Chapter Two: Away We Go:

Sappoto and I came to the dock on time. Perfect, nobody around. I turned to my new buddy.

“Stay here while I get the boat, okay?” I told her.

“Okay, Miho-chan,” she replied. I walked over to the booth. I looked inside of the thin dark glass. It still looked pretty dark inside. I noticed the man hiding in the back with his Cream magazine. I rolled my eyes. “Pervert!” I thought. I knocked on the thin glass. The man looked up from his magazine. He pulled his chair close to the window. Damn, he really needs to get to a gym! This man also seems to have adopted the American style of dress too well. Dark green trucker hat, flannel checkered shirt, and a glowing hot cigarette hanging out of his mouth. This guy looked like he just woke up and needed a bath. He gave me the illusion that I could smell him through the glass.

“Can I help you?” he mumbled. I organized myself again.

“I coming for my boat,” I answered. “The name is Shigi.” The man’s face didn’t change. He turned on his computer and typed in my last name. I waited and watched. He looked up at me.

“Shigi Miho, right?” he asked. I nodded.

“That’s right,” I said.

“You rented boat number 78, right?” he asked.

“Yes,” I replied. The man shut off his computer. He stood up from his chair. I could see his dirty jeans slightly unzipped revealing his red boxers. I backed up a little bit disgusted. Yeah, truly American-style indeed. The trashy kind as well. There are moments why my beloved Japan copies the Americans in everything that they do. This ranks number one this morning. Such a sad thing to behold.

“Right this way,” the boat rental man told me. The slid the booth door open and stepped outside of it. I followed him out to the boats. The dock creaked under the rent man’s feet. I listened as it seemed to say, “Get the f**k out of me!” Come to think of it, the dock did look pretty old. As I walked on it, I freaked out about it getting way and dropping both boat man and me into the cold salty water below. Luckily though, we made it to the boats safely. We came down the row of boats. Some of them looked really nice and new. Others… well… I’m just going to say that they have had it. I hoped that my boat would be nice enough for sailing. It didn’t have to be super fancy. The middle way worked just fine, thank you!

We finally came to boat number seventy-eight. The rental-man turned around to me with that same expression as before.

“Here you are,” he told mer. “Boat number seventy-eight.” I looked at my prize getaway vehicle. Disappointment crept into my eyes. This boat didn’t look gorgeous at all. Oh, it was big enough for two people to live on. But… I tilted my head looking disappointed.

“That’s it?” I asked him.

“Yeah,” the man said.

“This is your best boat here?” I asked him.

“Yeah,” he repeated.

“Couldn’t you have picked out a nicer looking boat?” I asked him. The man rolled his eyes at me.

“Look lady!” he snarled. “This is our best boat. Take it or settle for nothing!” I sighed at him sinking down to his level of mood. By this point, I didn’t care. I just wanted to get out Tokyo before I killed somebody.

“Fine!” I mumbled. “I’ll take it.” The rental man’s face didn’t change the entire time. I don’t really think he cared either. He just wanted to get back to his dirty magazine.

“Good deal, miss!” he remarked. Then, he patted me on the head like I was his little dog. I gritted my teeth as I looked at the ground. It was all I could do to keep from punching his lights out. We rushed through the deal just so that we could get out of each other’s hair. Once I got my boat, I went back and collected Sappoto and we board. I started it up and away we went for our summer adventure!