we had here as responsibly as we could.

We quickly put together a list of places we wanted to visit and compared our schedules to organise when to visit each site. Both Yui's and Ingrid's birthdays were coming up so we took advantage of that by booking tickets to the teamLab Borderless exhibition to celebrate Yui and Disneyland to celebrate Ingrid.

Between those two dates, we scurried around the wards of Tokyo, mainly trying out novelty restaurants and cafes that we had always put off going because we had thought we would have more time.

Cat, Ingrid and I also had bureaucracy to take care of in preparation not only for moving out of the dorm but moving out of the country. We had to inform the dorm of the dates of our flights, which ended up being a mess for me because flights to Australia had been dramatically slashed in the midst of the pandemic and I'd had my mine rescheduled three times already.

We also had to close our bank accounts and deal with the remaining cash we had, and visit the Setagaya Ward Office to inform the city that we would no longer be residents in their records.

Yui's birthday was a blast. A temporary water exhibit had been set up so, in addition to the beautiful light and technological displays of art, we encountered a room filled with milky fragrant water that reached mid-calve and acted as a canvas for the projectors above to present some animation atop it.

Disneyland was Disneyland. Even in a global pandemic, the park was more crowded than we expected. To commemorate the day, our first stop was the souvenir shop to purchase matching mouse-ear headbands to wear as we trotted through all the rides, ate overpriced Disney-themed snacks, and took multiple pictures.

Cat was the first to leave. Her father had booked a shuttle bus for her that would pick her up outside the dorm and ferry her straight to the airport. However, as we helped her carry her bags to the curb outside and waited, something felt wrong. Japanese people were usually extremely punctual and the bus was running late.

When Cat called the company, she was informed that the booking had been made for the next day. She rang her dad in nervous fury but the mistake had already been made. As she scolded him on the phone, Niko, Ingrid and I tried to look up other routes that would take her to the airport in time for her flight.

We came to the conclusion that a taxi, although expensive, was the best way and so we herded everyone onto the bus that would drop us off at Seijogakuen-mae station, where Niko hailed a cab. The farewell was so rushed that I hadn't even got to hug Cat goodbye, but I was just glad to see her make it for her flight on time.

Ingrid left next, and then it was my turn.

Since my parents hadn't been able to come with an extra suitcase for my things, I'd had to give a lot of my belongings to Niko, keeping only the essentials that I could fit in my single suitcase and small carry-on.

My flight was at night. A lady from the office came up to inspect my dorm in the early afternoon and gave me back my deposit once everything was noted to be in its proper place, and I spent the rest of the day in Niko's room until it was time for us to leave. Niko was dropping me off at the airport.

It was even deader than it had been when I'd sent Edu off. We had so much time to kill that we made a pitstop at McDonald's, where Niko embarrassedly and furiously rushing to finish a scrapbook she had been working on for me, imploring me not to look.

She only gave it to me at the very last minute, as we stood outside security and it dawned on us that it was time to say goodbye. Instantly, we both burst into tears. Niko was like the little sister I never had. It certainly felt that way as we hugged and she sobbed into my chest. I knew I was her closest friend here and I felt guilty for leaving her behind.

My mind was empty as I went through the motions of security and found my departure gate. I was still crying as I boarded the plane and, even though I was wearing a mask, it must have been apparent to anyone who glanced at me but I didn't care. I clutched Niko's scrapbook to my chest as I walked down the aisle and cried even harder as I flipped through it once I was seated.

It was only after the plane had already taken off and I had finally finished reading all of Niko's heartfelt, handwritten notes that I remembered another book that summed up my time in Tokyo. My journal. I had left it in the dorm.

*

"Guess what I got in the mail today?"

The image of Edu on my laptop screen was a little grainy and delayed, and his voice always had a mechanical tinge to it, but it was him and I was lucky we were in a position to be able to video call almost everyday this past year.

Edu looked up from his phone. "What?"

I waved the brown velvet cover of my journal across the camera. He had seen it once before, not to mention I'd lamented to him a few times that I'd forgotten to pack it last year, so I knew he knew what it was.

"Damn," he said, "how did you get it?"

"Niko sent it to me." I flipped it open nostalgically. I had spent the whole afternoon reading over it but the words still hadn't sunk in yet.

"Does this mean I get to hear what you wrote now?"

"In your dreams."

I brushed my hand over the pages, the paper rising and falling under my fingertips from the indentations my pen had made while scribbling out my emotions. When I had first opened the package to find this journal inside, I had considered it something of a novel, telling the events of a time that felt to me like a dream now that I was back in Australia, living a totally different life.

However, now that I had read each diary entry and lived through each memory again, it didn't feel like a novel anymore. It was a love letter.

"Whatever's in here," I told Edu, "is between me and Tokyo."

I closed the book with a teasing smile.

*

Author's Notes: 

And that's that! This story is based on my own experience studying abroad in Tokyo and meeting my boyfriend. Hope anyone who read this enjoyed.

To be honest, this is not my best work. I was rushing to meet the deadline for the 2021 Wattys and so didn't have time to properly plan out a plot or develop the characters. This is more like word vomit.

Regardless, I'm still proud of it because this is the first novel-length draft I've ever completed. One day, I'll come back to edit this and tell the story the way it deserves to be told.

Thank you for joining me on this journey. If you're a fan of BTS and K-pop, stay tuned for my next project!