Ghost of a Chance

Evil Spirits All Over!? (Part 8)

"So, America or England?" Hitomi asked abruptly once Naru had finished locking up, and they had begun making their way to the hospital, taking him by surprise.

"What are you talking about?" Naru asked calmly as he turned to face her, completely stoic, despite how taken aback he had initially been by her unexpected question. It seemed he wasn't the only one who had been planning to get answers during their walk to the hospital together.

"Oh. Was I wrong? I could have sworn you were a fellow transplant..." Hitomi said, frowning slightly in disappointment and scratching her head. "It's just that some of your idiosyncrasies remind me of me when I first moved to Japan. It took me awhile to adjust to the language and customs after growing up in an English-speaking country like America," she explained, smiling wryly.

'Transplant...?' Naru thought, almost sweat-dropping at her odd use of the word. Well, it did make sense, in its own odd way. "What idiosyncrasies?" he asked curiously, taking this new information into account. If Hitomi originally grew up in America, then it would actually explain quite a lot about some of her own atypical behavior... or maybe she was just strange. Naru suspected it was most likely a combination of both.

"Well, for one thing, I noticed you wrote all of your notes in English, and  that's not something most native Japanese people would do. I mean, I guess maybe you might if you didn't want just anyone to be able to read them, but I used to do the same when I first started school here, because it was still much easier for me to take notes quickly using my first language. My father was originally from here, so he taught me how to speak a little Japanese, but I didn't learn how to read or write it until I came to live here ten years ago," she explained, shrugging. "Also, you didn't recognize an extremely common Japanese saying, and you seemed unaware of the age difference required to have a driver's license for a large van like that. While I'm not so sure about England, I do know for a fact that in America you only had to be at least 15 or 16 in order to get a learner's permit that allows you to drive with an adult in the car. However, even if you are 17 and have a full license, it doesn't work that way in Japan. There's a special license for each category of different sized vehicle, and the one needed for that van requires you to be at least 18 before you can even apply for the license. Even a first-year like Mai knows that much."

"Hnh. It seems I underestimated you,  Matsumoto-san," Naru complimented her, smirking slightly. Her reasoning skills were sound, but it made him wonder if she had spotted this so easily simply because of her own history, or if it was something anyone with half a brain might notice. If the latter was the case, then Naru couldn't help but be concerned... He was going to have to work on fixing the things she had just mentioned.

"Thanks," she said, smiling brightly, playing it cool. To be honest, even she was having a hard time not being affected by this kid's good looks, especially when he smirked like that... But then something occurred to her. 'Wait... is that a nice way of saying he thought I was stupid...?' It didn't seem like the Shibuya-san she knew to hand out a compliment like that...

"To be honest, I'm surprised you figured it out so quickly," Naru admitted, deciding to switch over to English since that particular cat was already out of the bag. He was also somewhat surprised at himself for admitting to it so quickly. He should have tried to dissuade her suspicions, not confirm them.

'So he did think I was a bit thick in the head...' Hitomi thought, slightly chagrined. Oh, well. At least hearing him speak a full sentence in English answered her question about his origins. He was definitely English. It was kind of unfair for him to be so smart and attractive and then to have a sexy British accent on top of it all... "Never underestimate my ability to find stuff out, Mr. Shibuya," she replied, smirking. "Not only are you looking at a girl who read too much of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's work, but my woman's intuition is topnotch!"