Another day, another dollar, which side of the story are we going to dig in this time?

Josh was up really early in the morning even on weekends, the sound of his fingers on the keyboard was really getting annoying and then Greg told him

“Dude, close the door if you plan on writing so early”

Josh moved to the door and slammed it

“I guess he is mad” said Greg who decided to go for a drink to the kitchen and he stumbled on something in the ground, it was Alex, he looked at him and got his milk and moved back to his bed.

Alex, Greg and Josh were English teachers at Sendai, however Josh had partial job as Teacher at North Asia University at Akita, the Jet program evaluated him better than Alex and Greg so they decided to place him at Akita.

It was noon and Greg finally woke up and Josh was coming from running errands

“So, what are we going to have today for lunch?”

“I’m not your mother”

“Dude, you know we appreciate you but with that attitude you will never get a girlfriend”

“Our time here is short and I really want to stay longer, once I get my residence here I will worry about getting a girlfriend”

Josh was a workforce management at his previous company overseas, it took a lot of effort to get into the Jet Program, he was not planning on wasting his time like Greg and Alex.

“Is Alex awake?”

“Yes, but he went out, I think he will have lunch out, he said he was on a date”

“With the same girl from last night?”

“No, a different one”

“You guys should use condoms”

“Don’t blame me for treating you like my mom if you plan of giving that type of advice”

“I’m not saying it for your sake, but for the sake of the girls you date”

Josh was worrying about Megumi because he knew who she was last night when he carried her to her apartment, and then Greg received a call, it was Ayase.

Ayase knew about Josh, she knew he was the chef of Greg and that he was a very responsible guy, but she didn’t want to introduce him to Megumi because she wanted Josh for herself, she meet Greg first but one day that she spent the night at Greg home, she meet him.

Josh was a man of not many words when it comes to talk to girls at home, main reason was because Greg and Alex always brought different girls, the other reason was because he didn’t speak Japanese as he wanted and the third reason was that his main goal was to stay at Japan even after the Jet Program finished.

One of those night of drinks Ayase could not wake up Greg who passed out at the bar and she was really worried because she doesn’t have a car, Greg had yet to mention to her the protocols to follow when he pass away at the bar. The waiter brought the bill and she didn’t have money to cover the bills and she was about to go crazy but then Josh appeared and paid the bills. He grabbed Greg who was out of combat and Ayase followed him. He placed Greg on the back sit and then asked Ayase

“Where do you live?”

“Is not far from here”

“Get in, I’ll give you a ride”

This was first time that he had a conversation with Josh, she was really ashamed of the situation, Josh was driving and then she said

“…. Thank you”

“Do you speak English?”

“just a little bit”

“That’s cool, I was really worried that you would not understand me”

“I can keep a conversation I guess”

“That’s nice”

They stayed silent for a bit, it felt a bit awkward because it was not like he was trying to act cool, it was just that he was alone with the girl of his friend. Ayase was a good looking Japanese girl with black hair and very smooth skin, he looked really young and Josh was worried that Greg was dating a barely legal girl

“I know I should not ask this to a girl but …. how old are you?”

Ayase turned a bit red and said

“Yes, you should not ask that question to someone on their first conversation”

“Yea, my bad”

That made the moment get worse

“Let’s say I’m past 20s”

“Thank god” said Josh

“Why?”

“I thought for a second that Greg was dating a non-legal girl”

Ayase looked at Josh and Josh looked at her

“You look really young that’s why”

“You really like to talk a lot don’t ya?”

“I’m driving this late at night and need to wake up early so I need to stay awake”

Somehow their Ayase and Josh got along pretty well that at the end Ayase felt attracted to Josh each time she meets with Greg.

Going back to our pseudo current Josh after that Flashback, Greg just received a call from Ayase, Josh was hoping that she doesn’t ask him to go out again because it will mean that Josh will have to stay up until late night in case something like yesterday repeat again.

“Hi sweetheart”

“I love when you call me sweetheart baby”

Josh had to deal with that type of conversation because Greg didn’t feel ashamed talking like that in front of Josh, while Josh felt like he was getting close to acquire diabetes just by listening, he decided to move out, but again, Greg knowing that Josh didn’t like to hear him talking like that followed him, and that’s what I meant when I said “He had to deal with it”. Josh then decided to go get his headphones so he can avoid listening to that call, in reality what messed him up was the fact that Ayase use to talk to him the same way as he does to Greg, somehow it made him feel like it was faking it because she really wanted to talk with Josh and not with Greg, well, Josh was the one with a car and not Greg.

But then surprise! when Josh was about to put his headphones on he heard

“No, Alex is not here”

“Megumi has been asking for him the whole morning, she may have passed out last night but she remember then she was brought on his arms last night”

Josh hate towards Megumi started to grow because it was not Alex who took her to her bed

“I guess she was drunk because it was Josh who took her to her bed”

“I cannot tell her that because Josh was not with us last night at all, well, tell him to call her when he gets back please”

“Ok sweetie”

“Bye”

Greg noticed that Josh was not happy after listening the call, it was not like Josh liked Megumi at all, what was affecting him was the fact that she was his student at Akita, also a person who escaped from her parents and as a teacher he felt that he failed teaching her about life, he was an English teacher but he somehow helped to make her feel uncomfortable, but then he remembered that thing happens for a reason and that he should not give too much thought to it.

Meanwhile at Namahage Shrine, Josh was running late with his chapters for the week, Keita brought some sake to Josh

“Here, it looks like you are having hard time this week”

To be honest something was happening to Josh and Keita noticed, having him travel each day was killing Josh, he was living more time on his dreams that in real life, Keita plan was going smooth, he went back to his office and the Client was there reading Josh work.

“Do you have the clue that you are looking for yet?”

“How did you figure out it was him?”

“It was you who gave me the description remember?”

The client was crying while reading Josh manuscript

“This only gives me hope…. But seems so unreal”

“There are things in life that doesn’t have explanation….and we are here to find the answers, Japan is always looking for mutual understanding with other countries, that it’s not limited to countries alone but to deities as well because they can hear out prayers”.

The client then asked Keita, she marked a section on Josh manuscript

“This part here, how can you explain that?”

Josh then went to run errands when he suddenly received Ayase call

“Hello Sweetheart”

“Hi Ayase”

“Megumi is with me, can you come pick us up?”

“I’m not a taxi”

“Don’t be so mean Josh, we just went shopping can got so many bags that we can’t even move”

Ayase then covered the phone and told Megumi

“Alex say that he is coming to pick us up”

“Oh Really?”

Megumi started to check her phone and Ayase secretly to Josh

“I will call Alex if you don’t come help us”

“He doesn’t have car”

“But he can have Megumi”

“……that is not my business”

Josh felt the chills when he answered because he remembered touching Megumi body last night when he charged her on his arms

“I will be waiting for you”

Josh was about to answer when she hung up

“Let’s get some ice cream while we wait”

Time passed and then on the Ayase saw Josh car in the window

“Our ride is here”

Ayase and Megumi went outside and then Megumi saw Josh, it was the first time that Megumi saw him at Sendai and then she pointed at him

“YYYYOOOOOOOUUUUUUUUU”

Josh was not surprised, but Ayase was

“Do you know each other?” said Ayase and then Josh answered

“I’m her English Teacher”